Links - 26th March 2020 (3)

Rasid Harun - "A few years ago, when my son was still studying at a secondary school in Kuala Lumpur, I received a letter from the school informing me about "Kem Kepimpinan Pelajar Islam" (leadership camp for Islamic students) which was scheduled once a week, for several weeks, after school hours.The letter, however, did not seek my consent as a parent and guardian to send the student under my care to the after school programme. Instead, it was more of an acknowledgement.Knowing very well what takes place in such after school hours religious programmes, I wrote a letter to the school informing them that my son will not attend the programme and had assumed that since the school has been informed, my son would be excused from attending it. But I was wrong.A couple of hours before school ended on the first day of the "kem kepimpinan", my son called me from his school’s public telephone booth. He informed me that the school has rejected letters from parents who did not give their consent for their children to be held back for the religious programme.I advised my son to pack his bags after school hours and make his way to the school gate with other non-Muslim students. I convinced him that no one can stop him if he wanted to leave after school, and I would be waiting for him outside the school like I always do.When I arrived at my son’s school at 1.25pm, the main gate was shut. Only the side door next to the main gate was open, and I saw non-Muslim students walking out through it. I decided to wait for my son.A few minutes later, I received another phone call from my son.“Ma, I cannot come out. They have locked the main gate and informed the guard not to allow Muslim students to leave the school. I tried to leave, but the guard stopped me. I guess I don’t have a choice, I’ll see you after the programme ends at 4pm.”"
"Moderate Islam"!

Effects of a book gifting programme on literacy outcomes for foster children: A randomised controlled trial evaluation of the Letterbox Club in Northern Ireland - "Outcome measures focused on reading skills (reading accuracy, comprehension and rate) and attitudes to reading and school. The trial found no evidence that the book-gifting programme had any effect on any of the outcomes measured"
i.e. All the claims about how growing up with books is good for children may suffer from omitted variable bias

Kavita Puri On Asians In 1980s Britain | HistoryExtra Podcast - HistoryExtra - "‘Which parts of the subcontinent did these migrants typically come from?’
‘Funnily enough, they came from just a handful of places. If you think about the Indian subcontinent it is huge, but the main groups came from primarily the Punjab which had experienced a lot of violence and disruption during partition. So many British Sikhs come from the Indian Punjabi, in fact, they come from just a number of villages, but Muslims and Hindus came as well from the Punjab. And the other places are select [sp?] again, a place that was disrupted by partition, and Mirpur in Pakistan administered Kashmir. A huge dam was built and displaced many people, and so many Mirpuris came in the early 60s. But what's really interesting about those three places, the Punjab, British Sikhs with the British Indian army, Sylhetis, who since the 18th century, were lascars or sailors on the merchant ships, Mirpuris, some of whom worked in the boiler rooms during the Second World War. These were all groups that had relationships with Britain prior to independence. So there were already connections to Britain. And so when in 1948, the Nationality Act was passed, and every member of the Empire or former Commonwealth became citizens, they had people in places in Britain and that's how chain migration happened afterwards… I've been interviewing a lot of my interviewees for over five years and I always ask them, who do you feel you are? Where do you think you come from? And it's really complicated. It's not a quick answer. Because there's the place of your birth from the Indian subcontinent. Now remember, if you lived through partition, you may have had to move from one country to another, but then you also have an identity with the region that you're born. So Punjabis feel very Punjabi, they have their own language, and culture and tradition as do Bengalis, as do Sylhetis, as do Mirpuris, as do the Gujaratis, and they feel that great affinity to their region. And actually, your affinity to your region can sometimes transcend religion, which I found really interesting. But then you have your religious identity too, and then you have your British identity."

27 People Whose Life Hacks Are Pure Gems - "Here’s a parenting tip: Any time can be midnight if you search for last year’s ball drop on YouTube."
“Place 2 chopsticks across the top of a bowl to sit another one on for more space in the fridge.”
"Use a soda lid to put ketchup on."
“If your hotel room requires you to insert your key for power, you can put anything into the slot.”

