Meme - German: "I'm so sorry for what my ancestors did"
Japanese: "No, we did not commit any war crimes"
Russian: "My grandfather was a war criminal"
Mongolian: *huge Genghis Khan statue*
Terrible Maps on Twitter - "Bosnians: I wanna swim
Croatia : No"
Jack (baboon) - Wikipedia - "Jack was the pet and assistant of double leg amputee signalman James Wide, who worked for the Cape Town–Port Elizabeth Railway service. James "Jumper" Wide had been known for jumping between railcars until an accident where he fell and lost both of his legs. To assist in performing his duties, Wide purchased the baboon named Jack in 1881, and trained him to push his wheelchair and to operate the railways signals under supervision... The baboon was paid twenty cents a day, and half a bottle of beer each week. It is widely reported that in his nine years of employment with the railway company, Jack never made a single mistake"
Meme - "Inside a book by Caimh McDonnell. Love it.
AUTHOR'S NOTE ON LANGUAGE
Please note, as the author and the main character of this book are both from Ireland, it is written in the version of English that is standard there. So recognise is spelled recognise and not recognize etc. The author recognises some North American readers may find this upsetting and while he is of course scared of them, he is considerably more scared of his Mammy, who taught him how to spell, Nevertheless, as an apology, here are a bunch of Zs for you to mentally stick in as and when you choose.
Z z z z z z
Look, they look like a mummy duck and little ducks. Adorable!"
This is from Disaster Inc
Neanderthal extinction: Neanderthals went extinct because of sex, not war - "interbreeding with our ancestors could have resulted in a few Neanderthals interbreeding with each other, leading to extinction."
This is very badly phrased. This just means they got absorbed
‘That Girl is Going to Get Herself Killed’ - "You know what they say — play stupid games, win stupid prizes. And I have been very, very stupid. So why am I still alive? If you are someone who ventures into the wilderness, you don’t want the answer to that question. You want order. We all do. But the pines of the forest, the sands of the desert, the snowy couloirs of the mountains, they will not give us that."
For those who love going into nature
Analyzing the love affair of Romeo and Juliet with modern mathematical tools - "We facetiously suggest that the romance between Romeo and Juliet can be interpreted using modern terminology and include current temptations. Using this model, we consider various factors such as the time that they might spend consulting social networks, the time that they could spend alone together and along with friends as well as their tolerance of being able to waste the couple's money. The model consists of a set of differential equations which describes the relationship between them. Finally, we analyze the eigenvalues the mathematical equations in order to determine if the critical point in this model is stable or not in four different hypothetical scenarios."
Signs You're Richer Than You Think, According to a Financial Planner - "1. They live within their means.
2. They focus on what's important.
Family well-being is far more important than wealth. Sure, they have wealth, but when I'm in a financial planning meeting with a millionaire next door, they talk about their wealth and their financial goals in a way that always circles back to family. They say things like, "I want to retire earlier so I can spend more time with my grandchildren." They understand that building savings and having more money is the contributor to reach their goals and not the end goal.
3. They were never CEO.
The millionaire next door never had the highest paying job
4. They are very resourceful.
5. They are diligent savers and have been since the beginning of their work history.
6. They don't focus on tweaking investments.
Instead of diligently watching the markets and trying to score that one home run, their money is in smart investments steadily growing over time and being reviewed, periodically, to ensure the allocation of their investments is in line with their goals."
