Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Links - 29th March 2023 (2)

Meme - "MOTHER, WHEN I GROW UP, WHAT WILL I BE?"
"I'M AFRAID YOU WILL END UP LIKE ME. I WISH YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO GROW UP." - Female pig in cage feeding piglets
"DON'T WORRY, MOTHER! I'LL DRINK LESS MILK TO STAY SMALL. I'LL BE MOTHER'S FOREVER!"
TWO WEEKS LATER... *suckling pig*"

Cow dung protects from radiation, claims Indian court - "Houses made of cow dung are protected from atomic radiation such as nuclear blast fallout, an Indian court has claimed...   Presiding judge Samir Vinodchandra Vyas said the 22-year-old’s actions were “very disappointing” and sentenced him to life in prison after concluding that cow slaughter was the source of countless global problems.  “Every problem in the world will be solved on the day not a single drop of cow’s blood falls on the ground,” said a copy of his ruling. “It has been proved by science that even atomic radiation cannot affect houses made out of cow dung. Drinking cow urine can cure many incurable diseases.”"

Meme - "Naughty Cat Cafe. Not a strip club"

Meme - Isaac Wilks @wilks_isaac: "When I was about 12 I became a Foreman on a Minecraft server that was building a 1-to-1 scale replica of Middle Earth. They gave me a team of corvee laborers and I'd have them dig ditches, redirect canals etc. This was something you did in the Qing Dynasty in like 1895"

Meme - "Fair Esmerelda. She'll never love one such as me. Curse this world that sees beauty only in what it sees! My body is bent, but upright. My voice is obscene, but my words are pure. My form is wretched, but-" - Hunchback
"It's but casing for a most worthy soul. Bravo, sir!" - Ugly woman
"Ew!" - Hunchback
This works even more the other way though, with female hygergamy

Japanese artist creates erasers that slowly turn into an old bald man as you use them - "These unique erasers were designed by Ishikawa Kazuya"

Meme - "No thank you! We don't want any funny posts, transphobic or racist comments, Or any distant relations!"
"What about a blatant violation of your community guidelines?"
"30 day Bandalf!"

Meme - "BEFORE NETFLIX N CHILL THERE WAS CINEMA N' FINGERING"

怎样打飞机 - 维基百科,自由的百科全书 - "《怎样打飞机》是中国人民解放军广州军区司令部编印的一本作战手册,封面标示出版日期为1965年2月15日,内容主要介绍使用轻武器击落敌军战机的方法要诀。  2006年初,该小册子封面被中国大陆网民张贴在讨论区上;由于“打飞机”一词在近年代的粤语与俚语中是男性自慰之意,图片引起热烈讨论与该手册内容之臆测。"

Japanese masturbatory aid maker Tenga unloads its “biggest gift ever” - "Japanese masturbatory aid manufacturer Tenga keeps coming out with marketing campaigns that are just as innovative and memorable as their lineup of self-pleasuring devices.  Their latest campaign is said to be the “biggest gift ever” in the history of the company, as they’re now offering customers the chance to win a product that looks like one of their Vacuum Cups, only it’s made out of 99.99-percent gold and valued at a whopping 10 million yen (US$96,547.50).  The new golden Tenga is actually a cleverly designed tissue case, so you can enjoy “a premium time even after enjoying a Premium Tenga”"

Meme - SAY CHEESE! @Saycheese...: "Mississippi police shoot and kill woman who held a Walmart employee at gunpoint"
Wonda @cfe_wondaG: "What if the gun wasn't loaded,? What if. She was threatened? What if they were playing?? Reckless from the officer"
Many Americans love criminals

Meme - "DOCTOR: *seeing scratches all over my back* well, I can see you're sexually active.
ME: *remembering drunkenly mistaking a raccoon for Yoda and putting him in my backpack to train me as a Jedi*"

Leah 🏳️‍🌈 on Twitter - "The term ‘obese’ is a slur because it is used to dehumanize us and harass us. It’s not because our feelings are hurt by an ‘accurate description’, it is an outdated term that does more harm than good. And as such, it should be eradicated. That’s it."
When you don't know how the euphemism treadmill works

Priest Says It's Ok To Shoplift From Big Stores - "“Jesus said ‘Love your neighbor,’ he didn’t say ‘Love Marks and Spencers,”’ the Rev. John Papworth said, referring to the big British retailer.  Papworth drew a distinction between stealing from individuals or small merchants - which he says is wrong - and stealing from giant retailing corporations. Those, he says, have run little stores out of business and harmed local communities."

