>>6892

It's a mildly amusing conceit - the book explains complicated bits of science using only the thousand most common words in the English language. It's a spin-off from the "Up-Goer Five" comic. Fine if you like that sort of thing, but I don't imagine it would be particularly illuminating.

https://xkcd.com/1133/

I think you'll probably like The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets . It's mostly average but quite enjoyable.

Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters was good, though some of the science is dated and the author's awful politics shine through (more pop sci). I really liked Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics and similarly 13 Things That Don't Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time. Though humour wise I imagine We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe would be better though I haven't read it yet.

A Short History of Nearly Everything and it's unofficial "sequel" An Optimist's Tour of the Future: One Curious Man Sets Out to Answer "What's Next?" were both good.

I actually really want to read The Code Book by Singh. It's about how they deciphered hieroglyphics.

>>6880
His other book I'll think you'll find it's more complicated than that is also good. It's a collection of his newspaper columns.

>>6893

Reading that comic made me feel like I was being patronised by someone much thicker than me. Sky bag air, indeed.

>>6893
I don't think comic/webcomic illustrators translate well into books. For example, David Squires' weekly comic in The Guardian is brilliant and topical but I've got a couple of his books and it just quite doesn't work as well.

The again, there's plenty of people who don't succeed when they try different formats; Lucy Worsley may be an excellent historian and TV presenter but her books are below par.

>>6878
The Drunkard's Walk by Leonard Mlodinow.

>>17267
>Is everything you mention always well-paid?
Not him, but if they weren't people wouldn't be doing them instead of just getting a proper job.

>>17261
I have just consulted my 2005 edition of the Profanisaurus Rex

>twunt n. Useful, satisfying yet inoffensive combination of two very rude words which can safely be spoken in the primmest and properest of company.

I believe that settles the matter as to the terms validity, as to its correct usage, I must agree with my learned colleague that poster >>17250 has demonstrated qualities of both a twat and a cunt in this, and other messages we can reasonably conclude to be theirs, and therefore the description of twunt is appropriate in this instance.

>>17267

>Is everything you mention always well-paid?

How do you think the job market works? Do you reckon there's one specific sort of newspaper columnist/nationally published author that only gets 50p an hour?

You're accusing someone of making assumptions about Monroe's finances, while intimating that you think Monroe's finances are poor, which, unless you two are well acquainted, is also an assumption you're making.

So either explain why you think Monroe is poor (without assuming anything) or fuck the fuck off.

>>17270

Calling it now, poster IS Monroe and was recommended the site by ARE LAUIRE.

>>17271
Given that Taylor Swift posts on the other place it wouldn't be the strangest thing that's happened.

>>62389
>>62417
THE PUSHER IS A FICTIONAL CHARACTER INVENTED BY BIG CANAL.

>>62419
YOU WOULD SAY THAT LAD

>>62419
You can understand though. They're getting tired of fishing cans, bikes and kitchen sinks out of canals so want to discourage people from walking along them. It wouldn't be so bad if they found at least some decent gear but it's mostly soap bar and antacids disguised as E.

>>62419
>BIG CANAL

>>62422
I always thought there was something well sus about a bearded bloke hanging around on a boat with two ragdolls.

>>12848
>then perhaps you aren't actually fit for work
I don't know, according to DWP a used tampon is fit for work.

I last signed on five years ago. They had brought in Universal JobMatch, and said you have to spend 35 hours a week looking for jobs, and changed the advisor's job title to a "coach". When he told me, I had a vision of him wearing a tracksuit and blowing a whistle at me and surpressed a laugh and he looked stung.

You sign a jobseeker's agreement which says you have to visit certain recruitment sites every day and apply for a certain number of jobs every day or something. You have to go on UJM every day and log that and give the advisor access to your account. You have the legal right to not give access but then you're making yourself a target for them to fuck with you and it's better to fly under the radar as much as possible.

My agreement just said to visit the recruitment sites every day and there was an "implication" I would apply for a lot of jobs. I got a different advisor every time and they were wildly inconsistent about what is or isn't acceptable and it's harder to comply with an "implication". I think the people with one nice advisor must either be in a small place or signed on a long time ago.

In my experience, they have a stronger dislike of graduates and the middle-class because they feel you're going to look down on cleaning jobs and things.

>>12845

It isn't but it's different from JSA ten years ago when you did your jobsearch on paper and the advisors were nice.

>>12852

I've mentioned this here before but one of my advisors was a Chinese guy named Ming but he was a nice one and not merciless at all. He never heard me make idiotic jokes about his name though.

