Alton Sterling: police appear to take gun from body after fatal shooting - "Officer 1: “He’s got a gun! Gun!”
Officer 2: “If you fucking move, I swear to god.”
Officer 1: “He’s going for the gun!”
[At least two shots are heard]
Officer: “Shit!”
Officer: “Get on the ground!”
[Three shots]
Officer to radio: “[Inaudible] shots fired, shots fired.”
Officer: “Fuck!”
[Officer removes gun from pocket]"
Why do Americans think it's a good idea to resist arrest while reaching for a gun?
Acevedo: Austin officer wounded after struggle with suspect - "the security guard tackled the man to the ground, Acevedo said. The suspect got up and the security guard tackled the man again, Acevedo said. The police officer pulled up in his patrol car and jumped out to help. He and the security guard tried to restrain the man, but he was extremely combative, Acevedo said. The officer repeatedly yelled for the man to show his hands, but the suspect would not, Acevedo said. The officer radioed for more help. The suspect then pulled out his pistol, he said. The security officer yelled “Gun!” and the suspect shot the police officer in the lower right abdomen below his vest"
Just because someone is tackled to the ground doesn't mean he can't shoot you
Man shot dead by Minn. police during traffic stop GRAPHIC CONTENT - "She said that he was reaching for his wallet before the policeman shot around four times"
Sadly, the obsession over faux racist police cases distracts from real cases of police brutality
SECOND Swedish music festival sex victim reveals she was groped by a mob of men - "Ms Florman added: 'The ironic thing was that they were wearing the police bracelet with the text 'don´t grope', everything was really surreal now that I remember it.'"
Why We Swedes Are So Lonely - "there has been an ideology here in Sweden that is pretty unique to this country, and that is the idea that the citizens should be independent and free from one another. When the idea was implemented there was this notion that no adult should be financially dependent on their relatives and so we created a society where no old person should have to live with their children and no young person should have to live with their parents after the age of eighteen. A sociologist named Zygmunt Bauman who is featured in the film, claims that "independence have stripped you from the ability of socializing". Something that fits well with the Swedish social model."
Driving While Black - "The data from our survey allowed us to distinguish stops to enforce traffic safety laws—like speeding at fifteen miles per hour over the limit—from stops to investigate the driver. Our key finding is that these two types of stops differ from start to finish. In traffic safety stops, based on clear violations of the law, officers quickly issue a ticket or warning and let the driver go. In investigatory stops officers drag the stop out as they try to look at the vehicle’s interior, ask probing questions, and ultimately seek consent for a search (drivers almost always agree, telling us that they feel they have no real choice in the matter). The key influence on who is stopped in traffic safety stops is how you drive; in investigatory stops it is who you are, and being black is the leading influence. In traffic safety stops, being black has no influence: African Americans are not significantly more likely than whites to be stopped for clear traffic safety law violations. But in investigatory stops, a black man age twenty-five or younger has a 28 percent chance of being stopped for an investigatory reason over the course of a year; a similar young white man has a 12.5 percent chance, and a similar young white woman has only a 7 percent chance. And this is after taking into account other possible influences on being stopped, like how you drive"
Age and sex discrimination
George Takei Reacts to Gay Sulu News: "I Think It's Really Unfortunate" - "Takei wasn't overjoyed. He had never asked for Sulu to be gay. In fact, he'd much prefer that he stay straight. "I’m delighted that there’s a gay character," he tells The Hollywood Reporter. "Unfortunately, it’s a twisting of Gene’s creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it’s really unfortunate." Takei explains that Roddenberry was exhaustive in conceiving his Star Trek characters. (The name Sulu, for example, was based on the Sulu Sea off the coast of the Philippines, so as to render his Asian nationality indeterminate.) And Roddenberry had always envisioned Sulu as heterosexual... Takei tried to convince him to make a new character gay instead. "I told him, 'Be imaginative and create a character who has a history of being gay, rather than Sulu, who had been straight all this time, suddenly being revealed as being closeted.'""
George Takei must be a homophobe!
Cops Shoot White Guy in Fresno; Nobody Pays Attention - "Unlike the shootings of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, which have created yet another firestorm complete with accusations of police racism, the media is ignoring the death of Dylan Noble, a 19-year-old white man, on June 25."
NRA’s offensive hypocrisy: When will the organization demand justice for black gun owners shot by police?
I can't find instances of the NRA protesting white gun owners being shot, so this is a great straw man
Comment: "Salon will be the first publication to accuse the NRA of appropriating the racial justice movement should they choose to make a statement."
Anti-gun prof calls for shooting up NRA, ensuring 'no survivors'
Rationally Speaking | Official Podcast of New York City Skeptics - Current Episodes - RS 158 - Dr. George Ainslie on "Negotiating with your future selves" - "no animals aside from us have any real capacity to plan for the future, even our closest relatives, the great apes, the chimpanzees, plan ahead no more than an hour or two. It's just not something that most anybody else is wired to do. Other animals, if they have to do something far-sighted, will have an instinct for it. They will have something that makes building a dam fun or hoarding nuts fun, and so they're in a different situation"
There's No Hiring Bias Against Women In Tech, They Just Suck At Interviews - "men are “advancing to the next round” around 1.4 times more often than women, and that men were being rated an average of 3 stars out of 4, compared to the 2.5 stars that women received. Interviewing.io’s Aline Lerner, who authored the report, originally hypothesized that differences in real-world interview results was down to employer discrimination against women, but the results quickly forced her to rethink her view... Their test, designed to provide empirical ballast to a feminist agenda, ended up completely torpedoing it. Worse, it suggested that employers actually discriminate in favor of women, choosing them in favor of men when they believe them to be competent enough... women are around seven times more likely to quit the platform after underperforming in an interview. According to a published graph featured in the report, men are more likely to continue, giving it more of a shot on the second interview as opposed to completely giving up like their female counterparts."
Possibilities:
- Will accept lower pay (though liberals mock the fact that in a competitive market, if employers can get away with paying a type of workers less than others and get similar results they will prefer to hire them, this provides empirical evidence that this phenomenon might exist)
- employers are liberal
At first I thought maybe women have lower turnover, but there's no proof for that
The Relationship Between Crime Rates and Poverty - "According to FBI statistics, crime rates went down across the board in 2009. Way down. Murder, rape, robbery, assault, auto theft—plummeted, one and all. Then, this week, the FBI released preliminary data for the first six months of 2010, and again the same pattern emerged. Violent crimes and property crimes alike have been falling in every region of the country. What gives? Have experts just completely misunderstood what causes people to commit crimes?"
To have and have not | The Economist - "when he looked at families which had started poor and got richer, the younger children—those born into relative affluence—were just as likely to misbehave when they were teenagers as their elder siblings had been. Family income was not, per se, the determining factor.
That suggests two, not mutually exclusive, possibilities. One is that a family’s culture, once established, is “sticky”—that you can, to put it crudely, take the kid out of the neighbourhood, but not the neighbourhood out of the kid. Given, for example, children’s propensity to emulate elder siblings whom they admire, that sounds perfectly plausible. The other possibility is that genes which predispose to criminal behaviour (several studies suggest such genes exist) are more common at the bottom of society than at the top, perhaps because the lack of impulse-control they engender also tends to reduce someone’s earning capacity. Neither of these conclusions is likely to be welcome to social reformers"
Students complain about professor's Black Lives Matter shirt. The professor's response is priceless. - "A law professor received a written complaint from “Concerned Students” about his Black Lives Matter shirt, and she responded by brilliantly turning the letter into a teachable moment, taking apart their arguments and the assumptions behind them, literally and figuratively schooling the authors of the complaint with wit, clarity, and moral authority."
The differing response to this and Halloween costumes (and all the other SJW hissyfits) is telling
Dylann Roof vs Black Lives Matter
Here's Why Cops Often Shoot Suspects Multiple Times - "“Hollywood has us believing that if you shoot someone once or twice, they fall,” former police chief Chuck Drago told BI over the phone. But, he added, “I’ve seen people shot many times, and they don’t even slow down.” Police often keep firing because they don’t even realize they hit the person, Drago says. Cops are also taught to fire three times before reassessing the threat — a procedure known as “triple tap,” according to Dr. Daniel Kennedy, a forensic criminologist"
As cobras and vipers spread their deadly venom, it’s getting harder to save lives - "It is estimated that a resurgence of the scourge of snakebites in Africa and Asia could soon account for a quarter of million deaths every year. In the past, deaths from snakebites have been poorly reported and the extent of the crisis underestimated. However, doctors in India recently carried out a detailed survey and discovered that around 46,000 people in the country died from snakebites every year. Official statistics had suggested that the figure was only around 1,000. Similarly in Bangladesh, a detailed survey revealed that the annual snakebite death toll there was around 6,000."
Best of Today, 24 Jun EU referendum: The UK votes Leave · BBC - "the first time I appeared on this program with you was 17 years ago and we were considered to be a complete joke party with a manifesto that was sort of for the mad and the bad and now 70 million people have voted for it and I couldn't be more delighted"
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Agrippina the Younger - "[On Messalina] 'She is said to have competed with prostitutes through the night and-'
'And won. And won, she won against Rome's chief prostitute... The satirist Juvenal has this picture of her with gilded nipples and exposing the belly that bore... Britannicus. So this sort of sense that, he calls her in fact Meretrix Augusta... She was the Emperor's wife and she was also a prostitute, Meratrix. She's a public figure in the worst possible way. So there are stories about her love affairs with actors like Menaster (sp?)'...
'We heard about Messalina being sexually loose. So is Agrippina. She sleeps with a lot of people, according to the sources, but there's a difference. Messalina does it for her own pleasure. Agrippina does it always spae dominataeus (sp?) Tacitus says: in the hope of power, in the hope of control.'"
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Tess of the d'Urbervilles - "The editor of Macmillan rejected it because of its succulence. It was too succulent... it's that dwelling of the physical
I think that they found so-"
L'origine de Bert
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Links - 10th September 2016
Women Banned from Wearing Burqa When Entering ISIS’ Security Centres - "within the past two years, the ISIS used to force women in Iraq and Syria to wear burqa and niqab; however, now the group has no choice but to prevent women with burqa from entering its security centres... The decision, according to the source, came after some fully veiled women killed a number of ISIS commanders and members in the past months"
Islamophobia!
Ancient Roman-inspired restaurant Roma to open in east London - "Food – including cuts of meat and homemade dishes such as tapenade ‒ will be cooked using what are said to be traditional Roman techniques, including cooking meat with hay. The wine list will encompass choices from across the old Roman Empire, include vintages from Italy, France, Macedonia and Spain – with some said to be from vineyards that have been traced back to Roman times."
StandWithUs - We ♥ LOVE ♥ our supporters of Israel from around the... - "We <3 LOVE <3 our supporters of Israel from around the world! This week we received this message from a family in Singapore"
Comments: Zaki Omar (225 likes): "My Muslim bros and sisters. We all know what will happen to the Jews ultimately. When the time comes, even a rock will reveal if a Jew is hiding behind it. So don't worry. Make ur prayers. Allah is on our side. Allah sees and hears. Allah will respond. Allah never breaks promises."
Mohd Azhar Mohd Sani (166 likes): "Theres no land or country called israel... Shame on u zionist rapist killers n terrorist...puiiik"
Eliaz Trazaguet (37 likes): "Zionist scums & 7 idiots in the picture. I didnt know this idiots exist in Singapore..Supporting Terrorism is a crime!"
Mariam Solehah (262 likes): "isreal terrorists have killed Palestinians .. .. And confiscated land not theirs .. Isreal is one of the most evil .. Their nature is the same , namely, to rob the rights of others and can not see any other advanced nation and religion .. Remember God 's promise is sure .. israel is a nation of liars .."
Hidrir Hamid (13 likes): "THOSE are not SINGAPOREANS! Thier Families CAME FROM CHINA Real Born original Singaporeans doesnt stand with Terrorist country like ISRAEL! MURDERER!"
Andrew To: "Suddenly the people from the religion which always emphasize love and peace are calling others with different views dogs, idiots, dumb, moron, if they teach you to be so intolerant, maybe their teaching is not that peaceful after all."
Rex Timothy Ang: "I just like all the Muslims and anti-Israelis here cursing the Singapore Family just because their belief is Christianity and they support Israel. If you look into the history, you should know how much favor we owe Israel. They built our military against aggressive countries and they helped Singapore become an economic power. Thanks for destroying Singapore's reputation as a multiracial and multireligious country."
Malay man did a Amy Chong racist comments - "Wow Hoa Sai Liao..... He 1st bring in Chinese, now he bring in Christian... Good show coming up."
Someone made a police report in July 2014, but nothing happened. In fact the person made his own police report. I guess it's okay for "minorities" to be racist and religiously discriminatory
I dare you to read this and still feel good about tipping - "the restaurant industry has the highest rate of sexual harassment of any industry in the United States. It’s actually five times the rate of all other industries. Seven percent of American women work in restaurants, but thirty percent of sexual harassment complaints from women come from the restaurant industry. It's the single largest source of sexual harassment complaints of any industry in the United States. Our research shows that all of that sexual harassment—from customers, coworkers, and management—can be traced back to this whole culture of forcing women to make their income based on pleasing the customer."
The genetic fallacy about black people and slavery is annoying though
Tipless restaurants: The Linkery’s owner explains why abolishing tipping made service better. - "When we switched from tipping to a service charge, our food improved, probably because our cooks were being paid more and didn't feel taken for granted. In turn, business improved, and within a couple of months, our server team was making more money than it had under the tipped system. The quality of our service also improved. In my observation, however, that wasn't mainly because the servers were making more money (although that helped, too). Instead, our service improved principally because eliminating tips makes it easier to provide good service... in almost every industry, it's expected you'll be able to do your best work if you're not constantly distracted by compensation issues. Why don't we want that for restaurant servers?... Studies have shown that tipping is not an effective incentive for performance in servers. It also creates an environment in which people of color, young people, old people, women, and foreigners tend to get worse service than white males. In a tip-based system, nonwhite servers make less than their white peers for equal work... in many instances employers have allegedly misused tip credits, which let owners pay servers less than minimum wage if tipping makes up the difference... the most notable opponent we encountered who wanted to cling to the tipping model was our local city attorney. In spite of our posted signs and check stamps and menu text and blog posts that outlined the service charge, his office accused us of trying to deceive consumers with it, and threatened me with fines and jail time. I thought this made me a special kind of outlaw, until this year when the same city attorney tried to stick one of my neighbors with 13 years in jail for writing protest slogans on the sidewalk using water-soluble children's chalk"
Foreign doctors with unapproved medical degree found working in polyclinics
'Murica - Imgur
The Political Ideologies of American Lawyers - "American lawyers lean to the left of the ideological spectrum... This places the average American lawyer’s ideology close to the ideology of Bill Clinton... This confirms prior scholarship and journalism that has argued that the legal profession is liberal on balance. To our knowledge, however, this figure represents the most comprehensive picture of the ideology of American lawyers ever assembled... although the fact that few American lawyers hold extreme ideological positions may suggest that lawyers are generally moderate, it is worth noting that there are relatively few lawyers in the middle of the distribution... the ideological distribution of lawyers falls exactly in the middle of these seven professions. The distributions for technology workers, journalists, and academics are skewed further to the left. This perhaps confirms existing beliefs about the types of individuals who are attracted to these professions (see, e.g., Mariani and Hewitt 2008). Lawyers as a whole are much more liberal, however, than three of the professions presented. Indeed, the median lawyer is well to the left of the respective medians for accountants; bankers and financial workers; and medical doctors. The difference between those in the legal profession and those in the banking or finance industry is particularly revealing, as corporate law firms and finance firms tend to be centered in comparable metropolitan areas and perhaps draw from the same underlying pools of potential candidates... technology workers, journalists, and academics are all professions with a sizable percentage of members with a CFscore of less than –1.0. The legal profession on the other hand, albeit liberal overall, has a much lower percentage of outlier members who are extremely liberal or extremely conservative... all fourteen top law schools have distributions that lean to the left"
Man claims he paid $3.7m to have sex with celebs - ""It was agreed that if (Mr Xu) paid the sum of A$3.7 million, (the agency) would provide Megan Fox, Candice Swanepoel and Angelababy as escorts for sexual services," Mr Xu's statement of claim said. It is not suggested that the women are escorts."
Meet Balmuda, the $230 Toaster From Japan - "Using steam and carefully calibrated heat cycles, it transforms store-bought bread into something that smells, tastes and feels like it popped out of a baker's oven"
How my dream gap year in Africa turned into a nightmare - "But I soon learned that Africa is rife with hidden danger. I witnessed random acts of violence, contracted malaria and had close encounters with lions, elephants, crocodiles and snakes. As monsoon season came and went, the Hutu-Tutsi conflict in neighbouring Congo began to escalate and then spill over into Zambia with repercussions all along the lake. Thousands of people were displaced and we heard brutal tales of rape and murder. Then one day, without warning, armed rebels descended on our bay"
Maybe someone will scold her for perpetuating racist stereotypes
How a parrot who may have witnessed a murder could change the way we think about animals - "prosecutors are trying to figure out how they might be able to use the bird’s reported eyewitness account as evidence. This is obviously pretty unprecedented in the American legal system. But the case is significant for another big reason: if Bud “testifies” and the prosecution is successful, experts say it could prove to be a game changer when it comes to the representation of nonhuman species in the courtroom—and that it could help change the way we think about how animals contribute to society in general."
Kids Are Master Manipulators. So Use Game Theory Against Them - "Screaming “Don’t make me turn this car around!” never works. That’s what Zollman calls a noncredible threat—kids see through it, because they know it means you’ll suffer too. So pick punishments that benefit you. Like: “Stop punching your sister or we’re going to Grandma’s instead of the movies.”"
Horrifying mob of 5,000 attacks Christians for BUILDING CHURCH shouting ‘Egypt is Islamic’ - "Coptic Christians have long struggled to legally build churches in Egypt, despite a growing Christian population. A new church can only be built by presidential decreers, which is only issued once a year. Villagers reported police officers attended evening Muslim prayers in front of the Christians’ homes and used loudspeakers to broadcast the service... There have also been reports of Christian women being abducted and forced to convert to Islam and marry older Muslim men."