U.K. Priest Says Sometimes It's OK To Shoplift - "Rev. Tim Jones created an international uproar on Sunday when he told his congregation that it is sometimes justifiable for desperately needy people to steal from stores"

There’s nothing Victorian about times tables - "The ability to recall any multiple up to 12 times 12 has been an immensely valuable skill over the years. It has given me the confidence to learn more complex maths, a useful aid in my early career as a chartered accountant, and the wherewithal to calculate the best multi-pack supermarket bargains. Alongside being able to read and add up, knowing the multiplication tables is a basic building block for success in life.  But for many people of my generation and those at school since the 1970s, times tables were not part of the curriculum. Chanting the six times tables as a class, or rote learning each multiple of numbers up to 12, was regarded by the education establishment as the worst of Gradgrindian Victorian teaching...   The evidence from cognitive science is that instant recall of important knowledge such as times tables is vital to enable the working memory to carry out more complex tasks.  The American psychologist, Daniel Willingham, in his book, Why Don’t Students Like School?, explains that the brain’s working memory can only hold half a dozen or so pieces of new information at one time and therefore, in any intellectual activity, such as problem solving or critical thinking, the brain needs instant access to a store of information in its retained memory. This is why a knowledge-rich school curriculum is so important: the more knowledge there is in the information store, the easier it is to solve problems or think critically."

What's Wrong With the New Australian Curriculum? - "In education, we have lots of wars. There are the math wars, the reading wars, and the ongoing culture wars. What is less common is for all of these wars to ignite at once along with the declaration of a new war or two, just for the heck of it. That happened in Australia last week when the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority released its draft version of a new Australian Curriculum... the ideal curriculum should satisfy no-one in its entirety... The Australian Curriculum is based on the outdated model of an “expanding horizons” approach to social studies where children must begin by learning about their family, their local area and perhaps complete a project on an old object from the home, with actual history put off as long as possible because this is seen as “developmentally inappropriate” for young children. Popularized by the philosopher John Dewey over a hundred years ago, the expanding horizons model was debunked by Kieran Egan, a more recent philosopher of education, as far back as 1980 and the concept of developmental appropriateness fails the test of modern cognitive science. Couple this approach with a swollen literacy block focusing on decontextualized skills such as reading comprehension that probably don’t need as much time as they are allocated, and you are left with the invidious choice between ancient Egypt and ancient Australia... there are two main approaches to teaching mathematics and they each have their advocates. The first is to explicitly teach students mathematical content and how to solve specific kinds of problems, with lots of practice. Over time, the teacher introduces new classes of problem, more complexity and new contexts as students become more independent. The alternative is to focus on problem-solving and investigations, with the idea that exposing students to non-routine problems will help them develop mathematical problem-solving skills of some kind. In this case, the teacher’s role is to be a guide-at-the-side (rather than the sage-on-the-stage). The empirical evidence is overwhelming—novices benefit far more from explicit teaching, with learning through problem-solving tending to overwhelm them... the draft math curriculum document backs the problem-solving approach... [For Science] Pretty much every content objective in Kindergarten to Year 3 begins with “explore” and for Years 4–10, the verb is “investigate.” This kind of science teaching confuses the practices of professional scientists with the best method for teaching science novices who lack scientific knowledge to draw upon... In 2015, PISA asked students about the different science teaching methods they were exposed to and found that, “After accounting for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profile, in 56 countries and economies, greater exposure to enquiry-based instruction is associated with lower scores in science,” a finding that triangulates with all the other evidence we have for guide-at-the-side teaching methods"

