My new housemate has a serious stutter and a strong Polish accent. I'm slightly deaf. Cue some serious difficulties in communicating... Suggestions above will help I think.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pots at 4:35 AM on March 20, 2008

If ex-Gurkhas have never lived in the UK then I don't see why the terms of their employment (and pensions) must be the same as UK soldiers. There seems no legal requirement for equality. Such Gurkhas were employed in a different economic context and inevitably their pay etc will reflect that. Can an Indian employed by Ford to make cars expect the same wages as an American paid to do the same job? Conditions must be fair within that economic context but as far as I know the pensions received... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 3:50 AM on March 20, 2008

Not certain but it looks like New Zealand looking from the SE with South island to the left.
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 12:49 PM on March 19, 2008

There is something special about a man who can be so positive and idealistic when many have the gut instinct that he's completely fated to die tragically. Kind of radicalises the natural affinity you have for his good nature; like that T-shirt says: If you kill Obama, we WILL blow shit up.

I feel it and I'm not an American or even a resident and furthermore, live in a country (UK) where anti-Americanism now seems the default. I've never felt like that but with Bush,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 9:28 PM on January 6, 2008

I lived in Pakistan for a year before university and while I don't grieve for Benazir, I'm horrified by her death. When a country you have an abiding fondness for conducts its political discourse through the medium of suicide bombing, you can have no other response.
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 11:48 AM on December 27, 2007

Obama became the next president before assassination by a Muslim fundamentalist (apostate father didn't help)
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 5:10 PM on January 16, 2007

I'm surprised the focus of the bloggers and the poster here is the fact mainstream media hasn't found it newsworthy. And not the fact, some racist idiot had the largest cache of explosives producing chemicals ever found in someone's house. Reporting restrictions, general atmosphere of unwarranted hysteria about Muslim nutters, supposed lack of integration of Muslims etc. 'the Muslim problem' - as some puckered-up-dogs-arse-for-a-mouth woman called it on a Channel 4 debate last night - all these... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 3:41 PM on October 24, 2006

The face video ain't so amazing but I was taken by the simulated flyby of Olympus Mons' Eastern Escarpment. Olympus Mons being the biggest geological feature in the solar system (27 kms above the mean surface level - obligatory wiki link) I have no idea of the scales involved in that flyby - how big must those scree slopes be?! - but liked imagining. Thanks for this.

I'll be really excited however, when someone posts a link to 'Google Mars' - I've... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 10:20 AM on October 24, 2006

I can see what the image is but what are you doing with it? Have you got any more detail?
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 3:04 PM on October 24, 2006

Continuing HuronBob's comment about how that war was more just than the war in Iraq, well if you look at all America's wars since the year dot, there seems a continuous undeniable trend towards moral ambiguity.

The Revolution was, for Americans at least, the ideal war as the cause was just, the conduct reasonably civilized (!) and the consequences generally agreed to be positive in all aspects.

Civil war was justified by the threat to the Union... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 4:38 PM on August 8, 2006

I'll choose Opera thanks. Doesn't have Firefox's really irritating pretensions. Most standards compliant browser, first to do tabbed browsing, mouse gestures, mouse-over previewing on tabs, etc.
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 8:46 AM on August 2, 2006

If I knew things were going to go crazy I'd probably find a way to Papua New Guinea, the Amazon rain forests or some such place and get friendly with indigenous people living there. Who is best placed to survive the end of modern civilization? Those who don't really participate in it as things stand now. I might also take along a book or two by Ray Mears.

A decision to fight to maintain the veneer of civilization as we know it would be an exceptionally difficult one to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by pots at 12:58 AM on March 14, 2006

Money means so many different things to people that measuring their risk preferences through the filter of their desire/need for wealth seems a bit limited. Sure, it's interesting if you are only interested in the risk preferences when money is on the table but it would seem to preclude wider conclusions about risk taking.

If the quality at stake was something other than money then you probably could make wider assumptions about the impact on risk preference of gender... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 4:06 AM on January 28, 2006

eriko: 'the strafing bits were great'

Either that comment's loaded with an overwhelming dose of sarcasm - so great, it can't quite register - or you just enjoyed a whole load of people being completely shot to bits.

If the latter, do you ration your empathy for special occasions or is it always completely lacking?
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 4:47 PM on December 20, 2005

In a related way, E-stonia:
In the summer of 2001, the Government created a web page Täna Otsustan Mina ("I Decide Today"). Ministries upload all their draft bills and amendments there, allowing people to review, comment on and make proposals on the legislative process as well as propose amendments to existing legislation. Ideas that gain substantial support will be reviewed by competent bodies. Approximately 5% of all ideas are used as amendments to bills.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 3:40 PM on December 15, 2005

My take on the Times article:

"So Sir John, can you give us any information about your cable advising colleagues to say they have no information of Indonesian atrocities in East Timor?"

