Links - 4th September 2019 (1)

Rationally Speaking | Official Podcast of New York City Skeptics - Current Episodes - RS 191 - Seth Stephens-Davidowitz on "What the internet can tell us about human nature" - "'It's much more common for people to search for "I regret having children" than "I regret not having children... the biggest increase in political polarization has been amongst elderly people -- who are the least likely to use social media. And the least likely to use the internet frequently. So it doesn't seem to be caused by the internet... the top search with "My husband wants," in India is, "My husband wants me to breastfeed him." ... if you do, "Tips on breastfeeding." Like in pretty much all country's in the world, not surprisingly, 99% of searches on "Tips to breastfeed" are tips to breastfeed a child. But in India they're about equally split between tips to breastfeed a child and tips to breastfeed a husband.'
'Yeah, even controlling for how many people have children.'"

Toy Story 4 Slammed For ‘Lack Of Diversity, Anti-Feminism, And Disablism’ By Writer - "writer and theatremaker Stella Duffy spoke out about the missed opportunity for Toy Story 4 to commit to more representation for minorities.Duffy, 56, has criticised the fourth instalment for having no black lead characters and has dismissed the idea that feisty Bo Peep is a feminist.Furthermore, she has also argued the film is ‘disablist’, regarding it to be prejudiced against those with disabilities."
Apparently toys have a race

Sudan crisis: Internet restored - but only for lawyer - "A lawyer in Sudan has told the BBC that the internet has been restored after a three-week shutdown - but only for him.Abdel-Adheem Hassan on Sunday won a lawsuit against telecoms operator Zain Sudan over the blackout ordered by Sudan's military rulers.However, he says his victory is only benefitting him so far as he filed the case in a personal capacity."

Fugitive on run for 13 years is caught after he uses another man's IC to see a doctor - "A man who spent 13 years on the run after slashing a man at a 7-Eleven store was arrested this year after he used a copy of another man's identification card to obtain medical services.For his crimes, 58-year-old James Nalla Rajan Naidu Adhiseshan was sentenced to jail on Tuesday (Jun 25) for 18 months... He went to Sengkang Polyclinic on Aug 14, 2017, and presented a photocopy of an NRIC belonging to a prison inmate, Chandran Sinathanmby, who was in jail at the time... Naidu visited the polyclinic several more times that month, receiving among other things a blood test and a referral to Changi General Hospital (CGH) for an abnormal liver function test.After CGH received Naidu's referral, it conducted a check and found that the real Chandran was in jail at the time and could not have visited the polyclinic.CGH informed the polyclinic, which lodged a police report... Naidu's 13-year run from the law finally came to an end in February this year when he visited Sengkang General Hospital (SKGH) on the same day as Chandran.Chandran, who had been released from prison by that time, had received an SMS from SKGH about an orthopaedic surgery appointment on Feb 25.He turned up at the hospital, where a doctor asked him about a foot fracture. Chandran was surprised, as his foot was not fractured, and he had not visited SKGH before.The doctor advised him to lodge a police report.At the hospital, Chandran also bumped into Naidu, who was in a wheelchair.Seeing that he was wheelchair-bound, Chandran offered to help Naidu with his registration.When Naidu's queue number was called, Chandran wheeled him to the registration counter, and Naidu handed the photocopy of Chandran's NRIC to the hospital employee.Chandran then realised that Naidu was using a copy of his NRIC. He alerted the hospital staff, who called the police.Naidu tried to run away, but was detained by hospital security"

Woman 'deserved' violent rape for 'slavery,' suspect allegedly said - "A black parolee arrested for raping and bashing a white woman on the roof of his Bronx apartment building allegedly told a witness that she “deserved” the brutal attack because of slavery"
"Anti-racist" stirring up of racial hatred against white people has consequences

China no match for Japan in Southeast Asia infrastructure race - "Japan is still winning the Southeast Asia infrastructure race against China, with pending projects worth almost one and a half times its rival, according to the latest data from Fitch Solutions.Japanese-backed projects in the region’s six biggest economies -- Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam -- are valued at US$367 billion ($497 billion), the figures show. China’s tally is US$255 billion.The figures underline both the rampant need for infrastructure development in Southeast Asia, as well as Japan’s dominance over China, despite President Xi Jinping’s push to spend on railways and ports via his signature Belt and Road Initiative."