Why some countries come together, while others fall apart - "Why is it, in other words, that nation-building succeeded in some places while it failed in others?... there is no secessionist movement among the Cantonese speakers of southern China or among the Tamils of India. And why has no serious politician ever questioned national unity in such diverse countries as Switzerland or Burkina Faso?... Some old countries (such as Belgium) haven’t come together as a nation, while other more recently founded states (such as India) have done so. There are two sides to the nation-building coin: the extension of political alliances across the terrain of a country, and the identification with and loyalty to the institutions of the state, independent of who currently governs. The former is the political-integration aspect, the latter the political-identity aspect of nation-building. To foster both, political ties between citizens and the state should reach across ethnic divides... Alliances that cut across the entire territory of a country depoliticise ethnic divisions. Politics is not perceived as a zero-sum game in which ethnic groups struggle for control of the state. Instead, more substantial policy issues concerning what the state should actually do come to the foreground of the debate. Inclusive political coalitions also foster a sense of ownership of the state and promote the ideal of a collective purpose beyond one’s family, village, clan or profession. Conformingly, citizens who identify with their nation are less resistant to paying taxes, more likely to support welfare policies, and are governed by more effective states. We also know that inclusive coalitions comprising ethnic minorities and majorities alike greatly reduce the risk of civil war and promote economic growth. In the United States, most foreign-policy makers equate nation-building with democratisation... ruling coalitions do not necessarily become more inclusionary over time after a country has transitioned to democracy... democracy doesn’t build nations, but nations that are already built are more likely to transition to democracy... It is easiest to establish political alliances across ethnic divides if they can build on already existing voluntary organisations, such as reading circles, trade unions, political clubs and so forth... By contrast, in hierarchical patronage systems, ties proliferate vertically between patrons and clients who in turn become the patrons of other clients further down the pyramid of power and influence. Alliance networks built on voluntary organisations can therefore proliferate across the territory and reach across ethnic divides more easily than patronage systems... A comparison between Switzerland and Belgium, two countries of similar size, with a similar linguistic composition of the population, and comparable levels of economic development, provides an example. In Switzerland, civil society organisations – such as shooting clubs, reading circles and choral societies – developed throughout the territory during the late 18th and first half of the 19th century. They spread evenly throughout the country because modern industries emerged across all the major regions, and because Switzerland’s city-states lacked both the capacity and the motivation to suppress them. In Belgium, by contrast, Napoleon, as well as the Dutch king who succeeded him, recognised the revolutionary potential of such voluntary associations, and suppressed them. Even more importantly, the associations that did exist in Belgium were confined to the more economically developed and more educated French-speaking regions and segments of the population... The second factor concerns the resources that citizens exchange with the state. Citizens are more likely to politically support a government that provides public goods in exchange for taxing them... A comparison between Somalia and Botswana offers an illustration... The third aspect of the alliance relationships between citizens and the state refers to how they communicate with each other. Establishing ties across regions and ethnic divides is easier if individuals can converse in a shared language.... There is not much support for the alternative explanations of nation-building briefly discussed above, such as a history of colonial rule, or a country’s wealth. According to further statistical analysis, countries are not more likely to fail at nation-building if they were subjected to colonial rule for a very long time or if that rule had assumed a specific form (such as settler colonialism or indirect rule such as in British colonies). If their economies are underdeveloped; if they fought few interstate wars or ethno-nationalist conflicts; or if religious and linguistic cleavages overlap the same holds true: the data don’t show a significant influence on nation-building. Finally, where highly centralised states had emerged before the colonial interlude and before the transition to the modern nation-state, contemporary governments provide more public goods and the population speaks fewer tongues... Public goods are best provided by national and local governments. Private companies, foreign NGOs or intervening armies might sometimes be more economically efficient. But public goods provisioning by outside forces does little to enhance the legitimacy of the national government. This is shown by the Survey of the Afghan People, conducted annually by the Asia Foundation from 2006 to 2015. Public goods projects carried out by foreigners made Afghans less satisfied with their national government, compared with projects implemented by government agencies. Foreign projects were also not nearly as effective in motivating citizens to turn to government institutions to solve their local disputes, rather than to traditional authorities or warlords. Even more disheartening, the survey reveals that Afghans are more likely to justify the violence committed by the Taliban if they live in districts where foreigners have sponsored public goods projects. In other words, foreign public goods projects might have lost the ‘hearts and minds’ of Afghans, rather than winning them."
