Links - 15th March 2011

"If you don't know what to do with many of the papers piled on your desk, stick a dozen colleagues' initials on 'em, and pass them along. When in doubt, route." - Malcolm Forbes

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An eye on gaming's future, and past - "In 1979, Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani hoped to create a game girls would want to play, too. "Back then, there were no home systems. You had to go to the arcade, (which) was a playground for boys. It was dirty and smelly. I wanted to create something cleaner and brighter." He reasoned that women — who now make up 40% of the gaming population — loved desserts, "so eating, that gave me a hint to create this game," Iwatani says. Pac-Man's ghostly enemies looked like gliding snowball desserts — "very cute," he says. "It was a Tom and Jerry relationship""

China's intimidation of the foreign press - "At least four correspondents have had their e-mail accounts hacked and e-mails forwarded to unknown addresses. Many more have had targeted e-mails sent to them containing computer viruses... It follows the physical violence against journalists trying to report from the protest site in Beijing a week ago... the security services, who are leading the drive to prevent any contagion from the Middle East, seem to be starting to view journalists as a threat similar to internal dissidents. China doesn't have a free media of its own, and few in the government seem able to believe that foreign reporters are here simply as witnesses to what happens in China"

Subway steams past McDonald's in store race

No money, no honey for older, single men - "Women continue to have little desire to marry down. Many echo what Ms Helen Chiang, 33, a sales executive and diploma-holder who is single, said: 'If I make more money, then why marry? I want to marry someone to take care of me, not the other way around'... Last year, singlehood was most prevalent among men with below secondary school qualifications... In interviews with 25 men who fall into this category, almost all said it is their financial situation that makes them not a prime asset to the Singapore woman... Their courting arena is limited to KTV lounges, hawker centres, foodcourts and fast-food restaurants, where affordability trumps atmosphere... Local women scorn them, they said, because most are in better-paying jobs than they are... [One] described the strategy employed by some foreign women here as 'seduce and slaughter'... 'Overseas girls have fewer expectations. But if you meet the girl at a disco, better run'... The situation is 'very sad', said Dr Gavin Jones, a sociologist at the Asia Research Institute. While men stuck in dead-end jobs were generally less likely to find partners anywhere in the world, this phenomenon appeared to be especially pervasive in Asian societies, he noted. 'It's linked to culture. In Asia, women still covet what sociologists call 'hypergamy' - the desire to marry someone more successful"

Metaphors We Live By, Lakoff and Johnson - "To give some idea of what it could mean for a concept to be metaphorical and for such a concept to structure an everyday activity, let us start with the concept ARGUMENT and the conceptual metaphor ARGUMENT IS WAR"

Bill Gates no longer the richest man - "Bill Gates, who was overtaken last year by Mexican Businessman Slim, does not intend to reclaim the number one spot because he lost for a valiant reason: by giving away billions to his charitable foundation"

Adobe Releases Flash-to-HTML5 Converter, Codenamed Wallaby

YouTube - The Story of Bottled Water (2010) - "Over five minutes, the film explores the bottled water industrys attacks on tap water and its use of seductive, environmental-themed advertising to cover up the mountains of plastic waste it produces. The film concludes with a call to take back the tap, not only by making a personal commitment to avoid bottled water, but by supporting investments in clean, available tap water for all"

Expats, don't play or you'll pay - "Mr Expat goes clubbing, gets drunk and accepts the advances of women who snuggle up to them on the dance floor. A while later, a group of men confront Mr Expat, accusing him of molest. And because he is too drunk to remember what happened, he chooses to pay off the woman rather than appear in court to fight the charges... Lawyers have become concerned that some clubgoers see this as a quick way to make money... he has been getting more expats seeking his help over such accusations. "Expats tend to be more vulnerable"... "The men go to court and tell the judge that they were too drunk to remember what happened, the women's side of the story would be unchallenged. Unless (the women) are caught telling lies on the witness stand, the judge would have little choice but to accept their side of the story"... [One lawyer] warns men to be extra careful when they drink... [Another] warns men to be wary whenever women approach them in a pub or club. "Don't go alone. Make sure that there is at least someone sober to be a witness"... [One victim] is now more careful with women he meets in nightspots. "I heard how the law is very strict here. So I don't want to get into any trouble." For a woman to scream molest, she does not need many witnesses, said a bouncer"
I love the chart which shows you the price of touching each part of a woman; it used to be women who were warned to be careful about drinking and the like (similarly, the best thing for a guy attacked by a girl is to shout for help and run away) - men are the new women

YouTube - LOL carrot bukakke 2 guys 1 girl facial (SFW)

mrbrown: L'infantile terrible of Singapore: Japan got earthquake, quickly book your CNA commercial slots NOW! - "Book your spots in the Weekday Evening News Bundle as the channel brings viewers comprehensive coverage reports on the disaster with extended versions of news bulletins tonight"

The Economics of Natural Disasters: A Survey - "The emerging consensus in the literature is that natural disasters have, on average, a negative impact on short-term economic growth... Skidmore and Toya [suggest] that disasters may be speeding up the Schumpeterian “creative destruction” process that is at the
heart of the development of market economies... the creative destruction dynamic most likely only occurs in countries with high per capita income... Cavallo, Galiani, Noy and Pantano... don’t find any significant long-run effect of disasters
(even very large disasters...). The exceptions are very large events that were also followed by radical political revolution... it is possible that the natural disasters affected the likelihood of the radical regime change that followed... the literature on the long-run effects of natural disasters is scant and its results inconclusive"

God Answers Prayers Of Paralyzed Little Boy | The Onion - "'No,' Says God... Paralyzed in a 1996 auto accident that also claimed the lives of both his parents, Timmy has served as a shining example to his fellow churchgoers at Lord In Heaven On High Church, inspiring others with his simple, heartfelt devotion. Now that Timmy has received an answer, Christians the world over are celebrating his story as a stirring testament to the power of faith... "For years, this boy had been plagued by the question of whether or not he would ever walk, and now Our Lord, in his wisdom and mercy, has forever laid to rest any lingering doubt"... "My will be done," God added. Witnesses to the miracle said Timmy begged God for several minutes to change His mind and heal his shattered vertebrae, but the Lord stood firm... Despite all the attention he has received, Timmy remains humble in the face of his newfound notoriety as the only human ever to have a prayer directly answered by God Himself. "I know that God loves me, because it says so in the Bible," Timmy said. "So right now, I am just glad that God took the time to answer my prayer. If only I could walk, this would be the greatest day of my life""

Vegetarians barred from adopting - "A vegetarian couple on the Greek island of Crete have been barred from adopting a child because of doubts about their diet"

Obesity Problem – Negative Reactions Against Obese People Affect Their Physical Health Says Study
Unfortunately this does not distinguish between the perception of discrimination and the fact of discrimination, but then it's hard to tease out those effects

Wren Jones - "Wren had died of a Group B Strep infection... Since the 90s there’s been a straightforward protocol on how to prevent GBS, that is over 99.8% effective... the GBS infection was really just the symptom of the deeper “disease.” The home birth itself... There seems to be a teensy bit of the beginning of a trend towards home births right now, maybe it goes with the green/local/organic/global warming craze. It may seem harmless, but the problem with the whole culture of home birth though is its intense focus on the process of childbirth rather than the result... in America having a home birth with a CPM is 93 times more dangerous than driving drunk"