Free speech: How university academics are taking steps to be open to uncomfortable ideas - ""My impression is that activist University of Sydney students are very eager to import fashionable United States and United Kingdom culture war campaigns, but have had little traction in doing so," says Salvatore Babones, one of the university's sociologists who is originally from the US. "When William Wentworth is the most evil person you can find in your history, you're really scraping the bottom of the barrel for statues to topple." Wentworth-type incidents don't concern Babones. He has not observed a proliferation of "safe spaces" at Sydney and has never seen a trigger warning outside the student newspaper. He worries about something much more subtle, something difficult to quantify and something that poses a far more serious issue for universities – one that cannot be fixed by free speech codes, or ministerial edits, or even vice-chancellors' intervention. His fear is that academics have become resistant to considering uncomfortable ideas... As the left in the wider community shuts down controversial debates by "no-platforming" (refusing a platform for views deemed offensive), "cancelling" (rejecting someone because they have violated a social standard) and social media "call-outs" (publicly highlighting someone's social transgressions), even some left-leaning academics fear those practices are being adopted within academia, and worry about their long-term impact... the erosion of viewpoint diversity has been a slow creep, the result of decades' worth of tiny biases in hiring, promotion and peer review processes. It's not because diverse viewpoints are not allowed; he does not fear being rapped on the knuckles by management for expressing an unpopular view, but the consequences would be subtle, such as resistance by colleagues to a promotion. He cites the example of a PhD student who struggled to find academic work because her research was critical of strategies used by Palestinians. "I've found it impossible to even find a venue for publishing academic papers that would cast populism in a favourable light, because editors and the potential pool of peer reviewers are so strongly anti-populist that they won't consider any argument to the contrary," says Babones, author of The New Authoritarianism: Trump, Populism, and the Tyranny of Experts. "I have come across very few people who ... say, 'I disagree with this, but it is of very high quality'."... At the University of NSW, another Heterodox member, Jamie Roberts – who did his PhD in politics, and does not identify as a conservative – has often felt like he was walking on eggshells on race and gender issues. "But for me, more significantly, it's hard to talk about all the power and virtue stuff," he says. "I believe that some believe that completing a PhD in the arts and social sciences bestow on them a sort of moral authority about what are, ultimately, complex and debatable social issues." "The danger is that universities – the arts and social sciences part – will become, if they haven't already become, the seminaries of the 21st century, where to climb the ranks you just have to repeat the dogma of the moment and close ranks with those around you."... [There was] a conference last year at Sydney University, when academics debated – and ultimately decided against – withdrawing an invitation to a speaker who espoused an unfashionable view about the impact of transgender studies on feminism. Another was particularly annoyed by a tweet from a participant at an Australian Sociological Association conference. "Sociology demands that you have a social justice lens. Any right-wing sociologists should be booted out of the club”"

DC Barbecue Joint Kicks Out Patron For Harassing Customer In MAGA Hat - "TJ Helmstetter tweeted Thursday night that he was kicked out of his “favorite restaurant,” Hill Country Barbecue and Market, after accusing a tourist wearing a MAGA hat of racism. Helmstetter reportedly called the tourist a Nazi for sporting the MAGA hat, a hat bearing President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan.Helmstetter identifies himself as a “progressive communicator” on Twitter and works as a communications strategist and entrepreneur according to his LinkedIn account.Helmstetter called the tourist a “Nazi” and said that Hill Country Barbecue and Market supports “Trump and Nazis.”... Helmstetter claims to have called the manager at Hill Country Barbecue, saying that the manager told him the restaurant is “an equal opportunity restaurant who welcomes all political viewpoints.”“Cool, except MAGA hats actually make clear that POC and LGBT are not welcome at all”"
Liberal tolerance is only for those who hold the right views

Popular Instagram hotspot in Bali “Gates of Heaven” turns out to be sheet of glass visual trickery

