Sunday, September 17, 2023

Links - 17th September 2023 (1)

King Zhou of Shang - Wikipedia - "A significant amount of information regarding Di Xin's life had been falsified by following dynasties... In his later years, Di Xin gave himself over to drinking, women, and abandoned morals, preferring these to the proper governance of the country, and ignored almost all affairs of state. According to Sima Qian, he even hosted festive orgies, where many people engaged in immoral things at the same time with his concubines and created songs with crude (erotic) lyrics and poor rhythm. In legends, he is depicted as having come under the influence of his wicked wife Daji, and committing all manner of evil and cruel deeds with her.  One of the most famous forms of entertainment Zhou enjoyed was the "Alcohol Pool and Meat Forest". A large pool, big enough for several canoes, was constructed on the Palace grounds, with inner linings of polished oval-shaped stones from the seashores. This allowed for the entire pool to be filled with alcohol. A small island was constructed in the middle of the pool, where trees were planted, which had branches made of roasted meat skewers hanging over the pool. This allowed Zhou and his friends and concubines to drift on canoes in the pool. When they thirsted, they reached down into the pool with their hands and drank the wine. When they hungered, they reached up with their hands to eat the roasted meat. This was considered one of the most famous examples of decadence and corruption of a ruler in Chinese history. According to the Records of the Grand Historian, in order to please Daji, he created the "Punishment of burning flesh with a hot iron (炮格之刑)". One large hollow bronze cylinder was stuffed with burning charcoal and allowed to burn until red-hot; then prisoners were made to hug the cylinder, which resulted in a painful and unsightly death.  Zhou and Daji were known to get highly aroused after watching such torture... In Fengshen Yanyi, Zhou visited the Goddess Nüwa's temple and offended the Goddess with his lustful comments towards her beauty. In response, Nüwa decided that the Shang dynasty should end and sent her three subordinates to become three beautiful women (including Daji) to bewitch Zhou. Under the influence of these women, Zhou becomes a ruthless king, losing the support of people and triggering his downfall. Until now, nobody knows most of his lifestyle from the reduced amount of artifacts found regarding to him."

ZHOU WANG - the Chinese God (Chinese mythology) - "Debauched God of Sodomy
Di Xin, last ruler of the Shang Dynasty, was a terrible king. He was much given to cruelty and debauchery, filling his days with outrageous feasts, sadistic orgies, and truly awful karaoke sessions. All paid for by the taxpayers. He went so far off the rails that he paid for an entire park to be constructed out of food and drink. There he would nibble from the meat trees while contemplating new ideas for torturing his servants. His favorite pastime was forcing slaves to swim naked in the wine-filled lake."

Meme - "The Sims Mobile Community
Do babies grow on their own or do we need to interact with them?
I forgot to look at the group name and i was genuinely concerned lol"

Meme - "No Cussing! The following 4-Letter words are forbidden here: Inch Mile Foot Pint Yard Acre. And we never swear the BIG F (use degrees C). Please keep it clean and Metric"

Meme - ""Essential workers" bless their souls *streetwalkers [?]*""

World's richest beggar has a net worth of $1 million - "Bharat Jain takes to the streets in Mumbai - India's financial capital - to beg from strangers. Typically, he can take home as around 2500 rupees - around $30 - per day or around 75,000 rupees ($913) a month.  It might not seem like much, but it seems that Bharat has managed to turn scrimping and saving into an art form... $913 per month is higher than the average salary to live comfortably in Mumbai, which equates to around $730 per month"

Man gets a six-pack tattoo on his stomach to be 'summer ready' without the gym

Meme - "*Irish/Ireland flag*
WALL STREET CEOS
CITIGROUP CEO - MICHAEL CORBAT
MORGAN STANLEY - JAMES PATRICK GORMAN
BANK OF AMERICA MERRILL LYNCH - BRIAN MOYNIHAN
CME - TERRENCE DUFFY
SOFI - MIKE CAGNEY
JOHN HANCOCK - MICHAEL DOUGHTY
INVESCO - MARTIN FLANAGAN
CBOE - CHRIS CONCANNON
WELLS FARGO - TIMOTHY SLOAN
DEUSTCHE BANK - JOHN CRYAN
JP MORGAN - JAIMIE DIMON
GOLDMAN SACHS - LLOYD BLANKFEIN
WHEN YOU THOUGHT THE FINAL BOSS WAS A DREIDEL, BUT HE TURNED OUT TO BE A POTATO..."
This is satirising the anti-Semitic memes claiming Jews are in charge of everything. There was another one with politicians of Irish descent (not the ones below, I think) but I can't find it anymore
Related: So who is really behind gun control?

