Links - 24th June 2012

"If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married" - Katharine Hepburn

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Must a Food Critic Know How to Cook? - "More than a few times do I hear some food bloggers complaining (not directed at us): “He/she doesn’t even have training in the kitchen. How dare s/he be a food blogger?”... In 1994, Catherine Lim, renowned Singapore novelist/writer, wrote a political piece which was published in The Straits Times, criticizing PAP and how the party was–and still is–disconnected with the people. Then-Prime Minster Goh Chok Tong responded, if she wants to write a political commentary, join a political party. Must a political commentator be in politics?"

Alleged vice ring boss a successful entrepreneur
That's redundant

Research Shows That the Smarter People Are, the More Susceptible They Are to Cognitive Bias - "“people who were aware of their own biases were not better able to overcome them”... Perhaps our most dangerous bias is that we naturally assume that everyone else is more susceptible to thinking errors, a tendency known as the “bias blind spot.” This “meta-bias” is rooted in our ability to spot systematic mistakes in the decisions of others—we excel at noticing the flaws of friends—and inability to spot those same mistakes in ourselves... the driving forces behind biases—the root causes of our irrationality—are largely unconscious, which means they remain invisible to self-analysis and impermeable to intelligence. In fact, introspection can actually compound the error, blinding us to those primal processes responsible for many of our everyday failings"

Beware the creeping cracks of bias - " The belief is that progress in science means the continual production of positive findings. All involved benefit from positive results, and from the appearance of progress. Scientists are rewarded both intellectually and professionally, science administrators are empowered and the public desire for a better world is answered. The lack of incentives to report negative results, replicate experiments or recognize inconsistencies, ambiguities and uncertainties is widely appreciated — but the necessary cultural change is incredibly difficult to achieve."

Does sitting on cold surfaces give you piles? - "Studies suggest if you read on the toilet you are likely to stay there for longer than you realise, encouraging you to sit and strain"

“The Chemist’s War” Against Bacchus - "The Temperance movement blamed alcohol for many societal ills - such as crime, murder and prostitution - and its membership was overwhelmingly (and unsurprisingly) women who were sick of their husbands coming home drunk when they weren’t permitted to join in on any of the fun. Hell hath no fury like a group of sober women scorned, and the Senate finally caved... alcoholism rates soared in the 1920s, as did crime, thanks to the meteoric rise of bootlegging and organized crime... The Treasury Department also demanded more methyl alcohol be added - up to 10 percent of total product. It was the last that proved most deadly. Alas, while the feds managed to successfully kill an estimated 10,000 people, they were unable to quell America’s passion for booze"

sexual norms - "Sufi mystics adored the beauty of male youths, with their downy cheeks, as a pathway to adoring the beauty of God and some men adored young men for more sensuous reasons. At the same time the effeminate man who had sex with other men was scorned and stigmatised... abstinence was an important means of birth control just about until the invention of the pill. 'I have a headache tonight, dear', was a way middle-class women refused to have too many children... Victorian sexual silence had its advantages for some - close female friendships were celebrated, even when women longed to kiss and hug each other all night - because society thought they weren't sexual... as the recent BBC film The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister shows, some of these women were having passionately sexual relationships"

the importance of forgetting - "Those with total recall often have difficulty making decisions, and more readily miss understanding the overall point of a book or lecture - because they get enmeshed in an undistinguishable mass of irrelevant details. Forgetting, it turns out, has enormous value for concise understanding and for emotional health... The emerging data provide the first scientific support for Sigmund Freud's controversial theory of repression, by which unwanted memories are shoved into the subconscious. The new evidence suggests that the ability to repress is quite useful"

Ultra-Orthodox Jews Shun Their Own for Reporting Child Sexual Abuse - NYTimes.com - "While some ultra-Orthodox rabbis now argue that a child molester should be reported to the police, others strictly adhere to an ancient prohibition against mesirah, the turning in of a Jew to non-Jewish authorities, and consider publicly airing allegations against fellow Jews to be chillul Hashem, a desecration of God’s name."

Foot Health: Happy Feet or Fashion Footwear Failure? - "According to the latest statistics provided by the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA), 63 percent of women reported heel pain as a result of wearing uncomfortable shoes. Women were also more likely than men to suffer as a result of painful shoes. Despite these numbers, the APMA reports that a shocking 82 percent of women say they are willing to sacrifice the health of their feet for fashion"
... women

OK Go - White Knuckles - Official Video - YouTube

Bacon Shell Tacos (AKA “Bacos”)

Daily News on the World of Sweet, Sweet Bacon. - "If you have to ask “why bacon?” then we’re glad you’re here. Bacon Today was founded on the simple principle that a world of bacony goodness exists out there for all to discover and enjoy. Here’s what we believe:
The most versatile meat on the planet deserves some respect.
Breakfast is not the only meal for bacon.
Fashion, Art, Music…all industries seriously devoid of bacon.
Bacon is a treat for all the senses.
Frozen bacon should not be used as a weapon (although it happens).
As some folks have said — it’s the candy of meats!"

