Saturday Open Thread | 75 comments (75 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

I guess everyone is too busy watching Whitney Houston's funeral.

by stevesim on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 12:57:26 PM EST

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 1)

Or maybe jazz is just not their thing.

Oh well, how about a Polish woman with a guitar?

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 01:40:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

What a great rhythm section (drummer), and i'm very partial to Hammond organs. But she's married.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 01:49:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

This evening's listening pleasure is provided by Charlie Haden and his 'The Private Collection' - a bunch of superb live performances at intimate gigs. Meanwhile I shall be cooking vegetarian and pondering a new Bonk concept for a corporate commission we got. (Megalomania needs feeding).

And discussing pop-ups with Klaus. He's brilliant at cut-out print assemblies like those kids' books where things 'pop-up' in "3D" when you pull open the pages.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 01:17:24 PM EST

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

i might skype you to interrupt your cooking, no matter what pops up with Klaus. (Then again, you might have turned it off.)

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 01:30:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

The camera in my downstairs iMac is broken - (New iMac soon, just working out if it's worth waiting for Mountain Lion - probably not).

In the office upstairs I have the Bugatti, but I am way too stoned to make my way up there. It's Saturday for Chrissakes. But give me a roundabout time for tomorrow and I'll be available.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 02:25:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 1)

Oh, but wait a mo - I can skype on the iPhone. Feel free.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 02:28:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

I am way too stoned to make my way up there

Playing the lead character in Shirley Jackson's play The Lottery?

(One virtual lollipop for anyone under 45 who knows what I'm referring to without using Google.)

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 03:16:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

Here! I did read it on the internet, though.

On the other hand it is still popular in schools.

by IM on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 03:18:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 1)

And I'm a man of my word:

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 04:17:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 1)

I'm thinking that lollipop is laptop-screen flavored.

'tis strange I should be old and neither wise nor valiant. From "The Maid's Tragedy" by Beaumont & Fletcher

by Wife of Bath (kareninaustin at g mail dot com) on Mon Feb 20th, 2012 at 02:23:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]

The Lottery (none / 0)

Loton ennätyspotti meni kahtia. (Record lottery pot bifurcated). This was yesterday.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sun Feb 19th, 2012 at 04:14:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

does he do them for himself or for mass production?

by stevesim on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 01:35:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

I once had an astronomy book with pop-ups. My favourite was the pop-up of the Big Bang.

by stevesim on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 01:57:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

For advertising/marketing clients who are looking for a design-driven way of delivering their message.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 02:15:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (4.00 / 2)

Speaking of walkin' jazz
which dvx probably can't do well tonight, given the condition of the streets of Köln, i make a memory here that means a lot to me

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 01:35:01 PM EST

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

I'm in hiding tonight. ;)

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 01:41:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Cosmic Equilibrium (none / 0)

Four hours to go, and it will be the first day in 25 years i haven't gotten an email. Please do not respond frivolously.

((Does that mean i'm dead?))

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 01:40:18 PM EST

Re: Cosmic Equilibrium (none / 0)

I haven't either. Though I doubt if it's the first time...

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 02:38:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cosmic Equilibrium (none / 0)

200 on the personal email and the same on the professional one (and that's after deleting the spam). Does that mean I'm important or I'm subscribing to too many lists?

Wind power

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 02:50:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Cosmic Equilibrium (4.00 / 2)

Well, i didn't say anything about the 467 emails i haven't responded to yet.

But yes, you are important, and you subscribe to too many lists.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 02:56:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

Pondering how much I'm going to have to learn about Window security - lack thereof, actually - and the internets. After a years examination the obvious answer: Linux, doesn't appeal to me, the lack of professionalism exhibited in the software and software support is a major turn-off.

Contemplating DSL as the way to go.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 02:15:06 PM EST

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

Corrected link.

What's wrong with Ubuntu?

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 02:39:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

Same thing that's wrong with all Unix implementations: thinking hardware development stopped with the PDP-11, system bloat, badly designed software, badly written software, informing meta stuck pre-1854, etc.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 02:54:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 1)

Generally true wrt the PARC GUI O/S, except they deployed the intellectual might of 8 year olds to help them design the thing.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 03:10:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (4.00 / 2)

And then there is Minsky, who thinks if you keep doing stuff that don't work but do 'em really really fast the stuff will Tah-DAH!:

work.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 03:12:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

I think you're ready for an iMac.

