Links - 27th June 2010

"Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule." - Friedrich Nietzsche

***

Male Masturbation in Free-Ranging Japanese Macaques - "We studied masturbatory behavior of males over a 14-mo period in free-ranging Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata yakui) on Yakushima island, Japan. We distinguished 2 types: (1) masturbation only and (2) masturbation with final ejaculation. Both types occurred in all 15 adult troop males. We calculated masturbation only as an index (M/h). It occurred over the whole year; however, it was more frequent during the mating than during the non-mating periods. Masturbation with ejaculation was restricted to the mating period. Male mating success correlated positively with social status. Both rate of masturbation only and masturbatory ejaculations increased as male social status and male mating success declined. Lower-ranking males had higher rates of masturbation only, i.e., they spent more time masturbating than higher-ranking males did. Lower-ranking males also had higher proportions of ejaculates for masturbation, while higher-ranking males used most of their ejaculates for mating."

From food to fashion, the thriving market in human hair

A magnificent man and his DIY flying machine: Wing Commander, 94, trying to hit 130mph in shed-built gyrocopter
Tripped up, as usual, by Health and Safety regulations

ASCII Generator

Udo Voigt loses fight for right to hotel room - "Voigt would not take no for an answer, however, and sued the hotel for discrimination. The irony is not lost on Mr Baumeister. After all, a few years back the NPD leader was found guilty of inciting racial hatred himself. "There is a debate to be had," Mr Baumeister admits. "Should you discriminate against those who are guilty of discrimination? It's an interesting subject, but in the end decisions have to be made"... "German legislators specifically excluded the element of political belief when they implemented European anti-discrimination law, because they didn't want to give any legal protection to the far-right"... the case has prompted many Germans to ask themselves how intolerant they are prepared to be in order to protect a tolerant society."

Burn the scientists! – Bad Science - "The L’Aquila Prosecutor’s office have now leapt into action. They have a Commissione Grandi Rischi, after all – a “Commission on Big Risks” – and it’s full of seismologists. If these people can’t predict an earthquake, then what’s the point of them? And so these seismologists are now being indicted and investigated for manslaughter, on account of their failure to warn the population that an earthquake was coming."

Could This Be the World's Strangest Museum? - "1. The Vacuum Museum
2. International UFO Museum
3. The German Sausage Museum
4. The Cockroach Hall of Fame Museum
5. Sulabh International Museum of Toilets
6. The Torture Museum
7. The Lunchbox Museum
8. Paris Sewers Museum
9. The Hair Museum
10. British Lawnmower Museum
11. The Beijing Museum of Tap-Water
12. The Mustard Museum
13. Kansas Barbed Wire Museum
14. Celebrity Underwear Museum
15. Titan Missile Museum
16. SPAM Museum
17. Cumberland Pencil Museum
18. Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia"

Dutch police use 'decoy Jews' to stop anti-Semitic attacks - "Amsterdam police already disguise officers as "decoy prostitutes, decoy gays and decoy grannies" in operations to deter street muggings and attacks on homosexuals or the city's red light district... "If we receive several reports of street robbery in a certain location, we send out the granny. That soon quietens things down""

Vuvuzela creator branches out into earplugs for fans deafened by drone
Any idiot can come up with a way to annoy people, but it takes a businessman to also profit from annoyance-reduction

Is Banning the Vuvuzela Racist? - "It's clear from the video that Barron has never heard of a vuvuzela before... Barron says, "Absolutely that is racist, because if that's something that comes out of our culture, it's in our country, South Africa, then we have a right and you have to adopt to the culture and the traditions of the country that's hosting the games." Actually, it apparently originated in Mexico, though ties to Zulu history have been debated."
Hurr hurr there're 394,000 results for "vuvuzela racism" (sans quotes) on Google. Amusing comparisons from Wikipedia: "annoying" and "satanic", "a stampede of noisy elephants", an elephant passing wind, "a deafening swarm of locusts", "a goat on the way to slaughter", "a giant hive full of very angry bees", and "a cow being given a surprise enema".

10 Loudest Grunters in Women’s Tennis - "Victoria Azarenka’s piercing cry might lead daydreamers to believe they are in a Central American rainforest, so much like howler monkeys on heat do they sound. The girl from Belarus emits a short, high pitched noise that’s been dubbed ”terrifying” and “alarming”... The big noise last year was about then 16-year-old Michelle Larcher de Brito, who emits less of a grunt than a squeal akin to an airplane taking off... Decibel reading: 109"

At home with Dr. Nakamatsu: Japan's most eccentric inventor - "Love Jet, a product first introduced nearly two decades ago that is said to boost a woman's level of the hormone dehydroepiandrosterone when applied to her private parts... In 2005, he won an Ig Nobel Prize... for his practice of photographing each meal he has eaten since the age of 42, the year he believes is the start of one's downward slide in life."
More on Cracked, including a video where he proclaims you don't need foreplay with LoveJet

On Women, Paranormal Belief And When Yahoo Answers Wrong - "In 2007, a representative quota sample of 1,005 adults in Great Britain aged from 16 years and upward were interviewed via telephone, demonstrating that within the sample belief in telepathy was very strong amongst women (47%) with one in four consulting their horoscope regularly and one in four of those believing ‘that horoscopes accurately predicted events in their lives’... Individuals from the natural sciences have been found to be more skeptical than individuals from the humanities, arts, and education, while individuals working in the arts and humanities tend to be relatively more superstitious than individuals in other academic fields... Hood (2009) argues that females (as biologically defined) are more inclined as a group towards intuitive reasoning, involving genetic predisposition"
She references another paper showing women are more superstitious than men. Also, it looks like even in 9/11 conspiracy theories, more women than men are taken in

Bashing Singaporeans – PAP gets in on the act - "“Will he ever stop bashing Singapore?” – screamed a big bold headline in a New Paper report in October 2007. It was in reference to the secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party, Dr Chee Soon Juan. Dr Chee was accused of “bashing Singapore” for questioning then-Deputy Prime Minister S Jayakumar at the International Bar Association symposium here. Indeed, in past years, opposition politicians have been accused of and criticized for being less than loyal to the country... when Minister Mentor (MM) Lee Kuan Yew did the same in an interview with National Geographic in July 2009, one would have to ask the same question of the MM: “Will you ever stop bashing Singaporeans?” The question should also be directed at People’s Action Party Members of Parliament as well, such as Mr Sam Tan and Mr Charles Chong. (More of that later.) The MM, in his National Geographic interview, effectively compared Singaporeans to animals when he said, “No, I think the spurs are not stuck on your hinds. They are part of the herd, why-go-faster?”... Grumblers. Animals. Stupid. Dogs. Maids. There is no politician in the world who would get away with calling his own citizens these... If one looks at the praises these very same Members of Parliament heap on themselves, the contrast is especially startling. Basically, government ministers and MPs are in quite a different league from ordinary “mere mortals”"

EU to ban selling eggs by the dozen: Shopkeepers' fury as they are told all food must be weighed and sold by the kilo - "Adam Leyland, editor of The Grocer trade magazine, said: ‘You couldn’t make it up, could you? It would be funny if it were an April Fool’s joke. But it’s not and it will potentially cost the industry millions, while confusing customers no end.'"