Recent posts

#1

Off the Record / Re: The China Thread

Last post by Jacob - Today at 08:28:22 PM

Current rumour:

Xi is putting his wife in charge of managing promotions on the armed forces.

On one hand - she did (does) have a military rank. On the other - it was in the entertainment section as she was a fairly popular pop singer in her day.

#2

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Valmy - Today at 07:47:43 PM

"De-colonization" on mainland Europe and Asia is usually just code for "we want to commit ethnic cleansing against our ethnic enemies"

But if we were to play that game I'd say odds are good the Palestinians have far more in common with the people of the region 2 millenia ago than most Jewish people do.

I believe DNA studies of both the Israelis and Palestinians showed they are very closely related to each other. Which makes sense. Over half the Israelis are Arab Jews and many Palestinians all became Israelis once the Palestinian Jews were attacked in the 20th century.

I do not know if they have done any DNA studies on any 2,000 year old people to show who wins.

#3

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by Josquius - Today at 06:07:04 PM

28 Years Later is filming locally.
I keep reading of weird casting calls.
At the moment they want babies.
As young as possible.
This could be a extra squicky film.

#4

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Josquius - Today at 06:00:33 PM

So on today's campuses one of the big pushes is for "de-colonization" - to return the land to the original inhabitants.

But isn't that exactly what Zionism is trying to do?

No.
Genetics and comparing to people from centuries ago is a thoroughly invalid way to decide on who gets their freedom and who doesn't in the modern day.
But if we were to play that game I'd say odds are good the Palestinians have far more in common with the people of the region 2 millenia ago than most Jewish people do.
As the wide variety of Jewish people in the world shows, they're not very good at endogamy (joke. It's mad to expect any group to keep it up so long. Nothing special to Jews)

Even if we were to assume it was proven Palestinians all moved to an empty land with Islam and Jews never fucked outside their group.... You're still talking an insane length of time ago.
The sort of period where Japan's claims on Korea become valid, chunks of Germany should be British, and all sorts of madness.
The Palestinian claim to have a right to the land where they've lived the past few centuries would remain the most valid - as indeed does the right of Israelis to live in their land after one (with suitable compensation processes set up).

#5

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Josquius - Today at 05:53:52 PM

The ones I most commonly see doing it are people who don't actually have much in their CV.
UX is full of these people who don't actually know much about UX at all and think it's just making pretty pictures.
Their LinkedIns are usually full of lengthy stints as founders of made up companies and lots of phony inspirational dross.

Saw a good one the other day. Guy claims he put Google - Google mail user since 2010 on his LinkedIn and instantly got more recruiter attention. 


Yes. I use mine the same way where it's basically a stripped down copy of my CV.

#6

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by garbon - Today at 05:08:39 PM

The number of people saying you have to play that game too...
It seems to be about the only site for getting professional level jobs these days though. Outside of some industries with their own specific sites anyway.

Yeah I understand it's totally different for academia.

I should say the people I mainly see doing the whole LinkedIn influencer thing are recruiters.

Oh you are lucky. I see all sorts doing it.

I have a profile and positions so they can see I am a real person when they go to verify my existence. Less detail than my CV as I have no description of my roles.

#7

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 05:08:32 PM

Oh you're absolutely right.

But it is unfortunately a fairly often repeated cycle for Labour after it's been in government (in the 30s, 50s, 80s and 2010s) - and right now Starmer has been absolutely ruthless (particularly in selecting candidates) in purging the left.

So, after the next period of Labour government, when the disappointment returns and the left make a comeback I'd expect them to be just as ruthless (though they've only won the leadership once). The main criticism of Corbyn on the left is that they didn't press their advantage enough.

#8

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Razgovory - Today at 05:05:08 PM

The Soviets did create an Autonomous Jewish Oblast, never took off much though.

Being on the same side of the country as the gulags probably wasn't a good PR move.

Remarkably the Jews were not keen on being sent

and yet, that's where they belong. There's only 2 categories with a simple yes no question at the start; Pope?

Orthodox say "hi!".

Beyond that - because "Protestantism" is still the largest faith group in North America pretty handily, it's worthwhile to break it down a little bit more.

I mean, you can subcategorize different kinds of being wrong, but you're still in the wrong group, as opposed to the right one

*Edit* In my raised catholic mind there's 4 groups

Right (catholic)
Misguided (orthodox and Coptic)
Wrong (protestants)
Christianity adjacent (mormons, JW)

But there's a world of difference between "mainline" protestant churches, and evangelical churches.

Mainline churches - think methodist, Anglican, Baptist, Presbyterian - all have a set structure, set belief system, and a national or international organization.

"Evangelical" churches have none of that.  It's usually a preacher and a building.  There's no set structure, the preacher has no one to report to, nothing like that.  It gives evangelical churches a ton of ability to change and adapt to local congregations - but not so much protection from "incorrect beliefs", or even abuse within the church.

Yeah, I don't think that's accurate.  The Baptists are evangelical.  You have Charismatics who get lumped into Evangelicals but are sort of distrusted on account they are sorta crazy.

#9

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Barrister - Today at 04:55:45 PM

I suspect one of the issues with Labour/the British left is that we have intergenerational beefs (and before that it was probably Bevan v Attlee or the incredibly virulent fights between the four Trot sects) And both sides probably a little bit would see each other as the main enemy a lot of the time

Speaking as someone from the right... there is a time and place for wanting your own internal enemies to lose so badly that it is "worth it" to cede power to your ideological enemies in order to see your internal them defeated.  I thought it in the 80-90s in Canada, I think it's happening now in the US.

But you have to remember that is the trade-off your making.

The majority of the time a half loaf is better than none.

#10

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Tonitrus - Today at 04:48:13 PM

The Soviets did create an Autonomous Jewish Oblast, never took off much though.

Being on the same side of the country as the gulags probably wasn't a good PR move.