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 03:19:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 1)

iMac ... iPad ... iDon'tCare.

What I want is one of the machines Siemens was developing in the mid and late 80s for parallel processing. The hardware guys did an outstanding job and then the software doofballs put Unix on it ... and then wondered why parallel processing didn't work so good.

(Idiots)

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 04:31:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 1)

I think a good name for an ale and cider shop would be Apple@iBeer.

Reckon I'd get sued ?

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sun Feb 19th, 2012 at 08:13:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 1)

i-sued

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sun Feb 19th, 2012 at 08:19:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

But DSL is a flavour of Debian Linux, just like Ubuntu.

Of course, there's Andy Tannenbaum saying that it's ridiculous that Linus Torvalds copied Linux from him, since he got it wrong. LOL

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 03:17:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

I need to get down into nitty-gritty on DSL and see if it's worth the bother. All I want is a simple stand-alone OS that (1) works, so I don't have to write hardware drivers, (2) doesn't have huge gaping security holes, and (3) stays the hell out of my way.

The biggest problem with Unix is the Unix OS people. All they know is Unix OS and they have to keep fiddling around with it to justify their existence.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 04:38:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

Got part way through the link before I fell over in boredom.

The Wonderfulneeitude of Tannebaum's Minex had no - NONE - affect on anything because it didn't offer any significant advantages to Unix (and derivatives) or the PARC GUI OS. Yeah, it does multi-tasking. Whoopie-gee-whiz. So did the IBM 360/70 and PDP-8. Does it do parallel processing? No. Is it an advance on user 'Touchy-Feely?' No. Can it automatically detect Context Switching? No. Can it detect and process amorphous Information? No. & etc. & so on.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 05:08:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

Link fucked.

Link unfucked.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 02:41:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

Duh, refresh before responding.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 02:42:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

The unfucker, fucked.

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 02:46:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (4.00 / 2)

Did someone just try to use 'professionalism' and 'software' in the same sentence?

{universe implodes}

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 03:22:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 1)

You just did....

by gk (g k quattro due due sette "at" gmail.com) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 03:32:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 1)

'scare' 'quotes'

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 04:00:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Hope Springs Eternal ... (none / 0)

or some bullshit like that.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 05:13:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

My understanding is that Windows has a TON of security features in it these days, mostly unseen by regular PC users. There's complex support for smart cards, for example, and encryption, and hard tokens, and a hefty licensing system. These are all important in secure environments, especially the military and corporations that worry about that sort of thing.

Not that any of that stuff helps much when you go to a site advertising exotic wives and you pick up a disease...

by asdf on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 11:52:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

There are a ton of security features. None of the solve the fundamental problem: Windows allows code to be downloaded which can modify the operating system and application programs.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sun Feb 19th, 2012 at 12:55:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

Then you need Linux if only because you can download any patches in source and recompile and apply them yourself.

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Feb 19th, 2012 at 01:38:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

I concede I can have a working and secure late 1960s era Operating System if I spend a year or so learning Linux in-depth and rewriting it. Which would put off, for that time, implementing a System which has the same general relationship to existing Operating Systems a computer has to a tabulator.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sun Feb 19th, 2012 at 02:06:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

What are you actually trying to do?

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Feb 19th, 2012 at 05:17:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

Natural Language Understanding.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sun Feb 19th, 2012 at 06:13:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

Why do you need to design an operating system to do that?

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Feb 19th, 2012 at 06:25:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

Pathetic, ain't it?

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sun Feb 19th, 2012 at 08:11:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

Because commercial Operating Systems assume a von Neumann machine.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sun Feb 19th, 2012 at 08:08:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

I thought you were designing something on the application layer. Why do the hardware and the operating system matter?

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Feb 20th, 2012 at 04:13:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

For now it has to run on the application layer of a vN machine. May not always be the case. I cherish ~~delusions~~ hope at some point we can convince some entity, somewhere, to throw some money into some computer architecture R&D and at that point it would be nice if I could quickly and easily "dissect" what I'm working on at the moment so it can plug-in the new hardware design.