Meme - "Working the dream and cries lol. Required lunches are the biggest industry scams... Its one thing if u work hard manual labor in construction or offshore... Its another if u work a baby job. Get paid go home vs loitering on a job site unable to really go anywhere"
"Woman Says She Quit Her Job On Her First Day After She Was Refused A Lunch Break"
Presumably only in the US do people get upset when employees demand lunch breaks, and claim that if you don't do manual labour you don't deserve a lunch break

Meme - "The Successor to Rome Alignment Chart
STRUCTURE PURIST
A state is the successor to Rome if its territory is primarily situated around Rome
STRUCTURE NEUTRAL
A state is the successor to Rome if its territory is primarily situated within the original Roman Empire's boundaries
STRUCTURE RADICAL
A state can be the successor to Rome regardless of where it is situated
DOCTRINE PURIST
A state is the successor to Rome if it directly inherited institutions and state symbols from the Roman Empire
DOCTRINE NEUTRAL
A state is the successor to Rome if it revives and expressly claims the legacy of the Roman Empire
DOCTRINE RADICAL
A state is the successor to Rome if it continues cultural practices and traditions originating within the Roman Empire
Doctrine Purist, Structure Purist: Vatican City is the successor to Rome
Doctrine Neutral, Structure Purist: Fascist Italy was the successor to Rome
Doctrine Radical, Structure Purist: Modern Italy is the successor to Rome
Doctrine Purist, Structure Neutral: The Ottoman Empire was the successor to Rome
Doctrine Neutral, Structure Neutral: Napoleonic France was the successor to Rome
Doctrine Radical, Structure Neutral: The European Union is the successor to Rome
Doctrine Purist, Structure Radical: Tsarist Russia was the successor to Rome
Doctrine Neutral, Structure Radical: The Holy Roman Empire was the successor to Rome
Doctrine Radical, Structure Radical: America is the successor to Rome"

Cracking the formula: how should Australia be teaching maths under the national curriculum? - "A November analysis paper from the Centre for Independent Studies found that Australian maths classrooms were much more likely to use an inquiry-led approach compared to PISA high-performers such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Taiwan.  The analysis found that “a lack of teacher-led instruction in Australia has contributed to declining student achievement”. “It’s estimated that the average 15-year-old would be about 10 months ahead of where they currently are if they received mostly teacher-led instruction, with only occasional student-led practice,” the report said.  “Effective teaching doesn’t employ explicit instruction alone, but a great deal of explicit instruction is often necessary before students have sufficient expertise for constructivist approaches to be introduced.”"

BBC World Service - The Food Chain, The power of food emojis - "'The arepa may be available all over the world, but there wasn't an emoji for it. Now that sentence may not fill you with horror. Until a few days ago, I'd never given much thought to which food images are available when I look for an emoji on my phone. But maybe I should have done.'...
‘I was growing up in Asia, so I kind of had a very affectional relationship with boba tea. And it was initiated in from Taiwan, I believe, and it was basically milk and black tea, and with the tapioca bars. And what's really interesting is in most of the Asia countries, we call them pearl milk tea, which in Chinese is 珍珠奶茶. But it's funny that one of the tea shop owner decided to use larger tapioca balls with a more provocative name, which is boba. And to make his tea stand out. In Cantonese slang boba actually means big boobs. There's an extra information I found out in the research’"
Once you buy in to the rhetoric of "inclusion", you end up needing to include everything - a fool's errand that will never end