Elite K-8 school teaches white students they’re born racist - "An elite Manhattan school is teaching white students as young as 6 that they’re born racist and should feel guilty benefiting from “white privilege,” while heaping praise and cupcakes on their black peers. Administrators at the Bank Street School for Children on the Upper West Side claim it’s a novel approach to fighting discrimination, and that several other private New York schools are doing it, but even liberal parents aren’t buying it... a number of leading private schools across the country also have segregated students by “race-based affinity groups”... The program, these parents say, deliberately instills in white children a strong sense of guilt about their race. Some kids come home in tears, saying, “I’m a bad person.” They say white kids are being brainwashed into thinking any success they achieve is unearned. Indeed, a young white girl is seen confessing on a Bank Street video: “I feel guilty for having a privilege I don’t deserve.”"
Raped German politician Selin Gören admits lie over her attackers' nationality - "A young left-wing German politician has admitted she lied to police about the racial background of three men who raped her in case it triggered reprisals against refugees in her country... Selin, who has visited refugee camps in Iraq where she was shocked at the squalor people are living in, did not want to stoke 'more hatred against migrants ín Germany.' To help her cope she wrote an open letter to a fictional refugee and posted it on Facebook. It read in part: 'I am really sorry that your sexist and line-crossing treatment of me could help fuel aggressive racism... She now says people must never 'twist the truth' even if it is politically expedient to do so."
Islamophobia!
Ancient Roman-inspired restaurant Roma to open in east London - "Food – including cuts of meat and homemade dishes such as tapenade ‒ will be cooked using what are said to be traditional Roman techniques, including cooking meat with hay. The wine list will encompass choices from across the old Roman Empire, include vintages from Italy, France, Macedonia and Spain – with some said to be from vineyards that have been traced back to Roman times."
StandWithUs - We ♥ LOVE ♥ our supporters of Israel from around the... - "We <3 LOVE <3 our supporters of Israel from around the world! This week we received this message from a family in Singapore"
Comments: Zaki Omar (225 likes): "My Muslim bros and sisters. We all know what will happen to the Jews ultimately. When the time comes, even a rock will reveal if a Jew is hiding behind it. So don't worry. Make ur prayers. Allah is on our side. Allah sees and hears. Allah will respond. Allah never breaks promises."
Mohd Azhar Mohd Sani (166 likes): "Theres no land or country called israel... Shame on u zionist rapist killers n terrorist...puiiik"
Eliaz Trazaguet (37 likes): "Zionist scums & 7 idiots in the picture. I didnt know this idiots exist in Singapore..Supporting Terrorism is a crime!"
Mariam Solehah (262 likes): "isreal terrorists have killed Palestinians .. .. And confiscated land not theirs .. Isreal is one of the most evil .. Their nature is the same , namely, to rob the rights of others and can not see any other advanced nation and religion .. Remember God 's promise is sure .. israel is a nation of liars .."
Hidrir Hamid (13 likes): "THOSE are not SINGAPOREANS! Thier Families CAME FROM CHINA Real Born original Singaporeans doesnt stand with Terrorist country like ISRAEL! MURDERER!"
Andrew To: "Suddenly the people from the religion which always emphasize love and peace are calling others with different views dogs, idiots, dumb, moron, if they teach you to be so intolerant, maybe their teaching is not that peaceful after all."
Rex Timothy Ang: "I just like all the Muslims and anti-Israelis here cursing the Singapore Family just because their belief is Christianity and they support Israel. If you look into the history, you should know how much favor we owe Israel. They built our military against aggressive countries and they helped Singapore become an economic power. Thanks for destroying Singapore's reputation as a multiracial and multireligious country."
Malay man did a Amy Chong racist comments - "Wow Hoa Sai Liao..... He 1st bring in Chinese, now he bring in Christian... Good show coming up."
Someone made a police report in July 2014, but nothing happened. In fact the person made his own police report. I guess it's okay for "minorities" to be racist and religiously discriminatory
I dare you to read this and still feel good about tipping - "the restaurant industry has the highest rate of sexual harassment of any industry in the United States. It’s actually five times the rate of all other industries. Seven percent of American women work in restaurants, but thirty percent of sexual harassment complaints from women come from the restaurant industry. It's the single largest source of sexual harassment complaints of any industry in the United States. Our research shows that all of that sexual harassment—from customers, coworkers, and management—can be traced back to this whole culture of forcing women to make their income based on pleasing the customer."
The genetic fallacy about black people and slavery is annoying though
Tipless restaurants: The Linkery’s owner explains why abolishing tipping made service better. - "When we switched from tipping to a service charge, our food improved, probably because our cooks were being paid more and didn't feel taken for granted. In turn, business improved, and within a couple of months, our server team was making more money than it had under the tipped system. The quality of our service also improved. In my observation, however, that wasn't mainly because the servers were making more money (although that helped, too). Instead, our service improved principally because eliminating tips makes it easier to provide good service... in almost every industry, it's expected you'll be able to do your best work if you're not constantly distracted by compensation issues. Why don't we want that for restaurant servers?... Studies have shown that tipping is not an effective incentive for performance in servers. It also creates an environment in which people of color, young people, old people, women, and foreigners tend to get worse service than white males. In a tip-based system, nonwhite servers make less than their white peers for equal work... in many instances employers have allegedly misused tip credits, which let owners pay servers less than minimum wage if tipping makes up the difference... the most notable opponent we encountered who wanted to cling to the tipping model was our local city attorney. In spite of our posted signs and check stamps and menu text and blog posts that outlined the service charge, his office accused us of trying to deceive consumers with it, and threatened me with fines and jail time. I thought this made me a special kind of outlaw, until this year when the same city attorney tried to stick one of my neighbors with 13 years in jail for writing protest slogans on the sidewalk using water-soluble children's chalk"
Foreign doctors with unapproved medical degree found working in polyclinics
'Murica - Imgur
The Political Ideologies of American Lawyers - "American lawyers lean to the left of the ideological spectrum... This places the average American lawyer’s ideology close to the ideology of Bill Clinton... This confirms prior scholarship and journalism that has argued that the legal profession is liberal on balance. To our knowledge, however, this figure represents the most comprehensive picture of the ideology of American lawyers ever assembled... although the fact that few American lawyers hold extreme ideological positions may suggest that lawyers are generally moderate, it is worth noting that there are relatively few lawyers in the middle of the distribution... the ideological distribution of lawyers falls exactly in the middle of these seven professions. The distributions for technology workers, journalists, and academics are skewed further to the left. This perhaps confirms existing beliefs about the types of individuals who are attracted to these professions (see, e.g., Mariani and Hewitt 2008). Lawyers as a whole are much more liberal, however, than three of the professions presented. Indeed, the median lawyer is well to the left of the respective medians for accountants; bankers and financial workers; and medical doctors. The difference between those in the legal profession and those in the banking or finance industry is particularly revealing, as corporate law firms and finance firms tend to be centered in comparable metropolitan areas and perhaps draw from the same underlying pools of potential candidates... technology workers, journalists, and academics are all professions with a sizable percentage of members with a CFscore of less than –1.0. The legal profession on the other hand, albeit liberal overall, has a much lower percentage of outlier members who are extremely liberal or extremely conservative... all fourteen top law schools have distributions that lean to the left"
Man claims he paid $3.7m to have sex with celebs - ""It was agreed that if (Mr Xu) paid the sum of A$3.7 million, (the agency) would provide Megan Fox, Candice Swanepoel and Angelababy as escorts for sexual services," Mr Xu's statement of claim said. It is not suggested that the women are escorts."
Meet Balmuda, the $230 Toaster From Japan - "Using steam and carefully calibrated heat cycles, it transforms store-bought bread into something that smells, tastes and feels like it popped out of a baker's oven"
How my dream gap year in Africa turned into a nightmare - "But I soon learned that Africa is rife with hidden danger. I witnessed random acts of violence, contracted malaria and had close encounters with lions, elephants, crocodiles and snakes. As monsoon season came and went, the Hutu-Tutsi conflict in neighbouring Congo began to escalate and then spill over into Zambia with repercussions all along the lake. Thousands of people were displaced and we heard brutal tales of rape and murder. Then one day, without warning, armed rebels descended on our bay"
Maybe someone will scold her for perpetuating racist stereotypes
How a parrot who may have witnessed a murder could change the way we think about animals - "prosecutors are trying to figure out how they might be able to use the bird’s reported eyewitness account as evidence. This is obviously pretty unprecedented in the American legal system. But the case is significant for another big reason: if Bud “testifies” and the prosecution is successful, experts say it could prove to be a game changer when it comes to the representation of nonhuman species in the courtroom—and that it could help change the way we think about how animals contribute to society in general."
Kids Are Master Manipulators. So Use Game Theory Against Them - "Screaming “Don’t make me turn this car around!” never works. That’s what Zollman calls a noncredible threat—kids see through it, because they know it means you’ll suffer too. So pick punishments that benefit you. Like: “Stop punching your sister or we’re going to Grandma’s instead of the movies.”"
Horrifying mob of 5,000 attacks Christians for BUILDING CHURCH shouting ‘Egypt is Islamic’ - "Coptic Christians have long struggled to legally build churches in Egypt, despite a growing Christian population. A new church can only be built by presidential decreers, which is only issued once a year. Villagers reported police officers attended evening Muslim prayers in front of the Christians’ homes and used loudspeakers to broadcast the service... There have also been reports of Christian women being abducted and forced to convert to Islam and marry older Muslim men."
Elite K-8 school teaches white students they’re born racist - "An elite Manhattan school is teaching white students as young as 6 that they’re born racist and should feel guilty benefiting from “white privilege,” while heaping praise and cupcakes on their black peers. Administrators at the Bank Street School for Children on the Upper West Side claim it’s a novel approach to fighting discrimination, and that several other private New York schools are doing it, but even liberal parents aren’t buying it... a number of leading private schools across the country also have segregated students by “race-based affinity groups”... The program, these parents say, deliberately instills in white children a strong sense of guilt about their race. Some kids come home in tears, saying, “I’m a bad person.” They say white kids are being brainwashed into thinking any success they achieve is unearned. Indeed, a young white girl is seen confessing on a Bank Street video: “I feel guilty for having a privilege I don’t deserve.”"
Raped German politician Selin Gören admits lie over her attackers' nationality - "A young left-wing German politician has admitted she lied to police about the racial background of three men who raped her in case it triggered reprisals against refugees in her country... Selin, who has visited refugee camps in Iraq where she was shocked at the squalor people are living in, did not want to stoke 'more hatred against migrants ín Germany.' To help her cope she wrote an open letter to a fictional refugee and posted it on Facebook. It read in part: 'I am really sorry that your sexist and line-crossing treatment of me could help fuel aggressive racism... She now says people must never 'twist the truth' even if it is politically expedient to do so."
Post ID: 3746066599364517296
Friday, September 09, 2016
Shall I wed an aged man
Fol. 228. The evils incident to marriage between January and May form one of the commonest themes of the ballad-writers : cf. no. XXVI, stanza 4 ; no. LXIV, stanza 23.
The complaint of a widdow against an old man.
To the tune OF Trentam's Toy.
SHALL I wed an aged man,
that groaneth of the Gout,
And lead my lyfe in miserye,
within doores and without?
No ! I will haue a Batcheler,
of lyvely bloud and bone,
To cheare me in my latter dayes,
or els I will haue non.
For yf I take a Batcheler
that can both skyp and springe,
Then he will be my comforter,
to giue me every thinge.
If I be sad, or sorowfull,
at boord or els at bed,
A youngman will be pittyfull,
and help to hould my head.
An aged man is testye,
and set to hoorde and hyde;
With lame legges and restye,
bewayling back and syde.
A young man he is beautyfull,
couragious, trick, and trim ;
And looketh with a merry cheere,
when aged men looke grim.
Better is a Batcheler,
of bone and body sound,
Then is an olde leacherer
with twentye thousand pound.
Who is so bad a market-man,
that buyeth flesh or fishe,
But lightly choseth for to haue
the yongest in his dishe?
Young bloud renueth olde,
as Phisicke doth expresse ;
And age is ill to be contrould,
but cursse where they should blesse :
But yf I haue a young man,
and chaunce to catch the quacke,
He will provide me delicats,
and cheare me vp with sacke.
An aged man is quaffinge
in every cup or can,
with ioynts and synnewes shakinge,
much like a deadly man.
But looke vpon a young man,
in him yow shall espye
A good face, and a iollye cheere,
a pleasant rowlinge eye.
His countenaunce is chearfull,
at bed and eke at boorde;
His talke is never sorrowfull,
but Heigh ! at every word.
An old man's coate it is beraide,
all overthwart the brest.
A young man is well-favored,
well-browed, and finelye drest.
An aged man comes drooping home,
as on that wanteth lyfe. A young man sayes, when he comes in,
' Come, kysse me, gentle wife !'
And yf I take a young man,
although his wealth be small,
If that he vse me honestlye
he shall be lord of all.
Behould the little Spanniell,
and every beast in briefe,
Will likke, and leape vpon, their feete
by whom they find releife.
Much more then will a witty man,
whom natur's worke hath wrought,
Must loue the woman faythfullye,
that maried him of nought.
[L'Envoy]
Therefore I am determined
I cannot liue alone,
But I will haue a Batcheler,
or els I will haue none.
--- Shirburn Ballads, No. LXVI / Anon
In modern English spelling:
SHALL I wed an aged man,
that groaneth of the Gout,
And lead my life in misery,
within doors and without?
No ! I will have a bachelor,
of lively blood and bone,
To cheer me in my latter days,
or else I will have non.
For if I take a bachelor
that can both skip and spring,
Then he will be my comforter,
to give me every thing.
If I be sad, or sorrowful,
at board or else at bed,
A young man will be pitiful,
and help to hold my head.
An aged man is testy,
and set to horde and hide;
With lamey legs and resty,
bewailing back and side.
A young man he is beautiful,
courageous, trick, and trim ;
And looketh with a merry cheer,
when aged men look grim.
Better is a bachelor,
of bone and body sound,
Then is an old lecherer
with twenty thousand pound.
Who is so bad a market-man,
that buyeth flesh or fish,
But lightly choseth for to have
the youngest in his dish?
Young blood reneweth old,
as Physicke doth express ;
And age is ill to be controlled,
but cursed where they should bless :
But if I have a young man,
and chance to catch the quack,
He will provide me delicats,
and cheer me up with sack.
An aged man is quaffing
in every cup or can,
with joints and sinews shaking,
much like a deadly man.
But look upon a young man,
in him you shall espy
A good face, and a jolly cheer,
a pleasant rolling eye.
His countenance is cheerful,
at bed and eke at board;
His talk is never sorrowful,
but hey! at every word.
An old man's coat it is beride,
all overthwart the breast.
A young man is well-favored,
well-browed, and finely dressed.
An aged man comes drooping home,
as on that wanteth life.
A young man says, when he comes in,
' Come, kiss me, gentle wife !'
And if I take a young man,
although his wealth be small,
If that he use me honestly
he shall be lord of all.
Behold the little Spaniel,
and every beast in brief,
Will lick, and leap upon, their feet
by whom they find relief.
Much more then will a witty man,
whom nature's work hath wrought,
Must love the woman faithfully,
that married him of nought.
[L'Envoy]
Therefore I am determined
I cannot live alone,
But I will have a bachelor,
or else I will have none.
The complaint of a widdow against an old man.
To the tune OF Trentam's Toy.
SHALL I wed an aged man,
that groaneth of the Gout,
And lead my lyfe in miserye,
within doores and without?
No ! I will haue a Batcheler,
of lyvely bloud and bone,
To cheare me in my latter dayes,
or els I will haue non.
For yf I take a Batcheler
that can both skyp and springe,
Then he will be my comforter,
to giue me every thinge.
If I be sad, or sorowfull,
at boord or els at bed,
A youngman will be pittyfull,
and help to hould my head.
An aged man is testye,
and set to hoorde and hyde;
With lame legges and restye,
bewayling back and syde.
A young man he is beautyfull,
couragious, trick, and trim ;
And looketh with a merry cheere,
when aged men looke grim.
Better is a Batcheler,
of bone and body sound,
Then is an olde leacherer
with twentye thousand pound.
Who is so bad a market-man,
that buyeth flesh or fishe,
But lightly choseth for to haue
the yongest in his dishe?
Young bloud renueth olde,
as Phisicke doth expresse ;
And age is ill to be contrould,
but cursse where they should blesse :
But yf I haue a young man,
and chaunce to catch the quacke,
He will provide me delicats,
and cheare me vp with sacke.
An aged man is quaffinge
in every cup or can,
with ioynts and synnewes shakinge,
much like a deadly man.
But looke vpon a young man,
in him yow shall espye
A good face, and a iollye cheere,
a pleasant rowlinge eye.
His countenaunce is chearfull,
at bed and eke at boorde;
His talke is never sorrowfull,
but Heigh ! at every word.
An old man's coate it is beraide,
all overthwart the brest.
A young man is well-favored,
well-browed, and finelye drest.
An aged man comes drooping home,
as on that wanteth lyfe. A young man sayes, when he comes in,
' Come, kysse me, gentle wife !'
And yf I take a young man,
although his wealth be small,
If that he vse me honestlye
he shall be lord of all.
Behould the little Spanniell,
and every beast in briefe,
Will likke, and leape vpon, their feete
by whom they find releife.
Much more then will a witty man,
whom natur's worke hath wrought,
Must loue the woman faythfullye,
that maried him of nought.
[L'Envoy]
Therefore I am determined
I cannot liue alone,
But I will haue a Batcheler,
or els I will haue none.
--- Shirburn Ballads, No. LXVI / Anon
In modern English spelling:
SHALL I wed an aged man,
that groaneth of the Gout,
And lead my life in misery,
within doors and without?
No ! I will have a bachelor,
of lively blood and bone,
To cheer me in my latter days,
or else I will have non.
For if I take a bachelor
that can both skip and spring,
Then he will be my comforter,
to give me every thing.
If I be sad, or sorrowful,
at board or else at bed,
A young man will be pitiful,
and help to hold my head.
An aged man is testy,
and set to horde and hide;
With lamey legs and resty,
bewailing back and side.
A young man he is beautiful,
courageous, trick, and trim ;
And looketh with a merry cheer,
when aged men look grim.
Better is a bachelor,
of bone and body sound,
Then is an old lecherer
with twenty thousand pound.
Who is so bad a market-man,
that buyeth flesh or fish,
But lightly choseth for to have
the youngest in his dish?
