General CE Chat

MrMarcello said:
Fascinating. Even more amazing how military special forces (especially training phases) and other round-the-clock jobs can function.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/what-happens-to-your-body-on-no-sleep?utm_source=pocket-newtab
What Happens to Your Body on No Sleep
In short, nothing good—and just one bad night can trigger a cascade of scary side effects.
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There was a reality tv show in the early 2000's based off sleep deprivation. The last one to fall asleep wins 100 grand.

Good guardian piece about the show - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...ty-tv-experiment-in-extreme-sleep-deprivation
 
Interesting article on the fall of the collectibles industry, mainly baseball cards and Upper Deck. It's an old article.

I was huge into collecting from the late 80s to mid 90s before the likes of UD priced me out of the market along with the over saturation of options. Wasn't too long before my interest fell as well. I still have a nice collection, probably worth in the high four digits/low five digits, but lost half of that collection in a house fire in 1996.

https://thebiglead.com/2013/07/19/the-hobby-the-rise-and-fall-of-upper-deck/
The Hobby: The Rise and Fall of Upper Deck
 
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Inside the black (cherry) market of vintage Kool-Aid packet collectors

When you’re in the mood for Kool-Aid, you can walk into a grocery store and chose from about 20 different flavor packets all priced at about a quarter a piece. However, if you’re in the market for some quintessentially classic, high-grade, “Oh Yeah!”-era Kool-Aid, you’ll have to enter the fruit-flavored underbelly of one the most intriguing subsets in the world of pop culture food enthusiasts: the black market of vintage Kool-Aid packet collectors.
 
Not sure which layer of irony this is, but it was a fun read
https://jewishcurrents.org/if-you-prick-watto-does-he-not-bleed/
However, we must acknowledge Watto’s key role in the story—as a grotesque foil to the larger, structural inequality and oppression of the Outer Rim of the galaxy. Like Shylock, who distracts the audience from the true, malevolent power of the Venetian oligarchy, Watto is but a bit player next to the kleptocratic Hutt regime. The gangster species is responsible not only for overseeing and participating in the slave trade, but also for encouraging an economy centered on gambling, smuggling, and vice at the cost of productive investment in Tatooine’s harsh desert landscape. Watto appears to enjoy no political rights in this racially stratified society, and, as a petit bourgeois junk trader with a penchant for gambling, he has minimal resource surplus to hoard or productively spend. Based on the look of his shabby shop, Watto harks back to the classic frontier dry goods dealer, a far cry in economic might from the railroad and mining companies that dominated desert societies like the 19th century American West.

But even the Hutts are merely symptomatic of the deeper institutional rot of the Galactic Republic as portrayed in the prequel trilogy. A weak, aloof bureaucracy overseen by opportunistic elites, the Republic offers little political and economic opportunity to denizens of the Outer Rim. Instead, as political scientist Jonathan M. Ladd has written, it relies on a theocratic Jedi militia to enforce its mandate throughout the galaxy. The Jedi are armed priests who essentially kidnap and brainwash young children, after testing their DNA to determine their genetic worthiness, to be raised as fanatical soldiers. Watto, as a small-time merchant on a backwater planet beyond the reach of the Republic, has only a minor impact on the sociopolitical dynamics that drive the Star Wars saga: the Clone Wars, the rise of the autocratic Chancellor-turned-Emperor Palpatine, and the eventual genocide of the Jedi.
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If You Prick Watto, Does He Not Bleed?
 
A very, very long but excellently put together piece documenting the entirety of the Ana Kriegel murder case from Ireland...

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/cri...r-trial-the-complete-story-1.3929570?mode=amp

I try to avoid the heartbreaking stuff in the news but I read that today and it brought me to the point of tears. That poor girl. I also try to avoid the lust for vengeance from these stories but those two deserve the absolute worst life can throw at them for their remaining years.
 
Fingeredmouse said:
This muppet doesn't understand the second law of thermodynamics, but made it the centre point of his published article.
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I can't comment on the economics or the rest of it, but the science is ok if simplified. Water is rare in that it is denser as a (low-temp) liquid than as a solid, and that property allows life in deep water bodies to thrive during the cold, and hence that property has been essential for life.

He should not have said this "defies laws of thermodynamics" - it clearly doesn't, since it does happen, and the laws of thermodynamics hold. Nothing defies the laws of thermodynamics!
And maybe it is the ex-chemist in me but I would approach this question always with the molecular structure of H2O, then the fact that hydrogen-bonding makes water a dense liquid, then how the same H-bonding becomes more extensive as water is frozen and leads to a more rigid/ordered but less efficient structure for ice. And of course all this, like everything else, follows the laws of thermo. But it violates an empirical observation(solids are denser than liquids, density increases as temperature decreases).
 
