Thursday Next

I think that what he is saying is that education is a result of wealth just as a poor education is a result of poverty, however being uneducated, unlike e.g. being black is the perception that it is something that an individual can be blamed for. A poor black person can look to the inherent racism of the system and say "it is your fault" and the almost entirely white wealthy class can't argue effectively against that. An uneducated person points to the system saying "it's your fault" and the erudite wealthy can look at them and say "no it isn't you should have worked harder in school like I did". It offloads the guilt that the poor are poor by happenstance and that you are lucky to be wealthy and replaces it with the notion that "I worked hard to learn so I am wealthy. You did not so you are poor." It's almost a reflection of the Victorian way of thinking. The poor choose to be poor, so it's not a problem. Of course that argument is bullshit. A good education is as much a product of wealth as it is a cause for it, which Chris Arnade recognises. But if you line the chicken and the egg up right you get to pass off the class divide as one of lazy v industrious.

The effects of ME3 seemed pretty instantaneous as regards the destruction (or otherwise) of the relays. Do we know which ending is canon? If Destroy, then presumably they jump to Andromeda just before/during the destruction of the relays and engage in a Voyager-esque mission to return home.

Yeah Mal, I like his articles too. The tweetstorms are easily digestible and were how I came across him and his "front row vs back row" thesis.

Problem is that we are (or I am) in an erudite echo-chamber, I mostly follow (on social media and in my real social life) smart, left leaning, forward thinking types who tend to be more affluent. It's difficult not to look at the other side and think "How can these luddites not see how dumb they are acting." but at the same time, I don't know how I would feel if I were less well off and my primary source of information were publications with a different agenda *ahem The Sun ahem*. I mean, if everything was based on say... physical strength rather than education, and I was told that because I didn't go to the gym and get swole that I was worth less than other people and that that was my own fault (even though it isn't entirely my fault cos I couldn't afford to go to a good gym), and then some orange person (who had clearly benefited from that system) told me they were going to smash it and see what shook out of the wreckage, then maybe I would think "Things can't get any worse, screw you gym bunnies, you played the game your way and I lost and you made me feel like crap, but now I'm going to tear it all down and we'll see who wins with an even (utterly wrecked) playing field.") I kind of get the emotion behind it, but you aren't going to get through to those people by screaming idiot at them, you only entrench them further. Instead you need to find a way to reassure them that even though they are left behind you will do what you can to catch them up and make sure their kids aren't treated the same way. No idea *how* you do that though... lol.

Plus, there's like one Alien to keep track of. Rather than half a dozen dudes.

Chris Arnade has some interesting things to say on the election. You should follow him. e.g. https://twitter.com/Chris_arnade/status/793468385648574464

I use Allo a bit. Google really just need to unify their messaging apps so that we're all on the same thing. I like that I can reply with one click on Allo.

I loved the Japanese version, had recently seen the pointless remake of Let The Right One In after the brilliant Let Me In and was generally pissed off at the whole Hollywood reshoots good films frame by frame or just makes them worse kick so it stuck with me.

Ring spoilers below.

It really shone. Didn't over do the jump scares, the looking around and manipulating the world worked really well. Being able to pick up 3d puzzle pieces and turn them around in real time with two hands was so cool. Think of all those annoying Resident Evil puzzles where you have to line shit up my moving one bit at a time, but now the manipulation is natural so the puzzle is much more rewarding.

*Shrug* same could be said for car dealerships and test drives. If you are hoping to make a big ticket sale, then you need to invest in the customer a bit. Sell a VR headset, a couple of games, a couple of Move controllers and a camera, that's over £500 in one transaction for the sake of ~10 minutes selling. Think of the amount of time a phone sales person will spend going through various phones and packages. You can always tell that group of teenagers to naff off and just let the kid who is there with their parents try it out. Charging a non-refundable deposit puts another barrier in place where there are already plenty.

Completed Arkham VR. I'm pretty much the Bat-man now.

But if you are charging, presumably the kit is locked away somewhere, so why can't it be locked away but accessible if supervised for free? You can make a judgement as to whether someone is a serious purchaser, or a "time waster" if you want, but you don't have to monetise it.

@Dean the grip thingy clearly has lights on it, so more than just a lump of plastic.

[DEAD LINK Thanks Sony] in your face Ethan you big know-nothing knower of nothing. EDIT: https://twitter.com/PlayStationUK/status/789131712429035520

I agree. Console, twiddly sticks, dock, cables. Controllers, grip, grip with moar battery-ness (not announced, but inevitable) sold separately, at a high price... Got some rare things on sale stranger!

Great, so we know it is a western with seven dudes in it... Which is exactly what we knew from the still image.

^Simples^

Armoured Ashley was a god-send. She is still one of the series' most annoying characters (in competition with Steve (CVX) and Sherry (RE2)).

wrt "African American" v "British Asian" I think there is more of a tendency in the UK to be either / or. People who consider themselves British who are of Asian descent would just be called British. People who consider themselves Asian and living in Britain would be "Asian". Man, Obama is one of the most underrated (in America - the rest of the world seems to think he is pretty great) presidents of all time. I hope you all realise how lucky you are / were to have him in charge during a pretty shitty time in the world. The whole "rigged election" thing could go one of two ways for Trump, it will either galvanise his supporters to go out and vote their asses off to try to beat the system (worst case scenario) or, it will leave them feeling totally disenfranchised with the system so they don't even bother (hope springs eternal).

British colloquialism would traditionally have been "Oriental" for Far East Asian cultures, though I understand the term to be somewhat of a pejorative these days. "Asian" in UK is, I think, understood to mean both Western and Eastern Asian with nearby communities influencing which you think of first. Someone in Bradford is likely to think of Asian as Indian, Pakistani etc. Someone from Aldershot more likely to think Nepalese (a lot of former Gurkhas there). Certain parts of London (East Finchley springs to mind) would associate the term with Japanese descendants. Feels a bit uncomfortable putting folk in boxes like that though... :/

"The British Empire at present covers a quarter of the globe"... Hence, Brexit.

I love it. It evokes enough of the classic, but adds a new perspective. It is like RE4 which shook things up by giving you control of the camera.

I'm with Dean on the "never really gave a toss about it" thing. The PC port will suck balls anyway. You know it, I know it. It will suck until modders are done fixing and breaking it.

After the US version of the Ring, I have no problem believing that they have called the order the Assassins' Creed.