I think compared to 2020 Trump will win Georgia and very probably Arizona. That will not matter so long as Harris holds Pennsylvania. She also has an outside chance in North Carolina
If Trump wins Georgia and Arizona he only needs North Carolina to win. He doesnt need Pennsylvania. If Trump does win Pennsylvania it's all over.
Maths was never the long suit of Russians, apparently.
Putin 'We outnumber the Ukrainians and will win in three days!'
Bot: 'If Trump wins another 27 electoral votes to take him to 259 that puts him over the 270 threshold!'
Does anyone think the Jenrick team's alleged tactics will damage him in the membership vote? I think it could make a Badenoch win more likely because some of the members won't approve of rumours of these sorts of shenanigans.
Well it depends if they want a treacherous little shit doesn’t it? They may, foolishly, think that at least he’s our treacherous little shit.
At least if they elect him now he should be out of the way for the next GE.
Jenrick wants us to leave the EUHCR so I wouldn't vote fir him. I hope Kemi isn't as loony?
Are you not at all concerned about the 'living instrument' doctrine that means the ECHR can essentially interpret its own powers - finding the Swiss Government guilty of discrimination for its Net Zero policy for example? That is nothing to do with the post-war concept of protecting the right to family-life etc., it's a power-crazed political organisation. Some say 'reform it', some say 'derogate', Jenrick has concluded that neither are possible, so he's recommending we leave. I have been more in the derogate/ignore camp, thinking that it's too big a political fight to pick for too little immediate pay off. But he at least deserves a hearing on that.
I think the biggest issue with the ECHR stuff is overegging it. It gets presented as some grand solution to things and I just struggle to see that.
Well it certainly isn't "the solution", because as we've seen with the impact of Brexit on the state, the rest of the system will fight tooth and nail to carry on as if nothing has changed. But it is potentially a necessary factor in the reforms we need to see.
Was it really the system's fault? Or May and Johnson's cakeism approach to Brexit?
Even within the legal limitations entailed within the Brexit Agreement, there was and is a great deal that Britain could and can do to aid our economy and our country by judiciously diverging from some EU laws that are harmful and now unnecessary. Boris and Sunak (Truss wasn't in for long enough to see what she'd have done) are ultimately responsible for not doing that, but it would have been against a huge institutional pushback from an administrative system that is besotted with the EU and determined in a Miss Havisham-like way to preserve everything as it was ready for the blessed day when we go back in. Remember the civil service was publicly campaigning against the Reform and Revocation Bill.
It is very disappointing that Boris (having commissioned the report) and Sunak (and Kemi) never implemented its findings.
The potato guy at the market today was complaining about how Brexit has interrupted the supply of seed potatoes.
I had no idea that Brexit had created a new opportunity for the domestic seed potato industry - it's amazing what you can learn at the market.
No, the British seed potato growers are having trouble importing from the EU, but the rules allow potato farmers to import seed potatoes from the EU for production. Thus the British seed potato industry loses out.
At least that’s how it was explained to me. I claim no expertise on potato agriculture.
Has anybody on PB bought Boris book? Seems like we are the target market. I am sure Scott n Paste was queuing overnight for his copy, but anybody else.
I can't say any of the extract bits seemed that interesting.
I can't tell you of a single person who has ever bought (new, rather than charity shop) a book by Boris, Obama, Cameron, Clinton or any other POTUS, Prince Harry, Gordon Brown, Blair, Beckham or any footballer ever. Is this unusual? Who does buy this stuff?
I live in an area where best sellers are things like maintenance guides to muck spreaders so this may not be typical.
Boris Johnson's memoir isn't on Amazon Charts - presumably hasn't had time to register yet. However Rory Stewart's book has been for the last year and is at no 6. A very different book and very different politician
It's at number 2 in the charts, you hapless dolt, and overall this week it has been number 1
"Unleashed: 'THE POLITICAL MEMOIR OF THE CENTURY' DAILY MAIL Hardcover – 10 Oct. 2024 by Boris Johnson (Author) 4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 29 ratings Amazon Charts #1 this week"
Alternatively you could click the link I helpfully provided to the actual Amazons Charts page.
Jeez
What you are looking at is charts of the book "most read", not most sold
Sorry, sorry, sorry....I think the call went something like the scene from the Inbetweeners when calling some people bus wankers.
And looks like the investment will go ahead. Good triangulation from both Louise and Sir Keir. Hopefully P&O will learn a lesson about their sharp practices?
Goodness, I am now charging my Garmin Venu 3 Smartwatch - just to see how long it will take. It's incredibly fast
It's gone from 45% to 83% in about ten minutes, so - if this is a fair assessment - recharging from zero will take abour 25 minutes, and then it lasts two weeks
tomorrow, within four or five hours, we might be getting:
*) The fifth flight of the SpaceX SH/SS prototype stack; *) A test sub-orbital flight of a new Blue Origin New Shepard tail. *) A Falcon Heavy launching the Europa Clipper probe.
Jenrick wants us to leave the EUHCR so I wouldn't vote fir him. I hope Kemi isn't as loony?
Are you not at all concerned about the 'living instrument' doctrine that means the ECHR can essentially interpret its own powers - finding the Swiss Government guilty of discrimination for its Net Zero policy for example? That is nothing to do with the post-war concept of protecting the right to family-life etc., it's a power-crazed political organisation. Some say 'reform it', some say 'derogate', Jenrick has concluded that neither are possible, so he's recommending we leave. I have been more in the derogate/ignore camp, thinking that it's too big a political fight to pick for too little immediate pay off. But he at least deserves a hearing on that.
I think the biggest issue with the ECHR stuff is overegging it. It gets presented as some grand solution to things and I just struggle to see that.
Well it certainly isn't "the solution", because as we've seen with the impact of Brexit on the state, the rest of the system will fight tooth and nail to carry on as if nothing has changed. But it is potentially a necessary factor in the reforms we need to see.
Was it really the system's fault? Or May and Johnson's cakeism approach to Brexit?
Even within the legal limitations entailed within the Brexit Agreement, there was and is a great deal that Britain could and can do to aid our economy and our country by judiciously diverging from some EU laws that are harmful and now unnecessary. Boris and Sunak (Truss wasn't in for long enough to see what she'd have done) are ultimately responsible for not doing that, but it would have been against a huge institutional pushback from an administrative system that is besotted with the EU and determined in a Miss Havisham-like way to preserve everything as it was ready for the blessed day when we go back in. Remember the civil service was publicly campaigning against the Reform and Revocation Bill.
It is very disappointing that Boris (having commissioned the report) and Sunak (and Kemi) never implemented its findings.
The potato guy at the market today was complaining about how Brexit has interrupted the supply of seed potatoes.
I had no idea that Brexit had created a new opportunity for the domestic seed potato industry - it's amazing what you can learn at the market.
No, the British seed potato growers are having trouble importing from the EU, but the rules allow potato farmers to import seed potatoes from the EU for production. Thus the British seed potato industry loses out.
At least that’s how it was explained to me. I claim no expertise on potato agriculture.
But on the upside he can use AI to solve his problem 🫠
Goodness, I am now charging my Garmin Venu 3 Smartwatch - just to see how long it will take. It's incredibly fast
It's gone from 45% to 83% in about ten minutes, so - if this is a fair assessment - recharging from zero will take abour 25 minutes, and then it lasts two weeks
That’s fast! Is it an always-on display or dark-when-down?
I think compared to 2020 Trump will win Georgia and very probably Arizona. That will not matter so long as Harris holds Pennsylvania. She also has an outside chance in North Carolina
If Trump wins Georgia and Arizona he only needs North Carolina to win. He doesnt need Pennsylvania. If Trump does win Pennsylvania it's all over.
Maths was never the long suit of Russians, apparently.
Putin 'We outnumber the Ukrainians and will win in three days!'
Bot: 'If Trump wins another 27 electoral votes to take him to 259 that puts him over the 270 threshold!'
You’d think maths would be the one thing they would get right!
Does anyone think the Jenrick team's alleged tactics will damage him in the membership vote? I think it could make a Badenoch win more likely because some of the members won't approve of rumours of these sorts of shenanigans.
Goodness, I am now charging my Garmin Venu 3 Smartwatch - just to see how long it will take. It's incredibly fast
It's gone from 45% to 83% in about ten minutes, so - if this is a fair assessment - recharging from zero will take abour 25 minutes, and then it lasts two weeks
That’s fast! Is it an always-on display or dark-when-down?
I've got it on dark-when-down. I don't need a display if I'm not looking at it, I just tilt my wrist to look at it, and it naturally flashes on, detecting my movement
Another great thing is the torch. I've got it set up so a swipe-right on the screen turns it into flashlight mode. Hugely useful at night in the dark in a hotel room: no more fumbling for a bedside light ot the torch-light on my iPhone. Just one finger swipe: torch! I used it several times in Geneva
It's not incredibly bright, I wouldn't use it for pursuing cat burglars, but it's generally bright enough
Has anybody on PB bought Boris book? Seems like we are the target market. I am sure Scott n Paste was queuing overnight for his copy, but anybody else.
