Contextualizing squirrels is one of this blog's enduring strengths.
Twitter is the worst and SNP bloggers based in England are also the worst and Kezia Dugdale is the worst too and SNP online mobs are the worst and adult politicians pretending they are taking this sort of stuff seriously to feed the rage machine are in addition the worst and the Daily Record is the worst.
I am not going to read the link. It's a lovely day outside and I am going to go for a wee walk and have a coffee or something and then come home and bake an enormous pie and invite my old university friends round to help eat it.
Brexit, it turns out, does not mean Brexit, but Pie means Pie.
It's actually more complicated and odder than that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Pi_Bill
So Scots defamation law is different from the English, but weirdly plaintiff-friendly in the way English law was before the 2013 reforms, right? I found in an article from January 2019:
The Scottish government also confirmed it is "minded" to introduce a new statutory defence of truth into law in place of the existing defences of veritas and justification which would be abolished.
(I'm not clear how thorough a reform the 2013 act was - barely heard about it at the time we love to talk about over British holdovers but not Worthwhile New Initiatives - but it looks decent.)
Those of you who endure Twitter may or may not be aware of Mr Campbell as "Wings Over Scotland", a relentlessly terrible nuisance.
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Jesus, I'm just now learning about the Fixed Terms Parliament Act. Fixed the UK a good one.
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Ajay's link in 7 will eventually lead you to this scholarly contribution on the Pi Bill and its author: https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/ias/article/download/8180/8139
I only went there to find out more about the German-language newspaper's involvement. It turns out Der Tägliche Telegraph had absolutely no illusions that anyone might have squared any circles or redefined pi and was not in the least amused, or maybe just a tiny bit in a specifically German way, while the English-speaking press was just delighted to repeatedly interview the guy, embellish the story with even more bullshit of its own, and eventually turn it into a folksy Sunday supplement feature as a way of backing down from the embarrassment.
Why is everyone adding nuance to Indiana?
8. So how would you set about convincing twelve good Scots and true that on the balance of probability Stuart Campbell is/is not homophobic as a matter of truth? My guess is that nine jurors would have internalised entirely different definitions of homophobia and the other three couldn't even spell it.
I don't see how the proposed reform would help.
They could have him touch an erect penis on court.
3 IS A REALLY GOOD APPROXIMATION OF PI! ITS BY FAR THE BEST APPROXIMATION OF PI THAT YOU CAN DO WITH DENOMINATOR 1. ITS MUCH BETTER THAN 4 IS! YOU SHOULD ONLY EXPECT AN APPROXIMATION OF PI WITH DENOMINATOR 1 TO BE ACCURATE WITHIN 1/2 = 1/(2*1^2) BUT 3 IS ACCURATE WITHIN 1/(5*1^2). THATS A REALLY REALLY GOOD APPROXIMATION TO PI! ITS A MUCH BETTER APPROXIMATION TO PI THAN 3.1 OR 3.14 WHICH HAVE HUGE WASTEFUL DENOMINATORS.
(That said, 22/7 and 355/113 are even better...)
13: Fifteen, not twelve, I should think. Juries have fifteen members in Scotland IIRC.
OK, the other three got bored and weren't paying attention.
I am deeply worried that I will have to read the whole thing to find out about "squirrels." Where are the spoilers when we need them?
Fucking phone. I did so mean "Ned culture."
19: I believe that I have read everything available, but I still have no idea of the meaning of "squirrel" in context.
https://wingsoverscotland.com/becoming-the-squirrel/
13: Not so much the "truth" bit I quoted, but the consultation document from January also recommends increasing the "harm" threshold for complaints:
48. One of the recommendations made by the Commission is to introduce a provision similar to section 1(1) of the 2013 Act - otherwise known as the threshold test of serious harm. The effect of this test is to introduce a filter through which claims in defamation must pass before they are allowed to proceed further. In England and Wales, prior to commencement of the 2013 Act, there was already a (common law) filter in place that meant that trivial and unfounded claims were discouraged. Section 1(1) recasts in statutory form the criterion by which all claims in defamation in that jurisdiction are filtered. In so doing, the threshold test is able to filter out such trivial claims at an early stage in judicial proceedings, that is before they exhaust judicial resources and impose disproportionate burdens on defenders.
49. In England and Wales, in order to raise a claim in defamation, it must be shown not only that the statement complained of is capable of bearing a defamatory meaning, but that it has caused serious harm to the claimant's reputation (or is likely to do so). This is the criterion for the filtering process that section 1(1) introduces. By contrast, in Scots law, it is enough that a pursuer establish that the statement complained of is capable of bearing a defamatory meaning.
I believe that I have read everything available
The new "I am aware of all internet traditions"?
In other news, our options seem to have narrowed to no deal or no brexit.
On my heuristic -- that you need only work out what is the most stupid and self-destructive thing that parliament can do and put your money on it -- that would be no deal.
I optimistically think no brexit is more likely, especially given the new direction from the EU is "no deal or long extension as you figure your shit out".
