Got a job offer today, which is great after being out of work for a couple of months. Its a senior product role within a software company. They seemed really keen which is reassuring and I will have moved into my preferred sector without taking a pay cut. The only downside is the commute (only 12 miles but can easily take over an hour).

There are lots of things that could save lives if banned. Driving for example. However, we have to way up the benefits that those things provide us.

To pick your example. Drinking alcohol forms a key aspect of many of my social activities, such as going to the pub with friends, which I may do once or twice a week. Generally our towns and cities are set up so I don't have to drive home afterwards (tube & train ride) and drink driving is very frowned upon here. I also don't drink excessively and never get violent towards others etc. It wouldn't be the same to go to the pub to watch the football and just have the same soft drinks week in week out (although often someone isn't drinking due to work etc. which is perfectly fine).

It's a really important social activity in our culture and helps people maintain their networks (including older people in local pubs in some rural communities). I don't believe the net impact of banning alcohol would be beneficial and I'm sure it would create many of the problems associated with illegal drugs.

In the UK it is already illegal to take drugs and drive, much like it is illegal to drink and drive. But it's a good point, I think we'd need some new laws to protect other people much like those brought in to protect children from passive smoking etc.

The current state of US politics (and other leading western democracies) is really disappointing. It certainly feels like politics was far more progressive in the second half of the 20th century - whether it leaned right or left it usually did so for a purpose and with conviction. Now the entire political landscape seems to have stagnated and we have a culture of loathing, fear and self interest.

From an international perspective, I wish the Republicans had a really strong candidate, to at least promote some sensible debates about the direction America wants to take in the next ten years.

Wow that's actually quite scary, particularly being able to read security tokens. Does anyone know if this is specific to Chrome or does the same apply to Firefox/Edge extensions? I don't use Chrome any more as it seemed to becoming slower and slower over the last few years.

Will this have serious consequences? I can't see this having a significant impact, with all sides keen to avoid any further escalation, while at the same time recognising Russia's need to provide a very strong narrative for their domestic audience.

I used to love this book when I was a kid http://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Biestys-Incredible-Cross-Sections-Richard/dp/0679814116/

I read a good comment on reddit the other day that compared asking Muslim community leaders to apologise for these attacks to asking the Pope to apologise for the activities of the Westboro Baptist Church. I hope that you don't experience any backlash as a result, although I fear that this tragic event coupled with the refugee crisis will make life more difficult for the existing Muslims in Europe.

the supreme demonstration of why academic books matter

Matter or mattered? We're talking about a book that was written 150 years ago. I can't think of a time when I thought, 'oh I'm going to read an entire book on astrophysics'. Like most of the population I don't have the patience or basic understanding to digest that much technical content. While I'm clearly not the target audience for such books, in today's age are academic books still just as important?

Review of the camel burger please.

Firstly, glad you're okay and are putting a positive spin on things.

Secondly, I can't believe people risk getting caught for armed robbery, over robbery, when the maximum they are getting is a phone and a wallet. I don't know how it works where you live, but I think this automatically increases the standard minimum sentence in the UK from 1 year to 4 years - and it doesn't matter if it's a real or imitation firearm. Also, the level of police response and effort is going to be significantly different so they are far more likely to get caught.

I have always wanted a dog, but as I'm unemployed at the moment it would be even better. I would make a great owner until the point I find a new job and abandon it at home for 12 hours a day. I would seriously take a job on significantly less money if it gave me the flexibility to have a dog.

Yeah that's a good point. I was trying to think of a more generic and word for 'agree' - maybe 'endorse'. I see it as a tool to be able to quickly engage in a thread when someone has made a valuable post, but you don't either have anything further to add or don't have time to add it. Likewise, I think it's useful to be able to know when people don't endorse something you have posted so you can reflect. There's obviously nothing wrong with having an idea or opinion that people disagree with, and so long as it isn't tied to magic profile points I don't see it preventing people from posting minority/controversial opinions. As you say, it's effectively a simple rating system. I personally don't like five star rating systems because I don't think they reflect human behaviour.