I can't say any of the extract bits seemed that interesting.
I can't tell you of a single person who has ever bought (new, rather than charity shop) a book by Boris, Obama, Cameron, Clinton or any other POTUS, Prince Harry, Gordon Brown, Blair, Beckham or any footballer ever. Is this unusual? Who does buy this stuff?
I live in an area where best sellers are things like maintenance guides to muck spreaders so this may not be typical.
Boris Johnson's memoir isn't on Amazon Charts - presumably hasn't had time to register yet. However Rory Stewart's book has been for the last year and is at no 6. A very different book and very different politician
It's at number 2 in the charts, you hapless dolt, and overall this week it has been number 1
"Unleashed: 'THE POLITICAL MEMOIR OF THE CENTURY' DAILY MAIL Hardcover – 10 Oct. 2024 by Boris Johnson (Author) 4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 29 ratings Amazon Charts #1 this week"
Alternatively you could click the link I helpfully provided to the actual Amazons Charts page.
Jeez
What you are looking at is charts of the book "most read", not most sold
Most read will be Kindle. Kindles report back the integer number of pages viewed each day to Amazon. So if the book's not out yet, even pre-ordering the kindle version won't get it on "most read".
What' the rule of thumb on tv size to be deemed as middle class? I am a bit worried my 60" one along with no smart watch might have me losing my middle class privilege membership card.
Working class would be the biggest tv possible, as it's not a high status activity despite nearly everyone doing it. So even if all else is cheap tv will be big.
But since big is now the standard you probably won't be able to judge lower or middle on that alone.
Smart watch (and other status signalling electronics) is definitely middle, so you could have dropped out.
I’m certainly not wearing my smartwatch (Venu 3) to signal status. It’s quite ugly. I’m wearing it because it is incredibly useful and, I hope, will keep me healthier. The sleep analysis alone is brilliant - @rcs1000 is right
Welcome to the smartwatch crew! You will soon note how booze wrecks your sleep and canes your VO2 max… it’s been a real motivator for me giving up midweek drinking. Feel a lot better for it (unlike today, when I’m hungover!)
And I’m genuinely grateful for you and others on PB persuading me to buy one
👍🥂
I’m intrigued tho, haven’t you got an Apple smartwatch? The everyday charging process would drive me mad. I’ve had this Garmin Venu on my arm for five days. When I opened the box it was 86% battery power. Five days later it is 48%. It looks like I will only have to charge it once every ten days, which is brilliant
Apple Watch Ultra, you only have to charge it every three days (and it takes about 40 minutes to charge from flat). You don’t notice it because you do it when getting ready in the morning.
As an aside, apparently Apple did a promotion with one of the long-distance triathlon organisations a few years back for their watches.
Except, as many athletes pointed out, Apple smartwatches did not last long enough with GPS to record a full long-distance triathlon...
Apple Watch, not Apple Watch Ultra.
Next.
The promotion was for the Apple Watch. Not the Ultra ...
They were promoting it for something it could not do.
So what? It’s both irrelevant and misleading in a discussion about the Apple Watch Ultra, just your very weird and obsessive Apple hatred emerging again!
It's not obsessive because I don't constantly mention it; and I don't tell people not to get Apple products. Just that others are available that are often cheaper and 'better'.
Whereas your very weird and obsessive trait is to promote Apple at every opportunity and to seemingly deny anything else exists...
As for weird, there are good reasons for my *slight* anti-Apple bias. Apple are not a 'good' company - something their fans often neglect.
Corporations aren't 'good'. They are essentially sociopathic - which is why we have (and should have) constraints on their behaviour.
Let alone let them rule the government. As Adam Smith noted many, many years ago in a passage which IIRC was carefully excised by an editor in the 1980s, who was (or would soon be) one of Mrs T's cabinet ministers.
Has anybody on PB bought Boris book? Seems like we are the target market. I am sure Scott n Paste was queuing overnight for his copy, but anybody else.
I can't say any of the extract bits seemed that interesting.
I can't tell you of a single person who has ever bought (new, rather than charity shop) a book by Boris, Obama, Cameron, Clinton or any other POTUS, Prince Harry, Gordon Brown, Blair, Beckham or any footballer ever. Is this unusual? Who does buy this stuff?
I live in an area where best sellers are things like maintenance guides to muck spreaders so this may not be typical.
Boris Johnson's memoir isn't on Amazon Charts - presumably hasn't had time to register yet. However Rory Stewart's book has been for the last year and is at no 6. A very different book and very different politician
It's at number 2 in the charts, you hapless dolt, and overall this week it has been number 1
"Unleashed: 'THE POLITICAL MEMOIR OF THE CENTURY' DAILY MAIL Hardcover – 10 Oct. 2024 by Boris Johnson (Author) 4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 29 ratings Amazon Charts #1 this week"
Alternatively you could click the link I helpfully provided to the actual Amazons Charts page.
Jeez
What you are looking at is charts of the book "most read", not most sold
Most read will be Kindle. Kindles report back the integer number of pages viewed each day to Amazon. So if the book's not out yet, even pre-ordering the kindle version won't get it on "most read".
No one knows exactly how amazon compiles weird charts like this (it's a closely guarded secret), so I doubt you know, unless you are a very senior amazon advisor spilling the beans on PB. This seems unlikely
All we can do is make educated guesses. The most-sold chart will be much more transparent (tho still not entirely transparent), it can be matched against Neilsen Bookscan to assess its accuracy and relevance in the wider market
Goodness, I am now charging my Garmin Venu 3 Smartwatch - just to see how long it will take. It's incredibly fast
It's gone from 45% to 83% in about ten minutes, so - if this is a fair assessment - recharging from zero will take abour 25 minutes, and then it lasts two weeks
That’s fast! Is it an always-on display or dark-when-down?
I've got it on dark-when-down. I don't need a display if I'm not looking at it, I just tilt my wrist to look at it, and it naturally flashes on, detecting my movement
Another great thing is the torch. I've got it set up so a swipe-right on the screen turns it into flashlight mode. Hugely useful at night in the dark in a hotel room: no more fumbling for a bedside light ot the torch-light on my iPhone. Just one finger swipe: torch! I used it several times in Geneva
It's not incredibly bright, I wouldn't use it for pursuing cat burglars, but it's generally bright enough
Yeah the torch is a superb feature (on both/all watches).
I like an always-on display though. I can add an extra day by switching to dark-when-down but, as I’m a stay at home centrist Dad who does very little but drive on the left, I don’t need to.
Goodness, I am now charging my Garmin Venu 3 Smartwatch - just to see how long it will take. It's incredibly fast
It's gone from 45% to 83% in about ten minutes, so - if this is a fair assessment - recharging from zero will take abour 25 minutes, and then it lasts two weeks
That’s fast! Is it an always-on display or dark-when-down?
I've got it on dark-when-down. I don't need a display if I'm not looking at it, I just tilt my wrist to look at it, and it naturally flashes on, detecting my movement
Another great thing is the torch. I've got it set up so a swipe-right on the screen turns it into flashlight mode. Hugely useful at night in the dark in a hotel room: no more fumbling for a bedside light ot the torch-light on my iPhone. Just one finger swipe: torch! I used it several times in Geneva
It's not incredibly bright, I wouldn't use it for pursuing cat burglars, but it's generally bright enough
I didn’t think you would care if a cat was stolen.
Goodness, I am now charging my Garmin Venu 3 Smartwatch - just to see how long it will take. It's incredibly fast
It's gone from 45% to 83% in about ten minutes, so - if this is a fair assessment - recharging from zero will take abour 25 minutes, and then it lasts two weeks
That’s fast! Is it an always-on display or dark-when-down?
I've got it on dark-when-down. I don't need a display if I'm not looking at it, I just tilt my wrist to look at it, and it naturally flashes on, detecting my movement
Another great thing is the torch. I've got it set up so a swipe-right on the screen turns it into flashlight mode. Hugely useful at night in the dark in a hotel room: no more fumbling for a bedside light ot the torch-light on my iPhone. Just one finger swipe: torch! I used it several times in Geneva
It's not incredibly bright, I wouldn't use it for pursuing cat burglars, but it's generally bright enough
Yeah the torch is a superb feature (on both/all watches).
I like an always-on display though. I can add an extra day by switching to dark-when-down but, as I’m a stay at home centrist Dad who does very little but drive on the left, I don’t need to.
Why didn't you stay at home centrist bastards tell me about smartwatches before???!!
Only joking. That was one of the more helpful conversations I've had on PB. These things are genuinely revelatory, so ta
Goodness, I am now charging my Garmin Venu 3 Smartwatch - just to see how long it will take. It's incredibly fast
It's gone from 45% to 83% in about ten minutes, so - if this is a fair assessment - recharging from zero will take abour 25 minutes, and then it lasts two weeks
That’s fast! Is it an always-on display or dark-when-down?
