Links - 22nd January 2020 (1)

Meme - "How old were you when found out that the drawer on your stove is for keeping food warm and not for pots and pans..."

How Teachers In Washington State Are Told to Teach Science - "Quillette's Claire Lehmann shared the following slide from "a conference for science teachers" in Washington state showing how they're being told to teach "science"... "If you conclude that outcomes differences by demographic subgroup are a result of anything other than a broken system, that is, by definition, bigotry"... "There must be a lot of bigotry in the NBA," commented social scientist Noah Carl, who was sacked by Cambridge earlier this year for conducting politically incorrect studies deemed "problematic.""
No wonder homeschooling is so big now

CDC: Genital Herpes Among Black Women High - "black women have the highest rates of herpes infection at 48 percent. Nationally, about 16 percent of Americans between the ages of 14 and 49 are infected with genital herpes

Lisa Britton on Twitter - "Nearly 80% of divorces are initiated by women.
I personally know 3 women who initiated divorce because they felt held down & that the ‘independent woman’ lifestyle seemed intriguing to them after having a family for a decade or two.
All have expressed regret now. They’re alone.
This reason is a consequence of feminism.
Feminism is influencing girls & young women that being single is power & they shouldn’t start a family because a career is everything, but it also convinces married women that they’ve been wronged, leading to the destruction of families."

Konstantin Kisin on Twitter - "It’s deeply depressing that so many politicians are either refusing to answer questions in interviews or avoiding interviews altogether. Surely an election campaign in a functioning democracy is about being prepared to be challenged on your policies so voters can decide? #GE2019"
"People are avoiding being interviewed by Cathy Newman. WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED THIS??? 🤯🤯🤯"
Tellingly, some replies to her complaint scold her and/or Channel 4 for being biased, which explains why she has no luck

Where R All The Good Men? - Posts - "tall blonde communist. won't date a man who makes less than 6 figures"

3 Indiana Judges Suspended After White Castle Brawl That Ended In Gunshots - "three Indiana judges got into a fight. It was the crescendo of an incident brimming with colorful details: a gaggle of judges drinking the night before a judicial conference, a failed attempt to visit a strip club called the Red Garter, a brawl in the parking lot of an Indianapolis White Castle."

Meme - "Darth Vader Ruled an Entire Galaxy
Voldemort Couldn't Even Take Over a High School"

NYT Business on Twitter - "If your boss is asking for your honest feelings about diversity issues, you should feel absolutely free to provide the critique they desperately need to hear"
Comment: "Whatcha think @JamesADamore? How well will that work?"

9.4 inch mortar shaped like a sitting tiger. India, 1770-1799 [1140x1160] : ArtefactPorn

Richard Cooper on Twitter - "People tell men "Do what's right"
People tell women "Do what's right for you"
There is a lesson there."

Where R All The Good Men? - Posts - "23 [years old]... 47... vegan... chicken nugget addict"

Jennifer Gunter on Twitter - "Me, talking to a guy on the phone, explaining I’ve been married twice.
My son Victor walks into the room and says, “That’s because no man can tame you.”"
I dumped my boyfriend after he said my vagina smelled off - "Dr. Jen Gunter spoke out after commenting on recent reports that women have been using Vicks VapoRub to cleanse their vaginas."
Of course there were people on Twitter criticising her son for being sexist

I Fucking Love Maps - Posts - "Preferred alcoholic beverages in Europe, 1990 vs 2015"
Europe can be divided into beer, wine and spirits

To Level the Dating Playing Field, Debunk the Myth of the Female Biological Clock - "I walked away from that evening horrified, as the harsh realities of the dating world started to descend on me: now that I have crossed 25, the time-bomb is ticking, and I’d better get serious real soon before my ovaries wither away. Yet, there are still so many things I want to try, learn, and do! The different career trajectories I still want to explore, the sabbaticals I still want to take, the MFA I still want to pursue, that book I still want to write …Why do men have the luxury to do all the things they desire—play and try and fail .. or succeed—and at any point in life when they do choose to settle, they can easily grab a fertile 20-something-year-old to pass down their genes? Should we accept this as facts of the natural world, the inevitable cruelty of the biology of genders?... What if, instead of focusing on older women’s declining egg qualities, our society unanimously chooses to focus on scaling research and solutions that mitigate the constraints of the female biological clock, and spreading narratives that assuage our collective fear and anxiety?   What if, the government sponsors, subsidises and encourages fertility treatments as basic rights for women, regardless of their marital status, like France is about to do? What if, it is made significantly easier for both men and women to adopt children, be single parents, hire a surrogate, build alternative family arrangements and models?... Numerous studies also show that women continue to be penalised for having children at workplaces, since their competence and commitment are perceived to be lower. The Ministry of Manpower’s 2018 Labour Force Survey indicates that the gender pay gap appears to start in the 30s (i.e. when women typically start to have children), and continues for the rest of their lives.  When I raised this issue during lunch with an old friend, a manager in a big consulting firm, he rolled his eyes and said, “But really, can you blame a company? If I have a male and female employee, and the woman can’t commit as many hours as the man can due to childcare responsibilities, it is only natural that I promote the man. It is simple math, simple economy.”... He shows a disturbing graph that men, regardless of age, still find women in their early twenties most attractive—while women show attraction towards men of their own age.   Regardless of whether they want to have children, men have been socially, culturally, and biologically conditioned to value young female bodies above other qualities... Jan also said that a lot of men her age find it hard to be with women who are assertive with a lot of opinions to dish, and older women tend to be less obedient and less impressionable than younger women are. “Many men don’t want lovers who talk back and criticise them—they want someone beautiful who adores them and does not question their wisdom.”... As a personal first-step towards this new ideal, perhaps it is about time I stop dating hedge fund managers a decade older than I am."
Apparently biology is a myth - again feminism is about denying science (to say nothing about how science also consistently shows that having 2 biological parents is the best family structure for a child)
Once again, feminism is about demanding resources. As well as equal pay for unequal work
Given that "happy wife, happy life" is a saying women love, it's evident having a lover who doesn't talk back and criticises them isn't something only men want
It's funny how the author pretends that mate preferences are socially conditioned
At least the conclusion shows some self-awareness