Meme - "Who Was In Charge On 9/11
George W. Bush President *Ireland flag*
Dick Cheney Vice President *Irish Flag*
John Ashcroft Attorney General *Irish flag*
Condoleezza Rice Nat'l Sec Advisor
Karen Hughes President's Counselor *Irish flag*
Donald Rumsfeld Sec. of Defense
Colin Powell Sec. of State *Irish Flag*
Paul O'Neill Sec. of Treasury *Irish flag*"

Meme - *Building missing roof* "Rest of the building won't render."

Headbutt (sculpture) - Wikipedia - "The sculpture depicts an incident that took place in the 110th minute of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final between France and Italy, when Zinedine Zidane headbutted Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the chest after Materazzi had verbally provoked him"

DJ Tenashar acquitted of forgery charge as she was of unsound mind at time of offence - "Club DJ Tenashar, 37, who filed a forged document purportedly made by Attorney-General (AG) Lucien Wong in April 2022, was acquitted of the forgery charge on Monday as she was of unsound mind at the time.  The former FHM Singapore and Playboy Thailand cover girl, whose full name is Debbie Valerie Tenashar Long, had been assessed by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) to be suffering from an unspecified type of delusional disorder.  Deputy Public Prosector Sivanathan Jheevanesh told District Judge John Ng: “She was actively labouring under the false belief of being an operative for the Internal Security Department (ISD) in her generation and submission of the fraudulent document."

Meme - Authoritarian Left: Gorillas
Some gorillas are more equal than others
share a lot
built like tanks
Libertarian Left: Bonobo Apes
gay sometimes
women are dominant over males
Authoritarian Right: Chimps
go to war with other tribes
very sexist
Capuchin
have been taught to use currency by scientists
never pays taxes"

Study claims celebrity-obsessed people are less intelligent - "The study, published in BMC Psychology late last year, asserts that “there is a direct association between celebrity worship and poorer performance on cognitive tests” measuring both literacy and numeracy."

Hiltzik: Bitcoin, NFTs, meme stocks -- they're all crashing - Los Angeles Times - "Over the last few weeks and months, almost every financial asset has come hurtling back to Earth after high-altitude flights.  That includes conventional stocks and bonds, which have spent most of 2022 in the red. But fad assets such as cryptocurrencies, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), blank-check companies (or SPACs), and meme stocks such as GameStop, have taken the biggest hits.  So too have “story stocks” — those that trade more on popular expectations or grand conjecture than traditional financial analysis... The lesson of all these declines becomes clearer with every passing day. Wall Street banks will pump up any investment idea if they think it can feed a demand, no matter how short-lived. But when the fun’s over, the music stops, the merry-go-round grinds to a halt — choose your own metaphor — the people left empty-handed are those who could least afford to play in the first place. Stark, in his interview with Vice, spoke like a man who has seen all this before, and not once but many times.  “It’s one big giant get-rich-quick scheme,” he said of the universe of novel investment devices. “But the bottom line is, people are investing because they think there’ll be some greater fool to pay more than they paid.”"
From 2022. "This time, it's different"

Buck-a-ride gimmick is a bad deal for Ontario commuters - The Hub - "First, Queen’s Park getting directly involved in funding the day-to-day operations of local public transit agencies could have unintended long-term consequences. Second, in the short term, the policy could make public transportation worse. Finally, the program will result in some pretty grotesque subsidies—not by error, but by design."

Chinese national allegedly denied entry at KL airport: Govt to conduct thorough investigation, says Malaysia PM Anwar - "Malaysian authorities will take appropriate action if there were errors made during an incident earlier this week, in which a Chinese national was initially barred entry at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA)... The prime minister said that he also observed "emerging issues or problems" during the daily handling of tourists and foreign nationals, as well as local residents... The Star quoted Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Tiong King Sing as saying that he had to personally step in to help an employee of a China-based media company after she was allegedly held up by immigration officers at KLIA on arrival from Shenzhen on Thursday.  According to The Star, the woman, who is a China national, alleged that she was denied entry by immigration officers although her travel documents were in order.   She claimed that she was asked to pay several thousand ringgit if she wanted to be allowed entry, the report said.   The woman had reportedly arrived in Malaysia with her superior, a senior official of a Chinese government-owned TV station.  While her superior was cleared and allowed entry by the Malaysian Immigration Department (JIM), the woman, who is the senior official’s personal assistant, was denied entry and allegedly told there were discrepancies in her travel documents."