Young blood reneweth old,
as Physicke doth express ;
And age is ill to be controlled,
but cursed where they should bless :
But if I have a young man,
and chance to catch the quack,
He will provide me delicats,
and cheer me up with sack.
An aged man is quaffing
in every cup or can,
with joints and sinews shaking,
much like a deadly man.
But look upon a young man,
in him you shall espy
A good face, and a jolly cheer,
a pleasant rolling eye.
His countenance is cheerful,
at bed and eke at board;
His talk is never sorrowful,
but hey! at every word.
An old man's coat it is beride,
all overthwart the breast.
A young man is well-favored,
well-browed, and finely dressed.
An aged man comes drooping home,
as on that wanteth life.
A young man says, when he comes in,
' Come, kiss me, gentle wife !'
And if I take a young man,
although his wealth be small,
If that he use me honestly
he shall be lord of all.
Behold the little Spaniel,
and every beast in brief,
Will lick, and leap upon, their feet
by whom they find relief.
Much more then will a witty man,
whom nature's work hath wrought,
Must love the woman faithfully,
that married him of nought.
[L'Envoy]
Therefore I am determined
I cannot live alone,
But I will have a bachelor,
or else I will have none.
Post ID: 5769195955947320511
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Singapore: The Cardinals of the Kremlin
Episode 32: The Cardinals of the Kremlin
"Can you believe the hypocrisy of Lee? He is the one who suggested and pushed for the subversives clause, and he lied about opposing it, and now he is not just campaigning as the person opposing the clause, but attacking Marshall as the champion of the clause! What an utter amoral basket.
Lee attacked the subversives clause, declaring ‘the fight is not over’ and pledging to carry the fight ‘back to London, when necessary.’ It is amazing how hypocritical Lee is. But you can see his political skill. He thoroughly outmanoeuvred Marshall in parliamentary politics...
It is one of the paradoxes of the PAP’s narrative of history that Marshall and the PAP left had almost the same outlook and the same political agenda but are depicted as polar opposites. Both Marshall and the PAP left opposed the ISC, demanded its abolition, demanded the release of political detainees, and wanted the independence of Singapore as soon as possible either on its own or with the Federation of Malay as an equal state.
But Marshall is painted with adjectives like ‘bold’, ‘principled’, ‘passionately anti-colonial’, ‘firmly anti-communist’ with a ‘firm commitment to liberal democratic values’ and ‘playing by the rules’ but at the same time ‘unrealistic’, ‘naive’; and yet the same set of policies espoused by the PAP left, with similar directness, boldness of action, and principles, is declared to be evidence of their ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to communism.
The history peddled by the PAP is full of flaws and contradictions like this...
When the PPSO – the law which permitted detention without trial - came up for renewal, Lee carefully contorted himself into a position that enabled him to be on both sides of the argument. He said he was in favour of it, that it was necessary because of the importance of keeping the Federation happy to enable reunification and merger. But he said he was against the law because it was in the hands of the unelected officials. He then voted against its extension.
In his response, Lim Yew Hock parodied Lee, saying: ‘This law is all right, if we operate it. This law is not all right, because the other side is operating it. We will support any such law because the situation in the Federation demands it, but we cannot support it now because it is still a semi-colonial administration that is running it.’ Lee replied, ‘it is true.’
So the PAP left were sick of Lee’s shenanigans. The party membership knew that Lee was talented and capable, but he was also following his own agenda that conflicted with the party’s...
Voting rights within the party were limited to a new class of “cadre members”, who would be chosen only by the CEC. The origin of this structure is disputed. Lee Kuan Yew says he came up with the idea on a visit to Vatican City. Toh Chin Chye says it was his idea, his suggestion.
But I think there is also another influence which neither man wanted to admit, an influence much much closer at hand. And that is the Malayan Communist Party. Remember, at this point the MCP still remained a feared opponent. Even Special Branch, for all the evidence that the MCP is broken and dysfunctional in Singapore, won’t believe their own evidence and remain convinced that somewhere out there the MCP is plotting, plotting, plotting to destroy them all. Likewise, there’s no doubt Lee and Toh are terrified of the myth of the MCP.
And Lee gives this away in his own autobiography when he says that he was learning from the communists and adopting and adapting communist techniques in how he ran the PAP. One of the examples he cited was to fix the outcome of meetings beforehand. Another, probably, was to fix the leadership of the party to ensure complete control. Why is part of the reason, I think, why he adopts the language of communism, and calls the inner circle, cadre members. It was a combination of the Cardinals and the Kremlin.
It was an action which would presage Singapore’s own future. Because the conflict between Lee and the PAP left was not just about the party. It was about the future of Singapore. It was not just about how you organise and run a party, it was also about how you would then organise and run a government.
Do you believe in debate, constructive criticism, working by consensus and committee, in transparency and accountability, and democracy? Or do you believe in authoritarianism, in the enlightened despot, in one man imposing his will on the people without checks and balances and accountability for his mistakes? That was really what this conflict was about.
And we can see how it happened, twice.
First in the PAP. Once Lee’s rivals were arrested and he had unchallenged control, he rewrote the constitution to ensure that he had total control and could never lose, no matter how wrong or misguided he was.
Then, likewise, in the government of Singapore. After independence, once Lee’s rivals were arrested and he had unchallenged control, he would rewrite the constitution to ensure that he had total control and could never lose, no matter how wrong or misguided he was.
And perhaps you can make the argument that Lee has been, overall, a positive force for Singapore. But you cannot make that same argument about his successors, who have made serious mistakes that could have been avoided through proper oversight and checks and balances. And so the system that Lee imposed has been, sadly, to Singapore’s detriment."
"Can you believe the hypocrisy of Lee? He is the one who suggested and pushed for the subversives clause, and he lied about opposing it, and now he is not just campaigning as the person opposing the clause, but attacking Marshall as the champion of the clause! What an utter amoral basket.
Lee attacked the subversives clause, declaring ‘the fight is not over’ and pledging to carry the fight ‘back to London, when necessary.’ It is amazing how hypocritical Lee is. But you can see his political skill. He thoroughly outmanoeuvred Marshall in parliamentary politics...
It is one of the paradoxes of the PAP’s narrative of history that Marshall and the PAP left had almost the same outlook and the same political agenda but are depicted as polar opposites. Both Marshall and the PAP left opposed the ISC, demanded its abolition, demanded the release of political detainees, and wanted the independence of Singapore as soon as possible either on its own or with the Federation of Malay as an equal state.
But Marshall is painted with adjectives like ‘bold’, ‘principled’, ‘passionately anti-colonial’, ‘firmly anti-communist’ with a ‘firm commitment to liberal democratic values’ and ‘playing by the rules’ but at the same time ‘unrealistic’, ‘naive’; and yet the same set of policies espoused by the PAP left, with similar directness, boldness of action, and principles, is declared to be evidence of their ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to communism.
The history peddled by the PAP is full of flaws and contradictions like this...
When the PPSO – the law which permitted detention without trial - came up for renewal, Lee carefully contorted himself into a position that enabled him to be on both sides of the argument. He said he was in favour of it, that it was necessary because of the importance of keeping the Federation happy to enable reunification and merger. But he said he was against the law because it was in the hands of the unelected officials. He then voted against its extension.
In his response, Lim Yew Hock parodied Lee, saying: ‘This law is all right, if we operate it. This law is not all right, because the other side is operating it. We will support any such law because the situation in the Federation demands it, but we cannot support it now because it is still a semi-colonial administration that is running it.’ Lee replied, ‘it is true.’
So the PAP left were sick of Lee’s shenanigans. The party membership knew that Lee was talented and capable, but he was also following his own agenda that conflicted with the party’s...
Voting rights within the party were limited to a new class of “cadre members”, who would be chosen only by the CEC. The origin of this structure is disputed. Lee Kuan Yew says he came up with the idea on a visit to Vatican City. Toh Chin Chye says it was his idea, his suggestion.
But I think there is also another influence which neither man wanted to admit, an influence much much closer at hand. And that is the Malayan Communist Party. Remember, at this point the MCP still remained a feared opponent. Even Special Branch, for all the evidence that the MCP is broken and dysfunctional in Singapore, won’t believe their own evidence and remain convinced that somewhere out there the MCP is plotting, plotting, plotting to destroy them all. Likewise, there’s no doubt Lee and Toh are terrified of the myth of the MCP.
And Lee gives this away in his own autobiography when he says that he was learning from the communists and adopting and adapting communist techniques in how he ran the PAP. One of the examples he cited was to fix the outcome of meetings beforehand. Another, probably, was to fix the leadership of the party to ensure complete control. Why is part of the reason, I think, why he adopts the language of communism, and calls the inner circle, cadre members. It was a combination of the Cardinals and the Kremlin.
It was an action which would presage Singapore’s own future. Because the conflict between Lee and the PAP left was not just about the party. It was about the future of Singapore. It was not just about how you organise and run a party, it was also about how you would then organise and run a government.
Do you believe in debate, constructive criticism, working by consensus and committee, in transparency and accountability, and democracy? Or do you believe in authoritarianism, in the enlightened despot, in one man imposing his will on the people without checks and balances and accountability for his mistakes? That was really what this conflict was about.
And we can see how it happened, twice.
First in the PAP. Once Lee’s rivals were arrested and he had unchallenged control, he rewrote the constitution to ensure that he had total control and could never lose, no matter how wrong or misguided he was.
Then, likewise, in the government of Singapore. After independence, once Lee’s rivals were arrested and he had unchallenged control, he would rewrite the constitution to ensure that he had total control and could never lose, no matter how wrong or misguided he was.
And perhaps you can make the argument that Lee has been, overall, a positive force for Singapore. But you cannot make that same argument about his successors, who have made serious mistakes that could have been avoided through proper oversight and checks and balances. And so the system that Lee imposed has been, sadly, to Singapore’s detriment."
Post ID: 7881039936748129857
Links - 27th August 2016
Etika snags PepsiCo franchise in S'pore - "Malaysian beverage and dairy manufacturer Etika Beverages, formerly known as Permanis, will be PepsiCo's new exclusive bottling partner serving both Singapore and Malaysian markets starting Nov 1... The termination of the YHS deal with PepsiCo marks the end of a long history where Coke and Pepsi were both bottled by Singapore companies. Fraser & Neave (F&N) had produced, bottled and sold Coca-Cola's drinks in Malaysia for 75 years while Coca-Cola did the same for F&N in Singapore.
First Coke stops bottling in Singapore. Now it's Pepsi. Ah well.
Episode 31: The Big Kelong - "Citizenship, in particular, was a real worry for the Chinese. This was reinforced on 20 February with the release of the Reid Report on the constitution of the independent Federation of Malaya. The Nanyang Siang Pao and Sin Pao noted that that the Report did not offer universal qualifications for citizenship based on place of birth – that was contrary to the four proposals jointly submitted by 1,094 registered Chinese public bodies in the Federation. This discriminated against the Chinese. Also, Malay and English were to be the official languages. The combined Chinese public bodies had declared they would accept Malay as the sole official language, or all four languages as official languages, but promoting English alongside Malay was a continuation of colonial discrimination... Lee met with Lennox-Boyd to discuss a clause in the constitutional agreement to prevent the left-wing leaders from running in the election... Lennox-Boyd, Lim Yew Hock, and Lee Kuan Yew performed a big wayang. Lennox-Boyd announced the requirement of the clause. Lim and Lee pretended to be angry and denounced it as an act of fascist repression. Lee protested, ‘There is no guarantee that the Government in power would not use this procedure to prevent not only Communists but also democratic opponents of their policy from standing for election’... The entire left-wing leadership remained behind bars and none of them would be able to run in 1959. It would be another 40 years before Lee Kuan Yew admitted, in his autobiography, that whole thing had been fixed all along. You thought a bunch of people fixing football games was huge? Lennox- Boyd, Lee Kuan Yew, and Lim Yew Hock kelong’d an entire election."
Episode 33: The Apogee of Democracy - "Not only did Lee no longer need Lim, but the Labour Front was now an electoral liability. Lee had managed to escape the events of the previous year without taking any responsibility for the repression. Indeed, the voting public thought he was a victim of the repression, since he was leader of the PAP, which had been the target of much of the arrests. They did not know he had colluded in the repression with Lim Yew Hock... this fact is perhaps the greatest hypocrisy of the official PAP history of Singapore. Lee would go on to have his political opponents arrested on the basis that they were communist or at least communist sympathisers. But the government has never produced any proof that any of the detainees were participating in a communist conspiracy. And declassified Special Branch files show that there was never any evidence that any of them were taking part in a conspiracy. We need to be clear about this. Yes, a small number of left-wing politicians and activists believed in communism. Yes, a few might have called themselves communists. But they were not working with the Communist Party; they were not taking part in any conspiracy to violently overthrow the government; they were not breaking any laws. There was no reason to arrest any of them. The only politician that we know of who we have definite proof was secretly collaboration with the Malayan Communist Party was Lee Kuan Yew. And when the truth came out, the British did nothing. Worse, they backed him for Prime Minister and helped arrest more people to keep him in power. That is the hypocrisy at the heart of the PAP narrative of Singapore history. It proves that the situation was never about communism; it was about power. It was about protecting British interests"
BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Tuesday's business news with Dominic O'Connell - "If we stay in Europe, we'll be subject to one monster bureaucracy. One set of rules which actually helps big companies, hurts little ones... They can afford the staff and the people that can actually implement those regulations. Small companies can't"
In U.S., Socialist Presidential Candidates Least Appealing - "The news is likely worst for Sen. Bernie Sanders. At one point, Americans might have withheld their votes from him because of his Jewish faith -- fewer than half said they would support a Jewish candidate in 1937 -- but today his socialist ideology, given Americans' views on voting for a socialist candidate, could hinder his candidacy more. To a lesser degree, evangelical Christian candidates may suffer, in that one in four Americans say they will not vote for an evangelical Christian"
ST forum letter lacks inclusivity - "As a rambling protest letter about how a music video for NDP must be more inclusive, the letter should have best been penned by a paraplegic bisexual septuagenarian of mixed race in all four national languages who has consulted with and represented, with quotes, people from all walks of life. Instead, it was penned by a male, Chinese professional, in English, without consulting the feelings and thoughts of all the various segments of our society – including Donald Trump supporters... In future, all such videos should allocate screen time in proportion to the size of a community or interest group in our great nation. About 74 per cent of screen time should feature a Chinese person, 13 per cent a Malay person and 9 per cent an Indian person. “Others” can be represented by a five-second clip of a plate of rojak (with chili). About 52 per cent of screen time should be given to females and 48 per cent to males, although everyone will have to have their sexual orientation either printed on their shirt or tattooed on their forehead."
Helmut Kohl calls on EU leaders to take 'one step back' after Brexit vote - "instead of taking steps towards further centralisation and “mistaking a unified Europe with a standardised Europe”, Kohl wants European leaders to pay more respect to national and regional differences."
Why Does Everyone Hate Flying? And Other Questions Only a Pilot Can Answer - Freakonomics Freakonomics - "the average jet today actually flies a little bit more slowly than it did in 1965. But it flies more efficiently. And there’s kind of a conundrum here where the faster you go, the more energy you need... I think the most important thing we could do is stop looking at every single person who flies as a potential terrorist. It’s just an unsustainable approach in a country where 900 million people fly every year. We have to come up with something better. I’m talking about a system that takes in a whole number of data points and constructs a profile that way. I wish meanwhile, though, that TSA would get away from its preoccupation with little pointy objects and whether you have 3 ounces or 3.6 ounces of toothpaste and so on. That obsessing on minutiae just drags the whole system down. It’s a waste of resources, it’s a waste of time, a waste of money. Also I think people need to remember that even with all of the emphasis on terrorism and security today that we used to see bombings and hijackings and airport attacks so much more frequently than we do now... why can’t I have my laptop on my lap during takeoff or landing?
DUBNER: I think I know the answer to that one. Because that’s a heavy sucker, and if it flies through somewhere, it will hit me or someone else in the back of the head and that could hurt."
BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, EU referendum: Osborne and Hunt on what happens next - "The political climate in Europe is changing very fast. And it is not sustainable to have a system where Denmark for example has to cope with hundreds of thousands of Syrians that have been given German passports by the German government. And that was one of the reasons why voted to leave the EU so I think the desire to change those freedom of movement rules is in the European interest as well as the British interest, but we need to give it some time and therefore wait before we invoke article 50"
BBC World Service - The Food Chain, Is Junk Food the New Smoking? - "When fast food, Western soft drinks and sweets starting appearing in the Soviet Union and then Russian market, our citizens of course initially saw consumption of these products as a way to psychologically get closer to the way of life of those countries. The thing is that products of high calorie count and low nutrition value have traditionally been the basis of diet for Soviet citizens as well. These habits didn't go away. There were simply more opportunities to buy the same food, but with better consumer qualities... Recently there have been many proposals aimed at changing those food habits. One MP proposed *something* carry images on food packages in the same way as they are now put on cigarette packs"
BBC World News - Our World, China's Family Planning Army - "[On fines for multiple children] In the many cases, the team who were actually conducted this brutal behaviors to collect social maintenance fees were actually conducted by the local mafias who were hired temporarily as part-time family planning officials. What they mainly do is to arrest, to beat and to scare people."
BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent, The Opium Field - "Turks like strongmen leaders. Their founding father Ataturk was one, as fervently secular as Mr Erdogan is religious... Turkey's all-powerful president is tightening his grip still further. He's pushed through a law to strip MPs of their legal immunity, widely seen as a way of prosecuting dozens of opposition pro-Kurdish MPs so he'll have more support for changing the constitution. The party he founded has been purged of dissent. It's becoming a one man outfit that serves only his wishes, says a former MP, now a fierce critic. When he moved from being Prime Minister to President, Mr Erdogan was said to have pulled a Putin. At the party congress the new Prime Minister was in full flow. 'We are comrades of Erdogan', he said. 'Your passion is our passion, your cause our cause, your path our path'. So rapturous was he, so passionate, so emotional, that he promptly lost his voice, cutting short the speech. I wonder what the man pulling the strings made of that...
In the 17th century the [Venetian] ghetto became a centre of learning and culture. 1/3 of all Hebrew books printed in Europe before 1650 were made in Venice...
