Time passes more slowly for flies, study finds - "Flies avoid being swatted in just the same way Keanu Reeves dodges flying bullets in the movie The Matrix – by watching time pass slowly... Generally the smaller an animal is, and the faster its metabolic rate, the slower time passes. The evidence comes from research into the ability of animals to detect separate flashes of fast-flickering light."
Why young-adult fiction is a dangerous fantasy - "I’ve drafted an outline for a bestselling young adult novel. It features a transgender school dropout with autism who meets a self-harming vampire with a heart of gold, hell bent on bringing peace to the world. Together they embark on a magical quest to find an ancient crystal with the power to render all weapons useless. Oh, and the protagonist’s mother makes a living selling legal highs to illegal immigrants."
Election Cake: A Touch of American Culinary History - "Election Cake is a traditional cake historically served at the time of mustering or elections in early America. It is a sour-leavened caked sweetened with unrefined cane sugar, molasses, dried fruit, brandy, white wine and spices"
Amazon AI Designed To Create Phone Cases Terribly Malfunctions, Fills Store With 31,000+ Hilarious Products - "My Handy Design, whose creator is still unknown, was a bot programmed to fetch frequently searched images, turn them into iPhone 6 cases, and put them up for sale. The bot's algorithm somehow went rogue, however, and began scouring images so bizarre that we can only assume they came from the darkest, most depraved corners of the Internet. Whoever set this thing loose is either nursing a giant migraine right now, or rolling on the floor laughing."
Tube to change 'ladies and gentlemen' announcements - "London Underground staff have been told to say "hello everyone" in an effort to become more gender-neutral. TfL said the move was to ensure all passengers felt "welcome"."
What if someone gets triggered by the informality?
How I lost my 25-year battle against corporate claptrap - "Over the past two decades, two things have happened. Business bullshit has got a million per cent more bullshitty, and I’ve stopped predicting a correction in the marketplace. I’m 110 per cent sure there won’t be one... Over the years, Mr Schultz [of Starbucks] has consistently proved just how bad language serves business people well. So when an analyst asks if you are going to acquire anything, you can either say no, which is a bit too bald and clear, or you can say 34 words instead, as he did a few years ago: “I would say that we have enough to digest in the near-term, and there’s nothing candidly in our sightline that would suggest that we’re involved in engaging anything that we’re going to acquire.” Bingo. The audience will be so bored, you will never get called to account... EY got rid of a number of partners by sending a message around saying “we look forward to strengthening our alumni network”... Over the years, Toyota has renamed the car a “sustainable mobility solution”; Amazon has called the book a “reading container”; Speedo has rebranded the swimming cap a “hair management system” and a Nestlé bottle of water has been described as an “affordable, portable lifestyle beverage”"
Photographer in bizarre selfie court battle reveals that being sued by a monkey has left him broke - "It was meant to be a harmless selfie, designed to highlight the plight of the endangered crested black macaque. But British photographer David Slater, who is at the centre of a bizarre court battle of the now infamous “monkey selfie”, has revealed that being sued by a monkey has ruined his life and left him completely broke. The 52-year-old from south Wales, who specialises in wildlife and conservation photography, said he has been left penniless after years of legal wrangling over whether he or the macaque owns the copyright of the picture. Mr Slater, who couldn't even afford a flight to America to be at the court hearing on Thursday, said that he is considering giving up his career as a photographer, and becoming a tennis coach or a dog-walker instead."
PETA ruins lives
The Lies of Donald Trump's Critics, and How They Shape His Many Personas - "Some of these claims are downright fake, entirely fabricated by unreliable or dubious web sites and presented as satire, or otherwise blatantly false. But the rest — some of which have gained significant traction and credibility from otherwise serious people and organizations — provide a fascinating insight into the tactics and preoccupations of the broad anti-Trump movement known as “the Resistance,” whether they were created by critics of the President or merely shared by them. Generally speaking, we discovered that they are characterized and driven by four types of errors of thought:
Alarmism
A lack of historical context or awareness
Cherry-picking of evidence (especially visual evidence)
A failure to adhere to Occam’s Razor — the common-sense understanding that the simplest explanation for an event or behavior is the most likely."
Is Snopes now an unreliable, alt-right, fake news site for exposing lies about Donald Trump?