Is Google Dying? Or Did the Web Grow Up? - The Atlantic - "Brereton’s most intriguing argument for the demise of Google Search was that savvy users of the platform no longer type instinctive keywords into the search bar and hit “Enter.” The best Googlers—the ones looking for actionable or niche information, product reviews, and interesting discussions—know a cheat code to bypass the sea of corporate search results clogging the top third of the screen. “Most of the web has become too inauthentic to trust,” Brereton argued, therefore “we resort to using Google, and appending the word ‘reddit’ to the end of our queries.” Brereton cited Google Trends data that show that people are searching the word reddit on Google more than ever before. Instead of scrolling through long posts littered with pop-up ads and paragraphs of barely coherent SEO chum to get to a review or a recipe, clever searchers got lively threads with testimonials from real people debating and interacting with one another. Most who use the Reddit hack are doing so for practical reasons, but it’s also a small act of protest—a way to stick it to the Search Engine Optimization and Online Ad Industrial Complex and to attempt to access a part of the internet that feels freer and more human... Google is still useful for many, but the harder question is why its results feel more sterile than they did five years ago. Haynes’s theory is that this is the result of Google trying to crack down on misinformation and low-quality content—especially around consequential search topics... There’s a strange irony to all of this. For years, researchers, technologists, politicians, and journalists have agonized and cautioned against the wildness of the internet and its penchant for amplifying conspiracy theories, divisive subject matter, and flat-out false information. Many people, myself included, have argued for platforms to surface quality, authoritative information above all else, even at the expense of profit. And it’s possible that Google has, in some sense, listened (albeit after far too much inaction) and, maybe, partly succeeded in showing higher-quality results in a number of contentious categories. But instead of ushering in an era of perfect information, the changes might be behind the complainers’ sense that Google Search has stopped delivering interesting results... Rand Fishkin, the founder of the software company SparkToro, who has been writing and thinking about search since 2004, believes that Google has gotten better at not amplifying conspiracy theories and hate speech, but that it took the company far too long... Fishkin argues that Google Search—and many of Google’s other products—would be better with some competition and that Search’s quality improved the most from 1998 to 2007, which he attributes to the company’s need to compete for market share"
When you mess with your search results for political reasons
Hilarious New Zealand Ad for Bus Drivers - "Always wanted a corner office with a view? How about being paid to travel? Plus drive a $400,000 company vehicle? Tony did, so he became a bus driver."
Bankrupt Labour-run council spent £38,000 on dying plants for staff wellbeing - "Slough Borough Council purchased 200 indoor plants for its £41 million new Observatory House office complex, which now faces being sold off to save cash. Officials said the plants would promote “staff health and wellbeing” and “reduce sick building syndrome”, a condition of headaches and respiratory problems blamed on poor offices... he Labour-run authority in Berkshire declared bankruptcy last year with £760 million of borrowing debt, meaning it was forced to terminate its deal for contractors to water them. Now James Swindlehurst, the council's leader, has admitted that he, the cleaners and other staff are instead having to water the deteriorating plants in their own time, prompting outcry from councillors who fear they will die and head to landfill... A Slough Borough Council spokesman said root flies are the next problem, as they have nested in the offices because of all the plants."
Woof! St. John's shuts down illegal hair salon … that turns out to be a Hudson & Rex set - "A television show about a dog detective recently managed to fool a St. John's neighbourhood — and even a city inspector. The city said Friday it received a complaint from a resident on Gower Street in the downtown core on Aug. 10 about what appeared to be an illegal hair salon — named Curl Up & Dye, according to the sign on the front window — based in a neighbouring home. After an inspector investigated, the city sent a letter to the homeowners to say they needed to apply to the city for proper certification — or face fines and legal action. But Curl Up & Dye doesn't actually exist — the painted "storefront" is actually part of a set for the CityTV television show Hudson & Rex, which films in and around St. John's."
Inside the elaborate set-up of a scam HQ, staffed by people forced to scam - "For some of the people hunched over computers and typing furiously, sweet-talking strangers thousands of miles away, what impels them is the threat of torture — beatings, starvation, even electrocution. For others, it is the prospect of promotion, cash bonuses, or even the promise of drugs... In another room is the “marketing” department, where some folks put together voice notes, pictures and videos. One of them is editing a video of a slender young woman cooking fish head curry. It will be sent to an unsuspecting chat partner somewhere in the US or Australia perhaps. Meanwhile, a picture of an empty fridge is sent to one of the men sitting outside who, in turn, forwards it to a woman in Malaysia he’s been chatting up for weeks. “I just spent the afternoon cleaning my parents’ fridge,” he types. “What were you doing today?”