Interesting Links for 31-03-2022

[andrewducker]

1. Jamie Wallis: Conservative politician comes out as UK's first openly trans MP

(tags:LGBT conservatives UK transgender )

2. How cables get so tangled

(tags:video cables funny Technology )

3. A Woman's Story

(tags:racism computers women history usa )

4. "I no longer grade my students' work - and I wish I had stopped sooner"

(tags:academia learning school )

5. When the school day starts later, teens get better sleep and feel more motivated

(tags:sleep school )

6. Automated taxis coming to San Francisco

(tags:sanfrancisco automation driving cars )

7. MPs Vote To Make At-Home Early Abortion Services Permanent

(tags:UK abortion GoodNews )

8. The vast majority of British voters support a close deal with the EU (Norway-like)

(tags:UK Europe polls identity )

9. Scottish under 18s will no longer be sent to young offenders institutions

Although, why can changing approach from "one of punishment to one of love and support" be applied to adults too?
(tags:scotland prison children )

10. "Procedural Justice" reduces crime by 14% and arrests by 60%

(tags:crime police transparency )

11. Mobile phone users do not have increased risk of brain tumours

(tags:mobile_phones Technology cancer GoodNews )

Comments

[mountainkiss]

That school day thing has been known for at least 15 years.

[andrewducker]

I first linked to it in 2010: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8579951.stm

And intermittently since then:
https://pinboard.in/search/u:andrewducker?query=sleep+school

But worth reminding people intermittently :-)

[conuly]

MUCH longer.

But no matter how much you say it, no matter how many studies you do, the general response from the public is "meh" mixed with "no, they'll just go to bed later and won't learn anything".

[channelpenguin]

To state the obvious, the school day can't be changed without the work day being changed. Which is highly unlikely - and many adults would hate it / function badly.

(I am maybe a bit of an extreme example,but I am best for work from 7am - 2pm,can do routine stuff up to about 4-5pm and extremely useless actively harmful after that. For the record, I was actually the same as a teenager! Those at uni with me will recall)

[mountainkiss]

Actually if I understand correctly (not a dead cert) neuroscience suggests that your pattern is the wisest in adults to take advantage of mental capacity.

[andrewducker]

I suspect it varies by adult. Certainly, pre-child, I did my best work between about 3pm and 8pm. Not at all possible now.

[mountainkiss]

This must I think be a universal truth. I was in a meeting at 6.30am. At 9am I’ll wake my mother, who will stagger downstairs at about 11.15am.

That said, I think there are genuine neuroscientific reasons why an earlier pattern would in general be more productive than a later one. It might vary with the work. I have it vaguely in my head that tasks are done best in the first eight hours of waking but we can be more creative in the second eight hours. I’ll have a look if I get time.

At the same

[andrewducker]

That would be lovely.

(I am very aware that I owe you a reply on a different conversation. We were all ill for about a month after my mum's visit, and work has been ridiculous the last few weeks, but fingers crossed I will get some brain space soon!)

[mountainkiss]

There's really no hurry. If and when the moment feels right.

I have no idea how I was going to finish the sentence "All the same...".

[andrewducker]

Elegantly, with wit, charm, and incisive clarity.

[mountainkiss]

Goes without saying.

[danieldwilliam]

I think 6) brings my estimate of when I might be able to use an autonomous taxi from 20 years to 10.

Which is good news even though I remain very cautious about the speed of deployment.

[andrewducker]

I wonder if the speed of rollout will be linear or exponential.

If it's "one city every 6 months" then it'll be a very long time until it's even in Edinburgh. If the time between city rollouts halves every time they roll out to a new one, then it'll be here in 10 years with ease.

(Lots of factors limiting speed of rollout, of course, including how many people they need to monitor the taxis in the background, how easy they are to recruit and train, legislation, etc.)

[dewline]

Edinburgh will likely have its rollout before anywhere else in Scotland. I can't see it not being almost-ready for such a transition, being a capital city of its nation/region. We're doing field-testing of such tech here in Ottawa-Gatineau, specifically in the business parks of Kanata, currently our western urban fringe.

[andrewducker]

I think Glasgow is probably as near the top of the list. Particularly in the centre of town, which is quite regularly designed.

[danieldwilliam]

I don't think it is yet ready for roll out.

It's been tested a bit. It's been tested in two USian cities. I think both of the cities it's been tested in are not prone to very cold weather (for example). It's not been tested in a city where jaywalking is considered a constitutional obligation on the citizenry. I think there is still lots of work to do.

Then, once Waymo think it is ready to go they need to persuade a bunch of regulators to allow it.

Then, those regulators need to deal with the political campaign against it from taxi drivers and truck drivers (who must know they are next).

Then it needs to deal with the impact of it not working properly and some people being killed.

So I think there is still someway to go before it's ready to be rolled out.