Government portal may lead to contractors cutting corners: Contractor on viaduct collapse - "GeBIZ’s practice of posting the prices of all bids entered and the price of the winning bid for each contract online may lead contractors to cut corners as it has been revealed that the lowest bids overwhelmingly wins job"
'Africa should stop blaming history for its economic problems' – is Obama right? - "Barack Obama has told African leaders to stop “making excuses” for ongoing economic problems in their countries, and to look for solutions within rather than blaming the past"
Racist!
Why these professors are warning against promoting the work of straight, white men - "Academics and scholars must be mindful about using research done by only straight, white men, according to two scientists who argued that it oppresses diverse voices and bolsters the status of already privileged and established white male scholars. Geographers Carrie Mott and Daniel Cockayne argued in a recent paper that doing so also perpetuates what they call “white heteromasculinism,” which they defined as a “system of oppression” that benefits only those who are “white, male, able-bodied, economically privileged, heterosexual, and cisgendered.” (Cisgendered describes people whose gender identity matches their birth sex.) Mott, a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, and Cockayne, who teaches at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, argued that scholars or researchers disproportionately cite the work of white men, thereby unfairly adding credence to the body of knowledge they offer while ignoring the voices of other groups, like women and black male academics. Although citation seems like a mundane practice, the feminist professors argue that citing someone's work has implications on his or her ability to be hired, get promoted and obtain tenured status, among others... A Campus Reform writer said she asked the researchers whether the disparity in citations is simply because there are more men than women in the field of geography"
Research is oppressive!
Women’s issues are different from trans women’s issues, feminist author says, sparking criticism - The Washington Post - "Adichie’s comments sparked outrage over the weekend among transgender people and transgender rights activists, who insisted that “transgender women ARE women” and disputed the idea that transgender women in general experienced privilege before transitioning."
Maybe when you transition you are purified of your privilege like in baptism - except that this affects history too (as per the trans practice of erasing history and pretending your old self never existed)
Kellyanne Conway’s uniquely feminist opposition to feminism - The Washington Post - "“It's difficult for me to call myself a feminist in the classic sense because it seems to be very anti-male and it certainly is very pro-abortion, in this context,” she said. “And I'm neither anti-male or pro-abortion.” Conway then offered her own brand of feminism, which stands almost diametrically opposed to how liberals have come to define it: “There's an individual feminism, if you will, that you make your own choices. … I look at myself as a product of my choices, not a victim of my circumstances. That's really to me what conservative feminism, if you will, is all about.”... 57 percent of conservative women said feminism unfairly blames men for women's problems, and 60 percent blamed the choices women make more than discrimination for keeping women from achieving full equality."
Why Is Evergreen College Insane? Look At Its Course Catalog - " Students at Evergreen receive narrative evaluations instead of grades to preserve their self-esteem. Evergreen says this approach allows professors to take stock of student performance as a whole. Students also get a say in the grading process. Evergreen offers a course titled, “The Meaning of Life Through Science and Spirituality” that focuses on climate change, peace, and social justice in the search for life’s purpose. “Dancing Molecules, Dancing Bodies” uses dance to communicate with the body to understand the chemical processes within... Physics courses include “Defending Mother Earth: Science, Energy and Native Peoples“."
The Evergreen State College Implosion: Are There Lessons To Be Learned? - "he was branded a racist and an obstructionist. A faculty member who sat on the Equity Council explicitly called him a racist in two different faculty meetings. When Professor Weinstein asked for an opportunity to defend himself, he was told that a faculty meeting was not the appropriate venue for such a defense. When he asked what the appropriate venue was, he was told that no such venue existed because he was a racist. Neither the president nor the interim provost interceded to make it clear that leveling such charges against a fellow faculty member was unacceptable within the college community. When Professor Weinstein spoke privately with both of those administrators about these incidents, they both acknowledged the inappropriateness of the behavior but each said that it was the responsibility of the other to do something about it. Neither administrator took any public action in response... When the validity of that foundation was called into question, including by a robust analysis by an Evergreen alum currently in graduate school, the same faculty member who publicly called Professor Weinstein a racist began attacking scientists generally claiming that their reliance on data was dismissive of the concerns of students. President Bridges, upon being presented with the alum’s statistical critique, promised a response but none has been forthcoming... This student, himself a student of color, went to the campus police department to file a complaint against the two students he said assaulted him. The police began an investigation later that evening and one of the students interrogated was the leader of the protest that soon followed. Given that one of the complaints raised by the protestors was that the police were targeting certain individuals, black trans students in particular, and given that the students accused of pushing the vice president and accosting the student in the cafeteria were black trans individuals, it seems reasonable to assume that the protests were, in part, designed to deflect unwanted attention for possibly inappropriate actions."
