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Post by swl on Jan 31, 2011 23:47:11 GMT
Peter F Hamilton is GOD as far as I'm concerned. His ideas blow me away and they're not that unfeasible either.
The Mote in God's Eye was brilliant - the sheer scale was gobsmacking.
I've just started my first Banks - Consider Phlebas: looking good so far.
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Post by Weyland on Feb 1, 2011 10:34:00 GMT
Peter F Hamilton is GOD as far as I'm concerned. His ideas blow me away and they're not that unfeasible either. Grunt. I have no clear recollection about why I didn't really like Pandora's Star. Probably writing style. Second-to-none plot, but Borenelle frills up anything he's involved with. Still excellent, though, if you can wade through those bits. The sequel is even frillier, and the plot a bit too involved for my taste. There is no finer SF. Read the "sequel" next -- Look to Windward. Quotes from The Wasteland . . . Gentile or Jew O you who turn the wheel and look to windward, Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.There was a recording of Eliot on the R4 poetry programme the other day, reading that poem. Waste of time. His dreadful voice and intonation destroyed any pleasure there might've been in listening. Just goes to show.
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Post by Alpha Hooligan on Feb 1, 2011 12:36:35 GMT
I have "Pandora's Star" & the sequel "Judas Unchained" in my "to read" book pile. I'm still reeling from the last book of Charlie Stross short stories I read..."A Colder War" is one of the best short stories I've ever set eyes on.
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Post by Weyland on Feb 2, 2011 18:33:49 GMT
The view from above Cairns, Queensland . . . Cyclone Yasi.
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Post by Weyland on Feb 3, 2011 17:45:43 GMT
NASA finds five Earth-sized planets in the Goldilocks Orbit -- not too hot, not too cold, just right. "The fact that we’ve found so many planet candidates in such a tiny fraction of the sky [in such a short time] suggests there are countless planets orbiting stars like our sun in our galaxy."It's way past time to pour billions into developing a means of propulsion so that we can reach them in a reasonable time. Years is probably the best we can do, assuming Einstein was right, but that's better than centuries. In the meantime we should be sending out at least hundreds of robot explorers, preferably thousands. The bonuses from a single British bank would be enough to fund it, never mind one in the USA, and NOBODY would miss the wbankers who subsequently emigrated to Switzerland or the Cayman Islands. On the contrary -- we have more than enough totally useless unproductive parasites to be going on with, thank you. And I'm not just referring to Simon Cowell or even Prince Harry. And there would be spin-offs worth trillions. You know it makes sense.
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Post by aubrey on Feb 3, 2011 18:30:08 GMT
Actually, the bankers wanted to leave could go in the craft.
But, on 2nd thoughts - what if they find aliens? Not a good example of our species.
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Post by swl on Feb 4, 2011 22:10:47 GMT
As an aside re: bankers bonuses, I don't really understand the opprobrium about this. The fact is, everyone in the financial sector is incentivised to hit targets and perform - from the counter assistant to the big boss. My wee sister's pal is a teller with a bank and last year she and her colleagues got over £2000 each in bonuses. The banking industry is one of the few examples of capitalism where the profits are shared amongst the workers. You can argue about the size of the share but the fact that each worker shares in the collective success of the company is surely one of the central tenets of socialism.
When I hear about Bank X paying Y £Billions in bonuses, I try to remember that the vast majority of that goes to the tens of thousands of ordinary workers.
Weyland - thanks for giving the origins of "Consider Phlebas" - makes sense when the central character can change his appearance.
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Post by Weyland on Feb 4, 2011 23:12:02 GMT
As an aside re: bankers bonuses, I don't really understand the opprobrium about this. The fact is, everyone in the financial sector is incentivised to hit targets and perform - from the counter assistant to the big boss. My wee sister's pal is a teller with a bank and last year she and her colleagues got over £2000 each in bonuses. The banking industry is one of the few examples of capitalism where the profits are shared amongst the workers. You can argue about the size of the share but the fact that each worker shares in the collective success of the company is surely one of the central tenets of socialism. When I hear about Bank X paying Y £Billions in bonuses, I try to remember that the vast majority of that goes to the tens of thousands of ordinary workers. Weyland - thanks for giving the origins of "Consider Phlebas" - makes sense when the central character can change his appearance. You're very welcome, S. Did you think about the Kindle? As for the bankers: 1. Why don't they just get a wage, like proper jobs? We've seen what obscene incentives can do, and are still doing. 2. Apart from tellers and the like, you're talking about people who produce absolutely fuck all. Somebody somewhere actually has to do some actual work to generate the bonuses, and it isn't bankers. I've been trying to find out how it's come to this for years. I've even asked an old school friend who used to be a banker. Satisfactory answers are there none. If you have any, please tell me.