No. I can give you no information about that."

Ahh the irony.
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 11:50 PM on December 4, 2005

Leave for a moment, all the arguments about what might happen and focus instead on what we can, with some certainty, know will happen:

* Demand for oil will continue to rise at a rate than cannot be catered for by current refining capacity.
New refineries take a good few years to bring online, so at the very least, even if there is enough oil to go around, we are unlikely to be able to convert it into the forms we require at the rate... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 11:27 AM on November 24, 2005

* bugger. That should read: 'need to expend 1 of them to get your next 2'
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 11:31 AM on November 24, 2005

Amusing as the thread has been there's not much comment on the development itself, which is a shame as I'd have thought it's quite significant.

- Sharon despite owing his position as the leader of a democracy to his long-time political allies has determined to set up a completely new party... Imagine if that happened in any other established democracy...

- Former advocate/leader of the settler movement, having already admitted that Israel... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 11:16 AM on November 21, 2005

John Simpson
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 3:38 PM on November 21, 2005

*laughs good naturedly at lazy-ville

seriously. I was about to post that same scientific link myself. heh.
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 5:32 PM on November 10, 2005

"Less impressive, until you start trying to figure out where they got the washing machine."

Where did they get it from?
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 3:55 PM on November 9, 2005

thank you edverb
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 11:38 PM on November 7, 2005

All this talk of WWI tactics is a bit o/t but eriko, I'd add that the German military had, by 1918, figured out how to overcome entrenched positions and exploit the gap. The use of stormtroopers, lightly provisioned, fast-moving and heavily armed (SMGs, grenades, flame throwers) and the concentration of forces on a narrow front, allowed Ludendorff to make massive advances. I think there was even a national holiday in Germany to celebrate the imminent victory. Of course, it didn't succeed... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 10:05 AM on October 26, 2005

If war commemoration focused primarily on the unarmed victims of conflict and asked us to grieve at the grave of the unknown civilian then, perhaps, I'd be less critical of such sacralisation of men who, in the final judgement, died trying to kill other men.

And if, being hypothetical, I was a soldier so obliterated by combat as to be unidentifiable, I know I would not be happy that my corpse was an integral part of a culture that acclimatizes and indoctrinates the next... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 4:32 PM on September 14, 2005

In defence of Marie Antoinette >
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 1:01 PM on September 6, 2005

no more working out run distances with a map and a piece of string!
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 12:11 AM on August 9, 2005

*Austin Powers parking mode
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 1:57 PM on August 8, 2005

Goedel you've got a point; the decision taken by Truman probably was, in the context of what he knew at the time, the most humane one - but the way you express it is a bit tasteless.

First, you so vehemently state that you can't and won't feel remorse, that you present yourself as someone who doesn't regret even the necessity of killing so many and destroying so much. Maybe you don't actually believe that but it's an ugly impression to give.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 7:03 AM on August 6, 2005

I think people are a bit too harsh on panic.

In bobo123's scenario, a person who goes nuts and starts pushing people out of the way, physically putting himself ahead of the queue, is more likely to survive than someone who doesn't panic, or only panics when it's too late. Should someone who survives in such a way, feel guilty even when behaving any differently meant death?

I imagine we might feel disgust at their manner of surviving, but that's... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 3:32 PM on August 3, 2005

sorry that was so long!
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 3:33 PM on August 3, 2005

One of the most striking aspects of the evolving Sunni insurgency has been its almost complete failure to spark serious sectarian conflict. This I'd say is the main reason why the US is willing to considering withdrawal. The violence is very destructive but it doesn't appear to be having any wider political impact.

The process of drawing up a constitution is still going ahead, the expansion of security forces goes on (see the daily reports on suicide bomb attacks on... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 1:45 PM on July 27, 2005

kirkaracha : why didn't you include that link in the original post? It provides a far more insightful analysis of why the US might consider withdrawing than the supposed shortage of troops or domestic political considerations. The reason being that the 'Sunni insurgency has no political future and cannot be defeated, so why risk US lives?'

*but thanks for the link. You're right, it is a good article.
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 2:07 PM on July 27, 2005

Rev. Syung Myung Me has it cracked. I for one, take all the arguments about getting kids to read and think "great" but just can't stand the adult fixation with it. There are so many better and more imaginative childrens' writers out there who are more worthy of an adult's attention. Roald Dahl, Philip Pullman etc...