Dr M: Malaysians are lazy, prefer handouts to hard work - "Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad warned that Malaysia would soon be overtaken by its poorer neighbours because its people expect handouts rather than work hard.  He said many Malaysians have become dependent on financial handouts such as the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) under the previous Barisan Nasional administration.  “We bring in foreign workers to do the jobs Malaysians do not want to do.  “The government collects taxes and levies from these foreign workers only to give to these Malaysians who think they have disabilities as financial assistance,” he was quoted saying by The Malaysian Insight on Sunday (Nov 25).  Dr Mahathir predicted that fellow South-East Asian country Vietnam, which had been ravaged by war, would soon overtake Malaysia in the economic ranking because they have a lot of hardworking people.  “Vietnam will pull ahead of Malaysia because its people are very diligent.  “In Malaysia, people don’t want to work because the government gives them money,” the news portal reported.  The Prime Minister said this in his address at the opening ceremony of Dash Resort in Langkawi on Sunday (Nov 25).  Earlier in his address, Dr Mahathir also said the government should not be doing any commercial activities and should leave "the business of doing business" to the private sector.  He was quoted by TMI saying that the primary duty of the government is to pass laws and enforce them.  “The government has no expertise to do business and we will lose money.  "The private sector knows better how to make money. They have the ideas,” Dr Mahathir added.  He said that the government would not make it difficult for entrepreneurs to do business because at the end of the day, “we (the government) will get 36% of what you make”.  “That’s why we want people to be successful in business. We do not invest a single sen but we get 36% in return.”"
Does he mean Malaysians or...

Dr M: NEP didn’t fail, Malays just didn’t use it fully - "the prime minister said the main problem was because the Malays failed to make full of the opportunities presented through the New Economic Policy (NEP) since its implementation in 1971.  “You cannot say that the NEP has failed completely. It has not. The position of the Malays today is much better than it was before we implemented the NEP, and many things were done to correct the imbalances.  “Unfortunately, the Malays did not respond correctly to the opportunities given to them’... Malay businessmen chose instant gratification and easy money by selling off the government contracts awarded to them, causing them to lose out on bigger contracts in the long-term.  “If you are a good contractor, you will get more and bigger contracts, but instead, they would always opt for quick money by selling the contract”...  The 93-year-old said that unless the Malays are willing to change and adopt better financial management, discipline and ethics, they should not blame anyone else for their economic stagnation.  “While you may blame other races, the fact is the Malays are not really oriented towards doing businesses at the moment. They do not handle money well.  “You give them a job where they are in charge of funds, for example, they don’t manage it well. Sometimes, they even take the money for themselves. This is the reality of the situation.”"
Damn structural racism in a Chinese Supremacist society!

Malaysian workers lack performance culture, say experts | The Star - "Malaysian workers lack performance culture and generally spend half theirworking hours on matters unrelated to their job, said experts.Leaderonomics chief executive of±cer Roshan Thiran said the laid-back working culture was partlyto blame for the country's low labour productivity.“We tend to mix our working hours with bonding with colleagues and relationships whereas in othercountries, working hours are made full use of,” he said.He advised employees to perform self-audits to identify unproductive activities in the of±ce thatdrained their working hours.A check by The Star with several human resource practitioners revealed that Malaysian workers in general only spend four hours in a regular nine-to-five work period being productive. Another two hours are spent on social networking sites  or browsing through the Internet,  whilst  long lunches, cigarette breaks, tea breaks and office chatter make up for the other two hours."

