Encore Auction: Win a Photo Shoot @ CONvergence for You and a Friend

Jun. 19th, 2013 08:40 pm
[syndicated profile] skepchick_feed

Posted by Melanie

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Skepchick/~3/f4l5WpOdpcs/

http://skepchick.org/?p=41648

Are you coming to CONvergence? Planning to wear one or several amazing costumes? Then you and a friend should seriously consider bidding on this auction to commemorate your cosplay with professional quality photographs.

Nothing sucks more than to wear your best costume to-date only to have your photos turn out crappy or even so-so, because you really can’t go back. You can put it on again at home, but it’s just not the same.

–Experience

Jamie (aka UAJamie, the Skeptical Ninja) is offering to do a half-hour photo shoot for you and a friend, complete with costume changes, at CONvergence (July 4-7). Jamie has taken some brilliant photos in the past, not only at cons but throughout the Obama campaign.

The featured photo is an example of her work. See more photos and auction details here.

If you can’t make it to CONvergence, this would still make an awesome gift for someone!

The auction ends at 9 pm eastern this Sunday, June 23.

As with our previous auctions, the proceeds go entirely to SkepchickCon. If these auctions don’t interest you but you’d still like to help out, please check out the donations widget over at skepchickcon.com.

We welcome donated items and services to put up on eBay as well as ideas for other causes and events that might benefit from future fundraising auctions. Contact us with your donation ideas or cause suggestions!

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Skepchick/~3/f4l5WpOdpcs/

http://skepchick.org/?p=41648

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Slut Shame

Jun. 19th, 2013 09:06 pm
[syndicated profile] andrew_hickey_feed

Posted by Andrew Hickey

http://andrewhickey.info/2013/06/19/slut-shame/

http://andrewhickey.info/?p=3709

A woman says "I'm the Slut. I like to take off my clothes and do things." A baloon coming from off panel says "Uh... yes. Next."

OK, I knew that Before Watchmen was terrible — I wrote about it myself, and then there’s the Hooded Utilitarian’s two-part evisceration, but until I read this by Calamity Jon Morris, I didn’t realise just how utterly appalling it was.

I mean, as Jon points out, the whole “terrible superhero auditions” thing is a cliché anyway, but seriously? “I’m The Slut. I like to take off my clothes and do things.”

That’s something that a professional, Eisner-award-winning, comics writer thought would add to the most acclaimed work in his medium. Darwyn Cooke — a man who is, let us not forget, a grown adult, who has been out of school for. we must presume, several decades, thought Watchmen — a formal masterpiece based around themes of free will, predestination, power and responsibility — would have been better if there was a joke superhero who called herself “the Slut”.

Eisner award winning Darwyn Cooke there, ladies and gentlemen…


Tagged: before watchmen, comics, darwyn cooke

http://andrewhickey.info/2013/06/19/slut-shame/

http://andrewhickey.info/?p=3709

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Country diary: Crook, County Durham: Orange tip butterflies are so fragile, yet survive violent rain

Jun. 5th, 2013 11:00 pm
[syndicated profile] guardian_northerner_feed

Posted by Phil Gates

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/the-northerner/2013/jun/05/crook-county-durham-orange-tip-butterflies

Crook, County Durham: It will not open its wings until the rain clouds have passed. Only the return of sunlight will revive it

The rain relented, but not before the ragged edges of departing clouds had delivered a last, ferocious downpour, beating flowers beside the footpath into submission, leaving tall grasses flattened, stitchwort bedraggled and cow parsley umbels bowed under the bombardment.

It was by pure chance that we spotted the exquisitely camouflaged orange tip butterfly, roosting on a saturated lady's smock flower head with wings tight closed – every green, white and golden wing scale miraculously, immaculately intact. How had it survived, when one direct hit from a raindrop travelling at terminal velocity might have bludgeoned it into the wet grass?

Other butterflies shelter from rain under leaves but orange tips often seem to choose to perch in the open, on flowers exposed to the full force of the downpour. I've several times watched their behaviour change when dark clouds begin to slide across the sun and the temperature drops, even before the first raindrops patter on the leaves. They are natural barometers in showery weather, settling on a flower, folding their wings tightly, aligning their antennae with the long axis of their body and presenting the smallest possible target to the oncoming threat.

When the shower has passed I have invariably found the butterfly unharmed. Poke one of these torpid orange tips gently and it will not stir, even though it might have been zigzagging through the flowers a few minutes earlier. Be more persistent and it might climb on to your finger, but it will not open its wings until the rain clouds have passed. Only the return of sunlight and warmth will revive it. Butterflies are the epitome of fragility and yet the behaviour of this species, when a sudden spring squall sent us running for the shelter of the trees, raised questions. Could it be that its ethereal lightness is the key to its survival, such that the rush of air ahead of a falling raindrop pushes it aside just enough to avoid a fatal impact?

Phil Gates

guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/the-northerner/2013/jun/05/crook-county-durham-orange-tip-butterflies

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PB Nighthawks is now open

Jun. 19th, 2013 09:05 pm
[syndicated profile] political_betting_feed

Posted by TSE

http://www7.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2013/06/19/pb-nighthawks-is-now-open-14/

http://www7.politicalbetting.com/?p=60261

 

Home of the web’s best political conversation

Why not relax, and converse into the night on the day’s events in PB NightHawks, which is Open All Night.

If you’ve always been a lurker, why not delurk tonight, it’ll be Glory Days for you, once you start posting.

