@VoxDei@qoto.org
@VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

VoxDei

@VoxDei@qoto.org

Software Engineer, Trade Unionist, Gamer, Geek, Dad. Lives in Devon

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VoxDei, to ukteachers
@VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

My 9yo son has homework to find six "adverbial phrases" (I had to look this up) in one of his books. I had to look through three novels to find even one example, and in the end I made four of the six up.

You may say I shouldn't be doing my son's homework for him, and you'd be right. But if you're going to say that, please also explain to me how there is any expectation that any of these primary-age children are going to do this themselves, and what the benefit of doing so is, and what the benefit of knowing what an "adverbial phrase" is? Because the whole thing seems to me like a waste of time designed to teach children that they can't be expected to do their own homework.

stevendbrewer, to random
@stevendbrewer@wandering.shop avatar

The sense of moral injury that @pluralistic describes here resonates with me as a worker in public higher education. When I began my career, I believed I was empowering students & helping them rise to their highest possible level of achievement. As the public disinvested in education, students were gradually maneuvered into accepting non-dischargeable debt at high interest rates that left them indentured for their careers to enrich oligarchs. And I was the come-on.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/25/moral-injury/

VoxDei,
@VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

@MylesRyden @sidereal @stevendbrewer @va2lam @Hotdog @pluralistic

I'm the same. Team games are the best way to learn to type. If the difference between victory and defeat rests on being able to type "target GunK1dd13" or "going left" in under a second while watching your screen, pretty soon you're touch typing pretty damn fast.

darkade, to boardgames
@darkade@dice.camp avatar

deleted_by_author

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    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @darkade You forgot "right before Christmas"

    LindaCollins11, to random
    @LindaCollins11@mastodon.social avatar

    @joekoffee Good late morning to you Joe☕️☕️☕️Had PT earlier this morning

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @LindaCollins11 @joekoffee @cstross This feels like a quote that would appeal...

    garius, to random
    @garius@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    Imagine Cameron having to meet all the EU leaders.

    Like when that one manager comes back after an "extended absence" where everyone knows EXACTLY what he did, but HR have banned you all from talking about it.

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @garius You know he's going to come out and say something about how he felt like he had to help make Brexit work, since he called the referendum...

    VoxDei, to random
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    I love that they're only just realising how inadequate they all are. Anyone competent got purged by Boris in case they showed him up, so without exception they're either too inexperienced, too stupid or in another job.

    From the Guardian

    Private
    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @ChefleGrand You nearly had me - I read that as "ambulatory ballistics" and wondered what on Earth that was.

    (Sadly even if I were interested in ambulatory basilics, my German isn't up to it. Sorry!)

    ned, (edited ) to random
    @ned@mstdn.ca avatar

    Paint Drying, rated U, is a 2016 film that was produced, directed, and shot by Charlie Shackleton, to protest film censorship in the UK and the cost to independent filmmakers. The film contains 10 hours & 7 minutes of white paint drying on a brick wall, forcing the BBFC to watch all ten hours to give the film an age rating classification. He initially shot 14 hours of 4K footage and opened a Kickstarter to pay the BBFC's per-minute rate for as long as possible. It raised £5,936 from 686 backers.

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @ned I mean, on one level that's hilarious. The problem is that "The BBFC" didn't watch all ten hours. Not even their CEO. Some poor schmuck who isn't responsible for the system (or even for whatever happened to Shackleton to annoy him enough to do that) did. Bit harsh on that guy.

    It's a bit like being pissed off by some ancient Roman senator, thinking "I'll show you" and beating up one of his slaves. Very little effect on its intended target.

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @axnxcamr @ned That's true, I just think that it did punish someone, and it punished someone who didn't really bear responsibility for the problem.

    freemo, to random
    @freemo@qoto.org avatar

    Why are we genetically programmed to find animals so cute? I would think as an omnivore finding your food cute would be counterproductive.

    My hypothesis is that we are supposed to eat meat as a last resort and prefer vegetables. So their cuteness acts as a deterrent so we prefer them less...

    Though the fact that meat tastes so good would seem to be a counterargument to that theory...

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @freemo I suspect it's just coincidence. We're genetically programmed to find at least human babies cute (um, once they've stopped looking like gremlins, I guess), and I wouldn't be surprised if as an evolutionary hold-over from when we were all the things before humans that evolution finds it much easier to specify "find anything that looks young cute" over being species-specific for humanity.

    garius, to random
    @garius@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    Fact of the day:

    ISO3103 is the International Standard covering the serving of tea. It's there to ensure consistency in taste testing.

