Links - 7th May 2018 (3)

Singapore citizenship of former S-League player to be stripped for match-fixing - "This is not the first time a Singaporean will have his citizenship stripped. MHA said there have been previous cases of other Singaporeans – who became citizens by registration or naturalisation – who had their citizenships taken away over their criminal activities... "SC (Singapore citizenship) comes with privileges and benefits, as well as duties and obligations. Individuals who have been granted SC should cherish it and not act contrary to national interests," MHA said. "Those who undertake activities that prejudice our security or PSPGO (public safety, peace and good order) deserve to have their citizenship status deprived.""
The fact that Singapore citizenship can be stripped from naturalised citizens, leaving them stateless (and without having been convicted in court, too), shows how useless it is to get it and serves as a warning to prospective new citizens
Some people believe voting Opposition is acting contrary to national interests

Don't call us snowflakes - it damages our mental health, say young people - "Being called a "snowflake" is damaging to mental health, young people say. Figures show that the majority of young people think the term is unfair - and even more think it could have a negative effect of its own. The "snowflake generation" is a disparaging term now commonly used to refer to young people, who are perceived to be over-sensitive and intolerant of disagreement... It is thought to originate with US author Chuck Palahniuk's 1996 book Fight Club, which contains the line "You are not special. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake". In an interview earlier this year he took credit for the term, adding: "My friends who teach in high school tell me that their students are very easily offended.""
SPOING!

M. Zuhdi Jasser on Twitter: "As an Arab,Muslim American it’s frankly embarrassing that my govt’s recognition of Jerusalem, Isreal’s longtime capital and seat of govt sin… https://t.co/yZP9t9iRG3" - "As an Arab,Muslim American it’s frankly embarrassing that my govt’s recognition of Jerusalem, Isreal’s longtime capital and seat of govt since its founding, is met with hysterical Islamist apologetics for violence rather than a simple mea culpa for letting it take this long."

Humiliation – the only path to peace for the Middle East - "Throughout history, as I argued in a 2016 survey of ancient and modern wars, losers have fought on until they lack the manpower to fill their depleted ranks. Typically that occurs after 30% of military-age men are dead... Palestinian Arabs refuse to accept their past humiliations, believing rather that the Jewish presence in the region is a temporary aberration, and that the Jewish State will be eliminated before long. Daniel Polisar reviewed some 300 polls of Arab opinion in a 2015 survey, and noted that a full 80% of Palestinian Arabs believe that the Jews have no rights to the land whatever... The objective is to draw Israel into a conflict where the Jewish state causes massive collateral damage in order to suppress missile attacks, and the “international community” reacts with horror and forces a “settlement” on Israel, requiring a withdrawal from the West Bank. That would give Israel’s enemies firing positions closer to its national airport and largest cities. Eventually the debilitating effect of encirclement and rocket attacks would make the Jewish State unviable, or so the Arab side believes... It should be remembered that the Jewish population accepted a far smaller state in 1948 than they have now in order to gain independence, and would have stayed within its borders had the armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon not attacked the infant State of Israel... Before they are ready to make peace, the Palestinian Arabs will have to drink the bitter draught of defeat to the dregs, and admit to themselves that their problems are not due to the depredations of imperialists, but are of their own making. The Jews have been doing this for 2,600 years, since the fall of the First Temple in 587 B.C.E. Taking responsibility for their own failings, in fact, is one of the secrets of Jewish success. In the short run, Trump’s declaration may provoke the occasional act of violence. In the longer view, he has indicated the only possible path to peace"

Mum wants Sleeping Beauty banned because Prince doesn't get consent for kiss - "Sarah Hall, from Northumberland Park, north Tyneside, said the fairytale does not teach children about consent and shouldn’t be read to young children."
Maybe the Prince should have left her there to rot away forever
We need to ban all fairy tales because they send the wrong messages

Fear of touching women's chests may be barrier to giving CPR, researchers say - "Only 39% of women suffering cardiac arrest in a public place were given CPR versus 45% of men, and men were 23% more likely to survive... Rescuers also may worry about moving a woman’s clothing to get better access, or touching breasts to do CPR... no gender difference was seen in CPR rates for people who were stricken at home, where a rescuer is more likely to know the person needing help"
Maybe they don't want to do anything without consent

Facebook Is Banning Women for Calling Men ‘Scum’ - "women pledged to post some variation of “men are scum” to Facebook on Nov. 24 in order to stage a protest. Nearly every women who carried out the pledge was banned... One issue with the way Facebook moderators currently review posts is that many “problematic” posts are viewed individually, without context because of privacy concerns. Facebook moderators also aren’t able to view personal or demographic information about the original poster. This means that they sometimes don’t know whether a piece of content was posted by a black queer woman or a white straight male."
When You're Accustomed to Privilege, Equality Feels Like Oppression
When you're explicitly calling for double standards...