Here's a couple of examples. There may be a comment thread with a high child count, then with each comment below making valid counterpoints and receiving high endorsements, highlighting a great quality of conversation. Or maybe I post something creative and I get a low number of endorsements and receive various critiques below, of which one comment has very low endorsements but another has high endorsements. I can then focus my attention on the points made in the highly endorsed comment to challenge my thinking.

It would definitely need testing to see how people interact.

The space for links may encourage people not to only post links as a response. I've seen on a few occasions (not that I can see any now) where someone has just posted a link as a comment. That's fine, but I usually want to know what you think about the content in the link.

I'm currently looking for a new job after being made redundant and it's proving an absolute nightmare figuring out the level of position being advertised. We've got to the point in the UK where an 'executive' (historically a Board level title) can now be given to a call centre worker, a 'director' (again a senior level title often on the board) refers to the tea boy and a 'manager'/'engineer' title can be anything from a low level supervisor to a head of a global department.

I know this is a little bit traditional, but there should be a standard global ranking system for job adverts that indicates the approximate pay grade.

Do that many people use the personal mod tools? I have never had a situation where I have had to mute anyone.

Here's a very quick concept of some possible additions to the comments section.

The 'discuss' counter could count up based on the number of child comments there are. A high number at the top of the chain would indicate that there's a good discussion below. For me, this is the most important indicator that it is worth reading on and more useful than seeing how many people have 'shared' at the comment level.

I know the second has purposely not been included in the site, but being able to agree/disagree is a good micro-transaction that allows people to quickly engage in the conversation without having to spend time formulating responses or simply stating agreement. I personally don't think this will water down the quality of the comments and I think it could help strengthen the community and discussions.

There may be room for more than one type of badge? Maybe one each for quality content / creative thought / hubski community. I'm not really sure where this idea came from or the purpose of it, but I didn't want to throw it in the trash.

I only put links to the side because sometimes I feel they get in the way of discussion and interpretation, decreasing the quality of their application and original thought.

I'd like to increase transactions and have more discussion about the content that is posted.

At the moment, loads of interesting articles and links get posted, but there are often no comments or little discussion arising as a result. I think the desire for 'thoughtful interaction' is preventing people from expressing less 'thoughtful' ideas (e.g. how a post makes them feel or maybe raising a small somewhat unrelated issue). However, I often find some of the best discussions that I have within good communities on reddit start from a really small idea or comment.

As an observation, I think this may be in part driven by culture (the community seems to be a relatively narrow demographic) and in part due to design (the only way to interact with content is to share or write comments as opposed to interact in other ways). The share functionality doesn't seem that relevant to me, as there is still relatively little content being submitted, so I just use the global feed to find new interesting things. But beyond being able to share, there is no other forms of interaction I can have with posts/comments other than write something intelligent, which I often don't have time for or my limited knowledge may prevent (even though I might still have an opinion).

It would be interesting to know the number of shares vs. the number of views for a post? Not always visible but just to see if people are interacting with the share button.

I realise this has turned into a bit of a ramble without actually coming up with anything specific, but hopefully it's of some use.

Sometimes you have to wonder how the USA is one of the most developed countries in the world, when the political system often appears full of complete clowns. It could be scarey how quickly progress could be made in a true democracy full of intelligent and honest politicians - or maybe the clowns are what keeps the fairground running. I doubt we will ever have the chance to find out.

Stuff that gets a good discussion going, particularly when I get to look at something from other peoples perspective.

Stumbled across the forbes top ten list of highest earning comedians. There are definitely some funnier women out there.

1. Jerry Seinfeld $36m (£23m)

2. Kevin Hart $28.5m (£18m)

3. Terry Fator $21.5m (£14m)

4. Jeff Dunham $19m (£12m)

5. Russell Peters $19m (£12m)

6. Aziz Ansari $9.5m (£6m)

7. Louis C.K. $9m (£5.8m)

8. Gabriel Iglesias $8.5m (£5.5m)

9. John Bishop $8m (£5m)

10. Dave Chappelle $7.5m (£4.8m)

It's not that we're missing the point - it's just that I don't think her personal situation is a particularly useful example to further wider gender pay/opportunity discussions - but great that it gets us talking about it. JLs pay is insanely high, which raises more fundamental equality issues. It is also likely that it is negotiated by a (male/female?) agent with few benchmarks. It's also made more complex because celebrities (film/music/sports etc.) pay is often linked to their image/personal following/popularity of the sport etc. - though you'd think that would be in her favour.