This Insect Has The Only Mechanical Gears Ever Found in Nature - "The small hopping insect Issus coleoptratus uses toothed gears on its joints to precisely synchronize the kicks of its hind legs as it jumps forward"

What is the male equivalent of “F*ck this, I’ll just be a stripper”? : AskReddit - "The military"

rudy mustang on Twitter - "never forget when i tried to ubereats some thai food and this was their spice level options
Mild
White People "Hot"
Medium
American "Hot"
Actual Hot"
"The first time my husband (then boyfriend) and I tried Thai food, we were 19. Husband asked the Thai server what “Thai hot” meant. The man looked us over veeeery appraisingly, then said “Thai hot would kill you.”"

an idiot sandwich on Twitter - "This Thai place I went to in Hawaii was fed UP with the white tourists wanting their money back when they ordered their food spicy because they use Frank’s Red Hot at home"
"SPICE NOTICE: ONCE YOU’RE INFORMED THAT THE SPICE LEVEL ARE TOO SPICY & YOU SAY “IT’S ‘ OK”, WE WILL NOT REFUND YOUR MEAL IF YOU SAY IT’S TOO SPICY. YOU WILL HAVE TO RE-PURCHASE ANOTHER AND WE WILL NO LONGER PROVIDE SPICES FOR YOU THAT EXCEEDS UP TO 3*"

Kin Thai Menu - Kin Thai Kitchen - "PICK YOUR SPICE LEVEL
Mildly Spicy with little or no sting.
Still mild, but will impart a stimulating “kick” to the lips and tongue. Will set tongue and lips tingling. The sensation lingers and spreads to a hearty glow.
The tingling glow is transformedto a raging fire, but the exotic flavors of Southeast Asia comesalive.
Can you take it? This level is for addicts and Thai nationals.
Thai Hot: You will have to order some Thai beer (SINGHA) and a box of tissue with the se dishes.Management accepts noresponsibility for side effects!"

Man forced to fake being gay to keep his job in handbag shop - "A 'humiliated' handbag shop worker forced to pretend to be gay to keep his job because his boss wouldn't hire straight men has won almost £8,000 in damages, it was revealed today.  Daniel Hart, 31, was ordered to keep his real sexuality quiet or face the boot from a boutique in Gateshead, Tyne & Wear.  Daniel, who is bisexual, says he was 'humiliated' because he was told to lie to his boss at Amon, Linda Zhang, who only wanted to hire women and gay men... Judge Tudor Garnon said: 'It is not uncommon for people to believe certain types of shop - those selling ladies accessories or cosmetics - should be staffed by people who understand what women want.'But there is absolutely no reason why an Asian or black woman or homosexual man would have any less understanding than a white woman or homosexual man.'"
The judge seems to be saying that it's okay to discriminate against straight men

Meme - "If you're not getting taken away in an ambulance With sparkle panties, oompa loompas and two crying easter bunnies, you‘re just not living your life."

Cenk Uygur on Twitter (Dec 22, 2018) - "I’ve been saying this from day one of his presidency but apparently most people still don’t get it - there is no way Donald Trump finishes his first term. Mark my words: He is out of office by 2019. He is not bright enough to be able to get himself out of the trouble he is in."
Reply: "This feels like one of those tweets that won’t age well" (Dec 22 2018)
"It's like election night 2016 all over again. I loved your work that night!"
"I liked watching the progression of his 2016 election night coverage from one of jubilance to depression so much I watched it again a couple of weeks ago just for yuks."
"I’m a frequent watcher of Cenk’s hilarious meltdown broadcast also !!  It’s a “must see” !"