The Real Cost of Bumiputraism To The Malays - "The lowering of entry level to tertiary education for Malays have resulted in poorly trained Malay professionals. Can we trust our health system to half baked doctors and nurses. What about the bridges that are built. What about architects? Already buildings have collapsed probably due to a multiple reasons – poor architecture and engineering together with poor contracting standards. Would you as a Malay go to the best doctor (whatever his race) or will you go to a doctor because he is a Malay? Would you risk your family?... Ultimately racially biased policies will rebound on the Malays – it already has. Private enterprises are reluctant to employ graduates of our universities because they do not meet the standards required by the company. We have thousands of graduates – mostly Malays who cannot find employment, so we have graduate lasi lemak sellers, Panda Food despatches and PhDs in goyang kaki...  This so called ‘affirmative action’ benefits the Malay B40 marginally while the M40 and rich are the big winners. The benefits have been disproportionately distributed among the Malays – never mind the non-Malays who do not get a look in. So how does giving monopolies to Malays like Bukhari help us poor Malays? Everytime we buy essentials he profits but what about us? A healthy open competition will surely lower prices and bring better service. Why can’t we use our hard earned money to buy from the cheapest provider? We cannot because the government has given the monopoly to one man.  That is the same for banks, insurance etc.  Open competition ultimately benefits the consumers but we are not allowed it...  The most insidious harm this racist policies do to the Malays is that it has taken away our real maruah. It has made us OKU. We cannot walk without crutches. Because of government policies we think the country owes us. We have cultivated a entitlement mentality. We don’t have to work too hard to get a place in university. We don’t have to compete too much to get a government job. We are automatic choices to be chairman and ceo of GLCs. We get business thrust on us even if we are not the most competitive or efficient. We don’t really have to work because we can get the Chinese and Indian coolies to do the hard work while we collect rent. We can live on their sweat.
Meanwhile the cost of living goes up and we are the ones to pay for the greed of our leaders. What kind of maruah is this? As a proud Malay I am ashamed that our race has come to this.  This is the greatest harm our racist policies has done to the Malays – taken away our real pride, taken away our initiative, dulled our competitive edge...  Singapore which has none of our natural resources is three times richer and that is because they do not discriminate on their citizens. They encourage and use the best because ultimately that beneifts the country. They also have an efficient and clean government. A Singapore Malay can hold his head up with pride because he can compete with the best of them."

Multiracialism will lead to erosion of Malay rights in Malaysia: Mahathir - "  Dr Mahathir also said that a multiracial Malaysia will erode Malay rights and make them “poor”.  He was doubling down on his statement the day before that promoting a multiracial Malaysia is unconstitutional, arguing that the federal constitution never mentioned that Malaysia was multiracial...   “In a multiracial country, there is no difference in standard between the Malays who are indigenous, and immigrants as well as their descendants,” Dr Mahathir wrote...   Dr Mahathir also touched on how Malay rights will be eroded due to multiracialism, claiming that Malays will become poor and have their land sold mostly to rich immigrants. The government will also sell its estate to other “rich entities” that are mostly not Malay-based, he said.  “Finally, the Malaysian government will not be able to be influenced by Malays. We are seeing in the region places that are no longer ruled by Malays, the Malays are having terrible luck.” However, Dr Mahathir denied that he was trying to scare the Malays amid efforts to promote a multiracial Malaysia...   “See it and take note. Those who do not see it will become victims who are already extinct.”"
Malaysia was decades ahead of the West in fetishising "indigenous" peoples

Meme - "1939. Kansas Wheat. When they realized women were using their sacks to make clothes for their children, the mills started using flowered fabric for their sacks so the kids would have pretty clothes. Pure kindness. The label would wash out."

'We learnt a lesson': Singapore Airlines CEO on trial of paper food boxes, removal of appetisers - "The chief of Singapore Airlines (SIA) has admitted the airline could have done better with its rollout of paper food boxes and the removal of appetisers.  CEO Goh Choon Phong on Tuesday (May 30) addressed the "very strong feedback from customers" to the paper boxes for economy class meals, which were launched in March for a trial on some medium- and long-haul flights.  The airline has since decided not to proceed with the initiative "for now", after criticism about its food standards and presentation of meals.   Explaining the rationale behind the paper boxes, he told reporters that SIA could serve varieties of "comfort food" it could not offer in the past on economy class, including laksa and mee siam, as the boxes could retain moisture and heat. This meant customers could consume the food "in the way that it should be served". The management team, he added, had also tasted the dishes before the trial and found them to be "quite good"... Mr Goh on Tuesday also told reporters SIA "could have reacted faster" to requests to bring back certain food items, such as appetisers and bread rolls, that were removed during the pandemic...   Some items that were removed from the meal tray during the pandemic for operational and supply chain reasons, as well as to reduce food waste, have been restored. This includes cheese and crackers, and muffins for continental breakfasts.  SIA will from Thursday bring back appetisers for all economy class meals on medium-, long-haul and ultra-long haul trips – essentially any flight that is three-and-a-half hours and above. This is in addition to a bread roll, main course, cheese and crackers, and dessert.   Also from Thursday, bread rolls and butter will be served with economy class meals on short-haul flights, along with a main course and dessert.   An SIA review done before the pandemic found that much of the appetisers were not consumed, Mr Goh said. Customers also said they preferred a "more substantial" main course.   As a result, the appetiser was removed, while a bigger plastic casserole dish was introduced. The latter increased the weight of the main course by an average of 30 per cent.   Reporters on Tuesday were shown that the amount of food in the bigger casserole dish equated to a regular-sized portion when plated."