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Post by everso on Feb 5, 2011 0:38:18 GMT
As an aside re: bankers bonuses, I don't really understand the opprobrium about this. The fact is, everyone in the financial sector is incentivised to hit targets and perform - from the counter assistant to the big boss. My wee sister's pal is a teller with a bank and last year she and her colleagues got over £2000 each in bonuses. The banking industry is one of the few examples of capitalism where the profits are shared amongst the workers. You can argue about the size of the share but the fact that each worker shares in the collective success of the company is surely one of the central tenets of socialism. When I hear about Bank X paying Y £Billions in bonuses, I try to remember that the vast majority of that goes to the tens of thousands of ordinary workers. Weyland - thanks for giving the origins of "Consider Phlebas" - makes sense when the central character can change his appearance. You're very welcome, S. Did you think about the Kindle? As for the bankers: 1. Why don't they just get a wage, like proper jobs? We've seen what obscene incentives can do, and are still doing. 2. Apart from tellers and the like, you're talking about people who produce absolutely fuck all. Somebody somewhere actually has to do some actual work to generate the bonuses, and it isn't bankers. I've been trying to find out how it's come to this for years. I've even asked an old school friend who used to be a banker. Satisfactory answers are there none. If you have any, please tell me. In the 1960s I worked for a foreign bank in London (now part of the Lloyds group) and every December we got a bonus of one month's wages less the London allowance (weighting I think it was called). It never varied, it was always one month's wages, so we just considered it to be part of our annual salary. The only drawback, as far as I can see, is that I didn't persuade my son to go into banking. He went to Uni, got a first in graphic design and ended up working in advertising, whereas a couple of my friends' sons took their A levels and ran. They got jobs in banking in London and now earn squillions. However, I know my son's very happy in his job, so I suppose that's the most important thing. I don't resent the lads who work in town. I was never so bored working in a bank even though I earned good money, and the journey to London day in day out is crap crap crap. For that alone, they deserve a bonus!
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Post by Weyland on Feb 5, 2011 1:45:27 GMT
They got jobs in banking in London and now earn squillions. Wrong. Not earn -- get paid. All they earn in my book is contempt. Better than work, I dare say. And then again, maybe not. I usually enjoyed my work, sometimes too much.
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Post by swl on Feb 5, 2011 9:28:44 GMT
As I understand it, the City of London is effectively the biggest casino in the world. The very best bankers and traders in the world are attracted here to speculate/gamble. The house rules are such that Britain's casino pays out far more than anybody else.
But, just like a casino, the City (and HM Treasury) are the real winners. The banker's bonuses are utterly dwarved by the taxes paid to HMRC - around £100bn a year. That income goes a long way to covering the running costs of the country and it's why the banks had to be bailed out. We are (wrongly imo) incredibly reliant upon the financial sector to finance the country. If that system were to crash entirely, Britain would be left without a pot to piss in.
No NHS. No State Pensions A drastically reduced welfare state all round in fact.
All those people attacking "bankers" are attacking the people that pay for our society.
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Post by Weyland on Feb 5, 2011 9:52:00 GMT
The very best bankers and traders in the world are attracted here to speculate/gamble. What can these very best bankers and traders do that Bob the Builder couldn't? Where does the money come from in the first place? I know the system is entrenched, and we can't get rid of it easily now, but that doesn't mean that it's a good thing, or that the people who get the most out of it deserve any respect whatsoever, no matter how much tax they get squeezed out of them if they're not clever enough to evade it. Bankers, lawyers, accountants. Semi-skilled at best.
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Post by swl on Feb 5, 2011 10:02:29 GMT
I'm not saying the system is a good thing. I personally don't have a problem with the City per se, but I do think we should have a more diversified tax base and not be so reliant upon one sector.
I really don't see the point in attacking and slagging off people for doing a job you don't understand.
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Post by Weyland on Feb 5, 2011 13:00:48 GMT
I really don't see the point in attacking and slagging off people for doing a job you don't understand. Help me understand it, then. Why are bankers/traders worth so much more than engineers, or doctors, or firemen, or train drivers, or nurses, or unameit? What can they do that any of us couldn't? I know there's no point. They've got it well sewn up. That's just another reason to be angry and express it.
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Post by jean on Feb 5, 2011 13:09:00 GMT
And why should we suppose their special skills have any value when it was the exercising of them that got us into such a mess?
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Post by swl on Feb 5, 2011 14:10:50 GMT
I'm not a banker. I couldn't do their job. I know nothing about markets, futures, securities, gilts, risk management. I can't forecast the likely value of grain next autumn or predict the impact mass production of whirlygig wind turbines has on scarce metal quarries in China. I wouldn't trust me with a pension, but we've been happy for the financial sector to handle our pensions for decades.
It was the exercising of their"special" skills that paid for the expansion of the public sector when the traditional mass employers in heavy industry collapsed. Their "special" skills financed the country for 30 years.
