Links - 8th July 2012

"When faced with sexism or ageism or lookism or even really aggressive Buddhism, ask yourself the following question:"Is this person in between me and what do I want to do?" If the answer is no, ignore it and move on. Your energy is better used doing your work and outpacing people that way. Then, when you're in charge, don't hire the people who were jerky to you." - Tina Fey

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A small cohort of Island Southeast Asian women founded Madagascar - "Maximum-likelihood estimates favour a scenario in which Madagascar was settled approximately 1200 years ago by a very small group of women (approx. 30), most of Indonesian descent (approx. 93%). This highly restricted founding population raises the possibility that Madagascar was settled not as a large-scale planned colonization event from Indonesia, but rather through a small, perhaps even unintended, transoceanic crossing."

normblog: Obama trip - "Professor John Naughton contrasts his - Obama's - talk of responsible conduct among states and peoples with respect to internet use and management, of openness, democracy and other such virtues there, with his authorizing of the Stuxnet worm in order to obstruct Iran's nuclear plans... The idea that no less a man than the president could express such peacable sentiments for the future of the internet while simultaneously plotting mischief against a theocratic dictatorship thought possibly to be intent on acquiring nukes... it defies all public understanding."
Comments: "Do these radical lefties believe we should do ANYTHING to promote peace and maybe stop our international enemies continuing their hostile, destabilising policies? Creating a computer virus to halt a nuclear expansion program instead of invading them and killing thousands is not hypocritical. One can be in favour of web freedom whilst using computer viruses. It's like saying it's hypocritical to be anti-guns whilst allowing your police special forces use guns. A little nuance? How naive can you be.The more things go on in this Iran debate, the more confused it becomes. It seemed to me that the left was almost unanimous in its agreement that nuclear weapons were bad. The more we go on, it's starting to seem like nuclear weapons are indeed bad, unless you're a hostile middle eastern state. Then it's okay."
"Do you have any EVIDENCE to back your claim that Iran is 'proliferating nuclear weapons in the face of international scorn' ?"
"Other than the seven UN Security Council resolutions to place sanctions on Iran to stop it's uranium enrichment activities? Or the IAEA's May 2012 report? But I'm sure everyone that does say Iran is on the road to nuclear proliferation are just big liars and a part of a Neo-Con conspiracy, right? Or is it the illuminati? I forget."
"Are you telling me that Obama has been interfering with my Siemens Simatic programmable logic controller!!!! Man.....and just the other day he said such nice things about the internet!!!!!"

Massive rise in Asian eye damage - "Up to 90% of school leavers in major Asian cities are suffering from myopia - short-sightedness - a study suggests. Researchers say the "extraordinary rise" in the problem is being caused by students working very hard in school and missing out on outdoor light. The scientists told the Lancet that up to one in five of these students could experience severe visual impairment and even blindness. In the UK, the average level of myopia is between 20% and 30%. According to Professor Ian Morgan, who led this study and is from the Australian National University, 20-30% was once the average among people in South East Asia as well... the problem is being caused by a combination of factors - a commitment to education and lack of outdoor light"

Brazil - Pilot Ejects Passenger Over Sexist Remarks - NYTimes.com - "The airline said it would not tolerate disparaging remarks made about any of the 1,400 women working for it."
Will it tolerate disparaging remarks made about the men?

Nazi legacy: The troubled descendants - "For Bettina Goering, the great-niece of Hitler's designated successor Herman Goering, she felt she needed to take drastic action to deal with her family's legacy. Both she and her brother chose to be sterilised. "We both did it... so that there won't be any more Goerings," she explains"

Survey shows Singaporean men happier than women at the workplace - "The study revealed that the overall happiness levels amongst Singaporeans fell by 8.3 per cent to 44.5 per cent compared to last year’s survey figure of 52.8 per cent, while the number of unhappy Singaporeans went up to 25.3 per cent from 20.1 per cent. The survey showed that the top three things that drew unhappy tweets from Singaporeans centred on health, work and products. Negative tweets were found to be skewed towards females and people in the 17 to 35 age category... the percentage of women unhappy over work situations was higher compared to men. 25 per cent of unhappy tweets were from women, compared to only eight per cent for men"

Nationality of driver does matter - "THE recent road accidents involving drivers from China (including bus drivers) may not be isolated incidents. I have been an expatriate in China for five-and-a-half years and I can say that the drivers there generally do not practise safe driving habits. Lest I be seen as anti-Chinese, I wish to state that I have enjoyed my stint and made good friends. However, even my Chinese friends lament the traffic situation in their country, as many Chinese are not trained to drive defensively... I had witnessed, almost daily, drivers who speed past red lights, change lanes without warning just to be ahead of a solitary car and make turns at the last minute. Infants were held in passengers' arms, instead of being placed in child seats. We were the rare ones who insisted that our passengers buckle up if they wished to ride in our car. Driving past traffic accidents is common and, many a time, I wonder if I could be the next victim... The World Health Organisation's (WHO) latest Global Status Report on Road Safety (2009) - even though it may have problems in data collection and under-reporting by countries - is telling: China tops the list with the highest number of road traffic deaths"
Those who decry stereotypes and xenophobia can go drive in China for a year and see if they die