Parliament has established a pattern of rejecting every option, so if they hold to that, that pushes the UK down the path of long extension which allows the situation to change in some way. Of course the Tories could still enact the suicide pact.
In fact, they have to keep consciously deciding not to.
7, 11: The best part is where they refer it to the Committee on Swamplands.
In Florida, that's called the Committee on Land.
26. She's now saying one more vote and then it's election time.
[How does she get a 2/3 majority vote to dissolve Parliament? Fucked if I know. Maybe whip the Tories to vote no confidence in themselves?]
31: No, as vague slang for transphobe. (I consciously changed TERF to terf in the comment with that intention.)
33: I figured as much. Has terf already become a general term for transphobe?
32 is a good point. Would there be enough votes for a general election under FTPA ? Probably not. Would she lose a VONC? Even if she voted against herself? I'm not even sure about that.
Only with a majority of the house. And would she get that since they would know it would be for a GE?
GE is a lot, even divided by 650.
You guys should have your hereditary monarch step in and behead someone or dissolve parliament on the grounds that the government very obviously doesn't commend a majority of the Commons.
Seems an easier way to stay in the news that always having another baby.
I mean, anything I can do toward babies is really easy, but I'm a feminist.
Seems an easier way to stay in the news that always having another baby.
Funny you should mention that: the monarch-to-be William is in the news for (allegedly) having an affair with the Marchioness of Cholmondeley.
Were it not for imagination a man would be as happy in the arms of a marchioness as of a duchess.
What news is this? I can't find any reference to it.
Better yet, the name of the Marquess is David Rocksavage.
What news is this? I can't find any reference to it.
Here. If they get divorced, Kate gets half the UK, right?
Divorce is:
Brexit with a human face
Brexit in one family
Brexit with royal characteristics
The worst form of dissolution except for all the others
Nicole Cliffs is on the story: https://twitter.com/nicole_cliffe/status/1112104131550822400?s=21
The Marquess of Cholmondeley is joint hereditary Lord Great Chamberlain. Not to be confused with the Lord Chamberlain of the Household. On special occasions he wears fancy dress, and gets the monarch a glass of water at coronations. Otherwise he has some titular role in the upkeep of the Palace of Westminster.
All that focus on "rural" reminds me of Sayers. Based on her novels, it looked like wealthy aristocrats only ever kept or visited country houses so they could, as she put it, get some strange.
51.last: Journeyman brick pointer.
52: well, yes. Country house parties were to 1920s aristocrats as off-site training courses are to modern office workers.
People should write more murder mysteries set in those courses.
Whiteboard markers aren't so good for stabbing.
Replace the whiteboard markers with a Sharpie and watch whoever manages the facility stab the presenter with something sharp.
51: Specifically, it seems that the Marquess of Cholmondeley is one-half of the Lord Great Chamberlain. The other half is further divided among various obscure aristocrats. For example, the Honorable Tatiana Dent is one-eightieth of the Lord Great Chamberlain.
(I am not making this up, but neither am I convinced that I'm not being pranked by some mischievous Wikipedia editor.)
Keep going until you find out who is 1/π of the Lord Great Chamberlain
59: And even more bizarrely, they don't alternate by event or year, but per monarch. So Cholmodeley gets to be Lord Great Chamberlain until Lizzie kicks the bucket, and then someone from the other side gets a go, with which sub-family being determined by their share. Then after Charles, it's the Cholmodeleys' turn again. The amount of time it'd take for all the sub-families to have a go must be millennia. That quasi-cycle could be the slowest acting institutional structure in existence.
Also, the last person to hold the title in its entirety (in the 1770s) had the amazing name of Peregrine Bertie.
They split up the job because he wandered off so often.
The amount of time it'd take for all the sub-families to have a go must be millennia.
It actually seems to be infinite, given that the rate of sub-families splitting up the title is faster than the rate of monarch turnover.
The sun never sets. They mean it.
In a few thousand years, everyone in the world will be the Lord Great Chamberlain, and then there won't be any more splitting.
For example, the Honorable Tatiana Dent is one-eightieth of the Lord Great Chamberlain.
British aristocrats or Voltron?
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令和?? "Commanding harmony" as the new era name?? They're fucking trolling.
(Officially it's supposed to come from the Manyoshu. A thousand years ago, 令 apparently used to mean "good fortune" or "excellent." But no-one today would read it as anything other than "order" or "command."
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Has the new deity any known politics?
Not really, though he's generally assumed to be internationalist and pacifist, like his father. Personally he's modest, stubborn, ineffective. Of course he had no say in choosing his era name.
So who did? And what's the valence of 令和 today? "You are commanded to be harmonious", or what? (Since in English "commanding" as an adjective has largely positive connotations.)
It's chosen in strict secrecy by a committee of scholars reporting directly to the Prime Minister's office, then presented to the Cabinet on the morning on which it's announced. Even the Crown Prince has had to wait for the official announcement to learn the name under which he's going to reign.