My guess is an exponential roll out but I'm not sure whether the system has a centralised core or not. If it's just a distributed vehicle control then that should be easy to roll out quickly. I'd expect roll out speeds to increase very quickly. Particuarly when Waymo are not the only people who can do this and there is a race to sign up places for autonomous taxis.

[drplokta]

The description of option 2 in that EU poll as “like Norway” is pretty wrong. Norway has free movement of people with the EU. Norway is in Schengen. Norway contributes (net) almost as much per capita to the EU as the UK did as a member. Norway doesn’t so much align its regulations with the EU as follow EU regulations in very many areas. Had the poll mentioned these things, I predict the responses would have been rather different.

[andrewducker]

What would be the difference between "align with EU regulations to the point where it eases trade" and "follow EU regulations"?

[drplokta]

“Align with” has an implication that the EU would make some adjustment to its regulations to satisfy UK concerns, as well as vice versa.

[andrewducker]

Oh no, I don't expect them to align with us.

[dewline]

1. Good! At least they seem to be getting this much right, and I hope to see further progress to that end goal.

4. I wish we'd had this when I was in school.

5. This also.

7. Also: good!

8. Maybe this can be set to rights in our lifetimes. Somehow. Again, I think Canada should be applying to join the EU as a full member, regardless of geography and logistics. CETA seems a half-hearted measure.

9. Agreed on your comment on this. I suspect the relevant agencies in Canada, provincial and federal, will be watching this with much interest.

10. This also seems hopeful.

11. Glad to have that closer to "settled question"...

[andrewducker]

I'm not sure it makes sense for Canada to join the EU when it trades 9x more with the US than the EU, and that's not likely to change dramatically. Which is a shame, but geography really matters.

[dewline]

The trade stats are true. I am focused on emergency planning in case of a reinstallation of Trump, or the election of worse-than-Trump. Looking at the state-level planning of future crimes against humanity by the Republicans, I will not rule that out. I think some of them want to turn Canada into their version of Ukraine. In the worst ways.

[andrewducker]

I can totally understand that. I hope it doesn't come to that!

[calimac]

And of course in the past the US tried exactly that on Canada. It's not well-known in the US that the British burning of Washington in 1814 was in retaliation for the American burning of (what was not yet then known as) Toronto the previous year. And some sources, though not all, claim that a major impetus for the 1867 Confederation was to form strength to ward off any future US invasions; fortunately by that time the US had given up the idea of annexing Canada.

- US person who knows a little more than most about his own country's history

[bens_dad]

4. I wish we'd had this when I was in school.

I think I did.

School started at 9am; with registration and (some mornings at least) assembly, it was probably 9:30 when lessons started. We finished at 3:45 or 3:50* (the school day was rewritten during my stint).
I see children streaming away from school not long after 3pm these days.

*One period (45/50mins) earlier on Thursdays, to allow for Combined Cadet Force (army and air force training).

[andrewducker]

Yeah, 8:30-3:40 at my local high school here. Which isn't far off what they're talking about.

[calimac]

The taboo against referring to trans people by their "deadnames" is so strong that at first I wasn't sure if the MP in #1 was announcing a future transition from M to F or a completed (but hitherto unrevealed) transition from F to M. Fortunately it became clear later on that it was the former; but a lot of articles about people who've gone through transitions are confusing in this way.

[andrewducker]

Yes, usually it's done very late on. Unusual to have someone announce so publicly that they're about to start - but probably much easier than having someone out them.

(And yes, articles could sometimes do with being clearer)

[calimac]

Usually this problem comes up in feature articles about private individuals who have transitioned. When a person with a public image does this, it's usually clearer. When Elliot Page announced his transition, articles weren't shy about informing readers that he was already well-known under a different name, and gave it; but once that was an established fact, they dropped the name (except in reference: e.g. Wikipedia gives it, as it should: not everything can be changed retroactively, and future readers will want to get the facts).

5. When the school day starts later, teens get better sleep and feel more motivated

[anef]

I am currently reading "Why We Sleep" by Matthew Walker which explains exactly why we need sleep and lots of it (ie 7-9 hours sleep per 24 hours). The effects on the brain all through life are devastating if we don't get it. This is eye-opening and scary, particularly with reference to young people, doctors and drivers. I am now (unfortunately rather late in life) attempting to at least aim at getting the recommended amount.

Unfortunately advancing old age also has a bad effect on sleep. The effects of lack of sleep on the elderly can be very similar to those of dementia.

[kerk_hiraeth]

I wish I felt it was something to celebrate but he is part of a party and a government that is openly condoning the torture of children. He needs to speak out and/or resign if they don't insitute a complete ban on conversion 'therapy' immediately or he really is another Caitlyn Jenner who is a collaborator with people who want to destroy him and everyone like him.

kerk