Joshua Stanton: Associated Propaganda - WSJ.com - "Why would any international news service that values its reputation partner with the world's least credible news agency to shill for the world's most repressive regime? AP's apparent motive is to gain special access to yet more North Korean propaganda... AP says it is showing its readers ordinary life in North Korea, but it is really showing a minuscule elite in a privileged city under choreographed conditions"

Halong Bay: When Tourism Goes Wrong | Wild Junket - "The interior of the cave was lit up with kitsch rainbow colored lighting, and lined with signboards and steps – with coca cola cans and plastic bags strewn all over the place. From the top of the cave, we saw a massive construction project underway at its shore, turning the emerald water into a murky brown color – our guide told me they were building a port, to accommodate even more boats. I couldn’t help but cringe: was this not enough already?"
I saw the same things but didn't cringe

Smack My Bitch Up – Two Different Points Of View on Sexism In Music - "a woman who grabs him, pulls him aside and says “Pit, you can have me and my sister”- a forward woman who knows what she wants sexually. Good on her. The rest of it- “the women are bomb”, “the women are sweet” simply states his appreciation for the women. I don’t think this has anything to do with sexism, or ‘objectification’. The whole song is simply about sex... the women in these videos consent to these roles and moves. Some women want to be sluts. Deal with it. Men can like sex too. Deal with it... It’s just part of the same old tiring dogma nowadays, that anything that has sex, women, told from a male perspective or with a focus on women is sexist. [It seems to only be acceptable if women are 'sluts' or promiscuous in a disconnect to actual men]... The critique of music videos is also incredibly biased- “women wearing next to nothing, and grinding against the artist or fellow women”- I was pretty astounded to hear this, because this is something that is just as common to men. In music videos, women always have their erogenous zones, breasts covered up- while men often fully bare their chests, showing off their muscle, as well as showing off their toned arms and legs... I think [this] is a manifestation of sex in general, which is different to sexism- just as how porn isn’t misogynist"

Al-Qaeda underwear bomber 'was US double agent' - "The upgraded underwear bomb is described by officials as a "custom-fit" device, that would have been difficult to detect even with careful security checks"
Time to ban underwear from planes!

Against High-IQ Misanthropy - "Out of all the reactions I've heard to Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, the most disturbing are all variations on "Except stupid people. They shouldn't have kids"... Smart people may excel in all activities, but as the law of comparative advantage reveals (see here and here) everyone's better off if people with high IQs outsource their less challenging tasks to others. In a society of Einsteins, Einsteins take out the garbage, scrub floors, and wash dishes. What a mind-numbing waste of talent!"

Former Reform Party candidate Alex Tan Zhixiang has decided to quit Singapore for good - "In Singapore, my trade is in high demand, but apparently the Singapore employers wants to have their cake and eat it too. They resorted to hiring cheap foreign engineers and expected the existing engineers to train them, which is impossible without the necessary qualifications in knowledge. These foreign engineers have a engineering degree but they are at best technician-quality and not engineers who innovate solutions and manage a team. The main reason why productivity is falling especially in my trade is because they hardly think about plausible solutions or simply just talk... There are no adaptations of any logical proposals that doesn’t run align with PAP’s political inclinations and the PAP will simply dismiss them as populist or radical(this choice of word by the PAP is a scare tactic…radical…oh my…could be a terrorist’s idea…like the wage shock therapy from Dr Lim Chong Yah)... Look no further than at Lee Hsien Loong’s facebook. That is the breeding ground of radical PAP extremists. There are thousands of cult-like responses supporting the PAP and they would attack any anti-PAP sentiments or have the moderator deleting them... People around me are telling me to stick for 2016 Elections and I told them I am not going to waste my youth here and I am telling my friends to leave as well, for my very last struggle with the PAP is to deny them the very young people they need to sustain their political dominance"

How to Sneak a Claymore Onto a Flight - "In addition to patting down harmless old ladies and small children in the name of security, the TSA is also really good at letting Claymore antipersonnel mines through its screenings"
Comment: "it's not box cutters that commandeer aircraft, it's hijackers. Frankly, a key chain, properly held, can be just as effective a weapon as box cutter... Even in a prison, the most controlled of environments, prisoners find ways to fashion weapons and attack each other. You can make airports and airplanes prisons. You can do strip searches and body cavity searches of every single passenger. Even that will not make the threat go away. The key has always been, and will always be, identifying those who create the threat and dealing with that person(s) who create the threat" "Whenever TSA comes to mind, I remember that they took away my wife's fingernail clipper at secuity in Oakland, and she had to replace them, which she did by buying another, almost identical clipper INSIDE the secure area in Oakland"