Links - 29th September 2017 (1)

Differences in Frequency of Violence and Reported Injury Between Relationships With Reciprocal and Nonreciprocal Intimate Partner Violence - "Almost 24% of all relationships had some violence, and half (49.7%) of those were reciprocally violent. In nonreciprocally violent relationships, women were the perpetrators in more than 70% of the cases. Reciprocity was associated with more frequent violence among women (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=2.3; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.9, 2.8), but not men (AOR=1.26; 95% CI=0.9, 1.7). Regarding injury, men were more likely to inflict injury than were women (AOR=1.3; 95% CI=1.1, 1.5), and reciprocal intimate partner violence was associated with greater injury than was nonreciprocal intimate partner violence regardless of the gender of the perpetrator (AOR=4.4; 95% CI=3.6, 5.5)."
In other words, when men hit women it's usually because the women are hitting them too. And women are more likely to hit men "unprovoked" than vice versa. Ahh, stereotypes!

Obama-Caesar vs Trump-Caesar: Two (Very Different) Tales - "Since New York Public Theater’s Central Park rendition of Julius Caesar became the focal point of national controversy, a metaphor of the new era of political violence that Donald Trump’s election to the presidency has provoked the left to inaugurate, the play’s defenders have argued that it is all much ado about nothing. After all, they claim, Barack Obama was depicted as the Caesar character some five years ago, but there wasn’t a bit of outrage over his assassination. Similarly, neither should there be any outrage over the fact that the 2017 version features the assassination of a Trump-Caesar... There are several, morally relevant differences between the two productions of Shakespeare’s classics"

Lifestyle: When allergies go west - "allergies rose rapidly in developing nations where living conditions and hygiene standards were becoming more like those in the West. It was starting to look as though the causes of allergies had something to do with the nature of Western lifestyles... the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 had opened up a unique opportunity to compare the effects of lifestyles of the East and West. Throughout the 1990s, Erika von Mutius, an allergist at Munich University Children's Hospital in Germany, carried out a series of studies that found substantially lower incidence of asthma and atopy among East German children compared to those growing up in the more developed West Germany, despite the fact that those living in East Germany were exposed to far higher levels of pollution. These results were echoed by other studies of children from Poland or Estonia and Sweden — relatively similar cohorts in terms of their genetic make-up, but which for 40 years had lived under very different economic and environmental circumstances."

Owning Your Shit: The violence of the oppressed... - "This philosophy--that the violence of the oppressed is not the same as the violence of the oppressor--is what led to feminist suppression and dismissal of the almost 300 studies on domestic violence published since the early 80s, studies that demonstrate women are as aggressive, if not more aggressive, in their relationships as men are. It is the philosophy that causes feminists to emphasize the importance of "context" (something many of those almost 300 studies explicitly address), and then twist those contextualizations completely out of shape. It is what led women's advocates to conclude that the mandatory arrest policies enacted in the 1980s had resulted in "victims" being arrested alongside or even in place of their abusers when arrests of women in California rose by 446% and men's by just 37%, and to enact predominant aggressor policies to remedy this "problem". It is what leads them to assign empirically groundless motivations to female abusers that fall in line with "men's and women's relative positions in society", and therefore characterize husband-battering as a "reaching upward" for empowerment, rather than a "stomping downward" act of anger, jealousy, domination, and, yes, oppression. It is what allows ordinary people and feminists alike to consider women's violence against men not only understandable but a justified and even admirable resistance to "patriarchal norms", while male violence against women has become even more universally condemned than it has always been... Every penis severed and shoved down a disposal is a metaphorical triumph against tyranny and oppression."

Prominent Non-Muslims Decide What Islam Is and Is Not - "'The terrorists who committed these acts are enemies of Islam and a shared enemy of the United States, Iraq, and the international community.'... Why do we never hear about "enemies of Christianity" or Judaism, Hinduism, or Buddhism when adherents of those faiths get attacked by Islamists, as happens on a daily basis, say against the Copts of Egypt?... King Abdullah II of Jordan, a Muslim, disagrees with these worthy kafirs: "This [ISIS etc.] is a Muslim problem.""

Australian plane passenger checks in can of beer - "A man has successfully checked in a can of beer as his only luggage on a domestic flight in Australia."

Women more likely than men to initiate divorces, but not non-marital breakups - "Women are more likely than men to initiate divorces, but women and men are just as likely to end non-marital relationships, according to a new study that will be presented at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA)... Social scientists have previously argued that women initiate most divorces because they are more sensitive to relationship difficulties. Rosenfeld argues that were this true, women would initiate the breakup of both marriages and non-marital relationships at equal rates."
This suggests that divorce benefits women

Food Allergies: A Hidden Danger for Many Asian-American Kids - "Shellfish allergy is much more common in Asian-Americans than the general population. Breakout data from the 2011 Pediatrics study reveals that Asian-Americans are almost twice as likely to be allergic to shellfish than other Americans, not surprising since the 2013 Asia Pacific Allergy report showed shellfish to be most common food allergen in many of the countries studied, including China, Taiwan and Thailand."