I've got it on dark-when-down. I don't need a display if I'm not looking at it, I just tilt my wrist to look at it, and it naturally flashes on, detecting my movement
Another great thing is the torch. I've got it set up so a swipe-right on the screen turns it into flashlight mode. Hugely useful at night in the dark in a hotel room: no more fumbling for a bedside light ot the torch-light on my iPhone. Just one finger swipe: torch! I used it several times in Geneva
It's not incredibly bright, I wouldn't use it for pursuing cat burglars, but it's generally bright enough
Yeah the torch is a superb feature (on both/all watches).
I like an always-on display though. I can add an extra day by switching to dark-when-down but, as I’m a stay at home centrist Dad who does very little but drive on the left, I don’t need to.
I’m feeling inadequate because I don’t have a smart watch. 😔
Goodness, I am now charging my Garmin Venu 3 Smartwatch - just to see how long it will take. It's incredibly fast
It's gone from 45% to 83% in about ten minutes, so - if this is a fair assessment - recharging from zero will take abour 25 minutes, and then it lasts two weeks
That’s fast! Is it an always-on display or dark-when-down?
I've got it on dark-when-down. I don't need a display if I'm not looking at it, I just tilt my wrist to look at it, and it naturally flashes on, detecting my movement
Another great thing is the torch. I've got it set up so a swipe-right on the screen turns it into flashlight mode. Hugely useful at night in the dark in a hotel room: no more fumbling for a bedside light ot the torch-light on my iPhone. Just one finger swipe: torch! I used it several times in Geneva
It's not incredibly bright, I wouldn't use it for pursuing cat burglars, but it's generally bright enough
Yeah the torch is a superb feature (on both/all watches).
I like an always-on display though. I can add an extra day by switching to dark-when-down but, as I’m a stay at home centrist Dad who does very little but drive on the left, I don’t need to.
Why didn't you stay at home centrist bastards tell me about smartwatches before???!!
Only joking. That was one of the more helpful conversations I've had on PB. These things are genuinely revelatory, so ta
OK now I gotta work. Hey ho. Anon
Ha! No worries. I reckon you’ll find it truly life changing. I mean, I’ve always known that drinking four glasses of red wine while watching the football on a Tuesday night was pointlessly bad for me. Now I know how bad! It kinda gives you a reason to be more pragmatic with things like booze.
Goodness, I am now charging my Garmin Venu 3 Smartwatch - just to see how long it will take. It's incredibly fast
It's gone from 45% to 83% in about ten minutes, so - if this is a fair assessment - recharging from zero will take abour 25 minutes, and then it lasts two weeks
That’s fast! Is it an always-on display or dark-when-down?
I've got it on dark-when-down. I don't need a display if I'm not looking at it, I just tilt my wrist to look at it, and it naturally flashes on, detecting my movement
Another great thing is the torch. I've got it set up so a swipe-right on the screen turns it into flashlight mode. Hugely useful at night in the dark in a hotel room: no more fumbling for a bedside light ot the torch-light on my iPhone. Just one finger swipe: torch! I used it several times in Geneva
It's not incredibly bright, I wouldn't use it for pursuing cat burglars, but it's generally bright enough
Yeah the torch is a superb feature (on both/all watches).
I like an always-on display though. I can add an extra day by switching to dark-when-down but, as I’m a stay at home centrist Dad who does very little but drive on the left, I don’t need to.
I’m feeling inadequate because I don’t have a smart watch. 😔
I've just ordered an Oura ring v4. Recommended by my daughter. I hope it will encourage me to cut down on my drinking. Well my daughter does.
As for weird, there are good reasons for my *slight* anti-Apple bias. Apple are not a 'good' company - something their fans often neglect.
Yep, not weird at all. Apple are a bunch of shits and always have been, going right back to the Jobs/Woz days. I've been using computers and associated tech since 1982 and I'm damn proud to have never owned a single Apple product of any kind.
Sorry, sorry, sorry....I think the call went something like the scene from the Inbetweeners when calling some people bus wankers.
And looks like the investment will go ahead. Good triangulation from both Louise and Sir Keir. Hopefully P&O will learn a lesson about their sharp practices?
Hard cop, soft cop, obviously. A bit too subtle for PB Tories to register.
Goodness, I am now charging my Garmin Venu 3 Smartwatch - just to see how long it will take. It's incredibly fast
It's gone from 45% to 83% in about ten minutes, so - if this is a fair assessment - recharging from zero will take abour 25 minutes, and then it lasts two weeks
I think compared to 2020 Trump will win Georgia and very probably Arizona. That will not matter so long as Harris holds Pennsylvania. She also has an outside chance in North Carolina
If Trump wins Georgia and Arizona he only needs North Carolina to win. He doesnt need Pennsylvania. If Trump does win Pennsylvania it's all over.
Maths was never the long suit of Russians, apparently.
Putin 'We outnumber the Ukrainians and will win in three days!'
Bot: 'If Trump wins another 27 electoral votes to take him to 259 that puts him over the 270 threshold!'
You’d think maths would be the one thing they would get right!
In all probability, Kolmogorov is turning in his grave.
As for weird, there are good reasons for my *slight* anti-Apple bias. Apple are not a 'good' company - something their fans often neglect.
Yep, not weird at all. Apple are a bunch of shits and always have been, going right back to the Jobs/Woz days. I've been using computers and associated tech since 1982 and I'm damn proud to have never owned a single Apple product of any kind.
I've owned a couple of Apple products. But I'm not going over to them wholesale, if only because they're nowhere near as good as their fanbois claim, and because of the expense (coupled with the insane amounts of money they're sitting on...)
The thing is, IMO an organisation's culture is set by its leaders. And although Jobs is no longer with us, he is still Apple's spiritual leader.
And Jobs was an absolute shit, professionally and personally. The way he treated Woz (the true genius at early Apple) was despicable. And his ghost still sets Apple's culture to this day.
For some at Apple, the question is: "What would Steve do?"
As for weird, there are good reasons for my *slight* anti-Apple bias. Apple are not a 'good' company - something their fans often neglect.
Yep, not weird at all. Apple are a bunch of shits and always have been, going right back to the Jobs/Woz days. I've been using computers and associated tech since 1982 and I'm damn proud to have never owned a single Apple product of any kind.
Vice President Harris has a 3-point edge over former President Trump in battleground Pennsylvania, according to new polling.
The New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena College survey, released Saturday, shows Harris leading Trump 50 percent to 47 percent among likely voters in the Keystone State.
As for weird, there are good reasons for my *slight* anti-Apple bias. Apple are not a 'good' company - something their fans often neglect.
Yep, not weird at all. Apple are a bunch of shits and always have been, going right back to the Jobs/Woz days. I've been using computers and associated tech since 1982 and I'm damn proud to have never owned a single Apple product of any kind.
Have you tried their products?
QTWTAIN?
Apple Hate is a cult far more potent and insidious than Apple Love. There are entire forums and groups devoted to it to the obsessive loathing of Apple.
As for weird, there are good reasons for my *slight* anti-Apple bias. Apple are not a 'good' company - something their fans often neglect.
Yep, not weird at all. Apple are a bunch of shits and always have been, going right back to the Jobs/Woz days. I've been using computers and associated tech since 1982 and I'm damn proud to have never owned a single Apple product of any kind.
I've owned a couple of Apple products. But I'm not going over to them wholesale, if only because they're nowhere near as good as their fanbois claim, and because of the expense (coupled with the insane amounts of money they're sitting on...)
The thing is, IMO an organisation's culture is set by its leaders. And although Jobs is no longer with us, he is still Apple's spiritual leader.
And Jobs was an absolute shit, professionally and personally. The way he treated Woz (the true genius at early Apple) was despicable. And his ghost still sets Apple's culture to this day.
For some at Apple, the question is: "What would Steve do?"
Oh God. Here we go. Somebody - anybody - make it stop.
As for weird, there are good reasons for my *slight* anti-Apple bias. Apple are not a 'good' company - something their fans often neglect.
Yep, not weird at all. Apple are a bunch of shits and always have been, going right back to the Jobs/Woz days. I've been using computers and associated tech since 1982 and I'm damn proud to have never owned a single Apple product of any kind.
I've owned a couple of Apple products. But I'm not going over to them wholesale, if only because they're nowhere near as good as their fanbois claim, and because of the expense (coupled with the insane amounts of money they're sitting on...)
The thing is, IMO an organisation's culture is set by its leaders. And although Jobs is no longer with us, he is still Apple's spiritual leader.
And Jobs was an absolute shit, professionally and personally. The way he treated Woz (the true genius at early Apple) was despicable. And his ghost still sets Apple's culture to this day.
For some at Apple, the question is: "What would Steve do?"