The round up of recent events (click on the links below, and it will bring up the relevant story)

 

TSE

http://www7.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2013/06/19/pb-nighthawks-is-now-open-14/

http://www7.politicalbetting.com/?p=60261

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Now I’ve Finished The Beach Boys Posts…

Jun. 19th, 2013 07:52 pm
[syndicated profile] andrew_hickey_feed

Posted by Andrew Hickey

http://andrewhickey.info/2013/06/19/now-ive-finished-the-beach-boys-posts/

http://andrewhickey.info/?p=3706

For now at least (book three will come early next year), I can start on the next project. I’m going to try to write, and serialise, a “young adult” book on here over the next few weeks.

As with all my projects, it may fizzle out, or it may be great.

While the first chapter (later tonight) may seem topical, I actually had the idea a little while back (I emailed a few people about it at the time).

So, in an hour or two, look for chapter one of How To Build Your Own Time Machine


http://andrewhickey.info/2013/06/19/now-ive-finished-the-beach-boys-posts/

http://andrewhickey.info/?p=3706

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Jo Swinson announces consultation on streamlining businesses’ appeal process

Jun. 19th, 2013 07:46 pm
[syndicated profile] lib_dem_voice_feed

Posted by Caron Lindsay

http://www.libdemvoice.org/jo-swinson-announces-consultation-on-streamlining-businesses-appeal-process-34990.html

http://www.libdemvoice.org/?p=34990

From The Guardian:

The ability of big business to deploy armies of lawyers to prevent regulators from introducing consumer-friendly measures will be curbed under proposals published by the government on Wednesday.

The Business minister, Jo Swinson, is proposing a streamlined appeals system for challenging decisions by the UK’s economic regulators, which include Ofcom, the Competition Commission, Ofwat and the Office of the Rail Regulator.

Over the last five years there have been more than 50 appeals of regulatory and competition decisions.Legal challenges have caused delays to the 4G telecoms auction, tied up Welsh utility Albion Water in five years of appeals, and dragged Ofcom and BSkyB into a five year battle over pay-TV pricing.

“Under the current system, every penny one of the incumbent companies spends on lawyers and delaying change is money well spent,” said a telecoms industry source. “There is a massive incentive to unpick decisions through technicalities.”

Jo said when she announced the consultation, which will run until September this year:

The UK’s appeal rules work well and we have a world-class framework in place. But we also recognise that there is room for improvement to support growth.

It is only right that firms can hold regulators and competition authorities to account when they think the wrong decision has been reached. But it is in nobody’s interest that appeals end up being unnecessarily lengthy and costly.

A new streamlined system will mean that businesses see their appeals sorted quicker and that they and regulators spend less time and legal resources on disputes. Reduced delays will help build a stronger economy and provide better outcomes for consumers.

This one made me think a bit about my prejudices. If Theresa May announced a streamlining of the immigration appeals process, I’d be up in arms, but because it’s Jo Swinson curbing the excesses of big business, I can’t see too much wrong with it. Of course, the very real concerns of asylum seekers and families seeking to bring their loved ones to this country, and the ability of the UK Border Agency to get it spectacularly wrong make me worry about any attempt to diminish the rights of people who are already pretty powerless. Large corporations trying to renege on their obligations to their consumers, on the other hand, do not attract quite so much of my compassion.

Every decision maker has to be held to account and every decision maker will get things wrong, but it shouldn’t take years of expensive legal limbo to sort it all out. I can’t quite see how they will get all the appeals done in 12 weeks, though. The Competition Appeals Tribunal currently aims to complete appeals on “straightforward” cases in 9 months. There’s an organisation that’s going to get a bit of a culture change if this goes ahead…

* Caron Lindsay is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings

http://www.libdemvoice.org/jo-swinson-announces-consultation-on-streamlining-businesses-appeal-process-34990.html

http://www.libdemvoice.org/?p=34990

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Osborne green light to Lloyds privatisation

Jun. 19th, 2013 08:45 pm
[syndicated profile] bbc_robert_peston_feed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22977178

So as I expected this morning (Commission backs Lloyds as first privatisation), the chancellor is today in his Mansion House speech firing the starting gun on privatisation of a big chunk of Lloyds before the election, and signalling that RBS is unlikely to see shares sold to private-sector investors till the next parliament.

On Lloyds, the first part of the privatisation could literally happen any day, although I don't expect it till the autumn.

The chancellor has decided that the initial tranche, worth presumably a couple of billion pounds or so, will be sold to investment institutions rather than retail investors.

That means a lengthy prospectus does not need to be prepared, but the shares can be placed in the market at a time of the chancellor's choosing.

However there is likely to be an opportunity for retail investors to buy the shares, but at a later date.

As for RBS, George Osborne doesn't believe it will be in a state to sell to investors till after mid 2015, which is when the coalition says it will go to the country.

Partly that's because there may have to be a serious reconstruction of RBS, in that the chancellor is also announcing that the Treasury - aided by outside experts - will review whether it makes sense to hive off RBS's supposedly bad assets into a new "bad bank" which would remain in the public sector.

A decision on whether to split RBS in that way will be taken in the autumn (and for what it's worth, I am told the chancellor had already decided to carry out this review, before he knew that the Banking Commission would call for such an assessment).

Interestingly, the chancellor is now of the view that it would have been a good thing to break up RBS shortly after it was rescued in 2008 - though he is not throwing stones at Labour, which was in power at the time, for failing to do this because he wasn't calling for such a dismantling at the time.

Anyway, the review will look in particular at whether RBS's bad commercial property and Irish loans should be stripped out and retained in the public sector - till they are repaid or sold separately (see here for more on this).