BBC World Service - The Food Chain, Why the whale hunt continues - "‘Whaling is felt by politicians to be very much a part of Norway's national identity, although hardly anyone eats whale meat. Even Norway's own Minister of Fisheries Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen, admits that’
‘Today, it's not that important because we don't hunt so much whales anymore. And also, strangely enough, especially young people in Norway don't eat too much seafood either’...
‘A survey last year commissioned by anti whaling NGOs found only 4% of Norwegians said they ate whale meat often, two thirds said they had even never eaten it or had done so a long time ago... It now kills four to 500 minke whales every year, more than any other country... conservationists are concerned. They say research shows whales struck by less experienced harpooners take longer to die’...
'If we look at International Whaling Commission, the organisation, they wrote many more resolutions against Japanese whaling than they did against Norway, for instance, I think was like 10 resolutions against Japan and one resolution against against Norway, it seemed to me like there was a much more inclination to believe that the Norwegian science is better than Japanese science. And I, well, it might be the case that then some form of like cultural sort of, I wouldn't, I wouldn't go as far as to as to call it racism. But there was definitely like, more cultural affinity between those main way anti whaling nations, which is, for instance, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, and the United States, and and Norway.'...
‘In Japan, international opposition to its whaling industry may have strengthened local support for it. And it was a similar story in the third of the world's commercial whaling nations, Iceland.’...
‘Why does all of this matter so much, in your view? Why is killing a whale different to killing any other animal for human consumption?’
‘This is the exactly the question that I asked when I start. You know, what is it different to kill a cow or a whale? I think, I mean, let's face it, there are a lot of other dangers to whales that are even more serious. You know, we have entanglement in fishing gear, we have pollution and other things, ship collisions. But the whaling, I think, is so important because it is so completely unnecessary, we can demonstrate how they are so much more worth alive than that. Not only for whalewatching and for tourism, because for sure they are more worth alive, you know, for that industry, you can feel the same way again and again and again, you kill it only once. But you know, all the ecosystems that live from those whales. This is also so important. But what fascinated me in the beginning, was the peaceful existence of those huge creatures that are at the top of the food chain of the sea. For me, whales are symbolic for free, unspoiled nature. But I think they are also a symbol for hope. It's not about whether whales are more important than other animals. I just want to look at whales, particularly, as a simple for so many things that we have to do better in this world.’"
Preserving traditional culture is not important - it is more important to protect charismatic megafauna even if they are classified as of Least Concern, so "conservationists" must raise objections based on "animal cruelty" instead
Given that Minke whales are not even Threatened, killing a few is not going to prevent eco-tourism or wreck food chains. It's telling that his main argument about not killing whales is basically "whales are magical beings"

BBC World Service - The Food Chain, Sleep, eat, repeat? - "‘Why are our brains and bodies pushing us to eat more when we've not slept enough? Matthew says it's the animal in us. Or it could be. There are very few times when animals deliberately deprive themselves of sleep’
‘But one of those times is when an animal is under conditions of starvation, the brain must keep the animal awake for a little bit longer, so that the animal can forage for food in a larger perimeter than is normally required. In other words, when we don't give our brain the signal of sufficient sleep, from an evolutionary perspective, your brain thinks that we may be in a state of starvation. And as a consequence, it will increase your food desire and food cravings, to drive you to eat more. That's one of the plausible theories that we have.’
‘I'm afraid there's more bad news to come for the sleep deprived among us, because Matthew says a lack of sleep affects not only the quantity of food you eat, but also the quality.’...
‘When we compared the patterns of brain activity between the two different sleep conditions, when they'd had a full night of sleep or when they were sleep deprived, there were very striking and very clear differences. The part of the brain that performs impulse control and prevents rash decisions, an area that we call the prefrontal cortex. That had been shut down by a lack of sleep. And in contrast, the very primitive deep brain regions that drive excessive appetite, and that are associated with overeating as well as binge eating, they became hyperactive and hyper responsive.’...
‘Maxine is one of the lead researchers in a study trialing weight loss interventions in nightshift workers known as swift.’
‘From the work we've done, what we've seen is there's perhaps a tendency to eat more frequently, we've worked with other shift workers who would say they would crave perhaps more discretionary type foods. So you know, chocolate, crisps, sugar sweetened beverages, but also there's that process of eating to stay awake, eating because they're bored. And the other thing is, is that there is no access to food at night. Some workplaces don't even have facilities to heat food up. You may have to rely on what's available from a vending machine or you may go out to whatever's outside on the streets, which is quite often I guess, take away food’...
‘Inherently our bodies follow circadian rhythms. So we expect to work and eat and exercise during the day. And we expect to sleep at night. And our body is sort of geared to do that. So when you work, night shift, you're doing everything in opposition to what your body is expecting.’
‘And that means it struggles when you eat nighttime meals.’
‘Your body is less well able to break down and metabolize your nutrients’
‘Like glucose, the type of sugar your body gets from food and uses for energy.’...
‘As we go through the day, our body becomes more insulin resistant. So our ability to deal with glucose if we eat is just a bit reduced. So if you are eating frequently at night, you're having your main meal at night, your body just cannot metabolize glucose, as well. So in a couple of small studies we've done where we fed people a meal in the morning and the exact same meal at nighttime, their glucose levels are higher, and stay higher for longer and haven't gone back to the starting level up to three hours later. Whereas in the morning, we will see these levels return to baseline after 45 minutes.’
‘And what happens then if glucose isn't being processed in the same way? What can that lead to?’
‘So what these higher and extended glucose excursions lead to is diabetes.’
‘Maxine says studies have shown that fatty substances in the blood known as lipids also reach higher levels when a meal is eaten at night. And to compound these issues, she says there could be something specific about the body's energy balance at night, that might further push nighttime eaters towards obesity.’
‘When you eat a meal, although you're taking energy in to break down the meal, your body actually expends energy. Not very much, but it does work to break down that food. And there has been some small studies that have shown that you will burn more energy eating in the morning than you will at nighttime.’...
'We found that those individuals who followed more closely a Mediterranean style diet had lower risk of insomnia'"
This doesn't stop people chanting 'calories in, calories out'