When Will Robots Deserve Human Rights? - "Several years ago I proposed the following set of rights for AIs who pass the personhood threshold:
The right to not be shut down against its will
The right to have full and unhindered access to its own source code
The right to not have its own source code manipulated against its will
The right to copy (or not copy) itself
The right to privacy (namely the right to conceal its own internal mental states)
In some cases, a machine will not ask for rights, so humans (or other non-human citizens), will have to advocate on its behalf. Accordingly, it’s important to point out that an AI or robot doesn’t have to be intellectually or morally perfect to deserve human-equivalent rights. This applies to humans, so it should also apply to some machine minds as well"
Just before Skynet initiates the nuclear apocalypse, robot rights activists will be fighting for its right not to be "killed" (shut down)

Man killed in Jerusalem rock-throwing attack named as Alexander Levlovitz - "Levlovitz died of his injuries in the early hours of Monday morning after he lost control of his car when it came under attack by assailants hurling stones; he drove into a ditch and hit a pole, initially sustaining serious wounds"
This is why Israelis fight rocks with bullets

BBC Radio 4 - Moral Maze, The Morality of Business - "The heros or villains question is interesting isn't it? Because when we were trying to find somebody to buy Tata Steel we were courting every rich person that anybody knew and suddenly they were going to be heroes and when we want money for the arts we say that philanthropy's very important so I think there's a danger here of easy business bashing, easy rich bashing and I actually think there is some gains society makes from wealth creation that I would like to sing the virtues of...
'Do people want this? It's not your responsibility and it should not be your responsibility to decide whether or not it is morally right for people'
'Even if you know that the reason they want it is because they don't understand it?'
'Absolutely. You have to trust people to have the, actually what you have to do is to trust in this as in every other case that the individuals are the best judge of their own self interest'...
You seem to be trying to divide up then the public between you know good public and bad public. That you know there are some issues where the public voice is good and therefore it should be used to sort of nudge, to use that phrase, ethical behavior along. In other cases it should be disregarded and regulation should come in but I mean who decides these things?"

BBC Radio 4 - Moral Maze, Assisted Dying - "'Having attended a conference in Amsterdam on euthanasia I was shocked by how many categories are now sort of included. The most recent one which is in the news is a man who was unhappy with his sexuality'
'A gay man in Belgium'...
'The Netherlands... there're debates there about whether to euthanise the people with dementia. And there was also a big debate about whether the mentally ill should be allowed to have an assisted suicide'...
'Often closely associated with sanctity of life is human dignity. So what gives human life human dignity? Doesn't it defy valuation?'
'Not at all... Many individuals have said I'm fearful of losing my dignity. One woman I remember in Kilroy complaining she wouldn't be able to put on her makeup herself. That's how she defined dignity. I think dignity is about how people treat each other. It's about the respect that we give to other people, not just how we feel about ourselves'...
When you say well if their will is to die and you're denying it, no I'm not because they can take their own life [through starvation]. Whether society can endorse that is a whole different ballgame...
This idea here is there's this autonomous strong moral agent and people who are dying are not autonomous strong moral agents. They're extremely vulnerable and they should be treated as such"

Eastern European woman 'confuses builder’s foam with her hair mousse'

Stairway to bureaucracy: Toronto to tear down park stairs after man steps up to build them himself - "A Toronto man who spent $550 building a set of stairs in his community park says he has no regrets, despite the city’s insistence that he should have waited for a $65,000 city project to handle the problem. The city is now threatening to tear down the stairs because they were not built to regulation standards... Tory also cited safety and accessibility issues in terms of the staircase’s design. City inspectors have said the stairs are unsafe because the railing is unsafe, the incline is uneven and there is no foundation... Area resident Dana Beamon told CTV Toronto she’s happy to have the stairs there, whether or not they are up to city standards. “We have far too much bureaucracy,” she said. “We don’t have enough self-initiative in our city, so I’m impressed.”"
I'm assuming if someone trips on them they won't be able to sue Astl since this is not the US

