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ToxicShock said:
Why are the happiest places so fucking cold. I'd move to Australia if I wasn't terrified of it.
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Colder places tend to have a stronger social cohesion, on account of those societies dying off in (pre-)medieval times if they didn't help each other through the winters and hard times
And humans being social animals, we love having social cohesion and being part of a group. Makes everyone feel better and more willing to do things like charity for their group, which in turn leads to an improvement in quality of life.

Science! has actually done research into this and identified I think it was 7(?) factors that contributed to happiness for the happiest countries, but I can't really be bothered to look for a link or double check that
 
Re: In today's news...

Wow! So you're saying that if people would just be less shit to each other and give the benefit of the doubt even when it's undeserved, the world would be a happier place? I feel like I've heard this somewhere before.
 
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Did it come with some cotton candy flavored broccoli?
 
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Of course, it keeps happening. Just when I thought we could go a while without

Another attack in Europe, another bunch of people ran over
By a car this time, though it still caused a lot of damage to people(Read: Life threatening and life-changing injuries)

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Still ongoing, but at present it appears at least 1 dead, and 'several' injured

Edit: Kitty because lets just be positive about things
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Re: In today's news...

Just saw the BBC news myself; A Terrorist Incident has occurred within the heart of British Democracy in Westminster, currently four people, including the attacker have died, with 20 people injured, suspecting those numbers may rise.

To wit; A car was driven in Westminster Bridge and mounted the pavement, impacting scores of people including french students and a group of Police Officers returning from a parade(?), the vehicle then continued and crashed into Parliament itself.

The attacker attempted to enter Parliament via the MP's entrance, when he was confronted by two Police Officers, a witness said how he saw one 'fall to the ground, where the thick-set man in black clothing made several stabbing motions' as the second Policeman ran to get help. Armed Police arrived within moments, called out a warning as the attacker tried to enter the building again, and shot at him about four times, killing him. Sadly the Policeman who had been stabbed has passed away from his wounds.

It is not currently suspected that there is another individual involved, but the authorities have acted to ensure security and locked down the affected area including Parliament, Westminster Bridge and London Eye, as well as the tube stations close-by.

American and French leaders have already spoken to the Prime Minister, and she is to chair a COBRA meeting with authority figures to discuss what happened and what the next actions are.

The Scottish Assembly, currently debating whether to have a second Scottish Independence Referendum (that the SNP Leader Nicholas Sturgeon announced on the same day we announced we were to initiate Article 50 and leave EU) have temporarily ceased, given the situation, perhaps security fears and the timing.
 
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Re: In today's news...

XSI said:
Colder places tend to have a stronger social cohesion, on account of those societies dying off in (pre-)medieval times if they didn't help each other through the winters and hard times
And humans being social animals, we love having social cohesion and being part of a group. Makes everyone feel better and more willing to do things like charity for their group, which in turn leads to an improvement in quality of life.
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I'm generally skeptical of those social-evolutionist, "matter-of-factly" conclusions because they seem to go with one assumption and work to prove it. Problem here is:

1. Russia, another cold country, is definitely not among the happiest countries. Nor are a lot of former Soviet republics. On the other hand, Australia, a fairly warm country, is in 8th place.

2. The notion that extreme weather conditions require social cooperation and cohesion can equally well be applied to countries with extreme dry seasons like in North-Africa.

3. It tends to ignore historically specific conditions (For example, all the Nordic states have largely avoided being colonized, are ethnically and religiously fairly homogenous (but far from completely), have a tradition of promoting social equality and prioritizes consensus-based politics rather than adversarial. Even these are generalizations, though.).
 
Re: In today's news...

That is correct

It's a theory that seems to fit at least to some statistical significance, not proven fact.
We still haven't much of a clue about how things really are

As for more news
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Second Scottish Independence vote, possibly.
 