For example, there's a ton of work published in the last 15 delving into "biological based" cybernetic systems, mostly dealing with robots. Swarm robotics leading to Swarm Intelligence is, for me, particularly interesting in a couple of different areas, along a couple of different axis.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Mon Feb 20th, 2012 at 12:59:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

What would you call a 2010s operating system?

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Feb 19th, 2012 at 05:19:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

Ask me again in, about, eight months and I'll show you.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sun Feb 19th, 2012 at 06:07:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

IOS.

by asdf on Mon Feb 20th, 2012 at 10:37:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

iOS is Unix (technically POSIX) with pretty buttons.

A true 21st century OS would be an interesting thing. The closest thing I've seen so far is the IBM Renaissance Project, which is looking at massively parallel apps written for hundreds of processors without the usual parallel processing cruft. (See also Amdahl's Law.)

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Mon Feb 20th, 2012 at 10:42:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

Yeah, we're still talking about a FreeBSD descendant.

So, what's wrong with POSIX?

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Feb 20th, 2012 at 10:44:11 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 1)

None of the 'nixes are good at massively parallel computing, or at associative searches.

There's already a lot of interest in using spare GPU capacity for performance computing, but there's a limited amount older OS models can do with that idea.

There's going to be a push towards affordable hundred- and thousand-core chips over the next few years, but there isn't - yet - any modern OS that can work with them efficiently.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Mon Feb 20th, 2012 at 11:16:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

With a bit of luck, I'll have the opportunity to play with one of these new Sun/Oracle boxes over the next few months. Unrevolutionary I expect, just a pragmatic tailoring of hardware and OS to data crunching.

Just raw parallel-processing power to apply brute force to what would otherwise require the construction of multidimensional data models.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Mon Feb 20th, 2012 at 12:14:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

IBM i?

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Feb 20th, 2012 at 10:47:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

While in Unix-like systems "everything is a file", on the System i everything is an object, with built-in persistence and garbage collection. It also offers Unix-like file directories using the Integrated File System.[2] Java compatibility is implemented through a native port of the Java virtual machine.

Aha. But is that what "a 21st century system" means?

(Dunno if AT will agree but, in a way, going from files to objects is like going from set theory to category theory in mathematics)

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Feb 20th, 2012 at 10:51:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

Sure I agree. A point of Object Orientated Programming was to be able to incorporate techniques from Category Theory into computer programming.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Mon Feb 20th, 2012 at 01:16:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Saturday Open Thread (none / 0)

Liberal Democrat Voice: Phil Bennion MEP takes up seat in European Parliament (15th February 2012)

The Staffordshire farmer and economic policy expert takes over from Liz Lynne who stood down from Parliament earlier in February after more than 12 years due to the extensive travelling required in the job. He was elected to second place on the [West Midlands] Lib Dem list of candidates at the last European elections in 2009.

I am determined to fight for the vital interests of the whole of the West Midlands region in the European Union and for a more prosperous and democratic Europe. From the shire counties to the manufacturing heart of the nation in Birmingham, this region's economic and environmental future will be shaped by our relationship with the EU.
...
I have always been pro-European. I am a strong supporter of a more liberal and democratic EU that concentrates on what it should be doing as simply and efficiently as possible. We are stronger together and would be much poorer apart.

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 02:54:01 PM EST

#razones19F

(Reasons to join the 19 February demonstrations against the government's just announced labour reform)

Salient feature: a firm is free to change the contractual conditions of any employee, including the salary, working hours or place of work. If the worker disagrees, they can be fired with cause.

tens of millions of people stand to see their lives ruined because the bureaucrats at the ECB don't understand introductory economics -- Dean Baker

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 04:50:04 PM EST

Re: Top twitter trending topic for Spain (none / 1)

A return to the glory days of dem darkies singing their colorful songs while a'pickin Cotton from dawn to dusk down on dee ol' plantation while Massa sits on his ass drinking Mint Julips ... when he isn't raping the women.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 05:12:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Top twitter trending topic for Spain (none / 0)

