Links - 18th May 2011

"There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government." - Benjamin Franklin

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Gender bias uncovered in children's books with male characters, including male animals, leading the fictional pack - "Since children's books are a "dominant blueprint of shared cultural values, meanings, and expectations," the authors say the disparity between male and female characters is sending children a message that "women and girls occupy a less important role in society than men or boys"... The tendency of readers to interpret even gender-neutral animal characters as male exaggerates the pattern of female underrepresentation... "The persistent pattern of disparity among animal characters may reveal a subtle kind of symbolic annihilation of women disguised through animal imagery""
No, this is not a joke. However I still prefer "“The Da Vinci Code” will be the 68th movie since 1960 to feature an evil albino"

Did support for NSP cost employee her job? - "But in my three years with the town council, I had not received any written notification of having performed poorly. So how can they suddenly dismiss me?"

Asked to choose between bacon and sex, 43 per cent of Canadians would choose...bacon! - "When asked to rank various aromas by preference, 23% of men ranked bacon as number one. And it seems bacon lovers think they are better lovers... Nearly one in four of respondents (23%) from Manitoba and Saskatchewan wondered if 'my partner loves bacon more than me'... Of note - western Canadians are especially enamoured with bacon. Of respondents from British Columbia, 50% said they would give up sex before bacon, versus 37% of respondents from Quebec"

Excerpt from 'He's Just Not That Into You' - "Imagine right now that I'm leaping up and down and shaking my fist at the sky. I'm on my knees pleading with you. I'm saying this in a loud voice: "Please, if you can trust one thing I say in this book, let it be this: When it comes to men, deal with us as we are, not how you'd like us to be." I know it's an infuriating concept — that men like to chase and you have to let us chase you. I know. It's insulting. It's frustrating. It's unfortunately the truth. My belief is that if you have to be the aggressor, if you have to pursue, if you have to do the asking out, nine times out of ten, he's just not that into you. (And we want you to believe you're one of the nine, ladies!) I can't say it loud enough: You, the superfox reading this book, are worth asking out"
One of the many problems with feminism - you never know which set of mores a woman has. "If she says yes, then she's no lady"

In Very Corrupt Countries, Corrupt Practices Boost Growth

Why Successful People Leave Work Early - "Try this for a day: don't answer every phone call. Stop checking your email every two minutes. And leave work early. You'll be astounded at how much more you'll get done. According to a study published in the Psychological Review conducted by Dr. K. Anders Ericcson, the key to great success is working harder in short bursts of time. Then give yourself a break before getting back to work."

Woman gets probation for obscene acts with girl - "A YOUNG woman who committed an obscene act on two occasions with a girl aged about 12 was placed on 24 months' split probation on Monday"
If it were a guy, he'd have gotten jail

- "Rice makes you stronger, healthier than bread: study - "In a test on university students, researchers measured how long they can perform exercise after eating rice or bread. The duration of time averaged 456 seconds (with an error margin of 58.3 seconds) for rice, compared with 311 seconds (with an error margin of 41.9 seconds) for bread. The researchers also probed how rice and bread affect the level of blood cholesterol in hamsters with hyperlipidemia. After eight weeks, those fed with rice showed lower levels of fat and cholesterol, researchers said. In the group, accumulation of fat reduced and excretion of bile acid increased"

French Women Beauty Secrets - "If you want to be sexy, choose: show the top or show the bottom, but not both at once!... Make-up remains discreet, general appearance is classical rather than obvious, subtlety sexy rather than provocative... being attractive is often a serious advantage over men. So we flirt. The things you can get with a large smile... amazing! In my opinion, to some extend, everywoman does it. But French women are not afraid to admit it. They are not ashamed of using their charm to manipulate men"

Michael Caine on Film vs Theatre Acting - "The modern film actor knows that real people in real life struggle not to show their feelings. It is more truthful, and more potent, to fight against the tears, only yielding after all those defense mechanisms are exhausted. If today's actor emulates film, he'd be better off watching a documentary. The same is true of drunkenness. In real life, a drunk makes a huge effort to appear sober... On stage you have the dramatic thrust of the whole play to help you along. In film you shoot isolated moments, probably in the wrong sequence, and you have to constantly crank yourself up to an intense pitch of concentration on every shot"

All female sect worships Putin - "Followers are reportedly encouraged to sing upbeat patriotic Soviet songs at 'services' rather than hymns and are said to survive on a Spartan diet of turnips, carrots, peas and buckwheat... "Her so-called teachings are a nonsensical mixture of Orthodoxy, Catholicism, the occult, Buddhism and political information""

A quel moment les filles deviennent des folles hystériques ??? - "En général, notamment au début d’une relation, elles ont l’air parfaitement normales, plus ou moins jolies, plus ou moins intéressantes, plus ou moins intelligentes... Il faut savoir qu’une fille qui tombe amoureuse ou qui craque de manière émotionnelle à tendance à faire des choses comiques... Vous connaissez peut-être la phrase «je peux t’emprunter un pull» ? Mais connaissez-vous sa traduction en langage féminin : «je peux t’emprunter un vêtement qui porte ton odeur, que je vais porter tous les jours, voire utiliser comme substitut de doudou, que je laverais peut-être un jour mais pas tout de suite, et que je ne te rendrais JAMAIS surtout si tu me quittes ???»"

Kate Middleton, and the fine art of moulding a new husband - "Liz Fraser, best-selling author of The Yummy Mummy’s Survival Guide, sums up the practice of moulding a newly-wed husband best when she describes it as “stealth training”. She points out that “nothing makes a man dig his heels in more than being asked to do something”... Every female of my acquaintance volunteered her own tried-and-tested covert method of promoting domestic harmony. So here they are – 25 ways for a woman to keep her husband in her thrall"
Anyone talking about training women would be slammed as sexist and chauvinist

That Is Priceless - "Art's Greatest Masterpieces, Made Slightly Funnier"

The Mended Spiderweb series - "In the forest and around the house where I was living, I searched for broken spiderwebs which I repaired using red sewing thread... My repairs were always rejected by the spider and discarded, usually during the course of the night, even in webs which looked abandoned"

Tai chi improves balance, mental health in elderly - "However, the sport "seems to be ineffective" for treating the symptoms of cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, the authors said. The evidence was contradictory as to whether tai chi improved high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, muscle strength, osteoporosis and other conditions."