Links - 3rd July 2015

Wal-Mart Store Apologizes For Baking ISIS Battle Flag Cake [VIDEO] - "Wal-Mart is apologizing for a store in Slidell, La., which refused to bake a cake designed as the Confederate battle flag but accepted a request to bake a cake that looked like the ISIS battle flag. Chuck Netzhammer, a local resident, presented his story in a YouTube video Friday, saying, “Alright, Wal-Mart, you’ve got some explaining to do. I went to go buy a cake from you all the other day with this image on it and y’all wouldn’t do it. I went back yesterday and managed to get the ISIS battle flag [cake instead].”"
If a Muslim asks a bakery to make an ISIS cake and it refuses, can he sue for religious discrimination?

“We did not send her the text” says boss at the heart of #Hedi racist SMS - "The messages was racist, narrow minded and reflects the ignorance of some Chinese bosses in Singapore. In short, the SMS to Heidi Heng flat out told her that If she doesn’t eat pork and can’t assimilate with their group, you can’t be part of our team. We paid a visit to Light Art Studio Pte Ltd and spoke with Bosco Cheng, the Director of the company allegedly held by Heidi to have sent the text. “No one from my company sent that message to her”, said Cheng. “We are not even hiring!” Cheng is furious at the accusations. “It is a screen capture and the internet makes blind assumptions that the person in the text was from my company”. Cheng had made a police report, although it was not clear if the reports were directed at Heidi or towards the threats coming in from the public. Ever since the screen capture went viral, Cheng had been receiving annonymous calls with threats, vulgarities and pranks. “I don’t even dare to step out of my shop now, I’ve even parked my car far away!” Customers have called to cancel orders with him and some have called to express their concern and anger... Cheng attempted to contact Heidi throughout the day, but had received no replies from her. “…and finally this girl replied me at 6+pm and clarifies that this person in the SMS claims to be from his company… that’s it!” he said with an amazed look."
Harassing alleged racists is worse than "racism". That's what intolerance of "intolerance" gets you

“Stern warning” for grassroots leader over threatening statement online against Amos Yee - "Mr Tan had posted the comment earlier in March (shown above), “For me, I would cut his dick and put in his mouth for blemish Jesus Christ.”, referring to Yee... Mr Lee also shared that the police officer had asked why he felt distress about Mr Tan’s Facebook comment. He replied that any ordinary person would feel distressed when they see someone threatening bodily harm against another and Mr Tan’s offence is worse than Amos’ as Amos didn’t threaten anyone with physical harm."

WhatsApp users are putting their personal data at risk, says damning report - "Out of a possible five stars, WhatsApp earned just one star. That’s despite the fact that EFF gave the company a year to prepare for it. The Facebook owned service was criticized for not requiring a warrant before handing over customer messages and other data to authorities. This is particularly worrying for people living under regimes where swearing can land you in jail."

Male and female are different: hardly earth-shattering news - Telegraph - "What did he say, to make the plaster fall off the ceiling? Why did the seismograph yaw so crazily? Well, he was speaking flippantly, ironically – or so he thought – about men and women working together in the lab. Or rather, he spoke about his own experience. “Let me tell you about my trouble with girls,” he said. “Three things happen when they are in the lab: you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry.” Now the first two observations are surely uncontentious. Men fall in love with women, women fall in love with men. It’s been going on a long time, and thank goodness, because otherwise our species would die out. It is the third point – about crying – that has earned him the wrath of the Twittersphere, and the most venomous hatred. The first question to ask, when someone is accused of saying something unacceptable – even in a semi-satirical way – is whether or not that statement is true. Is there any foundation to this casual assertion, that women cry more readily than men? Well, yes, there is. Some men cry at the drop of a hat: Churchill was famously lacrimose. But the world’s leading expert on crying, Professor Ad Vingerhoets of Tilburg University, has shown that women on average cry 30-64 times a year, while men cry only between six and 17 times a year; and the Dutchman also claims that women cry for an average of six minutes, while men cry for only two to three minutes... Until we work out how to handle and how to compensate for these gender differences, we will continue to see too few female scientists, and too many male kids who are getting left behind by the system. The first step is to recognise that these emotional differences do indeed exist, and to be honest about them. Sir Tim Hunt was doing what he has done all his life – pointing out a natural phenomenon he had observed. He did not deserve to be pilloried, and should be reinstated forthwith to his academic positions"
Comment: "The Ayatollah Khomeini said there was no room for humour in Islamism. The same applies to contemporary Western liberalism"

Why You Can't Block Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook - "many assumed that was an Easter egg created by Facebook developers, it turns out that's not the case. Rather, Zuckerberg is unblockable because of an automated system that kicks in when too many people try to block one user...
' In very rare instances, a viral campaign will develop instructing lots of people to all wrongly block the same person. The purpose of this system is to protect the experience for people targeted by these campaigns'"

Malaysia car thieves steal finger - "Police in Malaysia are hunting for members of a violent gang who chopped off a car owner's finger to get round the vehicle's hi-tech security system."

