Links - 6th June 2017 (2)

‘Bad’ video game behavior increases players’ moral sensitivity: May lead to pro-social behavior in real world - "several recent studies, including this one, have found that committing immoral behaviors in a video game elicits feelings of guilt in players who commit them.

Why Are Republican Lies Bad But Democrat Lies Okay? - "In 2012, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid claimed Romney hadn’t paid income taxes for ten years. That was a lie. But that didn’t matter. Four years later, Reid was even gleefully unrepentant about having lied, and nobody really cares about it. When Obamacare began falling apart and people began losing their health insurance plans by the millions, President Obama claimed he had warned the country that certain insurance plans might get cancelled. That was a lie. In fact, he had said precisely the opposite: that Americans could keep the plans they liked. Well. The New York Times claimed that Obama’s brazen lie was “additional explanation;” Jonathan Capehart at the Washington Post said the president’s lie was not a lie but a “lie,” with scare quotes. Capehart then went on to argue that George W. Bush was the real presidential liar. In 2014, when Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber inadvertently spilled the beans about Obamacare’s lies, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi—in a fit of spectacular cowardice—denied knowing who he was. That was a lie, and it was so obvious a lie wrought by so transparent a cowardice that the media should have had a field day. Nobody made much of a big deal out of it."

F.B. Purity Features - FBP : Clean up and Customize Facebook - "Fluff Busting (F.B.) Purity lets you Clean up and Customize Facebook. It has a myriad of features for eliminating the junk and clutter on Facebook."

Sharia law guidelines abandoned as Law Society apologises - Telegraph - "The Law Society has withdrawn controversial guidelines for solicitors on how to compile “Sharia compliant” wills amid complaints that they encouraged discrimination against women and non-Muslims... it was a vindication for those who were accused of racism or being anti-Muslim for questioning the wisdom of original practice note"

CNN Wonders Why Anime Child Porn Isn't Banned in Japan - "Because police are too busy saving real victims instead of drawn fake victims."
"Shooting people is illegal so why do we allow shows and games with murder in them?"

VIDEO: Doc Shows the Right Way to Pop a Pimple -- It's Not What You Think - "“Never squeeze a pimple because you will macerate it,” adding “You’re destroying all the healthy tissue with the pressure you are putting on there by squeezing.” Instead, you take an alcohol-sterlized needed, place it parallel to the skin and pierce the pimple from one side to another – straight through like a kebab skewer—and then rip upwards."

MH370, MH17 Tragedies Were Caused Due to Un-Islamic Behaviours like 'Serving Alcohol and Exposing Flesh': Malaysian Official

Fuck It, I'm Going Back to Firefox - "These days Chrome is bloated, slow, and constantly crashing on me. I've finally reached the breaking point."

Pat Law - In the simplest of all forms, two wrongs do not make a... - "Perhaps a little traumatizing too, when being shouted at in the Ladies. But it must've been more traumatizing for the old lady who thought a guy was next to her cubicle listening to her pee... The call for boycott of IKEA Singapore for sponsoring Lawrence Khong's circus act by some homosexuals is not one I understand. I understand the angst if IKEA Singapore has never sponsored a gay play by an openly gay director. But they have. I understand the angst if IKEA Singapore had banned homosexuals as either customers or employees. But they haven't. The call for boycott is akin to intolerance too. IKEA Singapore should reserve their right to engage whoever they want as a merchant on their pretty little loyalty programme, and unhappy homosexuals reserve their right to not shop at IKEA anymore. But to call for a boycott? When you call for one on behalf of other homosexuals, you are as big as an instigator as Lawrence Khong is. Fight intolerance with grace. Not hatred."
In homophiles' minds, can a homosexual be a homophobe?

Jennifer Lawrence discusses nude photos leak in US Vogue interview - "“No one ever asks me out,” she tells the latest issue of US Vogue. “I am lonely every Saturday night. Guys are so mean to me""

'Phuc Dat Bich': man says he created name hoax to fool media and Facebook - "In a mea culpa posted to Facebook, still titled Phuc Dat Bich, on Wednesday afternoon, the 23-year-old Melbourne man admitted that the name change and doctored image was part of a prank intended to fool the news media and highlight shortcomings of Facebook’s “real name” policy... “Out of this ordeal I’ve concluded not to trust the credibility of the media, it’s twisted by the hungry journalists who mask the truth ... It goes to show that an average joe like myself can con the the biggest news sources with ease.”"

Wedding gatecrash bar just raised: Get 512 Facebook Likes to marry your bae
What depths will women not sink to?