>How does the dole work?

Watch "I, Daniel Blake" tonight at 9:45pm on BBC 2 and find out.

The last time I tried to sign on was a year or so ago when I had just got back from bumming around Europe in the summer, I was sleeping outside and hiking so it was very affordable, even managed to land a little cash in hand work to get a little spending money, had a great time. Got back and started looking for work so I figured I'd sign on, only to be told that I needed to be living in the UK for 3 months before claiming, when I called up to ask about it and say I was a British citizen they seemed really surprised but did nothing.

Good job I had family to crash with otherwise I'd have been fucked. Fortunately I found a job within a week on my own too so fuck 'em.

>>423389

Same, especially if you can stick an earbud in and get through some podcasts and that.

Even if not I imagine it's quite relaxing (though probably eventually quite tedious)

>>423389
For a uni job I can't really fault it - the breaks are decent, the pay is good, the shifts aren't ridiculous, and I get 10% off everything except cigs and fuel. 'Happy' would be an extremely, extremely strong word though.

>>423392
You can at some shops, but not this one. What you instead get is the same playlist in roughly the same order of generic family-friendly chart pop, though recently I've noticed they've started throwing some 80s greatest hits type stuff in there.

I think maybe in a quieter (or better staffed) supermarket it would be relaxing, but while it's not obligatory that you stack the whole night's delivery before your shift is up, it's assumed that you will - sometimes you'll be working right up until home time. Tedious to me has an 'active' component, like you hate doing it as you're doing it - to me it's more mind-numbing - my brain just shuts off.

>>423393

>Tedious to me has an 'active' component, like you hate doing it as you're doing it - to me it's more mind-numbing - my brain just shuts off.

That's how I felt when I was washing dishes for a living. It was at a time when my brain shutting off for an evening was very welcome.

I used to jokingly call it meditative, but looking back, it actually was. I also really enjoyed a later job which was essentially opening oysters all day. Very relaxing, and just enough of a skill to feel like I wasn't wasting my life.

>>423393
Oh if its a uni job, then even more power to you. You're not going to be "happy" as you intimate, but it will introduce you to two things - most jobs have long periods of shit (there is a reason they call it work), even the ones you love and are really good at. The second important thing I learned working in supermarkets and doing uni jobs - many of the people you work with are fuckwits; it's a useful life lesson to learn how to tolerate stupid people, gladly.

>>423337
Well sod them then.
There's a rather strange trend I've started to notice at various places: the tendency to conform and to voice adherence to what would have been named at other places as 'normie values'. Do forgive me my parlance but any other more formal term doesn't exactly describe the thing.
Even the more insufferable places seem like buying it.
>>423345
Quite. Add a bit of shift work in the past, that makes every day look like the other one.
I didn't mind as in general I had more days off and that mostly justified the price to pay: sometimes having to work when everybody else is celebrating.

>>62380
>NEARLY ALL OF THE RYANAIR FLEET IS OWNED

RYANAIR own a lot of them - you're quite right on that point. They have recently started to lease/rent them though. Their model is slightly different in that they buy hundreds of exactly the same plane type at a big discount and then kit out their maintenance and hangars to support only that type (Boeing 737/Airbus A320). Most airlines don't do this and the lease/rent market is growing rapidly - over 60% of the planes run by airlines are leased/rented.

Shipping is a different market - hardly anyone owns their own ships. The Baltic Dry Index is really the leading indicator of shipping costs and is a fascinating place to start a late-night wikiwalk. Everyone rents.

I don't doubt that Seaborne Freight are utter cunts, given their piss-poor attempt at putting together a basic website and the background of the principals and company; but lets crucify them on that, or the government handing them the contract - not on basic semantics of the market they work in and the finance models of the assets they use. It's actually a good thing that they don't own any ships, when you think about it.

>>62381
>Shipping is a different market - hardly anyone owns their own ships.
No, you misunderstand. A tenant might not own their home, but they do undoubtedly have a home. Seaborne does not own any ships. They do not control any ships. They do not have any ships on lease. They do not have rights to any ships. They do not have options on any ships. They do not have access to any ships. They do not possess anything remotely resembling the capability to move anything across water.

>>62382

>They do not possess anything remotely resembling the capability to move anything across water.

Nah m8, they've got it covered.

I think the thing that gets me is this this will all just be completely ignored and allowed to go on. I just cannot fathom this - cock up after cock up, and nothing is ever done about it. We just allow shit like this to happen. There's a media storm for 24 hours and then that's it.

