The Off Topic Topic

[Sheilbh]

This story's amazing:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/jan/09/a-scandal-in-oxford-the-curious-case-of-the-stolen-gospel

[Admiral Yi]

I might have asked this before, but is a don the same as a professor?

[Eddie Teach]

Professor Corleone has a nice ring to it.

[Josquius]

Yeah, by the sound of it most of the victims had no idea until the police spoke to them.

There's still loads they haven't identified too.
Seriously messed up.
This is one case where tightening restrictions on drugs is definitely called for

[Malthus]

This story's amazing:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/jan/09/a-scandal-in-oxford-the-curious-case-of-the-stolen-gospel

The Greens strike again - that damned Hobby Lobby Bible Museum shows up all over the place as the source of all sorts of crime, graft and fraud. There's irony in that.

This story would make an awesome mini-series!

[HVC]

relics scams? everything really does make a comeback

[garbon]

Yeah, by the sound of it most of the victims had no idea until the police spoke to them.

There's still loads they haven't identified too.
Seriously messed up.
This is one case where tightening restrictions on drugs is definitely called for

Of course it would have been nice had care been taking when gays were ODing/being murdered.

It will be good if changes come but it smacks of care being paid because a large of straight men were impacted.

[Admiral Yi]

Of course it would have been nice had care been taking when gays were ODing/being murdered.

It will be good if changes come but it smacks of care being paid because a large of straight men were impacted.

The care paid seems to consist of police showing up at a house where a fight had taken place, without knowledge of the sexuality of the participants and the large number of prior victims.  I don't see how this fits into a bias narrative.

[garbon]

Of course it would have been nice had care been taking when gays were ODing/being murdered.

It will be good if changes come but it smacks of care being paid because a large of straight men were impacted.

The care paid seems to consist of police showing up at a house where a fight had taken place, without knowledge of the sexuality of the participants and the large number of prior victims.  I don't see how this fits into a bias narrative.

I was thinking specifically about the Home Office already taking steps to review GHB.

[Admiral Yi]

OK.  Don't know enough to comment.

[Josquius]

Yeah, I've never heard of this drug being used recreationally and the scale of the issue.

Here the issue is less that most of the victims were straight and more how many of them there were

[The Minsky Moment]

This story's amazing:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/jan/09/a-scandal-in-oxford-the-curious-case-of-the-stolen-gospel

The Greens strike again - that damned Hobby Lobby Bible Museum shows up all over the place as the source of all sorts of crime, graft and fraud. There's irony in that.

This story would make an awesome mini-series!

Well the Greens poured a ton of money very quickly into what used to be a niche market, without having any knowledge or background. And some of the people advising them - e.g. Scott Carroll who is mentioned in the article - don't seem to have been at the pinnacle of the profession.  It's not surprising to see a match made in non-heaven between the Greens and their money on the one hand and the less than punctilious elements of the antiquities trade, on the other.

What is interesting about this article is finding that the corrupting influence of the walls of money seems to have tainted at least one person who was at the pinnacle of the profession.

[garbon]

Yeah, I've never heard of this drug being used recreationally and the scale of the issue.

Here the issue is less that most of the victims were straight and more how many of them there were

Well except that it actually has affected way more gays than that in prior incidents over years. Channel 4/Buzzfeed had good pieces after an investigation last year.

[Malthus]

This story's amazing:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/jan/09/a-scandal-in-oxford-the-curious-case-of-the-stolen-gospel

The Greens strike again - that damned Hobby Lobby Bible Museum shows up all over the place as the source of all sorts of crime, graft and fraud. There's irony in that.

This story would make an awesome mini-series!

Well the Greens poured a ton of money very quickly into what used to be a niche market, without having any knowledge or background. And some of the people advising them - e.g. Scott Carroll who is mentioned in the article - don't seem to have been at the pinnacle of the profession.  It's not surprising to see a match made in non-heaven between the Greens and their money on the one hand and the less than punctilious elements of the antiquities trade, on the other.

What is interesting about this article is finding that the corrupting influence of the walls of money seems to have tainted at least one person who was at the pinnacle of the profession.

There is more to it than the mere more money than expertise problem leading to unfortunate results - they seem to be implicated again and again in scandals. The impression is that they are actively unscrupulous.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby_Lobby_smuggling_scandal

[Sheilbh]

I might have asked this before, but is a don the same as a professor?

I've literally zero idea how academic titles work (especially at Oxbridge) but it's only really used by articles like this. It's not a title people have on their department website or anything.

I think - though I could be wrong and this is just a guess - that it could be because Oxbridge is a Medieval university so run by clergyman and monks and focused on theology. I don't know if it's specific but English monks are often still called "Dom" which is close?