Links - 3rd October 2017 (2)

Women with hot husbands suffer bad self esteem - "That extra motivation to diet did not exist among women judged more attractive than their husbands. As for men, their motivation to diet was low regardless of their wives' attractiveness or their own... The study advanced existing research from Dr Meltzer's lab that found marriages tend to be more successful and satisfying when wives are more attractive than their husbands."

Tertiary students in S’pore not as tech-savvy as they think: Study - "Nearly 90 per cent of the Singaporean participants in the study, conducted between February and May, rated their skills from “fair” to “excellent”. However, the participants’ average competency standard — based on the results of their ICDL tests — stood at 55 per cent, which is “relatively low” than the global passing standard mark of 75 per cent, the study noted."

Thousands of minks die after being set free. - "Farm-raised minks aren’t really able to make it in the wild. Many of the minks died once released because of the heat. The ones that were recovered alive were haphazardly thrown into pens, which disrupted their social groupings and drove the minks to kill one another... “They are not interested in animal rights, they are interested in chaos.”"

Maria Popova Uses Huge Twitter Following to Try to Shame Breitling Into Removing Racy 'Bomb Girl' - "While it’s doubtful that Popova would ever buy a Breitling watch, her attempt to police a piece of art because it offended her personal taste as a feminist speaks to the level of entitlement common among the progressive left."

Voting for Jeremy Corbyn Isn’t Just Dumb. It’s Dangerous. | Foreign Policy - "Over a near 35-year career in the British House of Commons, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has never come across an anti-Western terrorist, political movement, or dictator he couldn’t defend... Though it is custom in parliamentary systems for a party leader to resign immediately after losing an election, Corbyn is not a customary political leader but a blinkered revolutionary: Now that he and his hard-left acolytes are firmly in control of the Labour Party, they are not about to give it up. Indeed, one of the most alarming aspects of Corbyn’s rise is the cast of fellow extremists he has brought with him"

Why the Rise of Corbyn's Labour Party Should Worry the West - "while he has insisted that former prime minister and fellow Labour Party member Tony Blair should stand trial for war crimes, he was part of a movement in parliament opposing the U.K.’s decision to strike against Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic—an actual genocidaire— denying that the butcher of Belgrade attempted yet another round of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo in 1999... Jewish members of parliament routinely receive death threats from self-described Corbyn supporters. One of them, Ruth Smeeth, a member of his own party, said she has saved more than 25,000 anti-Semitic emails from his partisans."

Sexual desire and relationship duration in young men and women. - "Sexual desire is often present at the beginning of a romantic relationship. However, research is divided regarding whether, and how, desire is experienced as a relationship progresses. The authors examined relationship duration and its effect on sexual desire in a sample of 170 undergraduate men and women between the ages of 18 and 25 years. Hierarchical multiple regression results indicated that women's sexual desire was significantly and negatively predicted by relationship duration after controlling for age, relationship satisfaction, and sexual satisfaction. Men's sexual desire, however, was not significantly affected by the duration of their romantic relationships. These findings suggest that men and women may have different experiences with sexual desire as relationships progress and that sexual desire might be affected by different factors depending on one's gender. Possible reasons for these results are suggested and therapeutic implications are discussed."
In other words, women in a relationship get less horny over time but not men

RAINN, the Anti-Sexual-Violence Organization, Rejects 'Rape Culture' Hysteria - ""Rape is as American as apple pie," says blogger Jessica Valenti. She and her sisters-in-arms describe our society as a “rape culture" where violence against women is so normal, it’s almost invisible... Activists at Wellesley recently demanded that administrators remove a statue of a sleepwalking man: The image of a nearly naked male could “trigger” memories of sexual assault for victims... RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is America’s largest and most influential anti-sexual-violence organization. It’s the leading voice for sexual-assault victim advocacy. Indeed, rape-culture activists routinely cite the authority of RAINN to make their case. But in RAINN’s recent recommendations to the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, it repudiates the rhetoric of the anti–“rape culture” movement"... RAINN urges the White House to “remain focused on the true cause of the problem” and suggests a three-pronged approach for combating rape: empowering community members through bystander intervention education, using “risk-reduction messaging” to encourage students to increase their personal safety and promoting clearer education on “where the ‘consent line’ is.” It also asserts that we should treat rape like the serious crime it is by giving power to trained law enforcement rather than internal campus judicial boards. RAINN is especially critical of the idea that we need to focus on teaching men not to rape — the hallmark of rape-culture activism. Since rape exists because our culture condones and normalizes it, activists say, we can end the epidemic of sexual violence only by teaching boys not to rape. No one would deny that we should teach boys to respect women. But by and large, this is already happening. By the time men reach college, RAINN explains, “most students have been exposed to 18 years of prevention messages, in one form or another.” The vast majority of men absorb these messages and view rape as the horrific crime that it is. So efforts to address rape need to focus on the very small portion of the population that “has proven itself immune to years of prevention messages.” They should not vilify the average guy. By blaming so-called rape culture, we implicate all men in a social atrocity, trivialize the experiences of survivors, and deflect blame from the rapists truly responsible for sexual violence. RAINN explains that the trend of focusing on rape culture "has the paradoxical effect of making it harder to stop sexual violence, since it removes the focus from the individual at fault, and seemingly mitigates personal responsibility for his or her own actions.""
Since RAINN engages in "victim blaming", feminists should villify it

