Links - 3rd September 2018 (1)

Supreme Court deals major blow to government unions - "public employees should not have to subsidize a union even if they decide not to join and object to the “positions the union takes in collective bargaining and related activities.” “We conclude that this arrangement violates the free speech rights of nonmembers by compelling them to subsidize private speech on matters of substantial public concern”"

Here's why lottery winners go broke - "Lottery winners are more likely to declare bankruptcy within three to five years than the average American. What's more, studies have shown that winning the lottery does not necessarily make you happier or healthier."
Addendum: The study didn't actually show the former

Hundreds Of Women In The UK Have Been Prosecuted For Lying About Rape - "Britain’s approach stands in stark contrast to that of the US, Australia, Canada, and other European countries. Women in these countries do not typically face prosecution – let alone prison – for lying about rape, state prosecutors and experts said, because it’s not considered to be in the public interest... Rape cases are, in general, notoriously complex: They rarely involve third-party witnesses, and research shows trauma victims often have fragmented and incomplete memories"
Buzzfeed: it's okay to lie about rape if you're female. Indeed, it's sexist to prosecute false accusers. Ironically this is one thing the CPS does do better than other developed countries
If "trauma victims often have fragmented and incomplete memories" what does this say about "listen and believe"?

Why Tech Employees Are Rebelling Against Their Bosses - "Tech workers may feel freer to challenge their employers in part because they have marketable skills at a time of great demand, says Nelson Lichtenstein, a history professor and director of the Center for the Study of Work, Labor, and Democracy at UC Santa Barbara. “Why don’t you find this among the people wiring the circuit boards together in China? Because there they are much more vulnerable,” he says."

Govt should walk the talk on clean wage policy - "The revelation of MPs enjoying underpriced parking fees has raised eyebrows as, ironically, it goes against the clean-wage policy preached by the Government itself (Elected MPs pay $365 a year for HDB parking; June 26). The rationale that MPs "do not park overnight or full day at their constituencies" and at Parliament House does not justify the subsidised parking fees. Teachers also do not park overnight in schools, but they will be paying market rate parking fees soon"

Henry VIII's bizarre-looking horned helmet was designed for use in parades rather than for combat - "For some time after Henry’s death, this helmet, because of its extraordinary appearance, was believed to have belonged to his court jester, Will Somers, who most likely incorporated it into his act."

‘Ode to Joy’ has an odious history. Let’s give Beethoven’s most overplayed symphony a rest - "Adolf Hitler adored the Ninth Symphony. Musicians waiting for their deaths in Nazi concentration camps were ordered to play it, metaphorically twisting its closing call to universal brotherhood and joy into a terrifying, sneering parody of all that strives for light in a human soul... we know that unilateral calls to world brotherhood in joy have a flip side, which is tyranny. We appreciate now more than ever that joy is accessible to everyone only if some people are taking antidepressants. We live in a time no more peaceful than Beethoven’s... We have the 19th-century ideal of strength in unity — expressed in the “Ode to Joy” — scraping up uneasily against a 21st-century ideal of strength in diversity. The change in perspective makes some people afraid and angry... Beethoven’s Ninth has three long movements before the “Ode to Joy” finale, each filled with contrasts and discontinuities. The Ode itself shouts its message at us unrelentingly, insistently, sometimes more as a taunt than an exhortation."
First they came for Rhodes, and I did not speak out - because I was not a White Supremacist
Since Beethoven was black, the author is racist

Does This Put The Transgender Debate to Rest? - "Groundbreaking study shows that transgender people’s brains are wired like those of gender they identify with...
In his book The Gene: An Intimate History, physician and oncologist, Siddhartha Mukherjee, says:
“It is now clear that genes are vastly more influential than virtually any other force in shaping sex identity and gender identity—although in limited circumstances a few attributes of gender can be learned through cultural, social, and hormonal reprogramming.”"
Funny, I thought there was no significant difference between men's and women's brains. And/or that brain plasticity meant that drawing conclusions about innate differences from brain scans was junk science

