Interesting Links for 14-08-2024

[andrewducker]

1. The Strange Logic of Germany's Antisemitism Bureaucrats

(tags:Germany Jews bigotry Islam Palestine )

2. The remarkably unlikely story of Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane

(tags:history war Spain UK navy politics )

3. Brits would vote to rejoin EU in new referendum, 59:41

(tags:UK Europe polls )

4. J.K. Rowling, Elon Musk Named in Imane Khelif's Cyberbullying Lawsuit

(tags:jkrowling ElonMusk bullying Olympics bigotry transgender LGBT )

5. 6% of people suffering during the ADHD medication shortage report losing their jobs

(tags:adhd jobs OhForFucksSake medication )

6. Edinburgh Trams staff back strike action over lack of toilet breaks

(tags:Edinburgh trams strike toilets )

7. Some companies aren't happy about their adverts appearing under far-right hate posts on X.

(tags:twitter bigotry advertising )

8. Dealing with Time in the Roman Calendar Is A Nightmare

(tags:Rome time date history wtf viaFanf )

9. Israeli Army Uses Palestinian Civilians to Inspect Potentially Booby-trapped Tunnels in Gaza

(tags:Israel Palestine WarCrimes OhForFucksSake )

Comments

No. 2

[channelpenguin]

Yeah, lots of ripping yarns about ol' Admiral Cochrane.

So sad that the Hollywood take on the Patrick O'Brien novels never got beyond one film. For sailing nerds (and apparently costume nerds) it was so so great. But the general public at the time must have preferred Pirates of the Carribbean...

Interestingly, Patrick O'Brien has a great rep for historical and sailing accuracy, but didn't really sail. He got it all reading books in the British Library it seems. I read a fantastic article in a yachting magazine about someone with a yacht who took him out sailing and his ignorance of many basics of actually sailing was pretty obvious. But you would never know from the books!

Re: No. 2

[andrewducker]

It's amazing what you can fake from reading books.

Although you'd think he'd have tried to get a little experience to see how it looked in real life.

Re: No. 2

[danieldwilliam]

O'Brien describing sailing is a bit like one of the BBC commentators on the Olympics.

"He handled the ships with masterly skill, setting the sails to perfectly capture every ounce of speed from the wind."

If you say so Patrick.

"She really handled the double twist with inward leaning pike, and you can tell from the angle of attack that she's really nailed the landing."

If you say so Claire.

I'm no judge of these things but I'm happy enough to be swept away in someone else's enthuasiastic prose.

Re: No. 2

[danieldwilliam]

He's my favourite admiral or almirante or navarchos.

The books might be ripe for a Netflix or Prime serial. It might make a better medium than a feature film.

I've been on the Surprise in San Diego.

Re: No. 2

[andrewducker]

The movie cost $150 million and made $212 million. I thought it was marvellous but I'm not surprised it didn't get a sequel

If they could do it cheaper now, or get a bigger audience then it would be great to have more of the books made.

Re: No. 2

[danieldwilliam]

I think cost $150m, made $212m is really about broke even in movie financing. I *think* distribution costs are often left out of the costs figure.

[anna_wing]

https://patrimonio.bienes.cl/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Museo-Lord-Cochrane-Castillo-San-José.jpg

https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/lord-cochrane-museum-valparaiso-chile-mar-132766323.jpg

The Museo del Mar Lord Cochrane is a rather lovely courtyard house, built for him on a hill in Valparaiso. Nice view, very strong wind. That was nearly thirty years ago, I imagine the neighbourhood might have changed.

Re: No. 2

[andrewducker]

Oh yeah, distribution costs are left out. And "money made" is the box office takings, of which a fair bit will have gone to the cinemas. So it seems pretty unlikely that it made a profit from the cinema alone. DVDs will have done quite well for it, I'd imagine, and apparently it still streams quite well, so it's probably made a profit in the long-run.

[nancylebov]

2. And Le Guin apparently didn't have experience with boats for _A Wizard of Earthsea_. I've read a complaint that there should have been more about rigging.

[andrewducker]

All that sailing is complete fakery. It's amazing what you can fake. I've never sailed anything in my life except a nine-foot catboat, and that was in the Berkeley basin in about three feet of water. And we managed to sink it. The sail got wet and it went down while we sang "Nearer My God to Thee." We had to wade to shore, and go back to the place we'd rented it and tell them. They couldn't believe it. "You did what?" You know, it's interesting, they always tell people to write about what they know about. But you don't have to know about things, you just have to be able to imagine them really well.

Which I think is from this interview, but only because the interviewer is the same person in the only quote I could find.

Re: No. 2

[andrewducker]

See also

Re: No. 2

[andrewducker]

See also

Re: No. 2

[channelpenguin]

I do hope for a series!

Re: No. 2

[calimac]

Speaking as someone who is neither a sailing nerd nor a costume nerd, I really enjoyed the Patrick O'Brian movie nonetheless. Much more than my one attempt to read one of his books, which quickly drowned me in a sea of nautical terminology that I didn't understand. In the movie you can see what's going on; you don't need to know the terminology.

[calimac]

I have the book that interview is in. Yes, that's the source.

Re: No. 2

[channelpenguin]

The first book or 2 is definitely like that, as I recall it settles down a lot after that!

I'm not the biggest Russell Crowe Fan but I did think he was pretty much perfect for "Lucky" Jack Aubrey.

[conuly]

The roman year is even more bizarre than that post would indicate.

Re: No. 2

[armiphlage]

Is this the article?

https://www.latitude38.com/features/O'Brian.htm

Re: No. 2

[armiphlage]

The ketch that O'Brien sailed on was bigger than the HMS Surprise!

https://www.yachtcharterfleet.com/luxury-charter-yacht-22432/andromeda-la-dea.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Surprise_(1796)

[zz]

trust the germans to turn a campaign against antisemitism into a new form of fascist repression

Re: No. 2

[channelpenguin]

Indeed! Thanks for finding that.

[channelpenguin]

I live in Germany. The Germans seem very well educated on what is and isn't fascism and tend to call a nazi a nazi when they see one. (Which sadly they do, because there genuinely are far right wing assholes here just like most places).

Bureaucracy and regulation (which there is a huge love of here) does not equal fascism.

There are actually a lot of laws against fascist trappings, speech and behaviour here.

I don't know what's going on lately that we seem to be beefing up the enforcement of the anti-semitism rules, but it seems some officials are getting their wee power trip on with it.

I guess there's maybe more conspiracy theories kicking about? (Many of which seem to default back to some kind of Jewish theme, I don't personally understand why but I'm not really interested in going there on ANY conspiracy theories, so that's not surprising)

But people are people and getting off on your petty bureaucratic power trip is unfortunately common. Probably moreso here in Germany because of the greater number of bureaucrats!

Re: No. 2

[andrewducker]

That makes total sense. Particularly as in a movie you can let the terminology wash over you and see what's happening at the same time.