Recent posts

#21

Off the Record / Re: Dead Pool 2024

Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 05:46:23 AM

Right, which is why I am not sure you made a comment about there being a gap between truth and malice.

I thought it was striking - and still do - that in one court you have a finding of no libel because of the defence of truth and in another a finding of libel with actual malice. The gap between those two results seems pretty huge.

Right, which is why I am not sure you made a comment about there being a gap between truth and malice.

I thought it was striking - and still do - that in one court you have a finding of no libel because of the defence of truth and in another a finding of libel with actual malice. The gap between those two results seems pretty huge.

But you are just repeating the statement that made me question why you think there is a gap.  Let me ask it this way, why are you surprised that different defences render different results?  And especially in defamation cases where truth is an absolute defence.

#22

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Syt - Today at 05:45:15 AM

Courtesy of reddit. An nVidia Mercedes has been driving around Vienna the past few days.





The QR code takes you to a privacy notice: https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/vehicles/test-drive/cooperation-international/?shortener=true

Apparently, MB sends out these cars to collect data & telemetry, trying to determine if a self-driving car would make the same/better/worse decisions than a human driver.

#23

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

Last post by Josquius - Today at 05:22:35 AM

Yeah and as I say I think this would be helped by a more consolidated industry. I'm not sure how you encourage that though.

Is this another area where we curse Thatcher?
Small entrepreneur's, white van man, etc... it has those vibes.
I don't know nearly enough of the history of the industry to say anything with authority on that but I do wonder how the number of sole traders has changed with time. Strikes me as something where the mid 20th century might have seen some consolidation which then reversed?
Purely guessing.

I do hear anecdotally its going very much the other way at the moment, with the decline in trade numbers increasing the money to be earned and slashing the risk of self employment, quite a lot of trades people I know are taking that path.

Things aren't helped from the fact a lot of the big companies employ people who are rather shit and more expensive than small ones. It seems very franchise oriented.

Not really. My point is that higher education is shaped by our economic structure and people are doing vocational degrees because there's demand from both sides for it - and are in every other sector. The reason 75% of students are doing law, accountancy, business, medical professions is because our big exporters are professional services and (as everywhere else in the West) healthcare is also a sector with a lot of demand for graduates. It's not culture and we can't just magic that economy into something else (I'm not sure we should necessarily want to either).

Call centres typically don't require degrees - as I say this is the Tory line of higher education churning out people with shit degrees going into shit jobs and it's not really true. It's people doing pretty useful degrees and going into everyday jobs. All of the administration and management and project management etc in the NHS, all across the civil service, in every big-ish company (it's just we also export it as consultancy). But the reality is the vast majority of students are not doing Media Studies and then ending up trapped in a call centre they're vastly overqualified for. That's a tabloid stereotype.

Not sure I'm reading what you're saying here right- 75% of students are doing these subjects you mentioned? Where'd you get this? That seems crazily high even considering you're grouping a few big ones.

I  know tonnes of people who went to uni and ended up in low grade white collar work like call centres and the like. My dad's current apprentice is a 30 year old guy with an English Lit degree who hadn't really done well in the professional world.

Shit degree is an exaggeration. All education from reputable unis has value. Even just learning how to think and analyse sources and stuff like that has big practical uses in the real world. But is university the right choice for every single person who goes? Will they all get value from their degree or are they just going into it as its the expected path?
Conversely for those who do have more of a practical inclination- are they aware there's university courses offering this sort of thing or do they think its all just school mark 2?

As I say my thoughts in this area aren't about the overall national economy but the working class kids losing out and how we can improve things there.

Universities normally run all sorts of short courses and certificates, same for FE colleges (which are funded by local councils so fucked). But looking up stats and apparently 44% of adults in the UK have taken part in some sort of formal learning in the last three years and 55% of full-time workers are doing it right now.

It looks more common as you get older (wealth and, I suspect, kids growing up probably being key factors) and there's a big socio-economic split.

That's amazingly high.
Though from the wording, I suspect this includes stuff like training at work and informal stuff like google certificates et al?

#24

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Josquius - Today at 04:52:49 AM

Has Seinfeld said something about the Israel situation or is it just "OMFG a Jew! That means Israel!" at play here?

#25

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Tamas - Today at 04:47:43 AM

Wild but not entirely serious.

#26

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by garbon - Today at 04:06:04 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ciV2nU04oo

Duke students walk out on commencement speaker Jerry Seinfeld.

Well that could have gone worse all things considered.

Are we drawing the success line at "the Jew didn't get lynched" now?

That feels wild reaction to what Politico said was about 30 students walking out.

#27

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Tamas - Today at 03:21:23 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ciV2nU04oo

Duke students walk out on commencement speaker Jerry Seinfeld.

Well that could have gone worse all things considered.

Are we drawing the success line at "the Jew didn't get lynched" now?

#28

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by Tamas - Today at 03:20:34 AM

On the other hand a reading of the "cabinet reshuffle" is that a further shift to a war economy is planned. Which would indicate the Russian leadership is not nearly as assured of their victory as Western commentators reading their propaganda are.

Surely this would line up with a total victory too?
Ukraine smashed...still need to get things ready for the next conquest. And even if thats not on the horizon tightening control and ramping up the authoritarianism

No. War economy is terrible politically. It's not something you do unless you have to.

#29

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by Josquius - Today at 03:12:48 AM

On the other hand a reading of the "cabinet reshuffle" is that a further shift to a war economy is planned. Which would indicate the Russian leadership is not nearly as assured of their victory as Western commentators reading their propaganda are.

Surely this would line up with a total victory too?
Ukraine smashed...still need to get things ready for the next conquest. And even if thats not on the horizon tightening control and ramping up the authoritarianism

#30

Off the Record / Re: Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-2...

Last post by Tamas - Today at 03:09:00 AM

On the other hand a reading of the "cabinet reshuffle" is that a further shift to a war economy is planned. Which would indicate the Russian leadership is not nearly as assured of their victory as Western commentators reading their propaganda are.