What I’ve learnt recently from the internet

The Russians rally with 3.5 tonne trucks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEX9rlHQTFE

Innovation is something new. This doesn’t mean something that has never been seen before. Usually there is a source of inspiration. The key, is to question.
more.

It does remind me of Kipling’s Poem:
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
…

Be prepared for the questions you don’t want to hear, when facing a Q&A session. Something I’ve heard years ago, but its good to have the revision. Includes clear examples.

Sea lions can attach leg cuffs so you can be reeled in!
Beware!

Photo: a lonely wee dog

a wee dug, originally uploaded by Photographs by Jim.

Photo: Don’t mess with the big guy

Don’t mess with the big guy, originally uploaded by Photographs by Jim.

Photo: a sharperesh canary

a sharperesh, originally uploaded by Photographs by Jim.

Photo: cityness and a golf course

cityness, originally uploaded by Photographs by Jim.

More gleanings from the world wide web

So simple for retrieving that not-quite-perfect photo, and yet I’ve never bothered with it:
Only sharpen what needs sharpened.

There’s a new version of Google doing the rounds – Link.

A clear answer, from the Lawyer’s Christian Fellowship, to ‘Is God Just?’:

Man is capable of some pretty impressive stuff.

Israel is being investigated by the UN for supposed war crimes in Gaza, despite evidence from those in the know to the contrary. They also seem rather singled out for sanctions on the world stage. Link.

They must be British – form an orderly queue

Must be British – form an orderly queue, originally uploaded by Photographs by Jim.

What I think are geese, in Barneveld, the Netherlands.

Glasgow from the air

Glasgow, from the air, originally uploaded by Photographs by Jim.

Imagine you were a giant, and this is what you saw

What I’ve learnt recently

Women are paid less than men, because they don’t know how to ask for a pay rise.
http://samueljscott.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/gender-wage-gaps-or-not/

Linda C. Babcock, an economics professor at Carnegie Mellon University, looked at gender and salary in a novel way. She recruited volunteers to play Boggle and told them beforehand that they would receive $2 to $10 for their time. When it came time for payment, each participant was given $3 and asked if that was enough.

Men asked for more money at eight times the rate of women. In a second round of testing, where participants were told directly that the sum was negotiable, 50 percent of women asked for more money, but that still did not compare with 83 percent of men. It would follow, Professor Babcock concluded, that women are equally poor at negotiating their salaries and raises.

From a NYTimes article

‘Thanks to Hollywood, women now want a man who is attractive, funny, wealthy, hardworking, and romantic. As opposed to a guy who would be a good father, willing to work, and wouldn’t beat them.’
http://samueljscott.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/is-marriage-worth-it/

A rather smart chap who got to uni at 15 explaining to the rest of us why Lehman Brothers failed:
How maths killed Lehman Brothers
It is a good article actually. The problem many smart people have is they forget their audience/readership. They understand how it works, and then write about it, but they don’t have a clue what needs explained of the basics. Simply knowing what details can be filtered out as they don’t contribute to the reader’s understanding, is a fine ability.

It seems women have more rights than men, in daily life. They seem to have more liberty in day to day life, and more protection, being seen as the ‘good guys’ in varied conflicts.

Lets have a nice disclaimer

No endorsement of the sites linked to, but rather a highlighting of some things said.
I’m also not just being all anti-feminist, but when people are exposing popular claims to be myth, lets encourage it

A balanced media? Digital Economy Bill

The most controversial part of the Digital Britain report was a broadband tax to fund next-generation networks. This will form part of the Finance Bill, due after the 2010 budget.

Most controversial? Yeah right, the BBC news article also said this:

It includes the power to disconnect persistent pirates.

From what I can see of the documents of the bill, pirates are identified only by their IP, and ISPs are obliged to pass on details of offenders. A line can be disconnected, and even a £50,000 fine imposed on an accusation of copyright breeching. (Source). No talk on how to recover from such a misfortune, as you could basically be held to ransom over your line.

Mandelson has the power to invent penalties and systems for finding and punishing offenders. How on earth is he not going to be a puppet of the various media corps?!

Besides, lately laws have been applied retrospectively, with more and more frequency: Even to MPs.
What’s stopping down the line, retrospective fines imposed on those who were the biggest offenders?

So much for the Digital Economy, and its development, if the main thing being talked about is the restrictions that can be imposed. The ‘controversial’ new tax will only raise the government, by my calculations, a couple hundred million a year. On a proper infrastructure for the web, that’s really not enough – pocket change really. The government will only spend on the web if the increased expenditure on their part means a real justifiable income for them in the form of taxes. Why give us really fast internet if it encourages us to sit at home on youtube, when we could be out and about spending our money?

It seems to me, the music (etc) industries lobbyists have been working hard, and are getting better and better results. Their old business model doesn’t work now, and they are struggling to develop new income streams to match those being lost, and so they’re resorting to laws to protect them.
Any thoughts?

Oh and we’ve got a new president apparently. Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy. Apparently the job description right now is basically ‘chairman’, but undoubtably it will grow.

Edit: The guardian had a more eloquent response to the bill