There is research on (almost) anything: Nice Guys

“It is not seen as insane when a fighter, under an attack that will inevitable lead to his death, chooses to take his own life first. In fact, this act has been encouraged for centuries, and is accepted even now as an honorable reason to do the deed. How is it any different when you are under attack by your own mind?” - Emilie Autumn

***

Young Women’s Dating Behavior:Why/Why Not Date a Nice Guy?

"When asked to describe the stereotypic nice guy in a study by Herold and Milhausen (1999), female respondents perceived them as either losers (men who were needy, weak, predictable, boring, inexperienced, lacking confidence, and unattractive) or good guys (men who were polite and willing to wait for sex and who possessed a good personality, high standards, and morals)...

Felmlee (2001) posited a “fatal attraction” hypothesis for this influence of time on the perception of personality traits: certain traits that attract a young woman to a young man in the beginning of the relationship may repel her from the same young man as the relationship continues or sours over time. The five most common attractive to unattractive trait pairs found were nice to passive, strong to stubborn, funny to “flaky,” outgoing to “over the top,” and caring to clingy. The “fatal attraction” hypothesis may be used to explain why a young woman who was initially attracted to her nice guy because she thought he was “nice,” over time may become eager to dump him because she views him as “too nice” (i.e., passive)...

A nice guy who is perceived as sweet/nice may be more appealing to a young woman when combined with perceptions of being physically attractive and may be less appealing to her when perceived alone. Stranger still, physical attractiveness was neither stated nor implied in the nice guy dating scenario even though some female respondents inferred it. Perceptions of being sweet/nice did not seem to fall victim to the fatal attraction hypothesis for the fun/sexy guy. For him, factor analysis showed that being sweet/nice was a highly desirable quality—as were the other two traits that increased his likelihood of getting a second date. Thus, achieving that “magic combination of desirable qualities that leads to subsequent dates” may be a more elusive proposition for the nice guy than for the fun/sexy guy...

According to Laner and Ventrone (2000), six commonly expected first date behaviors for a man are ask the woman out, decide on the plans, buy flowers for the woman, pick her up, pay all the bills, and make affectionate moves (such as hugging and kissing). Expecting all six of these behaviors may work against the nice guy because, according to Scenario 1, the nice guy performs the basic steps (i.e., asks the woman out, decides on the plans, picks her up, and pays all the bills), but goes no further... The “fatal attraction” hypothesis may explain subsequent rejection of a nice guy because his sweet/nice guy caution may be read as loser/nice guy passivity. Again, when it comes to getting a second date, being considered sweet/nice has its advantages, but only in combination with other specific desirable personality traits and/or behaviors. . . and potentially only for a fun/sexy guy...

The nice guy and the fun/sexy guy seem equally likely to be selected to participate in experimental relationship dating—the “fatal attraction” hypothesis, notwithstanding. However, if the dating experience is extended to the intensification stage (a point where the dating partners explore “coupledom” and the relationship is confirmed by others; Alder & Rodman, 2003), the fun/sexy guy may have the upper hand... If she perceives the fun/sexy guy as sweet/nice and exciting and perceives that her friends will approve of him, she is more likely to go out with him a second time and potentially more often. Again, the claim that women prefer dating fun/sexy guys rather than nice guys finds support...

Finding a “good guy” prince among several possible “nice” suitors may necessitate kissing a lot of “loser” frogs—something that recreational dating young women simply may not have the time, patience, or inclination to do. In the end, young women may continue to claim that they find certain qualities in a “good guy” nice guy as highly desirable and that they want to be in a committed relationship with one man as their ultimate goal, but, at the same time, they seem content to spend “the meantime and inbetween-time” going out with fun/sexy guys who may or may not turn into “jerks.”"

***

Niceness and Dating Success: A Further Test of the Nice Guy Stereotype

"A methodological problem in these [previous] studies is that the researchers relied only upon women’s stated preferences, rather than on their actual choices. According to the nice guy stereotype, women often say they want nice men but in actuality choose men for other reasons...

Weiderman and Dubois (1998) used behavioral measures to assess women’s preferences for a mate and found a discrepancy between self-perceptions and behavior, particularly among women...

Men accurately indicated that the physical attractiveness of the targets was the most important characteristic that influenced their desirability ratings, whereas women inaccurately indicated that desired level of relationship commitment was their most important factor, when, in fact, it was one of the least important factors behaviorally. Sprecher (1989) found similar results, in that women inaccurately assessed the role of physical attractiveness in their own ratings of a target man. The women in Sprecher’s study reported that expressiveness was the most important factor in their choice, although it was the least important factor behaviorally. Physical attractiveness was the most important factor that actually influenced their ratings. The results of these two studies suggest that women’s self-reported preferences may not match their actual choices...

The present study represents a further test of the nice guy stereotype. More specifically, we examined the relationship between men’s niceness/agreeableness, their physical attractiveness as rated by women, and their self-reported dating success across different relationship contexts...

The present study includes some enhancements to previous work in this area. Rather than relying upon women’s selfreported mate preferences or dating choices in an artificial, laboratory setting, we evaluated men’s reports of their dating success in relation to niceness/agreeableness and physical attractiveness. This study also allowed for an assessment of different types of success within different relationship contexts and the differing contributions of niceness/agreeableness versus physical attractiveness within these different contexts...

We found limited support for Hypothesis 1, that physical attractiveness would be more influential than niceness/agreeableness within the shorter-term, less-committed relationship contexts. In the casual dating context, attractiveness was a significant predictor of relationship success, but the order of magnitude was the same as for agreeableness, and was generally low...

Hypothesis 2, that high levels of niceness/agreeableness would be more important than physical attractiveness in committed/romantic relationships, was not supported... the results were actually more consistent with an inverse relationship between niceness and success in this context, even though this was mediated by the other variables.

Hypothesis 3, that higher scores on agreeableness would be positively related to success in all four relationship contexts, was not supported. Rather, the opposite effect was found: Agreeableness was significantly, negatively related to relationship success in two of the contexts (casual dating and one-time sexual encounters), and was equivocally negatively related to success in the other two contexts (casual sex and committed/romantic).

Hypothesis 4, that men rated relatively high in niceness/ agreeableness but relatively low in physical attractiveness (“homely nice guys”) should report greater success in the committed/romantic context, whereas low niceness/high attractiveness men (“cute, macho guys”) would report more success in the three short-term, low-commitment contexts, was partially supported. The “cute, macho guys” did, in fact, report significantly more success in the casual dating and one-time sexual encounter contexts, but there was no significant difference in the casual sex context. There was also no significant difference in the committed/romantic context, thus the “homely, nice guys” did not fare better in this context as hypothesized...

The “less-nice” men reported greater success in more superficial relationships, especially regarding one-time sexual encounters, though the magnitude of this advantage dissipated when it came to committed/romantic relationships. This variability in the relative importance of niceness/agreeableness to different types of relationships is consistent with previous research in this area. Clearly, context matters...

The fact that low agreeableness, generally speaking, was more related to success across all the relationship contexts than high agreeableness was somewhat surprising. Previous studies have shown that women highly value niceness in committed/romantic partners (and still value niceness, if less-so, in more sexual contexts; e.g., Regan et al., 2000; Urbaniak & Kilmann, 2003). The present results, however, failed to show any clear advantage for the men who were highly nice/agreeable, even in the romantic context. As such, results from the present study actually are more consistent with the nice guy stereotype, overall, than were the results of our earlier study, which had suggested that the stereotype might be a myth. This contradictory finding suggests a discrepancy between which men women will say they prefer, or will choose in a (experimentally manipulated) hypothetical scenario, and which men actually are successful—at least, by the men’s own accounts...

If, as earlier research has suggested, women really prefer and would like to choose nice men, overall, why, then, do nicer men not report more success? There are, of course, many possibilities. One of these possibilities could be that women’s preferences are largely irrelevant, and whom they ultimately date stems from other, external pressures. Less-agreeable men may be able to persuade or “talk women into” into various dating relationships more so than nice men, to the point where the women’s self-perceived preferences are overwhelmed... Nice guys may be more prone to “take no for an answer” and give up, whereas the less-nice, macho guys are able, ultimately, to win women’s hearts and minds (or, at least, their bodies) through persistence... Nevertheless... it is difficult to discount the influence of women’s mate preferences altogether.

Also surprising in the present study was the relative unimportance of physical attractiveness in relation to relationship success, given the significant role it was expected to play in the more sexual than romantic relationship contexts and given previous studies... It could be that, in this day and age, looks do not really matter as much as they once did. This conclusion appears unlikely, however, so the more logical possibility is that this result had something to do with the methodology we employed"

Weiderman and Dubois and the following paragraph are the most damning evidence that what women say they want, what women think they want and what women really want aren't always the same (note that men are more consistent), but actually some of the rest of the extracts have the same moralité.