In Early-Morning Roundups, Denver Grabs Geese In City Parks To Kill Them And Send Meat To Hungry Families - "Scott Gilmore, deputy executive director or Denver Parks and Recreation, said it’s easy to see the need for the goose rodeos. He pointed down to the lake bank, which the geese had denuded and covered in greasy fecal matter.“There’s no vegetation. They’ve eaten everything. There’s poop everywhere on the ground. There’s algae starting to bloom in the lake,” he said. “It’s about managing the damage the geese are causing to this environment.”... Under USDA rules, the birds can either be incinerated, tossed in a landfill or made into supper. He said he wanted to do something positive with meat rather than see it go to waste. Since news of the cullings first broke, Gilmore said he’s been inundated with online comments and voicemails, some of which are threatening. He said two voicemails suggested he should be killed for how he has chosen to manage the geese. He said they weren’t specific threats, but did alert the police"

To end fatphobia, we need to dismantle Western civilization, says Philly therapist Sonalee Rashatwar - "As the fat-positivity movement has gained momentum, so, too, have debates around how fat folks should lead healthy lives. Rashatwar, though, considers how sizeism is affected by racism, misogyny, classism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism, and she counsels people against intentional weight loss... Rashatwar traces contemporary fatphobia to colonial brutality and how enslaved people were treated. Citing researcher-advocate Caleb Luna, Rashatwar said curing anti-fatness would mean dismantling society’s foundation: “I love to talk about undoing Western civilization because it’s just so romantic to me.”... "I was not surprised that the person who shot up the mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, was also a fitness instructor. I was not surprised by that because people who are Nazis, people who are white supremacists, people who are trying to think of the perfect race are also super fatphobic. … Oftentimes it’s very eugenic"... "One really important macro way that we would have to undo fatphobia would be to finally get rid of BMI, to not use it for insurance purposes. Because people who are of my BMI category and up are denied insurance coverage, are denied lifesaving procedures and medication, are denied gender affirmation surgery, are denied all kinds of things that we deserve access to — fertility treatments and IVF.""
When people openly proclaim that they want to destroy Western Civilisation...

Chinese city cracks down on men wearing ‘Beijing bikinis’, calls it ‘uncivilised’ - "Middle-aged men in China are frequently seen with their tops rolled up to expose their bellies, especially during the summer... Such men, called bang ye (膀爷), which means “topless guy”, reveal their midsections as they believe doing so can help them stay cooler in the heat"
Of course, the feminists won't complain that women aren't prohibited from wearing midriff-baring outfits

Chick flick: cockatoo gives anti-nesting spikes the bird in viral video - "The video posted on the social network – titled “Fuck the police” – by Isaac Sherring-Tito shows the cockatoo perched high on a ledge above a street slowly pulling away and ripping off the spikes installed to prevent birds like the cockatoo from perching on the ledge... Cockatoos are not the only bird to have thwarted the spikes. In Geraldton, the local church and other buildings have reportedly been plagued by corellas which have also ripped up spikes installed to prevent them nesting on buildings."

Rationally Speaking | Official Podcast of New York City Skeptics - Current Episodes - RS 233 - Clive Thompson on "The culture of coding, and how it’s changing the world" - "''I think actually one of the most interesting conversations now is whether classic antitrust actions need to be taken against the scale of some of these companies, because at this point they might be actually thwarting innovation. Because mostly, at this point in time, what innovation is in Silicon Valley is trying to create a company that one of the four big ones will buy up and either kill or phagocytose, basically. Like at this point in time, there's no one who's trying to compete with any of the major four or five big companies. It’s not at all a competitive landscape.'...
'laws, or social programs with unintended consequences. Like DARE, the drug abuse resistance education program here in the US, I don't know if you had it in Canada. It was designed to keep kids off drugs, and it actually increased the rate at which kids started taking drugs'"

An0maly on Twitter - "Kamala Harris is calling out Joe Biden for his segregationist past. Just wait until she finds out the Democratic Party’s involvement in slavery, KKK, destroying black families & refusing to election black people for 100+ years after Republicans did. #DemDebate"