    Key points:

    • Pot should be porcelain or earthenware
    • Milk should be added AFTER hot water

    Ireland were the only country to object on its submission, noting there was no provision for pot-warming in the specification.

    This was overruled.

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @garius I think I've developed a sudden love for the ISO. And I don't even drink tea, it's just that any organisation that can decide to develop international standards for it and the only objection is that the proposed standard doesn't do it right is all right by me.

    freemo, to random
    @freemo@qoto.org avatar

    @olives wait... cops in the USA dont even carry sub machine guns (fully-automatic guns of any kind actually)... I am quite surprised to hear in the UK they carry these casually. My guess is they are using the term wrong and they mean a carbine.

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @freemo @olives I don't claim to know a lot about the distinction, so it's entirely possible I'm wrong, but my belief was always that armed police in the UK had carbines. I'm reasonably sure they do not fire on full auto regardless. It's possible specialist counter-terrorism police have different armaments.

    Police in the UK are not routinely armed with more than tasers, mind. It's only specialist armed response officers who have guns. Where I live in Devon I seem to remember hearing that there are only three armed response units to cover the entire county overnight, which is about 70 miles N-S, about 55 E-W, largely rural but with at least three population centres in excess of 50,000 people. Though again I may be misinformed.

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @guardeddon @freemo @olives Is that the same weapon as you see the armed police at airports with?

    VoxDei,
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    @freemo @guardeddon @olives Well, depends a bit how you look at it. For your regular beat cop, not so much - ours don't carry firearms.

    Comparing like with like would probably mean only specialist firearms officers (I guess the closest US equivalent is SWAT?). I don't know what they'd tend to carry in the US, but I suspect it's heavier than that?

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @freemo @guardeddon @olives Yeah, the ARUs are like that - you don't get them just hanging around the place, they turn up when they're needed.

    All this said, on Googling, @guardeddon is correct about the model of weapon, but it's a single-fire variant in use. See https://www.eliteukforces.info/police/uk-armed-police/ under "Police Weapons". So similar in idea to the US, I guess.

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @freemo @guardeddon @olives Way beyond my personal knowledge, I was just going off that website (which says the most common is the MP5SF, which may be the same thing as you're talking about, and the G36C)

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @guardeddon @freemo @olives I bow to superior knowledge! I know little about the subject other than Google. 🙂

    Glastomichelle, to random
    @Glastomichelle@c.im avatar

    Last night on Glastonbury Tor. As the veil begins to thin.

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @Glastomichelle @cstross Here's an illustration for the next Laundry book...

    drandrewv2, to UKpolitics
    @drandrewv2@freeradical.zone avatar

    I wish to God the news outlets would stop saying this could be the last Labour conference ahead of the next general election…

    I honestly can’t bear the possibility that it might not be. 😭

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @drandrewv2 There is no possibility that the general election will be more than a week before it absolutely has to be. Because Sunak knows he's going to get hammered, and there's nothing that can possibly happen that'll avoid that short of Keir Starmer being charged with some horrendous sex abuse crime.

    So I'm sad to say there will be one more Labour conference before the next election.

    freemo, to random
    @freemo@qoto.org avatar

    I have been thinking lately.. if there is any significant distinction between humans and other animals I wonder if it is not "consciousness" or even "intelligence" but rather simply that we have a separation of conscious and subconscious minds. It seems to me that most animals are just a direct expression of their subconscious with no conscious component acting as a filter. Or at the very least their conscious component is greatly minimalizaed

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @freemo If you've got any time for sci-fi, try reading Blindsight by Peter Watts. Some very interesting exploration of the questions of consciousness, though I think he's more or less come to the opposite conclusion to you!

    VoxDei, to UKpolitics
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    The arbitrary vandalism of the current government aside, some of this Labour is capable of preventing now simply by announcing it will undo it.

    For instance if housebuilders are saving £8k at build time by not having to meet low-carbon standards, at a later cost of £33k to the taxpayer or homeowners to upgrade, Labour could announce that when they win the next election, they will pass legislation requiring housebuilders to pay to retrofit all properties built since now that don't meet low carbon standards. So they can pay £8k now, or £33k later, their choice.