Oh God. Here we go. Somebody - anybody - make it stop.
Which bits do you disagree with? Or are you just being an asshat?
As for weird, there are good reasons for my *slight* anti-Apple bias. Apple are not a 'good' company - something their fans often neglect.
Yep, not weird at all. Apple are a bunch of shits and always have been, going right back to the Jobs/Woz days. I've been using computers and associated tech since 1982 and I'm damn proud to have never owned a single Apple product of any kind.
I've owned a couple of Apple products. But I'm not going over to them wholesale, if only because they're nowhere near as good as their fanbois claim, and because of the expense (coupled with the insane amounts of money they're sitting on...)
The thing is, IMO an organisation's culture is set by its leaders. And although Jobs is no longer with us, he is still Apple's spiritual leader.
And Jobs was an absolute shit, professionally and personally. The way he treated Woz (the true genius at early Apple) was despicable. And his ghost still sets Apple's culture to this day.
For some at Apple, the question is: "What would Steve do?"
Oh God. Here we go. Somebody - anybody - make it stop.
Which bits do you disagree with? Or are you just being an asshat?
All corporations are sociopaths, as @Nigelb pointed out above. So singling out Apple is just silly: Microsoft, Google all the rest are equally if not more flawed. Apple Hatred is a very weird cult. It’s completely irrational too, because their products are loved by millions by dint of the fact that they are generally better, or more user friendly.
If you prefer Microsoft, find. But don’t pretend that they are any more angelic than Apple.
Vice President Harris has a 3-point edge over former President Trump in battleground Pennsylvania, according to new polling.
The New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena College survey, released Saturday, shows Harris leading Trump 50 percent to 47 percent among likely voters in the Keystone State.
As for weird, there are good reasons for my *slight* anti-Apple bias. Apple are not a 'good' company - something their fans often neglect.
Yep, not weird at all. Apple are a bunch of shits and always have been, going right back to the Jobs/Woz days. I've been using computers and associated tech since 1982 and I'm damn proud to have never owned a single Apple product of any kind.
I've owned a couple of Apple products. But I'm not going over to them wholesale, if only because they're nowhere near as good as their fanbois claim, and because of the expense (coupled with the insane amounts of money they're sitting on...)
The thing is, IMO an organisation's culture is set by its leaders. And although Jobs is no longer with us, he is still Apple's spiritual leader.
And Jobs was an absolute shit, professionally and personally. The way he treated Woz (the true genius at early Apple) was despicable. And his ghost still sets Apple's culture to this day.
For some at Apple, the question is: "What would Steve do?"
Oh God. Here we go. Somebody - anybody - make it stop.
Which bits do you disagree with? Or are you just being an asshat?
All corporations are sociopaths, as @Nigelb pointed out above. So singling out Apple is just silly: Microsoft, Google all the rest are equally if not more flawed. Apple Hatred is a very weird cult. It’s completely irrational too, because their products are loved by millions by dint of the fact that they are generally better, or more user friendly.
If you prefer Microsoft, find. But don’t pretend that they are any more angelic than Apple.
I don't, and you would be hard-pressed to find a post where I do. But MS don't particularly sell themselves as being hip and angelic (and when they have tried, they often fall flat on their face...)
But it'd be good if you Apple fanbois acknowledged that their company is a sh*t, and not the paragon of virtue they pretend.
Apple laptops are miles better than the alternatives imo.
When Apple first launched the M series laptops, that was true. I'm not sure it is any more.
I've almost given up using my MacBook Air and use either a dual screen Lenovo (if I'm out the office for days and need to work loads on the go), or a new ARM powered Surface, if I want something I can just chuck in a bag.
Goodness, I am now charging my Garmin Venu 3 Smartwatch - just to see how long it will take. It's incredibly fast
It's gone from 45% to 83% in about ten minutes, so - if this is a fair assessment - recharging from zero will take abour 25 minutes, and then it lasts two weeks
That’s fast! Is it an always-on display or dark-when-down?
I've got it on dark-when-down. I don't need a display if I'm not looking at it, I just tilt my wrist to look at it, and it naturally flashes on, detecting my movement
Another great thing is the torch. I've got it set up so a swipe-right on the screen turns it into flashlight mode. Hugely useful at night in the dark in a hotel room: no more fumbling for a bedside light ot the torch-light on my iPhone. Just one finger swipe: torch! I used it several times in Geneva
It's not incredibly bright, I wouldn't use it for pursuing cat burglars, but it's generally bright enough
When you were a sprog did you like those Clark’s shoes with the compass and animal footprint soles?
Re tech companies - they all make products that may or may not suit you. Buy what you like. It’s pretty simple.
I’ve owned Apple laptops and Windows laptops. I’m on Windows at the moment, because I’ve found that there’s little point me paying the “Apple Premium” for a product that won’t do some things I want to do on a laptop as well, and does lots of things well that I don’t really use a laptop for.
Conversely I have always enjoyed the iOS user experience and UI and it’s a pretty good fit for how I want to use a phone, so I’ve largely had iPhones.
As for weird, there are good reasons for my *slight* anti-Apple bias. Apple are not a 'good' company - something their fans often neglect.
Yep, not weird at all. Apple are a bunch of shits and always have been, going right back to the Jobs/Woz days. I've been using computers and associated tech since 1982 and I'm damn proud to have never owned a single Apple product of any kind.
Have you tried their products?
Yes, of course. First Apple product I used was the original 128K Mac in 1985. I've had to use their stuff on and off ever since, hard to escape them if you work in IT for 30 years.
I find it fairly easy to never give them money, everything they've ever made has alternatives that are usually better and at worst comparable.
Apple laptops are miles better than the alternatives imo.
When Apple first launched the M series laptops, that was true. I'm not sure it is any more.
I've almost given up using my MacBook Air and use either a dual screen Lenovo (if I'm out the office for days and need to work loads on the go), or a new ARM powered Surface, if I want something I can just chuck in a bag.
The M-series ARM chips by Apple are a truly magnificent achievement. Talking to people in the know, they've done a technically superb job.
(This is tempered slightly by the fact they are designed for Apple's use only, and are not multi-customer chips. But only slightly.)
Kicking myself that I only put £5 on Cleverly getting knocked out of the contest at odds of 65/1. But of course it was one of those bets you expect to lose and therefore don't want to risk more than the price of a cup of coffee in central London.
Kicking myself that I only put £5 on Cleverly getting knocked out of the contest at odds of 65/1. But of course it was one of those bets you expect to lose and therefore don't want to risk more than the price of a cup of coffee in central London.
You can give me the £325 you made if that will ease your angst 😉
The M-series ARM chips by Apple are a truly magnificent achievement. Talking to people in the know, they've done a technically superb job.
Agreed, their silicon design work is very good and the M series SoCs gave the industry a much overdue kick in the backside.
My problem is the systems they use the M chips in. Laptops that sacrifice everything to be thin and light; functionally, durability, upgrade-ability, and desktops that aspire to be mediocre and get stomped by PCs costing a third of the price.
I've done component-level repair work on Macbooks in the past and it's very clear they are designed to be both fragile and difficult to repair. Disposable laptops, if you will. That offends me on a whole variety of levels.
Sorry, sorry, sorry....I think the call went something like the scene from the Inbetweeners when calling some people bus wankers.
And looks like the investment will go ahead. Good triangulation from both Louise and Sir Keir. Hopefully P&O will learn a lesson about their sharp practices?
Hopefully this is humour.
P&O have offered a cheap rate to import Copium by the hundreds of thousands of tons.
The M-series ARM chips by Apple are a truly magnificent achievement. Talking to people in the know, they've done a technically superb job.
Agreed, their silicon design work is very good and the M series SoCs gave the industry a much overdue kick in the backside.
My problem is the systems they use the M chips in. Laptops that sacrifice everything to be thin and light; functionally, durability, upgrade-ability, and desktops that aspire to be mediocre and get stomped by PCs costing a third of the price.
I've done component-level repair work on Macbooks in the past and it's very clear they are designed to be both fragile and difficult to repair. Disposable laptops, if you will. That offends me on a whole variety of levels.
Apple can be frustratingly schizophrenic in that their core philsophy is all about avoiding gimmicks and producing something reliable that just works, but at the same time they'll inflict things like the terrible butterfly keyboard and pointless touchbar on their customers.
Kicking myself that I only put £5 on Cleverly getting knocked out of the contest at odds of 65/1. But of course it was one of those bets you expect to lose and therefore don't want to risk more than the price of a cup of coffee in central London.
I hope those Tory MPs who voted him out put rather more on than a fiver. It will give them a better parachute arrangement when they lose their seats in 2028.
Waymo is now providing more than 100,000 paid robotaxi rides per week in the U.S., according to a LinkedIn announcement by co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana. That’s double the 50,000 weekly paid trips the company reported in May.
tomorrow, within four or five hours, we might be getting:
*) The fifth flight of the SpaceX SH/SS prototype stack; *) A test sub-orbital flight of a new Blue Origin New Shepard tail. *) A Falcon Heavy launching the Europa Clipper probe.
