Me at Samizdata, commenting on this, about the bonkersness of North Korea:

No. North Korea is not socialism betrayed. It is socialism done.

Which everyone here knows, but it is worth repeating.

Commenting on that, Perry de Havilland said:

That North Korea is ‘late socialism’ is a meme worth spreading.

Indeed it is.

Duly spread.

A bit.

Various people have been nagging me (a bit) about getting into Twitter, which things like this suit well.  It reminds me (a bit) of when people got contemptuously angry (a bit) because I still didn’t have an email address.

Two interesting early comments (two of many that follow) on this posting, which vividly (i.e. with lots of vivid photos) describes an idiotic Occupy occupation (with thanks to David Thompson for the link).

“Buzzsawmonkey”:

Given that the University of California, which owns this now-”Occupied” farm tract, is largely responsible for teaching the “Occupiers” the idiot theories under which they’ve undertaken this action, isn’t this really an instance of the chickens coming home to roost?

“Zombie”:

The vast majority of the “Occupy the Farm” buffoons are not Cal students; it’s mostly composed of losers who didn’t get into Cal, so in jealousy and frustration, they’re stealing the research equipment of the students who actually did well in school.

UC Berkeley is actually two completely distinct universities; the “liberal arts” half is thorough and irretrievably contaminated with Marxist ideologies; but the “STEM” half (“science, technology, engineering, math”) is very rigorous, hardcore, not politicized (and mostly Asian).

The College of Natural Resources, which does research at the farm, is mostly in the STEM half of the school (though there is a politicized component). Notice that the professors who joined the occupiers are all from the Anthropology and Gender Studies departments, not from Natural Resources.

So, this may not be a clear-cut case of chickens and their roosting behavior.

That “mostly Asian” bit makes me very pessimistic about the future of the West.

For how long will the best Asians feel they have to go West to get the best sort of education?  Will they keep coming, and after their rigorous Western educations, will they stay in the West?  Or, at a pivotal point in the nearish future, will they take their rigour back to Asia and plant it there, leaving what remains of Western education at the mercy of the “humanities”?

Lovely piece by Jarrod Kimber (the fat short Aussie half of the Two Chucks) about how experiences can happen at the end of test matches that couldn’t be had on any other days:

On day five at the P Sara, I listened to a conversation.

Now I’m well aware that this conversation may not have interested everyone, but when Suraj Randiv and Graeme Swann found each other out on the ground, I knew what they were talking about. You could tell by their hands that it was nerd spin talk.

To get close enough to hear I had to push through the crowd who were holding up English kit that had been thrown to them by the players, police officers who were standing there without really doing anything and the throng of people trying to take photos of Swann. I got as close to Randiv and Swann as the massive English security officer would let me. Then I had to block out the many fans who were planning to get something signed the minute the conversation ended.

The first bits I heard where Swann talking about wrist position. My persistence had paid off. For the next three minutes I was listening to a spin bowling masterclass. Randiv had clearly asked Swann about his action and whether he imparted too much over-spin on the ball. Swann explained his own action, and suggested that too much over-spin wasn’t a problem for Randiv as he still ragged it.

Don’t quite get that bit.  Was it Swann who “imparted too much over-spin” or Randiv?  And what does “ragged” mean?

Wrists, fingers, arm height and follow through were all discussed as Randiv, and I, listened intently. Randiv, Swanny’s Padawan learner, and me, the lucky eavesdropper.

The conversation ended with Swanny being very complimentary to Randiv about his bowling. He never said ‘attaboy’, but it was one of those sorts of conversations. I assume it boosted Randiv; even I was ready to hit the nets and try a few offies to see if Swann’s words could help me. And I’m a leggie.

Spin bowlers in cricket are different from the rest.  The regular cricketers are all regular super-athletes, who could have done football or golf or tennis instead, had the ball fallen only slightly different.  But the spinners often seem like they stepped right out of The Big Bang Theory.  A different twist of the wrist at a critical moment, and they could have been geography teachers or nuclear physicists, or, in the case of Phil Tufnell, a bookie.

One of the tribe, Piyush Chawla, yesterday at the IPL, made a wonderful mess of a steepling catch on the boundary.  He moved back and back and back, but never enough, dropped it, and then rolled completely over, losing any idea he may have once had about where the ball was.  Not yet on YouTube, but it soon will be.

And yes, I am back writing about cricket, now that England are back winning a test match.  I don’t care to wallow in misery.

By the way, take a look at this scorecard.  Be sure to scroll down to the end.

And how:

It’s one of of these.

There’s a definite hint there of somewhat excessive Photoshopping.  But I forgive it.

Indeed.  Try to guess what this next oddity is before you follow any links.  Or, don’t.  It’s entirely up to you.

First there was this photo, which I took yesterday.  And now a picture, which I did not take but which I have horizontalised a bit:

It’s one of these.

Lawas, Sarawak:

Next time anyone asks how clean my flat is, I will reply: “Fairly clean.” In fact, come to think of it, I already do.

About two hours LATER:

I could keep doing this for months.

When it comes to Michael Jennings telling me about something, this is the usual pattern, I find.  Not that he necessarily does, just that he could.

Labuan island, Malaysia:

I’m not bored yet.

These are coming to me as and when taken, right?  Not just from the archives?

Incoming from Michael J.  This is Sunday so this must be Mt Kinabalu, Sabah, Borneo:

Where on the mountain that is, I do not know.  And nor do I know what language that is, let alone what it all says.

Having looked for longish periods like they might make quite a few more against Sri Lanka than England did, their last 5.0 overs turned into these 3.5 overs:

W . 1 1 4 . | 1 . 1 1wd . . W | 1 1 . W 1 . | 1 . W . W

Five wickets for thirteen runs in other words.  All out 217.  Very demoralising.  NZ have to get early wickets, and expose Sri Lanka’s unpractised (because so far in the tournament not needed) middle and late order.

Thought.  If Sri Lanka walk this like they walked it against England, this will make England’s demolition look less bad, which might just prolong a few England careers.  But can NZ do this?  Cricinfo:

Difficult to imagine them spooking Sri Lanka like they did South Africa.

And like England did too.

Well, NZ have made a start with the wickets.  SL got off to their usual rapid start but Tharanga is now gone, brilliantly caught by Ryder.  So my original title - “NZ not doing any better than England so far” - has had to be changed.  How many more can they now knock over?  (How bad can they make England look by comparison?)

I’m following it here.