... the people manning the computers and phones are driven by different things. Some may be there willingly, attracted by the easy money, or fugitives from justice in their own countries. But others are victims themselves — duped into thinking that they were getting well-paid jobs, and instead trafficked across borders, sold and made compliant through threats of violence or torture... On Bilce Tan’s first day of work, he was handed lists comprising personal details of people living in Malaysia and Singapore. The information included identification numbers, addresses, bank balances and even their salaries. The 41-year-old Malaysian had arrived on a flight the day before; he had been promised a business development role and underwent four rounds of interviews before snagging the job offer. But en route to his workplace, three men got into the car he was in — making him, for all intents and purposes, a hostage. He did not know where the lists came from; he said his supervisor treated him brusquely when he asked. He was told to look at them and identify “key customers” based on their savings, for example, or real estate assets. Another former scammer, Lee*, who was in a different syndicate, said women were often targeted because his supervisors believed it was easier to scam women than men. “Women aren’t as sharp (as men), and their awareness of love scams isn’t as (heightened),” said the Chinese national on what he was told. “Women also might find it harder to extricate themselves from the relationship.”... According to Chan*, a Chinese national trapped in a syndicate in Laos for two months, among its managers was a psychology graduate. “He provided high-level analysis of victims’ investment behaviours,” he said. “There were a lot of experts like this.”... He said the most important part is understanding the victims’ basic information, their interests and their emotional needs. “There’s always a desire in everyone’s heart,” he said. “If we know what they desire, we can give them the satisfaction.” In the end, he memorised the scripts. He said there were times when he was tested on the spot, and if he could not recall the facts, he would be scolded and made to do squats or push-ups. Make mistakes multiple times, and the punishment could be an electric shock. In the scam compounds, beatings and even torture were commonplace, as a way of ensuring compliance... they had to work until late at night and would be beaten and tasered if they could not cheat at least one person every week. The 32-year-old Malaysian said anybody who wanted to be released had to pay RM50,000 (S$15,000). But there is a flip side. “There are reports of people being given rewards,” said Sims, citing witness testimonies his organisation has received. “Maybe a bigger room or … drugs.” Prostitutes are also offered as an incentive besides money. And according to International Anti-Scam and Trafficking Alliance documents, a scam employee’s commission can range from 5 to 15 per cent. But it is likely that those who are there willingly are by far in the minority... most people there were from China, but there were also Indonesians, Filipinos, Malaysians and even Singaporeans. Many of them were like him — trapped — he deduced, while those who were willingly there included criminals who had fled their respective countries.. According to Taiwan’s National Police Agency, the likely number of Taiwanese trafficking victims who are currently in Cambodia against their will is around 2,000 as reported in August, though it could be as high as 5,000... while these job scams initially targeted Chinese nationals, syndicates have changed their tactics because of an increasing awareness of these scams in China... people have been snatched from the streets and sold to syndicates... because these scam compounds bring in money for local communities, local governments can sometimes turn a blind eye. Besides, she added, “they’re not scamming the (locals)”."
‘He was just so real’: Why online scams are claiming victims among the educated and well-off - "“With our clients’ first investment, we make sure they earn some profits. Then we slowly cultivate the relationship and groom them, like fattening a pig,” he said. “When we’ve managed to scam them out of all their money, and they realise it, we cut off all forms of contact — like butchering the pig.”... The scammers also showered their victims with care, often from the first few days... Showered with such deliberate attention, it’s not inconceivable that victims fall for someone they have never met. Said SPF psychologist Carolyn Misir: “The scammers contact them multiple times a day, with many reinforcing messages like, ‘I love you’ or ‘I care for you — have you eaten your lunch?’” “A lot of victims tell us they fell in love very quickly”... Talk of investment and cryptocurrency can come as early as a few days into the conversation or after months, perhaps depending on the scammer’s patience... He suggested investing “a small amount first”, so she put in S$500. She made a 10 per cent profit and was able to deposit the money in her bank account. Then she put in S$2,000. Again, she was able to take it out with a similar profit. This gave her the confidence to believe the platform was above board, aside from the fact that the profits she saw on the platform were similar to those on her other legitimate investments. In fact, all the victims CNA Insider spoke to were able to successfully withdraw their money as Kelly did, and sometimes it was even the scammers who encouraged them to do so... As for Kelly, after losing S$15,000, the financial consultant lost self-confidence in her professional skills. She also became wary of strangers approaching her on Instagram. And yet — her vulnerabilities were what another acquaintance on social media used to scam her again... The scams also claim casualties beyond those directly targeted. Victims are encouraged to borrow money from friends, as Han Ni was — and so others get sucked in too... Are some people more vulnerable than others to this type of scam? According to a Gaso survey of 509 pig-butchering scam victims, they come from all walks of life, with nearly nine in 10 having at least a bachelor’s degree. Sixty-six per cent of respondents were women, mostly in their late 20s to early 30s. Yuen stressed, however, that the survey was done on a voluntary basis and may not paint a fully representative picture of all victims. SPF psychologists Misir and Lee Rong Cheng said scammers will try to target different scams at different groups; for example, more women may be targeted for love scams, while more men may be targeted for credit-for-sex scams... Sophisticated as the scams may be, there are still several ways to spot them.