>>62411

welcome to Britain

>>17215

Every major ISP already offers porn filtering. Either it's on by default, or you can choose to turn it on when you're setting up your WiFi router.

The mandatory age verification filtering that's about to come into force can't be turned off. You can't say "I'll have the filtering on the kids computers, but not on mine". You can't say "I'll have the filtering on until midnight, but after that it's daddy's private time". It's on all the time on every ISP. Either you hand over your credit card, trot down to your local shop for a government-approved Masturbation License or you'll have to twat about with VPNs.

What proportion of people definitely don't want any filtering ever? What proportion of people want some filtering, but only what they choose? What proportion say they want filtering, but secretly like to have a tug to Anal Acrobats when the wife is asleep? What proportion don't really watch porn, but don't like the idea of being told what they can and can't see? What proportion definitely want porn blocked 100% of the time, but aren't satisfied to just click the little box that says "please filter my porn" when they setup their broadband? Only the last of those groups stands to benefit from rigorously-enforced age verification filtering.

There are 205 ISPs in the UK. You could set up a puritanical broadband company that offers absolutely no porn under any circumstances with a remarkably modest investment. Nobody currently offers puritanical broadband, presumably because there's insufficient demand - if you want filtering, you can have it from any of the major ISPs.

Five ISPs control 95% of the UK market - BT (who own PlusNet and run the fixed-line service for EE), Sky, Virgin, TalkTalk and Vodafone. Of those big five, who would decide to deliberately alienate a large proportion of their customer base to appease a small minority?

>>17218
Technically they also don't serve pirated content but that didn't prevent the injunction machine from listing them.

>>17218

They're already engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with court-ordered blocking. The life expectancy of a torrent or streaming site is a matter of months, but they just get another domain name and IP address when they get blocked. Some ISPs implement those blocks quite stringently using DPI, which is a bit of a faff to circumvent. Others just do the blocking at the DNS level, which is basically free to implement but incredibly easy to circumvent by changing your DNS server. Coincidentally, the ISPs that make a real effort to block pirate content also sell subscription TV services.

I stand by my prediction that most ISPs will do the bare minimum necessary to comply with the law. AAISP will probably tell the government to go fuck themselves, possibly literally.

>>17222
I'm not aware of any ISP subject to court-mandated blocking that does filtering by DNS alone. In fact, I think that method was specifically addressed by the claimants as inadequate.

As for A&A, that will depend on whether they have the resources to just pay any fines that come their way, and whether Adrian Kennard fancies being publicly pilloried for it as Clive Feather was the first time this came up. (He finally gave up the fight when the press started referring to him as "Britain's child pornographer-in-chief".)

>>17223
I suppose the best way to go about it if their hand really is forced, is to make the "blocked" page a passive-aggressive one with instructions on how to obtain and use a VPN, and perhaps details of petitions to sign and donation details to the EFF, Open Rights Group etc.

>>84725
Good work, comrade. 5 rubles have been deposited into your account.

>>84726
Traditionally it's 15 rubles, actually.

>>84727
Budgets are tight, and train tickets to Salisbury aren't cheap.

>>84726

Was this the last post of the year? That's somewhat disappointing.

>>84729
Half past two.

>>423277
It is though.

>>423276
New Years day is a bank holiday m8. I should know because I seem to be the only fucker whose been at work the past couple weeks.

>>423279
Plan ahead with your annual leave. I haven't been at work since the 20th and I'm not back at work until Wednesday and it's only cost me three day's holiday.

>>423280
>Plan ahead with your annual leave.

But I am. While everyone else took leave over Christmas I've been doing nothing all day at work and come the annual heatwave I'll use my saved leave to take the month off with some change for messy long-weekends while the weathers good.

>>423281
Well, that's another way to do it, aye.

>>6871
I think if he was on the spectrum we'd know about it by now or at least have suspicions; he has no real issues socialising and has a good circle of friends. Lots of children enjoy programmes along the lines of Impossible Engineering, How It's Made, Inside the Factory and everyone's favourite Auntie Mabel.

>>6870
I got a TV / VHS combi in my room when I was about 13 and recorded Monkey Dust on a whim one night. That was probably the beginning of the end for me if I'm being honest, lads.

Back on topic, have you thought about seeing how your lad fares with something like Ender's Game?

>>6870

He sounds like he's got a bright future ahead of him, or at the very least a strong career in britfa cuntoffs.

