Links - 15th March 2013

Tiny Tokyo apartments make Japanese workers envious of Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed microunits - "Some Tokyo residents are giving up windows, space and a whole lot more to cram their lives into coffin-like boxes in “geki-sema share houses.” The not-for-claustrophobes, closet-like rooms still set a renter back about $600 a month and offer little, if anything, in the way of amenities."

Hong Kong's poorest living in 'coffin homes' - "Nicknamed coffin homes for their physical similarities, the 15-square-foot enclosure is just one incarnation of the city's distinctive low-income housing alternatives. Others include the city's cage homes, which resemble livestock coops... even the second-tier properties are around 40% more expensive in Hong Kong than in other global cities like London, New York or Moscow... "Hong Kong has gotten more and more wealthy, but these people have been left behind," she said. "A dweller once said to me, 'I'm not even dead yet but I'm already living in my coffin -- four walls and nails'""
6.9 million!

Semen is 'good for women's health and helps fight depression' - "Oral sex is good for women's health and makes you feel happier, according to a study which studied the effects of semen's 'mood-altering chemicals'. The State University of New York study - which scientists carried out via survey rather than through practical experiment - compared the sex lives of 293 females to their mental health... women who have unprotected sex with their partners - and therefore are getting regularly inseminated by them - experience more significant depression on breaking up with these men than those who were not as regularly exposed to an ex’s semen, and that they also go on the rebound faster in seeking new sexual partners."

Normal behavior in Japan, taboo abroad - "In Japan, sitting in “seiza” (sitting with legs folded under one’s buttocks), is literally translated as “proper sitting.” However, in Korea, sitting in “seiza” is known as the “prisoner sitting style” and is widely considered a way to bring your guests much pain"

Les pulls Anti-Noël pour les Christmas-Haters

Hentak Kaki by James Khoo - Singapore Drama Short Film | Viddsee - "2nd Warrant Officer Teck Hong has served his entire life in the army. Now 38, he finds himself needing to make a pivotal decision, should he continue serving in the army or leave and face the harsh reality of life outside. He knows that if he continues serving, his past injuries limits his roles in the army to administrative positions, something he loathes. However, upon meeting a certain detainee at the Detention Barracks in the army, his life takes a turn."

Why Even Radiologists Can Miss A Gorilla Hiding In Plain Sight - "when you ask someone to perform a challenging task, without realizing it, their attention narrows and blocks out other things. So, often, they literally can't see even a huge, hairy gorilla that appears directly in front of them. That effect is called "inattentional blindness"... what we're thinking about — what we're focused on — filters the world around us so aggressively that it literally shapes what we see"

Owning Your Shit: This means war! - "The conflict that began with Elevatorgate has now overtly become "us vs them", with battle lines drawn by righteous feminists and vilification and exclusion of any who voice the slightest dissent. The "Four Horsemen" of atheism have been recast as the perpetually evil "old white patriarchs", an identifiable group which according to feminist agitprop should be dismissed out of hand. If a powerful, educated old white man said it, you can be sure it's garbage, right? Why? Because we say so! We're just trying to be inclusive!... It's amazing how closely this collective aggression and irrationality mirrors what's known in the pick-up artist community as the "shit test". A shit test is basically an irrational, manufactured conflict, attack or complaint on the part of a female partner against her male partner. This is not a "real" complaint... the horrible thing about shit tests is that they are a subconscious behavior... it's actually the appeasement and supplication of men like PZ Myers that's driving the female psychology underlying this collective shit test to a fever pitch. Validation of the insecurity that lies at the heart of this conflict only generates more of the same... from what I gather, what is considered an abhorrent thought when it comes from an enemy is permissible and even apt when voiced by a friendly. For a community that supposedly prides itself on empiricism, universality, evidence and logic, rather than hyperbole, emotionality, and kneejerking, that's really all you need to know to understand how far gone these people are."