Common story tropes... All the stories were the same, whether they were a Chinese, Korean or Caucasian man. For one thing, they often talked about earlier hardships they had suffered but overcome, and were now successful people, she cited. Following that, they’d start talking about cryptocurrency...
No video call, no meeting...
Scam platform red flags... spelling or grammatical errors, particularly in the ticker or the site’s terms of service. If the site has a 24-hour online customer service to communicate with customers needing to make a deposit or withdrawal, that is a “dead giveaway”. Also, it is likely that the website is a recent one — less than a year old — so he suggests checking when its domain name was registered. Friends and family members can help to raise a warning flag, too... The two police psychologists highlighted the importance of taking “cognitive breaks” by stepping away from a situation... Gaso volunteers also do what is known as scam-baiting: They create fake social media profiles and reach out to potential love scammers. Once scammers send them a URL for an investment or mining platform, known as a black URL, it will be posted on Gaso’s website so people can do a Google search to check a URL’s legitimacy. “There’s the revenge aspect of it, where they pretend the scammer is like their own scammer, and now they’re getting back at (scammers) by wasting their time,” said Yuen. Scam-baiting also helps Gaso understand scammers’ changing tactics"
Singapore is notable for having the highest per capita rate of scam victims
Do You Love Me? Psychological Characteristics of Romance Scam Victims - "The online dating romance scam is an Advance Fee Fraud, typically conducted by international criminal groups via online dating sites and social networking sites. This type of mass-marketing fraud (MMF) is the most frequently reported type of MMF in most Western countries. This study examined the psychological characteristics of romance scam victims by comparing romance scam victims with those who had never been scammed by MMFs. Romance scam victims tend to be middle-aged, well-educated women. Moreover, they tend to be more impulsive (scoring high on urgency and sensation seeking), less kind, more trustworthy, and have an addictive disposition. It is argued here that these findings might be useful for those developing prevention programs and awareness campaigns."
Reflections on our Cecil, the Zimbabwean Lion - "Cecil’s tragedy has put us in the news, only this time the big villain is an American dentist, not the usual characters. But when I read about a famous and much-loved lion called Cecil, and saw the wide coverage on the international news networks, I was a bit surprised because I did not know Cecil or that he was one of our most famous lions. I remembered Maswerasei, a lion that caused terror in Hurungwe, a rural area in the late 80s. Myths were built around Maswerasei, whose name owed to the story that he only appeared towards sunset, the time when people traditionally ask Maswerasei (How has your day been?) when they meet. Maswerasei was the notorious lion that I knew. Cecil was new to me. So I did a quick check around my circle of friends and family in Zimbabwe — which is a fairly big circle. None of them knew Cecil. His fame had not reached them, too. They did not know that he was, as one British paper said, “a symbol of Zimbabwe”... The country is going through serious economic challenges, and quite understandably, most people have pressing needs on their minds, such as food, shelter and jobs. Thousands have been laid off work since a recent Supreme Court judgment a couple of weeks ago. An activist called Itai Dzamara has been missing for more than four months and some people worry that the story of this human being has not received as much international attention. So forgive them, if their attention is not as much focused on Cecil’s sad demise... the manner in which the story has been presented by international media seems somewhat far removed from the lived realities of most of the local people... Contrary to some perceptions of Africa, people don’t actually live with wild animals. Most Zimbabweans have actually never seen a lion apart from pictures in a book or Simba from Lion King. For those who live near wildlife parks, there are really no good and bad lions as in The Lion King, though — lions eat their livestock and locals will generally run for safety if they see one."
From 2015. Sadly, legal hunting actually provides money which improves the lives of Zimbabweans. But virtue signalling is more important
Even nuns watch porn, says Pope - "The Vatican had to launch an investigation in 2020 after the Pope’s official Instagram account “liked” an image of a Brazilian bikini model posing in a skimpy schoolgirl outfit. Natalia Garibotto, who wore a cropped white shirt and a revealing tartan skirt, joked that she would be “going to heaven” after the attention from the Holy See. She received the ‘like’ from the Pope’s Instagram account, Franciscus, which has nearly nine million followers. Vatican officials demanded to know how the embarrassing endorsement happened, amid speculation that someone in the Holy See’s communications team may have accidentally pressed the ‘like’ button while browsing the model’s extensive gallery of images. A Vatican official told The Telegraph at the time that the Holy See had asked Instagram for “a detailed explanation” of the incident."