Previously cited evidence supporting my axiom:
Balderdash: Female Sexuality: Complicated (2/3)
Balderdash: What Do Women Want? - Discovering What Ignites Female Desire

Keywords: nice guys finish last

Links - 8th January 2013

"Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this, that you are dreadfully like other people." - James Russell Lowell

***

Have baby before 30, get 20% off HDB flat? - "the dippng fertility rate in East Asian cities like Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong has led to a doubling in rates of ovarian cancer. The medical impact of not bearing offspring is an increased risk of breast cancer, womb cancer and ovarian cancer for women, he forewarns. So despite the political incorrectness of telling women what to do with their womb these days, he unflinchingly advises all patients: 'Best to have a child before 30 and definitely by 35. Do it for your own health and sanity when you grow old'"

Game Theory: Are Video Games Addictive? - "Ariella Lehrer is a trained psychologist who designs games specifically for middle aged women. Her company focuses on romance and mystery, including games based on the novels of Jane Austen and the popular TV detective show "Murder She Wrote." But Lehrer said the psychology behind the games is pure Las Vegas. With flashy graphics and intermittent rewards, games are calibrated to hook you within 20 minutes"

Wife kills abusive husband in self-defense only to discover 'he' was actually a woman wearing prosthetic penis - "Throughout their seven-month relationship, Angela had never been 'bare' in the light with Elizabeth, and always insisted on having sex in the dark, according to a police report. Angelo, born Angela, actually told his wife that a previous girlfriend had gotten angry and burned his genitals."

Area Man Consults Internet Whenever Possible | The Onion - America's Finest News Source - "The Internet came in equally handy last Sunday, when Pamela suggested making pancakes for breakfast. "There was a good recipe on the side of the Bisquick box, but Larry insisted on getting on that AltaVista thing and searching for more," Pamela said. After only 30 minutes of searching, Wisniewski came up with nearly 200 different pancake recipes. "Without the Internet," Larry said, "she would've been stuck with the one variety of pancakes available from the box.""

NCBI ROFL: Batman to the rescue! - "parasocial relationship status (PSR; a one-sided psychological bond)... exposure to a muscular superhero with whom a PSR did not exist made men feel bad about their bodies (Hypothesis 1). However, having a PSR with a muscular superhero not only eliminated the negative effects of exposure on body satisfaction, but also increased men’s physical strength (Hypothesis 2). This research suggests that muscular superheroes change men’s body image and that the direction of that change is determined by PSR status... It would be easy to assume that the enjoyable acts of watching movies, reading comic books, and playing with videogames and action figures of muscular superheroes inevitably (and ironically) lead men and boys to the unenjoyable effect of poor body image. However, the current research suggests that this is not always the case and that the popularity of superheroes may come in part from men who identify with them, and thus experience psychological benefits from exposure. Indeed, the awesome power of Batman may come not only from his ability to defeat the likes of Mr. Freeze and the Joker, but also from his ability to make his devoted viewers feel strong and physically fit"
Not sure why this is on NCBI ROFL - feminists have been doing this for decades

Every Single Facebook Page (image)

Rich Dad, Poor Dad now a bankrupt dad: Best-selling author files for corporate bankruptcy after losing $24m judgement

Japanese model's popularity plummets after pic without makeup leaked online

Study: Even 'Moderate' Drinking Impairs Brain Cell Formation - "Blood alcohol levels of .08% are enough to affect the brain's plasticity."

Melissa Miller Drives 100 MPH After God Tells Her To - "God may work in strange and mysterious ways -- but does that include making a woman drive 100 mph in a 30 mph zone?"

Japan’s Kobe Beef Bound for U.S. - "The meat had never been exported until this year. It was first exported to Macau in January, then to Hong Kong in July. The U.S. shipment marks the first time it will be exported outside of Asia."

Rogue dentist’s 30-year crusade against wisdom teeth removal extracts results - " About 1 percent of people whose wisdom teeth are removed experience nerve damage -- usually temporary numbness of the lips, mouth, or tongue. Sometimes, that damage is permanent, leading to "frequent drooling, biting of the lip or the inside of the cheek or the side of the tongue, and paralytic disfigurement or drooping of the lip," Friedman wrote. Complications from anesthesia can lead to death in very rare instances. There's no long-term research, however, on the risks of retaining healthy wisdom teeth."

Childlessness 'may increase likelihood of early death' - "Childless women were four times more likely to die early from circulatory disease, cancers, and accidents than those with children- and men were about twice as likely."

Sex and alcohol make you happier than kids and religion, study finds

Japan manga "geeks" seek love at masked match-making - "Self-confessed geeks in Japan who might ordinarily be too shy to ask someone on a date are trying a new kind of matchmaking: wearing cartoon character masks."

Why Japanese men can’t stop spending money just to drink and talk with girls - "Hiramatsu says that psychologically, men have a stronger urge compared to women to control and dominate others. This, unfortunately, doesn’t happen often in real life. If you go to work, you have your boss or clients to answer to. Try it at home, and you’ll create a domestic dispute quicker than it takes to boil a pot of water. So, what do Japanese men do to vent their frustrations? They go to kyabakura, where the girls treat you like a king and patiently listen to all your woes with a kind smile. Well, no wonder men like it so much."
Apparently this is also what a lot of men do when they visit prostitutes

Veggies beware! - "The problem with all pesto is that it contains Parmesan, and, like our old friend the Mars bar, Parmesan is not made with vegetarian rennet, but the icky stuff out of calves' stomachs. There is no such thing as vegetarian Parmesan... Many low-fat yoghurts are not suitable for vegetarians... the source of whey now used in a Snickers bar contains rennet. Nestlé's KitKat, the UK's bestselling chocolate bar, is also unsuitable for vegetarians... Fascinatingly, Walker's cheese and onion crisps are suitable for vegetarians, while their mature cheddar crisps are not"

Death By Utopia - "No predators, no scarcity, the mice would have to be blind to not see the utopia around them. At least it began as Utopia... After day 600, the male mice just stopped defending their territory, listless mice congregated in the centres of the Universe. These gangs would burst into pointless and sporadic violence. Females stopped reproducing and even started attacking their own young. Mortality rose phenomenally. Roaming mice either attacked or attempted to mount others, irrespective of relation or gender, cannibalism and other acts of depravity consumed them. These were the feral ones"

Transsexual jailed 15 months for oral sex with boy - "The victim felt something was amiss when his leg accidentally brushed against Tan's groin, and realised that Tan was actually a male. He was in a state of panic and shock and tried to pull away from Tan, who bit his private parts. The victim eventually managed to pull away from Tan, pulled up his shorts and ran out of the store."

Ten fake profiles, one OkCupid experiment: OkCupid On Trial - "The most contacted woman had almost 17 times more messages in a week than the most contacted man.
Three of the men had no messages, despite their profiles being viewed about 25 times between them.
The women’s messages outnumbered the men’s 17 to 1 (mostly thanks to the two best looking women).
The two best looking men received 5 fewer messages than the 3rd and 4th best looking women."

The Monitor Celestra - "Nordic Larp inspired by Battlestar Galactica... Larp event of the decade: "The Monitor Celestra" is a technology enhanced science-fiction Nordic Live Action Roleplaying Game about cultural and personal conflict in the shadow of the destruction of the twelve colonies of mankind. It is the spiritual sequel to the legendary game “Carolus Rex” from 1999."

delanceyplace.com 10/22/12 - misfit monks - "Our typical image of monks is of pious men diligently transcribing text on vellum -- which indeed was part of their ascetic duty. But underneath that image lies the truth that monks were often the dregs of medieval society"

delanceyplace.com 12/31/12 - things to know about call girls - "In a world of twelve-year-olds in sexy boots and grannies in sparkly minidresses, the surest way to tell the prostitute walking into a hotel at Heathrow is to look for the lady in the designer suit"

What Psychopaths Teach Us about How to Succeed [Excerpt]: Scientific American - "Traits that are common among psychopathic serial killers—a grandiose sense of self-worth, persuasiveness, superficial charm, ruthlessness, lack of remorse and the manipulation of others—are also shared by politicians and world leaders... a number of psychopathic attributes were actually more common in business leaders than in so-called disturbed criminals—attributes such as superficial charm, egocentricity, persuasiveness, lack of empathy, independence, and focus"

27 Science Fictions That Became Science Facts In 2012 - "5. Invisibility Cloak Technology Took a Huge Leap Forward"

Why India Is So Damn Violent - India Real Time - WSJ - "an exclusive focus on the crime of rape also obscures the fact that India’s a violent place for men as it is for women and children. Let’s not forget that the male companion of the young woman who died was himself beaten and badly injured... Bollywood films are replete with scenes characterized by the harassment of women and even of rape. As he writes, one particular well-known screen villain did about 100 rape scenes “with the audience almost cheering him on”"

5 Medical Breakthroughs That Make Life Shockingly Easy | Cracked.com - "If dudes can't be bothered to roll on a condom, who's to say they will remember to take a pill? Or tell the truth about not taking it?"
It seems the only people who notice Cracked.com's misandry are Men's Rights Advocates (Stormfront complains about its racism, but I haven't really noticed it so far)

Halal food and Integration in Singapore

"A child becomes an adult when he realizes that he has a right not only to be right but also to be wrong." - Thomas Szasz

***

Defensive or offensive dining? Halal dining practices among Malay Muslim Singaporeans and their effects on integration

"The certification of halal food, although aimed at facilitating the integration of Muslims in Singapore within mainstream society, affects socialisation in some cases. Indeed, while Nasir and Pereira (2008) have focussed on Singaporean Malay Muslims’ views, this article adds an important variable: the viewpoints of non-Muslims...