As to the valence - let's take the characters separately. Both are contentious, but 令 (rei) far more so. Today it's almost only ever used in compounds like 法令 (legislation), 命令 (command), 指令 (instruction), and so on. In an old-fashioned usage, it can mean "auspicious" or "good," as in the honorific 令兄, "your [good] older brother", but in over 20 years of speaking Japanese I've never come across that before. In the old lunar calendar 令月 is "the auspicious month," the second lunar month when the plum trees come into bloom. And in the very far distant past, 令 was apparently an omen from a divinity.
和 (wa) is one of those characters with a cluster of meanings that defies a single translation. It's usually translated as "harmony," "calm", or "peace," but can also be used to mean "soft" or "total/sum", and is often used as a synecdoche for Japan (eg 和食, Japanese cuisine). It's also the second character in Showa, that previous era of enlightened peace.
The official derivation of Reiwa is from a poem in the Manyoshu, an eighth-century anthology, in which the plum blossoms bloom in the "令月" (auspicious second month" as the winds 和ぐ (become soft/calm). Much is being made of the fact that it's the first era name to be taken from a Japanese poem, rather than classical Chinese.
But not only can it be read as "Commanding Peace" (or even "Law and Order Japan" if you're sufficiently conspiracy-minded), the first character actually invites the reading of "order/command" at first glance. It certainly seems strange to choose an era name so obviously open to misinterpretation when there must have been other far less politically sensitive options to select from.
See, if it was a Chinese ruler picking "Commanding Harmony" as his epithet, everyone would assume that he had links with the Triads.
But not only can it be read as "Commanding Peace" (or even "Law and Order Japan" if you're sufficiently conspiracy-minded)
Best brand endorsement deal EVER.
This is fascinating. Scholars studying what, deciding on what (supposed) algorithm? And is the peace supposed to be domestic, or international, or ambiguous?
In a few thousand years, everyone in the world will be the Lord Great Chamberlain, and then there won't be any more splitting.
This is a strange and disturbing Gilbert & Sullivan dystopia you have here.
Scholars are chosen by the Prime Minister. There aren't any legal criteria other than "persons of high discernment," but they were specialists in Chinese and Japanese classical literature, and apparently a committee of the great and the good including a Nobel prizewinner in medicine was also consulted before the final decision.
It has to be two kanji "whose meaning is appropriate to the ideals of the nation," which are easy to write and read, have not been used before, and are not a word in common use. It also couldn't begin with the letters M, T, S, or H, as those are used as abbreviations for the past four era names. Tokyo Review has a good overview.
As to the peace, that's ambiguous. Abe's own explanation is that this will be an era in which the Japanese people will thrive after a period of coldness (which also fits with his "Beautiful Japan" sloganizing): "Just like amazing plum flowers in full bloom that signal the arrival of spring after bitter cold, each and every Japanese person can hope for the future and make their own flowers blossom." But I suppose it could also be interpreted as an indirect signal to China.
Not so indirect signal, if it's a Japanese source for the first time.
That's a whole lot of meaning from two characters. I sometimes wonder if I wasn't always pissing off the doctor from Japan I used to work with because of cultural differences. Then I remember I'm always pissing off people I work with who come from my same culture.
No official translation was immediately available, but Ryan Shaldjian Morrison, a lecturer at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies and a Japanese literature expert, said: "To my mind, 'venerable harmony' is the most appropriate English translation."
That would be a good name to give at Starbucks.
"Venerable harmony" sounds like the era name for Tony Bennett.
the other five names that made it to the shortlist presented to a panel of experts and others for selection. The other five were "Eiko," "Kyuka," "Koshi," "Banna," and "Banpo."
76: All that ambiguity reminded me of the well-known Hebrew word - "Shalom", that can mean, "Hello, "Goodbye", and "Peace".
I picture the Arafat-Rabin-Clinton summit.
Arafat: Shalom! (Hello!)
Rabin: Shalom (Goodbye!)
Clinton: Hurray! They agreed to make peace!
So they have to come up with a new word. A common modern exercise. But I really admire them for doing it the hard way instead of hiring a consulting firm and spending ¥50,000,000 to rebrand as "Truvant" or "Accentury" or "Realify".
There was a report that they had also invented a new mascot for the Reiwa Era, a hybrid puppy/stingray called "Rayman", but I am honestly not sure whether this is an April Fool or not.
"Venerable" is just off-the-wall ridiculous. The official government translation is apparently "beautiful harmony," which is also, um, not entirely accurate. The best summary I've seen on the multiple valences of Reiwa is here.
I kind of wish they'd chosen Banna. A banana-based character (or series of characters - perhaps the entire imperial family as bananas) for the new era would have been something.
Raywan (@raywan05374268; "wan" is Japanese for "doggy") is the creation of @mondomascots. That's a great account.
86 link is super interesting, as is the whole subthread. Thanks Ume!
You're welcome! Fulminating about it at least gave me one morning when I wasn't entirely consumed by Brexit anxiety. Freelancer productivity in this country must be waaay down at the moment.
I'm guessing people with permanent employment aren't doing much better but can hide it more easily.
90: Sorry, if that offended anyone. Maybe it's just me.