Interesting Links for 25-03-2024

[andrewducker]

1. The physically animated version of Jurassic Park looks *amazing*

(tags:JurassicPark funny video )

2. Israel announces largest West Bank land seizure since 1993

(tags:Israel Palestine OhForFucksSake )

3. The restored Star Trek Enterprise-D bridge goes on display in May

(tags:StarTrek TV museum )

4. Reform party overtakes the Conservatives for male voters

(tags:men Conservatives voting UK )

5. The Super Mario Maker community faces its final boss

(tags:games Nintendo Mario )

6. Colonoscopy prep: Liquid-only diets unnecessary

(tags:healthcare diet )

7. The oldest photo of Edinburgh (showing Calton Hill and an ancient church since-demolished for Waverley Station)

(tags:edinburgh history photo )

8. Saudi Arabia to be appointed chair of UN's gender equality forum amid ongoing assault on women's rights

(tags:saudiarabia women equality rights )

Comments

The Super Mario Maker community faces its final boss

[jack]

Oh wow, that's a story. It's lovely to read about all the other weird levels, like the "you can't do anything, it's completely random, you just need a 1/170million chance of all the random spawns and bounces to be the one that makes it win", and all the random forgotten ones that got cleared.

Re: The Super Mario Maker community faces its final boss

[andrewducker]

I'm sure there's a massive forum somewhere!

(Or possibly Reddit)

[calimac]

6) Damn. Wish I'd known that.

[andrewducker]

I wish the doctors knew it!

(Not had one myself, but hopefully it becomes common knowledge before either of us needs one in the future.)

[snippy]

I just had one at the end of February, with the traditional liquid-only diet and prep. It was very unpleasant. And I caught a cold while at the procedure, even though I wore a mask for everything except the actual procedure (when I had an oxygen mask.

[cmcmck]

8. Dear Lord!

[andrewducker]

It's just ridiculous, isn't it?

[danieldwilliam]

I am reminded of General Charles Napier and his views on suttee.

The UN and other parts of the workings of the "international community" used to be more explicitely a norm setter for the rest of world. If you play by Western societies view of civilised society we, the West, will let you play with the rest of the world. It seems they are a bit less so at the moment than they were in the second half of the 20th Century.

[danieldwilliam]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_James_Napier#Sati_practice

[andrewducker]

I approve.

I think that the EU has somewhat taken on that role. Somewhat.

[danieldwilliam]

A bit, but the EU is also wrestling a bit with some of its members who are not as committed to the principles of liberal democracy as they ought to be.

[andrewducker]

I guess that's the problem with dragging people along with you. They drag you back. They really needed better processes for dealing with it though.

[danieldwilliam]

They do, but I'm not sure they expected to have to deal with states that were not enthusiastic adopters. The EU's line and I suppose the West's more generally seemed to be that once people get to experience liberal democracy they won't want anything else and that nothing produces wealthy happy citizens like liberal democracy.

And it looks like lots of the world turns out not to believe that fully.

I'm not sure I 100% I believe anymore.

[andrewducker]

I think 1997-2008 may have fooled people somewhat into thinking that the connection was inevitable, and that we had reached the end of history.

[danieldwilliam]

Yes.

And also we've not quite seen how the story ends for China or for India.

My working theory about 5-10 years ago was that as China got richer its growing middle-class would both demand and require a more liberal state in order to continue China's growth rate. So far what we've seen is that they haven't been supplied with a more liberal state but we've not yet seen if China's long-term growth rate drops. Looks like it will and I'd argue that a root cause of that drop is the sort of cronyism that authoritarian states are prone to but still to be discovered.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, cronyism slows things down. Of course, being able to say "Build this massive bit of infrastructure, even if it upsets a lot of people" speeds things up. I'm sure there's a happy medium somewhere!

[danieldwilliam]

There are also questions about whether you are building the right thing - see for example the M8 extension originally planned for the Meadows or about half the houses in China apparantly. The worst kind of waste is building the wrong thing to begin with.

And also losers' acceptance.

Which is why I like democracy.

[channelpenguin]

2. Horrible
8. Bonkers
4. Annoying but predictable
6. The procedure itself is not without risk. For that reason, I doubt I'll have one unless there's a definite reason to suspect it's required.
1. Charming!

4

[danieldwilliam]

Tory MPs will lose their absolute minds if Reform poll above them.

Scenes, absolute scenes, will ensue.

Re: 4

[cmcmck]

It looks as if Tory inclined men are more towards Reform than Tory inclined women, which is intriguing to say the least.

Re: 4

[andrewducker]

Oh yes. There's a whole thing where women are skewing significantly more liberal than men at the moment.

Re: 4

[danieldwilliam]

Reforms big policy is that something should be done about immigration, in particular irregular and illegal immigration and irregular immigrants are presented in that context as something to be feared. (As opposed to a more economically based argument that we should be restricting the labour supply in the UK to drive up wages and promote improvements to per capital GDP rather than relying on low-wage immigrants)

I think men are more likely as a group to respond to a call to arms to defend their families and communities from the threat of irregular immigration.

Also men, as a group, I think are more likely to respond well to simple direct calls to robust physical action.

Interestingly Reform pitches the rest of its policy offer more in the libertarian area and their potential voters don't seem enthused about that. Reform voters seem to be more likely to consider that the game is rigged against them and that the state ought to take action to sort out the causes of that rigging with a more authoritarian and interventionist toolkit.

[armiphlage]

1. Forwarded to my sister!

[andrewducker]

I hope she likes it!