Owning Your Shit: Is Feminism Hate? - "In California, feminist-inspired domestic violence mandatory arrest policies enacted in the 1980s led to a 37% increase in arrests of men and a 446% increase in arrests of women. That's some pretty solid evidence right there, especially when taken in conjunction with the then-multiple studies on DV that showed gender symmetry. Within a few years, however, feminist legal experts had written and successfully implemented predominant aggressor policies which prioritized relative height, weight, strength, AND patriarchal/feminist models of domestic violence (Duluth again), over inconvenient matters such as "who is the abusive party?" They essentially adjusted policy to make outcomes conform to their theory, rather than adjusting their theory to conform to reality. And conform the outcomes did--arrest rates returned to normal: at least 85% male, at least 1/3 of which would have been victims... It's no excuse for the treatment of Erin Pizzey by the feminist establishment in the UK, who were so angered and threatened by her assertion that women are as violent as men in their relationships that they subjected her to a campaign of bomb threats, death threats to her, her children and her grandchildren, and finally killed her family dog when they couldn't get to her. It's no excuse for taking data from tables and not just ignoring the actual numbers, but lying about them, so you can inflate the number of female victims and cast all the perpetrators as male... They actively suppressed the evidence, misrepresented the evidence, attempted to keep that evidence from public and government scrutiny, threatened and blacklisted researchers to prevent them from finding more evidence, and the moment that evidence began being reflected in arrest rates, they actually changed legal procedures so that arrest rates would conform to their theory... Robin Morgan said it herself: Man-hating is an honorable and viable political act--the oppressed have a right to class hatred against the class that is oppressing them"

And so, recently I... - "many feminists (many, not all) frame their arguments in a way that is implicitly accusatory towards all men in general... A vast amount of the general, non-event-specific feminist messages out there (at least those that I have seen) takes on this sort of tone: "Men, stop doing this. Men, the next time you ____, think about ____"... Men face their problems in this world, too. Don't we get offended when men make sweeping statements about women in general and how they make men's lives difficult? So why should we offend them with sweeping statements about them? This is about mutual respect between human beings"

Li Ching-Yuen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "Li Ching-Yuen or Li Ching-Yun (simplified Chinese: 李清云; traditional Chinese: 李清雲; pinyin: Lǐ Qīngyún (claimed DOB 1677 or 1736 - May 6, 1933) was a Chinese herbalist, martial artist and tactical advisor. He claimed to be born in 1736, while disputed records suggest 1677. Both alleged lifespans of 197 and 256 years far exceed the longest confirmed lifespan of 122 years and 164 days of the French woman Jeanne Calment, although his true age is uncertain and this was unverified."

Vegetarians' horror at plans by Walkers to add meat to smoky bacon and roast chicken crisps for the first time - "In what may be a surprise to many, neither of the varieties of crisps made by Walkers contain real bacon or real chicken - but instead rely on artificial flavours. The move to real ingredients is thought to be an attempt to shake off the ‘junk food’ label - but has been greeted with horror by vegetarians who have been tucking into the snacks for years."

The 10 Most Not-So-Puzzling Ancient Artifacts: The Baghdad Battery | Archaeology Fantasies - "Elizabeth Stone, Stony Brook University archaeologist and professor of archaeology, talked about her dig in Iraq, the first in 20 years. During the interview on NPR’s Science Friday she received a question from a caller asking about the battery. She replied that she didn’t know a single archaeologist who believed the Battery was a battery. Dr. Stone is considered an authority on Iraq archaeology, and if anyone knew anything about the Batteries, she would. Her null answer, speaks volumes on the topic."

Orthodox Priests and Marriage - "A recent survey of new priests concluded that "satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the celibate life is the strongest factor affecting overall priestly satisfaction," Hoge said. Ten percent to 15 percent of Catholic priests resign within five years of ordination, and more than half of the resigned priests questioned for the 2000 study did so for reasons related to celibacy, he said. About one-fourth had fallen in love with a woman and wanted to continue the relationship through marriage or other means; about one-fourth were heterosexuals who had no love interest but decided that they could not continue the celibate life; and 5 percent to 15 percent were homosexuals who wanted an open, long-term relationship with a man... The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America also has too few priests for a growing population. But a tradition of married clergy has helped create stability, said the Rev. Michael Kontogiorge, vice chancellor of the New York-based archdiocese. About 91 percent (575 of 630) of active Greek Orthodox priests in the United States are married, and it is "very rare" for Greek Orthodox clerics to resign, he said."

M+S Pte Ltd breaks ground in Marina South - "We are confident that this landmark development will play a prominent role in attracting international MNCS and talent to Singapore and become the gravitational epicentre of Singapore's new CBD."
Talk about pretentious

The Wages of Celibacy - NYTimes.com - "It’s a trap, falsely promising some men a refuge from sexual desires that worry them. That’s one explanation for what many church experts believe is a disproportionate percentage of gay men in the priesthood. In a world that has often convinced these men that they’ll be outcasts, the all-male priesthood can seem like a safe haven, and the vow of celibacy an opportunity to tuck one’s sexuality away on a shelf."

Man's prized possession stolen: His porn - "I had a collection that had every African-American that's been in porn, that's ever been in porn since the 70s"