Chinese father keeps lottery win secret from his wife and child to 'stop them becoming lazy' - "A man in China is keeping his 219 million yuan (£26 million) lottery winnings a secret from his wife and child because he fears knowledge of the jackpot would make them lazy. To protect his anonymity, the man, who only identified himself by the pseudonym 'Mr Li', dressed in a yellow cartoon character costume to claim his winnings at the lottery office in Nanning, in the southern region of Guangxi... 'I did not leave the hotel because I was afraid to go out and lose the lottery ticket,' he told Nanning Evening News. After collecting the 171.6 million yuan after tax, 'Mr Li' said that he had donated 5 million yuan to charity and had not yet decided what to do with the rest of his newfound fortune."
Paula Abdul Claims She Survived A Plane Crash There Are No Records For - "Surviving a plane crash isn’t something you’re going to quickly forget. Paula Abdul certainly hasn’t forgotten her brush with death in 1992, when her tour plane crashed. However, multiple sources doubt the veracity of her story. According to a story from Distactify “around the time her Under My Spell tour concluded in 1992, she was involved in a plane crash.” Specifically, she claims the engine in her small 7 seater plane caught fire about 40 minutes into a flight. The right wing even caught on fire! Or did it? The NTSB and other sources can’t find convincing data that the incident ever occurred. The crash, which reportedly occurred in the midst of her Under My Spell tour cannot be found in any plane crash database. According to the womanly news, NTSB there is no record of a plane crash in Iowa at any time between Abdul’s St. Louis and Denver-area shows in 1992."
Damn mansplaining, gaslighting and ignoring lived experience!
Mortal Kombat Mocks Gamers Who Spam Fighting Moves - "The sweep kick is particularly notorious among MK players as one of the most easily spammable and annoying moves in the game, especially among more casual players. It’s an incredibly easy move to execute, it comes out quickly, it knocks the opponent completely to the ground, and it’s only avoidable by a low block or by jumping over, making it deadly for players who tend to stand still. For those reasons, the move has become infamous among a certain subset of fans – so much so that the new movie decided to include an homage to it. During the training scenes at Raiden’s temple, Liu Kang steps into the ring with Kano to teach him some moves. Being the bold and boisterous bad guy that he is, Kano immediately began declaring his own strength and prowess. To bring the Black Dragon down a peg, Liu Kang executes none other than the classic MK sweep kick, hilariously knocking Kano to the ground. He then performs the move two more times, catching Kano with each kick. Kano even tries to jump to avoid the move, as many players have, but to no avail, and even asks "Is that the only move you know, mate?""
Thai monks fail drug tests leaving temple empty - "A small Buddhist temple in Thailand has been left without any monks after they were all dismissed for failing drug tests, local officials have said. Four monks, including the abbot, tested positive for methamphetamine in the northern province of Phetchabun"
How success of K-pop bands like BTS hide dark side of industry steeped in sex scandals, 'slave' contracts and suicides - "While BTS themselves have thoroughly escaped the whiff of scandal, kids as young as 10 are often put through their paces in harsh boot camps where weight and diet are monitored in their bid to become famous. Some pop hopefuls are also made to sign crippling contracts that could leave them penniless or offered plastic surgery to improve their looks - and several executives have been accused of sexual exploitation. -Advertisement- One manager even shared video footage of himself having sex with his pop artist after she tried to break off her contract... Ladies' Code singer Sojung of girl group admitted on a Korean TV show that she has dieted so much her hormone level dropped to to "those of a menopausal woman." OneKet from Global Icon allegedly lost a 1st 6lbs in a month by consuming just one bottle of soya milk per day. Solo artist T.O.P reportedly lost over 4stone in a few weeks by taking in nothing but water and a few jelly beans. The unhealthy diets can also spread to bands' legions of fans, with some stars advocating food fads like the banana diet or watermelon diet. One girl band, Nine Muses, revealed they used the 'Nine paper cup diet' - where you eat a daily ration of nine cups of any food except refined sugar... In one shocking case, singer Baek Ji-young's manager Kim Shi-won filmed them having sex without her knowledge, prosecutors said. He then allegedly threatened to release the footage after she tried to get out of his contract. She called his bluff and he did just that... Sexual exploitation has also been widespread in the whole Korean wave – which encompasses film and TV as well as K-pop. Seoul Beats recently reported that the CEO of one unnamed K-pop agency was given 20 months in prison for being involved in prostitution. When actress Jang Ja-yeon killed herself in 2009, at the age of 29, she left a seven page suicide note