And don't get me started on the incredibly irritating media blitz, lawsuits, global opening extraganza and the pretentious tosh that was JK... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 2:17 PM on July 20, 2005

In addition there's the theoretical number of Iraqis who would have been killed if Saddam remained in power. Apparently he was killing an average of 16,000 per year for his entire time in power. (Admittedly that's an old article but the point remains valid... A lot of people who would otherwise have been killed in acts of government terror were not)

Personally, I feel the debate you're all having about these casualty figures justifying or... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 2:01 PM on July 20, 2005

60 x 60 x 24 x 11.7 = 1,010,880 km

Is that really 1 million kms a day? that just blows my mind...
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 3:23 PM on May 3, 2005

*kaboom*

heh. thanks for that. Now, I've gotta get back to reading Red Mars for the umpteenth time.
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 5:27 PM on May 3, 2005

How about this?

The war will be a strategic success. Picture now: surprisingly large election turnout, representative government of Iraq emerging, Saddam up for trial, democracy encouraged across Middle East. Long-term picture: political re-integration of Sunnis as they confront the unpalatable, but unavoidable truth that power has permanently shifted away from them, towards the Shia (and to a lesser extent, the Kurds) ----> decline of the home-grown insurgency... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 4:59 PM on May 3, 2005

Rory Bremner says it much better than I have...

from insomnia_lj's link
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 5:12 PM on May 3, 2005

Despite the confusing juxtaposition of the wanted poster ad (for a girl sought as a material witness in another child abuse case) and this rehash of the previously-posted 'ghost photos' story, they haven't actually released the Disney World girl's picture yet.

'If they decide to release her photo, they must be ready to rescue her immediately, to get her into the care of an experienced counselor and to deal with the emotional fallout affecting her family and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 11:07 AM on April 28, 2005

Interesting.

*From Village Voice: 'what George Orwell called doublespeak'. Well no, he didn't actually use the word; he made two others; doublethink and newspeak.
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 11:00 AM on April 24, 2005

Interestingly, the counterterrorism blog referred to in the story isn't particularly critical. For a start, it notes that 300 of the incidents from that total were in Kashmir - hardly the centre of this administration's 'War on Terror'. Second, it appears to confirm the official line that the huge jump has more to do with changes in data collection than a rise in terrorism:

In the Secretary's defense, however, the sharp jump in numbers has more to do with a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 5:18 AM on April 17, 2005

Sheesh, guys. The "as an Anglican and a near atheist" comment is not that difficult to understand - one is a reference to upbringing, the other a reference to personal conviction.

But yeah, could have been worded better.
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 3:05 AM on April 3, 2005

orthogonality An unknown member of the public assaulting a powerful politician with food is not by any stretch of the imagination equivalent to state repression of dissent. After all, an act like this is done precisely because, politically, he is strong and the protester is weak - it is done purely and simply because it brings Mr. Buchanan down to a human level by making him look a fool ("Ha ha. Look at him he's got salad dressing on his face?! omg, Mr. Buchanan with food on his face -... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 10:32 AM on April 1, 2005

Of all things to start a discussion about, you choose... shaved heads?
Come on.

For a start, many Afghans voluntarily go beardless and the shaving of heads tends to be more a sign of a scalp infestation than of a hermaphrodite. So while your cultural sensitivity would, I'm sure be appreciated, I doubt the soldiers were particularly offended.

On preview: thank you for the links y2karl
(... do you have to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 1:07 PM on March 28, 2005

> about that opium thing...
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 11:27 AM on March 29, 2005

From your last link: "A doctrine is something that pins you down to a given mode of conduct and dozens of situations which you cannot foresee, which is a great mistake in principle. When the word ‘containment’ was used in my ‘X’ article, it was used with relation to a certain situation then prevailing, and as a response to it."

Kennan always struck me as a slightly tragic figure. He appears as someone who understood the nature of the threat posed, and a nuanced... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 1:09 PM on March 19, 2005

"artificial competition"?

I doubt anyone at the time thought the struggle between two historically antagonistic governments was the imagination of a delusional crank. The post-war arrangement of armies in Europe, atomic hubris, ideological arrogance and Stalin's mania all ensured an unhealthy competition for dominance in Europe. You only have to look at the behaviour of the USSR at Warsaw in 1944 and the post-war imposition of puppet governments throughout E.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 2:34 PM on March 19, 2005

The significance of the McCartney crisis (and crisis it has been for Sinn Fein/IRA) has been the response of three critical constituencies; namely: northern Nationalists/Republicans, the political class in the Irish Republic and the political leadership of the US.

The impact on N. Irish nationalist sentiment is demonstrated most tellingly by the campaign of the McCartney sisters. Despite being long-time supporters of Sinn Fein and its struggle for a united Ireland and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 2:06 PM on March 9, 2005

Independent's article in full.
posted to MetaFilter by pots at 12:18 AM on March 8, 2005