Girl Goes On Profanity-Laced Rant Over Job Rejection Because Of "Unprofessional" Clothes - "A soon-to-be college graduate posted a profanity laced rant on Facebook after she was denied a programming job allegedly because she wore “unprofessional” attire to the job interview... How you present yourself matters. It says a lot about you. That might require investing in an outfit a step above Charlotte Russe and Forever 21 to get the job you want. This isn’t patriarchal oppression. If a dude showed up wearing something “mildly sexual” for a job interview, he’d probably be escorted from the building. It just isn’t the time or place for all that...
“they would have definitely have hired me based on my techinical [sic] skills and personality.”
That personality doe. Could it be that the employer sensed that you have “DRAMA!” written all over you? You’re not auditioning for the Real Programmers of Silcoin Valley.
“You clearly are too stupid to realize who just turned down.”
Right. More like, “Phew. Dodged that bullet.” You told a company in your desired field to go F themselves on social media. I’m sure the calls from prospective employers are just rolling in because YOU’RE GOING TO CHANGE THE WORLD and they better recognize.
Oh, you seem to have forgotten a few details in your social media rant. You were late to the interview. That’s like the number one “don’t” of job interviewing... The job recruiter did you a favor by telling you what you did wrong. You should have used this as a learning experience to improve for next time but it’s so much easier to blame your mistakes on other people."

Millennials' Biggest Interview Mistake Is 'Inappropriate Attire,' According To Hiring Managers - "About 75 percent of the 501 hiring managers polled by Adecco, a human resources consulting company, said that Millennials, those born between 1981-2000, frequently fail to wear appropriate interview attire. Fashion gaffes were the most common mistake observed, followed by Millennials posting “compromising content” on social media channels like Facebook (70 percent of hiring managers saw this) and lack of research on the prospective position (62 percent saw this.) Millennials can hardly afford to appear unprofessional. Hiring managers surveyed by Adecco said they were three times as likely to hire a mature worker, defined as age 50 or above, as they were to hire a Millennial. Recent employment data confirm that young Americans are getting left behind in the economic recovery as companies tap older workers to fill expanding payrolls... For every study showing that formal dress improves productivity by creating a professional environment, there’s another showing that casual threads do the same by increasing employee morale."

Better, Faster, Cheaper Is Not Innovation: Kodak and Microsoft - "“There is no statistically significant relationship between financial performance and innovation spending, in terms of either total R&D dollars or R&D as a percentage of revenues. Many companies — notably, Apple — consistently underspend their peers on R&D investments while outperforming them on a broad range of measures of corporate success, such as revenue growth, profit growth, margins, and total shareholder return. Meanwhile, entire industries, such as pharmaceuticals, continue to devote relatively large shares of their resources to innovation, yet end up with much less to show for it than they — and their shareholders — might hope for”... Far too often, companies spend most of their innovation dollars on making their products cheaper, operate better, faster or do more. Clayton Christensen pointed this out some 15 years ago in his groundbreaking book “The Innovator’s Dilemma” (HBS Press, 1997). Most R&D, in most industries, and for most companies, is spent trying to sustain an existing technology – not identify or develop a disruptive technology that would have far higher rates of return."

Nationally-recognized LA teacher suspended for (spins wheel) reading a passage from Huck Finn to his students. In this case, LA stands for Los Angeles and not Louisiana but the levels of ignorance are indistinguishable from one another

How to Disable Infinite Scrolling on Tumblr

Singapore Divorce-Rape Laws (Robin Williams Case Study) - "That’s about $20 million paid in total to the ex-wives. It doesn’t matter how much Robin Williams makes (despite the fact that the man will gradually slow down and make less movies/productions/tv shows as he ages and eases into the retirement he so richly deserves) in years after the divorces. In fact the monetary compensation from the divorces left Robin Williams close to bankruptcy. Lifetime alimony is just wrong because it does not give the woman any initiative to stand on their own two feet and making a fucking living for themselves (child support can continue until the children reach 18). Do they really need that kind of money even after all these years? Can’t they make their own money or least stop leaching off money from Robin Williams."

11 Sexting Acronyms From the 1930s - "“We think abbreviating with acronyms is new with texts and email, but it’s been going on for two thousand years,” Garfield says. “Back when a Roman would write to his friend, he would begin a letter, ‘I hope you’re well, I’m fine.’ But they got bored with that, so they would shorten it to the Latin acronym ‘SVBEEQV,’ which stood for si vales bene est, ego quidem valeo: If you’re well, that’s good—all’s well with me”...
5. MALAYA: My Ardent Lips Await Your Arrival
6. EGYPT: Eager to Grab Your Pretty Tits
7. BURMA: Be Undressed/Upstairs Ready My Angel
8. NORWICH: (k)Nickers Off Ready When I Come Home
9. ENGLAND: Every Naked Girl Loves A Naked Dick
10. VENICE: Very Excited Now I Caress Everywhere
11. CHINA: Come Home I’m Naked Already"