In 1983, I predicted that the USSR would likely collapse in twenty years in a paper I wrote in one of my undergraduate Political Science classes. However, I had the cause entirely wrong. I claimed the driver would be Islamic-driven nationalism among Soviet "-stans" and Caucasus. I did however get an "A" on the paper and a Political Science degree which turned out to pretty much useless for anything except for arguing on the internet.
I know it's not a terribly high bar, but I was closer to the mark than the CIA...
]]>EXCLUSIVE: Brexit ‘2nd Referendum Petition’ A 4 Chan Prank: BBC Report It As Real
Note—the source above, Heat Street, is a Murdoch/News Corp-owned outlet designed to target a right-libertarian audience, so feel free to disregard if you feel the source to be tainted. On the other hand this is exactly the kind of thing 4chan does.
A quick Google search as of this posting, shows the story currently showing up on reddit, blogs, twitter, the Mirror, and the Telegraph. If my understanding of the UK newspaper ecosystem is correct, the Mirror and Telegraph are both right-of-center newspapers who (in general) supported the Brexit. It will be interesting to see if it is picked up by the more center and left-wing papers in the UK (and here in the US, too.)
]]>1) Many people in this thread have made posts to the effect of "the EU is sick of the UK and doesn't really want the UK around, and if the UK doesn't actually leave we will either not get the Cameron deal—or we will get even worse terms than we had before the Cameron deal and Brexit vote." If that's really the case, then why try to stay in the EU? If the rest of the EU no longer trusts or wants the UK, what's the point? It sounds like you are making the "Leave" case for them.
2) Why do most (not all) of people invoking a possible Queen's intervention assume that she would be on the "Remain" side? Has she said anything to imply that?
]]>"Remain" lost the referendum. The good news is there is very likely going to be a second vote, either in the form of a second referendum or in the form of new Parliamentary elections where Brexit is the entire agenda. If "Remain" wants to win such a vote, then the way "Remain" is promoted has to change. What you all did in this election did not work. Doubling down on what did not work, won't work either. Here are my suggestions:
• Remember that the very fact that you are going to get a second vote to get the “right” answer will put off a lot of voters. Approach such a vote with humility. Major political leaders saying something like "We are grateful for this second chance. We are sorry we took your votes and your concerns for granted. We propose to address them as follows..." would go along way towards winning a second vote.
• Don't get let the issue of “Remain” or “Leave” get tangled up in questions about Scottish or Northern Ireland independence. This is a lose/lose. If the Scots are convinced they can get out of the UK and into the EU with a minimum of pain, you are looking at at much higher “Leave” vote the next time around.
• Avoid demonizing your opponents. Calling Brexit supporters "racists" and "fascists" and "stupid" did not work this time, and won't work next time. Anyone on the “Remain” side who is saying the equivalent of “you opinions are so horribly wrong and evil, I will not even condescend to discuss them,” should be treated as if they are promoting a “Leave” vote—because they are.
• Stop saying stuff like “older voters should not decide for the rest of us”. Remember that a majority of young voters voted “I don't give a shit either way” by staying home. Making the Brexit question into a generational issue is misguided. Besides if anyone really believed that Parliament and the Civil Service would have a mandatory retirement age of forty-five.
• Recognize that having the support of all major political parties is not a positive thing. For many "Out" voters, a vote against the EU was a vote against a hated political establishment that does not reflect their interests, no matter who they elected. See "Humility" above.
• The "Out" voters you want to reach don't care whether staying in the EU is good for big banks and their various hangers on. The big banks are rightly loathed by most people.
• Concerns over Immigration and National Sovereignty mean something to voters. These are issues with both emotional and rational components. Address them. Do a better sales job on the UK's recently negotiated special relationship with the EU and its benefits. Also point out that—like other nation in the EU have done—Parliament can just choose to ignore some EU regulations.
• On that subject, telling "Out" voters, "well you fucked up, we can get back into the EU, but you will have to pay for your fuck up by giving up EU-UK Reform Agreement that Cameron negotiated" does not help your cause. It just makes you sound like used car salesman. If you could get the deal in February 2016, you can get it in February 2017.
]]>I'm not optimistic about Bob and Mo's relationship long-term. While Mo was able to put down the bone violin, being the Eater of Souls is something likely not possible to lock away. The power differential in their relationship just ratcheted up significantly.
As for Bob's survival, I thought you dealt with that by killing him off at the end of "The Fuller Memorandum", and replacing him with an horrifying extra-dimensional entity that's happy to pretend (even to itself) to be Bob.
]]>In regards to the size of the potential political earthquake you spoke of—do you think most of the people voting in the referendum really understand that parliament can blow it off if they don't like how it turns out?
It sounds like a "Leave" vote followed by a Tory crack-up could be very good thing (short term, these are politicians, after all) for all non-Tory parties. I can only assume that the Tory leaders live in such a political vacuum that it never occurred to them that a "Leave" win was even a remote possibility.
]]>Does that end up being some sort of full-bore constitutional crisis for the UK? Do you have massive rioting by people who (reasonably) feel betrayed by their elected officials? Does the Queen have to go on TV and tell everyone to calm down and behave? Do you end up with a hung Parliament? Hang Parliament?
I ask because a vote to Leave and a Parliamentary refusal to implement it seems a very likely outcome, and I can't see any way that it ends well.
]]>The only way I can see any economic limits having any real impact, is if your ressurectees will require some sort of non-AI 24/7 care to continue existing and functioning. Perhaps if they come out like the chronically future shocked unfrozen Revivals of Ellis & Robertson's "Transmetropolitan"?
]]>Maybe we can fudge recreating the Prions, at least.
]]>Simply make sure that production is co-located with engineering. Then provoke a strike. Cancel all vacations for non-union employees. Have them re-tasked to "keep the production lines going". Results? Manufacturing defects shoot up, vital engineering work falls way behind schedule, and non-union employees are forced to walk past picket lines every day full of angry union employees calling them "scabs" (and worse).
Three weeks after the strike is over, have HR schedule mandatory company-wide team building exercises.
Sure it can be expensive to not outsource those union jobs to China, but you can't put a price on the sheer psychopathic joy of having your non-union and union employees hating each other's guts—and not yours.
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