A strong emphasis on race as social identity nonetheless facilitates the perpetuation of racial stereotypes, because ‘creating a category requires that it be filled with content’...

A majority of those who shared similar views to those expressed by Lee Kuan Yew had formed them through their experiences of interacting with Malays during dinner occasions, home parties, work meetings or sharing tables in food courts...

Among the 6000 food establishments, 2600 hold a Halal Certificate...

Despite the fact that Adeline has made an effort to inform herself about halal food and procedures, the Malay mother still feels that Adeline cannot be trusted... This is only one of several examples with very similar dynamics. There is a particular concern among many Malay mothers that their children may be exposed to nonhalal food or that their food may be otherwise contaminated, mainly by pork residues on objects or utensils. Many of these Malay parents, in my study, came from the ‘working class’, yet similar opinions may be found among some educated professionals...

Other examples of ‘dining strategies’ which I have witnessed include bringing one’s own food to parties and dinners despite efforts to provide halal or nonpork and alcohol-free products by the host; abstaining from food altogether; refusing, even in the case of the same gender, to shake hands for fear of contamination; refusing to drink from glasses at the homes of non-Muslims or requiring plastic disposable utensils... McKinley (2003) has analysed the frequent decision of Malay Muslims in Malaysia to reject non-Malay Muslims’ social invitations as part of a power struggle in which non-Muslims are forced into an unequal host-guest relationship and where non-Muslims will be always guests (limited powers) rather than hosts...

One of the Chinese respondents emphasised that despite the school promoting mutual understanding among students of different faiths, including having teachers explain the religious requirements of Malay Muslims to non-Muslim students, sometimes the Chinese and Indian students felt frustrated by such requirements or perceived them to be ‘illogical’ or sectarian. Grace reported an anecdote from her high school days:

We were on a school trip and we had to do everything by ourselves, like washing our clothes and cooking our food. We were mixed—Chinese, Malay and Indians. I recall how frustrated we felt when the Malay students insisted that we had to buy new forks and spoons which had to be used only by them. Some pointed out that the utensils could have been washed carefully, but the Malay students insisted that washing does not clean the contamination of non-halal food. Yet Indians have requirements too, but they never really complain and they seemed more accommodating to us. Also, because of their special diet, often the Malay girls used to eat together in a group isolated from the others; this was not really welcomed by the other members of the group. We felt that there was no need to eat separately, but we tolerated it. These kinds of things make you wonder how they can be part of any group other than their own. (Grace, 24, university student, Chinese)

In the context of food courts, some Malay Muslims may adopt other strategies, such as opting to order food from halal stalls as take-away if the food court is not an exclusively halal environment, sitting on the other side of the table if eating with a group of non-Muslims and directly or indirectly trying to convince the non-Muslim members of the group to select halal food. Certainly not all Malay Muslims adopt all, or even some of these ‘defensive dining’ strategies, and there are certainly levels of flexibility—however, in Singapore, they are employed by a relevant number.

Although I tend to agree with Nasir and Pereira’s observation (Nasir & Pereira 2008) that both working class and more highly educated Malay Muslims adopt defensive dining, I have noticed that those with a higher income and educational background try actively to avoid non-Muslims misreading their defensive dining as a criticism of non-Muslims or, even worse, as a racist act: ‘I do my best to avoid that my Chinese colleagues can think that I dislike them when my intention is only to respect my religion and protect myself from sins’ (Muhammad, 32 years old, engineer)... On the one hand, less educated Malay Muslims ascribe the risk of contamination to the non-Muslims themselves, in particular to the Chinese majority. In this case, it is the Chinese person, with his or her non-Muslim behaviour, who is considered to be the cause of contamination. When I asked why the ‘person’ and not just ‘the food’ was contaminating, I was reminded that ‘people are made of what they eat’. On the other hand, secular educated Malay Muslims seem, as we have seen earlier, to mainly address the religious obligation and to be careful that others perceive the rejection as exclusively aimed towards food. The impurity in this case is ‘metaphysical’, i.e. because of the ‘Islamic’ context of one’s life, rather the ‘ontological’, i.e. because of the impurity of a particular group...

Although at first glance, the racial relationship may appear smooth, a certain level of tension is undeniable and is often expressed through racial comments and jokes. This tension is particularly visible among youth and young children where, as Lai has observed, ‘ethnic expletives and derogative language are frequently used. Common ethnic swear words used by Malay youths on Chinese youths are Cina kui (Chinese devil), syaitan (Satan), Cina babi (Chinese pig), babi syaitan (Satanic pig)’...

Halal food represents something more than a religious obligation. It is transformed into an ‘act’ of identity, a marker which allows not only a fully controlled space, but also an emotional one. Indeed, while the state has provided regulations and limitations on other religious matters such as the tudung (Islamic scarf), halal food remains the only sphere in which the Malay Muslims are fully in control and the state—as well as other ethnic groups—are required to accommodate the minority’s requests...

During my research, I also noticed that some Chinese Singaporean respondents compared and contrasted the two main minorities, Malays and Indians, emphasising how they perceived the latter as more ‘accommodating’ than the former...

‘Defensive dining’ strategies foster and reinforce existing stereotypes among the non-Muslim population, particularly among the Chinese majority. Integration is a dual process and individual actions, or nonactions, of a group are not enough by themselves to achieve such a social state. My research suggests that some non-Muslim Singaporeans may misunderstand the practice of defensive dining as antisocial at best or, at worst, ‘offensive’...

An interesting aspect of my research is that several of my respondents highlighted that religious harmony refers to the ‘religion’ itself and not to the members of the religion or ethnic group: ‘we are not allowed to make fun of others’ religion, I mean, even jokes are not tolerated so easily in Singapore. You cannot say that ‘Islam’ is the religion of the devil or Christianity a stupid religion and so on. But of course, nobody will say anything if one of us says that—just to give you an example—Malays are lazy or Chinese Singaporeans are greedy, or that Muslims are too strict’ (Joseph, 22 years, university student, Chinese Singaporean)...

In their studies, Wyer et al. (1998) found that under conditions in which deploying stereotypes and bias may provoke strong social disapproval or, as in the case of Singapore, where they are legislatively discouraged, people may try to suppress them. However, the study revealed a strong rebound effect. In other words, people tend to experience an increase in stereotype use following attempts to suppress such usage (see also Zhang & Hunt 2008). This rebound effect may help to explain the widespread diffusion of stereotypes about members of the various religions and ethnic groups existing in Singapore, particularly Malay Muslims. Indeed, as many of my respondents reported during interviews and conversations, because of the fear induced by the Singaporean legislation designed to protect religious harmony, great care is taken by a majority of Singaporeans to avoid stereotypes or negative representations of religions. Yet I can plausibly suggest that such efforts may, in some cases, result in a strong rebound effect so that religious stereotypes, as we have seen, affect community members instead of their religions...

Younger generations in particular are becoming so used to the green halal logo, and to some local practices (as described by Nasir and Pereira’s defensive dining), that they are not able, for instance, to implement strategies used by Muslims living in western countries which are still within the realm of Islamic orthodoxy. In other words, their capacity to discern what may or may not be halal has decreased to the extent that, in some cases, the only reliable means of discerning what is ‘halal’ is the halal logo on products or the halal certificate at food stalls and restaurants. This lack of knowledge magnifies the fear of contamination and creates confusion regarding where the limits of halal permissibility lie. Hence, as we have seen, there are cases in which some Malay Muslim mothers refuse to let their children play at the homes of their non-Muslim friends...

Different perceptions and interpretations of the same practice do not facilitate integration and communication. Surely, more understanding would be possible if the non-Muslim majority were fully aware of the reasons behind such defensive dining practices. Yet, at the same time, a full and widespread awareness and knowledge of Islamic halal requirements among the general Singaporean Malay Muslim community might increase flexibility in choices of food and premises beyond the commercially driven halal logos."


In other words, Malays should be "less strict on Islamic observances and say, ‘Okay, I’ll eat with you’"

Addendum:
Keywords: LKY, Lee Kuan Yew

The " i " in " Team "

Reynolds v. Times Newspapers Limited and Others on Public Interest, Honest Mistakes and Defamation

"He may be mad, but there's method in his madness. There nearly always is method in madness. It's what drives men mad, being methodical." - G. K.

***

House of Lords - Reynolds v. Times Newspapers Limited and Others:

"The context is newspaper discussion of a matter of political importance. Stated in its simplest form, the newspaper's contention is that a libellous statement of fact made in the course of political discussion is free from liability if published in good faith. Liability arises only if the writer knew the statement was not true or if he made the statement recklessly, not caring whether it was true or false, or if he was actuated by personal spite or some other improper motive...