The final decision on whether to sanitize RBS in this way will depend on whether it is seen to facilitate eventual privatisation, whether it would be good for taxpayers and whether it would support Britain's economy.

Before I continue, I should point out that those are the three tests for all the chancellor's future decisions on banks.

In the meantime, RBS will be under orders from the chancellor to become a much simpler and more domestic bank, concentrating on services for retail customers, small businesses and larger corporates in Britain.

Which implies that George Osborne wants RBS to accelerate the shrinkage of its global investment bank and not drag its feet on selling its US operation, Citizens.

Finally Mr Osborne is telling the City this evening that the forced sales by Lloyds and RBS of retail and small business banking operations- known by the respective monikers of Project Verde and Project Rainbow - may not be ambitious enough.

He is asking the Office of Fair Trading to assess by the end of the year whether each of them should be obliged to sell rather more branches than currently planned, so as to create bigger and more effective competitor banks.

But to get back to the fairly imminent Lloyds privatisation, it won't happen until the share price is comfortably above 61p - and today the price is almost bang on 61p.

The magic of that price is that - as a result of public sector accounting conventions - sales below lead to an increase in the national debt and above it reduce the national debt.

This is where it gets a bit complicated, so you are at liberty to stop reading here. But I need to point out that 61p is substantially below the price taxpayers actually paid for their 39% investment in Lloyds, which was 73.6p.

That 61p is the level at which the shares are valued in the government's accounts: the Treasury booked the value of the stake at the share price prevailing on the day of the transaction to buy the shares closed, rather than the cash price.

Now there are many who believe that the government should strive to get back the cash it invested in Lloyds, viz 73.6p per share, £20bn, rather than the accounting value, or £16.6bn.

So you should expect a bit of a punch-up between Labour and the coalition government, Balls and Osborne, on whether that £3.4bn difference between the cash and accounting value of the state's Lloyd's shares is spilt milk and should be written off.

That said, as I understand it, Osborne thinks it is plausible he will eventually get back the full £20bn or 73.6p. He's just not religious about its importance.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22977178

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Now here's my plan…

Jun. 19th, 2013 03:41 pm
supergee: (psyduck)
[personal profile] supergee
Hypothesis: Scott Adams is a multiple personality, and several of the Dilbert characters write their own lines.

Evidence: Adams has been blogging for years, and every so often the pointy-haired boss does a post and there is a big kerfuffle.

Latest example: "Science will someday be able to identify sociopaths and terrorists by their patterns of Facebook and Internet use." Bruce Schneier considers the possibility rationally.
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How Facebook makes its money

Jun. 19th, 2013 08:21 pm
andrewducker: (Default)
[personal profile] andrewducker
I hadn't realised that other people didn't know this, but, apparently, some of them didn't.

If you like something on Facebook (like a football team, or a kind of shoes, or a band), then when those people pay Facebook to advertise them, your liking of them will be used as the advert. It can be as simple as "Andrew Ducker likes Manchester United!", or if you wrote more, they'll use that.

It always annoys me when I see ads on my FB page, because they're almost always "Here are things your friends like!" - and I know that if my friends could resist the urge to tell Facebook that they like Pollock's Patented Urinals then I wouldn't get this repeated once a day, just in case I could be persuaded to take a look and then buy something from them.

And if you like something _and_ comment then you've just written them an advert. And then you end up like this, used to sell things to people.

And this shouldn't surprise you - this is how Facebook make their money.
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Almost forgot again

Jun. 19th, 2013 03:18 pm
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People remain wrong on the internet but at least the sky is blue and there is a breeze

Jun. 19th, 2013 07:16 pm
legionseagle: (Default)
[personal profile] legionseagle
Via a tweet I came across from @Paul_Cornell, update on Nine Worlds plans for a major con in London, to be held 9th-11th August, at the Renaissance and Radisson Edwardian hotels near Heathrow. It's the sort of thing I'd be interested in, in principle (they've got speakers like [personal profile] rozk and Laurie Penny, as well as Cornell himself) and though it's a bit pricey and isn't in the most attractive location, yes, you could say I'm the target market.

They've got a track on Doctor Who and Torchwood, which is what Cornell tweeted the link to,* but it wasn't the best introduction to the programme

Here's the line-up of named guests (presumably Guests of Honour, though they aren't named like that)

Kai Owen is a Welsh actor best known for playing Rhys Williams in Torchwood, initially in a supporting role and coming into a main part for seasons 3 and 4. He has also appeared in Being Human and Waterloo Road, and played the lead role in BBC series Rocket Man.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kai_Owen


Gary Russell is a Doctor Who writer. He edited Doctor Who Magazine in the 90s, has written several DW novels and co-wrote the making-of book for the 1996 DW movie. As part of the team creating the new series, he wrote Doctor Who: The Inside Story in 2006, and The Doctor Who Encyclopedia in 2007. He also directed "The Infinite Quest", an animated series tying in the the 2007 Doctor Who series, and wrote Art of The Lord Of The Rings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Russell


James Goss is a producer and writer for Doctor Who and Torchwood spin-off media. With the return of Doctor Who in 2005, he began putting together material with the aim to construct a whole world beyond the show for fans to explore, including games, videos and fictional websites. He has produced Doctor Who animations and special features for the DVDs, as well as writing two Torchwood radio plays and four Torchwood novels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Goss_(producer)


James Moran is a television writer known for his work on Doctor Who and Torchwood, including the episodes "The Fires of Pompeii", "Sleeper", and "Day Three". His feature "Cockneys vs. Zombies" was released in 2012, and he has also written for ITV's Primeval and BBC1's Spooks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Moran_(writer)


