Larry tops 10 years
10 Downing Steet's most loved (and longest serving) resident, Larry, has been at his post for over ten years:
Maybe Bute House needs an official cat?
Hershey contra chocolate
Cheddar explains why the American Hershey company invented vomit-flavoured chocolate:
Spoiler: it was to save money
Smart devices contra privacy
The Guardian notes that smart devices are anti-privacy:
You may have a roommate you have never met. And even worse, they are nosy. They track what you watch on TV, they track when you leave the lights on in the living room, and they even track whenever you use a key fob to enter the house. This is the reality of living in a “smart home”: the house is always watching, always tracking, and sometimes it offers that data up to the highest bidder – or even to police.
It's not smart to have "smart" devices in your home. In fact it's downright stupid.
Come to our games OR ELSE!
China sends a true Chinese warm welcome to the 2022 winter Olympics due to be held in Beijing:
China's government warned Washington on Wednesday not to boycott next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing after the Biden administration said it was talking with allies about a joint approach to complaints of human rights abuses.
A Foreign Ministry spokesperson rejected accusations of abuses against ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region. He warned of an unspecified “robust Chinese response” to a potential Olympics boycott.
“The politicization of sports will damage the spirit of the Olympic Charter and the interests of athletes from all countries,” said the spokesperson, Zhao Lijian. “The international community including the U.S. Olympic Committee will not accept it.”
Human rights groups are protesting China’s hosting of the games, due to start in February 2022. They have urged a boycott or other measures to call attention to accusations of Chinese abuses against Uyghurs, Tibetans and residents of Hong Kong.
Has it ever occurred to the Chinese government that forcing people to attend one's games with threats is not the most effective way to win friends and influence people? Or maybe they just don't care.
Xinjiang Is A Wonderful Land
According to Chinese propaganda videos, at least:
The videos, titled Xinjiang Is A Wonderful Land, presented the Chinese government's interpretation of the human rights concerns in the region, including forced sterilisation, concentration camps and forced labour.
In the videos, one woman featured said she has put in an intrauterine device (IUD) voluntarily while another emphasised she has been more satisfied with her life after receiving "training" from one of the re-education camps.
Just to make things clear: Xinjiang is a wonderful land, with wonderful concentration camps, wonderful slavery, and wonderful organ harvesting, all under the watchful eye of China's wonderful leader, wonderful Xi Jinping. Glad that's all cleared up.
Here's one of the videos:
There's less rain in Edinburgh
Edinburgh-based writer Laura McConnell has a map of rainfall across Scotland:
I post this image a lot on Twitter in response to people talking about Scottish weather. It’s probably one of my favourite images. It is an annual rainfall map (higher the peak, higher the rainfall). I’m so glad that Edinburgh is in the flat!
Orchid does genomic prediction
Orchid is a startup doing pre-implantation genomic prediction of embryos.
How long before parents are selecting embryos for intelligence, personality, good looks, height, etc? If that starts happening and is only available to the rich it will create a genetic upper class and a genetic underclass.
So I think this sort of technology should be avialable to everyone, not just the rich. Furthermore it seems an obvious win for every child to have the best start in life. So in an independent Scotland I'd like to see genetic counselling available to all prospective parents, including this sort of service and also sperm/egg donation.
The Geopolitics of the Nile
Wendover has a video on the geopolitics of the Nile:
TL;DR: The source of the Blue Nile (most of the Nile's water) is in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has built a hydroelectric dam across the Nile that will generate 6.45 GW or electricity (about twice that used by Scotland). Egypt is concerned because they need the Nile's water, whose flow rate will be less while Ethiopia fills up the lake behind its dam. Also, Ethiopia will be able to turn the taps off for Egypt in the event of any future conflict.
Photo ruined by shoe
A holiday photo was ruined by a badly placed shoe:
Scotland is rich in natural resources
Macalba writes that Scotland is rich in natural resources on a per capita basis:
I tasked myself a couple of weeks ago that i would compare Scotland and England with all remaining 27 EU member states across 11 major areas of their economies on a per population basis.
It makes sense to compare across the population size as this is a better reflection of how the economy spreads across the people and how each country is positioned to improve its economy or where to invest.
Macalba goes on to compare Scotland with EU countries in coastline, sea area, forest, farmland, oil reserves, gas reserves, renewable production, fishing, tourism, GDP, and exports. The overall ranking has Scotland 1st:
Some people don't change
Boris Johnson's character hasn't changed in 39 years:
Seal spotted in Aberdeen
A seal was spotted sunbathing in Aberdeen:
I hope it didn't come to any harm.
And that’s all for this week. if you have any items you’d like to include in next week’s roundup, add them in the comments.