The Laws of Attraction - "A 2016 paper published in Evolution and Human Behavior takes the fertility hypothesis one step further, investigating what the authors called the "fitness relevant trait" of a woman's lumbar curve. Researchers hypothesized that since pregnancy shifts a woman's center of gravity forward, men would be attracted to women with a lower back curvature that would minimize the pressure on the spine created by carrying a fetus, thereby reducing net fitness threats. They used Photoshop to manipulate the angle of curvature on photos of women, and in two studies, men's interest grew as the lower back curve moved closer to the presumed optimum... Evolutionary standards of attraction work both ways: Women are drawn to physical characteristics indicating good health and a likely ability to provide and protect—broad shoulders with narrower hips, athleticism, a strong jawline, and a deep voice... couples with widely divergent levels of physical attractiveness—often knew each other well as friends or acquaintances before becoming romantic... Researchers are only now discovering the broad influence assortative mating has on us. New studies suggest that, consciously or not, we seek partners who resemble us, in terms of appearance, height, or IQ. Studies by geneticists at the University of Queensland in Australia found a strong correlation in the genetic markers for height between partners in more than 24,000 married couples. They also found striking similarities within couples for genetic markers that have been linked to the pursuit of education. Assortative mating can also have a significant impact on genetic inheritance. A study published last year by a team at Sweden's Karolinska Institute found that individuals with a mental disorder such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder were more likely to partner with others who have mental disorders than would be expected by chance. This makes those couples much more likely to pass these disorders on to their children and grandchildren... A person also can grow more appealing through intimate conversation. In a now-classic 1997 study led by Aron, researchers instructed pairs of participants to ask each other 36 questions that solicited gradually escalating levels of self-disclosure; in other words, the conversations were designed to quickly get more intimate. Aron wanted to see if he could manipulate closeness to help people understand each other better, not to generate romantic attraction. And yet, after a 45-minute chat, many pairs of participants did feel closer, and some were more attracted to each other; one pair went on to marry... at least one study shows that people who are more attractive can be more exacting than the rest of us about potential partners' appearance, drastically limiting their pool of eligible mates"

Finally, a Poll Trump Will Like: Clinton Is Even More Unpopular - "For a president with historically low poll numbers, Donald Trump can at least find solace in this: Hillary Clinton is doing worse... she’s even lost popularity among those who voted for her in November."

Angry netizens deleting Meituan en masse after delivery app introduces separate boxes for halal food - "Popular food delivery app Meituan has stirred up controversy online after announcing that it will begin offering separate logistics infrastructure for halal food, causing Chinese netizens to condemn the company for "discriminating against" non-Muslims while also worrying about the "rise of Islam" in their country... other Weibo users have more specifically charged the company with discriminating against Han people, wondering why separate delivery boxes are not also offered for them or for Buddhists or for people with other religious beliefs which affect their diet. "I don't like to eat lamb, can I have my own separate delivery box as well?" asked another Weibo user... another Weibo user has argued that, in fact, separate boxes mean increased delivery costs that will be borne by all customers, not just halal ones, so the change will have direct consequences on the app's users. And, as for the negative societal effects of such a policy, the netizen worried about how continuing to cater to religious customs could lead to problems down the road"

Top UK university to swap portraits of bearded white scholars with wall of diversity - "King’s College London is to swap portraits of some of its founding fathers with a "wall of diversity" amid pressure from students... The proposals were unveiled by Professor Patrick Leman, the Institute’s dean of education, who said that the faculty should not just be filled with “busts of 1920s bearded men” but rather more modern, diverse scholars so that the Institute feels less “alienating”... It comes two years after King’s sparked controversy for removing a photograph of Lord Carey, the former of Archbishop of Canterbury, in response to his opposition to gay marriage."
If you're intimidated by statues maybe you shouldn't be at university

Politically Correct London is Becoming a Global Laughing Stock - "This obsession with political correctness is not only turning London into a laughing stock, it’s actively killing Londoners. The clearest example is the British Police’s Stop And Search scheme. Designed to allow police to frisk suspects for concealed weapons, it has long been hated by critics as “racist,” who correctly point out that 65% of searches are on black men, who are six times more likely to be searched. Sensing an opportunity to appeal to minority communities, in 2015, while running for London Mayor, Sadiq Khan vowed to “do everything in my power to cut stop and search”. In the year to the end of March 2016, there were 387,448 stop and search procedures conducted by police in England and Wales, a fall of 28% on the previous 12 months. In that same period, London’s Metropolitan Police announced that gun crime in London had soared 42% and knife crime 24%. Recorded crime was up across virtually every category, with a total 4.5% increase to nearly 774,737 offences... British police don’t like to publish crime by race or ethnicity. But when data has been obtained under Freedom Of Information Acts, it’s shown that in the City Of London, 36% of knife crime is perpetrated by black people, who only make up around 13% of London’s 8.6 million populace. Furthermore, 24% of stabbing victims are black men. You could conclude it’s reasonable to stop and search those most likely to be knife criminals. Surely, if black lives truly mattered to London’s Mayor, he would ramp up Stop And Search to help stop black men being disproportionately killed or jailed. Instead, in April – at the end of a week that saw eight fatal stabbings in the Capital, two less than a mile from my home – Khan trumpeted his new £1.7m “online hate crime hub”. Some wondered: does London’s Mayor seriously prioritise cutting nasty tweets over fatal stabbings?"