Joseph Lidster is a television writer best known for his work on Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures. He started writing tie-in material for the new Doctor Who series in 2005, before joining the Torchwood team to write for the second season in 2008. He has also written content for sites tying in to the BBC's new Sherlock series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Lidster


James Swallow is an award-winning author and multi-media scriptwriter. His novels Fear To Tread and Nemesis were New York Times Bestsellers in 2012 and 2010. He has worked on Blake's 7, Stargate, and Doctor Who, and is the only British writer to have worked on Star Trek. He was nominated for a 2012 BAFTA for his work on the video game Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Swallow


Ben Aaronovitch is the author of the best selling Rivers of London series of novels. He is also the author of several Doctor Who novels and TV episodes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Aaronovitch


All excellent people, some of whom I'd be delighted to hear, but noticed anything yet?

And then there's the track itself:

Saturday

Writing Doctor Who and Torchwood
Kicking off our GeekFest weekend in style, Messrs Lidster, Moran, Goss and Russell talk us through the joys and challenges of writing for Doctor Who (past and present), Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures - for the show, novels and audiobooks.
With Joseph Lidster, James Moran, James Goss and Gary Russell

Doctor Who: The Future (... Spoilers!)
So as it stands we are facing not one but two new Doctors... or is John Hurt really The Valeyard? In fact is Matt Smith even the Eleventh Doctor at all? It's an interesting time for the future of DW and there's a lot at stake! What does the future hold for our cosmic wizard? Warning - there may be spoilers!
With David A. McIntee and Iona Sharma

Interview with Kai Owen - Torchwood's Rhys Williams
Kai Owen achieved global fame with his portrayal of Rhys Williams in Torchwood in 2006 with the character elevated to star billing for the third series in 2009 reflecting his growing role. More recently Owen has appeared in the BBC's Being Human and the Syndicate. There'll be time for autographs afterwards.
Interviewed by Joseph Lidster

Discussing Religion and Doctor Who: Faith, Science Fiction and Academic Research (hosted by the Academia track)
Religion and religious themes have consistently been a subject of interest over Doctor Who's long history. Recently, the show has attracted everything from Church of England conferences dedicated to its use in preaching, to guest appearances by Richard Dawkins. But what is the value of using a science fiction show such as Doctor Who to examine religion? Is there not a danger of turning science fiction, often seen as an avowedly secularist genre, into a tool for evangelism? Using Doctor Who as a case study, we consider that science fiction can serve as a valuable tool for scholars of religion, in examining shifting historical understandings of faith, the reception of central religious concepts, and even the idea of belief itself.
With Dr Andrew Crome of Manchester University

Doctor Who: RTD vs Moffatt
Some people still miss Russell T Davies as showrunner on Doctor Who. Others think the show's never been better since Steven Moffat took over. Who's right? There's only one way to find out... Debate!
With Paul Condon, Matt Nixon and David A. McIntee

Big Finish: The Audio Series
Big Finish's Doctor Who audio plays have enjoyed a huge success over the past 15 years, showcasing the talents of a fantastic range of new writers. We discuss the strenghts and limitations of the audio format, and talk about their other ranges of drama - including Blake's 7, Dark Shadows, Sapphire and Steel.
With Gary Russell, James Goss, Joseph Lidster, Abigail Brady and Una McCormack
Sunday

Chicks Unravel Time
Discussions and readings from the book of the same name in which our favourite series is reviewed and analysed by a host of award-winning female writers, media professionals and scientists
With Iona Sharma, Una McCormack and Jenni Hughes

Doctor Who: The Ones You Love To Hate
Nothing's more fun than a really hissable villain, and Doctor Who's had more than its fair share of dastardly dudes and dames over the years. What makes a perfect villain? Is it the megalomaniac schemes? A catchphrase? Or just a natty line in sinister clothes? We talk all about the nastiest people in history.
With Jonathan L Howard, Adam Christopher, David A. McIntee and Ben Aaranovitch

Is Doctor Who "Thunderingly Racist"?
A recent academic study of DW makes a bold claim that the show is "thunderingly racist". Is this true? No non-white actors have ever played the Doctor, and the absence of non-white people from the line-up of companions throughout the whole of the Classic Series is notable.
With Adam Christopher, Iona Sharma, Abigail Brady and Una McCormack

Torchwood: Doctor Who Goes Sexy
Fans of Torchwood are every bit as dedicated as fans of its parent show Doctor Who (have you seen the Ianto Shrine in Cardiff Bay?). We talk about why the series was such a hit, which season of the show worked best, whose death hurt the most, and what the future might hold for Captain Jack and Gwen.
With Gary Russell, Joseph Lidster, James Goss and Kai Owen

The Sarah Jane Adventures: Spinoff Success
For some fans of the Classic Series of Who, the launch of The Sarah Jane Adventures brought a nostalgic glow. We talk about the success of this brilliant CBBC series and how the team behind the show are continuing to make children's sci-fi with Wizards Vs Aliens.
With Paul Condon, Gary Russell, Joseph Lidster and Matt Nixon

Doctor Who: My Best Friend
From Susan all the way through to Clara Oswald, the Doctor's companion has been a fixture of the series for as long as it's been on the air. But who's been the greatest of them all? Jamie? Jo? Tegan? Rose? Donna? Or do you fly the flag for Dodo or Lady Christina?
With Jonathan L Howard, Matt Nixon and David A. McIntee

Noticed anything else, yet? The two "diversity" panels - "Chicks Unravel Time" and "Is Doctor Who 'Thunderingly Racist'?" have in the first case an all-woman panel, and in the second case a majority woman panel. Everything else, either no women at all, or the odd one or two being endlessly recycled.