We must not be paralysed by the Holocaust... the real problem today is that the ghetto, like the rest of Venice, is becoming a museum"
Big litter woes in Choa Chu Kang - "According to Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao, rubbish chutes from the second to eighth floors at Block 817A, Keat Hong Link, were jammed full of litter on Monday, causing a foul smell and attracting flies. The Housing Board also found that refuse-handling equipment attached to the central chute on the ground floor had malfunctioned."
"If the Opposition were to win in your wards the rubbish bins would not be and would pile up 1 to 2 storeys high" - Lee Kuan Yew (attr)
Now Muslims Are Offended By People Saying 'F*ck ISIS' And Police Are Calling It 'Incitement' - "Police have charged Tommy Robinson, a PEGIDA UK organiser, with “inciting racial hatred against Muslims” after he was pictured with a flag with “Fuck ISIS” written on it"
I thought ISIS isn't Islamic. And Muslims aren't a race, much less ISIS
Gaming a Russian Offensive | Stratfor - "For defensive purposes, Russian planners would have to recognize the risk of NATO coming to Kiev's assistance. Were that to happen, Russia would have to expand the defensive force to 40,000-55,000 troops to hold the territory... a compliant populace would require a force of only around 4,200 troops, while an extreme insurgency could spike that number to 42,000. In this particular case, no extreme insurgency is expected, as it would be in cities such as Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkiv or Kiev. The defensive force could overlap with the counterinsurgency force to some degree if there were no external threat, but if such a threat existed the forces would have to be separate, potentially doubling the manpower required to secure the territory."
The projected buffer zone is 46,000 square kilometers, has 2 million people and 450km of defensive lines. Johor is 7,500 square kilometers and has 3.5 million people, but the defensive lines will be much less than Ukraine due to West Malaysia being a peninsula and not a long, flat stretch of territory. In view of this, the SAF's strength is clearly overkill.
Addendum: The Malay peninsula is 317.81 km at its widest from Lumut to Kuantan. At Johor it is much narrower.
Keywords: soldiers, Crimea, defend
First Coke stops bottling in Singapore. Now it's Pepsi. Ah well.
Episode 31: The Big Kelong - "Citizenship, in particular, was a real worry for the Chinese. This was reinforced on 20 February with the release of the Reid Report on the constitution of the independent Federation of Malaya. The Nanyang Siang Pao and Sin Pao noted that that the Report did not offer universal qualifications for citizenship based on place of birth – that was contrary to the four proposals jointly submitted by 1,094 registered Chinese public bodies in the Federation. This discriminated against the Chinese. Also, Malay and English were to be the official languages. The combined Chinese public bodies had declared they would accept Malay as the sole official language, or all four languages as official languages, but promoting English alongside Malay was a continuation of colonial discrimination... Lee met with Lennox-Boyd to discuss a clause in the constitutional agreement to prevent the left-wing leaders from running in the election... Lennox-Boyd, Lim Yew Hock, and Lee Kuan Yew performed a big wayang. Lennox-Boyd announced the requirement of the clause. Lim and Lee pretended to be angry and denounced it as an act of fascist repression. Lee protested, ‘There is no guarantee that the Government in power would not use this procedure to prevent not only Communists but also democratic opponents of their policy from standing for election’... The entire left-wing leadership remained behind bars and none of them would be able to run in 1959. It would be another 40 years before Lee Kuan Yew admitted, in his autobiography, that whole thing had been fixed all along. You thought a bunch of people fixing football games was huge? Lennox- Boyd, Lee Kuan Yew, and Lim Yew Hock kelong’d an entire election."
Episode 33: The Apogee of Democracy - "Not only did Lee no longer need Lim, but the Labour Front was now an electoral liability. Lee had managed to escape the events of the previous year without taking any responsibility for the repression. Indeed, the voting public thought he was a victim of the repression, since he was leader of the PAP, which had been the target of much of the arrests. They did not know he had colluded in the repression with Lim Yew Hock... this fact is perhaps the greatest hypocrisy of the official PAP history of Singapore. Lee would go on to have his political opponents arrested on the basis that they were communist or at least communist sympathisers. But the government has never produced any proof that any of the detainees were participating in a communist conspiracy. And declassified Special Branch files show that there was never any evidence that any of them were taking part in a conspiracy. We need to be clear about this. Yes, a small number of left-wing politicians and activists believed in communism. Yes, a few might have called themselves communists. But they were not working with the Communist Party; they were not taking part in any conspiracy to violently overthrow the government; they were not breaking any laws. There was no reason to arrest any of them. The only politician that we know of who we have definite proof was secretly collaboration with the Malayan Communist Party was Lee Kuan Yew. And when the truth came out, the British did nothing. Worse, they backed him for Prime Minister and helped arrest more people to keep him in power. That is the hypocrisy at the heart of the PAP narrative of Singapore history. It proves that the situation was never about communism; it was about power. It was about protecting British interests"
BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Tuesday's business news with Dominic O'Connell - "If we stay in Europe, we'll be subject to one monster bureaucracy. One set of rules which actually helps big companies, hurts little ones... They can afford the staff and the people that can actually implement those regulations. Small companies can't"
In U.S., Socialist Presidential Candidates Least Appealing - "The news is likely worst for Sen. Bernie Sanders. At one point, Americans might have withheld their votes from him because of his Jewish faith -- fewer than half said they would support a Jewish candidate in 1937 -- but today his socialist ideology, given Americans' views on voting for a socialist candidate, could hinder his candidacy more. To a lesser degree, evangelical Christian candidates may suffer, in that one in four Americans say they will not vote for an evangelical Christian"
ST forum letter lacks inclusivity - "As a rambling protest letter about how a music video for NDP must be more inclusive, the letter should have best been penned by a paraplegic bisexual septuagenarian of mixed race in all four national languages who has consulted with and represented, with quotes, people from all walks of life. Instead, it was penned by a male, Chinese professional, in English, without consulting the feelings and thoughts of all the various segments of our society – including Donald Trump supporters... In future, all such videos should allocate screen time in proportion to the size of a community or interest group in our great nation. About 74 per cent of screen time should feature a Chinese person, 13 per cent a Malay person and 9 per cent an Indian person. “Others” can be represented by a five-second clip of a plate of rojak (with chili). About 52 per cent of screen time should be given to females and 48 per cent to males, although everyone will have to have their sexual orientation either printed on their shirt or tattooed on their forehead."
Helmut Kohl calls on EU leaders to take 'one step back' after Brexit vote - "instead of taking steps towards further centralisation and “mistaking a unified Europe with a standardised Europe”, Kohl wants European leaders to pay more respect to national and regional differences."
Why Does Everyone Hate Flying? And Other Questions Only a Pilot Can Answer - Freakonomics Freakonomics - "the average jet today actually flies a little bit more slowly than it did in 1965. But it flies more efficiently. And there’s kind of a conundrum here where the faster you go, the more energy you need... I think the most important thing we could do is stop looking at every single person who flies as a potential terrorist. It’s just an unsustainable approach in a country where 900 million people fly every year. We have to come up with something better. I’m talking about a system that takes in a whole number of data points and constructs a profile that way. I wish meanwhile, though, that TSA would get away from its preoccupation with little pointy objects and whether you have 3 ounces or 3.6 ounces of toothpaste and so on. That obsessing on minutiae just drags the whole system down. It’s a waste of resources, it’s a waste of time, a waste of money. Also I think people need to remember that even with all of the emphasis on terrorism and security today that we used to see bombings and hijackings and airport attacks so much more frequently than we do now... why can’t I have my laptop on my lap during takeoff or landing?
DUBNER: I think I know the answer to that one. Because that’s a heavy sucker, and if it flies through somewhere, it will hit me or someone else in the back of the head and that could hurt."
BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, EU referendum: Osborne and Hunt on what happens next - "The political climate in Europe is changing very fast. And it is not sustainable to have a system where Denmark for example has to cope with hundreds of thousands of Syrians that have been given German passports by the German government. And that was one of the reasons why voted to leave the EU so I think the desire to change those freedom of movement rules is in the European interest as well as the British interest, but we need to give it some time and therefore wait before we invoke article 50"
BBC World Service - The Food Chain, Is Junk Food the New Smoking? - "When fast food, Western soft drinks and sweets starting appearing in the Soviet Union and then Russian market, our citizens of course initially saw consumption of these products as a way to psychologically get closer to the way of life of those countries. The thing is that products of high calorie count and low nutrition value have traditionally been the basis of diet for Soviet citizens as well. These habits didn't go away. There were simply more opportunities to buy the same food, but with better consumer qualities... Recently there have been many proposals aimed at changing those food habits. One MP proposed *something* carry images on food packages in the same way as they are now put on cigarette packs"
BBC World News - Our World, China's Family Planning Army - "[On fines for multiple children] In the many cases, the team who were actually conducted this brutal behaviors to collect social maintenance fees were actually conducted by the local mafias who were hired temporarily as part-time family planning officials. What they mainly do is to arrest, to beat and to scare people."
BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent, The Opium Field - "Turks like strongmen leaders. Their founding father Ataturk was one, as fervently secular as Mr Erdogan is religious... Turkey's all-powerful president is tightening his grip still further. He's pushed through a law to strip MPs of their legal immunity, widely seen as a way of prosecuting dozens of opposition pro-Kurdish MPs so he'll have more support for changing the constitution. The party he founded has been purged of dissent. It's becoming a one man outfit that serves only his wishes, says a former MP, now a fierce critic. When he moved from being Prime Minister to President, Mr Erdogan was said to have pulled a Putin. At the party congress the new Prime Minister was in full flow. 'We are comrades of Erdogan', he said. 'Your passion is our passion, your cause our cause, your path our path'. So rapturous was he, so passionate, so emotional, that he promptly lost his voice, cutting short the speech. I wonder what the man pulling the strings made of that...
In the 17th century the [Venetian] ghetto became a centre of learning and culture. 1/3 of all Hebrew books printed in Europe before 1650 were made in Venice...
We must not be paralysed by the Holocaust... the real problem today is that the ghetto, like the rest of Venice, is becoming a museum"
Big litter woes in Choa Chu Kang - "According to Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao, rubbish chutes from the second to eighth floors at Block 817A, Keat Hong Link, were jammed full of litter on Monday, causing a foul smell and attracting flies. The Housing Board also found that refuse-handling equipment attached to the central chute on the ground floor had malfunctioned."
"If the Opposition were to win in your wards the rubbish bins would not be and would pile up 1 to 2 storeys high" - Lee Kuan Yew (attr)
Now Muslims Are Offended By People Saying 'F*ck ISIS' And Police Are Calling It 'Incitement' - "Police have charged Tommy Robinson, a PEGIDA UK organiser, with “inciting racial hatred against Muslims” after he was pictured with a flag with “Fuck ISIS” written on it"
I thought ISIS isn't Islamic. And Muslims aren't a race, much less ISIS
Gaming a Russian Offensive | Stratfor - "For defensive purposes, Russian planners would have to recognize the risk of NATO coming to Kiev's assistance. Were that to happen, Russia would have to expand the defensive force to 40,000-55,000 troops to hold the territory... a compliant populace would require a force of only around 4,200 troops, while an extreme insurgency could spike that number to 42,000. In this particular case, no extreme insurgency is expected, as it would be in cities such as Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkiv or Kiev. The defensive force could overlap with the counterinsurgency force to some degree if there were no external threat, but if such a threat existed the forces would have to be separate, potentially doubling the manpower required to secure the territory."
The projected buffer zone is 46,000 square kilometers, has 2 million people and 450km of defensive lines. Johor is 7,500 square kilometers and has 3.5 million people, but the defensive lines will be much less than Ukraine due to West Malaysia being a peninsula and not a long, flat stretch of territory. In view of this, the SAF's strength is clearly overkill.
Addendum: The Malay peninsula is 317.81 km at its widest from Lumut to Kuantan. At Johor it is much narrower.
Keywords: soldiers, Crimea, defend
Post ID: 3078478162673061005
Belligerent Anti-Racism
A: What does Muslim-owned mean? - The Middle Ground
I think the author dissected the various issues very well.
It's clear from the writing that the issue of halal food is not a simple black and white case, and most non-Muslims don't know enough about the issues, so this is a pretty informative article with good points made.
Unfortunately, for people who wear racially tinted glasses all the time, the first thing that comes out of their mouth is to question people's intent.
B: that's very innocent statement but you have to clarify especially when in other posts you have passed racial judgements and insensitive remarks on minority. I can't see your post as defending the Muslims. Everyone here don't get it either. Most of them don't read it too. So your intent becomes questionable since I just had an argument with u on rscism a while ago. Please clarify that "brothers don't misunderstand when u come across this restaurant.." etc in the opening statement. Then yr intent is clear. I just feel you are misleading.
You see people bring in comparison to other religions too . It becomes a topic of religious debate. And possibly lead to haterad towards Muslims.
A: Your reply shows clearly who's the one with racial agenda. This post isn't even about defending Muslims. It's about a Muslim expressing interpretations of what halal means.
C: Surely we can have a rational discussion. Why should it lead to hatred against anyone?
A: Good question. I don't have the answer, though.
B: Your intentions are not true. I will have to point it out to you. If it is true you would have apologised for misleading the crowd.
A: Get a life, seriously.
B: Why? So that you can get away with whatever you said about minorities on line and no one would throw back at u?
I am having my life here. How about u? You got no other topic to discuss other than minority issues it seems? How about do something for Social Peace if not Social Justice? People like me could rest my thumbs rest assured you r a good citizen?
D: In what way did he mislead anyone by sharing an article about the differences between the signs that was written pretty damn factually by a Muslim?
B: U read some comments in defence? If one reads just the headliner it's being misinterpreted. A is opening a discussion inviting this. He is sort of manipulative . Unless u have been following his posts u can't tell from just one. D. U have to analyse where that person's ideas are coming from before u even "like" their posts. These people would put up information that could be offensive anyone time then will put up another one fr global view to show exactly opposite. This why they r trying to confuse everyone. So far Gabriel has been A's supporter. She and him are the on-line anti SWJs. But under SWJs close watch every post will be analysed. Never mind if you don't get it. Just keep a close tab on their posts and also comments.
D: I read the headline. I know their views. I know both the fellas are anti-SJW(and can't quite blame them, the way so many are) - although with Gabriel, it's less being anti-SJW and more just poking and prodding at all logic all the time.
Also, what is wrong with putting up stuff that's on opposite ends of the spectrum? This is why so many people have issue with SJW's, they expect everyone to just conform to one line of thought, and if you don't then you're baaad baad baad.
People aren't anywhere as simple or binary as that.
E: Actually, being able to understand and appreciate views from the opposite ends of a spectrum is called "being objective".
No one says you have to adopt contrasting views, but at least give them a fair chance to be evaluated and understood.
B: It's not simply as putting up. I wouldn't have any problems with it. But personally I want to know why always put up things on minority issues when he or she don't respect them? Luckily u read the whole thing but in this climate the headliner with such picture would only give anti Muslim feelings by most who scroll after reading the heading. If you can't support the Muslims openly or the minorities openly I simply don't think your "nice efforts" are appreciated. So I can't get past the feeling the intent is any good. D
A: Then why don't you criticise the Muslim writer's intent in writing such a potentially misleading article? Why am I being blamed?
A: E when people like A or Gabirial putts up info. You can't be all the time be objective. One gets defensive if it affects them . U can be objective if u are not affected. Freedom of expression with out responsibility to anticipate all sorts of response from all sorts of people is irresponsible. Knowing it's hurt someone knowingly or unknowingly requires an apology. That will reverse the others thinking from subjective to objective. Feeling subjective is not wrong. BTW. Feeling objective is not good all the time either.
D: How on earth does the headline give anti-Muslim feelings?!
A: So the problem at the end of the day, you don't need reason. Your suspicion is the gospel truth. If I call someone a witch, she must be one and therefore we must hunt her down and kill her.
D: And why are you blaming A for the headline when that's the news organisations "fault"?!
B: since u supported him by putting it up you have to do that. I don't have issues with the article. But issue is your intent. I rest my case here. May be in the future consider what people like me will shoot at - intentions. Bye for now.
D: You're shooting at intentions based on what you THINK they are - that's different from what the intentions ACTUALLY are.
And it's perfectly fine to try and ferret out what someone's intentions are, but there usually has to be more grounds to it than just "it's what I think".
B: that's my personal view to A. I am not suspecting your intentions here. So no problem if u want to say something else
I don't need to justify to u weather my assumption needs to.pass your test do I?
D: I don't care if you suspect my intentions or not.
But your assumption has led to you accusing someone of having a nefarious ulterior motive in posting an entirely neutral and informatonal news article. So no, it's not about passing my test, but the reasonable grounds test to ensure you don't wind up anyhow tekaning people for nothing, and thus getting taken less seriously - which is bad in the long run, especially when you do have salient points.
A: Lol. Basically she's saying she can call me racist and that's her entitlement to opinion, but if I call her racist, I have no such entitlement to opinion. It's only fair if she gets her way.
D: Shit like this is why people are so fucking extra skeptical when we do experience bad shit, I swear.
we have to work extra hard to prove something actually racist/bigoted happened to us cos of all the stupid rubbish that gets thrown around clouding up the issues.
B: that's exactly what A has been denying. That racism exists. That bigots don't live in Singapore. That since I defence my stance am a racist SWJ. So u can't get him or people like him to understand these things at all. U can't support a bigot just because he chose an article and claims his intent is good by not at all staying his intent clearly - giving room for misjudgedment. So what if he has been a senior here. That only shows no one seriously looked at his posts from different perspective. Don't worry about not being able to work hard to prove to racists/bigots. They will not understand you but they can be challenged to keep their feelings to themselves.
D: Actually, A hasn't denied either of those. I know this through my own discussions with him.
In fact, he's very discerning about racism, and has more than once come down on actual bigots and racists who've popped up on this forum.
A: For the very last time, and I have repeatedly written, racism exists but not everything is about race.
In fact this article perfectly illustrates my position because such a sign is not about race, but about deeper issues of what it means to be halal and the practicalities of getting MUIS certification.
But you have to keep on insisting my intention is to make it racially divisive. You are entitled to your opinion but I'm not. That's how racial harmony is to you it seems.
