Interesting Links for 14-02-2025

[andrewducker]

1. Why the UK's Public Finances are in Even Worse Shape than You Think (A different measure of the economy that shows how bad things have gotten over the last few decades)

(tags:UK economics video doom )

2. What language do the British people find offensive?

(tags:language offensive UK swearing viaPatrickHadfield )

3. Statement on Ukraine by Germany, France, Poland, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, the European External Action Service and the European Commission

(tags:Ukraine Europe uk )

4. US Voters Were Right About the Economy. The Data Was Wrong.

(tags:USA economics statistics poverty )

5. The one true test of whether something is a sandwich

(tags:ontology food )

6. A 'True Crime' Documentary Series Has Millions of Views. The Murders Are All AI-Generated

(tags:crime fraud ai lies viaPatrickHadfield )

7. German Navy Says Warships Were Sabotaged, Warns of Russian Threat

(tags:germany navy russia sabotage ships )

Comments

[mountainkiss]

That sandwich thing is genius, as are the tags.

[simont]

I think most sandwiches I make would fail that test. Normally I make sandwiches just after I've run the breadmaker, using a few slices of the bread fresh before slicing the rest and freezing it. As a result the bread doesn't have top structural integrity, because it's still soft (and this is compounded by it also being gluten-free). Then I make the most out of the rare opportunity to eat sandwiches by putting too many fillings in. So most of my sandwiches require two hands to hold, and sometimes I also have to wear an apron while eating them!

[simont]

I enjoyed this bullet point from #2:

It often generated strong personal reactions, and participants had mixed views about its acceptability, even late at night.

Of course I know that they really mean "even when the word appears on a TV programme shown late at night", but it's irresistible to reinterpret the sentence as "even when you ask someone their opinion late at night, maybe after they've had a few, they're still not sure what they think of it."

[andrewducker]

"We tried asking them at 3am, and they *still* weren't sure!"

[juan_gandhi]

Thank you. Pretty interesting stuff.

[calimac]

2) So, one might ask incredulously, is "Jew" mildly offensive? Answer, yes it is, when used as a descriptor, especially as an adjective ("He's a Jew lawyer"). What's less offensive is the adjective "Jewish", used by itself ("He's Jewish").

4) I'd been wondering about the disconnect here. Also about whether I qualify as employed or retired. I do work for pay, but only on an intermittent assignment basis.

5) In that case, a hot dog would qualify as a sandwich, and that's supposed to be the most controversial instance.

[andrewducker]

This is my other favourite sandwich definition rule:
https://cuberule.com/

[mtbc]

Ha, great, thank you for that link too.

[armiphlage]

2) As a Canadian, I don't see how "beaver" is offensive. Ernest Thompson Seton did use "beavering" to describe inefficient lumberjacking techniques, but otherwise the noble animal has a regal, powerful connotation.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/Canadian_Nickel_-_reverse.png

[andrewducker]

If only all countries thought of the animal so nobly.

[armiphlage]

Our national emblem!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Hamilton/comments/c7nyiy/happy_canada_day_hamilton/#lightbox

[andrewducker]

I love it!

4

[danieldwilliam]

Noah Smith is not convinced that Eugene Ludwig is correct.

https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/at-least-five-interesting-things-978

Re: 4

[andrewducker]

I'd be interested to see a discussion between Horpedahl and Ludwig.

4. Economic data

[trailer_spot]

The article about the data used to calculate economic indicators was very interesting. Unfortunately, that problem won't be fixed any time soon.