Links - 16th January 2012

Man ignores drowning boy, not knowing it was his son - "The father's apathy resulted in the death of his six-year-old son. Later, he filed a lawsuit against the neighbourhood committee over the boy's death, demanding a compensation of 470,000 yuan (S$96,841)"
Ahh, China!

Why bigger is not always better - "“Breast ­augmentation, if done well, can be a life-changing operation,” he says. “Some women are very introverted before the operation and feel so much more comfortable about their bodies afterwards. Many women who don’t have an awful lot of breast tissue just don’t feel particularly feminine. Just look at the number of padded bras sold around the world. “The idea that people want to look like Dolly Parton when they come for breast augmentation is very far from the truth. The vast majority simply want to feel good and look natural”"

Stradivarius may be bit of a fiddle at more than $1m, say researchers - "In an experiment, concert violinists were unable to pick out two Stradivarius violins from modern instruments, based on their sound alone"

Islamic Minister, MPs, PPM and religious groups condemn UN Human Rights Commissioner - "Statements by visiting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay calling for a moratorium on flogging as a punishment for fornication and criticising the Muslim-only clause for citizenship in the Maldivian constitution have been widely condemned by religious NGOs, public officials and political parties... Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari told local media that “a tenet of Islam cannot be changed” and flogging was a hudud punishment prescribed in the Quran (24:2) and “revealed down to us from seven heavens”... “This is a very serious problem. You can’t say flogging is a form of violence against women”... Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Ahmed Faiz noted that the constitution placed limits on free speech and the right to free expression “cannot be used under any circumstances outside of Islamic principles or in violation of a tenet of Islam”"

The Burning House - "nothing can replace Lache [my teddy bear] who saw me through all the difficult turning points in my life: surviving the 7.2, 1977 earthquake in Bucuresti, moving 10 times over a 25 year span, losing my dad to ALS, breaking up and being broken up with. Lache is with me in Zürich, as I try to adapt to a completely different culture. He’s resting in the closet in a thin pink mesh fabric bag my mom made for him. After I’m dead, I want to be cremated with Lache. I feel guilty for taking him with me but I hope he will understand I don’t want either one of us to be alone"

More sex might lead to younger appearance - "A study from Scotland's Royal Edinburgh Hospital states, frequent sex can make a person look up to seven years younger... "When one is in a good, harmonious relationship, and the couple are able to deal with the stresses through mutually satisfactory ways, including ‘sex,' it seems obvious that the person is going to feel less stress," Thompson said. "Therefore (they are) likely to feel better and look younger than those who are unhappy or stressed." Sidney Westervelt, sophomore in family and consumer science education, said when she feels better she tends to feel younger; however, she has reserved feelings regarding using sex as a beauty routine. "I would not have sex for simply that reason," Westervelt said."
From another report on the study: "Casual sex with different partners, or cheating, did not slow the aging process, the researchers say. In fact, Weeks says, it may cause premature aging from worry and stress. The sex doesn't work without a good relationship"

Jedi Church - Jedi Religion and Jedi Faith - "The Jedi Church recognises that there is one all powerful force that binds all things in the universe together, and accepts all races and species from all over the universe as potential members of the religion. Join the Jedi Church today! Our church had 21000 unique visitors last month. The Jedi Church is a good force in the universe."

NUS Business Leads - October 2005 - "Q: Why did you want to be an SOE writer?
Eunice: To be honest, it was for the $100 reward per interview.
Q: Having gotten a glimpse of the life of an entrepreneur, do you want to become one, and why?
Eunice: No, because being an entrepreneur is not as fulfilling to me as it is to others. I rather spend the time on my family and leave the "entrepreneuring" to my boyfriend.
Q: How has an education at NUS Business School played a role in your current decision, and in helping you pursue your aspirations?
Eunice: I met my boyfriend here."

Why there's no such thing as sex addiction - "I’ve publicly challenged the validity of sex addiction, and this has brought me trouble. I’ve been accused of being “evil”, “dangerous” and “heartless”. Sex addiction therapists have attacked me — I’ve even been accused of being a sex addict myself, told that I am in “denial” about the danger of my own sexual desires... It hasn’t been recognised as a bona fide disease by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders... there are a dozen or so competing definitions and no two psychotherapists who apply the concept in the same way... There are many embedded moral concepts in these definitions, all of which suggest that sex is dangerous, shouldn’t be “enjoyed too much” and that something that creates imbalance in a person’s life is inherently unhealthy. However, people like Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa made single things the overwhelming focus of their lives — and yet these lives of “imbalance” are not judged unhealthy... Nobody in history has ever died from wanting sex and being unable to have it. Wanting something that you don’t have and being dissatisfied, even sexually, is a condition that people around the world deal with every day. They cope with it without losing control, without lying, cheating and manipulating, and without proclaiming themselves an addict... Porn exposure is almost universal in men and if it had the destructive effect that doomsayers claim, we would be awash with sex crime, and every day would look like the erotic chaos of Carnival and Mardi Gras... a diagnosis of sex addiction is used to somehow absolve men and women (though mostly men) of all responsibility for their actions that is, in my opinion, the most malign feature of the sex addiction industry... Sex addiction tells people that sexual desire is a destructive, weakening thing, and that the only way men can control their sexual desire is to excise it, and ring it with fear and prohibitions. But sex is not a disease. In fact, it’s good for you... If male sexuality is inherently addictive and dangerous, then a healthy male is one who has no sexuality. That’s a frightening and emasculating concept"