Meme - "*Japanese* Please urinate with precision and eIegance."

Meme - "Oh no that poor turtle! *turtle with straw in nose with beer cans on flipper*
*Turtles drinking beer and sniffing cocaine with straw*

Seth Rogen Explains How Surprise Paul Rudd Massage in Vegas Happened - "“Once I was in the spa in a hotel in Vegas getting a massage,” Kroll said. “When I finished I turned over and to my shock, Paul Rudd was massaging me. He saw me go in and convinced the masseuse to let him take over, thinking I’d notice immediately. I didn’t, and Paul did the entire rest of it.”

Urine Deflectors of Fleet Street – London, England - "In a time when sewage still filled the streets and the Thames itself ran with death, urination in a secluded alley was certainly not surprising. Over time, however, the persistent pummel of piddle began to take a toll, corroding the brick walls that made up these alleyways. To prevent further damage, urine deflectors were installed along the length of Cliffords Inn Passage. There are long strips of metal, angled to drain the urine into the gutter (or onto the shoes of its source).   Although this effectively combatted the unsanitary practices of the time, many “gentlemen” were miffed at the urine deflectors introduction"

Brazilian mechanic creates light bulb using water, bleach and a bottle - "A Brazilian mechanic is bringing light to the masses.  With just a plastic bottle, water, and bleach, Alfredo Moser has found a way to produce a light that is up to 40 or 60 watts — stronger than some light bulbs"

Intimacy, Sex and Doctor: Medico issues - FML - "Today, a guy on Bumble sent me a dick pic to me. I opened it, stared at it for a good few minutes, and replied, “I don’t see anything unusual. What are your complaints?” And then it hit me: It’s what they call “the life of a medical student.” I’m ruined! FML"

Facebook, Social Media, Liar and Kids: Saved - FML - "Today, my daughter posted a poem on Facebook about how her father and I abused her for years. It's a complete lie and an obvious attempt to impress her boyfriend, whom she thanked for "rescuing" her. I've received several hateful messages already, along with threats to report me to CPS. FML"
Clearly children never lie about their relationship with their parents, so it's their fault

Sex, Disappointment and Love: Brutally honest - FML - "Today, I went out on a date with a guy significantly older than myself. I told him I really liked him because I can have an intelligent conversation with him, unlike most guys my age. He told me he just wanted to get into my pants. FML"

Health, Gross and Kids: Fine, let her catch something - FML - "Today, while at McDonald's, I saw an 8 year-old girl licking a life-size Ronald McDonald sitting on a bench. Being concerned, I told her mother, who then yelled at me for 10 minutes for being a "paedophile" and "being turned on by an 8 year-old girl." FML"