Why so many Albertans are giving up on their country - "After spending more than a decade reporting from Alberta, I have to confess that I’m tired of trying to explain western alienation to the East. (Please note, if you will, that everything east of Manitoba is considered “the East” to me.)... the stereotype serves a particular political function. When a reporter parachutes into cattle country to root out a racist wacknut, the outlier and the anecdote become proof of the corrupt and immoral nature of the province and its political culture as a whole. I had long chalked this up to habit. Once your province has cultivated a reputation for being a redneck backwater, well, that’s a hard one to break. But it’s a habit that leaves Albertans constantly seeing themselves and their grievances reflected back at them through a profoundly distorted lens.It doesn’t seem to be enough to perceive Albertans as wrong, or mired in a declining oil-and-gas industry that produces significant greenhouse gas emissions—they must also be bad people.And what consideration is owed to a pack of hard-luck deplorables? If you view the province as a collection of regressive hicks whose only claim to wealth is that they were lucky enough to be born on valuable dirt, then it becomes very easy to decimate that wealth. Or, at the very least, to greet the crisis playing out in this province with smug contempt. The oil crash of 2014 and subsequent economic decline becomes a manifestation of divine justice.The province’s suffering is proper and righteous.The indifference of the nation is justified. There is at least one major politician in this country who has publicly expressed a desire to separate from Canada if he didn’t get his way politically.That politician is Justin Trudeau.In 2012, he said on Radio-Canada: “I always say, if there came a point where I thought Canada really was Stephen Harper’s Canada—that we were against abortion, against gay marriage, that we went backwards in 10,000 different ways—maybe I’d consider making Quebec a country. Oh yes. Absolutely. I know my values very well, even if I no longer recognized Canada.” Within days, he turned on that position entirely. All was forgiven and forgotten.... Perhaps Albertans would be more amenable to talking about this transition if this country’s commitment to climate change didn’t seem so selective.   No one is talking about transitioning B.C.’s forestry industry, despite the fact that the province’s forests are a major carbon sink. Open pit mining doesn’t seem to be under threat. Transportation is one of this country’s top greenhouse gas culprits, yet I cannot imagine Trudeau making a similar comment about southwest Ontario’s car manufacturing plants, nor Quebec’s aviation industry."

Hillary Clinton suggests that Tulsi Gabbard is Russian plant - "Hillary Clinton said Friday the Russians were “grooming” a Democrat running in the presidential primary to run as a third-party candidate and champion Moscow’s interests on the campaign trail. The former first lady’s comment appeared to be aimed at Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who has been accused of being cozy with Russia in the past... Clinton also accused Jill Stein, who ran against her and Donald Trump in 2016, of being a Russian asset"
Russiagate 2.0 - as if the first time wasn't silly enough

Nick Cave - The Red Hand Files - Issue #66 - Why do you write? : The Red Hand Files - "living in a state of enquiry, neutrality and uncertainty, beyond dogma and grand conviction, is good for the business of songwriting, and for my life in general. This is the reason I tend to become uncomfortable around all ideologies that brand themselves as ‘the truth’ or ‘the way’. This not only includes most religions, but also atheism, radical bi-partisan politics or any system of thought, including ‘woke’ culture, that finds its energy in self-righteous belief and the suppression of contrary systems of thought. Regardless of the virtuous intentions of many woke issues, it is its lack of humility and the paternalistic and doctrinal sureness of its claims that repel me. Antifa and the Far Right, for example, with their routine street fights, role-playing and dress-ups are participants in a weirdly erotic, violent and mutually self-sustaining marriage, propped up entirely by the blind, inflexible convictions of each other’s belief systems. It is good for nothing, except inflaming their own self-righteousness. The New Atheists and their devout opponents are engaged in the same dynamic. Wokeness, for all its virtues, is an ideology immune to the slightest suggestion that in a generation’s time their implacable beliefs will appear as outmoded and fallacious as those of their own former generation. This may well be the engine of progress, but history has a habit of embarrassing our treasured beliefs. Some of us, for example, are of the generation that believed that free speech was a clear-cut and uncontested virtue, yet within a generation this concept is seen by many as a dog-whistle to the Far Right, and is rapidly being consigned to the Left’s ever-expanding ideological junk pile. This is not to suggest we should not have our convictions or, indeed, that we should not be angry with the state of the world, or that we should not fight in order to correct the injustices committed against it. Conviction and anger can be the most powerful expressions of universal love. However, my duty as a songwriter is not to try to save the world, but rather to save the soul of the world. This requires me to live my life on the other side of truth, beyond conviction and within uncertainty, where things make less sense, absurdity is a virtue and art rages and burns; where dogma is anathema, discourse is essential, doubt is an energy, magical thinking is not a crime and where possibility and potentiality rule. The answers to the secrets of the heart may just be there, in the inscrutable dark of the forest, in the unfathomable depths of the sea, at the uncertain tips of our fingers."