Firebombs hurled at synagogue in Sweden after protest march about Jerusalem - "More than a dozen men hurled firebombs at a synagogue in Gothenburg in southern Sweden hours after locals marched in the city against the United States’ recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital... At other protest rallies about Jerusalem in Sweden, Austria and France participants chanted, respectively, in Arabic about shooting Jews, an ancient massacre of Jews and freedom for Palestinian terrorists."

'It's just a waste of money': Chinese students regret enrolling in US universities - "“You will never get to see what real elites are like and are not able to blend into the mainstream community in the US.” He would encourage other students to forget about coming to the US to study unless they were incredibly rich."

90% of Chinese students in the UK would look elsewhere to study due to government neglect - "Despite experiencing high levels of discrimination and crime, 79% of those asked said they wished to stay in the UK after graduation. However, visa restrictions result in many being forced to leave the country at the end of their studies. The survey found that some students were not even allowed to stay long enough to attend their own graduation ceremony."

A.I. bots just dropped a black metal album that will make your head explode - "We tend to think of robots as suitable for repetitious and mundane mechanical tasks, and that creative endeavors like art or music are things only humans can create. Well, think again: With advancements in artificial intelligence, computers are now capable of making music that is difficult to discern whether it’s created by man or machine. And the latest example of this is Coditany of Timeness, a black metal album made entirely by an artificial neural network."

Eric Sprankle, PsyD on Twitter: "If you think sex workers "sell their bodies," but coal miners do not, your view of labor is clouded by your moralistic view of sexuality."

Al Jazeera English vs. Al Jazeera Arabic: One channel, two messages - "While Al Jazeera English (AJE) produced a video criticizing Saudi Arabia for “banning gender mixing at concerts and cinemas”, Al Jazeera Arabic’s coverage condemned women and men celebrating the National Day at mixed events... Editorial disparities came to head in 2014, when AJA’s website published a report that ridiculed the execution of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff as a “Hollywood” fabrication"

The U.S. Media Suffered Its Most Humiliating Debacle in Ages: Now Refuses All Transparency Over What Happened - "So numerous are the false stories about Russia and Trump over the last year that I literally cannot list them all. Just consider the ones from the last week alone, as enumerated by the New York Times yesterday in its news report on CNN’s embarrassment... So continually awful and misleading has this reporting been that even Vladimir Putin’s most devoted critics — such as Russian expatriate Masha Gessen, oppositional Russian journalists, and anti-Kremlin liberal activists in Moscow — are constantly warning that the U.S. media’s unhinged, ignorant, paranoid reporting on Russia is harming their cause in all sorts of ways, in the process destroying the credibility of the U.S. media in the eyes of Putin’s opposition... At minimum, these networks — CNN, MSNBC and CBS — have to either identify who purposely fed them this blatantly false information, or explain how it’s possible that “multiple sources” all got the same information wrong in innocence and good faith. Until they do that, their cries and protests the next time they’re attacked as “Fake News” should fall on deaf ears, since the real author of those attacks — the reason those attacks resonate — is themselves and their own conduct."

This is not truthful advocacy - "5th December: TWC2 accused MOM of not looking into a case of fraud. Long story short, this accusation was proven to be false. TWC2’s article supplied a false name and written a story with allegations that turned out to be all false."

Bitcoin isn't a currency – and unless it becomes one it could be worthless - "Bitcoin is in decline. Not its price, which has increased 900% this year and (at the time of writing) stands at over US$12,000 per unit, but its actual use as a currency. And this makes its rapid appreciation all the more puzzling... My advice to individuals and institutions tempted by the headlines is to keep their savings away from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and “initial coin offerings” (ICOs)"

Galaxy S8 and Note 8 are a more sensible buy than the iPhone X, says Consumer Reports - "Enter Consumer Reports, a historic publication that claims to provide “evidence-based product testing and ratings” for pretty much any kind of tech product you can think of, including Apple and Samsung’s flagships for 2017"

Quagga were extinct for 100 years. Now they're back - "Never heard of the quagga? You're not alone. The animal, a relative of the zebra, went extinct over 100 years ago. Now, a group of scientists outside of Cape Town are bringing it back... The project has not been without its critics. Some have called the project a stunt, saying all that's been created is a different looking zebra, without taking into account the ecological adaptations or behavior differences in the original quagga."

