Interesting Links for 1-17-2011

[matgb]

• Best Watership Down merchandising ever?
  I know, I know, but there were too many serious links today.
  (tags: funny films rabbits)
• Flying robots build stuff to order, design it themselves.
  How cool is this? We are living in the future. Give them a target, they work together to build it autonomously. I WANT MY FLYING CAR
  (tags: science robotics engineering cool)
• Tabloid Watch: Recommended reading on Liz Jones and Jo Yeates
  Ye gods, this may be a worse bit of journalism than the Hezza interview. I mean, I know it's in the Fail, but... This link goes to Tabloid Watch, frequently a good read. Try to avoid linking to The Fail when possible.
  (tags: liz-jones jo-yeates journalism)
• Evolutionary Psychology: "sloppy thinking and poor science" ~ PZ Myers
  PZ debunks the latest media meme. WARNING: this particular bit of crappy science is about rape, PZ thinks it's bobbins, which is what it looked like when I first saw it.
  (tags: evolutionary-psychology bad-science)
• The referendum and boundary change mess in the Lords
  A mostly accurate summary of what's going on--I've commented on the bits I think are factually wrong, but the summary itself is useful. I do wish peopl ewould stop using that tired and factually false 'gerrymandering' trope though, there are bloody good arguments for this process being flawed, that aint' even close to valid.
  (tags: house-of-lords referendum legislative-process fillibustering)
• Proof: Nadine Dorries lies about police investigations | Bloggerheads
  Known Tim for years. Yes, he can be a bit intense at times, but watching the hell he and his family have gone through as a result of Dorries' lies, obfuscations, half truths and slanders hasn't been pleasant. Now he has proof. And there's a CPS file on her now.
  (tags: tim-ireland nadine-dorries notorious-liars)
• Nick Clegg promises 'properly flexible' system of parental leave - looks good to me
  More details on the proposals, with Clegg's speech in video. I are happy,
  (tags: paternity-leave parental-leave policy nick-clegg egoism)
• Nick Clegg gets all the credit for our idea - @miss_s_b proposed it, now its govt policy
  Jennie proposed this in a consultation at her first ever Lib Dem conference, after we'd talked about it, lots, here at home. Now it's, officially, Govt policy, and beinh heralded all over the place as a brilliant plan. This is a Good Thing, and I'm a very happy policy wonk reading this.
  (tags: paternity-leave parental-leave policy nick-clegg egoism)
• Lord Heseltine vs Bryony Gordon: who comes out worse?
  This really is a train wreck interview isn't it? At one point she complains "he has clearly marked me out as too simple for that." I'm inclined to suspect he may be a good judge of character and ability. You?
  (tags: bryony-gordon lord-heseltine car-crash)
• This is it? The best 'no2av can come up with is this empty trash?
  The mind boggles. Given a strong platform to put forward coherent arguments against a Yes vote, the chair of the No campaign writes this? If anyone wants me to rebut anything specific, let me know, but it's just too easy to bother.
  (tags: referendum electoral+reform av)
• MPs against AV were worse expenses offenders - does it matter?
  Not sure whether this is a valid point to campaign on, or if it helps in any way. Keeping to the principles strikes me as better, but is it indicative that worse MPs prefer the status quo?
  (tags: correlation)
• Food speculation & market futures - stabilise prices and help us all?
  Pretty sure Tim's right here, speculators stockpiling means prices stabilise over medium term and encourage farmers to produce more. Counterpoints?
  (tags: economics speculation)

Comments

[ginasketch]

The evolutionary psychology link made me feel a little bit sick in the mouth.

Apart from the usual "rape is an evolutionary tactic" tripe, WTF at the casual racism?

[matgb]

It's Ev Psych, isn't casual racism part of the introductory seminar?

And yeah, formatting makes warning hard to write in clearly, but felt it had to be there.

[ginasketch]

I saw the warning but clicked anyway.

[gominokouhai]

To avoid giving the Heil the traffic you can use the cache at istyosty.com, thuswise: http://istyosty.com/tmp/cache/8cde4e3ec7a2c1a44cde65d138abd5427e96f82f.html

[frightened]

There are days when I simply cannot bear the entire field of evolutionary psychology

I love him quite a lot for that opening line.

Here is a thing I Do Not Get about evo-psych explanations for rape: they seem to come down to the idea that men are programmed to be rapists and therefore nothing can be done about it. And people call me a man-hater? I mean, isn't that a profoundly horrifying view of half the population?

[matgb]

Yes, and it's one of my principle objections to a lot of things, Ev psych, islamic dress codes and "backs to the wall" homophobia are all the same basic insulting attitude.

The idea that rape is something that men just do is just fucked up and wrong, and it's something that a lot more needs to be done to fight against.

[birguslatro]

Incredibly sensible, the parental leave scheme. You (two) are quite right to feel chuffed!

[miss_s_b]

I thank you ;)

[83_tauri]

The attitude of Labour over AV has been fascinating, given that I seem to recall they wanted to run last May's election on, um, AV.

[matgb]

To be fair (and this is hard), there are serious concerns over the proposed new method of doing boundaries.

Nothing tht couldn't be over come if LAbour hadn't fallen to hyperbole and stupidity in the debate right from the beginning--no one, especially the Tories, wants a bad system for drawing boundaries.

But instead of trying to work on solving the issues, they've gone into rhetoric overdrive. I really ought to read some of Hansard on the debates, but it's too depressing.

[83_tauri]

I really ought to read some of Hansard on the debates, but it's too depressing.

I think it's probably a good idea to avoid them! From what I've seen of the whole mess, 'depressing' is definitely the operative word.

The other thing that seems weird to me, actually, is that they appear to have latched onto this as The Issue To Oppose(tm), given everything else that's going on ATM. You'd think the Milliband et al. would pick something with a bit more overt public resonance.

(Or should I be surprised that Labour collectively seem determined to behave in a stupid and selfish manner?)

[caramel-betty.livejournal.com]

Not sure whether this is a valid point to campaign on, or if it helps
in any way. Keeping to the principles strikes me as better, but is it
indicative that worse MPs prefer the status quo?

I've been thinking for some time of campaign adverts that go roughly as follows:

[Large picture of Margaret Beckett]

Claimed £72,000 on a third home.
57% of votes wanted someone else.
Why does Margaret Beckett oppose fairer votes?

[Large picture of Hazel Blears]
The taxpayer paid £1800 for televisions in one year.
60% of voters wanted someone else.
Why does Hazel Blears oppose fairer votes?

[Large picture of Paul Murphy]
Claimed £15 for a toilet roll holder and £6 for a can-opener.
55% of voters wanted someone else.
Why does Paul Murphy oppose fairer votes?

[matgb]

Oh, it'd be effective, I think, but I'm not sure it's the message we want to get across. If people are fed up with negativity, then going negative doesn't help.

The important thing is to get those in favour to turn out and vote.

[miss_s_b]

I want a flying MOTORBIKE. Just sayin'.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

She's a rum cove that Dorries person and no mistake.