Does anyone think the Jenrick team's alleged tactics will damage him in the membership vote? I think it could make a Badenoch win more likely because some of the members won't approve of rumours of these sorts of shenanigans.
Nope.
I agree. People who are still members will see this as "marvellous", as TSE does. All decent people who disapprove of this will have given up on the Conservative Party ages ago.
Waymo is now providing more than 100,000 paid robotaxi rides per week in the U.S., according to a LinkedIn announcement by co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana. That’s double the 50,000 weekly paid trips the company reported in May.
I've used Waymo, and it's pretty cool - with some caveats.
Firstly, you can't say "could you drop me just after the red Ford", because there's no-one to talk to. It's dropping you where it's dropping you.
Secondly, people are fucking pigs. Ubers are generally clean, but I've gotten into a Waymo, and the previous user had just had a Macdonalds and just left trash strewn everywhere. It was a distinctly unpleasant experience.
Thirdly, right now, you need to be taking a Waymo from a very clearly defined area to another very clearly defined area.
tomorrow, within four or five hours, we might be getting:
*) The fifth flight of the SpaceX SH/SS prototype stack; *) A test sub-orbital flight of a new Blue Origin New Shepard tail. *) A Falcon Heavy launching the Europa Clipper probe.
Apple laptops are miles better than the alternatives imo.
When Apple first launched the M series laptops, that was true. I'm not sure it is any more.
I've almost given up using my MacBook Air and use either a dual screen Lenovo (if I'm out the office for days and need to work loads on the go), or a new ARM powered Surface, if I want something I can just chuck in a bag.
The M-series ARM chips by Apple are a truly magnificent achievement. Talking to people in the know, they've done a technically superb job.
(This is tempered slightly by the fact they are designed for Apple's use only, and are not multi-customer chips. But only slightly.)
They are: but you know what? The new Snapdragon ARM chips from Qualcomm are an equally marvelous achievement.
Waymo is now providing more than 100,000 paid robotaxi rides per week in the U.S., according to a LinkedIn announcement by co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana. That’s double the 50,000 weekly paid trips the company reported in May.
I've used Waymo, and it's pretty cool - with some caveats.
Firstly, you can't say "could you drop me just after the red Ford", because there's no-one to talk to. It's dropping you where it's dropping you.
Secondly, people are fucking pigs. Ubers are generally clean, but I've gotten into a Waymo, and the previous user had just had a Macdonalds and just left trash strewn everywhere. It was a distinctly unpleasant experience.
Thirdly, right now, you need to be taking a Waymo from a very clearly defined area to another very clearly defined area.
It should be relatively easy (at least from a technological perspective) for Waymo to identify the people leaving rubbish behind and ban them or levy a surcharge.
Goodness, I am now charging my Garmin Venu 3 Smartwatch - just to see how long it will take. It's incredibly fast
It's gone from 45% to 83% in about ten minutes, so - if this is a fair assessment - recharging from zero will take abour 25 minutes, and then it lasts two weeks
That’s fast! Is it an always-on display or dark-when-down?
I've got it on dark-when-down. I don't need a display if I'm not looking at it, I just tilt my wrist to look at it, and it naturally flashes on, detecting my movement
Another great thing is the torch. I've got it set up so a swipe-right on the screen turns it into flashlight mode. Hugely useful at night in the dark in a hotel room: no more fumbling for a bedside light ot the torch-light on my iPhone. Just one finger swipe: torch! I used it several times in Geneva
It's not incredibly bright, I wouldn't use it for pursuing cat burglars, but it's generally bright enough
When you were a sprog did you like those Clark’s shoes with the compass and animal footprint soles?
Waymo is now providing more than 100,000 paid robotaxi rides per week in the U.S., according to a LinkedIn announcement by co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana. That’s double the 50,000 weekly paid trips the company reported in May.
I've used Waymo, and it's pretty cool - with some caveats.
Firstly, you can't say "could you drop me just after the red Ford", because there's no-one to talk to. It's dropping you where it's dropping you.
Secondly, people are fucking pigs. Ubers are generally clean, but I've gotten into a Waymo, and the previous user had just had a Macdonalds and just left trash strewn everywhere. It was a distinctly unpleasant experience.
Thirdly, right now, you need to be taking a Waymo from a very clearly defined area to another very clearly defined area.
It should be relatively easy (at least from a technological perspective) for Waymo to identify the people leaving rubbish behind and ban them or levy a surcharge.
I would hope so.
But right now, they don't.
And for things like spills, I think it might be quite tough. It might be several trips before someone notices.
Apple laptops are miles better than the alternatives imo.
When Apple first launched the M series laptops, that was true. I'm not sure it is any more.
I've almost given up using my MacBook Air and use either a dual screen Lenovo (if I'm out the office for days and need to work loads on the go), or a new ARM powered Surface, if I want something I can just chuck in a bag.
The M-series ARM chips by Apple are a truly magnificent achievement. Talking to people in the know, they've done a technically superb job.
(This is tempered slightly by the fact they are designed for Apple's use only, and are not multi-customer chips. But only slightly.)
They are: but you know what? The new Snapdragon ARM chips from Qualcomm are an equally marvelous achievement.
Back to the conversation the other week about little old Acorn Computers with the most important patent of the 21st century....
Apple laptops are miles better than the alternatives imo.
When Apple first launched the M series laptops, that was true. I'm not sure it is any more.
I've almost given up using my MacBook Air and use either a dual screen Lenovo (if I'm out the office for days and need to work loads on the go), or a new ARM powered Surface, if I want something I can just chuck in a bag.
The M-series ARM chips by Apple are a truly magnificent achievement. Talking to people in the know, they've done a technically superb job.
(This is tempered slightly by the fact they are designed for Apple's use only, and are not multi-customer chips. But only slightly.)
And the good thing about them is they must be knocking them out/ great yields at a low cost.
Anyone who has ever followed the Apple business model, entry level Macs tended to have pretty derisory processors, using the upsell to get the better models. Some of the early entry MacBooks were barely glorified netbooks. But with the M1 they rocked up with a cpu they stuck in their entry level Macbook air for about £850 which was faster than anything else out there on the consumer market, required no fan, barely got hot and lasted a good twenty hours... Oh and pretty much everything more or less just worked despite the architecture jump.
Writing this now on an M1 MacBook. As deliciously fast today as it was when I got it Christmas 2020.
The M-series ARM chips by Apple are a truly magnificent achievement. Talking to people in the know, they've done a technically superb job.
Agreed, their silicon design work is very good and the M series SoCs gave the industry a much overdue kick in the backside.
My problem is the systems they use the M chips in. Laptops that sacrifice everything to be thin and light; functionally, durability, upgrade-ability, and desktops that aspire to be mediocre and get stomped by PCs costing a third of the price.
I've done component-level repair work on Macbooks in the past and it's very clear they are designed to be both fragile and difficult to repair. Disposable laptops, if you will. That offends me on a whole variety of levels.
I think it depends on the MacBook - the air isn’t particularly robust I’ve never had a problem with a pro in 10+ years
I just opened a Medium article on data visualisation, and it referenced the Matthew Walker book.
So, I've never heard of it before, then saw it referenced twice in totally different situations in 30 seconds.
Ahhh
"What Matthew Walker did brilliantly to ensure a faultless narrative was, of course, omit unwanted data. There is no mention of research that goes against the idea that less sleep doesn’t make a difference, or could even be good for you. But, what is truly impressive is that there are no unwanted data points for analyses that are actually used in the book!"
Does anyone think the Jenrick team's alleged tactics will damage him in the membership vote? I think it could make a Badenoch win more likely because some of the members won't approve of rumours of these sorts of shenanigans.
Nope.
I agree. People who are still members will see this as "marvellous", as TSE does. All decent people who disapprove of this will have given up on the Conservative Party ages ago.
Indeed.
Everything Jenrick does tells you a little more about his character. His time as Housing Secretary, helping Dirty Desmond, painting over murals, taking donations via offshore companies. See also this week's Private Eye - https://x.com/taxbod/status/1844458345115144307
And so on and so forth.
As I said the other day, he is like the slick salesman who gets in the room, but screws you over once the deal has been done. In the 80s he would have been a double glazing salesman whose twin idols were Maggie and Alan B'Stard.
His slickness may even get him as far as number 10, though I like to think the electorate will find him out long before then.
Has anybody on PB bought Boris book? Seems like we are the target market. I am sure Scott n Paste was queuing overnight for his copy, but anybody else.
I can't say any of the extract bits seemed that interesting.
I can't tell you of a single person who has ever bought (new, rather than charity shop) a book by Boris, Obama, Cameron, Clinton or any other POTUS, Prince Harry, Gordon Brown, Blair, Beckham or any footballer ever. Is this unusual? Who does buy this stuff?