Male and Female Brains Really Are Built Differently - "Because female brains seem to have a stronger connections between their logical and intuitive parts, “when women are asked to do particularly hard tasks, they might engage very different parts of the brain,” said Ragini Verma, an associate professor of radiology at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the authors of the report. “Men might over-engage just one part of the brain.” This could mean, for example, that men tend to see issues and resolve them directly, due to the strong connections between the “perception” and “action” areas of their brains, while women might be more inclined to combine logic and intuition when solving a problem. Their less-interconnected hemispheres might prompt men, for example, to be, “going along, executing things very skillfully and maybe not taking into account that someone didn't [do something] because they were having a bad day,” Verma explained. Meanwhile, “gut feelings, trying to join the dots together … women are known to be very strong in that.”... Male and female rats navigate space differently. Women taking birth control pills, which alter estrogen and progesterone levels, have been shown to remember emotionally charged events more like men do in small studies. Migraines not only strike women more frequently, but they impact different parts of their brains, too... past research has shown that, across cultures, women’s brains are more functionally interconnected when at rest than men’s are, on average. This and similar findings have been used to support the idea that women are “better at multitasking.”"
If you combine logic and intuition, this means you use less logic. So this suggests that women are less logical/more irrational than men

Purged! Bernie Sanders No Longer Left Enough Because Hesitant to Abolish ICE - "Democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is no longer left enough for some Democrats, because he has been reluctant to join calls to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). That’s according to the New Republic, once a reliable center-left organ. Writer Sarah Jones has declared that Sanders is “undermining his position as the nation’s most prominent left-wing politician” by suggesting that ICE should be reformed, rather than endorsing the total elimination of border enforcement... She goes on to list his apparent heresies, including his reluctance to call for the nationalization of industry"

Best Mom Eva on Twitter: "Another male feminist who wrote for Vox is being accused of serial rape and this is all I tweet about anymore besides video games.…" - Emmett Rennsin: "The internet is full of men who hate feminism. Here's what they're like in person."
@mka_ultra: "I have known that asshole for over a decade and I can confirm that he is a serial rapist and abuser. he was kicked out of the iowa chapter"
Sid Branca: "I was in a relationship with Emmett Rensin on and off for three years, during which he was often psychologically, verbally, and sexually abusive to me and others."

Medical Group Cancels San Francisco Meeting Over Homeless Conditions - "a survey of past attendees of the unnamed medical conference cited feeling unsafe walking on San Francisco city streets, prompting the doctors group to seek a new venue for its semi-annual gathering. Their reported concerns: open drug use, threatening behavior, and mental illness on display."

The organic industry relies on these partners to spread fake science

How Depression Could Save Your Life - "One sign that depression is an adaptive behavioral response is its widespread presence in the animal kingdom. Depressed dogs and depressed humans both show decreased interest in food and sex, a drop in energy levels, sleep disruption, and lower levels of self-care and personal grooming. Though other species lack our capacity to signal these sensations in language, behavioral symptoms in animals mirror human experiences of depression with striking fidelity. We also share triggers of depression with other species: starvation, disease, and the death of a close relative can induce depressed behaviors in multiple species... low mood narrows and directs our attention to perceive threats and obstacles. It also helps conserve energy, facilitates disengagement from impossible goals, and improves our capacity to detect deception and to assess the degree of control we exercise over our environment. Some studies even suggest that low mood can improve skill in persuasive argument and sharpen memory"

Teo En Ming: Aspiring Actor and 40-Year-Old Virgin - "guys like En Ming, who call themselves Targeted Individuals (TIs), are not some ultra-rare breed of crazy person. The New York Times, the Washington Post, Wired, and Vice have all run reports on TIs, people who are convinced their entire lives are under surveillance, from their mobile communications to their day-to-day activities... Of late, his preoccupation has been with how his Android phones tend to switch on by themselves. “Obviously the Singapore Government planted spy apps on my Android phones. Otherwise it would not keep on powering up by itself,” he tells me... Turritopsis Dorhnii gravitates towards conspiracy theories for the same reason we nurture toxic relationships or become alcoholics. The realisation that you alone are responsible for what happens to you is one that comes with immense pressure. In the face of this, submitting to an abstract, higher power can be a source of great comfort"