But the final insult comes on the Home page, with the Geek Feminism track. Click on that link. Take in that photo. Because nothing, but nothing, says "feminist" like a plastic Wonder Woman figure, maintaining her plastic dignity in the way a real woman should.

So disappointing, after Eastercon. Panel Parity, so 2012?





*Incidentally, have the people who claim they would have difficulty explaining a gender-flipped Doctor to their children and who use the term "suspension of disbelief" ever attempted to explain the denouement of "The Satan Pit/The Impossible Planet" to anyone who's ever heard the terms "space" and "vacuum"? Thought not.
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Godless Bitches

Jun. 19th, 2013 05:54 pm
[syndicated profile] skepchick_feed

Posted by Amy

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Skepchick/~3/1Znil3yvH9U/

http://skepchick.org/?p=41640

Hey guys! Last night the wonderful women at the Godless Bitches podcast were kind enough to let me participate in their show. Full disclosure: It was over 90 degrees in my studio while we were recording and I was drinking a lot of hot sake. I make no promises that I was at all coherent BUT I did have a lot of fun!

We talk about zombie babies. Can they eat their way out of you? Would you push a guy in front of a train? How many bats are living under a bridge in Texas and how can you find them? And my favorite part of the discussion was learning about the standards in the military and how bringing women into the special operation units will in no way lower those standards at all. Interesting stuff.

Thanks To Beth Presswood, Jen Peeples and Tracie Harris for letting me be on the show.

You can listen to the episode here: http://godlessbitches.podbean.com/2013/06/19/episode-309/

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Skepchick/~3/1Znil3yvH9U/

http://skepchick.org/?p=41640

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John McAfee releases NSFW video on how to uninstall security code

Jun. 19th, 2013 05:24 pm
[syndicated profile] el_reg_nsfw_feed

Posted by Iain Thomson

http://go.theregister.com/i/cfa/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/19/john_mcafee_uninstall_video/

Naturally this requires sex, drugs, and firearms

International fugitive, criminal suspect and self-described eccentric millionaire John McAfee has released a tongue-in-cheek video explaining how to uninstall the security software that still bears his name.

http://go.theregister.com/i/cfa/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/19/john_mcafee_uninstall_video/

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If Science was Easy Would Humans Exist? (or sponge crabs for that matter)

Jun. 19th, 2013 05:37 pm
[syndicated profile] robinince_feed

Posted by robinince

https://robinince.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/if-science-was-easy-would-humans-exist-or-sponge-crabs-for-that-matter/

http://robinince.wordpress.com/?p=337

Here is draft number one, I look forward to the grammarians pointing out the ghastly errors that come with my hasty typing and scattermind. Did I express what I wanted to, I am not sure I did, see this as thoughts that might have failed.

 

Science is hard. 

I was once warned that I should be careful with my silly science variety shows and solo escapades. Just as some left Top Gun and signed up for the US air force, the malleable young might leave a night of particle physics related tap dancing, hula hooping and quark inspired flippancy, and sign up to spend the rest of their life squinting at equations that at first offer the hope of a theory of everything, but end up leading to the sanitarium. 

 One of the reasons I enjoy science so much is that I don’t need to understand it, I just need to be enthralled and enchanted by it. Each time I pick up a new book on quantum mechanics or genetic engineering, I briefly experience a waking dream where I turn the final page and experience total comprehension, but then I snap out of my illusory future and realise that I’ll just enjoy the ride. Sometimes, when Brian Cox is talking to me, i don’t know when to say, “errr, can you go back a bit, you lost me at the basic Lagrangian mechanics.”

 I meet people who tell me they tried some science book, couldn’t make head nor tail of it, so have returned to the comfort of the immaculate and thrilling plots of Ian Rankin or another book on wooden teeth and monarchy. Humans want certainty. For much of ape evolution there was little time to start a philosophy talking point group when mulling over the possible approaches to evading a rapidly approaching drooling beast. Our minds are tuned to make us jump first and the rationalise it was a shadow not a dragon second. 

 When reading a book or watching a TV documentary we want to feel we have learnt, that our mind is less muddy than before. I wonder of people give up on reading science for pleasure because they want the buzz of the victory of understanding and then telling everyone else that they understand, rather than the more solitary joy of seeing the world slightly differently, whether when observing the movement of a bee or the glimmer of a star. 

 The older I become, the more I accept that Mr Know-It-All is only a position you can hold if you bullshit a lot and hope no one in the room knows anything on the subject you are extemporising on. Oh the horror of cobbling together your three facts about Jean Paul Sartre and holding court by the quiche, only to find out that Mary Warnock is by the potato salad. 

Perhaps what I am attempting to express (it is a hot day and my mind is clammier than usual) is “lower your personal Nobel prize winning potential expectations when reading Roger Penrose”. If you set out to read books with the sole purpose of understanding the universe and all that lies, hangs and spins within it, you may be tetchy by tuesday week. 

Accept that you will die ignorant of much, but that you leave behind the pencil marks in books and the post it notes scribbles that meant you enjoyed trying to comprehend. 

 Be thrilled to be a self-conscious entity able to ponder and turn pages. Be happy you know you are an idiot, because each day you can have the thrill of trying to repair this foible via investigation or observation or experimentation. 