The common law has long recognised the 'chilling' effect of this rigorous, reputation protective principle. There must be exceptions. At times people must be able to speak and write freely, uninhibited by the prospect of being sued for damages should they be mistaken or misinformed. In the wider public interest, protection of reputation must then give way to a higher priority.

Honest comment on a matter of public interest

One established exception is the defence of comment on a matter of public interest. This defence is available to everyone, and is of particular importance to the media. The freedom of expression protected by this defence has long been regarded by the common law as a basic right, long before the emergence of human rights conventions. In 1863 Crompton J. observed in Campbell v. Spottiswoode (1863) 3 B. & S. 769, 779, that 'it is the right of all the Queen's subjects to discuss public matters'. The defence is wide in its scope. Public interest has never been defined, but in London Artists Ltd. v. Littler [1969] 2 Q.B. 375, 391, Lord Denning M.R. rightly said that it is not to be confined within narrow limits. He continued:

 'Whenever a matter is such as to affect people at large, so that they may be legitimately interested in, or concerned at, what is going on; or what may happen to them or others; then it is a matter of public interest on which everyone is entitled to make fair comment.'

Traditionally one of the ingredients of this defence is that the comment must be fair, fairness being judged by the objective standard of whether any fair-minded person could honestly express the opinion in question. Judges have emphasised the latitude to be applied in interpreting this standard. So much so, that the time has come to recognise that in this context the epithet 'fair' is now meaningless and misleading. Comment must be relevant to the facts to which it is addressed. It cannot be used as a cloak for mere invective. But the basis of our public life is that the crank, the enthusiast, may say what he honestly thinks as much as the reasonable person who sits on a jury. The true test is whether the opinion, however exaggerated, obstinate or prejudiced, was honestly held by the person expressing it...

It is important to keep in mind that this defence is concerned with the protection of comment, not imputations of fact...

Lord Diplock. at p. 150, emphasised that indifference to truth is not to be equated with carelessness, impulsiveness or irrationality in arriving at a positive belief that it is true:

'In ordinary life it is rare indeed for people to form their beliefs by a process of logical deduction from facts ascertained by a rigorous search for all available evidence and a judicious assessment of its probative value. In greater or in less degree according to their temperaments, their training, their intelligence, they are swayed by prejudice, rely on intuition instead of reasoning, leap to conclusions on inadequate evidence and fail to recognise the cogency of material which might cast doubt on the validity of the conclusions they reach. But despite the imperfection of the mental process by which the belief is arrived at it may still be 'honest', that is, a positive belief that the conclusions they have reached are true. The law demands no more.'

"

Fire vs Mud

"Short and stocky, plain-faced, he seemed a decent lad, sober, sensible, dutiful … but not the sort to make a young girl’s heart beat faster. And Daenerys Targaryen, whatever else she might be, was still a young girl, as she herself would claim when it pleased her to play the innocent. Like all good queens she put her people first—else she would never have wed Hizdahr zo Loraq—but the girl in her still yearned for poetry, passion, and laughter. She wants fire, and Dorne sent her mud.

You could make a poultice out of mud to cool a fever. You could plant seeds in mud and grow a crop to feed your children. Mud would nourish you, where fire would only consume you, but fools and children and young girls would choose fire every time."

--- A Dance with Dragons / A Song of Sex and Blood

Links - 5th January 2013

"The war between the sexes is the only one in which both sides regularly sleep with the enemy." - Quentin Cris

***

Woman's Mouth 'Falls Pregnant' With Twelve Squid Organisms

American Christianity and Secularism at a Crossroads - NYTimes.com - "we frequently overestimate medieval piety. Ordinary people often skipped church and had a feeble grasp of basic Christian dogma. Many priests barely understood the Latin they chanted — and many parishes lacked any priest at all. Bishops complained about towns that used their cathedrals mainly as indoor markets or granaries. Lest Protestants blame this irreverence on Catholic corruption, the evidence suggests that it continued after Martin Luther nailed his theses to the Wittenberg church door. In 1584, census takers in Antwerp discovered that the city had a larger proportion of “nones” than 21st-century America: a full third of residents claimed no religious affiliation... Rates of church attendance have never been as sterling as the Christian Right’s fable of national decline suggests. Before the Civil War, regular attendance probably never exceeded 30 percent, rising to a high of 40 percent around 1965 and declining to under 30 percent in recent years... For most of our history, the loudest defenders of the separation of church and state were not rogue atheists, but Protestants worried about Catholics seeking financing for parochial schools or scheming their way into public office to take orders only from mitered masters in Rome. Activists on both the left and the right tend to forget this irony of the First Amendment: it has been as much a weapon of religious oppression as a safeguard for liberty"

Belle de Jour's history of anonymity - ""If there's one thing the history of literary anonymity teaches you, it's that very often anonymity has nothing to do with wanting to stay hidden," says John Mullan, professor of English at University College London. Anonymity is a useful tool for people whose lives are outside the mainstream. Letting go of your name frees you to tell a truth that many people never see, or try desperately to ignore. It gives certain things more weight, a kind of everywhere-and-nowhere sense where the reader feels they might even be reading the inner thoughts of someone they know. It's a powerful tool. In the internet age, we have become increasingly concerned about the effects of anonymous online commentary. Anonymous bloggers can have enormous global audiences. "Trolls" can bring criticism straight to the computer screens of the people they disagree with. These trends are solidly in the tradition of literary anonymity - from unsigned political tracts to biting satirical graffiti, we've seen it all before... Without Anonymous, there are so many classics we would not have had - Gawain and the Green Knight, virtually all of the Bible and other religious texts. Anon is allowed a greater creative freedom than a named writer is, greater political influence than a common man can ever attain, and far more longevity than we would guess"

Viewpoint: Why are couples so mean to single people?
At least this didn't try to pain them as yet another oppressed minority

Chinese firm rules out Scorpios, Virgos: report - "The report quoted a woman in charge at the unnamed firm as saying she had done research and found Scorpios had strong personalities and were moody, while Virgos were hugely critical and did not stay in one job for long. "I hired people with those two star signs before, and they either liked quarrelling with colleagues or they could not do the job for long"... State media reported in 2004 that one of the requirements for women applying to join the civil service in the central province of Hunan was for their "two breasts to be symmetrical""

delanceyplace.com 10/10/12 - how good are CEOs (and business books) really? - "stories of success and failure consistently exag­gerate the impact of leadership style and management practices on firm outcomes, and thus their message is rarely useful... The average profitability of the companies identified in the famous In Search of Excel­lence dropped sharply as well within a short time. A study of Fortune's 'Most Admired Companies' finds that over a twenty-year period, the firms with the worst ratings went on to earn much higher stock returns than the most admired firms... the original gap was due in good part to luck, which contributed both to the success of the top firms and to the lagging performance of the rest. We have already encountered this statistical fact of life: regression to the mean. Stories of how businesses rise and fall strike a chord with readers by of­fering what the human mind needs: a simple message of triumph and failure that identifies clear causes and ignores the determinative power of luck and the inevitability of regression. These stories induce and maintain an illusion of understanding, imparting lessons of little enduring value to readers who are all too eager to believe them"

delanceyplace.com 10/24/12 - I fail to see what use woman can be to man - " Some traditions of early Christian commentary reveal a strong strain of hostility toward the female body, sexuality, and family life, despite the recognition of their necessity. Augustine, a Christian philosopher and theologian who lived from the fourth to the fifth century CE, for example, wrote 'I fail to see what use woman can be to man ... if one excludes the function of bearing children.' In his writings on marriage Augustine held up celibacy as the highest spiritual state... Tertullian's views on sexuality drew upon the tradition of blaming Eve for the introduction of sin into the world. 'You,' Tertullian wrote to Christian women, 'destroyed so easily God's image, man.'"

Women can tell a cheating man just by looking at them: study - "Women's ratings of unfaithfulness showed small-moderate, significant correlations with measures of actual infidelity... More masculine-looking men (were) rated as more probable to be unfaithful and having a sexual history of being more unfaithful."

Boushra Almutawakel: Photographing variations of the veil (PHOTOS). - "“I want to be careful not to fuel the stereotypical, widespread negative images most commonly portrayed about the hijab/veil in the Western media. Especially the notion that most, or all women who wear the hijab/veil, are weak, oppressed, ignorant, and backwards”... Almutawakel’s latest project for the hijab series shows how men’s traditional clothing can be similar to women’s in the Middle East. Her pictures show a woman dressed in long, loose masculine outfits that include a head covering"

China's job agencies say Singapore no longer the preferred work destination - "He said salaries in Singapore are now almost on par with what workers would get if they stay in China. And the latest bus driver incident has deterred some considering Singapore as a work destination... Job agencies said skilled labour workers now prefer to work in Europe, Japan and South Korea over Singapore for work because they get three to five times more for the same position. And with the growth of internet use and social media in China, workers including those in the rural areas are becoming more aware of labour laws and workers' rights, therefore making them more choosy about their workplace destination choices."
"Complacency" runs many ways

Israel's Acceptance of the Two State Solution - "In 2000, Israel made a series of two-state proposals which (contrary to popular myth) eventually included almost all of the West Bank (plus additional territory from Israel proper), the entire Gaza strip, Palestinian control over East Jerusalem, and a $30 billion solution for the Palestinian refugees. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat not only refused – he made no counter-offer, abandoned negotiations, and immediately began planning the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Arafat was heavily criticized for this, both by the American mediators and by fellow Arabs and Palestinians."

