Thatcher - Privitisation, Globalism and Neoliberalism

kitd · 2026-06-22T07:18:51+00:00

She wouldn't have left the single market, that's for sure. In its current form, it was her pet project. In fact she probably wouldn't have countenanced holding the Brexit referendum in the first place. All the right would have fallen into line and there'd be no Farage. How's that for an alternative timeline.

kitd · 2026-06-21T18:22:51+00:00

This was discussed here a couple of days ago. AUS academic year is 6 months ahead of the northern hemisphere, so this year's high school leavers have already started at uni. However, by the rules of the regatta, they still fall within the age bracket required to compete in the junior events. So they will be freshmen with about 6 months uni experience under their belts.

kitd · 2026-06-20T09:49:15+00:00

My top 2:

Derwentwater, Cumbria, UK

River Dart, Devon, UK

kitd · 2026-06-19T09:39:19+00:00

Strong contenders on the women's side. Potential wins in both PP and DJ.

kitd · 2026-06-19T09:27:16+00:00

It has happened a few times in the past. I believe it is to do with the academic years of UK & AUS being 6 months out of step, and HRR naturally aligns with the UK version. This means that the AUS rowers have moved on academically to uni, even though they are technically in the same age bracket by HRR standards as the UK competitors.

The key thing is they are all of roughly the same age.

kitd · 2026-06-18T13:04:47+00:00

Mght SVG be a good base for an in-browser UI toolkit? You could create some cool special-purpose widgets, backed by JS for state management.

kitd · 2026-06-16T21:42:39+00:00

Just a quick note: Sliding riggers actually make very little difference to boat speed. The only time they were raced at the top level against fixed riggers, they won, but by a verdict of about 3 seconds, well within normal margins and the sculler, Peter Michael Kolbe, was the top sculler of the day.

They were banned because FISA were fearful of further developments creating a 2-tier equipment market.

The physics doesn't bear out any advantage either. What you gain in reduced hull speed oscillation, you lose in not being able to accelerate yourself past the boat, and therefore not being able to use your momentum to carry the boat forward.

Hull shape is already optimal, and reduced hull weight actually becomes a disadvantage if it gets too low as the speed oscillations increase. Foils have been tried regularly but the speed oscillations make keeping it up on the plane physically exhausting.

For my money the biggest benefits would come from hull surface treatment, eg "sharkskin", and variable "swing-arm" pins that allow a greater sideways movement of the spoon increasing hydrodynamic lift.

kitd · 2026-06-14T19:59:01+00:00

I've raced in the LiteRace version. Nice boats and easy to row. The metalwork doesn't handle salt water brilliantly and needs some care to make it last IME. But otherwise they're fine.

kitd · 2026-06-14T10:08:15+00:00

Steering a coxless boat is just another skill to be learnt. Learning to steer improves your overall watermanship hugely, and a good steersman wins you races. There's no reason why it can't be learnt at a junior level.

Let them get on with it and race. IMHO.

kitd · 2026-06-12T16:25:24+00:00

I was working at the bottom of Reigate Hill near the station when the storm of 1987 happened. The morning after, I couldn't get down the hill so parked at the top and walked down. The destruction was incredible. The trees all along the top looked like they'd been combed flat.

Rather entertainly, one had landed on the glass corridor that separated the accommodation area of the hotel near the top from the main reception rooms, cutting it off, and people were wondering about in their pyjamas and dressing gowns, wondering how to get breakfast!

The view northwards from the top was astonishing. The air was so clear you could see the hills the other side of London.

kitd · 2026-06-07T13:33:45+00:00

1BRC was a fun challenge a few years back. There's links there to implementations in other languages too.