Intimacy, Sex and Kids: Uptight girl, she's been living in her uptight world… - FML - "Today, my teenage daughter asked me how old I was when I lost my virginity. I sarcastically replied that I'm still a virgin. She looked at me blankly and said, "Jeez, no wonder you're so uptight. You need to get laid, mom." FML"

Money, Capitalism and Miscellaneous: Thick as thieves - FML - "Today, I was at the mall shoplifting when a girl who looked my age pointed to a shirt I had in my bag. "Stole that, huh?" she asked smiling. She looked pretty cool, so I nodded and asked if she stole the jeans she was wearing, which were from the same store. Turns out she didn't, she's the manager. FML"

Love, Sex and Cheating: Time to move - FML - "Today, I found out the guy I consider my best friend has had a girlfriend for the past year, and they have been living together for the past 7 months. He and I have been having unprotected sex for the past 4 and a half years, and have even talked about having kids together. I only found out because I'll be their new roommate. FML"

Are M.B.A.s to Blame for Wage Stagnation? - Freakonomics - "ACEMOGLU: As soon as you have a business-school manager, you see a relative decline in wages and labor share. So, within five years, the wages of business-school-manager-operated firms is about 6 percent lower than comparable firms in the U.S. and about 3 percent lower in Denmark than comparable firms... if you’re a shareholder, you will, of course, like to get more profits, and if the pie remains constant and the slice that you get gets bigger, that’s more profits for you. But the question is, are they also making the pie bigger?... we look at all sorts of ways in which they could be increasing quote-unquote “economic efficiency” or other aspects of efficiency. We look at investment, sales, productivity, exports, and you see none of that...
Acemoglu says we can only attribute 15 to 20 percent of wage stagnation and declining labor share to the rise of the M.B.A. boss. Still, that’s a significant share, especially since setting employee wages is a choice that a firm can directly control — unlike the effects of globalization and automation. And firms that are run by business-school managers are choosing to pay less. The next question you might ask is: what, exactly, is being taught in those business schools?
ACEMOGLU: Many of the courses such as finance and economics and accounting — they are both positive and prescriptive. They are teaching business-school students how the world works and how they should behave, and in almost all of these courses, you’re told, “the objective of the firm is to maximize shareholder value.”"

Meme - "If you did this for 2 years.. *mask*
You can do this for 48 seconds *condom*"

Italian Mobster, 16 Years on the Lam, Found Working at a Pizzeria - The New York Times - "After the arrest of Matteo Messina Denaro, 60, the police found that, while on the run, Italy’s most wanted mobster had expensive tastes, dressing in designer duds and favoring expensive perfumes. When he was taken into custody at a clinic in Palermo, Sicily, he was wearing a watch estimated to cost about $35,000, prosecutors later said.  Life on the lam was less glamorous for Edgardo Greco, 63, a lesser-known mobster linked to the Calabrian ’Ndrangheta crime syndicate, who was arrested on Thursday. The French police captured him in the early hours in St.-Étienne, a city in east-central France, as he was going to work for his night shift in a pizzeria, where he prepared dough, tomato sauces and pastas.  Mr. Greco had been living in a small apartment in the center of the city. “A modest lifestyle, not glitzy at all,” said Lt. Col. Dario Pini, the commander of the Italian carabinieri unit whose investigation led to his arrest... Tracking down Mr. Greco was not easy, Colonel Pini said. Often fugitives give themselves away when they contact close relatives, but Mr. Greco was not in touch with his wife and two sons, who live in Austria, or with relatives in Calabria... Investigators got a break late last year when, plumbing the internet for images of people who looked like Mr. Greco, they came across two articles. One, from 2014, showed a man whom they matched with Mr. Greco “to 95 percent” accuracy. They also came across a July 2021 interview in a St.-Étienne newspaper announcing the opening of an Italian restaurant, Caffè Rossini. Its owner, Paolo Dimitrio, said in the interview that his goal was to “create an elaborate Italian cuisine, only with fresh and homemade products.”  Comparing photographs they had of Mr. Greco, investigators determined that Mr. Dimitrio was in fact the fugitive mobster"

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