An ex-administrator spills the beans
The Media Brought the Alt-Right to My Campus - The New York Times - "[On Weinstein and Evergreen State College] After I published an essay on Medium to explain the protesters’ side of the story, my full name, phone number and home address were posted online, and I was bombarded with hate-filled messages. I found my name and personal information on message boards, along with rape threats and discussions about which racial slur fit me best (the consensus was the N-word). It took three days to get my personal information taken down, and for others it took longer."
"Leftists - "Offensive speech has consequences."
Also Leftists - "Why is *my* speech having consequences?!"
Evergreen State College Is Having Issues With Roaming Bands of Bat-Wielding Vigilantes - "The school was shut down Monday because of acts of vandalism and window smashing the previous night... Weinstein, the professor at the center of the shit storm, is claiming some students were even hit, but says they won’t report it to the police."
Draining The Higher-Ed Swamp: The Case For Closing Evergreen State College - "Praise should also go to Washington State Representative, Matt Manweller, who recently introduced legislation to defund the school. Manweller finds it “incredibly frightening that the administration at Evergreen would tacitly support Brown-shirt tactics we have not seen since 1930s Germany. That they would allow students to threaten professors and other students based on their race is simply horrifying.” Manweller locates the blame: “The administration bears direct responsibility for this situation. They hired the professors who have elevated the pseudo-science of ‘social justice’ to a religious movement. Now all dissent is crushed by threats of violence or actual violence."... Evergreen issues no letter grades, providing faculty “narrative evaluations” in place of A’s through F’s. In addition, the school promises students that “You’ll write your own self-evaluation” and “you also get to evaluate your faculty, in return.”... With its announcement that liberal education at Evergreen takes its bearings from the requirements of “Social Justice,” the veil drops and the campus’s recent meltdown is seen for what it is: the putting into practice of what Evergreen proudly teaches... Nor is Evergreen alone in transmogrifying its campus into an ideological training camp. A recent study finds that “millennials are most likely to view socialism and communism favorably.” Whereas 54 per cent of baby boomers and 71 per cent of mature adults hold a positive view of capitalism, only 42 percent of millennials are favorably disposed toward it. In place of learning the “Three R’s,” today’s students are trained in the Postmodern Trilogy—Race, Class, and Gender. Looking forward, I ask the reader to consider these tactical instructions from Marx to Social Justice Warriors: “[T]here is only one way in which the murderous death agonies of the old society and the bloody birth throes of the new society can be shortened, simplified and concentrated, and that way is revolutionary terror.” This returns us to our opening question: Are taxpayers required to subsidize the destruction of their country and way of life?"
State legislators sponsor bills to defund Evergreen State, turn it into private college - "What I see is an institution dedicated to indoctrinating kids into being perpetual victims. We saw videos of students disrupting classrooms, bullying administration, blocking police and intimidating those around them, and the response from the college president was to thank them for it. It is unbelievable"
This is a professor at Evergreen State College : The_Donald - "To my white friends You're on notice If you are not paying me cash money working on an impeachment plan or burning a cop shop to the ground we don't have much to say to each other"
Evergreen State finally tells protesters-two months after melee-their actions were 'criminal' - "A memo emailed Friday from an Evergreen State College administrator to students warned them that aggressively cornering and shouting down faculty, staff and peers and blocking campus exits is actually illegal and future occurrences could result in criminal charges... the school has seen a drop in enrollment and the public institution faces pressure from state lawmakers to clean up its act... The memo does not mention the bat-wielding student vigilante brigade that emerged during the uproar, or the boisterous meeting between students and administrators during which they berated President Bridges."
Evergreen State College Adds Mandatory Workshop on Civil Disagreement
The serene-looking Buddhist monk accused of inciting Burma’s sectarian violence - The Washington Post - "“I think she has seriously miscalculated her response to anti-Muslim violence in Burma,” Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, told GQ. “She has ended up with the worst of both worlds. On the one hand, she hasn’t spoken up for an oppressed and endangered minority, on the other hand, she’s still being attacked by the 969 movement and losing support because there remains a perception that she’s friendly to Muslims.”"