While I don't doubt there is some truth that men are viewed more positively for driving a harder bargain, I don't think there is a single basic cause that leads to the gender pay gap. I was listening to a BBC documentary that said that motherhood is actually the biggest cause of the gender pay gap for middle/higher income roles in the UK, with studies showing that women that stay in employment earn the same as men. The problem is that these really capable mothers come back into the workforce after having children, but because we have less flexible working conditions and place value on recent work experience above capacity, they loose out on opportunities and have to make compromises.

I'm not sure it's beside the point, as it's a discussion about fairness and equality. Of course, actresses and actors should be paid the same amount for the same performance of same effort/quality/impact. But, the issue of gender equality in Hollywood is disconnected with real inequality (be that gender/race etc.) that results in genuine suffering - and in fairness she demonstrates awareness of that in her article. It's more unfair that there are women working three jobs and more hours than she is and only earning $25k/year. While that level of absurd inequality exists, whether she is paid $10million or $20million, it's really difficult to sympathise with her personal situation.

I would take this one stage further and focus on the culture the media creates through its endless cycle of fear-mongering before a shooting even occurs. This leads to other people being viewed as a potential threat and an active and conscious concern about personal safety. I would say that is the most noticeable difference when traveling through the US when compared to other countries in regards to gun violence.

Good luck with it! Found out last week that I am being made redundant from the place I have worked for 8 years. I'm actually really excited about the prospect of working somewhere else or doing some contracting in the short term. Plus more time to play golf until I find a new job, so there are definitely some positives.

I feel like the video would play out exactly the same way in London. People hate to get involved in a confrontation, but I'm surprised no one even bothered walking into the police station and reporting it in the second clip.

I need a dog for this very reason. Yes, I'd enjoy the walks, but I'd enjoy the play fighting more.

Loads of stuff! When I'm outside, it's sunny, I'm with friends, I have a cold drink it my hand, there's a BBQ, maybe even a river, music is playing. When I'm inside a pub, it's freeing outside, there's a real fireplace, they serve good ale, they serve good food. When I'm with my girlfriend and there is no rush to do anything and we can chose whether to lie in bed or explore the world. When I'm with my family. When I'm travelling somewhere new with someone I love.

It's the same problem just with two different symptoms. A government department completely out of touch with the modern application of technology. It could provide an easy excuse for the police to be able to confiscate and analyse computers when they are actually investigating a different crime.

I was reading an article on this decision that argued it would make it illegal to even use a computer, with files being transferred between different forms of memory as part of the process. Being a high court decision I guess it is open to interpretation. Either way it is a complete nonsense.

I'd love to actually have a choice in who I vote for again. While I'm not yet convinced he is the right man to lead the country, I really hope he becomes leader of the Labour party. It's been so long since a party actually stood up for it's core beliefs, rather than just rush to the middle ground "because that's what people want and we can get into power yay".

Where did the one with people sitting around the table go? That was great.

I vote for #1 - interesting to look at and stuck to the brief. Second choice would be 6, but feel like the sticker should align to a wider brand update if you go that route.

It's that second bit I take issue with. He (and others in agreement) should not simply 'accept the consequences' of his actions if we believe the consequences are unjust. It reads as if we should sit back and passively let our governments dictate the agenda of their citizens, when It is the citizens that should set the agenda.

The petition acknowledges that laws were broken, but is asking for the consequence to be changed. While the position outlined in the response is understandable, I feel like they could and should have put together a much more robust rationale rather than simply saying "it's a dangerous world and people only have the right to take part in this important debate on our terms - namely on US soil and when in solitary confinement - certainly not while you're out there broadcasting views openly from some commie state".