 So what I meant to say was – don’t worry about feeling stupid when you first read about the  Higgs field, muons, gluons, quarks, RNA, DNA, special relativity, general relativity, biosynthesis and the rest, and don’t feel worried if you are still feeling pretty ignorant at the third, fourth and fifth time, if the universe was easy to understand, then it wouldn’t be complex enough to contain all that it does and that includes you. Enjoy each inkling of understanding what atoms can do and to relax, just think of the complex language of bee choreography. 

 (All of the above does not count if you are a professional scientist – know you’re stuff and have all the answers or you’ll never be able to terraform Mars and give us somewhere new to look out from when we’ve screwed up this place. )

New science app The Incomplete Map of the Cosmic Genome is here https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/incomplete-map-cosmic-genome/id644882342?mt=8 includes Brian Cox, Lawrence Krauss, Helen Czerski, Stewart Lee and many more

Infinite Monkey Cage returns to BBC Radio 4 on Monday 24th June, podcast version soon after


https://robinince.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/if-science-was-easy-would-humans-exist-or-sponge-crabs-for-that-matter/

http://robinince.wordpress.com/?p=337

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John McAfee releases NSFW video on how to uninstall security code

Jun. 19th, 2013 05:24 pm
[syndicated profile] el_reg_odds_feed

Posted by Iain Thomson

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/19/john_mcafee_uninstall_video/

Naturally this requires sex, drugs, and firearms

International fugitive, criminal suspect and self-described eccentric millionaire John McAfee has released a tongue-in-cheek video explaining how to uninstall the security software that still bears his name.…

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/19/john_mcafee_uninstall_video/

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Let’s Jail The Bankers: We’ll Deal With The Bureaucrats And Politicians Later

Jun. 19th, 2013 05:04 pm
[syndicated profile] tim_worstall_forbes_feed

Posted by Tim Worstall

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/06/19/lets-jail-the-bankers-well-deal-with-the-bureaucrats-and-politicians-later/

http://blogs.forbes.com/timworstall/?p=9333

A Parliamentary committee in Britain has just announced that it thinks that it should be possible to jail bankers for running their banks in a “reckless” manner. All of which is very well: it’s just that the justification for this does rather include the idea that we ought to be able to jail both politicians and bureaucrats when they operate in a similarly reckless manner.

The actual proposal is here:

George Osborne is facing pressure to radically overhaul Britain’s banks by introducing a new law to jail bankers for “reckless misconduct” and force bankers to wait up to 10 years to receive their bonuses.

Making the bankers wait that long will essentially mean that bonuses have near to zero effect. Humans just discount the future too heavily for a decade to be a reasonable amount of time to wait. It might be that we shouldn’t be like this but we are: hyperbolic discounting it’s called. Indeed, research does show that even making people wait two years for a bonus reduces the perceived value of it by 50% or so. Thus I would expect either bonuses to get very much larger if they have to wait that long: or, perhaps, the near death of the bonus culture itself. Which many would applaud of course. But it would mean base pay and thus the fragility of banks themselves going up.

But it’s that idea of jailing bankers who behave recklessly that is so interesting. It’s already a criminal offense to bribe, steal trade insolvently and so on, I’m hard put to think of behaviour that would be caught under the heading of “reckless” that isn’t already under one of those others. Unless we mean simply getting things wrong of course. And that’s where it starts to get really interesting.

If a banker can be jailed for behaving recklessly and thus losing our money then why can’t a bureaucrat? Or a politician? To give just one example from my native Britain: the recent Olympics. When we were all encouraged to support the bid to hold that track meet for drug addicts we were told that it would cost some £2.5 billion. £3 billion absolute tops. By the time it was all over the costs have been well in excess of £20 billion. That’s someone, somewhere along the line, behaving very recklessly with all of our money. So why can’t we jail whoever it was?

As in so many things Germany has got there first:

To add to that, though, the Association has come up with a new campaign. Just complaining about waste, it says, is simply not good enough. It wants to make waste of public money a criminal offence.

In their campaign brochure, the case is closely argued, the premise being that personal criminal liability is used to counter the “It’s not my money!” mentality of decision-makers.

The Association draws a parallel between tax evasion, for which the citizen can be punished, and waste, for which there is no penalty. It sees the two as different sides of the same coin, calling for full civil, criminal and legal responsibility to be applied to public servants for their actions. The mismatch between the prosecution of tax evasion and the lack of action against tax waste, it says, “is now striking”.

Thus, the Association wants to see a new offence of “Financial Infidelity” in the criminal code, to facilitate the prosecution of civil servants and public officials when tax money is wasted. In addition, a special duty is imposed on those responsible for granting or spending public funds, which permits penalising poor performance. And this should apply through all levels of government, including municipalities and corporations or institutions where public law is applicable.

Isn’t that just an entirely gorgeous idea? It’s most certainly one that I would fully support. I can imagine having the most wonderful fun reporting people to the prosecutors as well. It would be a sport truly worth playing.

And the most joyous point about it is that it’s very difficult indeed to see how the politicians can complain about it given what they want to do to the bankers. If it’s a criminal offense to firehose other peoples’ money down the drain then it’s a criminal offense to firehose other peoples’ money down the drain. We might catch the odd banker at this, this is true, but that’s surely a price worth paying for being able to prosecute near every politician and bureaucrat for evermore. I look forward to this, I truly do.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/06/19/lets-jail-the-bankers-well-deal-with-the-bureaucrats-and-politicians-later/

http://blogs.forbes.com/timworstall/?p=9333

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It’s Okay to Make Mistakes, Even About Galileo

Jun. 19th, 2013 04:33 pm
[syndicated profile] skepchick_feed

Posted by Rebecca Watson

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Skepchick/~3/Zb_QIfkhxKY/

http://skepchick.org/?p=41630

Recently, I’ve been talking a lot about mistakes and what happens when mistakes are compounded. But something came up today that makes me think some people could use a reminder that it’s perfectly okay to make mistakes, despite what people – including the male supremacists who harass me every day – may tell you.