Did ‘Mattress Girl’ Tell the Truth? Not Very Likely - "Sulkowicz’s account of her rape strains credulity to the extreme. Sulkowicz accuses Nungesser of an extremely brutal assault that should have left her visibly injured (with bruises not only on her face but on her neck and arms, unlikely to be covered by clothing in August and early September in New York) and in need of medical attention. Yet no one saw anything amiss after this attack, and both Nungesser and Sulkowicz went on to chat and banter on Facebook as if nothing happened. Sulkowicz’s claim that she kept up a friendly act hoping to confront him about the rape seems extremely dubious, given the near-psychotic violence she alleges and the lack of any sign of unease or tension in their online conversations. (When I reread these archives recently, I checked the timestamps to see if there were any awkward pauses; there weren’t, not even when Nungesser asks Sulkowicz to bring more girls to his party and she replies, “I’ll be dere w da females soon.”)... Sulkowicz has demonstrable credibility problems"

Man Accused Of Raping 'Mattress Girl' Wins Lawsuit Against Columbia University - "Nungesser's recent lawsuit against Columbia claimed the university failed to protect him after the college investigation cleared him of rape allegations. He stated that because of Sulkowicz's art project, he faced discrimination and argued the university violated Title IX by allowing her to receive academic credit for a project that encouraged protest against a fellow student."

Michigan Marxist Restaurant Closes After Long Sandwich Waits - "The Garden Diner and Café—replete with wall murals of Che Guevara in a chef's apron and raised fists clutching asparagus sprigs—had eschewed tips in favor of paying its workers a living wage and scorned traditional management methods. And while its vegan, vegetarian and raw food fare was mostly a hit, Vice's Munchies reports, its unpredictable opening hours, slow service and 40-minute waits for a sandwich, strained customer patience... the Garden Diner and Café, which was called Bartertown Diner until September, had struggled to pay its workers or turn a profit. The restaurant's (now-defunct) Facebook page was flooded with complaints from patrons angry at its slow service. Patrons hungry for a sandwich would find the café shuttered at odd times, thanks to opening hours set by employee group decision... for others in Grand Rapids, the restaurant wasn't progressive enough. After sending a free meal to the local police department, some complained that it had sold out by cozying up to the city's "nearly all-white police force in this era of police violence.""
"They weren't really Marxist"

5 Differences Between Singapore Kopi & Espresso Which Make Lattes Cost So Much More - "Due to the nature of how espresso is made, there has to be a dedicated espresso machinery for the extraction of the coffee powder which not only takes up space, but costs thousands of dollars. An espresso machine will have a ‘pump’ which will deliver the intended 8 to 9 bars of high water pressure through the coffee powder. Kopitiam uncles and aunties will normally be seen wielding just a long snout pot and sock filled with coffee grinds to brew their coffee. A vast difference, eh? That’s why Starbucks’ frappuccino costs way more than a Kopi-peng."

Definition of a “Malay person” opens up a can of worms about Mendaki and apparent double standards - "When I was in school and asked Mendaki for financial assistance, they rejected me cos my father is Indian on IC. Told us to go to Sinda. Sinda told us to go back to Mendaki cos culturally, we are malays and my mum is malay. So no help. Then the moment i graduated and got a 'Dr' title, Mendaki had the nerve to call me up and told me it is my duty to contribute back to them. I told them to F off!! What a bunch of hypocrites! So the PAP will only consider one malay when it suits them. It is a rigged election anyway and PAP has lost all credibility imo"

Saturated Fats and CVD: AHA Convicts, We Say Acquit - "None of these reviews could find any evidence that saturated fats had an effect on cardiovascular mortality or total mortality. As quite a few of the authors state in their conclusions, the results clearly do not support the current national dietary guidelines which limit saturated fats to 10% of daily calories, or those by the AHA and American College of Cardiology, which further limit those fats to 5%-6% of calories for people with high cholesterol. What is striking about the latest AHA Presidential Advisory is that it's such an anomaly. It concludes that swapping saturated fats for vegetable oils will reduce the risk for cardiovascular events by about 30%—as much as a statin!... lowering total cholesterol didn't reduce mortality. In the Minnesota Coronary Experiment, in fact, researchers later discovered that the more the men were able to lower their cholesterol, the more likely they were to die from a heart attack. One possible explanation is that while it's true that saturated fats drive up LDL cholesterol a bit, they also raise HDL cholesterol, nullifying the effect on heart-disease risk. Another possibility is that LDL-C is less meaningful than we thought. One little-known reality is that trials lowering LDL-C by diet have failed to yield consistent cardiovascular benefit despite the apparent sustained benefits from LDL-C lowering that have been found in trials on drugs."