Did Israel Use “Disproportionate Force” in Gaza? - "Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, explained that international humanitarian law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court “permit belligerents to carry out proportionate attacks against military objectives, even when it is known that some civilian deaths or injuries will occur.” The attack becomes a war crime when it is directed against civilians (which is precisely what Hamas does)... Israeli population centers in southern Israel have been the target of over 4,000 rockets, as well as thousands of mortar shells, fired by Hamas and other organizations since 2001. The majority of those attacks were launched after Israel withdrew completely from the Gaza Strip in August 2005. Indeed, rocket attacks increased by 500 percent (from 179 to 946) from 2005 to 2006."

Chinese Talent Female Pavarotti SELLING FOOD SONG.mp4 - YouTube
Sequel: China Got Talent Season 2 55-years-old vegetable peddler Opera 2 - YouTube

On Singapore: the unexpected perils of meritocracy in an overly dense society - "The Dutch journalist Robert Biebels once commented in his insightful travel journal ‘De Olieprins en De Opiumboer’, that Chinese Singaporeans are surprisingly ‘chinezer dan de Chinezen’, observing that the Chinese Singaporeans have somehow come to embody typical Chinese values like money-mindedness, superstition and future orientation in a much more exaggerated manner than their forefathers. Perhaps this could be explained by a joint publication in 1995 called “Kinds of Third-Party Effects on Trust” by Ronald Burt and American organizational sociologist, Marc Knez, which explains that a lack of structural holes, coupled with a dense social network, produce situations in which the actors obtain consistent (but not necessarily correct) information about others, which incline them towards having extreme opinions about the trustworthiness about others, probably as an adaptation to reduce arguing about each other’s opinions in such tight networks. This can veer opinions in either the direction of extreme trust or extreme distrust."

Kat Banyard: 'We were sold a lie on an almighty scale, that equality had been won, the battle was over' - "Another perennial feminist dilemma is the tension between personal choice and duty to principle. Every woman who gets breast implants can't help but reinforce the message that it's perfectly normal and sensible to spend thousands of pounds being cut open and stuffed with fake breasts. I ask if she thinks feminists who do so are letting other women down. "It doesn't work like that," she says very firmly. "Not at all. The whole point is that feminism is about tackling the cultures that led women to feel like they didn't look good enough in the first place. I don't believe anyone has the right to judge another woman for the choices she makes in a highly sexist culture. Women have to find ways to survive and get by each day, and how we do that will depend upon our circumstances. I think judging other women on that basis is the antithesis of what feminism is about. And we need to have our sights set on the structures and the industries which feed this culture, who are the ones driving it and reaping the profits from it.""
Translation: Women have no agency and are incapable of moral responsibility; If a woman does something bad for feminism, you can't blame her. If a man does something bad for feminism, he is an evil, insidious tool of the patriarchy. Or, more simply, men are evil.

Einstein on Determinism and Free Will

"I am a determinist. As such, I do not believe in free will. The Jews believe in free will. They believe that man shapes his own life. I reject that doctrine philosophically. In that respect I am not a Jew...

I believe with Schopenhauer: We can do what we wish, but we can only wish what we must. Practically, I am, nevertheless, compelled to act as if freedom of the will existed. If I wish to live in a civilized community, I must act as if man is a responsible being. I know that philosophically a murderer is not responsible for his crime; nevertheless, I must protect myself from unpleasant contacts. I may consider him guiltless, but I prefer not to take tea with him." - Albert Einstein


Addendum:

Also quoted as:

"I am a determinist, compelled to act as if free will existed, because if I wish to live in a civilized society I must act responsibly. I know that philosophically a murderer is not responsible for his crime, but I prefer not to take tea with him."


Keywords: we must act as if free will, sit beside murderer, philosophy, free will, Einstein

The latest bet I've lost

"If man made it, don't eat it"; "If it tastes good, spit it out" - Jack LaLanne on nutrition

***



Muhd. Ibnur Rashad: Hi, Mark! I believe you may need to inform your Facebook Photo team that when I click on 'Edit' on a photo, there's no option for the year '2013'. Wondering if you would respond to a kind request from Singapore, Zuck ; )

Me: If he replies I'll buy you lunch

Muhd. Ibnur Rashad: Neh.. I doubt he'll respond to me. Who am I :| Definitely not the President of the United States of America.

...

Hey, Gabriel! Zuck did not reply but his Director (Ads) did... But I kinda cheated as he's a friend and mentor who helped me at SV. Don't think that will qualify for a lunch :|

Mark Zuckerberg: This should be fixed now. Let me know if it's still not working for you.

Me: Damn, I think I owe you lunch

Links - 3rd January 2013

"Exercise relieves stress. Nothing relieves exercise." - Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka and Toshihiro Kawabata

***

Atheist Census - Numbers matter. Be counted. - "Atheist Census is a project to count and collect demographic information on the world’s atheists."

Reducing Risks Of Sexual Assault | AWARE Singapore - "It is advisable for women to take the safety precautions to minimise their risks."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Severed Cinema - "The follow-up to the 2006 "Cannibal," Marian Dora's "Melancholie der Engel" -- translated in English as "The Angels' Melancholy" -- is the most notorious, undeniably hardcore German release to date. Clocking over 2 hours of length, the film is an epic portrait of pain and suffering. An ultimate personification of pure evil, the visuals suggest an illustration of man's inhumanity to man. I must admit I viewed the film without English subtitles, as its German release is the only version currently available. Without subtitles, it is fairly difficult to gauge a clear understanding of the "plot." As of now, there is no way to know if the dialogue is pretentious and filled with pseudo-intellectual nonsense or not."
First film review I've seen where the reviewer doesn't understand the language

Mozart's scatological disorder.

Sydney lass plays lady in waiting - "Joining the discussion were a couple of flirtatious Australian women, who started debating whether hairy or hairless was sexier... at one point all the women in the group were rubbing their common hands over the very princely torsos to compare which was the more sensual... "All the girls around the table were discussing what is best, the man with a hairy chest or a man without hair, and the princes were wearing open shirts," said Ms Tarnawski"

PCWIN Speaker Record 1.0.0.7 Free - A tool that will record the sounds of your speakers. - "PCWIN Speaker Record is a handy utility designed to record everything you hear from your speakers. No configuration required- works even if your sound card does not support recording from speakers. Record from Internet radio stations. "

Circumcision - Does the Quran Approve it? - "The Qur'an deals with Prophet Ibrahim's construction of the Kaba and other matters - but does not say he was told to cut off a part of his private parts... In numerous Verses of the Qur'an, Allah tells us that He has created everything, including human beings, in the most perfect form... when a baby leaves the mother's womb, he or she is in the most perfect of shape down to the finest detail. Nothing needs alteration"

“He Said—She Said”: The Role of the Forensic Evaluator in Determining Credibility of Plaintiffs Who Allege Sexual Exploitation and Boundary Violations - "From a clinical perspective, the perception of having been victimized may lead to symptoms similar to those that occur when someone is actually victimized. For example, if a woman perceives that she was powerless to stop a sexual encounter, then she may develop symptoms similar to those of a woman who actually has been raped, such as feelings of betrayal, fear, embarrassment, guilt, depression, and anxiety and even symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. It may not matter that the alleged perpetrator considered the sexual encounter to be consensual. From a clinical perspective, the victim's symptoms are likely to be based on her perception. Stress-related symptoms are shaped by the internal psychological experience of the event"
We can extrapolate and say that similarly, what determines if negative outcomes is not whether someone is discriminated against - but whether he *thinks* he is being discriminated against.