I live in an area where best sellers are things like maintenance guides to muck spreaders so this may not be typical.
Boris Johnson's memoir isn't on Amazon Charts - presumably hasn't had time to register yet. However Rory Stewart's book has been for the last year and is at no 6. A very different book and very different politician
It's at number 2 in the charts, you hapless dolt, and overall this week it has been number 1
"Unleashed: 'THE POLITICAL MEMOIR OF THE CENTURY' DAILY MAIL Hardcover – 10 Oct. 2024 by Boris Johnson (Author) 4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 29 ratings Amazon Charts #1 this week"
Alternatively you could click the link I helpfully provided to the actual Amazons Charts page.
Jeez
What you are looking at is charts of the book "most read", not most sold
Most read will be Kindle. Kindles report back the integer number of pages viewed each day to Amazon. So if the book's not out yet, even pre-ordering the kindle version won't get it on "most read".
No one knows exactly how amazon compiles weird charts like this (it's a closely guarded secret), so I doubt you know, unless you are a very senior amazon advisor spilling the beans on PB. This seems unlikely
All we can do is make educated guesses. The most-sold chart will be much more transparent (tho still not entirely transparent), it can be matched against Neilsen Bookscan to assess its accuracy and relevance in the wider market
Here's what Amazon says publicly:
"Amazon's Most Sold charts rank books according to the number of copies sold and pre-ordered through Amazon.co.uk, Audible.co.uk, and books read through digital subscription programmes (once a customer has read a certain percentage – roughly the length of a free reading sample). Bulk buys are counted as a single purchase.
Amazon's Most Read charts rank titles by the average number of daily Kindle readers and Audible listeners each week. Categories not ranked on Most Read charts include dictionaries, encyclopedias, religious texts, daily devotionals, and calendars."
You can't be on Most Read if the book's not out; you can be on Most Sold with pre-orders alone. That's the point.
Does anyone think the Jenrick team's alleged tactics will damage him in the membership vote? I think it could make a Badenoch win more likely because some of the members won't approve of rumours of these sorts of shenanigans.
Nope.
I agree. People who are still members will see this as "marvellous", as TSE does. All decent people who disapprove of this will have given up on the Conservative Party ages ago.
I'm no fan of dirty tricks. But this doesn't really strike me as sophisticated enough to be a dirty trick. It's not brilliant to pull it off, it's moronic to fall for it. I suspect the argument was not "don't vote for the hated Kemi" but "Cleverly won't beat Kemi with the membership, but he might beat Jenrick."
Has anybody on PB bought Boris book? Seems like we are the target market. I am sure Scott n Paste was queuing overnight for his copy, but anybody else.
I can't say any of the extract bits seemed that interesting.
I can't tell you of a single person who has ever bought (new, rather than charity shop) a book by Boris, Obama, Cameron, Clinton or any other POTUS, Prince Harry, Gordon Brown, Blair, Beckham or any footballer ever. Is this unusual? Who does buy this stuff?
I live in an area where best sellers are things like maintenance guides to muck spreaders so this may not be typical.
Boris Johnson's memoir isn't on Amazon Charts - presumably hasn't had time to register yet. However Rory Stewart's book has been for the last year and is at no 6. A very different book and very different politician
It's at number 2 in the charts, you hapless dolt, and overall this week it has been number 1
"Unleashed: 'THE POLITICAL MEMOIR OF THE CENTURY' DAILY MAIL Hardcover – 10 Oct. 2024 by Boris Johnson (Author) 4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 29 ratings Amazon Charts #1 this week"
Alternatively you could click the link I helpfully provided to the actual Amazons Charts page.
Jeez
What you are looking at is charts of the book "most read", not most sold
Most read will be Kindle. Kindles report back the integer number of pages viewed each day to Amazon. So if the book's not out yet, even pre-ordering the kindle version won't get it on "most read".
No one knows exactly how amazon compiles weird charts like this (it's a closely guarded secret), so I doubt you know, unless you are a very senior amazon advisor spilling the beans on PB. This seems unlikely
All we can do is make educated guesses. The most-sold chart will be much more transparent (tho still not entirely transparent), it can be matched against Neilsen Bookscan to assess its accuracy and relevance in the wider market
Here's what Amazon says publicly:
"Amazon's Most Sold charts rank books according to the number of copies sold and pre-ordered through Amazon.co.uk, Audible.co.uk, and books read through digital subscription programmes (once a customer has read a certain percentage – roughly the length of a free reading sample). Bulk buys are counted as a single purchase.
Amazon's Most Read charts rank titles by the average number of daily Kindle readers and Audible listeners each week. Categories not ranked on Most Read charts include dictionaries, encyclopedias, religious texts, daily devotionals, and calendars."
You can't be on Most Read if the book's not out; you can be on Most Sold with pre-orders alone. That's the point.
Within the industry the opacity of the Amazon rankings is notorious. They say all of the above but how they REALLY mix it up and apply it is a secret sauce known only to them. And note the cautious language, "categories not ranked include" - they are not absolutely specific. In truth the amazon charts are
1. Carefully curated to sell maximum product
2. Opaque and walled-off to prevent people gaming them (very sensibly)
But this is not just an amazon thing. It was recently revealed that the NYT Bestseller chart is a total fraud, and its actually a chart of "books the editors approve of, which are doing well in a few shops"
"Like everything else in Sulzberger’s paper, the NYT bestseller list is fake.
Does anyone think the Jenrick team's alleged tactics will damage him in the membership vote? I think it could make a Badenoch win more likely because some of the members won't approve of rumours of these sorts of shenanigans.
Nope.
I agree. People who are still members will see this as "marvellous", as TSE does. All decent people who disapprove of this will have given up on the Conservative Party ages ago.
Indeed.
Everything Jenrick does tells you a little more about his character. His time as Housing Secretary, helping Dirty Desmond, painting over murals, taking donations via offshore companies. See also this week's Private Eye - https://x.com/taxbod/status/1844458345115144307
And so on and so forth.
As I said the other day, he is like the slick salesman who gets in the room, but screws you over once the deal has been done. In the 80s he would have been a double glazing salesman whose twin idols were Maggie and Alan B'Stard.
His slickness may even get him as far as number 10, though I like to think the electorate will find him out long before then.
I spotted Gavin Williamson at the Tory conference, on his phone. Jenrick seems somewhat of his ilk.
It seems some people are still confused about how autonomous the Optimus bots were at the Tesla event. This clip is from another video Tesla released a while ago. It shows how the bots are controlled remotely using a haptic suit, kind of like puppets.
Also, during the event, the operators were speaking through a microphone. None of the bots were talking on their own. In short, all the hand movements and speaking were done remotely, but the walking was autonomous.
"Poland will “temporarily suspend the right to asylum”, announced @donaldtusk in a speech outlining a tougher new migration strategy aimed at “regaining control and ensuring security".
"I will demand recognition of this decision in Europe," he added"
"🇵🇱Polish Prime Minister has announced a migration strategy for Poland:
‘One of the elements of the migration strategy will be the temporary, territorial suspension of the right to asylum and I will demand the right to recognize this decision in Europe.’
‘We will not implement European ideas if we are certain that they harm our interests. And I am talking about the migration pact’
And this is "moderate" Donald Tusk
Asylum, migration and Schengen are breaking Europe into pieces
Has anybody on PB bought Boris book? Seems like we are the target market. I am sure Scott n Paste was queuing overnight for his copy, but anybody else.
I can't say any of the extract bits seemed that interesting.
I can't tell you of a single person who has ever bought (new, rather than charity shop) a book by Boris, Obama, Cameron, Clinton or any other POTUS, Prince Harry, Gordon Brown, Blair, Beckham or any footballer ever. Is this unusual? Who does buy this stuff?
I live in an area where best sellers are things like maintenance guides to muck spreaders so this may not be typical.
Boris Johnson's memoir isn't on Amazon Charts - presumably hasn't had time to register yet. However Rory Stewart's book has been for the last year and is at no 6. A very different book and very different politician
It's at number 2 in the charts, you hapless dolt, and overall this week it has been number 1
"Unleashed: 'THE POLITICAL MEMOIR OF THE CENTURY' DAILY MAIL Hardcover – 10 Oct. 2024 by Boris Johnson (Author) 4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 29 ratings Amazon Charts #1 this week"
Alternatively you could click the link I helpfully provided to the actual Amazons Charts page.
Jeez
What you are looking at is charts of the book "most read", not most sold
Most read will be Kindle. Kindles report back the integer number of pages viewed each day to Amazon. So if the book's not out yet, even pre-ordering the kindle version won't get it on "most read".
