Links - 31st May 2011

"I can think of nothing more boring for the American people than to have to sit in their living rooms for a whole half hour looking at my face on their television screens." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

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For the love of wisdom, philosophy majors grow in number at UC Berkeley - "For a growing number of students at the University of California, Berkeley, philosophy is not only a passion, but a smart career move. The number of undergraduates majoring in philosophy at UC Berkeley has increased 74 percent in the last decade, from 148 in 2001 to 257 today. Graduates are fanning out into careers ranging from law and business to medicine, technology and pedagogy... “Philosophy has given me the argumentative confidence to assert and defend a point, the humility to accept and modify my beliefs when others have valid arguments against mine, and the stamina to keep arguing”... Another surprising fact is that philosophy is among the departments where getting an ‘A’ is still a very difficult feat... It’s a very rigorous program”" That one can easily double-major in the American system probably has a lot to do with it

Denmark to pay immigrants £12,000 to go home if they 'can't or won't' assimilate Friend who wants to migrate there: "this policy makes me even more sure that Denmark is a civilised country filled with kind people and generous policymakers. They owe nothing at all to these immigrants who fail to assimilate... If you want to live in a new community, it's your responsibility to adapt to your host country, and not the other way around. It is rude and disrespectful to put in no effort to integrate. There is absolutely nothing reprehensible about this policy. In fact, I repeat, it is a very laudable move. Denmark has gone far beyond its obligations."

Feeling happy? Don't be too smug as chances are you will die young - "Children who are rated "highly cheerful" at school went onto die younger than their more reserved class mates. This is because they are likely to lead more carefree lives full of danger and unhealthy lifestyle choices, it is believed. They may also be more likely to suffer from mental problems such as bipolar depression which sees moods swing from extreme happiness to debilitating sadness. Being too cheerful – especially at inappropriate times – can also rouse anger in others, increasing the risk of a person coming to harm... trying too hard to be happy often ended up leaving people feeling more depressed than before, as putting an effort into improving their mood often left people feeling cheated. Magazine articles offering tips on how to be happy were also blamed for worsening modern day depression... the key to true happiness was much more simple: meaningful relationships with friends and family members... "The strongest predictor of happiness is not money, or external recognition through success or fame. It's having meaningful social relationships""

MacRecipes - "Have you ever wondered in how many different episodes MacGyver has made an arc welder (answer: 3 times in episodes 6, 52, and 87)? Or perhaps you forgot about your favorite episode (season 1, episode 12) when Mac escapes via a casket that transforms into a jetski. And how many times has Mac made a diversion? In order to placate all of your MacGyver-related curiosities, we offer you MacRecipes"

Personality and Culture Lab (PaC Lab) - "National Averages and Sex Differences in Sociosexuality Regional Averages and Sex Differences in Short-Term Mating Interests Regional Averages and Sex Differences in Mate Poaching National Averages in Romantic Attachment Sex Differences in Dismissing Romantic Attachment National Averages of the Big Five National Sex Differences in the Big Five National Averages of Self-Esteem"
One paper: "sex differences in personality traits are larger in prosperous, healthy, and egalitarian cultures in which women have more opportunities equal with those of men... It is proposed that heightened levels of sexual dimorphism result from personality traits of men and women being less constrained and more able to naturally diverge in developed nations. In less fortunate social and economic conditions, innate personality differences between men and women may be attenuated"

Premature ejaculation drug sold out - "The premature ejaculation (PE) pill, Priligy, has sold out in Singapore within its first month of release... about one in three men in Singapore suffer from premature ejaculation"

Prostitutes as Perks: Sex Incentives 'No Exception' in German Business World

UGO architecture: barcelona rock - "'barcelona rock', a hostel in the mountainous region outside the spanish city. the project, standing 100 meters tall, was conceived for the international competition 'bohemian hostel for backpackers'... containing fifty rooms with windows, a swimming pool, spa, gym, cinema, pub and small climbing wall for beginners, the hostel aims to become a both a symbol for the city and a welcoming, exiting place for young travelers. outside, advanced climbers can scale the side of the structure"

DiManno: Supreme Court’s consent ruling infantilizes women - "The case of a woman who was buggered by her husband while she lay … well, not sleeping exactly, but lights-out from erotic asphyxiation, having given her husband permission to choke her, bind her and impale her with a dildo. Then the lady retroactively withdrew consent, only to change her mind again at trial. Yes means no, by the Supreme Court’s reckoning, even when the complainant has said yes-no-yes and admitted under oath that the charge was provoked — two months after the incident — by a custody dispute between the couple. Or, as the majority decision on Friday put it: “Yes in fact means no in law.’’... There was no evidence the woman ever did anything against her will, that permission was revoked by words or conduct, that the husband had failed to ascertain or misunderstood that consent had been given, or that consent was somehow “vitiated’’ by intentional infliction of bodily harm"
Here, no means no and yes also means no; and women complain that men aren't spontaneous enough