I don't know if nerds still get bullied at school or not, but make sure he has a cool haircut and at least a baseline level of how football works. He'll thank you for it later.

>>6875
> at the very least a strong career in britfa cuntoffs.
That's what life is all about after all.

>>6874
>have you thought about seeing how your lad fares with something like Ender's Game?

To be honest, I've largely taken a backseat with his reading choices as he's got a library card and I was choosing what I was reading myself when I was his age. I chose a few mythology books for him for his birthday/Christmas but apart from that he mainly received Magnus Chase/Kane Chronicles books because he's really into Rick Riordan at the moment. His mum chose the Alex Rider books which he's been devouring.

>>6875
>at the very least a strong career in britfa cuntoffs

He'd be banned after his first post. Considering how much he reads his spelling and grammar is fairly atrocious. I don't think he enjoys English at school and he does that typical boy thing where he likes to give as short an answer as possible to questions. Maths has always been his strong point.

He hasn't been picked on, to my knowledge, although his best friend was pinned down the other week and someone threatened to stab him in the eye with a compass.

>>62327

And the Guardian one was pretty true, other than the weeks wages bit. My Grandad got a mortgage on a house now worth 1.3 million because he walked into the bank, told them what his job was, and they gave him a list of houses he could afford and he picked one.

>>62316
Absolutely bangin' intro

The mail are just taking the piss now.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-6542599/Facebook-Celebrations-post-goes-viral-woman-points-logo-features-chocolate-brand.html

>>62354
Didn't you know? That's how news works now. No need for investigative work or analysis when you can just literally read out a Facebook conversation.

>>62354
Look at all those repeating logos because they don't want to do 12 kinds of chocolate in the tub. When is the government going to stop messing about and crack down on the real criminals?

>>26991

Good advice, thanks. I think many of the PDFs I read use a different page size, so I may get away with the e-reader. Funky formatting is probably inevitable, even with a tablet.

Any recommendations on model?

>>26991
Yeah agreed - I have the "normal" Kindle Paperwhite, not the posh version shown in the OP - it is simply brilliant. I love the fact it only does one thing, really well.

>>26993

Thirded. I can see much of a reason to get any of the pricier models. The Paperwhite is excellent and the form factor is perfect. Really don't understand why you'd want a chunkier, more expensive model.

Another factor just popped into my head. Do either of you know of an e-reader that can handle RSS feeds and online articles?

If there were one that could handle Feedly I'd be very happy.

>>26995

http://reabble.com/

>>423226

That's actually something that's been discussed in a few different ways earlier in the thread.

I personally find long-term planning essential to getting the big stuff done, even when (especially when) short-term changes happen.

I guess it really depends on the nature of the goal, but I've found most things I've wanted in life haven't come about in the spontaneous way you describe.

It can happen, sometimes. You'll meet the person you eventually marry at a shit bowling themed birthday party you were thinking of skipping, or you'll be headhunted for a job you'd have never thought to apply for but fit into perfectly, etc., but this strikes me as much more rare.

Planning is for the stuff in life that requires consistent and conscious effort, things like getting fit or earning a PhD or finding meaningful work.

You're totally right that there's a hell of a lot you can get done by just actively participating in the world. But maybe planning is a process of exclusion, as well -- to decide you want a certain kind of future means deciding against others.

>>423224
As someone who wasted a year before getting my current job I can empathise. Still, you've gotten yourself back into the system now which is a much bigger deal than you might think and now have that base to work on your goals. I Hope the new job goes well anyway.

Not really.
I do wish for some things and I do put some effort into it [0] but I can't control the whole process. And it isn't like life hasn't shovelled shite in my face at times multiplying the major part of work by zero.
Too chaotic.
Also, that old 'beware of your desires for they shall come true' adage makes sense now.
>>418570
Definitely idiosyncratic but not like it doesn't make any sense.
For some reason you reminded me of Bucky Fuller.
>>418737
> Simply put, you have a general idea about where you want to be headed
Actually this is how I see it too.
>>423222
This year I've got the position I'd been aiming for. I'm coasting along now, thinking where I should jump next.
If you've got weights right in your room, go for it lad. They're just the best for getting into shape - always nearby and you don't have to drive/go anywhere.

[0] On a very tangential note, I'd like to have a fancy house somewhere near the town's centre and something like W124/W126/W210/W212 - I like the cars of that period - to drive but at my current place of residence that would cost an awful amount of money.

I'm going to see how much of this shamanistic Toblerone I can polish off, and see where I go from there, really.

>>423271
Have you managed to successfully de-halal it?