No one knows exactly how amazon compiles weird charts like this (it's a closely guarded secret), so I doubt you know, unless you are a very senior amazon advisor spilling the beans on PB. This seems unlikely
All we can do is make educated guesses. The most-sold chart will be much more transparent (tho still not entirely transparent), it can be matched against Neilsen Bookscan to assess its accuracy and relevance in the wider market
Here's what Amazon says publicly:
"Amazon's Most Sold charts rank books according to the number of copies sold and pre-ordered through Amazon.co.uk, Audible.co.uk, and books read through digital subscription programmes (once a customer has read a certain percentage – roughly the length of a free reading sample). Bulk buys are counted as a single purchase.
Amazon's Most Read charts rank titles by the average number of daily Kindle readers and Audible listeners each week. Categories not ranked on Most Read charts include dictionaries, encyclopedias, religious texts, daily devotionals, and calendars."
You can't be on Most Read if the book's not out; you can be on Most Sold with pre-orders alone. That's the point.
Within the industry the opacity of the Amazon rankings is notorious. They say all of the above but how they REALLY mix it up and apply it is a secret sauce known only to them. And note the cautious language, "categories not ranked include" - they are not absolutely specific. In truth the amazon charts are
1. Carefully curated to sell maximum product
2. Opaque and walled-off to prevent people gaming them (very sensibly)
But this is not just an amazon thing. It was recently revealed that the NYT Bestseller chart is a total fraud, and its actually a chart of "books the editors approve of, which are doing well in a few shops"
"Like everything else in Sulzberger’s paper, the NYT bestseller list is fake.
Does anyone think the Jenrick team's alleged tactics will damage him in the membership vote? I think it could make a Badenoch win more likely because some of the members won't approve of rumours of these sorts of shenanigans.
Nope.
I agree. People who are still members will see this as "marvellous", as TSE does. All decent people who disapprove of this will have given up on the Conservative Party ages ago.
Indeed.
Everything Jenrick does tells you a little more about his character. His time as Housing Secretary, helping Dirty Desmond, painting over murals, taking donations via offshore companies. See also this week's Private Eye - https://x.com/taxbod/status/1844458345115144307
And so on and so forth.
As I said the other day, he is like the slick salesman who gets in the room, but screws you over once the deal has been done. In the 80s he would have been a double glazing salesman whose twin idols were Maggie and Alan B'Stard.
His slickness may even get him as far as number 10, though I like to think the electorate will find him out long before then.
That 4* 37.5k seems to cover the 150k needed for the Con contest.
The M-series ARM chips by Apple are a truly magnificent achievement. Talking to people in the know, they've done a technically superb job.
Agreed, their silicon design work is very good and the M series SoCs gave the industry a much overdue kick in the backside.
My problem is the systems they use the M chips in. Laptops that sacrifice everything to be thin and light; functionally, durability, upgrade-ability, and desktops that aspire to be mediocre and get stomped by PCs costing a third of the price.
I've done component-level repair work on Macbooks in the past and it's very clear they are designed to be both fragile and difficult to repair. Disposable laptops, if you will. That offends me on a whole variety of levels.
I think it depends on the MacBook - the air isn’t particularly robust I’ve never had a problem with a pro in 10+ years
My first Air lasted 12 years and remained great apart from: battery replaced after 8 years and then cheap replacement failed after 4 years. At which I bought a new Air. Which has been fine, of course.
IPads however seem to give up the ghost after 4-5 years.
It seems some people are still confused about how autonomous the Optimus bots were at the Tesla event. This clip is from another video Tesla released a while ago. It shows how the bots are controlled remotely using a haptic suit, kind of like puppets.
Also, during the event, the operators were speaking through a microphone. None of the bots were talking on their own. In short, all the hand movements and speaking were done remotely, but the walking was autonomous.
People claiming this is just how Tesla trains them, but you know....
No one knows. We don't even know if the voices were autunomous. Because the tech certainly exists to make these robots talk autonomously, it just doesn't belong to Musk
People at the event report that some of the robots had glitchy voices, would repeat phrases, then stop and say nothing like an Alexa fritzing out: which implies they really were "talking robots", unless the remote voice workers faked glitches?!
"Poland will “temporarily suspend the right to asylum”, announced @donaldtusk in a speech outlining a tougher new migration strategy aimed at “regaining control and ensuring security".
"I will demand recognition of this decision in Europe," he added"
"🇵🇱Polish Prime Minister has announced a migration strategy for Poland:
‘One of the elements of the migration strategy will be the temporary, territorial suspension of the right to asylum and I will demand the right to recognize this decision in Europe.’
‘We will not implement European ideas if we are certain that they harm our interests. And I am talking about the migration pact’
And this is "moderate" Donald Tusk
Asylum, migration and Schengen are breaking Europe into pieces
Schengen is generally popular : take Switzerland, they narrowly voted to join about 15 years ago, but polls now show support of 70:30.
Does anyone think the Jenrick team's alleged tactics will damage him in the membership vote? I think it could make a Badenoch win more likely because some of the members won't approve of rumours of these sorts of shenanigans.
Nope.
I agree. People who are still members will see this as "marvellous", as TSE does. All decent people who disapprove of this will have given up on the Conservative Party ages ago.
Indeed.
Everything Jenrick does tells you a little more about his character. His time as Housing Secretary, helping Dirty Desmond, painting over murals, taking donations via offshore companies. See also this week's Private Eye - https://x.com/taxbod/status/1844458345115144307
And so on and so forth.
As I said the other day, he is like the slick salesman who gets in the room, but screws you over once the deal has been done. In the 80s he would have been a double glazing salesman whose twin idols were Maggie and Alan B'Stard.
His slickness may even get him as far as number 10, though I like to think the electorate will find him out long before then.
That 4* 37.5k seems to cover the 150k needed for the Con contest.
So why not just say that rather than "no comment"
If the Tories are doing the mafioso thing of "kicking up to the boss", how much more favour would, say 300k buy than 150k? The "no comment" is the interesting bit of that story. The correct answer would have been "The Conservative leadership process requires the final two candidates to raise £150k in funds, and this donation was part of that." The "no comment" is interesting in that context.
"Poland will “temporarily suspend the right to asylum”, announced @donaldtusk in a speech outlining a tougher new migration strategy aimed at “regaining control and ensuring security".
"I will demand recognition of this decision in Europe," he added"
"🇵🇱Polish Prime Minister has announced a migration strategy for Poland:
‘One of the elements of the migration strategy will be the temporary, territorial suspension of the right to asylum and I will demand the right to recognize this decision in Europe.’
‘We will not implement European ideas if we are certain that they harm our interests. And I am talking about the migration pact’
And this is "moderate" Donald Tusk
Asylum, migration and Schengen are breaking Europe into pieces
Schengen is generally popular : take Switzerland, they narrowly voted to join about 15 years ago, but polls now show support of 70:30.
Less popular in Germany, where it has now been effectively suspended
My favourite recent comment by anyone connected to British politics was a member of James Cleverly's campaign team who said, after the result was announced, something like "Everyone in politics thinks they're very clever, and everyone in politics thinks they're cleverer than everyone else". Sums it up very nicely.
Kicking myself that I only put £5 on Cleverly getting knocked out of the contest at odds of 65/1. But of course it was one of those bets you expect to lose and therefore don't want to risk more than the price of a cup of coffee in central London.
65/1 winners are rare. My longest ever was 119/1 this French horse Arcangues to win the Breeders Cup in 1993. Had £2 on it. Doubt I'll ever get close to that again.
Comments
Putin 'We outnumber the Ukrainians and will win in three days!'
Bot: 'If Trump wins another 27 electoral votes to take him to 259 that puts him over the 270 threshold!'
At least that’s how it was explained to me. I claim no expertise on potato agriculture.
Go to "Biographies and memoirs", and the top four are
1 Miranda's audiobook
2 Boris's audiobook
3 Boris's physical book
4 Miranda's physical book
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Sellers-Books-Biographies-Memoirs/zgbs/books/67/ref=zg_bs_nav_books_1
A smart columnist could probably get a state of the nation piece out of those relative positions.
It's gone from 45% to 83% in about ten minutes, so - if this is a fair assessment - recharging from zero will take abour 25 minutes, and then it lasts two weeks
*) The fifth flight of the SpaceX SH/SS prototype stack;
*) A test sub-orbital flight of a new Blue Origin New Shepard tail.
*) A Falcon Heavy launching the Europa Clipper probe.
https://x.com/SciGuySpace/status/1844746693671113084/photo/1
Another great thing is the torch. I've got it set up so a swipe-right on the screen turns it into flashlight mode. Hugely useful at night in the dark in a hotel room: no more fumbling for a bedside light ot the torch-light on my iPhone. Just one finger swipe: torch! I used it several times in Geneva
It's not incredibly bright, I wouldn't use it for pursuing cat burglars, but it's generally bright enough
All we can do is make educated guesses. The most-sold chart will be much more transparent (tho still not entirely transparent), it can be matched against Neilsen Bookscan to assess its accuracy and relevance in the wider market
I like an always-on display though. I can add an extra day by switching to dark-when-down but, as I’m a stay at home centrist Dad who does very little but drive on the left, I don’t need to.
