Notices by Ben Curthoys (bencurthoys@mastodon.social)

@goatsarah Also this: https://www.deviantart.com/angusburgers/art/World-War-One-Simple-Version-128505446

@goatsarah Starts Episode 465 with a big thing on the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

https://therestishistory.com/465-the-murder-of-franz-ferdinand-the-killer-part-1/

@goatsarah The Rest Is History did a good series on the build up, if you like that sort of thing.

@goatsarah Listening through The Rest Is History podcast has disabused me of this idiotic idea. We've had just as many usurpers, revolutions and civil wars as anywhere else, it's just that the English have had better marketing.

@goatsarah Until the last year or so, I had believed something more or less along the lines of "England has been uniquely stable over the past 1000 years. Other countries have had bloody revolutions (France, Russia) or pulled themselves together out of fragmented parts (Germany, Italy) but England has missed out on all that, the elites here have always known how and when to soften and to give up a little power in order to avoid those excesses".

@baldur You could put it another way - the skills and personal attributes necessary to found a company are distinct from and incompatible with the skills and personal attributes necessary to run a large company.

That's why "serial entrepreneurs" are a thing. They start a company, grow it a bit, and then if they're sensible exit and hand it over to professionals to run.

@goatsarah I've got an outline in my head of a post-apocalyptic sci-fi story set in a collapsed America, and one of the twists is that the rest of the world is still fine. It's America that chooses to be a fucked up hellscape.

@ryanhoulihan Four no trumps? That's Blackwood! My partner must be hoping for a Grand Slam!

@goatsarah Yeah, I can hear that one in my head now.

And what that? I'm getting echoes of something... Probably came after it in the TV schedules of 1988, playing from my subconscious mind, it's "Defenders of the Earth".

Inspired by The Rest Is Entertainment: give me your top three TV theme tunes!

Mine are:

3. Airwolf

2. Roobarb and Custard

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

@georgetakei I wonder whether the teacher was thinking ocean or canoe for 5?

@carnage4life If you manage to get a really good test for sentience, the problem isn't going to be the AIs that pass. The problem will be the humans that fail.

@ryanhoulihan But surely cleaning is peak podcast listening time?

@VeryBadLlama 4. A̴̞͎̗͉̮̳̥̹̦̍̐̔̓̐̓́̐͛̒̅̊́̈̌̕͜͝l̴̯͇̞̝̄l̷͖͖͓̝̰̉̈́̑͊̾͗̊͘͠͝ ̴̨̢̦͈̰̪̼̄̀̓͛̓̌̑̈̎̚o̶̡̨͇̭̯̬̙̪̽̐f̸̨̨̗̗̠͇̞̭̭̩̤̖̘̬̫͔̿̒͆̎́͂ ̷̨͈͇͖͔̭̲̬̀ţ̵̲͈͚͓̮͈̌̈́̃̈͜ẖ̴͓̻͎͕̺̌͋͐͗̈̌̓̆̀͒͂͜͝͝e̷̡̡̡͍̙̤͕̟͕̙̪͎̰̲̯͐͒̈́͋͂ ̶̨̨̫̞̬̥̼͍̳͔̩̘̝̖̳͎̊̓̈́̿̑̂̉̇͋̿͛̓́̐̇̚͘h̵̢̨͈͙̫̦̫̦͓̗̖̮̤͉͕͎̓̉̈̈̀̑́̋̒̍͌͂̚͠͝ǫ̶̧̡̙̺̮̣͙͓͙̳̖͓̲̀̒̈̈́́̔̀͜ͅͅr̸̨̡̙͚͚̦̺̗̟̙̪̒̉ŕ̶̮͖͍̀̎̀̒̀͋͂ḯ̴͈̰͉̉́́̓͊̈́͌͒̉̀̅̍b̷̧̡̢̤͚̹̳̯̗̗̙̜̝̐̒͒̏͆̃͒̈́̈́̏̈́͗́͝͝l̶̨̮͍͙͉̊̔͛̔̇̈́̚e̸̡̨̛̠̖͖̳̖͈̦̩̪̙͖̟̜͂͋͒̏̋̐̍̾͊̒͝ͅ ̶̢̧͕̬͇̣̻̥̭̯͈̥͓̹̥͐ͅͅb̸̧̠̬͖͕͖̫̦̣̣̻̀͒̉̋̈́̆̓͐͜͜ͅũ̴͈͙̜̰̙͕͔̤͉̊̄͆̈́̅̈́̓͋̑͛͆̏̉̓̅̿g̶̡̡̡̢̧̨͉͉͉̟̥͉̤̖̙̤̎̀͋͑̉̓̓̓̔͑̀͒͝s̵̠͓̞͓̫̻͍͈̭͔͙͇̪̋

@WarnerCrocker To the tune of "if you're happy and you know it"

@countcol China and India not so cheering

@countcol UK per capita emissions is a cheering graph

@clive Also there's https://syncthing.net/

@goatsarah I thought the fear with QE was that it would cause inflation, and everyone was relieved when it didn't? I was thinking more of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wal-Mart_Effect.

My brain isn't working very well this morning. I withdraw my statement.

I keep seeing "the end of low interest rates proves that tech companies never did anything of value" which seems to me to miss the point that technological advances are what /caused/ a decade of low inflation and low interest rates.