No means no. But what about yes? - "Of course “no” means “no”, but sex is an act that rarely has an explicit “yes” attached to it. Sometimes a lack of consent means we’re not sure – not because we’re weak, vulnerable or under male pressure, but for our own reasons: “I shouldn’t stay as I’ve an early work meeting but I’m tempted”; “I should say no as I’m married but I really like him”; “I’m tired but I love him”; “I’m drunk and might regret it, but what the hell”. Surely women and men need space for such ambivalence, to negotiate the delicate ins and outs of interpersonal and sexual relations? In truth, sex and relationships are often a tangle of false starts, uncertainties and messy complications; active consent is no guarantee of romantic or sexual bliss. Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of the new Act is that it sets out ­situations where there can be no free agreement, such as where someone is deemed to be “so drunk they are unable to give any meaningful consent to sexual activity”... “yes” doesn’t always mean “yes”, according to the new law. Does this mean that a man should wait for a woman to sober up before taking her at her word? Is it in women’s interests to have an official ban on sex while drunk? A man can never claim he’s too much the worse for wear to elicit consent from a sober woman. This legislates that a drunken man is accountable for his deeds, but a drunken woman is not, thus negating even the presumption of equal rights before the law... absolving women who engage in drunken sexual liaisons of responsibility for their actions is not liberating; it’s demeaning... the effect of blurring rape with ambivalence and regret can mean we lose a sense of perspective. A society that sees no difference in scale between hesitant acquiescence and brute violation will have difficulty in doling out justice. My fear is that if we relativise rape and portray it as a commonplace risk of all inter-sex ­relations, juries and the public at large will find it even harder to weigh up the seriousness of allegations"

"He Said She Said" rape convictions: Really happens? - "One case that I did study last semester in Evidence has some parallels: Papakosmas v The Queen [1999] HCA 37. It's not an exact parallel, because it wasn't just a "he said/she said" case. But it's an example of a jury convicting an accused on the basis of the credibility of the complainant's claim that she did not consent. Papakosmas (the appellant) and the complainant were at the office Christmas party. They had both been drinking. One thing led to another and they had sex. The key fact in issue was not whether the sex took place but whether the complainant consented to it. She said that she hadn't consented. What's more, she made that claim to several other people at the party straight after the alleged offence. So it wasn't just the complainant's word, but also that of all her colleagues. They hadn't witnessed the alleged act of sexual intercourse, but they were able to testify about what the complainant had told them straight afterwards. At trial the jury believed the complainant's story (backed up by her colleagues' hearsay evidence) over that of the appellant. A sort of modified "he said/she said". Papakosmas was convicted of having sexual intercourse with the complainant without her consent and was sentenced to three years' gaol. He lost his appeal to the NSW Supreme Court and his subsequent appeal to the High Court (the linked case above)."

China's sex addicts struggle to find help - "In his opinion, sex addiction is a concept created by factions such as the extreme right wing or religious groups, as a means of discrediting sex and promoting abstinence. Fang compared sex addiction with other passions, such as an overwhelming interest in food or autos. "Every day people want to indulge their passion and do something that has no negative affect on society. The desire to normalize the condition has resulted in those who believe themselves afflicted feeling the need to classify it as a disease and search for a, largely nonexistent, 'cure'," he said... Whenever she finished her study assignments, the first idea that came into her mind was hooking up... Sex - with her boyfriend, a "benefit" friend or via a one-night stand - made her feel good and gave her bags of energy, she said. "If we both feel good, I don't think sex bothers anyone. And there's nothing wrong with frequent sex, or as, we say, so-called sex addiction," she said. "It's just like eating; some people eat a little, while others eat more. If sex makes you feel good, loved and energetic, why attribute blame?""

You’re Addicted to What? - "The schadenfreude is so thick you can cut it with a knife. Moralism stands in for sympathy. High dudgeon stands in for nuanced understanding. From all corners, we hear a Greek chorus of voices linking someone’s extramarital affairs to feminism, testosterone, the Internet, sadomasochism, consumerism, or even 9/11... these public thrashings are a chance for the audience to condemn sexual acting out while vicariously enjoying it... here’s my evaluation of almost everyone who is diagnosed as a sex addict—by themselves, their loved ones, or an addictionologist: it’s someone who is unhappy with the consequences of their sexual choices, but who finds it too emotionally painful to make different choices... it’s not about the sex. It’s about the immature decision-making... Perhaps the most interesting thing about the sex addiction movement—and certainly the most telling—is that it did not arise from the field of sex therapy or any other sexuality-related field... Almost thirty years after its invention by Carnes, “sex addiction” is still not a popular concept in the fields of sex therapy, sex education, or sex research... the diagnosis of sex addiction is in many ways a diagnosis of discomfort with one’s own sexuality, or of being at odds with cultural definitions of normal sex, and struggling with that contrast... Exactly how sophisticated can a psychiatric diagnosis be if (1) a professional can diagnose someone without ever meeting them, and (2) lay people with no training whatsoever can use the diagnosis?... I also resent the repeated statement that if I don’t conceptualize these people as sex addicts, I’m either ignorant or I lack compassion. When some progressive Colonial physicians refused to diagnose patients as possessed by the devil, that didn’t mean they lacked compassion. They just didn’t believe in the diagnosis... Sex addiction and porn addiction crusaders complain that porn is terrible sex education. I agree, just as watching a car chase in an action movie is a terrible way to learn to drive... When a patient is diagnosed as possessed by the devil instead of schizophrenic it clearly matters: it determines the treatment to be used, and who is qualified to administer the treatment... The addiction model starts with “we admitted we were powerless.” The therapy model starts with “you’re responsible for your choices; I wonder why you keep doing what gives you what you say you don’t want?”"

Report a PAP Internet Brigade (IB) - "Who are the PAP IBs?
1) A group of Young PAP members have been put under the ‘intelligence’ service
2) They operate in shifts starting from 6am each day monitoring the chats on discussion forums and facebook etc.
3) Some of them have created fake IDs to counter opposite views. If they can’t rebut, they will seek to disrupt discussion or to confuse by posting wrong information.
4) Some have started, but most will be stepping up on their activities."
Uhh...

The Dark Secrets That Dolphins Don't Want You to Know - "Dolphins are violent predators with a predilection for baby killing and rape"
I wonder how many who attended the "Candlelight Vigil and Memorial Service for Wen Wen" (the dead RWS dolphin) knew the truth about dolphins. I felt like crashing the event, crying "freedom for all animals!" and releasing 100 chickens into the crowd

Don't Have the Wool Pulled Over Your Eyes - ""Virtually every medical achievement of the last century has depended directly or indirectly on research with animals." Furthermore, consider that over the past 40 years only one Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine did not depend on animal research for the fundamental discoveries that led to the prize... paralyzed dogs have regained their ability to walk as a result of research conducted in rodents and dogs... even if all testing were done in humans, our pets would lose the benefit of some medications whose usefulness was not found in humans"

New blog picture - 2nd January 2013

Putting the cat in the caterwauling

On the futility of women/minority role models

"Lies are like children. If you don't nurture them, they'll never be useful later." - Randy K. Milholland

***

A common, sexy, commonsensical claim is that having women/minority role models will motivate other women and minorities into being high-achieving.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that this claim has been repeatedly tested (and not at all surprised that this research is never cited when people talk about the importance of said role models).


"For many years academic researchers, governmental officials, and the lay public have assumed that the number and type of role models available to a student will have an important influence on that student’s performance in school and selection of a career. These assumptions became highly visible in the 1978 Supreme Court case of Regents of the University of California y. Allan Bakke (438 U.S. 265, 1978)...

[Speizer] reviewed studies on mentors and sponsors. Speizer found that most of the relatively few studies that claimed to show an influence of role models have severe methodological problems, which bring their conclusions into doubt.

In her conclusion, Speizer wrote: “Role models, mentors, and sponsors are concepts which still need to be defined and studied. Despite their almost universal acceptance, there is very little supportive evidence for their validity. Until methodologically sound studies are conducted on large, randomly selected populations, these concepts should be considered as suggestive rather than proven” (Speizer 1981, p. 712).

Our more recent search of the large literature on role models found virtually no studies of the type that Speizer called for over twenty years ago. Most papers on role models simply assume the importance of same-gender and same-race/ethnicity role models on a large variety of dependent variables. An example is Janice C. Bizzari’s “Women: Role Models, Mentors, and Careers” (1995), in which she states, “According to recent studies, evidence suggests, potential can be denied or lost for women in certain male-dominated careers for lack of women mentors or role models in the field” (p. 145). The studies she cites are either qualitative or nonsystematic.

There are a few exceptions, in which the concept of role model is looked at systematically using relatively large data sets. All of these studies have been done by economists, and most appear in an issue of Industrial and Labor Relations Review edited by Ehrenberg (1995). One study that did not appear in the Ehrenberg volume is that reported by Mark O. Evans (1992). Evans conducted a study of the influence of same-gender and same-race role models on how much students learned in high school economics classes. Evans used data from the Joint Council on Economic Education’s National Assessment of Economic Education Survey con ducted in the spring of 1987. From that survey he had information on 2,440 students who took a high school economics course, including the results of a test of economic knowledge, which Evans used as his dependent variable. From his careful study, Evans concluded that there is no evidence of same-gender role model effects but that black students do slightly better on the test when they have black teachers, particularly when their mothers do not have a college degree. The effect, although statistically significant, is relatively small. It should he noted that Evans (like the studies reported later from the Ehrenherg volume) considered the race and gender of the teacher, but did not determine whether the students looked upon the teacher as a role model.

Ronald Ehrenberg, Daniel Goldhaber, and Dominic Brewer (1995) reanalyzed the data collected in the 1960s by James Coleman (see Chap ter 1) to see if matching the teacher’s and student’s race had any effect on the amount that students learned. Their main conclusion was that African American teachers did not help African American students and under some conditions had a negative effect on how much white students learned. Donna Rothstein (1995), a student of Ehrenberg’s, used the “High School and Beyond” data set (a longitudinal study conducted by the National Center for Educational Statistics) to investigate the effect of attending a women’s college on labor market and educational outcomes. She found that when appropriate input variables were controlled, single- gender schools conferred no advantage on young women. But she also found that among those who attended women’s colleges the percentage of female faculty had a small positive effect on postcollege wages...