D: You're the one assuming he's racist. You're the one assuming his intent. What if sharing a neutral article like this would have opened up the room for dialogue and changed his mind, if he were actually harbouring bigoted thoughts? Well done, you just shut down the conversation instead of building on the foundation the article gave. *applause*
B: D so your friendship has clouded your judgement. You are there needing to defend your friend. Well hope A understands that we offer friendship to everyone without bias. I hope when he said he is "race blind" he doesn't just assume it means accepting others regardless of race. It would also mean " I want homogeneity in Racial representation" . The latter sounded more accurate in my discussion. Yes if he had change of heart great! Let's see the changes in his next posts. Bye D. I need to do my full time job
A: Whatever la B. People called me anti-Semite for putting the Palestinian flag on my profile pic for almost a year. Now you call me a Chinese racist. I don't need to prove any thing to you.
B: I never said it. But was shocked when u responded like one.
A: [Quoting A critiquing the SAF uniform]: "what a racist you are??? Are u wearing that uniform? You better run naked back to where your ancestors came from cos that uniform is for the soldiers who is supposed to protect its people. You are a traitor in your racist" skin! Your comments I have been following too all these while Aaron. Silence is tolerance and there's last straw do you too."
F: What we can learn from all this is how a persecution complex can make a person behave in all sorts of belligerent ways to other people and think they are perfectly justified in doing so.
What's more interesting- we can observe how A insults the very people who put their blood and sweat into providing the very freedoms and security that she lives off to be able to spew her venom in the first place.
Apparently she thinks she is an arbiter of who deserves to wear the uniform or not, without having even walked a meter in their boots.
I think the author dissected the various issues very well.
It's clear from the writing that the issue of halal food is not a simple black and white case, and most non-Muslims don't know enough about the issues, so this is a pretty informative article with good points made.
Unfortunately, for people who wear racially tinted glasses all the time, the first thing that comes out of their mouth is to question people's intent.
B: that's very innocent statement but you have to clarify especially when in other posts you have passed racial judgements and insensitive remarks on minority. I can't see your post as defending the Muslims. Everyone here don't get it either. Most of them don't read it too. So your intent becomes questionable since I just had an argument with u on rscism a while ago. Please clarify that "brothers don't misunderstand when u come across this restaurant.." etc in the opening statement. Then yr intent is clear. I just feel you are misleading.
You see people bring in comparison to other religions too . It becomes a topic of religious debate. And possibly lead to haterad towards Muslims.
A: Your reply shows clearly who's the one with racial agenda. This post isn't even about defending Muslims. It's about a Muslim expressing interpretations of what halal means.
C: Surely we can have a rational discussion. Why should it lead to hatred against anyone?
A: Good question. I don't have the answer, though.
B: Your intentions are not true. I will have to point it out to you. If it is true you would have apologised for misleading the crowd.
A: Get a life, seriously.
B: Why? So that you can get away with whatever you said about minorities on line and no one would throw back at u?
I am having my life here. How about u? You got no other topic to discuss other than minority issues it seems? How about do something for Social Peace if not Social Justice? People like me could rest my thumbs rest assured you r a good citizen?
D: In what way did he mislead anyone by sharing an article about the differences between the signs that was written pretty damn factually by a Muslim?
B: U read some comments in defence? If one reads just the headliner it's being misinterpreted. A is opening a discussion inviting this. He is sort of manipulative . Unless u have been following his posts u can't tell from just one. D. U have to analyse where that person's ideas are coming from before u even "like" their posts. These people would put up information that could be offensive anyone time then will put up another one fr global view to show exactly opposite. This why they r trying to confuse everyone. So far Gabriel has been A's supporter. She and him are the on-line anti SWJs. But under SWJs close watch every post will be analysed. Never mind if you don't get it. Just keep a close tab on their posts and also comments.
D: I read the headline. I know their views. I know both the fellas are anti-SJW(and can't quite blame them, the way so many are) - although with Gabriel, it's less being anti-SJW and more just poking and prodding at all logic all the time.
Also, what is wrong with putting up stuff that's on opposite ends of the spectrum? This is why so many people have issue with SJW's, they expect everyone to just conform to one line of thought, and if you don't then you're baaad baad baad.
People aren't anywhere as simple or binary as that.
E: Actually, being able to understand and appreciate views from the opposite ends of a spectrum is called "being objective".
No one says you have to adopt contrasting views, but at least give them a fair chance to be evaluated and understood.
B: It's not simply as putting up. I wouldn't have any problems with it. But personally I want to know why always put up things on minority issues when he or she don't respect them? Luckily u read the whole thing but in this climate the headliner with such picture would only give anti Muslim feelings by most who scroll after reading the heading. If you can't support the Muslims openly or the minorities openly I simply don't think your "nice efforts" are appreciated. So I can't get past the feeling the intent is any good. D
A: Then why don't you criticise the Muslim writer's intent in writing such a potentially misleading article? Why am I being blamed?
A: E when people like A or Gabirial putts up info. You can't be all the time be objective. One gets defensive if it affects them . U can be objective if u are not affected. Freedom of expression with out responsibility to anticipate all sorts of response from all sorts of people is irresponsible. Knowing it's hurt someone knowingly or unknowingly requires an apology. That will reverse the others thinking from subjective to objective. Feeling subjective is not wrong. BTW. Feeling objective is not good all the time either.
D: How on earth does the headline give anti-Muslim feelings?!
A: So the problem at the end of the day, you don't need reason. Your suspicion is the gospel truth. If I call someone a witch, she must be one and therefore we must hunt her down and kill her.
D: And why are you blaming A for the headline when that's the news organisations "fault"?!
B: since u supported him by putting it up you have to do that. I don't have issues with the article. But issue is your intent. I rest my case here. May be in the future consider what people like me will shoot at - intentions. Bye for now.
D: You're shooting at intentions based on what you THINK they are - that's different from what the intentions ACTUALLY are.
And it's perfectly fine to try and ferret out what someone's intentions are, but there usually has to be more grounds to it than just "it's what I think".
B: that's my personal view to A. I am not suspecting your intentions here. So no problem if u want to say something else
I don't need to justify to u weather my assumption needs to.pass your test do I?
D: I don't care if you suspect my intentions or not.
But your assumption has led to you accusing someone of having a nefarious ulterior motive in posting an entirely neutral and informatonal news article. So no, it's not about passing my test, but the reasonable grounds test to ensure you don't wind up anyhow tekaning people for nothing, and thus getting taken less seriously - which is bad in the long run, especially when you do have salient points.
A: Lol. Basically she's saying she can call me racist and that's her entitlement to opinion, but if I call her racist, I have no such entitlement to opinion. It's only fair if she gets her way.
D: Shit like this is why people are so fucking extra skeptical when we do experience bad shit, I swear.
we have to work extra hard to prove something actually racist/bigoted happened to us cos of all the stupid rubbish that gets thrown around clouding up the issues.
B: that's exactly what A has been denying. That racism exists. That bigots don't live in Singapore. That since I defence my stance am a racist SWJ. So u can't get him or people like him to understand these things at all. U can't support a bigot just because he chose an article and claims his intent is good by not at all staying his intent clearly - giving room for misjudgedment. So what if he has been a senior here. That only shows no one seriously looked at his posts from different perspective. Don't worry about not being able to work hard to prove to racists/bigots. They will not understand you but they can be challenged to keep their feelings to themselves.
D: Actually, A hasn't denied either of those. I know this through my own discussions with him.
In fact, he's very discerning about racism, and has more than once come down on actual bigots and racists who've popped up on this forum.
A: For the very last time, and I have repeatedly written, racism exists but not everything is about race.
In fact this article perfectly illustrates my position because such a sign is not about race, but about deeper issues of what it means to be halal and the practicalities of getting MUIS certification.
But you have to keep on insisting my intention is to make it racially divisive. You are entitled to your opinion but I'm not. That's how racial harmony is to you it seems.
D: You're the one assuming he's racist. You're the one assuming his intent. What if sharing a neutral article like this would have opened up the room for dialogue and changed his mind, if he were actually harbouring bigoted thoughts? Well done, you just shut down the conversation instead of building on the foundation the article gave. *applause*
B: D so your friendship has clouded your judgement. You are there needing to defend your friend. Well hope A understands that we offer friendship to everyone without bias. I hope when he said he is "race blind" he doesn't just assume it means accepting others regardless of race. It would also mean " I want homogeneity in Racial representation" . The latter sounded more accurate in my discussion. Yes if he had change of heart great! Let's see the changes in his next posts. Bye D. I need to do my full time job
A: Whatever la B. People called me anti-Semite for putting the Palestinian flag on my profile pic for almost a year. Now you call me a Chinese racist. I don't need to prove any thing to you.
B: I never said it. But was shocked when u responded like one.
A: [Quoting A critiquing the SAF uniform]: "what a racist you are??? Are u wearing that uniform? You better run naked back to where your ancestors came from cos that uniform is for the soldiers who is supposed to protect its people. You are a traitor in your racist" skin! Your comments I have been following too all these while Aaron. Silence is tolerance and there's last straw do you too."
F: What we can learn from all this is how a persecution complex can make a person behave in all sorts of belligerent ways to other people and think they are perfectly justified in doing so.
What's more interesting- we can observe how A insults the very people who put their blood and sweat into providing the very freedoms and security that she lives off to be able to spew her venom in the first place.
Apparently she thinks she is an arbiter of who deserves to wear the uniform or not, without having even walked a meter in their boots.
Post ID: 5595860139380390984
Friday, August 26, 2016
Deobandi Islam
BBC Radio 4 - The Deobandis
"'This place is associated with a sort of back to basics kind of Islam. What is the Islam that you're teaching here?'
'Our Prophet had a beard and he ordered us to keep a beard. As we follow each and every thing done by our Prophet, so we feel it necessary t keep a beard. Television is banned here because our religion says that you can't have images of human beings. You can take images of trees but not people because it's banned in Islam. These are things which are proven in the Koran and what we've been taught by our elders'...
'The department of rejection of Christianity... they have couple of... 2 or 3 departments. Rejection of Shi'ism, rejection of Barelvi ideology, which basically underscores that other sects have strayed and do not represent pure Islam as opposed to Deobandi ideology'
'People here just think: we're right. Everybody else is wrong'
'Yes. More or less'...
'[On asserting that Mohammed was the final prophet and Ahmedis being infidels] This is important because it keeps Muslims within their faith. This makes them continue to believe in the finality of the Prophethood of Mohammad in such a way that there is no question that there are any more prophets after him. It's obvious that if anyone makes claims against these beliefs, they'll harm the religion'...
'[On persecuting Ahmedis] This death sentence, described by the Kardyanis (sp?), it can't be regarded as persecution against them. This is in reaction to the oppression of Muslims by the Ahmedis. Oppression against Muslims and Islam. If there's some infection in a wound, then you have to carry out surgery to cure it...
'Whatever happens, they should be answerable to Pakistani law. So it's not really for me to answer. But the probably go to the extreme with their made-up beliefs. And that's why people react against them in this way'...
'There is a danger from Christianity. Wherever they've gone, they've converted people and they've been robbing people of their religion. Even here. So we'll be telling our children what sort of dangers they're facing and how to safeguard against it'
'How would you feel though if you went to a Christian seminary. A monastery, and saw a department for the rejection of your faith. You wouldn't like that, would you?'
'No. Everyone is free to do that. But they won't find much to say against Islam. But we have material against them. We've not changed. There's purity in our religion and and in our faith whereas on the other side there are changes in the religion.'
'It's the kind of attitude that if expressed by Christians about Deobandis would be angrily denounced as Islamophobic'...
'[On Deobandis abjuring violence] You might think that the Deobandi leaders in India would try to stop their Deobandi brethren in the Taliban killing women and children. But they don't. So perhaps the policy is really: say the right things, keep your head down and let the groups in Pakistan kill whoever they want'...
'They won't really feel too much worried about it. They think it's their problem, not ours. When you talk to Deobandi scholars, they say that most important according to them, it's local social, political conditions mold a particular kind of version of Islam. They understand the situation in Pakistan completely different as a Muslim majority country. It should be governed by Islamic laws. And therefore madrasahs there have a much more active role than in India. Therefore it's possible to have more hardline version of same ideology'
BBC Radio 4 - Analysis, The Deobandis: Part 2
"[On an Ahmedi place of worship] 'We can't call it a mosque... I can't call it a mosque. It's always referred to as 'my place of worship'... because then they say that I'm imposing myself to be a Muslim'
'Even though the Ahmedis consider themselves Muslims, it's actually against Pakistani law for them to describe themselves in that way. Or to call their religious buildings mosques. Today, they're among the most persecuted communities in the country, and have regularly been targeted by Deobandi sectarian groups'...
'I am a specialist civil engineer... but there are areas where my loyalty to the state is in doubt and therefore I will never be cleared to work in those areas and those are areas where business can be good
Is this Islamophobia?
"'This place is associated with a sort of back to basics kind of Islam. What is the Islam that you're teaching here?'
'Our Prophet had a beard and he ordered us to keep a beard. As we follow each and every thing done by our Prophet, so we feel it necessary t keep a beard. Television is banned here because our religion says that you can't have images of human beings. You can take images of trees but not people because it's banned in Islam. These are things which are proven in the Koran and what we've been taught by our elders'...
'The department of rejection of Christianity... they have couple of... 2 or 3 departments. Rejection of Shi'ism, rejection of Barelvi ideology, which basically underscores that other sects have strayed and do not represent pure Islam as opposed to Deobandi ideology'
'People here just think: we're right. Everybody else is wrong'
'Yes. More or less'...
'[On asserting that Mohammed was the final prophet and Ahmedis being infidels] This is important because it keeps Muslims within their faith. This makes them continue to believe in the finality of the Prophethood of Mohammad in such a way that there is no question that there are any more prophets after him. It's obvious that if anyone makes claims against these beliefs, they'll harm the religion'...
'[On persecuting Ahmedis] This death sentence, described by the Kardyanis (sp?), it can't be regarded as persecution against them. This is in reaction to the oppression of Muslims by the Ahmedis. Oppression against Muslims and Islam. If there's some infection in a wound, then you have to carry out surgery to cure it...
'Whatever happens, they should be answerable to Pakistani law. So it's not really for me to answer. But the probably go to the extreme with their made-up beliefs. And that's why people react against them in this way'...
'There is a danger from Christianity. Wherever they've gone, they've converted people and they've been robbing people of their religion. Even here. So we'll be telling our children what sort of dangers they're facing and how to safeguard against it'
'How would you feel though if you went to a Christian seminary. A monastery, and saw a department for the rejection of your faith. You wouldn't like that, would you?'
'No. Everyone is free to do that. But they won't find much to say against Islam. But we have material against them. We've not changed. There's purity in our religion and and in our faith whereas on the other side there are changes in the religion.'
'It's the kind of attitude that if expressed by Christians about Deobandis would be angrily denounced as Islamophobic'...
'[On Deobandis abjuring violence] You might think that the Deobandi leaders in India would try to stop their Deobandi brethren in the Taliban killing women and children. But they don't. So perhaps the policy is really: say the right things, keep your head down and let the groups in Pakistan kill whoever they want'...
'They won't really feel too much worried about it. They think it's their problem, not ours. When you talk to Deobandi scholars, they say that most important according to them, it's local social, political conditions mold a particular kind of version of Islam. They understand the situation in Pakistan completely different as a Muslim majority country. It should be governed by Islamic laws. And therefore madrasahs there have a much more active role than in India. Therefore it's possible to have more hardline version of same ideology'
BBC Radio 4 - Analysis, The Deobandis: Part 2
"[On an Ahmedi place of worship] 'We can't call it a mosque... I can't call it a mosque. It's always referred to as 'my place of worship'... because then they say that I'm imposing myself to be a Muslim'
'Even though the Ahmedis consider themselves Muslims, it's actually against Pakistani law for them to describe themselves in that way. Or to call their religious buildings mosques. Today, they're among the most persecuted communities in the country, and have regularly been targeted by Deobandi sectarian groups'...
'I am a specialist civil engineer... but there are areas where my loyalty to the state is in doubt and therefore I will never be cleared to work in those areas and those are areas where business can be good
Is this Islamophobia?
Post ID: 4614786547479845756
Links - 26th August 2016
Stilettos to the rescue of Japan’s ‘waddling ducks’ - "Feminists, look away! Fashion police in Japan want to ‘empower’ women by persuading them to wear high heels, insisting the country’s historic ‘kimono culture’ has led to many women having poor posture. The Japan High Heel Association (JHA) is calling on women across the country to trade sensible shoes for a pair of stilettos, insisting that standing tall will give them ‘confidence’ — and improve their gait. “Japanese women walk like ducks,” JHA managing director ‘Madame’ Yumiko told AFP in an interview at her plush Tokyo salon."
Istanbul riot police disperse 'Trans Pride' march - "Istanbul riot police fired tear gas and rubber pellets on Sunday to disperse a march for transgender people banned after ultra-nationalists said that "degenerates" could not demonstrate... Authorities have banned transgender and gay pride marches this month, citing security concerns after the ultra-nationalist warnings against any such events on Turkish soil... The annual gay pride parade, described as the biggest in the Muslim world, was due to take place on June 26. Istanbul has held gay pride parades since 2003, attracting tens of thousands of marchers, but last year's was broken up by police... Unlike many other Muslim countries, homosexuality is not a crime in Turkey but hostility toward gays remains widespread... The assault by the riot police targeted protesters angered by an attack on a record store launching the new Radiohead album on Saturday.
A group of men armed with sticks and bottles attacked the store late on Friday, apparently in protest at people drinking beer during Ramadan, video footage on social media showed"
LGBT Against Islamophobia!; is it better to be LGBT in Singapore, where gay sex is technically illegal, or in Turkey?
From snail soup to deep-fried dumplings: Hanoi's 10 essential street foods
China to implement 2.5-day weekend this summer
$2,225 a month claim for undergrad expenses 'inflated' - "The couple split 10 years ago and he has been paying $950 a month for his daughter's expenses since 2010. But his former wife applied to court last year to increase the sum to $1,450, in addition to him paying all of their daughter's annual university fees. District Judge Lo Wai Ping was not convinced and, in judgment grounds released yesterday, ordered the man's maintenance sum for his daughter to remain at $950 and reduced his contribution towards her $17,563 annual tertiary fees to a maximum of 75 per cent. The judge noted that the father, who has since remarried, "has been struggling" since last October to pay his former wife $2,300 a month for their daughter, comprising $950 for living expenses and $1,350 for tertiary fees. He also pays his former wife $500 in monthly maintenance... His lawyer Lim Poh Choo supplied data on the monthly expenses that an undergraduate may incur at NUS, Singapore Management University and Nanyang Technological University. Ms Lim argued these figures showed an undergraduate would need about $750 in monthly living expenses. The judge found that some of the monthly expenses claimed by the mother for her daughter "were indeed inflated and exaggerated". Among other things, the mother explained that her daughter needed $200 a month for clothes, shoes and handbags as she was required to wear office attire when giving presentations in school and attending court... the research presented by the father included food prices at the NUS Bukit Timah campus, and accepted that prices at campus canteens would be cheaper, reducing the $600 a month sought for food to $350 a month. The father is currently a sole breadwinner who sends $2,000 monthly to his China-based wife and six-year-old child, in addition to what he now pays for his daughter and former wife."