Disabled people face unlimited unpaid work or cuts in benefit - the documents | Politics | guardian.co.uk

We've had a lot of interest in our story on disabilities published last night. Many of the comments that have been posted express a sense of disbelief at the Department for Work and Pensions proposals. After discussion we thought it appropriate to release more of what we have for readers to view.
The story was based upon a tip-off about what the government was about to propose. We also came into receipt of documents from a meeting of 10 DWP officials and 21 disability and mental health stakeholder groups - charities and representatives - which outlined the basic elements of the policy. The meeting took place on 1 December 2011.
We've decided to upload the documents which are first, a Powerpoint presentation on the new Work Experience policy for the ESA Wrag group, and second, a question and answer session after the presentation as minuted by a DWP civil servant.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 05:40:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Top twitter trending topic for Spain (none / 0)

Minister's anger over 'job snobs' opposing Tesco work experience for unemployed - Telegraph

Opponents of the work experience scheme have in recent days claimed it is tantamount to "forced labour" and "21st century slavery", after it emerged that some of the positions offered included night shifts of shelf stacking for Tesco, the supermarket giant.
Until the Coalition government changed the law, it was possible for anyone undertaking unpaid work experience to lose their benefits.
As well as allowing young jobseekers to keep their benefits during eight weeks of unpaid work experience, the Department for Work and Pensions has found voluntary placements for people in supermarkets and other employers.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 05:40:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Top twitter trending topic for Spain (none / 1)

The elimination of boon work is a direct cause of the decline of Merrie Olde England.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 05:46:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Top twitter trending topic for Spain (4.00 / 2)

'Fraudulent' disability in historical perspective, by David M. Turner

The state has supported people with disabilities since the Elizabethan (Old) Poor Law of 1601 ordered the raising of taxes for the 'necessary relief of the lame, impotent, old and blind'. From the inception of welfare policy, claimants have faced popular suspicion and accusations that their medical conditions have been faked or exaggerated.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 05:48:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Top twitter trending topic for Spain (4.00 / 3)

Martin Rowson on welfare cuts - cartoon | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Civil service document reveals policy proposal to make disabled people work unpaid for an unlimited amount of time

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sat Feb 18th, 2012 at 05:47:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Top twitter trending topic for Spain (4.00 / 3)

I always thought Tories wanted to return the UK to the glory days of the 19th century.

Now I realise they want to return the UK to the glory days of the Roman Empire.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Sun Feb 19th, 2012 at 06:44:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Top twitter trending topic for Spain (none / 1)

Now I understand Cameron's policy on Scotland. I thought he was just being an idiot; I didn't realize that he simply wants to rebuild Hadrian's separation fence.

by gk (g k quattro due due sette "at" gmail.com) on Mon Feb 20th, 2012 at 08:18:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Top twitter trending topic for Spain (none / 1)

the Department for Work and Pensions has found voluntary placements for people in supermarkets and other employers.

only true for imaginative values of voluntary

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sun Feb 19th, 2012 at 08:17:36 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Top twitter trending topic for Spain (none / 1)

Well charities are becoming stressed by the sheer numbers of 'volunteers' being sent to them, and this is before the schemes are fully up and running. and without a pre-election push to get the number of people on schemes up so unemployment numbers are down.....

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sun Feb 19th, 2012 at 08:35:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Top twitter trending topic for Spain (none / 0)

I recall that my first inkling of 'Race' was a post-war cartoon in which a laid back black GI (laid back = his helmet was unstrapped and socks handing out of his boots), was pointing a rifle nonchalantly at a baffled surrendering SS officer. "Iz you iz, or iz you ain't mah Nazi?"

From a childhood knowledge limited by geography schoolbooks illustrated with nimble naked natives shinning up coconut trees, or a strip in the Dandy comic that depicted Africans with skin so black and shiny it had window reflections, and of course a bone through the nose, this cartoon was a revelation. One, that blacks fought in the war; two, that they had different speech patterns; and three, uniform could be casually worn.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sun Feb 19th, 2012 at 04:45:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Saturday Open Thread | 75 comments (75 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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The Intellectual Foundations of Austerity destroyed

Spring is Sprung - Photoblog

Occasional Series