None of the studies in the Ehrenberg collection, although all based on large systematic data sets, determined whether the students considered their teachers to be role models. Despite this fact, the papers in the Ehrenberg collection do offer some interesting and suggestive findings.

Harvey Rosen and Brandice Canes (1995) studied how the number of female faculty in science and engineering fields might influence the number of women entering the fields. They correctly point out that a cross-sectional analysis would not answer this question because the same factors that make a particular field attractive to women professors might make it attractive to women students. Instead, Rosen and Canes chose to look at change over time in the number of women professors. They found no evidence that this variable had any effect on the number of women who majored in the sciences.

Sara Solnick (1995) studied female students at women’s colleges and at coeducational institutions and found that the women at the all-women schools are more likely to shift from “traditionally female” majors to either neutral or traditionally male majors. She found no evidence to support her second hypothesis: that women who begin in traditionally male majors would be more likely to persist in those majors if they attend a women’s college. Solnick’s research does not specify the mechanisms through which the women’s colleges have their influence. indeed her results could easily be due to the self-selection of particular types of students into women’s colleges.

Donna Rothstein (1995) examined how the percentage of female faculty at a college or university might influence the likelihood of women’s attaining an advanced degree and later earnings. She found that the pro portion of women had no direct effect on earnings hut that it had a small indirect effect on earnings through the proportion of women who go on to attain an advanced degree. Again, in order to understand fully these findings we would have to know more about how the students attending colleges having a high proportion of women as faculty might differ from those who attend colleges with a lower proportion of women as faculty.

In a study conducted by Rothsrn and Ehrenberg (1994) the authors found that “attendance at a HBCU substantially enhanced the probability that a black college student would receive a bachelor’s degree within seven years after starting college; however, on average, it had no apparent effects on the student’s early career labor market success (as measured by 1979 earnings) or the student’s probability of enrolling in graduate school” (Ehrenberg 1995, p. 484). jill Constantine (1995) asked the same question but uses earnings data from a later period in the career history of the students she studied. She found that attending an HBCU does have a significant influence on later earnings. The reasons for the difference in findings between the two studies are unclear. However, Ehrenherg (1995) points out that the 1986 wave of the NLS-72 data, which Constantine utilized in her study, was a subsample of the original sample and oversamples college graduates who earn more money than nongraduates. This may account for the difference between her findings and those of Roth stein and Ehrenberg.

Finally, Ehrenberg, Goldhaber, and Brewer (1995) used data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 to determine whether the race or gender of the teacher has an influence on how much students learned. They found that the gender and race of the teacher have no significant influence on how much the student learns but that they do influence how the teacher evaluates the student. Thus white female teachers were more likely than were white male teachers to evaluate their white female students highly. They noted that their data provide no evidence that black students will learn more when they have black, rather than white, teachers. They add that there are two interpretations that can be given to their data:

At face value, our findings may be interpreted in either of two conflicting ways. On the one hand, if it is argued that what is crucial is how much students learn in classrooms, one might conclude that teachers’ race, gender, and ethnicity per se do not matter. On the other hand, if it is argued that teachers’ subjective evaluations of students mirror the encouragement they provide these students and the “track” on which they place the students or to which they encourage them to aspire, our results suggest that in some cases teachers’ (race, gender, and ethnicity) do matter. (Ehrenberg, Goldhaber, and Brewer 1995, p. 560)

Our general conclusion remains the same as when J. R. Cole published his book on women in science: SO far, there is no systematic evidence that same-gender or same-race/ethnicity role models have significant influence on a range of dependent variables that they are assumed to influence, including occupational choice, learning, and career success."

--- Increasing Faculty Diversity: The Occupational Choices of High-Achieving Minority Students / Stephen COLE, Elinor G. Barber


This undermines what is the key rationale for having gender/racial quotas, and a key rationale for affirmative action.

Links - 1st January 2013

"Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything." - John Kenneth Galbraith

***

“You can resign and go to SBS,” the drivers were told - ""The MOM takes the workers' actions very seriously," said yet another spokesperson. >From my adumbration above of the events that unfolded, not over five days, I remind you, but over almost six months, MOM only took their actions seriously when they had the potential to challenge the government in a very public way. When the workers were content to carry their concerns through Mr Foo’s ‘due process’, the government, the corporation and the trade union simply ignored them. For Mr Foo and General Tan to now pretend that they did not follow ‘due process’ is, at the very least, disingenuous... Let us turn then to how the government does in fact deal with dispute? It locks people up as it did this week. It deports them or refuses to allow them back in, as Dr Ang Swee Chai found, or revokes their citizenship if that is possible, and Tan Wah Piow found this to his cost. It tortures people. It bankrupts people or silences them through the threat of defamation suits. It writes threatening letters as Ng Eng Hen did last week. It fabricates evidence – as Dr Vasoo did twenty years ago – to deprive people of their living... It is not a culture of equals. It is a culture of supplicant and benefactor. The polity that the PAP has habituated us to is one where our just deserts can only come from a Cabinet in a good mood or facing a General Election... What, fundamentally, does a trade union do? It does not exist to manage supermarkets and chalets, good though these amenities are in themselves... make no mistake about it, our government will have on hesitation in dealing with us in the same way it has dealt with the Chinese bus drivers. None whatsoever. Do not rest content that the PAP carries a torch for the Singaporean worker; it does not... These Chinese workers, by doing what we have been cowed from doing ourselves so long, have in fact widened the democratic space for us. And in time to come, when we are less afraid to think for ourselves, we will come to thank them."

The kitty washing machine - YouTube

Gabriel Seah's answer to Les Miserables (2012 film): How important was it that the actors in Les Miserable were filmed singing live instead of lip-synching? - Quora - "- The actors do some lines speaking rather than sung
- They shout a lot (e.g. "Confrontation")
- They don't always hit the pitch of their notes exactly
- They vary the timing and duration of their notes. It's especially jarring when it's out of sync with the orchestral accompaniment
- They are sometimes breathless so they cannot hold notes for very long
- They can be hoarse (from fatigue or crying) so their singing is not very clear (e.g. "Valjean's Soliloquy")"

Wheel of Lunch
Find a place to eat X miles from you (where X is a user-chosen variable)

Neuro-linguistic programming - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "Reviews of empirical research on NLP say that NLP contains numerous factual errors, and has failed to produce reliable results for the claims for effectiveness made by NLP's originators and proponents. According to Devilly, NLP is no longer as prevalent as it was in the 1970s and 1980s. Criticisms go beyond the lack of empirical evidence for effectiveness; critics say that NLP exhibits pseudoscientific characteristics, title, concepts and terminology. NLP is used as an example of pseudoscience for facilitating the teaching of scientific literacy at the professional and university level. NLP also appears on peer reviewed expert-consensus based lists of discredited interventions. In research designed to identify the "quack factor" in modern mental health practice, Norcross et al. (2006) list NLP as possibly or probably discredited for treatment of behavioural problems. In research on ineffective addiction treatments, Norcross et al. (2010) list NLP in the top ten most discredited interventions, and Glasner-Edwards and Rawson (2010) list NLP as "certainly discredited""

Charm And Rigor — Richard Morgan - "Many states continue to frame laws so that men cannot be raped -- and women cannot be rapists -- unless the victims are sodomized... In 1988, the Journal of Sex Research published a study of nearly 1,000 college students. Its most surprising finding was that far more men than women reported having suffered unwanted intercourse -- 62.7 percent to 46.3 percent. A 2001 study of 285 women at a private midwestern university identified 52 as sexually "coercive" - - based on self-reported admissions of verbal manipulations, and insistent, deceptive, or threatening (including physically) behavior. Of those women, 30 reported "becoming so sexually aroused that they felt it was useless to stop even though the partner did not want to have sex"... 51 percent of college-age women polled admitted they had once taken advantage of a man who was drunk or high. "If we were applying the same standards as we apply to men," says Anderson, "these women would be talked about as date-rapists.""
It seems women raping men may not be as rare as the feminists claim; sexual coercion seems more common practised by women than men

Economics Letters - Physical appearance and wages: Do blondes have more fun? - "Using U.S. panel data, we find that blonde women receive large wage premiums."

Perth people 'more racist' than others - "Of the 850 people surveyed in Perth, more than 14 per cent said they were prejudiced against other cultures, compared with a national average of about 12 per cent."

British Frozen Dinners Beat TV Chefs' Recipes for Nutrition

Telecommuters Work Longer Hours Than Office-Goers - "the proportion of people who work remotely remained unchanged from the mid-’90s to the mid-2000s the most recent data available. Second, those who do telecommute are more likely to work overtime, an additional 5 to 7 hours on top of the standard 40."

