Quick lunchtime update: a new piece I wrote last night has just gone up on LC (it's taken the editors the morning to remove my sarcastic footnotes, apparently...). It's on an obvious point that tends to be missed from the debate on anthropogenic global warming: the people who'd benefit from the enormous, co-ordinated scam required … Continue reading AGW and helicopters
Banditry
From Ars Technica, enlightening the 'net neutrality' debate, a piece on the corrupt institutions and robber barons who hijacked the Victorian equivalent of the Internet. This digression was interesting: The result was the infamous Credit Mobilier scandal of the 1870s... Rather than license the construction of the Union Pacific railroad to an independent contractor, its … Continue reading Mmm, tempura morays
I've long approved of a semi-referendum for the reintroduction of the death penalty, under which only people who vote in favour actually face it as a punishment option (this would work well, as "being a crazy violent idiot" is correlated both with "supporting the death penalty" and "committing murder"). On the basis of this, do-as-you-would-be-done-by, … Continue reading Visa card [*]
Scepticisle disagrees with my comments on the case of the (appallingly tasteless, Hitler-trivialising) Sun anti-Scargill front page from the miners' strike which was blocked by the print unions. My take was that either content should be illegal to publish, or people who want to publish (and are willing to set up presses to publish on … Continue reading The wrong 1980s Liverpool injustice
Hate to say it but I'm with Murdoch on this - http://bit.ly/83dEuz - printworkers shouldn't have a veto over editorial content, however vile # ULTIMATE EVIL FTW -> RT @krishgm we report Microsoft is talking to Murdoch about paying for exclusive content access to take on Google # Very much enjoying the Jordan Wimmer / … Continue reading What I’ve been up to, week ending 2009-11-29
I love aviation. Genuinely, I really enjoy flying in a plane... well, the first eight hours, after that I get a bit bored. If Boeing and Rolls-Royce hadn't made the 747-400, then I'd be happier (BA's flagship flight in 1984 was London-Bombay-Madras-Singapore-Perth-Sydney. That strikes me as far more fun than London-Singapore-Sydney, especially if you stop … Continue reading Airline security is the last refuge of the scoundrel
I've got a new post up on LC. I don't post enough on LC; I should post more on LC. See also: posts here. I've had some positive comments on the LC post from people I respect, both over there and on Twitter. Given that unlike my usual LC work, this wasn't a 'using hard … Continue reading Collation of thoughts
Slightly late to #PaulClarke - as far as I can see, everyone did their job except the jury, who are scum and need crucified. # That's not quite fair - clearly whoever pressed charges is an arse, but this is exactly the kind of case that juries are for. # Oh no: Ewar Woowar is … Continue reading What I’ve been up to, week ending 2009-11-22
If "Michael Gove gets his arse handed to him on a plate" is a tag you like the sound of, you'll enjoy this clip from Parliament: (via Sam Coates Not The Tory)
Rather depressingly: Fifty-six per cent of the public agree that “the greatest victims of discrimination in Britain these days are often ordinary white men” Now, this is obviously false, and anyone who believes it is either deluded, moronic or both. If you're a selfish white male, however, it's at least rational to express the belief … Continue reading 15% of people inexplicably weird