Recent posts

#41

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Sheilbh - May 15, 2022, 02:57:03 PM

Yeah. Listening to that I would assume probably a Benelux entry. They were starting to change it up form "hot girls will win" which shows such a profound misunderstanding of the competition.

Incidentally hadn't seen it before I assume they re-did it but the new music video for Ukraine's winner is something. They are incredible at propaganda (which I don't mean as perjorative at all):
https://twitter.com/Ukraine/status/1525768621380755456?s=20&t=O7REBvIV2kLbk3P06ybhEw

I still wish they didn't rap, but I love the chorus and the flute (a very Eurovision sentence ).

Edit: Oh they hadn't released a video before - that's the official video. Filmed in Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel - extraordinary.

#42

Off the Record / Re: The China Thread

Last post by Jacob - May 15, 2022, 02:56:55 PM

That's true. But I get the impression Xi has thoroughly remade the party along his lines and got rid of any of the old generation from when China seemed to be going in a positive direction.

Those who actually know about Chinese politics please do correct me.

It'll take more than what Xi did to get rid of countervailing forces in China, and within the party. The Chinese in general are very good at colouring within the lines. Tens of millions of Chinese are taking the piss out of (and critiquing) Xi and the CCP in social medial in various ways using slang, code, and metaphors. The sentiment may not make a substantial difference most of the time, but it's there.

Similarly, China and the party is big enough that cliques exist. Li Keqiang is the premier (though slated to be replaced) is from a different faction and occasionally says (and does) things to undermine Xi. Yes Xi has purged a number of potential enemies (corruption, don't you know), but most folks in the party know how to make the right noises, keep their heads low, and bide their time.

Basically, Xi has only started the process of centralizing and personalizing his power that Putin has carried out for decades, and the Chinese system has and had way more safeguards and structural obstacles in the way. That Xi wants to be Mao (or Putin) is pretty clear, but he's got longer to go.

So whatever streams existed within the party prior to Xi's ascent are still there, I expect.

#43

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

Last post by The Larch - May 15, 2022, 02:56:32 PM

I'd say it has more to do with the paltry salary that public sector researchers receive. It's super common over here, and we've built up the wazoo over the years.

Yeah I think that's definitely part of it - although I've got a friend similar age as me (so mid-thirties) who is a post-doc researcher at one of the science universities in London. So there is a London uplift - but his salary is solid (and his pension is incredible, which is why he's been on strike a lot over the last year or two). He could, no doubt, earn a lot more in the private sector.

But he's just bought a place, and has a comfortable middle class life in London in a flat with a garden etc.

Oxford and Cambridge are just moving into a different world in terms of housing costs because there's no building. They are both more expensive than London now. They're moving into a different territory and it feels like the universities can't keep expanding their size without, at some point, needing more housing in what are basically two very small cities.

Then I'd say that's a specific Oxbridge issue.

#44

Off the Record / Re: Extreme intoxication is no...

Last post by The Brain - May 15, 2022, 02:41:14 PM

If you're too drunk to understand reality then you are unlikely to do more than lie on the ground. If you manage to enter and start a vechicle, or fire a gun, or stab someone, or give false information on your tax return, then clearly you still understand reality.

That's like saying that sleepwalking isn't a thing.  If you can walk and open doors, then you're obviously not sleeping.  Retaining some skills that have been trained by repetition to the point of automation doesn't mean that you're applying them with the minimum understanding of reality we expect from a reasonable person.

If the person didn't perform the acts, then who did?

I know that the idea that a person is only their highest order reasoning ego, and not the whole human, is common in law, but it's ridiculous and unsound.

#45

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by The Larch - May 15, 2022, 02:39:09 PM

Then there's the best nonsense/silly Eurovision song, which to this day I still think it's Verka Serdushka's "Lasha Tumbai"

Yes I love that song and the Elena Foureira cover from that switch song they did a couple of year's ago

It just shows how much Ukraine gets Eurovision. I think they're the only country to have always got through the semi-finals and hit well above their weight in the finals, even without the politics.

Edit: Of course and the weirdness of Ukriane's situation right now is Verka Serdushka doing instagram Q&As with fans announcing that he's staying in Kyiv etc or Kulash Orchestra having several members who are in the territorial defence forces before last night's show.

One of the myriad of dramas and losses caused by Covid is that it prevented Russia from presenting their (AFAIK) first silly/nonsense/outrageous performance, Uno by Little Big, which would show that there's more to the country than the traditional stereotypes they like to show in almost every Eurovision.

It's the winner that never was. 

#46

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

Last post by Sheilbh - May 15, 2022, 02:23:44 PM

I'd say it has more to do with the paltry salary that public sector researchers receive. It's super common over here, and we've built up the wazoo over the years.

Yeah I think that's definitely part of it - although I've got a friend similar age as me (so mid-thirties) who is a post-doc researcher at one of the science universities in London. So there is a London uplift - but his salary is solid (and his pension is incredible, which is why he's been on strike a lot over the last year or two). He could, no doubt, earn a lot more in the private sector.

But he's just bought a place, and has a comfortable middle class life in London in a flat with a garden etc.

Oxford and Cambridge are just moving into a different world in terms of housing costs because there's no building. They are both more expensive than London now. They're moving into a different territory and it feels like the universities can't keep expanding their size without, at some point, needing more housing in what are basically two very small cities.

#47

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Sheilbh - May 15, 2022, 02:20:47 PM

Then there's the best nonsense/silly Eurovision song, which to this day I still think it's Verka Serdushka's "Lasha Tumbai"

Yes I love that song and the Elena Foureira cover from that switch song they did a couple of year's ago

It just shows how much Ukraine gets Eurovision. I think they're the only country to have always got through the semi-finals and hit well above their weight in the finals, even without the politics.

Edit: Of course and the weirdness of Ukriane's situation right now is Verka Serdushka doing instagram Q&As with fans announcing that he's staying in Kyiv etc or Kulash Orchestra having several members who are in the territorial defence forces before last night's show.

#48

Off the Record / Re: Acts of Terrorism megathre...

Last post by The Larch - May 15, 2022, 02:19:08 PM

Noticed that Fox News completely omitted the Manifesto from their reporting.

It overlapped too much with the last Tucker Carlson script?

#49

Gaming HQ / Re: Best User Review Ever - Va...

Last post by The Brain - May 15, 2022, 02:13:47 PM

When would be a good time for people?

Today would be great for me. Or any of the next few days really. But I think we're very ready for the next boss and I'd like to kill it soon.

#50

Off the Record / Re: Acts of Terrorism megathre...

Last post by Razgovory - May 15, 2022, 02:13:46 PM

Noticed that Fox News completely omitted the Manifesto from their reporting.