Links - 12th October 2013

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." - Richard Feynman

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TRAVAIL – Le klingon plus utile professionnellement que l’espéranto | Le Gorafi.fr Gorafi News Network - "« Il y a de plus en plus de métiers où parler le klingon devient quasi indispensable. Les postes de traducteur à la NASA bien sûr, développeur de jeux vidéo ou encore animateur du Comic-Con en sont quelques exemples. » L’expert en recrutement souligne aussi les possibilités qu’offre la maîtrise du klingon pour ceux qui souhaitent entamer une carrière de scénariste sur Star Trek, même si le nombre de postes reste assez restreint dans ce secteur précis... « Nous souhaitions offrir à nos élèves les meilleurs armes possibles pour affronter le monde du travail avec efficacité. Et dans ce cadre là, le klingon se révèle bien plus judicieux que l’espéranto. C’est pourquoi nous avons remplacé tous nos cours de latin, de grec ancien ou d’espéranto par des modules de klingon »... président de l’association Entreprise-Espéranto... M. Clanchin insiste également sur l’aspect pratique bien réel du langage qu’il défend : « L’esperanto est une langue parlée dans plein d’endroits comme par exemple l’académie d’espéranto, le cercle des amis de l’espéranto ou encore les jeunesses espérantistes »... de plus en plus de traducteurs klingon-elfique sont recherchés par les entreprises qui souhaitent développer leur activité à l’international. A l’heure actuelle, cela ne concerne qu’une poignée de postes mais sur le long terme, ce sont des milliers d’emplois qui risquent bien d’être créés"

Is lesbian sex real sex? - "The sisterly ties imagined by Rich frayed very quickly. Disagreements among feminists over the politics of sexuality came to a head during the so-called feminist “sex wars” of the 1980s. Over the course of this decade, feminists—lesbian, bisexual, and straight— disagreed vehemently over sexual issues such as pornography, heterosexuality, butch/femme gender roles, and sadomasochism. After a decade of avoiding difficult sexual discussions, feminists found themselves embroiled in bitter debates over the borders between pleasure and danger and between politically correct and politically incorrect sex. Sex had become the defining issue for feminist politics. During the sex wars, some aspects of lesbian sexual culture—mainly butch/femme gender roles and sadomasochism—were criticized for allegedly imitating heterosexuality... In 1978, Gayle Rubin and Pat (now Patrick) Califia even founded the first lesbian-feminist organization dedicated to sadomasochism, Samois, which became instantly controversial, its members accused of eroticizing violence against women. At the end of the 1980s, another battle in the lesbian sex wars erupted, this time over dildo use. The arguments took a by-now familiar form. Some lesbians claimed that dildos and strap-ons were authentically lesbian; others decried their use as male-identified... lesbians still remain caught between two opposing mainstream stereotypes: the hypersexual (and hyperfeminine) lesbians of heterosexual entertainments and the asexual lesbians who bring a U-Haul to their second date"

Gillard's attack on men's ties didn't come out of the blue - "Long before the unbridled emotion of the misogyny speech and a full year ahead of the obvious overreach of the blue tie speech, Gillard was involved in a deliberate political and media strategy "focusing on women's issues", building a "narrative around the first female prime minister" and increasing her "profile in media consumed by women". The four-page document is a "Women's media strategy" compiled as a media unit brief by adviser Sally Tindall and dated May 22, 2012. Gillard initialled and dated it less than a fortnight later, on June 4, with handwritten notes including "please integrate into forward media plan". The plan goes into some detail about policy initiatives, media appearances and publicity stunts that could advance the women's strategy and objectives... most interesting is the way this document identifies the media tactics Gillard used to push her women's agenda - something that later morphed into the so-called gender wars. The briefing suggests: "Mamma Mia interview with Mia Freedman, followed by blog or Q&A on the website. This would include some social media in the lead up by key ministers and prominent women, encouraging people to ask questions." This idea was circled and marked "OK" and then taken up within days. Significantly, as we look back on the Gillard years in an historical context, this document demonstrates beyond doubt that Australia's first female prime minister deliberately and strategically sought to elevate and capitalise on "women's issues" for publicity and political gain. This was obvious to many observers at the time but denied by Gillard and Labor in government."
The Feminist Agenda! (and cynical political manipulation)

Women attack PM on gender | The Australian - "She also expressed disappointment at the implications of the Prime Minister's revival of gender politics in her speech at the launch of the Women for Gillard fundraising initiative last week. "I was disappointed because mixing up gender with policy is a bad idea," Senator Milne told Sky News's Australian Agenda. "When you try to roll these things together, as in that speech earlier this week, what you get is the notional view that you can't criticise a policy of a female leader without that being some sort of criticism of gender, and that's not the case." Ms Bishop accused Ms Gillard of using gender as a "shield and a sword" to silence criticism of her government, and argued women in Australia were not disadvantaged by their gender. "She is using this kind of claim and sexism generally as a defence against legitimate criticisms of her performance," Ms Bishop told the Ten Network's Meet the Press program. "Her own party are being bluffed into keeping her as their leader because if they seek to remove her on the grounds that she's lost respect or she's incompetent, then they'll be labelled as misogynists for removing Australia's first female prime minister"... "Julia Gillard will ultimately be judged not as a woman prime minister but as a prime minister, and whether or not she was a good prime minister and whether or not she ran a good government," he said."