Child leashes and harnesses are a legitimate solution to runaway kids. - "Runaway toddlers are a danger to themselves and the world. Leashes are an obvious solution. So why do some parents find them so offensive?... After the 2016 death of the gorilla Harambe, when Cincinnati zookeepers saved the life of a 3-year-old who had wandered into an enclosure by shooting and killing the animal, the internet harassed the child’s mother mercilessly. In this case, the preschooler wasn’t wearing a leash or harness, and the mother was wrangling several other kids. “The idea that we should be able to ‘manage’ our children, as if they are reasonable adults and not semi-feral animals covered in germs and fueled by destruction, is laughable,” Ijeoma Oluo wrote in defense of the child’s mother in the Guardian. “But we perpetrate these myths, and whenever the truth becomes unavoidable, we shame the mother instead of looking at the situation honestly.”  I see it this way: Toddlers are semi-feral, yes, but also, our world is not built for toddlers. I didn’t appreciate this disconnect before I had a child, but now I observe it constantly."

You Can Still Upgrade to Windows 10 For Free, Here's How - "Back when Windows 10 was first released, Microsoft allowed users of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. Microsoft officially ended the free upgrade offer in December 2017, but a method still works that allows you to upgrade an older version of Windows to Windows 10 for free."

Inflation and the Poor - "Using polling data for 31,869 households in thirty-eight countries and allowing for country effects, we show that the poor are more likely than the rich to mention inflation as a top national concern. This result survives several robustness checks. We also find direct measures of improvements in well-being of the poor-the change in their share in national income, the percent decline in poverty, and the percent change in the real minimum wage-to be negatively correlated with inflation in pooled cross-country samples."
i.e. inflation hurts the poor more than the rich

22 Convention Promises to 'Make Women Great Again' - "A group of unapologetic “mansplainers” are promising to “make women great again” with an upcoming convention in Orlando, Florida.Tickets for the May 1-3 event cost $1,999 and are only available to women... The “22 Convention” is billing itself as the “world’s ultimate event for women, by men.” Organized by “legendary manosphere event architect and 1st President of The Manosphere,” Anthony Johnson, the “22 Convention’s” lineup of all-male speakers aim to show women “the truth that unhealthy militant feminists have been hiding from you your entire life.”... Destined “to be the mansplaining event of the century,” the “22 Convention” also pledges to raise female attendees’ “femininity by 500%.”  In one photo on the “22 Convention’s” site, Johnson stands next to an image of a woman with a message that reads: “men prefer debt-free virgins without tattoos.”  Other topics of discussion include beauty and obesity, the war on motherhood, becoming the “ultimate wife” and how to “get pregnant and have unlimited babies.”... The “21 Convention,” a parallel event that teaches men to embrace their masculinity, is set to take place in April."

Alexander J.A Cortes on Twitter - "How to be a Beautiful Woman
- Be thin
- Be able to cook
- Have long hair
- Wear make-up
- Be feminine
- Be graceful
- Be Sensual
- Shave (should without saying)
- Be fashionable
- Wear pink and feminine colors
- Love men
- Listen to men
Stay classy ladies!"

Garbage Human re-follow - Posts - "American Girl sales are plummeting. Can the iconic ’90s brand be saved?"
"American Girl's 2020 'Girl of the Year' is first doll with disability"

Sapiosexualism Is Here to Stay - Rachel Anne Williams - "sexual selection itself shows that being attracted to intelligence is so much more than just being attracted to people that are good at taking intelligence tests. The dynamics of interpersonal mate selection are way more complicated than that. Kindness, humor, empathy, emotional intelligence, charisma, morality, wisdom, patience, creativity — these are some of the traits relevant to sexual selection besides just “quick thinking”. Another problem with sapiosexualism is how it advertises itself within the context of dating profiles: as a sexual orientation.That is, right there beside “gay”, “straight”, and “pansexual” is “sapiosexual”. This positioning misleadingly suggests that attraction to intelligence constitutes an entirely new axis along which we can think about sexual orientation. But this fundamentally misconstrues the domain of sexual orientation, which is about gender"