UK film censors forced to watch a 2-day long movie of paint drying - "To protest the UK's antiquated film censorship regime, Charlie Lyne crowdfunded a movie of paint drying. Having raised £5963, Charlie was able to submit a 607 minute film, which the censors now have to sit through"

Man dies in Germany after blowing up condom vending machine in apparent robbery attempt

New London Tube Map Shows How Long It Takes to Walk, Not Ride a Train - "It shows that people who catch the Tube from Covent Garden to Leicester Square and Mansion House to Cannon Street (or vice versa) are wasting both time and money, as the journey takes less than five minutes on foot"

Price of wedding tables hits new high - "Wedding banquet prices at top hotels are on the verge of hitting the unprecedented $2,000-mark for each table of 10, with several newlyweds already forking out more after additions such as menu upgrades and alcohol. And that is before the addition of the Goods and Services Tax... Couples themselves may have a part to play in driving up prices, according to wedding planners... CIMB economist Song Seng Wun believes nothing short of a full-blown recession will bring table prices down. "There are certain things in life for which prices are inelastic," he said. "Healthcare, funeral packages... and in between, weddings. My advice to couples getting married today? Do it in Johor"... Commodities trading firm treasurer Stacey Su, who tied the knot on March 5 with 30-year-old software engineer Lee Qianwen, celebrated their wedding at W Singapore Sentosa Cove. After a menu upgrade, they spent more than $200 on each of their 340 guests. The 29-year-old admits the cost initially stunned her, but she was determined not to think about it. She said. "I just wanted to have a good, memorable time with my friends and family, and not worry about counting every single cent.""
If you don't have to pay for something...

This is what you should wear on a date, according to a survey of 1,000 women - "An overwhelming 94% of women would like to see their date show up in a T-shirt. But the kind of T-shirt depends on the vibe you want to give off. Regular fit and crew necks are better if you want to give off that husband-material vibe, but if you just want to be a “seducer,” you might want to stick with a slim-fit V-neck."

Facebook Really Does Rule The Internet, And These Charts Prove It - "Not only does Facebook reach a much larger audience than services such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Snapchat, it also saps more time from the people who use it."

Artist Tracey Emin, Inspirational Woman, Marries a Rock - "He’s solid. He’s stable. He contains multitudes: good for sitting on, always holds the door for you. He’s not argumentative or threatened by your career. He’s totally fine with you having friendships with other men. While he would never even look at another woman, he’s okay with you straying every once in a while. After all, it is modern love. Sign me up"
Yet when men marry blowup dolls...

Kagan Goh - In 1983, my father, Goh Poh Seng: doctor, poet,... - "The Singapore authorities are not friendly toward rock & roll. Two of my songs, “China Girl” and “Modern Love,” were banned from radio play. “Restricted,” as they say. Our wonderful and fearless promoter, Dr. Goh Poh Seng, risked his livelihood, bank balance, and even his freedom to get me and my band into his country. When the authorities heard I was going to do an impromptu guest appearance at his youth club tow days before our major gig, they busted it, banned the resident band for indecent performance, and threatened Poh Seng with imprisonment if a guest of the club – (me) – should get up on stage and sing. He also faced incredible local resistance in getting the staging and lights together. When he asked for three yards of cable, local suppliers – knowing it was for rock & roll – would only sell him a 100-yard drum. No one would lease him timber for the stage, so he ended up buying an architect-designed permanent structure at ten times the cost…and so it went, over and over. The lights were flown in from all over Malaysia. Many arrived broken, and those intact not much more powerful than a bedroom lamp. But, good god, he tried"
Ahh... creativity!

Scotland's national dish is an 'imposter' and was invented by Vikings, claims master butcher - Telegraph - "Mr Callaghan is convinced the authentic recipe is venison, creating a "meatier and richer" flavour in an interpretation of the dish which also contains port, juniper, balsamic vinegar, redcurrants and spices... “The only reason haggis is associated the world over with Scotland is because of Robert Burns.” The Scottish Poet, Robert Burns, popularised the traditional sheep's gut filled with offal, oats and blood in To a Haggis, written in 1786, but until then the dish was common throughout England as well. The book, published today, shows evidence of a haggis-like dish described by the Ancient Greek writer Aristophanes in about 400BC and a recipe for a pig haggis from the medieval English king, Richard II's reign, in 1390. "

Problem: Facebook's Users Are Sharing Less. Solution: Pay Them to Share More

Hong Kong Pokémon Fans Protest Pikachu's Name Change - "A small group of protesters even demonstrated in front of the Japanese Consulate in Central, carrying banners, singing the Cantonese theme song, and demanding that Nintendo change “Pei-kaa-jau” back to “Bei-kaa-chyu.”"