What does the WDF_VIOLATION BSoD Error Mean? - "WDF_VIOLATION was very rare before Windows 8, but has cropped up a bunch since people have begun installing it. It’s appearing most often when syncing files from your iPhone or iPod to iTunes. Though the problem was more frequent in iTunes 10, it’s still cropping up in iTunes 11.
This is happening because you have a combination of three things: Windows 8, the driver that comes with your device, and the driver included with iTunes. The combination of all three of these is causing the crash."

Running too far, too fast, and too long speeds progress 'to finish line of life' - "Vigorous exercise is good for health, but only if it's limited to a maximum daily dose of between 30 and 50 minutes... The idea that more and more high intensity exercise, such as marathons, can only do you good, is a myth say the US cardiologists, and the evidence shows that it's likely to more harm than good to your heart."
The editorial in Heart is titled "Run for your life … at a comfortable speed and not too far" and talks about ‘Phidippides cardiomyopathy’ and "We are not so much born to run as born to walk"

Woman Sued for Rescue Effort in Car Crash - "No good deed goes unpunished, or so goes the saying. Such was the case with Lisa Torti, who is being sued for pulling a now-paralyzed friend from the wreckage of a Los Angeles car accident in 2004. The victim's lawyers claim the Good Samaritan bumbled the rescue and caused injury by yanking her friend "like a rag doll" to safety. But Torti -- now a 30-year-old interior designer from Las Vegas -- said she thought she had seen smoke and feared the car would explode... The California Supreme Court ruled this week that Van Horn may sue Torti for allegedly causing her friend's paralysis. The case -- the first of its kind -- challenges the state's liability shield law that protects people who give emergency assistance"

Rescuers suing woman they saved from crash - "The lawsuit claims that Tanner operated her vehicle "intentionally and/or recklessly and/or negligently," resulting in the vehicle crashing and catching on fire. It claims that Kelley and Kinkaid received "severe bodily injuries" as a result of Tanner's actions and that "all or some of these injuries are permanent in nature resulting in permanent disability"... Apparently, good samaritans who sue those they rescue isn't uncommon, according to Stan Darling, a professor at Capital University Law School. "The precedent is clear: danger invites rescue...and if you've acted recklessly or negligently and someone gets hurt rescuing you, you could be in trouble""

Japanese robotics expert creates incredible transforming RC car

Have 'quota system' to allocate new BTO flats to singles - "In a worst-case scenario, a brain drain of talented Singaporean singles emigrating to greener pastures might result if this group perceives themselves as being alienated from the mainstream"

Yes, Randi Zuckerberg, Please Lecture Us About 'Human Decency' - "Yes, Randi Zuckerberg, speak to us about human decency. Because a photo that you posted on Facebook got shared on the Internet.

How awful this must have been for you! How... invasive. What a violation. How terrible that someone might take something that belongs to you and use it in ways that you had not anticipated, and for which you had not given explicit permission! What kind of world are we living in when just because you post something on a website someone else can just take your stuff and do things with it? Oh wait."

Date King - "Horny but repressed, Emo Girl reads books by Virgina Wolf (sic) and Ayn Rand. She owns at least two black plastic thick-framed spectacles, has a cat named Socrates, and has once blogged about her experiences while backpacking through a village in Thailand"

Foreign worker policies through lens of economics - "The argument that Singaporeans should be paid more because they have more needs or face higher costs is also misguided. Wages should reflect the marginal productivity of the worker, not his needs. If wages are based on needs, workers would be justified in demanding a wage increase from their employer for having more children... In the short run, the only way to assure Singaporeans of wage increases is to continue tightening our foreign worker policies. The reduction in the supply of cheap foreign labour would raise wages, particularly in those sectors which have been more reliant on cheap foreign workers. But there is a price for this. Rising wages would translate into rising prices - unless productivity, or output per worker, increases at a faster rate... Akerlof and Kranton also found that in organisations where employees had a strong identification with the organisation, the pay needed to induce higher effort (and higher productivity) was lower than that for organisations with low worker identification. The worker's identification with the employer in turn derives from his sense of being fairly treated and remunerated. The economics of identity challenges standard notions of cost savings. Encouraging companies to "invest in identity" and job satisfaction among employees may raise business costs in the short run but reaps benefits for our economy in the long run"

How I'm spending the last few hours of 2012: the Singapore Workforce (2012)

"It's no longer a question of staying healthy. It's a question of finding a sickness you like." - Jackie Mason

***

I must be one of the few people fascinated by the MOM report on the Singapore Workforce (2012).

Some choice bits:
- 74% of women between 25 and 54 worked (vs 92.7% for men)
- The total employment rate for 55-64 is a whole 19% lower than for 25-54. Women evidence a larger decline than men
- 11.5% of resident employees were on term contract and this has been quite steady since 2006
- Despite what you might be lead to believe by www.transitioning.org (no, not a trans-gender site), PMETs (Professionals, Managers, Executives & Technicians) have quite a low unemployment rate (2.3% vs 3.4% total)
- The industry with the lowest unemployment is Real Estate (1.6% vs 3.4% total)
- As long as you work for 1 hour in the week, you are considered employed

And the most interesting part (the reason why I started reading the report in the first place) is on economic inactivity.

A plurality of men (44.5%) who are not economically active are in school, on course or training.

43.3% of women residents say that they are economically inactive because of family responsibilities (including "housework, childcare and care-giving to families/relatives"). Unfortunately there is no breakdown of this, as those who give the first reason only are either very finicky about cleanliness or are just using it as an excuse.

Meanwhile, I have heard of many cases (I've lost count) of girls leaving the workforce (many in their 20s!) to "take a break" (or otherwise - being NEET), but only 3 cases of guys doing the same thing: one could say that he was studying for his CFA, another was (is) traveling the world and a third was sick of Mammon.

However, the gender gap in the data is much less than these anecdotes would suggest: 14,600 men and 16,000 women (of course, some will give "housework" as the reason for economic inactivity). Ironically I've been looking for this kind of data for a long time, when all along MOM had it.

There are also more discouraged men than women (5,500 vs 4,100). This could be because of social expectations that men be the breadwinners - so when they are unable to find work, women are not discouraged.

On Wisdom and Hating Evil

"My theology, briefly, is that the universe was dictated but not signed." - Christopher Morley

***

"I think the essence of wisdom is emancipation, as fat as possible, from the tyranny of the here and now. We cannot help the egoism of our senses... No one can view the world with complete impartiality; and if anyone could, he would hardly be able to remain alive. But it is possible to make a continual approach towards impartiality, on the one hand, by knowing things somewhat remote in time or space, and on the other hand, by giving to such things their due weight in our feelings. It is this approach towards impartiality that constitutes growth in wisdom ...

We are told on Sundays that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. On the other six days of the week, we are exhorted to hate. But you will remember that the precept was exemplified by saying that the Samaritan was our neighbour. We no longer have any wish to hate Samaritans and so we are apt to miss the point of the parable. If you want to get its point, you should substitute Communist or anti-Communist, as the case may be, for Samaritan. It might be objected that it is right to hate those who do harm. I do not think so. If you hate them, it is only too likely that you will become equally harmful; and it is very unlikely that you will induce them to abandon their evil ways. Hatred of evil is itself a kind of bondage to evil. The way out is through understanding, not through hate. I am not advocating non-resistance. But I am saying that resistance, if it is to be effective in preventing the spread of evil, should be combined with the greatest degree of understanding and the smallest degree of force that is compatible with the survival of the good things that we wish to preserve.

It is commonly urged that a point of view such as I have been advocating is incompatible with vigour in action. I do not think history bears out this view. Queen Elizabeth I in England and Henry IV in France lived in a world where almost everybody was fanatical, either on the Protestant or on the Catholic side. Both remained free from the errors of their time and both, by remaining free, were beneficent and certainly not ineffective. Abraham Lincoln conducted a great war without ever departing from what I have called wisdom."

--- Knowledge and Wisdom / Bertrand Russell

A poem on Free Will

"Life is a long lesson in humility." - James M. Barrie

***

At the Fair
---Christmas, 1984

At this summer's fair,
I asked an attendant if,
being at the head of the line at last,
I might ride the next train
of his roller coaster.

Was I sure I wanted to? he asked,
as this ride was known for high
acceleration, breathtaking plunges,
and being impossible to control
once underway.

Having survived lesser rides,
I assured him I was ready.

Then he laughed and told me
I had been for some time in the last car
of the already departed train,
having no choice anyway.

The rest of his words were lost
in exhilaration as I was
ripped out into the starlight.

--- Gary Cruse

L'enfer, c'est les autres

"J'aime mieux me faire chier tout seul que d'être heureux avec les autres. J'ai horreur de partager un plaisir quel qu'il soit, avec une bande de cadres ou un troupeau de handicapés. C'est pas de ma faute, je hais l'humanité. C'est dur à vivre, pour moi. Plus je connais les hommes, plus j'aime mon chien. Plus je connais les femmes, moins j'aime ma chienne."

--- Accents toniques / Pierre Desproges