No wonder people don't want to have kids - it's so expensive
Students should be allowed to sell sex to fund university, say academics - "Their 2015 report, The Student Sex Work Project, indicated that 5 percent of students, more than 100,000, are engaged in the sex industry, principally to fund their higher education or a better lifestyle at university, while 22 percent had considered providing sexual services for money. The survey of 6,750 students also found that more male than female students were making money in sex-related occupations. Most were involved with “indirect” sex work, and the most popular activities for men included acting as a “naked butler”, stripping, erotic dancing and performing in porn films... “creative” students had seized an opportunity in the expanding market for sex. “What’s the difference between doing webcam work and working in a bar?” she said... the proliferation of hen parties meant there was a greater need for more male strippers... money was not the only motivation for students working in the sex industry. Fifty-nine percent of respondents thought they would enjoy the work, while 44 percent said they were motivated by sexual pleasure."
Father forced to give police 24-hours notice before he has sex claims it is because he visited 50 Shades of Grey style club - "The 45-year-old IT worker, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has accused the police of deliberately trying to ruin his life... Thought to be a legal first anywhere in the world the order meant he had was forced to give police the details of his intended sexual partner at least 24 hours before allowing officers to visit her and inform her of the situation."
Farid al-Din `Attar | "Shaikh San'an beneath the Window of the Christian Maiden", Folio18r from a Mantiq al-tair (Language of the Birds) | Islamic | The Met - "A celebrated shaikh named San'an went from Ka'ba to Greece and fell in love with a Christian maiden. At her suggestion, he became a Christian and even looked after swine, which are considered unclean in Islam. When his disciples heard about this, they came to Greece and prayed to God that Shaikh San'an would return to the right path. Due to the disciples' prayers, he revived his Muslim faith and returned to his home in the Hijaz. Then, repenting of her deed, the Christian maiden followed him and converted to Islam. Shaikh San'an sensed that she had true faith in Islam and turned back to seek her with his disciples. When she saw Shaikh San'an, she fainted and this made him cry. Later, when the Christian maiden recovered consciousness, she begged his pardon and died."
Plaque: The Christ Child as Navigator - "Here the Christ Child is shown as a sailor, steering the ship representing the church. The mast of the ship is formed as a cross. He holds a globe with a cross, symbolic of his role as Saviour of the World. Many details relate to the Crucifixion, foreshadowing his fate. Across the deck are disks, each of which contains an emblem representing the agonies of Christ's trials, including the flagellation, crown of thorns, and nails used in crucifixion."
Interestingly, this is an Asian innovation and European iconography followed the appearance in the Asian variety
Dear Jimmy Kimmel, Megan Fox's Pregnancy Is None Of Your Business
Comments: "A comedian made a joke. Alert the authorities. You guys are too much sometimes.I'd hate ot live in your world, where everything is taboo. If Megan Fox didn't like it, I'm sure she would have told him to shove it. She doesn't appear to need your "defense," aka sniveling over everything"
"This is a really stupid thing to get mad about. Those interviews have pre-planned questions and she was promoting a movie. I feel stupider for having read this article."
Facebook will start scanning 10,000 posts a second to make comments less terrible - "It’s the technology behind the scenes that can distinguish the words “I need a ride,” in which case Messenger might prompt you to order an Uber, versus “I was going to get a ride,” in which case the moment has already passed. Not to mention “I like to ride a donkey,” which is a whole different thing entirely."
Why Giving Captain America A Boyfriend Makes Sense
Comment: "The thing is that the Marvel universe desperately needs:
a feminazi super hero,
a MRA superhero,
a racist superhero,
a junkie super hero (for every hard drug there is)
a greedy poiltician superhero,
a communist, a fascist superhero, why not?
a foot fetishist superhero...
a superhero that just want's to jerk it off by himself,
a sado-masochist super hero,
a transexual superhero,
a rapist superhero,
a bestiality lover superhero,
a pedophile superhero...
Should we also make religious fanitic superheroes for every religion?
Yes, I thought so... cause you know, people nowadays needs something to identify with.
Women in Refrigerators - "most of my favorite female comics characters had met untimely and often icky ends"
X-Men: Apocalypse — a spoiler-filled post-film chat - "they're planting that conflict here so they can pay it off in some future movie. The fact that they forgot to give Quicksilver any kind of satisfying arc in this film just speaks to the borderline contempt Apocalypse has for its audience. It's not so much a movie as it is a random sensory experience designed to support a marketing campaign, and if that means using fistfuls of dated tropes, taking huge leaps of logic, or ignoring even the basics of storytelling… well, the film itself certainly doesn't seem to care. "I'm an X-Men movie," Apocalypse appears to be saying, "and you're going to come see me whether I'm good or not.""
The perils of percentages - "In the late 1970s, the Mexico city government increased the capacity of the Viaducto, a four-lane motorway, by re-painting lines to make it six lanes wide—in effect, a 50% increase in capacity. Unfortunately, this also resulted in an increase in fatal accidents. After a year the Viaducto was changed back to a four-lane road—a 33% capacity reduction. The government, casting around for facts to support its claims of social progress, subtracted that 33% reduction from the 50% increase to claim a net increase in capacity of 17%."
The Wealthy in Florence Today Are the Same Families as 600 Years Ago - "The entire top 33% of the income distribution in 1427 is likely to be wealthier today. This is a far broader group than Medici princes and dukes, with castles and estates to hand down through the centuries. This suggests that some 25 generations later, the hundreds of descendants of comfortable — but far-from-regal — leathermakers are likely to be doing quite well, and it’s not because they inherited great(x25)-grandpa’s shoes and belts, let alone his palaces."
A slave in Scotland: ‘I fell into a trap – and I couldn't get out’
As I suspected, the shockingly high number of modern day "slaves" is because of a very generous definition of slavery
Why Is Marijuana Banned? The Real Reasons Are Worse Than You Think - "alcohol prohibition finally ended — and Harry Anslinger was afraid. He found himself in charge of a huge government department, with nothing for it to do. Up until then, he had said that cannabis was not a problem. It doesn’t harm people, he explained, and “there is no more absurd fallacy” than the idea it makes people violent. But then — suddenly, when his department needed a new purpose — he announced he had changed his mind... What evidence did Harry Anslinger have? It turns out at this time he wrote to the 30 leading scientists on this subject, asking if cannabis was dangerous, and if there should be a ban. Twenty-nine wrote back and said no. Anslinger picked out the one scientist who said yes, and presented him to the world. The press — obsessed with Victor Licata’s axe — cheered them on. In a panic that gripped America, marijuana was banned. The U.S. told other countries they had to do the same. Many countries said it was a dumb idea, and refused to do it. For example, Mexico decided their drug policy should be run by doctors. Their medical advice was that cannabis didn’t cause these problems, and they refused to ban it. The U.S. was furious. Anslinger ordered them to fall into line. The Mexicans held out — until, in the end, the U.S. cut off the supply of all legal painkillers to Mexico. People started to die in agony in their hospitals. So with regret, Mexico sacked the doctor — and launched its own drug war."
Why migrant workers can't make S'porean friends - "Barely two days after news of the recent arrests broke, Mr Jahangir and his Bangladeshi peers were jeered at by migrant workers of other nationalities. At his workplace, where he is a site engineer, he tells TNPS that many of his colleagues have been making fun of them during meal times.
What do you do when a "minority" oppresses another?
Giant swimming, venomous centipede discovered by accident in world-first
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...
Istanbul riot police disperse 'Trans Pride' march - "Istanbul riot police fired tear gas and rubber pellets on Sunday to disperse a march for transgender people banned after ultra-nationalists said that "degenerates" could not demonstrate... Authorities have banned transgender and gay pride marches this month, citing security concerns after the ultra-nationalist warnings against any such events on Turkish soil... The annual gay pride parade, described as the biggest in the Muslim world, was due to take place on June 26. Istanbul has held gay pride parades since 2003, attracting tens of thousands of marchers, but last year's was broken up by police... Unlike many other Muslim countries, homosexuality is not a crime in Turkey but hostility toward gays remains widespread... The assault by the riot police targeted protesters angered by an attack on a record store launching the new Radiohead album on Saturday.
A group of men armed with sticks and bottles attacked the store late on Friday, apparently in protest at people drinking beer during Ramadan, video footage on social media showed"
LGBT Against Islamophobia!; is it better to be LGBT in Singapore, where gay sex is technically illegal, or in Turkey?
From snail soup to deep-fried dumplings: Hanoi's 10 essential street foods
China to implement 2.5-day weekend this summer
$2,225 a month claim for undergrad expenses 'inflated' - "The couple split 10 years ago and he has been paying $950 a month for his daughter's expenses since 2010. But his former wife applied to court last year to increase the sum to $1,450, in addition to him paying all of their daughter's annual university fees. District Judge Lo Wai Ping was not convinced and, in judgment grounds released yesterday, ordered the man's maintenance sum for his daughter to remain at $950 and reduced his contribution towards her $17,563 annual tertiary fees to a maximum of 75 per cent. The judge noted that the father, who has since remarried, "has been struggling" since last October to pay his former wife $2,300 a month for their daughter, comprising $950 for living expenses and $1,350 for tertiary fees. He also pays his former wife $500 in monthly maintenance... His lawyer Lim Poh Choo supplied data on the monthly expenses that an undergraduate may incur at NUS, Singapore Management University and Nanyang Technological University. Ms Lim argued these figures showed an undergraduate would need about $750 in monthly living expenses. The judge found that some of the monthly expenses claimed by the mother for her daughter "were indeed inflated and exaggerated". Among other things, the mother explained that her daughter needed $200 a month for clothes, shoes and handbags as she was required to wear office attire when giving presentations in school and attending court... the research presented by the father included food prices at the NUS Bukit Timah campus, and accepted that prices at campus canteens would be cheaper, reducing the $600 a month sought for food to $350 a month. The father is currently a sole breadwinner who sends $2,000 monthly to his China-based wife and six-year-old child, in addition to what he now pays for his daughter and former wife."
No wonder people don't want to have kids - it's so expensive
Students should be allowed to sell sex to fund university, say academics - "Their 2015 report, The Student Sex Work Project, indicated that 5 percent of students, more than 100,000, are engaged in the sex industry, principally to fund their higher education or a better lifestyle at university, while 22 percent had considered providing sexual services for money. The survey of 6,750 students also found that more male than female students were making money in sex-related occupations. Most were involved with “indirect” sex work, and the most popular activities for men included acting as a “naked butler”, stripping, erotic dancing and performing in porn films... “creative” students had seized an opportunity in the expanding market for sex. “What’s the difference between doing webcam work and working in a bar?” she said... the proliferation of hen parties meant there was a greater need for more male strippers... money was not the only motivation for students working in the sex industry. Fifty-nine percent of respondents thought they would enjoy the work, while 44 percent said they were motivated by sexual pleasure."
Father forced to give police 24-hours notice before he has sex claims it is because he visited 50 Shades of Grey style club - "The 45-year-old IT worker, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has accused the police of deliberately trying to ruin his life... Thought to be a legal first anywhere in the world the order meant he had was forced to give police the details of his intended sexual partner at least 24 hours before allowing officers to visit her and inform her of the situation."
Farid al-Din `Attar | "Shaikh San'an beneath the Window of the Christian Maiden", Folio18r from a Mantiq al-tair (Language of the Birds) | Islamic | The Met - "A celebrated shaikh named San'an went from Ka'ba to Greece and fell in love with a Christian maiden. At her suggestion, he became a Christian and even looked after swine, which are considered unclean in Islam. When his disciples heard about this, they came to Greece and prayed to God that Shaikh San'an would return to the right path. Due to the disciples' prayers, he revived his Muslim faith and returned to his home in the Hijaz. Then, repenting of her deed, the Christian maiden followed him and converted to Islam. Shaikh San'an sensed that she had true faith in Islam and turned back to seek her with his disciples. When she saw Shaikh San'an, she fainted and this made him cry. Later, when the Christian maiden recovered consciousness, she begged his pardon and died."
Plaque: The Christ Child as Navigator - "Here the Christ Child is shown as a sailor, steering the ship representing the church. The mast of the ship is formed as a cross. He holds a globe with a cross, symbolic of his role as Saviour of the World. Many details relate to the Crucifixion, foreshadowing his fate. Across the deck are disks, each of which contains an emblem representing the agonies of Christ's trials, including the flagellation, crown of thorns, and nails used in crucifixion."
Interestingly, this is an Asian innovation and European iconography followed the appearance in the Asian variety
Dear Jimmy Kimmel, Megan Fox's Pregnancy Is None Of Your Business
Comments: "A comedian made a joke. Alert the authorities. You guys are too much sometimes.I'd hate ot live in your world, where everything is taboo. If Megan Fox didn't like it, I'm sure she would have told him to shove it. She doesn't appear to need your "defense," aka sniveling over everything"
"This is a really stupid thing to get mad about. Those interviews have pre-planned questions and she was promoting a movie. I feel stupider for having read this article."
Facebook will start scanning 10,000 posts a second to make comments less terrible - "It’s the technology behind the scenes that can distinguish the words “I need a ride,” in which case Messenger might prompt you to order an Uber, versus “I was going to get a ride,” in which case the moment has already passed. Not to mention “I like to ride a donkey,” which is a whole different thing entirely."
Why Giving Captain America A Boyfriend Makes Sense
Comment: "The thing is that the Marvel universe desperately needs:
a feminazi super hero,
a MRA superhero,
a racist superhero,
a junkie super hero (for every hard drug there is)
a greedy poiltician superhero,
a communist, a fascist superhero, why not?
a foot fetishist superhero...
a superhero that just want's to jerk it off by himself,
a sado-masochist super hero,
a transexual superhero,
a rapist superhero,
a bestiality lover superhero,
a pedophile superhero...
Should we also make religious fanitic superheroes for every religion?
Yes, I thought so... cause you know, people nowadays needs something to identify with.
Women in Refrigerators - "most of my favorite female comics characters had met untimely and often icky ends"
X-Men: Apocalypse — a spoiler-filled post-film chat - "they're planting that conflict here so they can pay it off in some future movie. The fact that they forgot to give Quicksilver any kind of satisfying arc in this film just speaks to the borderline contempt Apocalypse has for its audience. It's not so much a movie as it is a random sensory experience designed to support a marketing campaign, and if that means using fistfuls of dated tropes, taking huge leaps of logic, or ignoring even the basics of storytelling… well, the film itself certainly doesn't seem to care. "I'm an X-Men movie," Apocalypse appears to be saying, "and you're going to come see me whether I'm good or not.""
The perils of percentages - "In the late 1970s, the Mexico city government increased the capacity of the Viaducto, a four-lane motorway, by re-painting lines to make it six lanes wide—in effect, a 50% increase in capacity. Unfortunately, this also resulted in an increase in fatal accidents. After a year the Viaducto was changed back to a four-lane road—a 33% capacity reduction. The government, casting around for facts to support its claims of social progress, subtracted that 33% reduction from the 50% increase to claim a net increase in capacity of 17%."
The Wealthy in Florence Today Are the Same Families as 600 Years Ago - "The entire top 33% of the income distribution in 1427 is likely to be wealthier today. This is a far broader group than Medici princes and dukes, with castles and estates to hand down through the centuries. This suggests that some 25 generations later, the hundreds of descendants of comfortable — but far-from-regal — leathermakers are likely to be doing quite well, and it’s not because they inherited great(x25)-grandpa’s shoes and belts, let alone his palaces."
A slave in Scotland: ‘I fell into a trap – and I couldn't get out’
As I suspected, the shockingly high number of modern day "slaves" is because of a very generous definition of slavery
Why Is Marijuana Banned? The Real Reasons Are Worse Than You Think - "alcohol prohibition finally ended — and Harry Anslinger was afraid. He found himself in charge of a huge government department, with nothing for it to do. Up until then, he had said that cannabis was not a problem. It doesn’t harm people, he explained, and “there is no more absurd fallacy” than the idea it makes people violent. But then — suddenly, when his department needed a new purpose — he announced he had changed his mind... What evidence did Harry Anslinger have? It turns out at this time he wrote to the 30 leading scientists on this subject, asking if cannabis was dangerous, and if there should be a ban. Twenty-nine wrote back and said no. Anslinger picked out the one scientist who said yes, and presented him to the world. The press — obsessed with Victor Licata’s axe — cheered them on. In a panic that gripped America, marijuana was banned. The U.S. told other countries they had to do the same. Many countries said it was a dumb idea, and refused to do it. For example, Mexico decided their drug policy should be run by doctors. Their medical advice was that cannabis didn’t cause these problems, and they refused to ban it. The U.S. was furious. Anslinger ordered them to fall into line. The Mexicans held out — until, in the end, the U.S. cut off the supply of all legal painkillers to Mexico. People started to die in agony in their hospitals. So with regret, Mexico sacked the doctor — and launched its own drug war."
Why migrant workers can't make S'porean friends - "Barely two days after news of the recent arrests broke, Mr Jahangir and his Bangladeshi peers were jeered at by migrant workers of other nationalities. At his workplace, where he is a site engineer, he tells TNPS that many of his colleagues have been making fun of them during meal times.
What do you do when a "minority" oppresses another?
Giant swimming, venomous centipede discovered by accident in world-first
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...
Post ID: 5088418579846806563
Islamophobia in Egypt
Egypt drafts bill to ban burqa and Islamic veils in public places
"The Egyptian parliament is drafting a law banning women from wearing the niqab veil. The ban will apply to wearing the clothing in public places and government institutions, it has been reported.
The full-face veil is worn by some followers of Islam and typically covers all of the wearer’s face other than their eyes. The clothing is common in Egypt which is a predominantly Muslim country.
