http://www.spartacusx.com Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:57:18 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en From the BBC: Last year, a story about George VI, the central character in the Oscar-winning The King's Speech, began circulating on the internet, alleging the wartime monarch had Nazi sympathies. Although it did not involve the film directly, The Telegraph reported that the campaign had been launched to affect ... http://www.spartacusx.com/huh/ http://www.spartacusx.com/avoiding-confusion/ The Royal Bank of Scotland is a nationalized bank in the UK; 82% of its shares are owned by the British public following a bailout of RBS by that same British public. And although its CEO, Stephen Hester, receives a £1.2m salary, he was recently awarded a £963,000 bonus in ... http://www.spartacusx.com/bonuses/ The George W Bush Administration was often unrepentant about its vision of American exceptionalism. Power ultimately lay at the root of this argument - America could, and would, do what it damn well liked, even though it expected others to obey its dictates. This vision of America in the world ... http://www.spartacusx.com/the-exceptionalism-of-power/ In recent years there has been a growing number of well-written, professionally-produced films with explicitly Christian messages and values; movies intended to promote those values as much as (if not more than) to make a profit. And I'm sure they do make a profit; I doubt there's much that Hollywood ... http://www.spartacusx.com/christian-films/ Markos writes: Conservatives have convinced themselves that Newt will be the better nominee because he'll crush Obama in debates. In fact, Newt is fueling this fantasy by claiming he'll demand seven three-hour Lincoln-Douglas-style debates with Obama. I actually think this would be fantastic, and good for our democracy. It's ... http://www.spartacusx.com/newt/ From the BBC: Mr Rubio is a rising star in the Republican party, and is often suggested as a viable vice-presidential choice for this year's Republican presidential nominee. If that nominee is Romney, Rubio would be an excellent choice. As a Senator from Florida (a huge swing state), as a ... http://www.spartacusx.com/vp/ An interesting story of passing the foreign service exam. An excerpt: Finally, around 8am we are given our instructions for the day, a schedule of where we were to be and when, and were split into two groups. My group of 6 was put in a nice corner office, with windows ... http://www.spartacusx.com/foreign-service-exam/ A very interesting explanation of why hazing exists and is unlikely to go away. To enter such a high performing team, a person must prove their competence. Any group worth its salt will test for skill when enrolling new members. But most groups, especially elite groups, require bonds of trust and ... http://www.spartacusx.com/hazing/ Ah, Chris Dodd: The moves were described as an "abuse of power" by one of the highest profile supporters of the anti-piracy bills. "Some technology business interests are resorting to stunts that punish their users or turn them into their corporate pawns, rather than coming to the table to find ... http://www.spartacusx.com/sopa-pipa/