Meet-An-Inmate.com: Website reveals America's prettiest prisoners and lets you date them - "Even though these men and women are in prison, it doesn't mean that they are bad individuals. The majority of these inmates are fun, loving, clever, reliable, sexy and very passionate"

FHM Models 2012: The Top 10 - FHM Models 2012's top 10 strut down the runway
They're quite ugly...; "Seems like all we have is a mix of Filipinas, Thai trannies and plain Janes with bad boob jobs and cosmetic surgery"

Food for thought from Tyler Cowen - "'Cheap, quick food–including its embodiment through our sometimes obnoxious agribusiness corporations–is the single most important advance in human history. It is the foundation of modern civilization, and the reason why most of us are alive'... As Matt Ridley once said, we’ve tried eating local before. That was called the Middle Ages"

Man calls police, pickets restaurant’s all-you-can-eat policy - "he was cut off from an all-you-can-eat fish fry after he said he had 12 pieces at Chuck’s Place restaurant in Thiensville, Wisconsin... If this sounds like a familiar scenario, it’s because The Simpsons already did it. In the 1992 episode “New Kid on the Block,” Homer Simpson sues a seafood restaurant after being banned from the all-you-can-eat buffet for consuming “All our shrimp! And two plastic lobsters”"

Dogs Feel Your Pain - "Yawn next to your dog, and she may do the same. Though it seems simple, this contagious behavior is actually quite remarkable: Only a few animals do it, and only dogs cross the species barrier. Now a new study finds that dogs yawn even when they only hear the sound of us yawning, the strongest evidence yet that canines may be able to empathize with us... revious work has shown, for example, that when dogs look guilty, they may not actually be feeling guilty"

Sister of Alleged Romney Target Has ‘No Knowledge’ of Any Bullying Incident - "The older sister of Mitt Romney’s former high school classmate said she has no knowledge of any bullying incident involving her brother and the GOP presidential candidate... "The family of John Lauber is releasing a statement saying the portrayal of John is factually incorrect and we are aggrieved that he would be used to further a political agenda"... “If he were still alive today, he would be furious [about the story],” she said with tears in her eyes."

Often, the silence is deafening - "Sharia law is far from monolithic and consistent; there are four prominent schools of Sharia in Sunni Islam and one major school in Shia Islam. But despite the inconsistencies, there is consensus within all schools regarding the necessity of the death penalty for apostasy and sexual “crimes” including homosexuality, on the need for women to be veiled, and on different treatment under the law accorded to men compared with women as well as Muslims compared with non-Muslims... if you are fighting Islamism or Sharia law in Iran, Egypt or Afghanistan the debate is not framed around racism and Islamophobia... 32 Forced Marriage Protection Order applications were made for children under 16 in Britain last year. At the Islington court, “five or fewer” orders were made to protect children between the ages of 9-11. The Centre for Islamic Pluralism reported of a 15-year-old girl in Pakistan who was tricked into marriage over the telephone with a 40-year-old man from Sheffield, who had the mental age of a four-year-old child. “The Home Office refused to recognise the validity of the marriage but the Islamic Sharia Council in Britain accepted it”... What multiculturalism does is shrink the space to breathe and think and live for anyone deemed part of the ‘Muslim’ community and hands over masses of people – citizens – to the Islamists. Also this viewpoint doesn’t see that this is not about identity but politics and power... staying silent about Sharia law and Islamism won’t stop racism, it will only exacerbate it leaving countless people under the influence of Islamism – separate and unequal. And it also leaves the playing field open to the far-right to scapegoat and blame Muslims and immigrants for Islamism’s crimes. It’s important that there be a vocal opposition to Sharia and Islamism from a rights and egalitarian perspective"

Portraits of Celebrity Impersonators and their Asian Doppelgängers - "For his project titled All Look Same, San Francisco-based photographer Howard Cao photographed celebrity impersonators in Las Vegas and then had Sugar Digital do some post-processing magic to transform their race. The result is a series of images that is meant to ask the question, “Would celebrities be as interesting to American culture if they were Asian?”"

AntiDuckface - "you know that face you make when you're about to take that perfect picture of yourself for the internet?
you know, the pose where you push your mouth out in that sort of weird half-kissy-face to make it look like you've got big pouty lips, a super-defined jawline, and model-quality cheekbones?
it's called "duckface."
because, you know, it makes you look like a duck
STOP DOING IT.
IT ISN'T SEXY.
YOU LOOK STUPID.
REALLY, REALLY STUPID"