MP Amna Nosseir, professor of comparative jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University, who has backed the ban, said that wearing the veil is not a requirement of Islam and in fact has non-Islamic origins. She has argued that it is a Jewish tradition which appeared in the Arabian Peninsula prior to Islam and that a variety of Quran passages contradict its use. Instead, she has advocated that the Quran calls for modest clothing and covered hair, but does not require facial covering.
A number of restrictions have been placed on wearing the niqab in Egypt in recent years. In February, Cairo University banned nurses and doctors from wearing it in medical schools and in teaching hospitals, arguing the ban would: “protect patients’ rights and interests.”
In September of last year, the university also banned academic staff from wearing the niqab in classrooms in response to complaints from students that it was too difficult for niqab wearers to communicate effectively with students."
***
Sheik of Al Azhar bans face veil
"In Egypt, the senior cleric at one of the Muslim world’s pre-eminent centers of Sunni Islamic teaching has banned female students and teachers from wearing the niqab – the full-face veil – in classrooms and dormitories.
The Grand Sheik of Al-Azhar, Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, says the niqab has nothing to do with Islam and is a sign of radicalism. Other Egyptian universities have taken similar positions, prompting civil rights activists to complain that the ban violates students’ rights.
Many Islamic scholars believe that full-face coverings are not a religious requirement, but the modern expression of tribal customs and traditions that predate Islam. Such coverings are common in conservative states such as Saudi Arabia and Yemen, though not in Egypt...
Dia Rashwan, an analyst with the government-run Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, says this is part of an ongoing struggle to define Egypt’s cultural references. In the early 20th century, he says, the debate was over the hijab, the headscarf that is now quite common in Egypt, but was controversial at the time...
“Egypt has many cultures. Some of them come from the Islamic era, others from the Mediterranean, others from the pharaohs. We have to respect them,” he says.
The niqab debate has produced strange bedfellows, with civil rights advocates standing with the Islamists in defense of a woman’s right to cover her face."
"The Egyptian parliament is drafting a law banning women from wearing the niqab veil. The ban will apply to wearing the clothing in public places and government institutions, it has been reported.
The full-face veil is worn by some followers of Islam and typically covers all of the wearer’s face other than their eyes. The clothing is common in Egypt which is a predominantly Muslim country.
MP Amna Nosseir, professor of comparative jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University, who has backed the ban, said that wearing the veil is not a requirement of Islam and in fact has non-Islamic origins. She has argued that it is a Jewish tradition which appeared in the Arabian Peninsula prior to Islam and that a variety of Quran passages contradict its use. Instead, she has advocated that the Quran calls for modest clothing and covered hair, but does not require facial covering.
A number of restrictions have been placed on wearing the niqab in Egypt in recent years. In February, Cairo University banned nurses and doctors from wearing it in medical schools and in teaching hospitals, arguing the ban would: “protect patients’ rights and interests.”
In September of last year, the university also banned academic staff from wearing the niqab in classrooms in response to complaints from students that it was too difficult for niqab wearers to communicate effectively with students."
***
Sheik of Al Azhar bans face veil
"In Egypt, the senior cleric at one of the Muslim world’s pre-eminent centers of Sunni Islamic teaching has banned female students and teachers from wearing the niqab – the full-face veil – in classrooms and dormitories.
The Grand Sheik of Al-Azhar, Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, says the niqab has nothing to do with Islam and is a sign of radicalism. Other Egyptian universities have taken similar positions, prompting civil rights activists to complain that the ban violates students’ rights.
Many Islamic scholars believe that full-face coverings are not a religious requirement, but the modern expression of tribal customs and traditions that predate Islam. Such coverings are common in conservative states such as Saudi Arabia and Yemen, though not in Egypt...
Dia Rashwan, an analyst with the government-run Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, says this is part of an ongoing struggle to define Egypt’s cultural references. In the early 20th century, he says, the debate was over the hijab, the headscarf that is now quite common in Egypt, but was controversial at the time...
“Egypt has many cultures. Some of them come from the Islamic era, others from the Mediterranean, others from the pharaohs. We have to respect them,” he says.
The niqab debate has produced strange bedfellows, with civil rights advocates standing with the Islamists in defense of a woman’s right to cover her face."
Post ID: 4344249707992984276
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Fish Fight
BBC World Service - The Food Chain, Fish Fight
"An Indonesian patrol vessel... did seize a 300 ton Chinese trawler. And arrested their crew for illegal fishing. But as Indonesia was trying to bring that trawler in, Chinese coastguard vessels entered the scene and rammed the trawler free, pushing it back out of Indonesian waters. The Captain here is saying that's not the first time that something like that has happened.
'The Chinese coastguard come with the fishing boats from the Chinese mainland. They are always on standby near the Spratley islands. We move in and try to arrest the Chinese vessel that is fishing in our waters, the Chinese coastguard moves in to try and free them'
'Often they make threats, he says'
'You must release my ship. If not, we will shoot you'...
'You're actually not helping the wild fish stock when you eat a farmed salmon. Why is that? Farmed salmon is a carnivore. In order to farm that fish, you gotta feed it wild fish. The salmon farmers of the world are voracious customers for wild ocean fish that are caught and ground up into little pellets that look like dog food but smell like fish and are fed to the farmed salmon. In the process you put about 4 pounds of wild fish in, and you get about 1 pound of farmed salmon out. Completely inefficient. In fact it's reducing and is a very big way, the amount of healthy wild ocean fish that humanity could be eating by a factor of at least 4:1. In fact it's called a reduction fishery - that's the technical term for that reason.
Now at the other end, the quite good end of farmed fish is the farming of oysters, clams, mussels, why are these good? Because what do they eat? They eat algae. They're filter feeders. And so when you eat a farmed oyster, you're eating something that's made a really tasty and healthy marine protein for you out of algae. And in the process it's even helped to clean the water.
And so I encourage our listeners to eat as many farmed clams, oysters and mussels as they can stomach, and feel very very virtuous in the process...
[Fish stocks] build so fast compared to so many things in nature... if you do the right things, which are quite simple: set quotas and catch limits that are in scientific boundaries, within a 5 or 10 year period in many species you can get a full recovery. It's one of the wonderful things about ocean conservation and the ocean food opportunity is that this is not like waiting 100 years for the rainforest to rebuild. Fish are an incredibly resilient and robust part of nature'...
'Andrew describes fish as the perfect protein'"
China's peaceful rise...
"An Indonesian patrol vessel... did seize a 300 ton Chinese trawler. And arrested their crew for illegal fishing. But as Indonesia was trying to bring that trawler in, Chinese coastguard vessels entered the scene and rammed the trawler free, pushing it back out of Indonesian waters. The Captain here is saying that's not the first time that something like that has happened.
'The Chinese coastguard come with the fishing boats from the Chinese mainland. They are always on standby near the Spratley islands. We move in and try to arrest the Chinese vessel that is fishing in our waters, the Chinese coastguard moves in to try and free them'
'Often they make threats, he says'
'You must release my ship. If not, we will shoot you'...
'You're actually not helping the wild fish stock when you eat a farmed salmon. Why is that? Farmed salmon is a carnivore. In order to farm that fish, you gotta feed it wild fish. The salmon farmers of the world are voracious customers for wild ocean fish that are caught and ground up into little pellets that look like dog food but smell like fish and are fed to the farmed salmon. In the process you put about 4 pounds of wild fish in, and you get about 1 pound of farmed salmon out. Completely inefficient. In fact it's reducing and is a very big way, the amount of healthy wild ocean fish that humanity could be eating by a factor of at least 4:1. In fact it's called a reduction fishery - that's the technical term for that reason.
Now at the other end, the quite good end of farmed fish is the farming of oysters, clams, mussels, why are these good? Because what do they eat? They eat algae. They're filter feeders. And so when you eat a farmed oyster, you're eating something that's made a really tasty and healthy marine protein for you out of algae. And in the process it's even helped to clean the water.
And so I encourage our listeners to eat as many farmed clams, oysters and mussels as they can stomach, and feel very very virtuous in the process...
[Fish stocks] build so fast compared to so many things in nature... if you do the right things, which are quite simple: set quotas and catch limits that are in scientific boundaries, within a 5 or 10 year period in many species you can get a full recovery. It's one of the wonderful things about ocean conservation and the ocean food opportunity is that this is not like waiting 100 years for the rainforest to rebuild. Fish are an incredibly resilient and robust part of nature'...
'Andrew describes fish as the perfect protein'"
China's peaceful rise...
Post ID: 6090362352373582338
Links - 24th August 2016
Meet Fu Yuanhui, The Most Lovable Athlete At The Rio Olympics - "There are lots of great athletes at the Rio Olympics ― Lilly King, Michael Phelps, Simone Biles. The list goes on. But the best Olympian this time around doesn’t represent the USA. She hasn’t even won a gold medal. But neither of those things matter. For there is no one as great, as funny and as instantly lovable as Fu Yuanhui. Oh, there she is on the right. Hi there"
Chinese actress Angelababy's face examined for court case - "Doctors who examined her on Thursday said that her looks were genuine. It came a week after her widely-publicised wedding to actor Huang Xiaoming, who has defended her, saying she "sometimes looks quite ugly". A Beijing judge had suggested that her face be examined by medical professionals to certify its authenticity. The 26-year-old actress, whose real name is Yeung Wing, went through a series of X-ray scans and tests - which at one stage involved a doctor prodding her face - at a plastic surgery hospital... Angelababy, who first shot to fame as a model and actress in Hong Kong, has long been dogged by rumours that she had plastic surgery, with pictures purportedly showing her natural face circulating online in recent years. She is suing Beijing beauty clinic Ruili for carrying an article on its website in 2012 alleging that she had plastic surgery, and is seeking 500,000 yuan (£51,000; $79,000) in compensation."
'Flawed' study casts doubts on mixed-gender units in US marine corps - "women were not expected to pose problems for ground-combat units, so long as clear standards, diligent screening of candidates and good training and leadership were in place. According to the data shared with the Guardian, the study also showed that some women excelled during tests such as hiking quickly with heavy loads and firing artillery under simulated enemy attack, while mixed marine units showed superior morale and problem-solving and better discipline than units composed only of male marines. Furthermore, though the report found all-male units were better at hiking, shooting, gorge-crossing and cliff-climbing, and males suffered fewer injuries, in one section of tests a mixed-sex unit out-marched three all-male units, progressing at five kilometres an hour (kph). The marine corps requirement is 4kph, carrying heavy packs and equipment."
Male Erection Frequency | SexHealthMatters.org - "Another type of non-sexual erection is the reflex erection, which can happen when a man is nervous, scared, angry, or under stress. Reflex erections can also be caused by an enlarged prostate condition, some recreational drugs, and the need to urinate."
More corroborating information on how the "homophobes are secretly gay" claim is not 100% confirmed
Florida lawyer disbarred after having sex with clients in jail, and a lot of drug use - "A Florida lawyer who had sex with her jailed clients so much the warden had to restrict her visitation access has been disbarred. When physical sex wasn't an option, Linda Hadad, 43, would apparently have phone sex with her imprisoned clients."
East Village mall finds a niche among affluent Muslims - "The mall has organically grown to serve a niche market: the Muslim smart set with money to spare. Mr Nio said the shoppers at East Village tend to have greater spending power, who drive and who prefer avoiding the crowded bazaars of Geylang Serai."
If I apply to sell bak kwa there and they turn me down saying "We are not so keen to sell bak kwa as our target audience are mainly Muslim", can I make a police report?
Richard Morin - The Ugly Face of Crime - ""We find that unattractive individuals commit more crime in comparison to average-looking ones, and very attractive individuals commit less crime in comparison to those who are average-looking"...
* "Post-It Note Persuasion: A Sticky Influence" by Randy Garner. The Journal of Consumer Psychology. Vol. 15, No. 3. A Sam Houston University professor finds that people were more likely to complete a survey questionnaire and give more complete answers if the researcher attached a Post-it note. The reason: People interpreted the note as a request for a personal favor.
* "Binge Drinking in the Context of Romantic Relationships" by Judith L. Fischer, et al. Addictive Behaviors Vol. 30, Issue 8. Researchers led by a Texas Tech University professor discover that students who drink too much aren't the best lovers.
* "Women Who 'Do Elvis': Authenticity, Masculinity and Masquerade" by Francesca Brittan. Paper to be presented Sunday at the Study of Popular Music conference in Nashville. A Cornell University researcher studied female Elvis Presley impersonators such as Janice K and Elvis Herselvis and finds them to be "campy, cheeky, and often disturbingly convincing."
Photos Tagged as Art Linked to Rising Property Prices
Dear "Skeptics," Bash Homeopathy and Bigfoot Less, Mammograms and War More - "I’m a science journalist. I don’t celebrate science, I criticize it, becausescience needs critics more than cheerleaders. I point out gaps between scientific hype and reality. That keeps me busy, because, as you know,most peer-reviewed scientific claims are wrong. So I’m a skeptic, but with a small S, not capital S. I don’t belong to skeptical societies. I don’t hang out with people who self-identify as capital-S Skeptics. Or Atheists. Or Rationalists. When people like this get together, they become tribal. They pat each other on the back and tell each other how smart they are compared to those outside the tribe. But belonging to a tribe often makes you dumber... He documents the huge surge in prescriptions for psychiatric drugs since the late 1980s. The biggest increase has been among children. If the medications really work, rates of mental illness should decline. Right? Instead, rates of mental disability have increased sharply, especially among children. Whitaker builds a strong case that medications are causing the epidemic. Given the flaws of mainstream medicine, can you blame people for turning to alternative medicine?"
Married Couples Pack On More Pounds - "Both men and women gained weight but when it came to race, black women had the most rapid weight gain, followed by white women and then black and white men... married men and women may be less concerned about their body weight because they’re no longer actively seeking a mate"
Given that women gain more than men...
How Did 'Angry Birds' Become the Years Divisive Immigration Movie? - "This film is not just another saccharine kids flick but a parable of immigration. Depending on whom you ask, it’s either a racist screed against the migrants flooding into Europe, or a ripoff of Avatar that celebrates the defeat of a band of would-be conquistadores... The Angry Bird Movie clearly has delights for the whole family. Children of all ages, racists, anti-colonialists and SJWs who love spotting heavily buried racist themes will be walking out of the theaters asking for more. Hopefully box office receipts will be strong and we get to see an Angry Birds 2, tackling a new hot button issue like abortion or the right to die."
The Dumbledore Problem: A Post about LGBTQ Characters - "Would it have pleased anyone if Dumbledore had slipped into a stereotype to prove a point and camped and queened his way around Hogwarts Castle, perhaps making passes at male students and teachers and slinging feather boas over his shoulders and generally being terribly offensive? Still, it would have had it in his characterisation! This is the thing, you see: a person’s personality and actions, especially in the wider frame of things where, say, there are magical beasts roaming around, dark wizards wreaking havoc and bloody living paintings and staircases that move, are not really affected by their sexuality... how could we have known he was gay? We couldn’t, and we didn’t, and in the end it didn’t matter in the slightest. That’s kind of how it works in real life."
If you don't write any LGBTQ characters, you'll get bashed. But you'll get bashed no matter what you do, so you might as well save yourself some bother while you're at it
The knowledge economy is a myth. We don’t need more universities to feed it - "The majority of jobs being created today do not require degree-level qualifications. In the US in 2010, 20% of jobs required a bachelor’s degree, 43% required a high-school education, and 26% did not even require that. Meanwhile,40% of young people study for degrees. This means over half the people gaining degrees today will find themselves working in jobs that don’t require one... The occupations most likely to be automated out of existence are knowledge-intensive ones such as auditor, insurance underwriter and credit analyst. Those least at risk of automation are hands-on jobs such as masseuse and fire fighter. The stark mismatch between the number of people with degrees and the number of jobs requiring degrees has created a generation of bored employees who feel like they are working “bullshit jobs”. It’s no surprise 37% of UK employees think their jobs make no meaningful contribution to the world at all... It’s uncertain whether universities are delivering on their core purpose. One recent study tracked thousands of students during their time at university. It uncovered a rather disturbing picture: after two years at university, 45% of the students showed no significant improvement in their cognitive skills. After four years, 36% of students had not improved in their ability to think and analyse problems. In some courses – such as business administration – students’ cognitive abilities actually declined in the first few years."
Unlimited paid leave: there's no such thing as a free lunch - "Your employer is gifting you something, and it’s not precisely clear what you need to give in return. This lack of clarity, coupled with the obligation to reciprocate – so as to clear the debt created by the gift – brings to mind an Innuit phrase that is often quoted in anthropology: “by gifts one makes slaves”... While at first glance such an arrangement may seem liberating for employees, the reality is that without strong cultural guidance from senior management, unlimited paid annual leave is a policy that plays on known behavioural principles to make employees work longer and harder for the same amount of pay. Companies that have trialled schemes like this have found that instead of encouraging employees to take more time off, unlimited paid annual leave resulted in people taking less annual leave"
Disney Will Alter Song in 'Aladdin' : Movies: Changes were agreed upon after Arab-Americans complained that some lyrics were racist. Some Arab groups are not satisfied. - "The lyrics in the film's opening song "Arabian Nights," originally were:
Oh, I come from a land
From a faraway place
Where the caravan camels roam.
Where they cut off your ear
If they don't like your face
It's barbaric, but hey, it's home.
The altered lyrics, which were written as an alternate version by Ashman, are:
Oh, I come from a land
From a faraway place
Where the caravan camels roam.
Where it's flat and immense
And the heat is intense,
It's barbaric, but hey, it's home...
'Barbaric' refers to the land and the heat, and not to the people.""
Today, this would not happen. They'd revamp the whole song
Nulla poena sine lege - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "Nulla poena sine lege (Latin for "no penalty without a law") is a legal principle, requiring that one cannot be punished for doing something that is not prohibited by law. This principle is accepted and codified in modern democratic states as a basic requirement of the rule of law"
Japan's plan to drop swastikas as temple symbol sparks backlash - "So if terrorists hang up the Union Jack, does this mean the UK should change its flag? Or the USA or Australia?"
