Linkspam for 28-4-2008

[matgb]

• nihilistic_kid: But women are so strange and mysterious
  Follow up from the link the other day: One of the barriers people seem to run into is \"but small talk is so inane!\" - it progresses into finding commonalities and creating a bond
  (tags: nick+mamatas social+mores)
• SFWA Election Results 2008
  This years SFWA elections were fun to watch in the early stages (see Scalzi post, see Burt squirm), but the final results are slightly more amusing. Look at the write-ins...
  (tags: sfwa john+scalzi funny)
• The year rock found the power to unite | Rock | guardian.co.uk Music
  A brief historty of Rock against Racism. Most of which I knew not, ang it's rather cool. Doesn't mention alleged the SWP links, were they that strong? Without RAR, punk would only have been about nihilism
  (tags: politics Racism music)
• Andrew Rawnsley: How the great clunking fist punched himself on the nose | Comment is free | The Observer
  Gordo genuinely thought the 10p tax thing hurt no one? 'To them and others, the Prime Minister would bang the table and insist that there were no losers...He could not conceive of himself as someone who would hurt the less well-off. '
  (tags: Labour politics gordon+brown economics taxation)
• Schrodinger improves accuracy - I Can Has Cheezburger?
  A LOLcat that made me laugh? I am such a geek. From Tim Worstall of all places.
  (tags: science funny image+macros)
• Fantastic Film Weekend - National Media Museum
  More info on the weekend and what might be happening, weekend of June 14th 2008
  (tags: films events bradford)
• Tim Harford â” Fair trade or foul
  Why coffee shops charge more for extras: The coffee shop â“ like many businesses â“ faces a dilemma. Raise prices and it loses some customers; cut prices and it loses margins.
  (tags: coffee economics tim+harford)
• The Seven Deadly Sins of a Relationship | Zen Habits
  A few quibbles and disagreements, but overall, not a bad little list, worth a glance and a think anyway. (from drjon)
  (tags: life relationships)
• Channel 4 - News - London FactCheck
  Channel 4 has done a summary page for all the FactCheck articles they've done on the London mayoralty candidates, nic elittle resource for those that care.
  (tags: london mayoralty election channel+4)

Comments

[paulgregory.livejournal.com]

small talk is so inane
I now wish I'd bought the "English Small Talk" guide I saw in Germany, which gave examples of suitable conversations. Including one about a racquet needing restringing.

[matgb]

a racquet needing restringing

Now that? That would be a bit inane. The point is fairly sound though, if you avoid small scale interractions completely, then you get worse at more important ones. Pretty sure my p/t shop job lead to me chatting to pretty much all shop staff as a habit and thus got me over my terminal shyness at least in some situations.

Not sure I'd want to read a guide though.

[pmoodie.livejournal.com]

Heehee! I get a credit on the FFW website! :)

But just for the record, that Nosferatu illo on the website isn't mine. Mine is much scarier. :D

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

I want to see yours!

[pmoodie.livejournal.com]

Me too! The suspense is killing me!

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

RAR, like the ANL, was merely an SWP front. David Widgery is quoted liberally in the article; this son of a High Court judge was one of the leading lights of the International Socialists and later the SWP from '68 until his death.

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

... that sounds like an ad hominem argument to me.

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

True enough though; and while there were Labour supporters, Communists, and even Liberals involved in the early years (one Peter Hain was actually ANL secretary early on), it was the SWP clique including Widgery, Nigel Harris, etc. that had gained control by about '79. I clearly remember some of the RAR gigs round here in '80 and '81 being more-or-less SWP-funded exercises (and big queues for the beer tents when the bands went off stage and the likes of Tony Cliff/Duncan Hallas/Alex Calicoknickers took the microphone)

[matgb]

I've been vaguely aware of direct and indirect connections but never really looked into it. And of course the problem with a lot of SWP fronts is that sometimes they don't start as such and/or do a lot of good in the early stages, which ultimately is what the impact was—destroy the Front as a force, make it more cool to oppose them on campus than be with them, etc.

It's just a shame that so many well-meaning kids get sucked into the idiocy of the actual SWP, thus losing support for real reformist movements. Ah well.

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

Round here it was Anti-Fascist Action, rather than the ANL, who *really* fought the fascists on the front line. AFA took a rather more direct route in battling fascism and racism than merely selling newspapers, if you get my drift...

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh, Rock Against Racism. Been meaning to post about that. Now, if only there was Rock Against Sexism...

[matgb]

I don't really have the inclination for a full post about RAR, too much of it is disputed and/or controversial (especially the SWP links and the good/bad nature of them).

But, y'know, we don't need the latter, no one in rock & roll is ever sexist, they're all a nice bunch of cuddly inclusionists. and no female singer or guitarist has ever been discriminated against or shunned at public jam sessions based on gender. Ever.

So it's not, and never has been, needed. Besides, if it existed, you'd be oppressing white middle class males and their right to top the indie charts.

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

You, young man, are cruising for a bruising.

[innerbrat]

He was being sarcastic, right? Tell me he was being sarcastic.

[matgb]

Sarcastic? Watashi?

[innerbrat]

You're cute when you quote Red Dwarf.

[matgb]

In that case I should probably do so more often ;-)

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

if only there was Rock Against Sexism

Well, that's Dr. Brian "Fat Bottomed Girls" May fucked, then...

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

... yeah, but by Anita Dobson, so that's his punishment.

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

I meant to post about it last weekend, but like many posts it stayed in my mind rather reaching the PC screen... Anyhow, I was at the first RAR gig in Victoria Park - I went to many RAR gigs, actually. And even a few marches (though not Lewisham).