On Twitter this morning, I saw this in my reply feed:

I don’t normally click links where there’s a nearly 100% possibility of reading some bile-filled bit of idiocy directed toward myself, but I have to say that the “Rebecca Watson is the cause of all things I hate” meme truly amuses me. In this case, the link goes to a conversation between commenters Oolon and David Jones (aka Metaburbia).

Oolon says:

Particularly I remember your bringing up the Rebecca Watson Galileo “mistake”… Created by Franc Hoggle and one of the rare lies from the pit that was so bad even some on there called it out. She corrected it! But apparently not fast enough for Franc “speedy” Hoggle… Thus proving she is no sceptic and repeated as if gospel by one Metaburbia/David Jones.

Also not even mentioning that she acknowledged the mistake and corrected very quickly. One of many pieces of bullshit repeated ad-nauseam by you.

David Jones responds:

>’She corrected it’

I heard her make the mistake on the SGU. It was corrected on the SGU the following week. She made the mistake.

I don’t know David Jones at all, nor do I know his apparent pseudonym Metaburbia (I can’t be expected to keep track of these losers), so I can’t say for sure whether this is an example of him blatantly and knowingly lying or simply repeating someone else’s lie so often that he believes it actually happened to him, but in either case, it’s absolutely fascinating.

I did in fact once say that Galileo was executed by the Catholic Church, but I didn’t say it on my podcast, SGU. I said it in the midst of this rant I put on YouTube:

A few minutes after uploading it, a friend of mine pinged me to point out that I was thinking of Giordano Bruno, and that Galileo had been condemned to house arrest for life. Whoops! I immediately hopped back on YouTube and edited the video to include an annotation pointing out and correcting my mistake:

Galileo correction

When a few people kept Tweeting me to point it out, I Tweeted to make sure everyone saw the correction:

As you can see, that Tweet came just 20 minutes after the one announcing the new video:

I’ve never removed a video from YouTube, and I believe that if I make a mistake, the best thing to do is not to hide it but to acknowledge it, correct it, and move on. That’s not what my haters believe, though. They’ve turned this incident into a major talking point to support their primary thesis that I’m a stupid, uneducated slut who no one should ever listen to. Seriously: here’s a blog post from noted misogynist Franc Hoggle (aka Victor Ivanoff), written 17 days after my video went live, and at least 16 days, 23 hours, and 40 minutes after my correction was made:

FrankHoggleDogShit

Here we are, 1.75 years later, and this is still one of the best points against me that they’ve got. Look how gleeful they are in the comments on the video, slapping their hands together and chuckling over how stupid I am:

“Galileo was not executed”
Yes, but Rebecca isn’t going to let something as silly as facts get in the? way of a good story.

Oh, the irony!

The male supremacists desperately try and fail to convince the world that I’m not worth listening to, and to do it they’ll happily sacrifice two of the best things skepticism has going for it: the idea that you don’t need to be highly educated to be a critical thinker, and the idea that it’s okay to admit mistakes and change your mind as you learn more. What a shame.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Skepchick/~3/Zb_QIfkhxKY/

http://skepchick.org/?p=41630

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Why Would Anyone Say That Leeds Was The “Best City”?

Jun. 19th, 2013 04:55 pm
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Guilt, Mine, and Paying It Forward, Me

Jun. 19th, 2013 04:17 pm
[syndicated profile] scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by John Scalzi

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/06/19/guilt-mine-and-paying-it-forward-me/

http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=22156

You know, every now and again some dude will read my “Straight White Male” piece or one of the similar follow-on pieces, decide to put me in my place, and barf up a blog nugget consisting of straw men, bad logic, projection and anger issues with me as its target. This is fine, of course. Everyone needs a hobby and at the end of the day I’m not generally psychically or materially injured by the venting, and indeed I’m often amused. So let the blog nuggets fly.

Be that as it may, it’s worth it every once in a while to note a particular poor argument about me and point and laugh at it. The one I’d like to address today is the one which asserts that I have guilt for being white and/or straight and/or male and/or what passes for “liberal” here in the United States. The “guilt” assertion is a favorite tactic of bad rhetoricians, because, oh, I don’t know, if you feel guilt then you are weak, and if you are weak then your arguments aren’t good because SHUT UP YOU PATHETIC WEAKLING I LAUGH AS YOU MEWL IN THE DIRT STOMP STOMP STOMP or something along that line.

Let’s put aside for now the inherent poor logic of “You feel guilt therefore your argument is invalid” and ask the relevant question of: Do I, in fact, feel guilty for being white and/or straight and/or male and/or what passes for “liberal” here in the United States?

Short answer:

BWA HAH HA HA HA HAH HA you gotta be kidding me.

Longer answer:

BWA HA HA HA HAH AH HA HA HAH HA HA HA AH HA HA HA no, seriously, you have to be absolutely, totally, completely joking. And if you’re not, that’s about seven different tangy flavors of stupid.