    Housebuilders can read polling as well as anyone, they're not going to pay more later.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/09/how-tories-green-hostility-will-hinder-a-future-labour-government

    cstross, to random
    @cstross@wandering.shop avatar

    Copied from former birbsite:

    Damian Lyons Lowe @DamianSurvation
    Daily Mail Readers National Prediction: Conservatives short 25 of majority

    With voting restricted to only those getting their news from Daily Mail (sample 2756). The Conservatives would still be unlikely to form the next Government (a 2 point lead of Labour is not enough).

    Let that sink in. The Tories have even lost the Daily Mail voters!

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @cstross Interesting. The magic number is 326, so even if those numbers were correct (and I realise this isn't a scientific prediction!) the Tories wouldn't have a workable path to power. On those numbers either the Tories or Labour would require SNP votes to form even a minority government - the Lib Dems, Northern Ireland parties, Reform, Green and Plaid between them aren't enough.

    So ironically, what the Daily Mail readership is predicting is IndyRef 2.

    (Obviously, these numbers aren't what's going to actually happen. But it's still interesting.)

    newsthump, to random
    @newsthump@mastodon.online avatar

    Water bosses tell public, ‘Give us another £156 a year, or we’ll keep pouring shit into your rivers’ https://newsthump.com/2023/10/02/water-bosses-tell-public-give-us-another-156-a-year-or-well-keep-pouring-shit-into-your-rivers/

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @newsthump And. Not or. Give us another £156 a year and we'll keep pouring shit into your rivers.

    What? You weren't expecting them to actually fix anything with that money?

    freemo, to MIguns
    @freemo@qoto.org avatar

    NICE! As much as I hate the right every once in a while they do something good. Apparently now states must issue permits to carry a handgun to anyone who requests it unless they have an explicit reason not to (like they have a criminal history)... This makes all states "shall issue" states!

    This is great, am really excited to see the being expanded!

    https://www.businessinsider.com/supreme-court-guns-decision-second-amendment-new-york-2022-6

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @freemo @ihavenopeopleskills

    Yeah, but the argument made was that a license prevents someone who needs a gun immediately from getting one. My point is why would you need a gun immediately? There might be one or two edge cases, but I suspect they’ll be very small numbers of occurrences. I would say preventing people from getting guns immediately is a net good thing - it’ll prevent a lot of suicides, for a start, way more than lives it’ll ever save because someone could obtain a gun on an hour’s notice.

    Guns are not trivial to obtain out of thin air. 3D-printed guns are not common. I live in the UK, we have strong gun laws, you don’t find that people have a secret 3D-printed gun hidden in a cupboard just in case they need to shoot someone. Yes, fine, hardened criminals might have one, but that’s the case now - if you’re determined to get an illegal weapon, you can, it doesn’t make them widespread and it doesn’t mean that Joe Average needs a gun and needs one right now (but with a long enough delay to nip down to the shops and come back with a gun).

    I’m not denying you your “right” to bear arms (scare quotes because I don’t understand why anywhere bestows that right in the first place, and the 2a explicitly says that it’s related to the requirement for a “well-regulated militia”, which is never considered in the legal arguments). But none of the constitutional rights is absolute. The first amendment, for instance, does not allow you to say anything to anyone at any time. If I go around saying “person X is a rapist” for example, if I can’t prove it I get sued for slander, I can’t say “Oh but the first amendment, I can say what I want whether it’s true or not”. Imposing a requirement on gun ownership to prove that you have some basic competence via a licensing scheme does not infringe your rights. Moreover, the 2fa bestows a “right to keep and bear arms”, not to walk around with assault weapons - it would be within the meaning of the 2fa if the government said “You can have this one type of gun” - you would have a right to keep arms and to bear them. I realise that American jurisprudence, especially from the point of view of the current Supreme Court that barely pays lip service to the actual law, disagrees with that, but that doesn’t change what I think the law actually says.

    VoxDei,
    @VoxDei@qoto.org avatar

    @freemo @ihavenopeopleskills

    This debate is getting longer than I wanted it to, in the sense that we’re both writing a lot, and I don’t want to offend anyway. I think perhaps I was unclear about some of what I meant, and I don’t want to argue about technicalities - we end up with enormous posts that don’t really get us anywhere. So I’m going to stop, I wish we could have this discussion over a beer some time, it feels like it’d be much more productive in person! I appreciate that you say you know I’m arguing in good faith, because I definitely am, so thank you. :-)

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