Links - 13th March 2015

Inside a high-tech San Francisco swinger's party - "The Bronze Party is referred to as a "lifestyle party," a modernized term for what many refer to as swinger's parties. Downstairs at the party, women wear stilettos and fishnet stockings and mingle with their significant others. Many take off garments as the hours pass. Upstairs, there's what's referred to as a "play room," full of mattresses covered in red sheets, where couples tend to gravitate later in the evening. They may have sex with each other. They may switch partners. Some just watch. These types of events are nothing new, but what makes this one different is its high-tech nature"

In violent outburst, Jelatek residents say ‘no’ to Chinese neighbours - "Fearing their Malay-majority city neighbourhood may soon be overrun by Chinese, a group of residents in Taman Keramat marched to the construction site of upscale condominium project Datum Jelatek here and violently tore down its cladding today. The group had warned of “bloodshed” last November if the luxury condo project, which sits on the former site of four blocks of Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) flats owned mostly by Malays, goes ahead. “This is a 100 per cent Malay area,” Salleh Majid, spokesman for the group, told Malay Mail Online when contacted over the phone. News portal The Malaysian Insider had reported a violent protest breaking out at the condo project site earlier today, but Salleh said the residents reacted aggressively to defend their homes from “Chinese occupation”... He also disapproved of local ethnic Chinese staying in the proposed project, when asked. “No. We already have this understanding… Keramat was created by Datuk Harun after May 13 to balance the Chinese population in the city with the Malays,” he said. “We have been through May 13 before, so why set fire to the oil? Why the need to provoke?” he asked, referring to the bloody racial clashes of 1969 that pitted the Malays against ethnic Chinese. The Keramat area was set up by the then Selangor Mentri Besar Harun Idris in a delicate attempt to achieve racial balance. Salleh said residents were afraid that the influx of Chinese to the area might force Malays to vacate, similar to other Malay settlements in the city in the past. The self-professed professional claimed this was a conspiracy by the predominantly Chinese DAP opposition party to open up Keramat to the Chinese, but he did not provide proof to support his allegation. “This is all a DAP agenda,” Salleh alleged, before adding, “This project came amid insults to the Malays like the ‘Allah’ issue and others”... He claimed the prices were intentionally set high so that only other races could afford to purchase the units."
If ethnic cleansing is to 'protect' a 'minority', is it still a bad thing?

Interview: Ian Tan - "When I was studying in a university in California, I was insecure and oversensitive—I felt like there was a lot of racism, when there really wasn’t"

Despite notice, more travelers taking weapons to airport checkpoints - "“How does that happen?” asked David Borer, general counsel for the American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents more than 45,000 TSA workers. “They don’t forget to put on their pants. They don’t forget to bring a toothbrush. But oh hey, they forgot they brought a gun? They’ve been on notice for this for 10 years, and it’s time to grow up and be responsible.”"

Jesus promised the end of wicked people, Odin promised the end of ice giants. Which one kept their promise? | Yahoo Answers

Iceland to build first temple to Norse gods since Viking age

Singapore Growth Falls But Still Doing Well - "Although Asianomics doesn’t say it, the report comes at a time when the leadership has largely fossilized, with the country seemingly awaiting the death of Lee Kuan Yew, the founder in whose image the country has been built. Lee is now 91, fully retired, and appears increasingly frail... Government officials may be more pessimistic than they need to be, according to the report. “Searching for the next growth strategy appears to be the main pastime.” The answer, however, is to do less. The government, the report says, “just has to find a way to get involved in every aspect of economic life.” According to one source there are now over 200 schemes to incentivize business, some of them “so ill-thought-out that they would be better called scams than schemes (like paying business S$120 for every S$100 spent on robotic cleaning devices)”... The myriad incentive schemes often have unintended consequences. For example, by raising the levy on foreign construction workers the government intended to increase their skills base. Instead, search firms went out and looked for even lower skilled and cheaper labor to offset the effective tax increase. Instead of being productivity enhancing the higher tax has had the opposite effect... Employment is almost at capacity, with only 2 percent unemployment. “Anyone with a brain is gainfully employed in Singapore,” the report quotes a source as saying. However, while fully employed, Singaporean workers have only just maintained their wage share of GDP at 42 percent and have seen some real income erosion as a period of high consumer price inflation followed the Western Financial Crisis and the forced reduction of interest rates to zero in the economy. The slowing of GDP growth may look disheartening, the report notes, but Singapore is now a rich-country economy and “there is nothing the government needs to do or should be doing about increasing that range – although it would be well-advised to rationalize the various incentive schemes, as well as reversing some of the tax breaks for multinational companies who can do quite well enough without them”... Singapore’s growth correlates rather closely with India’s, although there is no correlation at all with the growth rates of its closest neighbors, Malaysia and Indonesia, in effect the country’s hinterland. With India expected to take off economically under the business-oriented leadership of new Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party, Singapore’ fortunes may improve as well."

