Interesting Links for 22-09-2022

[andrewducker]

1. Russia has lost the capacity to mobilise

(tags:Russia war Ukraine epicfail )

2. An Open Letter to Bluey's Parents: Please Stop

We have totally had to play Heavy on many occasions.
(tags:parenting dogs viaSwampers animation funny )

3. Mountain Goats Are Being Airlifted Out of a National Park Because They Crave Human Pee

(tags:urine Goats headline )

4. Artist finds private medical record photos in popular AI training data set

(tags:healthcare dataprotection ai photos )

5. Just how long have men and women been switching gender roles for?

(tags:history gender newspapers )

6. Far too much fun in the snow in Northern China

(tags:China snow video fun )

7. Glasgow students without flats told to consider quitting university

(tags:housing university Glasgow )

8. Tucker Carlson accuses schools and hospitals of "sex crimes" and tells viewers they have a moral duty to dole out "instant justice" "no matter what the law says"

(tags:USA murder LGBT TV school hospital OhForFucksSake )

9. The rise of capitalism from the long 16th century onward is associated with a decline in wages to below subsistence, a deterioration in human stature, and an upturn in premature mortality

(tags:death poverty capitalism )

10. US installs record solar capacity as prices keep falling

(tags:solarpower usa GoodNews )

11. $500,000,000 in funding, 10 years in development, and Star Citizen still doesn't have a release date

(tags:games epicfail )

12. For the first time the British Social Attitudes Survey shows a majority for proportional representation

(tags:reform elections voting proportional_representation UK )

Comments

[bens_dad]

7. Are they going to refund students fees for *previous* years ?

[andrewducker]

For ones who couldn't find a place to stay?

[bens_dad]

Yes.

[andrewducker]

I hadn't realised that it had been that severe of a problem previously!

[bens_dad]

Ah. We misunderstand each other.

I am responding to BBC Scotland has seen an email in which the university tells one second-year student it "may be more appropriate for you to suspend your studies or withdraw".

If they want me to drop out of my second year rather than find me somewhere to live, then the first instalment of my investment has been wasted and should be refunded.

OK, maybe I want them to transfer my course credits to a uni in another city and to claim for living costs, so maybe I shouldn't just accept such an offer ...

However taking the first payment for a course of study means that the uni should take responsibility for ensuring that I have accommodation throughout the period of study.

[andrewducker]

Ah, gotcha! Yes, that makes sense.

[dewline]

4. Disturbing!

5. Fascism has been getting pushed just about everywhere, then.

8. Tucker Carlson is practicing stochastic terrorism on the air. Lock him up, please!

9. Terrifying, and something we need to solve yesterday!

10. Hooray!

[andrewducker]

(8) does seem to be calling for violence, which you'd think would be illegal!

[dewline]

In Canada, our Criminal Code has a section on "Counselling to commit" or somesuch phrasing. If we were to get creative about our interpretation of "terrorism" - more particularly, "Participating, Facilitating, Instructing and Harbouring" - there are other things our authorities might do about Mr. Carlson, should he attempt to enter Canada.

[cmcmck]

5. A hell of a long time as the writer is well aware!

[andrewducker]

And it will have been going on for an awful lot longer than the media have been talking about it!

[danieldwilliam]

10) Big numbers. Interesting and heartening to see the DoE confirming that the levelised cost of energy from solar PV is now competative with the fuel costs of a CCGT plant.

12) I wonder what is behind Labour voters moving towards supporting PR.

[andrewducker]

I think they've realised that "Not Tory ever" is better than "Labour every so often".

And that the voting system will be used against them where possible. So best to change it to one that can't be used so easily to do that.

Point 1: Putinist Mobilisation

[dewline]

So it's falling apart on Vladimir Vladimirovich even as we type our comments back and forth. Twenty to thirty years ago, Ukraine might have had a much worse time of it than they've already had - which has been horrific! - but given all the bad decisions taken in Moskva since then...

[reverancepavane]

1. One of the important things to remember is that most Russian soldiers are either conscripts or contract soldiers and this is an important consideration. [Technically the conscripts are not permitted to serve outside the country, but most were "strongly encouraged" (ie forced) to sign contracts waiving this particular point of Russian law), and so may be lumped in with the normal contract soldiers albeit at something like 10% of the pay.] I suspect that Russian law doesn't allow the US idea of a Stop Loss program absent mobilisation. With mobilisation it allows the existing soldiers to be retained at the end of their contacts (and a lot of them are up very soon), so I suspect a big push for this is not the mobilisation of civilian assets (although this is important in the long run) but rather to prevent the current Russian soldiers in the Ukraine leaving the military when their contracts expire.

That said replacements and reinforcements will probably be needed. But the more general mobilisation has it's own problems, although it currently has been shown to be very good at directly inducting the protestors into the military (and under military discipline and rules). Hopefully (at least in Putin's eyes) effectively eliminating a political problem at home.

[marymac]

2. I would kill for my children to like Bluey. I would play Heavy all day rather than listen to the Paw Patrol theme ever again.

[andrewducker]

I'm sorry they don't. Maybe they will some day!

[marymac]

Ultan loves the intro, but he only does TV if there's drumming, dancing or rugby, so sadly we watch what Hunter likes and ARGH. I quite like Bluey! And Kirri and Lou, although that did make everyone go a bit Kiwi for a while, it was lockdown.