South Africa's beaches are being kept safe from shark attacks with drones

Students question Catholic school's emphasis on Christmas - "Students at a major Catholic university are upset at the school’s emphasis on Christmas, saying they wish other religious holidays would receive equal attention on campus. At Loyola University Chicago, Muslim students told The Loyola Phoenix that they wish Muslim holidays would receive the same attention as Christian holidays, despite Muslims accounting for less than five percent of the student population."

How Wolves Change Rivers - "In 1926, there were no longer wolves in Yellowstone, once the natural habitat of this species. Between 1977 and the re-introduction in 1995, we have reliable reports of wolves being seen throughout the park... The wolves changed the rivers, in as much as they readdressed the lost balance within the region, one we had created when we exterminated them. With a better balance between predator and prey, top meat eaters and top grazers, came the possibility for other species to thrive. With the increased vegetation growth, erosion decreased and the river banks stabilized."

'I beat type 2 diabetes with 200-calorie drinks' - "Nearly half of patients have reversed type 2 diabetes in a "watershed" trial, say doctors in Newcastle and Glasgow. People spent up to five months on a low-calorie diet of soups and shakes to trigger massive weight loss"

The hate campaign begins as #lovewins | The Spectator Australia - "This really shouldn’t surprise us, should it? I mean, this was what Bill Shorten said was going to happen by holding a plebiscite. Except, he predicted that the hate would be coming from the opposite side to which it did. (I should stop at this point and clarify that we didn’t actually get to have a plebiscite because Labor and the Greens blocked even that. What 80 per cent of the voting public participated in was a non-binding “voluntary postal survey.”) After all the virtue-signalling of yesterday, I wonder how many politicians will speak up in defence of the 40 per cent of Australians who voted “No”? Just imagine the backlash if people who wanted to retain the historic definition of marriage responded in this way? Not only is the ‘love’ of the ‘Yes’ campaign incredibly selective–and hypocritical–but so is their understanding as to what constitutes ‘equality.’"
If those who proclaim that they are for love are actually full of hate...
This suggests that even if you are for gay marriage in principle, you might not be in favour of campaigning for it (the slippery slope being another reason - trans issues are going to explode in Australia now)

First Gong Cha, now Llaollao and the Quarter Pounder have been quietly replaced in Singapore - "According to a report in Channel NewsAsia, Yole is an European frozen yogurt chain which sells froyo as well as coconut soft-serve ice-cream. But other than that, there has been little information released about the brand. A check online reveals little about the Yole brand, except that it currently has four stores in Taiwan."

Barred academic Heather Brunskell-Evans warns of cowardice over trans issues - "An academic who was no-platformed by university students after she discussed transgender issues on a radio show has attacked the “reprehensible cowardliness” of public institutions. Heather Brunskell-Evans, a research fellow at King’s College London, who is also a spokeswoman for the Women’s Equality Party, told The Times that she believed such institutions were running scared from public debate, out of fear of offending the transgender lobby... days after appearing on the Moral Maze, the Radio 4 series hosted by Michael Buerk, she was told that the event had been cancelled because of concerns that her views on “transgender health . . . would violate the student union’s ‘Safe Space’ policy”... The academic had argued in favour of transgender adults defining themselves “in whichever way they want”, but she questioned the advice being promoted to schools and youth groups by transgender organisations that positive affirmation was the only correct way to support children who expressed confusion over their gender. She said: “If a child decides that it’s an astronaut, one can play along with this. One doesn’t have to moralise about it but quite clearly the child is not an astronaut. In fact it’s incumbent upon adults who are responsible for the welfare, psychological and social and medical, of children not to go along with this story.” It is understood her comments prompted three complaints from transgender members of the Women’s Equality Party, accusing her of “promoting prejudice against the transgender community”. The party confirmed that it was investigating Dr Brunskell-Evans"
I guess she proved her point

Australian wives furious over proposal to send sex workers to troops - "In an essay titled “Sex and War – A Conversation Army Has To Have” published on an official Australian Defence Force website last month, Williamson suggested the army “contract Australian male and female sex workers to service troops in forward operating bases and air bases.” Williamson said sex on deployment could help ease the stress of “loneliness or prolonged absence from family, friends, partners and spouses” as well as make it easier to cope with living and working in a war zone. “Improved intimacy and sexual interaction can help combat veterans with PTSD recovery,” wrote Williamson, who is currently serving in the Middle East."