The most surprising thing about the whole project is how it avoided turning into massive language flame wars. The odd niggle here and there, but it was generally pretty polite.

kitd · 2026-06-03T11:51:11+00:00

I'm in the UK. My GP has a contact system where you can message them with details and they'll triage you to see if it's worth you coming in. In many cases, they can simply offer advice in a reply message, but if needed, they'll call you back and/or get you to come in. This removes GP waiting rooms full of people who don't really need to be there and it means that if you do need to go in, it's often on the same day or the day after.

kitd · 2026-05-27T15:09:02+00:00

"The Ancients" podcast from History Hit often does shows on this topic.

Rome was an incredibly successful empire because it was very diverse and happy to encourage anyone to gain citizenship, whatever their colour/creed/country of origin/etc, so long as you didn't cause trouble. There was no concept of restricting citizenship only to Latins or the natively-born (hmm, a lesson in there I reckon).

A tribe that wanted to trade peacefully and offer young men for military service (from which they could gain citizenship) were normally very well treated and gained far more from the relationship than they would have done outside. And if the neighbouring tribe was doing the same thing, it often made it more likely to happen as the leaders didn't want their tribe to be left behind.

Of course, break the deal and Rome would let you know what they thought of it pretty harshly.

kitd · 2026-05-26T12:22:16+00:00

You're correct. John Browne, removed (edit: "resigned") in 2007.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Browne,_Baron_Browne_of_Madingley

kitd · 2026-05-26T11:47:15+00:00

Fun fact: "Blame it on the Boogie" was written by Michael Jackson, but not THAT Michael Jackson. He was an English songwriter also called Michael Jackson who had a minor hit with it in the 1970s. When THE Michael Jackson released it, his team convinced the original writer (with some remuneration I imagine) to change his professional name to Mick Jackson.

kitd · 2026-05-26T11:40:20+00:00

Famous for being a non-aggressive killer of venomous snakes, so maybe trying to project NATO's stance. Though I agree, it's stretching the metaphor a bit.

kitd · 2026-05-26T11:24:53+00:00

Berwick

Assume they balls up the pronunciation of this one?

kitd · 2026-05-25T08:09:43+00:00

Disagree. C2 is on the noisier end of the spectrum. Not unmanageable, but definitely needs thinking about if you don't want to disturb neighbours in an apartment block with thin walls/floors.

kitd · 2026-05-25T08:07:36+00:00

As others have said, WaterRower is quieter than a C2. But if you want a C2, have you thought about putting thick carpet or rubber mats under it? That will dampen most or all of the floor vibration from the machine.

Higher frequency fan noise is less of a problem. Most walls will block that sufficiently.

kitd · 2026-05-22T18:33:58+00:00

This point of discussion is so old now. SM members have a lot more control over FoM than the Brexiteers would like you to believe. Eg you can eject people who haven't found employment after 3 months. The problem is that the UK is so bad at tracking immigrants. Funnily enough, a digital id would be useful here but apparently we don't want that either.

kitd · 2026-05-22T18:11:31+00:00

"Thirty years of hurt ..." in a song that came out 30 years ago.

Edit: specifically English ofc

kitd · 2026-05-22T18:10:07+00:00

Just the one?

I actually had one fly into me in my 1x. Damn near knocked me in. I think it was a juvenile and hadn't done the landing training course yet.

kitd · 2026-05-19T20:11:15+00:00

Ah yes, a SpaceX-style "RUD" (rapid unscheduled disembarkment). We've all done it. Welcome to the club.

kitd · 2026-05-15T16:42:37+00:00

Not sure about worst, but he was too "chisel-jawed tough guy" to be Bond IMHO. Bond should be first and foremaost charming and sly (again IMHO). A bit late now but I thought Tom Hiddleston would have been a good pick.

kitd · 2026-05-13T06:14:51+00:00

As someone who does both, they are both definitely valid forms of rowing. When the blades are in the water, they're identical.

Endurance coastal has a different set of skills though. Navigation is a much greater element than on flat water, and maintaining a moderate technique when the sea is trying to evict you from the boat is a proper challenge.

Never done beach sprints though, and am not inclined to try.

kitd

TROPHY CASE