claiming that modern-day sex slavery was rife across the Korean entertainment industry. In February, YG star Seungri was reported to have offered sex workers for clients at his Seoul nightclub, Burning Sun, and in March he was arrested for sex bribery. On March 12, star Jung Joon-young confessed to filming himself having sex with women and sharing the videos in a chat room, without their knowledge or consent. A Soeul TV station, SBS, then discovered the chat room was used by many more entertainers who watched the videos, leading to the axing of members from three different bands. There were also vile threads discussing the abuse and rape of women in graphic terms. The scandal – along with widespread reports of spy-cams being used in hotel rooms and women’s toilets - led to protests in the South Korean capital against a “toxic” culture that allegedly treats women as sexual objects. As well as sexual exploitation, the pressure to look "perfect" and strive for success has apparently led to some high-profile suicides... Adding to the pressures heaped on the stars are the attentions of the superfans – known as the Sasaeng. The acts are followed wherever they go by crowds of loyal fans who buy details of their movements – including flight numbers – over the internet and often book themselves into the same hotels or turn up at gyms. Last December, three fans caused an hour-long delay in Hong Kong by following boy band Wanna One onto their flight, forcing every passenger to go through a second security check. One K-pop manager told the South China Morning Post he had fans breaking into his building multiple times, saying that one group spread urine and faeces over his doorstep to "mark their territory". The bands go out of their way to keep fans happy – upsetting them at their peril. Fans of Super Junior demanded that band member Sungmin be ousted after he wed in secret, without telling them... in 2006, Yunho, a member of boy band TVXQ, was rushed to hospital to have his stomach pumped after the fan of a rival group was accused of serving him a drink laced with glue."
Guest Post: Think Sci-Hub is Just Downloading PDFs? Think Again - "Sci-Hub is not just stealing PDFs. They’re phishing, they’re spamming, they’re hacking, they’re password-cracking, and basically doing anything to find personal credentials to get into academic institutions. While illegal access to published content is the most obvious target, this is just the tip of an iceberg concealing underlying efforts to steal multiple streams of personal and research data from the world’s academic institutions... We know that, at one UK University, Sci-Hub managed to get six passwords through a 48-hour dictionary attack on their system. Then, over a weekend (when spikes in usage are less likely to come to the attention of publishers or library technical departments) they accessed 350 publisher websites and made 45,092 PDF requests. In another attack, the hackers not only broke into their database; they changed the names and passwords of profiles. Another institution told us an intruder changed the cell phone numbers linked to the user accounts and also planted malware, meaning that all their computers needed to be completely wiped. In addition, we have evidence that Sci-Hub is bombarding university IT systems, often for days on end, without the knowledge of compromised users... More evidence collected shows that credentials that get into Sci-Hub’s hands are subsequently shared widely. How do we know? We caught them. When a particular set of credentials had been stolen and used first by Sci-Hub, the password was reset. For a short period afterward, the stolen credentials were monitored. The log file analysis revealed that there were 302 further attempts to access the site using the stolen credentials. The access points came from 12 countries including the United States, China, Thailand and Hong Kong. Only 17 of the attempts were from Sci-Hub itself, demonstrating the credentials stolen by Sci-Hub had gone viral. Scarily, those same stolen credentials were even being used by university users at 34 recognized universities! This tells us that the credentials had been passed around the web. So, if you have donated your credentials and you think they are only used to access scholarly content, they’re not... A small number of Sci-Hub’s credentials are donated, but the vast majority are clearly phished or taken by dictionary attacks... The time and effort taken by universities to protect themselves and repair the damage caused by cybercriminals like Sci-Hub is just one example of the real harm to individual libraries. One university took days to go through and wipe all the viruses, clean compromised machines, look at what had happened, and change things to protect themselves in the future. These activities increase staffing and hardware costs for both the library and institution. The damage also impacts on the daily operation of IT systems; for example, dictionary attacks will slow the universities’ IT systems. Access to paid content can be lost when a publisher becomes aware of an intrusion. Personal data can get into the wrong hands."
I linked this and someone got upset and claimed there was no evidence since this wasn't published research