Technology and the death of civilisation - "this photograph of children looking at their smartphones by Rembrandt’s ‘The Night Watch’ in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam started doing the rounds on the web. It quickly became viral. It was often accompanied by outraged, dispirited comments such as “a perfect metaphor for our age”, “the end of civilisation” or “a sad picture of our society”. Clearly, to lots of folk, the photograph epitomised everything that is wrong with young people these days and their ‘addiction’ to technology. These children were being distracted by their technology to such an extent that they weren’t paying any attention to the beauty surrounding them in the real world. Only they weren’t. It turns out that the Rijksmuseum has an app that, among other things, contains guided tours and further information about the works on display. As part of their visit to the museum, the children, who minutes earlier had admired the art and listened attentively to explanations by expert adults, had been instructed to complete an assignment by their school teachers, using, among other things, the museum’s excellent smartphone app... I would like to think that all those who liked, posted, shared and tweeted the picture of children on smartphones by Rembrandt’s masterpiece in the erroneous belief that it illustrated everything that is wrong with society feel a tiny bit silly and a little more humble as a consequence. But it won’t happen. The tragic thing is that this — the truth — will never go viral. So, I wonder, what is more likely to bring about the death of civilisation, children using smartphones to learn about art or the wilful ignorance of adults who are too quick to make assumptions?"

Tbilisi vegan cafe appeal over meat-wielding 'extremists' - "The attackers wore strings of sausages round their necks and threw chunks of meat onto customers' plates"

Emmanuel Macron's idyllic vision of France is a myth - "The most troubling aspect about those detained in France in recent months is their background. No longer are the suspected terrorists solely young working-class men of North African origin, like those who carried out the killings at Charlie Hebdo, the Jewish supermarket and the Bataclan. In September, police charged three women after a botched attempt to detonate a gas bomb outside Notre-Dame cathedral, and in November a suspected terror cell was broken up in Strasbourg, with one of the suspects a 37-year-old teaching assistant at a local primary school."

Emmanuel Macron Says France Terrorism is Fact of Life

The macabre trial of Prof. George Bensoussan: Verdict today - "Bensoussan, head of of the Memorial de la Shoah editorial department, was invited by famous French philosopher and member of the French Academy Alain Finkielkraut to participate in a radio program and discussion. In the course of the discussion, Bensoussan, who was born in Morocco and knows the reality of life in the Arab world first-hand, referred to remarks made by Algerian-born Professor Smain Laacheron of Strasbourg University on the topic of anti-Semitism among the Arab families in France, in a film shown on French TV3. In his portrayal of the anti-Semitic atmosphere which has become the norm in the Arab milieu of France, but is still regarded as an unspoken taboo in France, at least publically, Laacher described extensively the phenomenon of what he called ‘domestic anti-Semitism’ in Arab families, with such details as “one of the parents’ insults to their children when they want to reprimand them, is to call them ‘Jews.'“ Laacher also said on the record, in the movie broadcast on French TV3, that “anti-Semitism in Arab families is first of all domestic (...), it is in the air that one breathes” – all this according to the transcript of the film... The pro-Islamist organization Le Collectif Contre l'Islamophobie en France (Collective Against Islamophobia in France, CCIF) wasted no time in bringing the case against George Bensoussan to the Paris prefecture which, in a surprising move, decided to prosecute. That, in our view, was and is the essential point of yet another shameful public trial in France, astonishingly similar to the Stalin show-trials... When people compare renowned Jewish historian Bensoussan to Dreyfus, it is an immediate and understandable association. In fact, the essence of the criminal case and trial of Bensoussan and the way it proceeded is astonishingly similar to the first trial of Emil Zola in 1898 when that great French writer decided to come to the defense of Dreyfus... one is astonished – or not – to see that there are several very visible French human rights organizations, including LICRA, the Jewish left-wing body, attacking Bensoussan along with the pro-Islamic Collective Against Islamophobia, as well as the French Human Rights League... One cannot help but remember the phrase of Pascal Bruckner, well-known French philosopher and writer, from his classic work “The Tyranny of Guilt”: “Europe relieves itself of the crime of the Shoah by blaming Israel (...)”. In the same work, Bruckner also wrote of what he called ‘quiet re-legitimization of the hatred of the Jews” masked under the disguise of "the Palestinian question."
He was acquitted, but still

80% of drug addicts in Malaysia are Malays, Parliament told
If the disproportionate number of Malay drug addicts in Singapore is due to a racist government and their not being called up for NS for a few years, what is the cause of the disproportionate number of Malay drug addicts in Malaysia?