Happy birthday, Orchard Towers! 40 years of sex and violence - "Its owners have been embroiled in high-profile court cases, including a peculiarly comical one where one of its partners was summoned to court for the number of dogs she kept in her house. A fortune-teller had advised her to keep her huge litter of dogs, as he claimed that they were the source of her luck...
Male visitors to the building are often welcomed by being hugged or even groped. Would you consider that molest, or extra-sales services?
It’s part of the service! If not, these bars would be no different from any other regular joint...
Have you had any funny encounters to relay?
One guy requested to put fruits into the girl who would then feed those fruits straight to him, then pee on him.
Another wanted someone who was lactating. I tried my best to make sure these clients got what they wanted...
What's your take on Singapore's licencing and sort of legalisation of prostitution?
Sex for sale is legal, pimps and agents are not. If the purpose is to protect women from exploitation, it would be better to legalise agencies which would be subject to licensing and health checks. This trade is not going to disappear. Singapore should make it safe for the women who work in this line. When agencies aren't wholly legal, they tend to side with clients and hush up girls whenever things go sideways, in order to protect themselves.
So are there any policy changes that you hope for?
Legalisation will do much more than sting and entrapment operations or public shaming. Legalisation so that girls are protected and do not need to shut up when they get hit or are robbed by clients, and health checks become mandatory. "

CRAZY: Muslims on Food Stamps DEMAND Food Meet Islamic Requirements (VIDEO) - "An Islamic women’s ‘advocacy group’ is DEMANDING a county in Minnesota change its food stamp policies to require a low-price, halal food shelf. The Isuroon Project says there is a ‘desperate need’ for a culturally specific halal food shelf in the metro area which would cost taxpayers more than $150,000!... Coming to America poor, they receive unlimited health services, free transportation, free housing, and children receive free education. In addition to halal food, gratitude is also in short supply."

Malaysia minister asks Malays to boycott Chinese businesses to reduce prices - "Malaysia’s agriculture and agro-based industries minister has called for Malay consumers to “boycott” Chinese-owned businesses who have been raising their prices indiscriminately, claiming this will leave businesses no choice but to reduce their prices... “As long as the Malays don’t change, the Chinese will take the opportunity to oppress the Malays,” he said"

ベッド紳士（山下お母さん） on Twitter: "ヒジャブには色々なスタイルがあります。しばしば顔が隠れる事で問題になるニカブやブルカもヒジャブの一種ですが、一般にヒジャブというと顔を出す装い方です。 http://t.co/JakTN68hMO"
Easy guide showing the difference between a Hijab, Niqab, Burka, Al-Amira, Shayla, Khimar and Chador

Report: Chechen women attacked with paintball guns for 'immodest' dress - "Chechnya's Kremlin-installed strongman Ramzan Kadyrov has ordered Chechen women to wear "modest attire" that covers their entire bodies, including their heads, whenever they go outdoors, and has sent vigilantes into the streets to attack disobedient women with paintball guns... Kadyrov has publicly explained that Chechen women must be compelled to dress "modestly" in order to spare their menfolk the painful duty of killing them if they stray... "On most of the territory of Chechnya it is sharia law that operates, and not the laws of the Russian Federation," says Valentina Terevatenko, head of an independent women's union in the southern city of Novocherkassk, which has close ties with Chechen women's groups. "I think the silence of the Russian authorities about this can be explained by the exigencies of the war on terrorism. They are buying calm in Chechnya at the cost of human rights, including those of women.""

Russian Orthodox Church calls for dress code, says miniskirts cause 'madness' - "A top official of the increasingly powerful Russian Orthodox Church has triggered a storm of outrage by calling for a "national dress code" that would force women to dress modestly in public and require businesses to throw out "indecently" clad customers. Women, said Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, can't be trusted to clothe themselves properly... While his proposed dress code would also apply to men who go into public wearing T-shirts, shorts, or track suits, the letter was most likely to rankle Russian women, who are famous for their love of shocking colors, generous makeup, and daring fashions... "The average Russian woman will just shrug this off and regard it as having nothing to do with her life"... "One big difference between today's Russia and the USSR is that, though the state is politically authoritarian, it no longer attempts to interfere in peoples' private lives," and it's not likely to empower the church to do so either, she says.