Recent posts

#11

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Baron von Schtinkenbutt - Today at 03:26:51 PM

And signed in beet juice blood!

#12

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by Tamas - Today at 03:18:15 PM

Haha, racist jokes!

#13

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Tamas - Today at 03:17:20 PM

Tamas, you ought to write their editor a letter.

It is going to be strongly worded!

#14

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

Last post by Tamas - Today at 03:16:12 PM

So are we looking at a new political landscape where what used to be the Tories are now Labour, what used to be Labour are the Greens and (what used to be UKIP is Reform)?

#15

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

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 03:09:37 PM

Apologies for the X link - but Sultana really is outflanking Corbyn from the left (slightly funny seeing Jones trying to give her many well sign-posted off-ramps that she just ignores)
https://x.com/owenjonesjourno/status/1995556619866784166?s=20

I thought this was quite a fun very quick summary of the conference as I think there are still people who have hope from this (including in this video) and they seem very nice and maybe it will work out. But to me it feels like a huge disappointing missed opportunity from 800k people signing up in interest over the summer - which I think is a bit sad (especially because I don't like the Greens )

What is also interesting and I think healthy though is that you had serious reporting of it - from the left media like Novara, but also from the New Statesman. I think that's a good thing and when you've got two parties to the left of Labour having surges at different stages, the press (and academia) need people who can cover and understand the radical left just as much as the radical right.

#16

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 02:24:16 PM

I can tell that you came of age during the time when communications were instantaneous.

When I began practising law, we still relied on something called the postal acceptance rule.  I won't get into the details of what the rule was, but suffice it to say that it was necessary because communications were delayed by the time it took the post office to deliver a letter.

And that was in the early 90s. Think about how much more inefficient communications were during the time you are being critical of.

It's not often an issue nowadays but you still learn the postal acceptance rule here that an offer is accepted at the point the letter is posted even if it is delayed or doesn't get to the person. I remember my contract tutor giving us an essay on the postal acceptance rule and Trollope - which was great.

It's a long time ago but I think the relevance is that Trollope worked or the Post Office and timing of post is important in a number of his novels. But I think the essay basically argued that the invention of a reliable, trustworthy, affordable, quick postal service across the country was a huge information revolution. So offer could be accepted at the point of posting because it would get to the offeror and it would get their quickly.

Yes, exactly so.  The post became so dependable that an assumption was built into the law that the post had been delivered by a certain point.  Syt, interesting that when you were taking your exams, in your country it was three days.  Here it was, iirc, two weeks.

#17

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

Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 02:20:59 PM

The Daily Express (so yeah) reports that European leaders are considering dumping trillions of dollars of US debt if the US "sells out" Ukraine...

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2140719/trump-ukraine-russia-peace-deal-europe

I'd entirely ignore the Express. Interesting to see what the WSJ report it's summarising says though. I've not seen anyone else pick it up so my assumption is they've put a fair bit of spin on a throwaway line in the WSJ.

And it looks like it mostly originated as a Reddit post.  Both it and the WSJ report were both probably drafted by AI.

Although there was a bit of a bond sell off today, but for the usual kinds of reasons. Not because of displeasure with US policy over Ukraine.

#18

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

Last post by Jacob - Today at 02:09:44 PM

Yeah fair enough.

#19

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

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 02:06:11 PM

The Daily Express (so yeah) reports that European leaders are considering dumping trillions of dollars of US debt if the US "sells out" Ukraine...

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2140719/trump-ukraine-russia-peace-deal-europe

I'd entirely ignore the Express. Interesting to see what the WSJ report it's summarising says though. I've not seen anyone else pick it up so my assumption is they've put a fair bit of spin on a throwaway line in the WSJ.

#20

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

Last post by Jacob - Today at 02:04:56 PM

I mean, I rue the day but all this fucking tension can't continue building like this. Something is going to blow eventually.