SteveJ said:
Here's the thing, mate: I'm (rightly) known in my family as someone who's very slow to catch on, somebody who's not swiftly perceptive at all - it can, literally, take me years to realise something which others view as obvious. All that is true, and the (affectionate) family criticism is completely justified. Given that, how come even I can see the lies for what they are? And if I can see it, why can't my fellow 'stupid' people do so?
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You might be interested in this very long interview:
about the defeat and retreat of the left, about how there are obvious lies with no consequence, and stuff like that.

And a much more prosaic and shorter explanation, which I still like:

(Much more US-centric, it's from the mid-90s but I think holds true for Trump's election).
 
yrm8nmor1r631.jpg
 
My partner works close to the Scottish Parliament building, Holyrood. She's been told to rush down the street, there's a huge fire. She thinks she heard a horrible, thunder-like noise. There is armed police.

She's now fine and a fair bit away from the commotion.
 
Court orders block on illegal streaming of English football matches (Irish Times)

Does the Commercial Court Order apply to my internet service provider?
Irish Times said:
The order is against Eircom/Eir, Sky Ireland, Sky Subscriber Services, Virgin Media Ireland and Vodafone Ireland.
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What are the consequences of illegally live streaming matches next season?
Irish Times said:
People who illegally stream live English Premier League football matches will find the service blocked when the season kicks off next month following a court order.
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In a first, India votes in favour of Israel at UN against Palestine human rights body
India changes its decades-old position on two-state theory, votes to deny observer status to Palestine body ‘Shahed’ at UN.
 
PedroMendez said:

Christina is back.
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She isn't, this is the stock market reacting to her before she takes office. As an economist helpfully pointed out:

Edward Glossop, Latin America economist at Capital Economics, said Mr Macri's government would probably pull out all the stops to try to shore up popular support.

This could include easing the pace of economic austerity imposed as part of Argentina's agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

"An outright loosening of the purse strings is possible. The IMF would probably turn a blind eye to this, since it is in its interest for President Macri to secure re-election," he said, but added: "We doubt that these efforts would be enough to change voter perception."
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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49317750
 
berbatrick said:
She isn't, this is the stock market reacting to her before she takes office. As an economist helpfully pointed out:



https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49317750
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Her ticket (she only runs as vice-president) won the primary by a landslide. Its not over yet, but the Peronista ticket is huge favourite to win the presidential election. Anyone, who has the option should pull their money out of Argentina. The voters get what they deserve.
 
Brexiteers have fantasised about her drowning and now more mainstream conservatives say:



The conservative movement in the us and UK is driven by some death wish towards everyone else in the planet and it has international collaborators and will win.
 
I really hope a day comes when the guillotines come out. It'd just be too sweet for people like the above. Level of guilt about saying it: 0%
 
Raoul said:
That's one way of looking at it. Another is that it could've been critical to keeping a state like MN blue if it came down to the sort of situation that occured in WI, MI, in 2016. If there's one lesson that came out of FL in 2000 its that each vote matters and not participating can have deadline ripple effects on policy (the Iraq War happening vs not happening for instance).
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There's no possible way you can say that with any degree of certainty. Gore was a neoliberal interventionist in the 90s. He voted for the first Iraq War and he had crazy warhawk Lieberman as his running mate. Hilary was a fan of invading as well. Plus if the neocons stoked the flames and Gore didn't invade, a Republican might have won in 2004 and invaded anyway.
 
oneniltothearsenal said:
There's no possible way you can say that with any degree of certainty. Gore was a neoliberal interventionist in the 90s. He voted for the first Iraq War and he had crazy warhawk Lieberman as his running mate. Plus if the neocons stoked the flames and Gore didn't invade, a Republican might have won in 2004 and invaded anyway.
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I'm pretty sure Gore wouldn't have invaded Iraq. Even Dubya, with all the neocons whispering in his ear, found it to be a tall order that couldn't be accomplished without significant arm twisting and propaganda, so no way Gore would've even dreamt on embarking on such a course.
 
Raoul said:
I'm pretty sure Gore wouldn't have invaded Iraq. Even Dubya, with all the neocons whispering in his ear, found it to be a tall order that couldn't be accomplished without significant arm twisting and propaganda, so no way Gore would've even dreamt on embarking on such a course.
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This is only your speculation and has no factual basis. You can pretend Gore wouldn't have invaded but you really have no way of knowing so its misleading to insist that that was a difference when it very well might not have been.
 
oneniltothearsenal said:
This is only your speculation and has no factual basis. You can pretend Gore wouldn't have invaded but you really have no way of knowing so its misleading to insist that that was a difference when it very well might not have been.
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Its actually misleading to suggest he would've since you have no evidence to back it up.
 
Red Dreams said:
the point is you cannot be sure about what Gore would have done right?
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You can certainly make an educated analysis based on his policy positions at the time and the fact that he was vocal about criticizing Bush's policies during the war itself.
 
Raoul said:
Its actually misleading to suggest he would've since you have no evidence to back it up.
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I didn't "suggest he would have".

I said it's not objective and not accurate for you to assume he wouldn't have. The only accurate stance is being agnostic and not leaning either way.
 
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