Women pay to remove ‘ugly’ demons - "The paper reported confessions by two stewardesses that they did not mind taking the exorcism beauty treatment as long as it did not cloud their religious beliefs or harm their body. The paper, however, quoted Kelantan Mufti Datuk Mohamad Shukri as saying that there should be an in-depth study on the method used to ensure it did not go against the tenets of Islam"

Simon Doonan’s Eating Guide for Gay and Straight - NYTimes.com - "“Gay chips are baked,” he said. “Straight chips are deep-fried. It’s that simple”... I ate the way a lot of straight men automatically do: with gluttonous, meat-and-cheese-and-avocado-mad disregard for the repercussions. If I wanted to slim down after the holidays, he suggested, I should try to eat like a gay man... One of the tongue-in-cheek propositions of Mr. Doonan’s new book, “Gay Men Don’t Get Fat” (Blue Rider Press, $24.95), is that the vast range of the world’s culinary options can be boiled down to two core categories: gay food and straight food. Seeking out a balanced diet of both is the savviest way to stay svelte. Think of it, if you must, as bisexual eating... “Gay foods are more decorative; they’re more frivolous,” he said. “The macaron craze is the ne plus ultra of gay fooderie. I can’t believe any red-blooded straight guy can even walk into a macaron shop. If you wanted to ruin a politician’s career, just publish a picture of him shopping for macarons”... Meanwhile, Mr. Doonan freely uses “lesbian” to describe certain earthy, healthful foods. “Organic olive oil, thick porridge, heaping helpings of wheat germ,” he said. “A crusty loaf of whole-grain bread is both ferociously lesbian and wildly heterosexual”... “I love sweeping generalizations,” he said. “Sweeping generalizations are the key to everything, and they invariably contain nuggets of truth. Sometimes infinitesimally small nuggets”"

Cee Lo Green changes John Lennon's 'Imagine' lyrics to push pro-religion views - "The singer sang "all religion is true" during his NYE performance in New York"

The incident at Petrich - "The incident at Petrich, named after the Bulgarian border town Petrich, which was shortly occupied by Greek forces, occurred on 22 October 1925. It allegedly started when a Greek soldier ran after his dog, which had strayed across the border from Macedonia; thus, it is some times speculatively referred as the War of the Stray Dog"

Naturalism and Its Limits - NYTimes.com - "Accepting the naturalist slogan without looking beneath the slick packaging is an unscientific way to form one’s beliefs about the world, not something naturalists should recommend... One challenge to naturalism is to find a place for mathematics. Natural sciences rely on it, but should we count it a science in its own right? If we do, then the description of scientific method just given is wrong, for it does not fit the science of mathematics, which proves its results by pure reasoning, rather than the hypothetico-deductive method... Dismissing an idea as “inconsistent with naturalism” is little better than dismissing it as “inconsistent with Christianity... any theory can be applied in an unscientific spirit, as a polemical device to reinforce prejudice. Naturalism as dogma is one more enemy of the scientific spirit”

Moral Pornography | Philosophy Now - "Here at least, at last is wrongness pure and simple: Let us despise it with all of our moral might. Further magnifying this effect is that the alleged perpetrators are under lock and key. They are completely in our power, so our feelings are able to find the most concrete and satisfying expression imaginable. Not only can we call these men whatever names we please but we can, and do (in letters to the editor and blogs) call for their death, even by torture... There is vicarious pleasure to be found in the verbal and virtual stoning of these monsters... Just as patriotism is ‘the last refuge of a scoundrel,’ righteousness diverts attention from run-of-the-mill wrongdoing. We can feel innocent by comparison to the miscreant. Dare I say that we thereby enact the salvation story: the lifting of our guilt by its imposition on another (who is, furthermore on the amoralist account, in fact without sin)? More: the catharsis of denunciation is a source of self-satisfaction that makes us feel morally superior"

The veil, the chair and the virtue police - "Some Nour Party candidates and Salafi politicians have been speaking as though the extremist Islamification of Egyptian society is just around the corner... a Hadith by the prophet Mohamed forbids women from wearing perfume outdoors... Salafis call for separating men and women in burial places as well, while one Yemeni Salafi cleric proclaims that women should not sit on couches and chairs because they are Western inventions that allow women to relax and spread her legs, inviting demons to engage with them sexually... While many are dismayed by the stric Salafi rulings, the more politically savvy say they saw it coming. “Political Islam is a cover for social and sexual tension,” says Saed Sadek, professor of sociology at the American University in Cairo, who believes that Salafi politicians consider women an easy target. “After their sweeping success in the parliament, Islamists will start to tweak and alter divorce laws, custody and women rights”... Sheikh Mahmoud Amer, a Salafi figure in Damanhour, stated that voting for a non-praying Muslim, a Christian, a liberal, a former NDP member or a secular candidate is religiously forbidden... Ahmed Farid, board member of the Salafi Call in Alexandria, added that Islam doesn’t recognize liberalism or absolute freedom in all aspects of life: economic, political, social and sexual. Sheikh Hesham al-Naggar, Nour Party candidate in Sharqiya called for a fight against secularists. “We will deter secularism like we daunted the crusaders”"