Very Superstitious: How Fact-Free Parenting Policies Rob Our Kids of Independence - "only three provinces have legislated minimum ages at which kids can be left home alone (and BC isn’t one of them): Ontario (16), New Brunswick (12) and Manitoba (12). Only Quebec has a statutory minimum age for being left alone in a vehicle, and that’s 7 years old... the odds of your child being kidnapped by a stranger on the bus? Incredibly long. A 2003 study in Canada found just one case nationwide of a stranger abducting a child, in the entire two years prior."

Parenting Is Now Officially Impossible - "With every move documented in real-time on social media, parents have lost control of the very personal narrative of their real lives. What has for years been a cute story at my family barbecue about the time my mom lost me as a toddler at Disney World would today be a hotly contested debate amid strangers online. These strangers feel they not only have the right to comment and judge all involved, but also to take action, in the form of harassment, badgering, petitions or even phone calls to authorities. There is no such thing as an honest mistake for parents anymore... Everyone thinks they’re a perfect parent on the Internet. But very few have had to share their own stories of fear and shame. And when they do, the Internet will be there, waiting for them."

Tommy Robinson is no free-speech martyr - "The idea that Robinson was arrested for his ideas is contrary to what we know about the case. Anyone else doing what Robinson did, in these circumstances, would also have been arrested and jailed. The reaction to Robinson’s arrest shows us how confused the free-speech debate has become. On the left, free speech is dismissed as a tool for the spread of fascist ideas. On the right, it is invoked in situations that have little or nothing to do with the free exchange of ideas. Arguing for free speech does not mean arguing for the right of anyone to do or say anything they want at any time. Contempt-of-court laws, which Robinson seems determined to violate, are not in and of themselves an attack on free speech"

Survey points to social class divide among Singaporeans - "More than half of Singapore residents have a higher chance of mixing with people of other races and age groups than those of a different social standing... More than half of the respondents scored a low rating of 0 when it came to having ties with people from different housing types and educational status... those living in private properties or who studied in elite schools have ties with an average of about 2.6 persons from a more modest background. In comparison, the average was about 0.8 for ties between those residing in an HDB flat or who are from non-elite schools and people outside their social class."
Given that there are so many more people in HDB flats and non-elite schools, it's no wonder that group has fewer ties with others - it's like the Petrie Multiplier

The Big Read: Social stratification — a poison seeping into S’pore’s housing estates and schools - "According to the latest General Household Survey in 2015, one- and two-room flats are congregated in the Bukit Merah, Kallang and Ang Mo Kio planning areas, while a larger proportion of private houses are found in Bukit Timah, Bedok and Hougang. Figures from the Department of Statistics also show that while the proportion of Singaporeans living in condominiums has surged from 6.5 per cent to 15.6 per cent from 2000 to last year, the proportion living in one- and two-roomers has inched up from 5 to 5.8 per cent over the same period... RI students still come from varied backgrounds, with 53 per cent of its students living in public housing"

Sajid Javid: What has the new home secretary said about faith? - "Javid takes a firm line with Islam's responsibility for terrorist attacks, saying it is 'lazy' and 'wrong' to suggest terror has nothing to do with Islam... "it is absolutely fair to say that there is a special burden on Muslim communities because whether we like it or not these terrorists call themselves Muslims. It is no good for people to say they are not Muslims, that is what they call themselves""

The best head start in life for babies is parental interaction, not spurious educational tools or toys - "“Mental stimulation for young children is like vitamins,” says Barbara Sarnecka at the University of California, Irvine, who studies language and maths acquisition: “Enough is important, but more is not better.”... Recent Singapore research shows that over-weaning parental intrusion has created “maladaptive perfectionism”, in which many kids are chronically insecure, and overcritical of themselves, and show high levels of anxiety and depression. The research also shows a high price paid for ignoring social and physical accomplishments... a recent Chinese University survey alarmingly suggested that 14-20 per cent of children across all education levels had conversations with their parents less than once a week."