'If I See Borat, I Will Kill Him With My Own Hands' - "We went in search of "Borat" and were shooed away with brooms.  We tried getting to the bottom of arguably the most offensive movie in theaters this year, and people told us they'd like to kill the star, comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.  Barring that, they're going to sue him!  The Romanian village of Glod stands in for Kazakhstan in the film, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."  Glod literally means mud, and that's only some of what its people would like to sling at Cohen and his production company.  About 85 miles from Romania's capital, Bucharest, Glod looks like something out of the Middle Ages.  About 1,400 people live in Glod, and, by Western standards, one could say they are dirt poor.  The air is rancid, probably from the fires that burn on the outskirts of the village. The sight of old women carrying wood is common as is the manure that litters the narrow roads. The majority of villagers live on welfare benefits. Some try to make a living by selling their produce, such as fruits and mushrooms, while others sell woven baskets and slabs of stone.  "These people will do anything for money. Of course they were going to take part in [the film]," said the deputy mayor of the five-town region where the film was shot. "They thought they were earning money for not doing a lot of work."  Can you blame them? Being in a movie is fun. Unless, of course, you are portrayed as a rapist, hooker or prostitute, as some of the people in Glod were. Many villagers were hesitant to talk with us; others refused to talk with us unless we paid them -- and we would not. They were especially hostile the second time we went to the village. There were a couple of screaming matches between our local fixers and the villagers who initially thought we were shooting a similar movie... Paulina Solomon also has a bone to pick with Borat. She showed us her contribution to the movie, which earned her $100.  Her old, blue Dacia car served as Borat's horse-drawn vehicle.  "They took it to Bucharest, and when they brought it back the engine was full of sand. I had to pay $500 to get it fixed. I want my money back," she said.  And then we met the man who owns "Borat's house."  It's more like a shack, but no we didn't see a cow in the living room. Gherorghe Luca owns the house. He was so opposed to talking to us, he began screaming.  We were of course invading his town, so we don't really blame him. Luca's wife shooed us away with a broom... He also highlighted Cohen's generosity to Glod, saying the comedian had given $10,000 to the village.  Not everyone is angry at the comedian with the moustache.  Luca Irina, who also goes by the name of Chocolata, blurted out, "Borat is the best. He is funny."  She showed us the dance moves that earned her a small role in the movie. Irina also happens to be the only person in Glod who has seen the movie."

Meme - "Painted garage doors to mess with the neighbors *Truck*"

Meme - carl marcs @misterspinch: "20 and 6'4 what's your excuse?"
"Phone height = 5.78 inches x (11 phones)"
"you're like max 5'7""

The 1980s Phenomenon Of Double-Decker Bus Racing - "This unorthodox grand prix wasn't a one off, it turns out. We've found adverts for other bus races at Northampton Stadium in the 1980s, and into the late 90s"

The Christian blogs have scrubbed their Tan Chuan Jin fluff pieces : singapore

Meme - "listen i know each actor brings their own spice to a role, but i just can't take timothee chalamet's wonka seriously where is the madness behind his eyes??? the malice??? the complete disregard for the laws of mankind and decency???
*Gene Wilder* this man makes me fear that i'll be shoved into a taffy machine at the slightest provocation as! he! should!"

Meme - KYLIE PLANET @ughkylieplanet: "I know the church of Satan seems tempting but I remember reading it is extremely anti-semitic. so . don't do that"
The Church Of Satan @ChurchofSatan: "Sounds like you read some nonsense."
KYLIE PLANET: "just know im not trying to drag you im j looking for receipts tho"
The Church Of Satan: "Our founder was Jewish and to this day we have many Jewish members. People make all kinds of claims about us, rarely based in fact."
Damn anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about the Jews trying to destroy Christianity!
This was so smoothly done I thought it was baiting them on purpose, but it seems genuine

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