Links 8/17/08

Camera spots rare clouded leopard BBC

Do Subatomic Particles Have Free Will? ScienceNews

If you thought the internet was cool, wait until it goes space age Vint Cerf, Guardian

‘Why do the Italians hate us?’ Guardian. On the plight of the Roma.

India bucks crunch with foreign buying spree Independent

How Fuel Subsidies Drag Down a Nation Robert Frank, New York Times

Congress to Open Drilling in Areas With Little Area Because Media Have Misinformed Public Dean Baker

Doing the Can-Can Michael Panzner

Please Models, Just Die The Stalwart. A man after my own heart.

The SARBOX Scam Independent Accountant. IA gets exercised, and for good reason.

Antidote du jour:

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10 comments

  1. Anonymous

    This story with the Roma is always the same. Their itinerant way of life prevents them from socialising with the rest of the population, and they are collectively viewed as suspect because some of them commit small burglaries in the villages/towns they visit.

    I’m from Spain and my 70 yearold grandmom found no less than 2 Roma “matronas” walking upstairs inside her own house. They said they were seeking her, may she want to buy some of their stuff? they were terribly upset when she asked tehm to leave

  2. Anonymous

    The National Gypsy Council also reject “enforced assimilation”:

    “We Gypsies do not want to and will not move into houses, since this form of lifestyle is alien to us”
    http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/articles3/onions3.html

    I live in Italy and the ‘Rom’ are a huge problem. Italians are certainly racist, but I see Senegalese and Chinese and other groups integrating to some extent, working rather than stealing. The Rom basically live by stealing, in particular sending small children out to pickpocket, burgle and shoplift, steal cars and motorbikes, etc. The schools are open but they won’t send their kids there.. it’s too lucrative to train them as burglars. Some child thieves have been arrested 30-40 times in their young careers. I’ve heard of Rom being given apartments by city officials; what happens is that they illegally rent out the apartment, take the cash, and go back to their camper. It’s a culture that’s proudly, declaredly impervious to ‘modern’ concepts of steady jobs, steady schooling, taxation, fixed housing, or any sort of “law”. When offered jobs they might show up two days in a row.. then they’ve decided that’s that. I don’t hate them personally but I would never trust one not to rob me blind as they are just not operating on a co-operative cultural wavelength. I see them as a type of force of nature, grasshoppers vs. ants. They live on the margins as grifters.. this is just a fact. And yes, they have no respect for private property and will just walk into your house or backyard, take whatever isn’t nailed down, and get belligerent if challenged!! That’s the almost humorous part. Happened to a relative of mine.

  3. doc holiday

    Yves,

    The Horta episode reminds me of The Fed/Treasury thinking they have supernatural powers and a connection between purse strings and treasure chests. Classic stuff there and very painful to watch.

    FYI: It is not definitively established if all Vulcans possess contact telepathy, though Spock stated, “Limited telepathic abilities are inherent in Vulcanians” (not “some Vulcanians”) in the TOS episode. “A Taste of Armageddon”. It has been stated (most recently in the ENT episode “The Aenar”) that Vulcans, on the whole, have some degree of telepathic ability.
    Some Vulcans appear with advanced mental abilities. For example, in the TOS episode “A Taste of Armageddon”, Spock was once able to briefly control the mind of a prison guard on Eminiar VII, and in the episode “The Devil in the Dark”, he was able to perform a limited mind meld with a Horta without actually making physical contact with the being. It is made apparent that a touch-less meld is limited in effectiveness compared to physical melds. During more intense melds, the melder is sometimes shown using both hands.

  4. tyaresun

    It is simply amazing to see not a single comment defending the Roma. Yes, it is always the same. Europe will never change. It will have another genocidal war, Europeans will kill each other, the same old fascism will rear its ugly head again and again.

    The Roma are from present day Pakistan and India. If Europe does not want them, maybe they should be allowed to migrate back.

  5. L'Emmerdeur

    Funny how Americans are so free with the mud slinging against Europeans for their racism (and, yes, there’s plenty of it in Europe, and it will manifest itself as the economy there withers), but would you trust a Traveler near your homes?

    Yeah, I didn’t think so.

    Somehow, the Greek government is lectured when it tries to get these folks to live in proper houses (for free), accept government IDs, and work proper jobs and pay taxes. I don’t see you folks protesting when a homeless person in New York is forced to leave his heating grate or subway bench and sleep in a (dangerous, dirty) homeless shelter.

    Once again, Americans preach “do as we say, not as we do”.

  6. L'Emmerdeur

    Funny how Americans are so free with the mud slinging against Europeans for their racism (and, yes, there’s plenty of it in Europe, and it will manifest itself as the economy there withers), but would you trust a Traveler near your homes?

    Yeah, I didn’t think so.

    Somehow, the Greek government is lectured when it tries to get these folks to live in proper houses (for free), accept government IDs, and work proper jobs and pay taxes. I don’t see you folks protesting when a homeless person in New York is forced to leave his heating grate or subway bench and sleep in a (dangerous, dirty) homeless shelter.

    Once again, Americans preach “do as we say, not as we do”.

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