Roma camp broken up

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19398239

Just a suggestion here, Hollande and Martine David (Saint-Priest Mayor), but if there is a social problem and you do not know if your measures will have any effect you might want to refrain from uprooting families of a historically-mistreated minority.

Illegal camps of Roma aren't great and are an administrative nightmare but that doesn't mean they should be broken up on a whim with no provisions for the occupants.

Surreal but fun

If you haven't played Warlock yet you should give it a try:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/07/30/the-rps-verdict-warlock-master-of-the-arcane/

It lacks polish and sometimes drags a bit on the larger maps (which I can't stop selecting as they feel so damn epic).

However, nothing compares to seeing your broomstick-flying, combat rabbit killing a red dragon by nutting it. I haven't even downloaded the DLC yet and I dread to think what levels of surreality that will unlock.

Edit -And if that isn't weird enough for you why not try this insane debate simulator:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/08/20/computing-disputing-argument-champion/

Taiwan: Between the US and China

Disengaging From Taiwan – Should Washington Continue Its Alliance With Taipei?

Foreign Affairs, Vol 90, no 4.

In 'Misreading China's Intentions', Shyu-Tu Lee (President of the North America Taiwanese Professor's Association - just in case you were expecting neutrality) argues against Charles Glaser who has called for a drawing back of the US commitment to and arms trade with Taiwan.

Lee's arguments has a lot of holes to say the least. It is claimed that the rise of China poses grave challenges to US security. Among other things China keeps its currency low to promote exports and this has the consequence of creating a large trade deficit for the US. It may just be me but this isn't actually China's fault. While America can complain about China's manipulation of currency value it is not being forced to buy Chinese goods and is within its rights to stop or raise tariffs if it doesn't like the terms. At a time when America is relying on Chinese credit to help support its ailing economy it seems provocative to say the least to call Chinese economic development a risk to American security.

Lee also threatens that Glaser's policy could increase the chance of a nuclear attack on the American homeland. Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't this be incredibly counter-productive since a) America has a far bigger nuclear stockpile with which to retaliate and b) China is benefiting from the aforementioned trade deficit. Nuking your debtors does not make good business sense.

Finally Lee claims that once in control of Taiwan the Chinese would quickly turn South Korea and Japan into vassal states forcing a US retreat to Hawaii. Are people really still relying on the domino theory to make their points? Sheesh.

Of course I'm not saying that Taiwan should be left to fend for itself. No country should be allowed to engage in aggression against a sovereign rival based on 70 year old territorial claims. However, this article is frankly a piece of alarmist scaremongering that if credited would guarantee a rise in tensions between China and the USA.

See how deep the rabbit hole goes .....

http://stochasticreview.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/jokes-for-capitalist-world-crisis.html

So in an earlier post I speculated about the meaning behind Macdonald's choice of 'Everybody wants to Rule the World' as the backing music for their Olympic advert. However, even more worrying information had recently come to light as I inspected this adorable video of Mo Farah and Usain Bolt celebrating their victory together.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19229542

So we now have two extremely recognisable athletes making Mo's recognisable victory sign. Which, to a suspicious and slightly unhinged mind, looks a little bit like the trademark 'M' of MacDonald's. Britons across the country are now associating that sign (and the food chain that spawned it) with the emotion of watching Mo storm home to his second gold medal.

Coincidence? I think not. Those sneaky corporate dogs.

Olympics come to an end

So the Olympics will be wrapped up this weekend. I must confess that I had difficulty remaining interested for the whole two weeks despite a lot of initial enthusiasm. However, I'm very proud of our model tally. Coming a solid third is a distinct success for a tiny island off the coast of Europe. My uncle who lives in Hamburg says the Germans are spitting mad about British success and I can see why. Economically, politically, culturally there seems to be little special about us but we can still pull off a victory like this. [Ends patriotic gushing].

Also Bristol balloon fiesta this weekend. Anyone in the West Country should definitely come along to watch - it's always a great show!

[Edit] - And what a victory for Mo Farah this evening! His pacing was dynamite.

[Edit, Edit] - What this Olympic needed to sum it all up was a heavy weight Ukrainian boxer from Simferopol doing a celebratory Cossack dance around the ring. Thank you very much, Oleksandr Usyk!

Jokes for a capitalist world crisis

http://tvcfblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/mcdonalds-we-all-make-games-commercial.html

So McDonald's latest advert has Tears for Fears 'Everybody wants to rule the World' as the background music. Some might think this shows a certain lack of subtlety on the part of the giant multinational.

http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/2459131-saying-farewell-hoxha-s-bunkers

Also one of the lesser known facts about the current Eurocrisis. Two of the economies that are weathering the recession best and are continuing to grow are Poland and Albania. This should provoke some questions for all those scholars who have continually listed reasons for the inevitability of Western European dominance.

Globalisation may be a bit grimy but it has some amusing side effects.

Don't feed the Orcs

http://www.sbnation.com/london-olympics-2012/2012/7/28/3197979/boring-olympic-opening-ceremony-should-bar-london-from-hosting-again

Wow, this seems to have provoked a response! An American journalist takes the Olympic ceremony apart piece by piece and says what he thought about it. I wouldn't comment on this one if you paid me but I would really like to frame the comments section. An amazing amount of raw hostility condensed into a single thread (and with a much higher literacy than most Youtube comment threads!).

First golds for Team GB

Glad to see some golds for GB today. I've not really been following it, despite having a generally unproductive day of trying to work on my dissertation. However, I did see the men's rowing final. That was a really good race - I was jumping up and down when Britain pulled ahead of Germany but it wasn't meant to be. Still it could have been worse, we got the bronze and a lot of boats were catching up with us by the end.

I hope this means we can forget about the 'Chinese swimmer doping' story now. If that had happened to a British athlete we would have been tearing up the carpet and foaming at the mouth. People do beat their personal bests and there wasn't a shred of evidence that anything untoward had gone on. The Chinese athletes are under just as strict a testing regime as anyone else and they are putting on one hell of a show so far.

Still, what can you expect when you have that many news-hungry Journalists cooped up in one city. I'm just glad they're still finding time to cover Syria and haven't sidelined foreign news entirely.