>>423258

>see if you can get more off them

I've already got about 19.5kg more instant mash than I know what to do with. Why would I want more? I don't want to be going round the markets flogging bags of moody mash. My life is complicated enough without getting hassle off the council inspector about use-by dates and fucking EU labelling laws.

>>423260
Well, if you have enough of it leftover you could just let it all loose from a tall hill on a wet and windy day. I'm sure local residents will see the funny side once they set out on their surreal morning commute.

>>423260

If you cook all the mash and freeze it you can get around the law. Then you can just carve mash chunks off and stick it in the microwave to sell to students. Open a trendy mash bar, like people have done with cereal and crisp sandwiches. Give your neighbour 5% off the top to keep delivering you the goods, and once you've sold about half of your original haul you can likely afford a mash assistant to make the mash for you. Then you can concentrate on menu design and marketing (I can help you with that, my rates are scalable) If you're in a studenty area you could absolutely command about £3 per bowl of mash, that's three grand of pure profit per sack. You'd sell that in a fortnight at the very least in a populated city.

Once we've sold probably three or four sacks of short dated mash, your profit margin will likely allow for an overhaul of the premises, and the use of real, live potatoes, at which point the quality and perceived value of your operation will increase exponentially.

At this point you would hire an experienced chef to perfect the mash menu and start aiming for your first mention in the Michelin guide. While doing this we'd also be shopping for other locations and putting in place a plan to expand the business as a chain, or talking with food producers to strike a deal to sell an instant version of your famous mash in shops.

When I was in primary school they used to do mash potato with cheese on top as a rare treat. Do that.

>>4558
You know what we should rename it?

Also, awful thread.

>>27861

I'm not a Christian, but I have a sincere love of Gospel music and a deep affinity with the African American church. They really do see themselves as being at war with a shapeshifting monster - the devil. The world is full of hardship and cruelty, especially if you're a black American; they're fighting the good fight against those indignities, with god on their side. It's a mindset that allowed them to survive through slavery and Jim Crow and a succession of transparently racist presidents over the years. I think that the literal belief is essentially risible, but the metaphor is rather beautiful.

If your life feels empty and goalless, do something about it. Get off your arse and do something kind for someone who is suffering. Take up the sword of compassion and become a warrior against the monster of indifference. Ring up your local food bank or homeless shelter or hospice and ask them if they need volunteers. You'll feel better for it, I promise.

https://do-it.org/opportunities/search

Of you lads who are married, or who intend on marrying; without wanting to seem suffering Sour Grapes I do hope that the love stays alive, because this divorce process had suddenly become quite harrowing.

Despite the fact that I initiated this divorce, despite the fact that I would do everything exactly the same way again; going through the flat I'm about to give up, the last flat we shared together, knowing that I'll be moved out within a week, splitting everything into piles of hers and mine. Well, it's been pretty fucking miserable.

>>27889

Sounds painful and difficult, I don't think there is an easy way to do these things, keep on slugging through, you have my sympathy.

I have a friend who avoided breaking up for years because they didn't want 'the hassel' I couldn't live like that.

>>27832
Well, today was the first actual 'good' day. Every light was green on the way to work, it was a relaxed shift, and I got out bang on time meaning that I missed the beginnings of rush hour (getting out at 6:00 vs even 6:05 makes a huge difference), and am now at home having a post work beverage.

May be of little coincidence that I have had basically no social interactions outside of work stuff.

Also, just noticed >>27835 below my original post.

Are you still with us, lad?

>>17134

>studenty feminist types who think they've figured out the solution to every problem with the world.


The worst kind there is.

>>17131

>If you're referring to the study I'm thinking of

I was thinking about an arrogate of hundreds of studies over the last 50 years. Not all science has been perverted by political agendas just yet.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4hrHUo70nY

This thread has got really shitty in a real hurry and I sincerely regret my involvement.

>>17138
It's that insidious creep again.

>>17137
haha
they photoshopped her face so she looks sillier
haha
take that
r e a l i t y

Not OP but this is a website that uses seinfield clips to explain economics concepts.

http://yadayadayadaecon.com/

If we're just sharing Seinfeld stuff then there is a pretty good visual novel adaptation you can play:
https://www.pntgrm.com

>>423238

> a pretty good visual novel adaptation

Why?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiDeMGzlCA0

I've never managed to get into this show but http://seinfelt.acrobat.com/page/105 are amusing.

>>423231

>You have an hour to make it more interesting.

So how is it more interesting now?