Why the Danish mermaid is happier than the Singapore Merlion - "Danes believe that everyone deserves equal rights and opportunities. The term Janteloven means “you are not better than me”. From the bus driver to the corporate CEO, everyone takes pride in their work and does not feel inferior. Practising Janteloven relieves the pressure to acquire more materialistic symbols of success. Danes do not have “Tiger moms” who push their kids to choose professions that seem more respectable or well-paying. This allows many people to make a career out of their passion."
Comments: "What a slap in the face. Work life balance? Someone will take your lunch away, you know!"
"One of the rare occasions where "Janteloven" is referred to as a positive trait - we Danes mainly consider it prohibitory to initiative and entrepreneurship, as it rather goes "don't think you're better than me" and promotes collectivism over individualism to a degree that is by many considered unhealthy for society."

A Nightly Dinner Out That’s Like Therapy - NYTimes.com - "Mr. Rosen is 103 but he doesn’t look a day over 90. His mother died at 53 and his father at 70, but he says he feels fine and has had no major operations or health problems... “I haven’t eaten dinner home in many years,” said Mr. Rosen, who tried singles groups and other activities after his wife of 70 years, Lillian, died five years ago, when she was 95. But nothing brought him the comfort of a fine restaurant... Mr. Rosen said he would like to find a regular dining companion. A recent six-month fling with a 90-year-old woman he met at synagogue did not work out. “I’m still open to meeting someone,” he said, his eyes twinkling as he prepared to order coffee and dessert. “I still have the desire. That’s what counts.”"

Hey ‘Starry Night,’ Say ‘Cheese!’ - NYTimes.com - "These days, many museum visitors arrive with smartphones and the assumption that they have an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of good photographs. Museum bans on picture-taking are practically unenforceable and are also obsolete. Art museums in America typically permit visitors to take (nonflash) photographs of works in a museum’s permanent collection but forbid pictures at temporary exhibitions. This prohibition is currently under review at many institutions, some of which have already dropped it. You don’t have to be a cultural alarmist to feel unsettled by the ubiquity of digital cameras in museums. As early as 1936, the German critic Walter Benjamin warned that cameras were instruments of distraction that impeded concentration and robbed art of its “aura”... the vogue for digital photography is a constructive development that, for the most part, enhances our experience of art... “We now routinely attempt to negotiate with all of our lenders to allow photography of their works while on display in the galleries. We have included that express permission in our own loan letters and contracts.” The change, he notes, should put an end to confrontations between guards and visitors. “It is far more important for our gallery attendants to focus on the safety of the works of art and our visitors than to have to constantly admonish our visitors, ‘No photographs!’”... When we photograph, e-mail, tweet and Instagram paintings, we capitalize on technological innovation to expand familiarity with an ancient form. So, too, we increase the visual literacy of this country. Much can be gained. Nothing can be lost. A photograph of a painting can no more destroy a masterpiece than it can create one"

Timothy Porter: Perverted hypnotist who tried to turn patient into sex slave is jailed - "War hero and self-taught therapist Timothy Porter made his patient fondle her breasts as he performed a sex act on himself while her three children slept upstairs. Jonathan Walker, prosecuting, told the court: “The defendant stated he was her master, she was his sexual slave.” When his victim was roused from hypnosis, she found him with his trousers down telling her to touch herself"
This shit works???

The Kenyan Daily Express: PHOTO of the Lady with the Longest Pubic Hair..ONLY 18-yr-olds and Above..

iPhone homeless scheme leads to chaos in Calif. - "Things turned sour outside an Apple Store in Southern California when a man's plan to hire the homeless to wait in line for anxiously awaited new iPhones resulted in an angry and mostly unpaid mob"

Pimp who forced teen to have sex with 100 customers convicted
Despite claims of patriarchy and rape culture, all the comments are from men calling for a harsher sentence (many of them prescribing castration)

Leopard print clothing banned at zoo as it 'confuses animals' - "Zookeepers noticed the trend for animal print clothing had caused animals to try to communicate with those wearing it or to run away in fear... Banned prints at Chessington World of Adventures Resort include:
– Zebra – Giraffe – Leopard – Cheetah – Tiger – Spotted Hyena – Striped Hyena – African Wild Dog...
'it's no wonder animals are getting confused when they see what looks like zebras and giraffes driving across the terrain in a 7.5 tonne truck'"

1 in 3 Japanese women want to be housewives: poll - "One in three young Japanese women wants to get married and be a full-time housewife, a government survey has showed, despite growing calls for increased female participation in the workforce. The poll, which quizzed more than 3,000 people aged 15-39, found 34% of unmarried women did not want to work when they settled down... potential husbands were on the whole less keen on the idea, with only one in five saying they wanted a future wife to stay at home all day."
Comment: "This poll shows how much smarter women really are. They've seen their worn-out (:() father coming home late every night from work (or " a meeting") and their worn-out (:)) mother coming home from aerobics or lunch with her "friend". The young girls know who has a happier life. I'd love to be a housewife. If I only had a uterus."
A lot of the commenters have wishful thinking and/or didn't read the article and claim 2/3 of Japanese women don't want to be housewives