The Road to Wigan Pier, by George Orwell : chapter6 - "I think it could be plausibly argued that changes of diet are more important than changes of dynasty or even of religion. The Great War, for instance, could never have happened if tinned food had not been invented. And the history of the past four hundred years in England would have been immensely different if it had not been for the introduction of root-crops and various other vegetables at the end of the Middle Ages, and a little later the introduction of non-alcoholic drinks (tea, coffee, cocoa) and also of distilled liquors to which the beer-drinking English were not accustomed. Yet it is curious how seldom the all-importance of food is recognized. You see statues everywhere to politicians, poets, bishops, but none to cooks or bacon-curers or market-gardeners. The Emperor Charles V is said to have erected a statue to the inventor of bloaters, but that is the only case I can think of at the moment."
Star Wars in Italy
Why Chinese couples are having their wedding photos taken in London - "It's a Chinese custom for couples to have their wedding photos taken before they are married, rather than on the day of the nuptials... While London is growing in popularity as a location for pre-wedding photography, Crystal says it still lags a long way behind Paris and Santorini in Greece - partly due to the fact that a separate visa is needed for travel to the UK... While the average tourist spends £640, each Chinese tourist will typically contribute £2508 to the British economy... Tao reveals that many of his clients will only consider using a Chinese photographer - but not just because of the language barrier. "Chinese people judge beauty differently from Europeans," he suggests. In his view, European couples prefer more "natural looking" pictures, whereas his Chinese clients prefer what he describes as a "natural, plus post-production" style. For Tao this means not only changing the colour on some photos, but digitally removing "clutter" from the background, such as litter on the ground or people who have wandered into the frame."
Chinese actress Angelababy's face examined for court case - "Doctors who examined her on Thursday said that her looks were genuine. It came a week after her widely-publicised wedding to actor Huang Xiaoming, who has defended her, saying she "sometimes looks quite ugly". A Beijing judge had suggested that her face be examined by medical professionals to certify its authenticity. The 26-year-old actress, whose real name is Yeung Wing, went through a series of X-ray scans and tests - which at one stage involved a doctor prodding her face - at a plastic surgery hospital... Angelababy, who first shot to fame as a model and actress in Hong Kong, has long been dogged by rumours that she had plastic surgery, with pictures purportedly showing her natural face circulating online in recent years. She is suing Beijing beauty clinic Ruili for carrying an article on its website in 2012 alleging that she had plastic surgery, and is seeking 500,000 yuan (£51,000; $79,000) in compensation."
'Flawed' study casts doubts on mixed-gender units in US marine corps - "women were not expected to pose problems for ground-combat units, so long as clear standards, diligent screening of candidates and good training and leadership were in place. According to the data shared with the Guardian, the study also showed that some women excelled during tests such as hiking quickly with heavy loads and firing artillery under simulated enemy attack, while mixed marine units showed superior morale and problem-solving and better discipline than units composed only of male marines. Furthermore, though the report found all-male units were better at hiking, shooting, gorge-crossing and cliff-climbing, and males suffered fewer injuries, in one section of tests a mixed-sex unit out-marched three all-male units, progressing at five kilometres an hour (kph). The marine corps requirement is 4kph, carrying heavy packs and equipment."
Male Erection Frequency | SexHealthMatters.org - "Another type of non-sexual erection is the reflex erection, which can happen when a man is nervous, scared, angry, or under stress. Reflex erections can also be caused by an enlarged prostate condition, some recreational drugs, and the need to urinate."
More corroborating information on how the "homophobes are secretly gay" claim is not 100% confirmed
Florida lawyer disbarred after having sex with clients in jail, and a lot of drug use - "A Florida lawyer who had sex with her jailed clients so much the warden had to restrict her visitation access has been disbarred. When physical sex wasn't an option, Linda Hadad, 43, would apparently have phone sex with her imprisoned clients."
East Village mall finds a niche among affluent Muslims - "The mall has organically grown to serve a niche market: the Muslim smart set with money to spare. Mr Nio said the shoppers at East Village tend to have greater spending power, who drive and who prefer avoiding the crowded bazaars of Geylang Serai."
If I apply to sell bak kwa there and they turn me down saying "We are not so keen to sell bak kwa as our target audience are mainly Muslim", can I make a police report?
Richard Morin - The Ugly Face of Crime - ""We find that unattractive individuals commit more crime in comparison to average-looking ones, and very attractive individuals commit less crime in comparison to those who are average-looking"...
* "Post-It Note Persuasion: A Sticky Influence" by Randy Garner. The Journal of Consumer Psychology. Vol. 15, No. 3. A Sam Houston University professor finds that people were more likely to complete a survey questionnaire and give more complete answers if the researcher attached a Post-it note. The reason: People interpreted the note as a request for a personal favor.
* "Binge Drinking in the Context of Romantic Relationships" by Judith L. Fischer, et al. Addictive Behaviors Vol. 30, Issue 8. Researchers led by a Texas Tech University professor discover that students who drink too much aren't the best lovers.
* "Women Who 'Do Elvis': Authenticity, Masculinity and Masquerade" by Francesca Brittan. Paper to be presented Sunday at the Study of Popular Music conference in Nashville. A Cornell University researcher studied female Elvis Presley impersonators such as Janice K and Elvis Herselvis and finds them to be "campy, cheeky, and often disturbingly convincing."
Photos Tagged as Art Linked to Rising Property Prices
Dear "Skeptics," Bash Homeopathy and Bigfoot Less, Mammograms and War More - "I’m a science journalist. I don’t celebrate science, I criticize it, becausescience needs critics more than cheerleaders. I point out gaps between scientific hype and reality. That keeps me busy, because, as you know,most peer-reviewed scientific claims are wrong. So I’m a skeptic, but with a small S, not capital S. I don’t belong to skeptical societies. I don’t hang out with people who self-identify as capital-S Skeptics. Or Atheists. Or Rationalists. When people like this get together, they become tribal. They pat each other on the back and tell each other how smart they are compared to those outside the tribe. But belonging to a tribe often makes you dumber... He documents the huge surge in prescriptions for psychiatric drugs since the late 1980s. The biggest increase has been among children. If the medications really work, rates of mental illness should decline. Right? Instead, rates of mental disability have increased sharply, especially among children. Whitaker builds a strong case that medications are causing the epidemic. Given the flaws of mainstream medicine, can you blame people for turning to alternative medicine?"
Married Couples Pack On More Pounds - "Both men and women gained weight but when it came to race, black women had the most rapid weight gain, followed by white women and then black and white men... married men and women may be less concerned about their body weight because they’re no longer actively seeking a mate"
Given that women gain more than men...
How Did 'Angry Birds' Become the Years Divisive Immigration Movie? - "This film is not just another saccharine kids flick but a parable of immigration. Depending on whom you ask, it’s either a racist screed against the migrants flooding into Europe, or a ripoff of Avatar that celebrates the defeat of a band of would-be conquistadores... The Angry Bird Movie clearly has delights for the whole family. Children of all ages, racists, anti-colonialists and SJWs who love spotting heavily buried racist themes will be walking out of the theaters asking for more. Hopefully box office receipts will be strong and we get to see an Angry Birds 2, tackling a new hot button issue like abortion or the right to die."
The Dumbledore Problem: A Post about LGBTQ Characters - "Would it have pleased anyone if Dumbledore had slipped into a stereotype to prove a point and camped and queened his way around Hogwarts Castle, perhaps making passes at male students and teachers and slinging feather boas over his shoulders and generally being terribly offensive? Still, it would have had it in his characterisation! This is the thing, you see: a person’s personality and actions, especially in the wider frame of things where, say, there are magical beasts roaming around, dark wizards wreaking havoc and bloody living paintings and staircases that move, are not really affected by their sexuality... how could we have known he was gay? We couldn’t, and we didn’t, and in the end it didn’t matter in the slightest. That’s kind of how it works in real life."
If you don't write any LGBTQ characters, you'll get bashed. But you'll get bashed no matter what you do, so you might as well save yourself some bother while you're at it
The knowledge economy is a myth. We don’t need more universities to feed it - "The majority of jobs being created today do not require degree-level qualifications. In the US in 2010, 20% of jobs required a bachelor’s degree, 43% required a high-school education, and 26% did not even require that. Meanwhile,40% of young people study for degrees. This means over half the people gaining degrees today will find themselves working in jobs that don’t require one... The occupations most likely to be automated out of existence are knowledge-intensive ones such as auditor, insurance underwriter and credit analyst. Those least at risk of automation are hands-on jobs such as masseuse and fire fighter. The stark mismatch between the number of people with degrees and the number of jobs requiring degrees has created a generation of bored employees who feel like they are working “bullshit jobs”. It’s no surprise 37% of UK employees think their jobs make no meaningful contribution to the world at all... It’s uncertain whether universities are delivering on their core purpose. One recent study tracked thousands of students during their time at university. It uncovered a rather disturbing picture: after two years at university, 45% of the students showed no significant improvement in their cognitive skills. After four years, 36% of students had not improved in their ability to think and analyse problems. In some courses – such as business administration – students’ cognitive abilities actually declined in the first few years."
Unlimited paid leave: there's no such thing as a free lunch - "Your employer is gifting you something, and it’s not precisely clear what you need to give in return. This lack of clarity, coupled with the obligation to reciprocate – so as to clear the debt created by the gift – brings to mind an Innuit phrase that is often quoted in anthropology: “by gifts one makes slaves”... While at first glance such an arrangement may seem liberating for employees, the reality is that without strong cultural guidance from senior management, unlimited paid annual leave is a policy that plays on known behavioural principles to make employees work longer and harder for the same amount of pay. Companies that have trialled schemes like this have found that instead of encouraging employees to take more time off, unlimited paid annual leave resulted in people taking less annual leave"
Disney Will Alter Song in 'Aladdin' : Movies: Changes were agreed upon after Arab-Americans complained that some lyrics were racist. Some Arab groups are not satisfied. - "The lyrics in the film's opening song "Arabian Nights," originally were:
Oh, I come from a land
From a faraway place
Where the caravan camels roam.
Where they cut off your ear
If they don't like your face
It's barbaric, but hey, it's home.
The altered lyrics, which were written as an alternate version by Ashman, are:
Oh, I come from a land
From a faraway place
Where the caravan camels roam.
Where it's flat and immense
And the heat is intense,
It's barbaric, but hey, it's home...
'Barbaric' refers to the land and the heat, and not to the people.""
Today, this would not happen. They'd revamp the whole song
Nulla poena sine lege - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "Nulla poena sine lege (Latin for "no penalty without a law") is a legal principle, requiring that one cannot be punished for doing something that is not prohibited by law. This principle is accepted and codified in modern democratic states as a basic requirement of the rule of law"
Japan's plan to drop swastikas as temple symbol sparks backlash - "So if terrorists hang up the Union Jack, does this mean the UK should change its flag? Or the USA or Australia?"
The Road to Wigan Pier, by George Orwell : chapter6 - "I think it could be plausibly argued that changes of diet are more important than changes of dynasty or even of religion. The Great War, for instance, could never have happened if tinned food had not been invented. And the history of the past four hundred years in England would have been immensely different if it had not been for the introduction of root-crops and various other vegetables at the end of the Middle Ages, and a little later the introduction of non-alcoholic drinks (tea, coffee, cocoa) and also of distilled liquors to which the beer-drinking English were not accustomed. Yet it is curious how seldom the all-importance of food is recognized. You see statues everywhere to politicians, poets, bishops, but none to cooks or bacon-curers or market-gardeners. The Emperor Charles V is said to have erected a statue to the inventor of bloaters, but that is the only case I can think of at the moment."
Star Wars in Italy
Why Chinese couples are having their wedding photos taken in London - "It's a Chinese custom for couples to have their wedding photos taken before they are married, rather than on the day of the nuptials... While London is growing in popularity as a location for pre-wedding photography, Crystal says it still lags a long way behind Paris and Santorini in Greece - partly due to the fact that a separate visa is needed for travel to the UK... While the average tourist spends £640, each Chinese tourist will typically contribute £2508 to the British economy... Tao reveals that many of his clients will only consider using a Chinese photographer - but not just because of the language barrier. "Chinese people judge beauty differently from Europeans," he suggests. In his view, European couples prefer more "natural looking" pictures, whereas his Chinese clients prefer what he describes as a "natural, plus post-production" style. For Tao this means not only changing the colour on some photos, but digitally removing "clutter" from the background, such as litter on the ground or people who have wandered into the frame."
Post ID: 7702226130942248798
Paul Bloom on Empathy
Rationally Speaking | Official Podcast of New York City Skeptics - Current Episodes - RS142 - Paul Bloom on "The case against empathy"
"Empathy is a very bad moral guide. It's narrow, it's parochial, it's biased. It leads you to help the wrong people. It leads you to focus on the wrong concerns. The argument I make is that we're far better off to use a more cold-blooded cost-benefit calculation and use more distant compassion. We should care about other people, but we shouldn't put ourselves in their shoes...
It's because of empathy that societies and governments care so much more about that little girl stuck in a well than they do about the crisis of climate change. It's because of empathy that often we will enact grotesque laws or engage in unnecessary wars because we feel tremendous empathy for the suffering of some individual we care about.
It's because of empathy that the lives of one or two people often matter so much more than the lives of thousands or millions. It distorts your judgments and this leads to all sorts of mistakes...
Wonderful work done by the neuroscientist Tania Singer and the Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, which nicely pulls apart empathy and compassion. They find, for instance, that when you get people to feel empathy for other people, to put themselves in their shoes, this causes suffering on the part of the empathizer. It causes withdrawal, bad feelings, and burnout.
On the other hand, if you get people to engage in contemplative practices that involve caring about other people, so-called “loving kindness”, without absorbing their pain -- you see the person in pain, you don't feel their pain, you care for them but you don't feel their pain -- this actually leads to increased helping, increased happiness, no burnout...
Empathy is bizarrely innumerate. In that, empathy works by putting yourself in somebody's shoes. If you feel empathy for my suffering, you'll feel my suffering. We have this connection. You could do that with me. Maybe you could do that with another person at the same time, but you can't feel empathy for 10 people or a hundred people or a thousand people...
There's actually no good evidence that people with high empathy are in any sense nicer than people with low empathy. Despite everything you might hear about psychopaths and all of that... it's just not the case that being high empathy makes you more helpful. In fact, it might make you not want to engage with people who are suffering because it's too painful for you.
Nor is it the case that being low empathy makes you cold-blooded and mean. Some of the people who scored lowest on empathy are people with Asperger's syndrome or on the autistic spectrum, and they don't tend to be bad people. They often are caring people, rule-abiding people and so on. They just don't put themselves in the shoes of other people...
If you've just felt humiliated and you're explaining to somebody you care about that you felt humiliated, do you want that person to feel empathy for you in a sense that they themselves now feel humiliated?...
Most people want… what Peter Singer calls warm-glow altruism. They like the buzz...
A book by Linda Paulman. Where she once asked warlords in Africa, I forget exactly where, why they chopped off children's limbs. It was such a grotesque horrible thing to do, and like, why would they do it? The answer, and she got this answer from multiple people, was, "We do it for you. NGOs and American and European organizations don't come to our country unless we give you atrocities. The atrocities energize people"... the NGOs pay taxes to the warlords...
Empathy pushes me to care more about white people than black people, pretty people more than ugly people, Americans more than Mexicans... It cause me to value the one over the ten...
There are far more people who were enraged by the guy killing this African lion than there would have been if he killed an actual African...
One of the psychiatrists -- who was also a murderer played by the woman who played Scully in The X-Files -- turned to the main character and said very carefully, "Great acts of cruelty require an immense capacity for empathy."
"Empathy is a very bad moral guide. It's narrow, it's parochial, it's biased. It leads you to help the wrong people. It leads you to focus on the wrong concerns. The argument I make is that we're far better off to use a more cold-blooded cost-benefit calculation and use more distant compassion. We should care about other people, but we shouldn't put ourselves in their shoes...
It's because of empathy that societies and governments care so much more about that little girl stuck in a well than they do about the crisis of climate change. It's because of empathy that often we will enact grotesque laws or engage in unnecessary wars because we feel tremendous empathy for the suffering of some individual we care about.
It's because of empathy that the lives of one or two people often matter so much more than the lives of thousands or millions. It distorts your judgments and this leads to all sorts of mistakes...
Wonderful work done by the neuroscientist Tania Singer and the Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, which nicely pulls apart empathy and compassion. They find, for instance, that when you get people to feel empathy for other people, to put themselves in their shoes, this causes suffering on the part of the empathizer. It causes withdrawal, bad feelings, and burnout.
On the other hand, if you get people to engage in contemplative practices that involve caring about other people, so-called “loving kindness”, without absorbing their pain -- you see the person in pain, you don't feel their pain, you care for them but you don't feel their pain -- this actually leads to increased helping, increased happiness, no burnout...
Empathy is bizarrely innumerate. In that, empathy works by putting yourself in somebody's shoes. If you feel empathy for my suffering, you'll feel my suffering. We have this connection. You could do that with me. Maybe you could do that with another person at the same time, but you can't feel empathy for 10 people or a hundred people or a thousand people...
There's actually no good evidence that people with high empathy are in any sense nicer than people with low empathy. Despite everything you might hear about psychopaths and all of that... it's just not the case that being high empathy makes you more helpful. In fact, it might make you not want to engage with people who are suffering because it's too painful for you.
Nor is it the case that being low empathy makes you cold-blooded and mean. Some of the people who scored lowest on empathy are people with Asperger's syndrome or on the autistic spectrum, and they don't tend to be bad people. They often are caring people, rule-abiding people and so on. They just don't put themselves in the shoes of other people...
If you've just felt humiliated and you're explaining to somebody you care about that you felt humiliated, do you want that person to feel empathy for you in a sense that they themselves now feel humiliated?...
Most people want… what Peter Singer calls warm-glow altruism. They like the buzz...
A book by Linda Paulman. Where she once asked warlords in Africa, I forget exactly where, why they chopped off children's limbs. It was such a grotesque horrible thing to do, and like, why would they do it? The answer, and she got this answer from multiple people, was, "We do it for you. NGOs and American and European organizations don't come to our country unless we give you atrocities. The atrocities energize people"... the NGOs pay taxes to the warlords...
Empathy pushes me to care more about white people than black people, pretty people more than ugly people, Americans more than Mexicans... It cause me to value the one over the ten...
There are far more people who were enraged by the guy killing this African lion than there would have been if he killed an actual African...
One of the psychiatrists -- who was also a murderer played by the woman who played Scully in The X-Files -- turned to the main character and said very carefully, "Great acts of cruelty require an immense capacity for empathy."
Post ID: 2824648628647662036
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