And now, the answer in that offers detail and some nuance:

So, not too long ago, I was at an amusement park with a friend of mine who is notable in his field, which is not my field. And because he is notable in his field, he has fans. At least one of those fans worked at this amusement park and said to my friend, hey, if you come to the park, let me know and I’ll make sure you get the VIP treatment. And who doesn’t like getting the VIP treatment? Very few, that’s who.

So we went and we got the VIP treatment and I have to tell you it was pretty sweet. For example, all those lines everyone else had to wait in to get a popular ride? We totally didn’t. We went down an open path and got escorted right to the head of the line. We passed all those folks who had been waiting for 90 minutes or so while we did it and slipped into a car for the ride. It was a fun ride.

Do I feel guilty for breezing past all the folks who had to wait an hour and a half to get on the ride? Nope. I was offered a break and I took advantage of it, and was happy to do so. It meant that I had an extra ninety minutes to go on more rides, and that my overall amusement park experience was not one of complete exasperation. It worked out well for me.

But let’s be clear: I got a break there, something other people don’t always get. And in my particular case, it was a break that I did nothing to receive — I got a break because I knew a guy. I don’t feel guilty about getting that break, but I also don’t pretend that it was deserved or earned, or that the people we walked past wouldn’t be within their rights to be irritated with me blowing right on by. And I don’t pretend that, for the fact that I just happened to know a guy, I wouldn’t have been in that line for an hour and a half. So, no guilt, but come on. I know what I got out of that situation, through no effort of my own.

Out here in the real world of the United States, me being white and straight and male is kind of like me going to the amusement park with my notable pal. I get some breaks and advantages, at least some of which I didn’t do anything on my own to get. Do I feel guilty about them? No. I have things I want to do in my life — and things I’m happy to avoid in my life — and if I get breaks that let me do/avoid them, I’ll take them. I do take them. But again, I don’t pretend I’m not getting breaks other people aren’t, and avoiding aggravations that other people have to deal with. I recognize what I get that’s due to me and my efforts, and what I get because of things that aren’t fundamentally about me at all.

Now, if you’re unsophisticated enough to confuse this sort of self-awareness with guilt, then yes, I suppose that indeed looks like guilt to you. If you are the sort of person who then additionally confuses guilt with weakness, because you don’t think things through, or because your own set of insecurities and neuroses compel you to do so, or whatever reason causes you to make such transmutations in your head, and you fear or despise weakness for whatever reasons you might have, then I can see why you might be inclined to treat people you see has having guilt with contempt, and their thoughts and opinions unworthy of your consideration.  So sure, I get that.

It makes you look like a fucking idiot, however. I really wish you would stop doing that.

(Likewise, the whole bit about “liberal guilt.” Dude, please. Your 1993-era set of Newt Gingrich™ Brand “Mean Things to Say About Liberals” Cue Cards are worn from all the thumbing through they get.)

I don’t feel guilty about the breaks I’ve gotten. I don’t feel guilty about the breaks I still get. But — and I think this is relevant here — I also think it’s important that today and moving forward people who aren’t straight and white and male get access to the same set of breaks that I’ve gotten. I also think that as someone who’s gotten breaks that have worked to my advantage, I should be willing to put in the effort to make that happen. With great breaks comes at least some responsibility.

Now, as it happens, this belief dovetails very nicely with a central tenet of the Science Fiction and Fantasy community: “Pay it Forward.” This means, in its most basic form, that when you’re helped get to where you are, the way to repay that debt is to then help others who need it — take what’s been given to you and send it on. The fact of the matter is that I’ve been given a lot, by people and by the culture I live in. I have a large debt, so to speak, that can be repaid only by paying  it forward. I am happy to do it, and I’m especially happy to do it in a way that makes sure that the largest possible field of people, of all sorts, have to chance to pay it forward from there.

So, no. I have no guilt about being a Straight White Male. Why should I? What I would have guilt about is if, as a Straight White Male, with all the advantages I have, earned and unearned, I wasn’t working to make my various communities better for those in them (and for those who wished they would be welcome as part of them). If I weren’t doing that I would feel very guilty indeed. It’s much better to believe in “Pay it Forward” than “I Got Mine.”


http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/06/19/guilt-mine-and-paying-it-forward-me/

http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=22156

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Video: Lecture by Lord O’Donnell on Building a Better Government

Jun. 19th, 2013 04:43 pm
[syndicated profile] strange_thoughts_feed

Posted by Andy Strange

http://www.strangethoughts.org.uk/2013/06/video-lecture-by-lord-odonnell-on-building-a-better-government/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=video-lecture-by-lord-odonnell-on-building-a-better-government

http://www.strangethoughts.org.uk/?p=2354

Portrait of Lord Gus O'DonnellFormer Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell is spending some time as a visiting professor at the department of political science of University College London. This video is of his inaugural lecture in that post. Anyone interested the direction of public policy and the way that decisions are made in government will find it useful watching.

In it he looks at what he sees as being the barriers to effective public policy and argues that to overcome them policy makers should;

  • Be clearer about what the outcomes are that they want a particular policy to achieve
  • Ensure that there are clear lines of accountability for those implementing the policy

I felt that underlying the lecture was a senior civil servants frustration with a broken political system. His suggestions for fixing it, perhaps unsurprisingly, are largely technocratic ones. While these have merit he doesn’t have much to say about the reform of politics itself — indeed he is pessimistic about the potential for constitutional change.

http://www.strangethoughts.org.uk/2013/06/video-lecture-by-lord-odonnell-on-building-a-better-government/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=video-lecture-by-lord-odonnell-on-building-a-better-government

http://www.strangethoughts.org.uk/?p=2354

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Mat Bowles

January 2013

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