Take £100bn a year out of the Exchequer and try to balance Britain's budget. The Welfare budget was £105bn in 2009. You could argue that the bankers "special" skills paid for Welfare that year. Or the £86bn spent on Education.
Do you not understand? The financial sector produces wealth, huge amounts of it for this country. If we turn on the bankers, they'll move to any number of countries who are desperate for the billions they bring. It's kinda stupid strangling the goose that lays the golden eggs just because it likes expensive grain.
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Post by Weyland on Feb 5, 2011 14:39:18 GMT
I'm not a banker. I couldn't do their job. I know nothing about markets, futures, securities, gilts, risk management. I can't forecast the likely value of grain next autumn or predict the impact mass production of whirlygig wind turbines has on scarce metal quarries in China. Of course you could. So could I. It's the programmers who wield the skill, not the bankers. A very good counter-example, given the private pensions shambles there've been in Britain in recent years. I'm very glad my company pension has almost nothing to do with the City of London. It produces no wealth whatsoever. Let's give it a try -- ship them out. The rest of Western Europe makes banker-ridden Britain look distinctly shabby, without hosting a huge sham self-centred economy like the City.
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Post by everso on Feb 5, 2011 18:26:12 GMT
The very best bankers and traders in the world are attracted here to speculate/gamble. What can these very best bankers and traders do that Bob the Builder couldn't? Where does the money come from in the first place? I know the system is entrenched, and we can't get rid of it easily now, but that doesn't mean that it's a good thing, or that the people who get the most out of it deserve any respect whatsoever, no matter how much tax they get squeezed out of them if they're not clever enough to evade it. Bankers, lawyers, accountants. Semi-skilled at best.No, I don't agree. If they were, I could do their job easily. I know I couldn't because I'm crap at maths and, frankly, my brain isn't wired for hard thinking. I'm not daft, but I know I couldn't do their jobs. And frankly, if anybody has spent several years at university and a further few years honing their skills (like lawyers do) then I think they deserve to earn more than the likes of me, who couldn't be arsed with all that hard work anyway. We all like to sneer at bankers and lawyers, but we still entrust our money to banks and we all run to lawyers when we need help in law.
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Post by Weyland on Feb 5, 2011 18:50:50 GMT
Bankers, lawyers, accountants. Semi-skilled at best. No, I don't agree. If they were, I could do their job easily. I know I couldn't because I'm crap at maths and, frankly, my brain isn't wired for hard thinking. I'm not daft, but I know I couldn't do their jobs. And frankly, if anybody has spent several years at university and a further few years honing their skills (like lawyers do) then I think they deserve to earn more than the likes of me, who couldn't be arsed with all that hard work anyway. We all like to sneer at bankers and lawyers, but we still entrust our money to banks and we all run to lawyers when we need help in law. There's not a lot of choice, is there? That's how it works. They're entrenched, and a hell of a lot of politicians are lawyers by "trade". Blair, for example. And they want you to believe exactly what you seem to believe, Ev, and keep the system as it is in order to perpetuate it. Money-for-nothing, a lot of it. In reality, just about anyone here -- especially you -- could do it. As for maths, that's all nicely taken care of by software these days. Even accountants need little more than an ability to use databases, spreadsheets, and the Web. And minions. Lawyers? Mostly databases. And minions. Bankers? See above, plus a pair of red braces, a bad attitude, and the gullibility and/or connivance of the ruling classes and lower orders. Pinstriped vermin.
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Post by everso on Feb 5, 2011 18:55:24 GMT
No, I don't agree. If they were, I could do their job easily. I know I couldn't because I'm crap at maths and, frankly, my brain isn't wired for hard thinking. I'm not daft, but I know I couldn't do their jobs. And frankly, if anybody has spent several years at university and a further few years honing their skills (like lawyers do) then I think they deserve to earn more than the likes of me, who couldn't be arsed with all that hard work anyway. We all like to sneer at bankers and lawyers, but we still entrust our money to banks and we all run to lawyers when we need help in law. There's not a lot of choice, is there? That's how it works. They're entrenched, and a hell of a lot of politicians are lawyers by "trade". Blair, for example. And they want you to believe exactly what you seem to believe, Ev, and keep the system as it is in order to perpetuate it. Money-for-nothing, a lot of it. In reality, just about anyone here -- especially you -- could do it. As for maths, that's all nicely taken care of by software these days. Even accountants need little more than an ability to use databases, spreadsheets, and the Web. And minions. Lawyers? Mostly databases. And minions. Bankers? See above, plus a pair of red braces, a bad attitude, and the gullibility and/or connivance of the ruling classes and lower orders. Pinstriped vermin. Coming it a bit strong there. O.K. Let's say we do without banks. What will you do with your money? Stuff it under the matress? Let's say we do without lawyers. What happens when you need representing in court ;D, or when you sell your house
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