Genderless Baby: 'Tribute to Liberty' or Conscript Into War on Sex Roles - "Storm's parents decided not to share the child's sex, they say, because they want to allow the baby to develop without the constraints of gender stereotypes... "The parents are making huge decisions for this child that can cause it to be ostracized," Bradley said. "It can cause it to feel humiliated, to cause it to feel a lot of doubt and uncertainty about who it is""
Does this count as child abuse?

Online Personalization Creates Echo Chamber to Affirm Biases - "Personalization on the Web, he says, is becoming so pervasive that we may not even know what we’re missing: the views and voices that challenge our own thinking"

122. WHY SINGAPORE TV IS DEAD… « - "It seems like the only people making money in this industry are the cameramen... As a person commissioning programmes to certain production houses, I find that many of them overwork and underpay their staff even though they’re getting huge budgets. Lately, the ugly picture is that many of the owners of such places play a dirty game of squeezing everyone they hire to get a show out on-air and keep the rest of the money in a fixed security deposit or invested in a new condo and/or luxurious car... Our fear of showing what’s real about Singapore or dealing with sensitive issues in documentaries or films is costing us a lot. It’s costing us talent that decide to quit the industry early because there is no long-term development or support in terms of subjects filmakers/TV producers are allowed to portray. It’s costing us awards and world-recognition and the development of the industry as a whole when obscure filmakers from Eastern Europe, Afghanistan and Iran can release gripping, emotional or entertaining work that wins international acclaim... Censorship has forced producers here to stick with safe, banal topics that don’t affect or grip audiences"

61% of S'poreans looking to job-hop in next 3 months
Not that it'll stop them hopping again

Top 10 Simple Privacy Tricks Everyone Should Use

Disney wants women with natural breasts for new 'Pirates' movie - "To make sure LA talent scouts don't get caught in a "booby trap," potential lassies will have to undergo a Hollywood-style jiggle-your-jugs test and jog for judges. If there's nothing moving from the waist up, they're saying, it's a dead giveaway that you're not all flesh and bones -- and you're out. Apparently, the bouncier the better, especially for sword-fighting action sequences... "In the last movie, there were enhanced breasts to give that 18th-century whorish look, and men were pretty well padded too, and no one worried," a former casting agent said. "But times are changing, and the audience can spot false breasts""

YouTube - DSK - the missing link - "I've figured out what's really going on with Dominique Strauss-Kahn and why he hasn't been able to get the sexual healing. It's just one big cultural misunderstanding...."
If she were male and/or if DSK were a member of a minority race, there'd be hell to pay

You will NEVER guess what this ad is about

Jourdemayne: Sanity & Violence, or, What Happens in the Courts When Gods Outsource Smiting?

Groupon Counts on Writers and Editors to Build Its Audience - "There used to be a name for marketing things to clumps of people by blasting messages at them: spam. People despised it so much it nearly killed e-mail. The great achievement of Groupon — a blend of “group” and “coupon” — is to have reformulated spam into something benign, even ingratiating... Groupon shuns being thought of as a marketer or, worse, an ad agency, promoting cheap pizza or sushi for anyone who wants to hire it. The hope instead is that its users will eventually perceive it as an impartial guide to a city or a neighborhood... Like many others at Groupon, the 23-year-old Ms. Handler comes from an arts background... “We’re not at all concerned any competitor is going to come in and start writing like us,” says Mr. With. “They try but fall flat.” (Living Social declined to comment.) In other words, words will save Groupon. Many more words. Mere words"
Lame Groupon copy is not exclusive to Singapore

Disagreeing without being disagreeable - "If you think MM was vicious towards other people, there is no need to be like him then, and be vicious to him... When MM said something about this generation having forgotten about the Old Guard and what they did, I wanted to say, the Old Guard didn’t pay themselves fabulous sums of money, and they didn’t start casinos, or let Mas Selamat escape or foul up the roads with traffic... One thing Singaporeans have not really fully cultivated yet is being magnanimous"

More Roads, More Traffic - "Building roads in urban areas doesn’t alleviate traffic, a study finds, because every mile built leads to a corresponding increase in vehicle-miles driven. Other studies have come to similar conclusions, but none has been so comprehensive... the amount of public transportation available didn’t affect driving levels"

Women pass judgement on someone within 20 seconds of meeting them
The only reaction by feminists to this will be to blame 'patriarchy' and/or men