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ToxicShock said:
Why are the happiest places so fucking cold. I'd move to Australia if I wasn't terrified of it.
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Maybe the reason its a happy place, because people rarely go outside for anything. Would you commit a crime in freezing temperatures? .... Not really.

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Crawdaddy said:
2. The notion that extreme weather conditions require social cooperation and cohesion can equally well be applied to countries with extreme dry seasons like in North-Africa.
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I don't know about North-Africa but as a matter of fact we've got
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who co-operate in a hunter-gatherer group who preserve and gather water by sucking dew off of leaves and drinking sap out of plants.

There is a set of movies called "The Gods must be crazy" that tried to portray some elements of San living in an entertaining somewhat goofy movie. The plot occurs when a coke bottle, the first piece of modern material that this particular native tribe has ever seen before, starts to cause unusual problems.

They employed the help of an actual tribe to do this, and amusingly, although the lead actor
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(It's pronounced by clicking your tongue), was only paid a few hundred dollars for the first movie, he negotiated for over a half a million 8 or 9 years later for his appearance in the sequel in order to get a house with plumbing and electricity for his wife and children, which he had quite accurately learned the price for.
 
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Zepheral said:
Maybe the reason its a happy place, because people rarely go outside for anything. Would you commit a crime in freezing temperatures? .... Not really.

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Crime is everywhere there's no denying that. Some less than others I do admit. Sometimes if the good out weight the bad, you take what you can get.
 
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Cappy said:
They employed the help of an actual tribe to do this, and amusingly, although the lead actor
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(It's pronounced by clicking your tongue)
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I don't understand why we do this. Granted we don't a symbol for the sound of clicking your tongue, but we don't spell words foreign to English the way they SOUND within English. Seems kind of asinine, barring specific cases like this.
 
Re: In today's news...

Well, I guess we can say
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, and say hello to
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, here in the US. I'm glad to be leaving the country soon.
 
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Be sure to opt out of your providers CPNI
 
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There has to be a provider out there willing have a contract that includes privacy protection. Imagine the sales they'd get- It would be like becoming the only ISP in the area.

But then I suppose you're still working on old copper lines and capped download sizes so I guess the internet in the US isn't exactly in the 21st century yet
 
Re: In today's news...

Today Article 50, the process in which the United Kingdom negotiates with the EU as it leaves, officially begins.

Also, a gathering of people on the Westminster bridge occurs to remember those harmed and killed in a cowardly attack.
 
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XSI said:
There has to be a provider out there willing have a contract that includes privacy protection. Imagine the sales they'd get- It would be like becoming the only ISP in the area.

But then I suppose you're still working on old copper lines and capped download sizes so I guess the internet in the US isn't exactly in the 21st century yet
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Technically, all providers are required to allow you to opt out of your information being sold. Or something like that
 
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ToxicShock said:
Technically, all providers are required to allow you to opt out of your information being sold. Or something like that
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I haven't seen anything like that with TWC. I think congress in general is trying to push privacy issues further away from consumers of large Internet providers.
 
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In amusing news, senile man yells at world politics

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It's doubly amusing that this clown actually holds a somewhat important position in the EU, which highlights yet another reason why the EU is a mess and won't ever be fixed
 
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Gustave89 said:
I haven't seen anything like that with TWC. I think congress in general is trying to push privacy issues further away from consumers of large Internet providers.
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I think what you mean to say is: The U.S. government in general is trying to remove any semblance of privacy or choice from it's citizens lives. And why not? We so willing gave up the ability to control our government in any way shape or form.
 
Re: In today's news...

I think the problem the US has right now is that nobody wants to risk being arrested (or killed, god knows the cops are just having a field day lately) over a revolution. Truth is, things are good enough for most folks that the effort isn't worth the possible losses. There's just the right ratio of distraction:assfuckery that everyone is just sitting around hoping things will improve without their help. As a side note, anyone else notice that just as people started acting up, pot started getting legalized?

Anyway, things are gonna have to get worse before any real action is taken to clean up our corrupt government.
 
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