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Survey Says To UK — Repeal Laws of Thermodynamics
mostxlnt writes "As we noted, the new Tory UK government has launched a website asking its subjects which laws they'd most like repealed. There are proposals up for repeal of the Laws of Thermodynamics: Second, Third, and all (discussion thread on this one closed by a moderator). One comment on the Third [now apparently deleted] elucidated: 'Without the Third Law of Thermodynamics, it would be possible to build machines that would last forever and provide an endless source of cheap energy. thus solving both potential crises in energy supply as well as solving the greenhouse gas problem in one step... simples... eh?'"
I think it's happening because of this article on a British clone of The Onion, called NewsBiscuit... http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2010/07/05/nick-clegg-to-repeal-second-law-of-thermodynamics/
I suspect that nobody is really that bothered by laws requiring those under 16 to practice with the longbow or cabs to carry bails of hay. I also seriously doubt that many people even know that many laws, let alone which ones are absurd.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
And they that sarcasm doesn't travel well.
In case it wasn't entirely obvious, these are jokes. The whole process is a farce, so people are making jokes. I know, I know, I shouldn't have to say.
It's not a Tory government, it's a coalition government.
It's a joke, amazed that you guys think these submissions are from idiots that believe this is possible. It's a British site, we enjoy taking the piss out of government crap.
The serious favourite for repeal on that site is the law against cannabis. Perfectly reasonable law to repeal. Plenty of good reasons for doing so. But there's no change the government will do so. They aren't really interested in hearing what the public wants. They just want it to appear that they are listening.
Hence why the public choose to ridicule the whole thing by voting for the repeal of various laws of physics.
Half-true. There are some feminists out there who are against science because it favours men, but the reason why isn't the sexist bullshit Anne Thwacks wrote. It's feminist bullshit instead - something about the privileging of male logic over female intuition IIRC. Then there's the vaguer anti-science sentiments.
In general, though, more mainstream feminists are only against science when it gets the wrong answer. (Take a look at the issue of domestic violence, for example: the exact same research methods are praised when they show huge numbers of women are victims and attacked when they show nearly as many men are. The preferred statistics for the ratio of male to female victims are police ones known to omit many victims - almost certainly in a non-uniform fashion - but anyone using these for the number of female victims obviously hates women.)
Funnily enough, this did have a political effect here under the last Government. Take a look at the studies leading to the extreme porn act and the changes in the laws on prostitution. Poorly-conducted, politicised crap, but because the newspapers care more about getting the most sensational stories than accurate science and the general populace handily doesn't know better, it worked.