Only joking. That was one of the more helpful conversations I've had on PB. These things are genuinely revelatory, so ta
OK now I gotta work. Hey ho. Anon
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-We-Sleep-Science-Dreams/dp/0141983760/
Much cheaper than a smartwatch
I have the paperback edition of "Coming Apart", which was published in 2013. As far as I know there is no later edition.
Incidentally, I have had the book for years, but just got around to reading it this summer.
The thing is, IMO an organisation's culture is set by its leaders. And although Jobs is no longer with us, he is still Apple's spiritual leader.
And Jobs was an absolute shit, professionally and personally. The way he treated Woz (the true genius at early Apple) was despicable. And his ghost still sets Apple's culture to this day.
For some at Apple, the question is: "What would Steve do?"
The New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena College survey, released Saturday, shows Harris leading Trump 50 percent to 47 percent among likely voters in the Keystone State.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4930086-kamala-harris-donald-trump-pennsylvania-arizona-2024-survey/
Apple Hate is a cult far more potent and insidious than Apple Love. There are entire forums and groups devoted to it to the obsessive loathing of Apple.
It is very creepy, sinister and weird.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Air_Force#Armament
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-120_AMRAAM
If you prefer Microsoft, find. But don’t pretend that they are any more angelic than Apple.
But it'd be good if you Apple fanbois acknowledged that their company is a sh*t, and not the paragon of virtue they pretend.
I've almost given up using my MacBook Air and use either a dual screen Lenovo (if I'm out the office for days and need to work loads on the go), or a new ARM powered Surface, if I want something I can just chuck in a bag.
I’ve owned Apple laptops and Windows laptops. I’m on Windows at the moment, because I’ve found that there’s little point me paying the “Apple Premium” for a product that won’t do some things I want to do on a laptop as well, and does lots of things well that I don’t really use a laptop for.
Conversely I have always enjoyed the iOS user experience and UI and it’s a pretty good fit for how I want to use a phone, so I’ve largely had iPhones.
I find it fairly easy to never give them money, everything they've ever made has alternatives that are usually better and at worst comparable.
(This is tempered slightly by the fact they are designed for Apple's use only, and are not multi-customer chips. But only slightly.)
My problem is the systems they use the M chips in. Laptops that sacrifice everything to be thin and light; functionally, durability, upgrade-ability, and desktops that aspire to be mediocre and get stomped by PCs costing a third of the price.
I've done component-level repair work on Macbooks in the past and it's very clear they are designed to be both fragile and difficult to repair. Disposable laptops, if you will. That offends me on a whole variety of levels.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/20/waymo-has-doubled-its-weekly-paid-robotaxi-trips-to-100000-since-may.html
Waymo is now providing more than 100,000 paid robotaxi rides per week in the U.S., according to a LinkedIn announcement by co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana. That’s double the 50,000 weekly paid trips the company reported in May.
Firstly, you can't say "could you drop me just after the red Ford", because there's no-one to talk to. It's dropping you where it's dropping you.
Secondly, people are fucking pigs. Ubers are generally clean, but I've gotten into a Waymo, and the previous user had just had a Macdonalds and just left trash strewn everywhere. It was a distinctly unpleasant experience.
Thirdly, right now, you need to be taking a Waymo from a very clearly defined area to another very clearly defined area.
Granted: the first launch was from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, while the second launch was from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California
---
Fun fact, I was on a plane flying back to LA and watched a SpaceX rocket ascending. It was literally the coolest thing I've ever seen.
https://x.com/LeftieStats/status/1845090610044162267/photo/1
But right now, they don't.
And for things like spills, I think it might be quite tough. It might be several trips before someone notices.
"After 100 days in office, Sir Keir Rodney Starmer has made history.
He is the most unpopular Prime Minister since records began.
(Via @novaramedia)"
https://x.com/LeftieStats/status/1845090610044162267
Bwahahahahahah
But no, it won't help you sleep in the same way as a Garmin Venu 3
Anyone who has ever followed the Apple business model, entry level Macs tended to have pretty derisory processors, using the upsell to get the better models. Some of the early entry MacBooks were barely glorified netbooks. But with the M1 they rocked up with a cpu they stuck in their entry level Macbook air for about £850 which was faster than anything else out there on the consumer market, required no fan, barely got hot and lasted a good twenty hours... Oh and pretty much everything more or less just worked despite the architecture jump.
Writing this now on an M1 MacBook. As deliciously fast today as it was when I got it Christmas 2020.
I just opened a Medium article on data visualisation, and it referenced the Matthew Walker book.
So, I've never heard of it before, then saw it referenced twice in totally different situations in 30 seconds.
"What Matthew Walker did brilliantly to ensure a faultless narrative was, of course, omit unwanted data. There is no mention of research that goes against the idea that less sleep doesn’t make a difference, or could even be good for you. But, what is truly impressive is that there are no unwanted data points for analyses that are actually used in the book!"
Everything Jenrick does tells you a little more about his character. His time as Housing Secretary, helping Dirty Desmond, painting over murals, taking donations via offshore companies. See also this week's Private Eye - https://x.com/taxbod/status/1844458345115144307
And so on and so forth.
As I said the other day, he is like the slick salesman who gets in the room, but screws you over once the deal has been done. In the 80s he would have been a double glazing salesman whose twin idols were Maggie and Alan B'Stard.
His slickness may even get him as far as number 10, though I like to think the electorate will find him out long before then.
"Amazon's Most Sold charts rank books according to the number of copies sold and pre-ordered through Amazon.co.uk, Audible.co.uk, and books read through digital subscription programmes (once a customer has read a certain percentage – roughly the length of a free reading sample). Bulk buys are counted as a single purchase.
Amazon's Most Read charts rank titles by the average number of daily Kindle readers and Audible listeners each week. Categories not ranked on Most Read charts include dictionaries, encyclopedias, religious texts, daily devotionals, and calendars."
You can't be on Most Read if the book's not out; you can be on Most Sold with pre-orders alone. That's the point.
It's all so confusing.
I suspect the argument was not "don't vote for the hated Kemi" but "Cleverly won't beat Kemi with the membership, but he might beat Jenrick."
1. Carefully curated to sell maximum product
2. Opaque and walled-off to prevent people gaming them (very sensibly)
But this is not just an amazon thing. It was recently revealed that the NYT Bestseller chart is a total fraud, and its actually a chart of "books the editors approve of, which are doing well in a few shops"
"Like everything else in Sulzberger’s paper, the NYT bestseller list is fake.
They were forced to admit in court that it’s not a ranked list. It’s actually “editorial content” and they can exclude books they don’t like.
https://killzoneblog.com/2019/01/cracking-the-big-mysterybehind-the-bestseller-lists.html"
https://x.com/balajis/status/1766189290869121163
'I think they're worried and dismayed and expect more from him.'
Historian Sir Anthony Seldon says senior Labour figures are disappointed in Keir Starmer's first 100 days as PM #Newsnight
Also, during the event, the operators were speaking through a microphone. None of the bots were talking on their own. In short, all the hand movements and speaking were done remotely, but the walking was autonomous.
https://x.com/TroyTeslike/status/1845047695284613344
People claiming this is just how Tesla trains them, but you know....
Poland suspends the right of asylum
"Poland will “temporarily suspend the right to asylum”, announced
@donaldtusk
in a speech outlining a tougher new migration strategy aimed at “regaining control and ensuring security".
"I will demand recognition of this decision in Europe," he added"
https://x.com/notesfrompoland/status/1845062353865302380
"🇵🇱Polish Prime Minister has announced a migration strategy for Poland:
‘One of the elements of the migration strategy will be the temporary, territorial suspension of the right to asylum and I will demand the right to recognize this decision in Europe.’
‘We will not implement European ideas if we are certain that they harm our interests. And I am talking about the migration pact’
And this is "moderate" Donald Tusk
Asylum, migration and Schengen are breaking Europe into pieces
IPads however seem to give up the ghost after 4-5 years.
People at the event report that some of the robots had glitchy voices, would repeat phrases, then stop and say nothing like an Alexa fritzing out: which implies they really were "talking robots", unless the remote voice workers faked glitches?!
If the Tories are doing the mafioso thing of "kicking up to the boss", how much more favour would, say 300k buy than 150k? The "no comment" is the interesting bit of that story. The correct answer would have been "The Conservative leadership process requires the final two candidates to raise £150k in funds, and this donation was part of that." The "no comment" is interesting in that context.
The polls are highly likely to be out by 3% or so, and in all probability that will all be in one direction.
My gut - fwiw - is that it is more likely that Trump is understated than Harris. But it's just a gut. It could easily be the other way around.
"Former First Minister and Alba leader Alex Salmond has died. He was giving a speech in North Macedonia this morning"
https://x.com/STVColin/status/1845134850757476779