How Classic Cartoons Created a Culturally Literate Generation - "Beyond the aforementioned case of Mark Twain’s novel, these cartoons introduced children to stories such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde through the medium of Bugs Bunny. Key quotations and scenes from William Shakespeare’s works were the main theme in a Goofy Gophers cartoon known as A Ham in a Role. And Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem The Song of Hiawatha was placed front and center in a Walt Disney short called Little Hiawatha... neither schools, nor Saturday morning cartoons seem to be passing on the torch of cultural knowledge and literacy. Could such a scenario be one reason why we see an increased apathy and lack of substance in the current generation?"

New 'Dungeons & Dragons' site manages the rules so you can just play

Florida Student Wins Against College that Suspended Him For ‘Correcting’ Girlfriend’s Apology Letter - "A student at the University of Central Florida who was suspended for “cyberbullying” after he published an apology letter written by his girlfriend – complete with his own spelling and grammar corrections – has successfully appealed the decision."... Lutz tried to ensure that no personal information about his girlfriend was visible to lessen the chance of anybody tracking her down. Despite his efforts, she claimed she was “cyberbullied” as a result of his actions. After being rebuffed by the local police, she filed a grievance at the university where Lutz studies – despite not being a student at the University of Central Florida."

REVEALED: Tensions on Set of 'Black Panther' Because of Marvel's Unofficial Affirmative Action Policy - "“There was more tension on the set of Black Panther than on any Marvel movie I’ve worked on previously.” The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the antagonism arose from the Black Panther‘s personnel set-up. He said: “The Black Panther cast is predominantly African-American which of course suits the material. But in addition to the performers in the movie, Marvel and Disney also took the decision to ensure there were black staffers high up in every department of the Black Panther crew. “This affirmative action policy might be fine in theory but unfortunately in practice a certain level of stress existed between new members of the crew and some Marvel veterans."

Marvel's 'Jessica Jones' Tweets About 'Male Tears' in Failed Attempt to be Funny - "Some pointed out how mocking men for crying is hypocritical, especially since feminists often question why men have difficulty expressing their emotions. They usually blame “toxic masculinity” for stunted emotions, but do their best to perpetuate that toxicity."

Marvel Cancels Ta-Nehisi Coates' Black Lives Matter Comic Due to Poor Sales - "No one is buying Marvel’s lineup of social justice-themed comics. It’s no surprise, given that few readers want politics to be forced down their throats. Thus liberal darling Ta-Nehisi Coates and Yona Harvey’s Black Panther & The Crew is getting the axe after poor sales, just two issues after its launch. Its cancellation comes just weeks after a Marvel VP revealed that comics with forced messages of “diversity” were responsible for the publisher’s sales slump... Gizmodo writer Charles Pulliam-Moore takes issue with Marvel’s business decision, to opine how the publisher was cancelling the only mainstream comic featuring a “majority-black” (a misnomer) cast of characters. Describing it as a “bad look” for Marvel, the writer says the publisher should have considered “more thoughtful approaches” instead of cancelling the underperforming title. Pulliam-Moore argues that the comic book industry “needs to change in order to sustain itself and cultivate new readers,” and insists that stories like The Crew “deserve to be told,” but offers no solution for “culturally relevant” comics that just don’t sell. Given Marvel’s failed forays into “culturally relevant” storytelling, it’s clear that any attempts to cultivate a new audience shouldn’t come at the cost of alienating existing readers. If there is any market at all for Black Panther & The Crew, it certainly isn’t with the social justice warriors who cry when their stories are canceled but refuse to spend any money on them."

New Study Shows What Really Happened in the 2016 Election - "Libertarians don’t exist.
Well, obviously, they exist — just not in any remotely large enough numbers to form a constituency. It’s not just hardcore libertarians who are absent. Even vaguely libertarian-ish voters are functionally nonexistent. The study breaks down voters into four quadrants, defined by both social and economic liberalism. But virtually everybody falls into three quadrants: socially liberal/economically liberal; socially conservative/economically conservative; and socially conservative/economically liberal. The fourth quadrant, socially liberal/economically conservative, is empty... the underrepresented cohort in American politics is the opposite of libertarians: people with right-wing social views who support big government on the economy... in 2008, Clinton had positioned herself as the candidate of the white working class and she dominated the white socially conservative wing of her party. But she lost that identity so thoroughly that she couldn’t even replicate the performance of a president who had become synonymous with elite social liberalism."

Britain’s ageing ice cream vans are belching out pollution - "The engines are kept running while the vans are parked to power their fridges, leaving queuing families to breathe in a pollutant that can trigger asthma attacks after just a few minutes’ exposure and is responsible for thousands of deaths each year."