Links - 25th July 2012

Hungry piranha seeks good catch - "A zoo is appealing for a new mate for a female piranha after the fish devoured her previous one"

The mental illness industry is medicalising normality - "a staggering 164.8 million Europeans – 38.2% of the population – suffer from a mental disorder in any year... Such reports are worrying. They may draw attention to a rising toll of human suffering, but they pinpoint the imperialising tendency of the mental health sector. Our ills and unhappiness are squeezed into a package labelled "disorder" and an ever-proliferating assortment of supposedly objective diagnostic categories. A cure is somehow promised, though it rarely seems to come, certainly not for everyone or for ever... On the subject of women's greater susceptibility, it's just as well to remember that women go to doctors far more than men, for all kinds of ills: indeed the way the stats add up, women's greater incidence of mental ills just about equals their greater number of visits to the doctors... doctors could recommend group running for depression, proved to have far better effects than SSRIs. Reading groups, too, offer a definite lift"

Chinese Woman Kills Man By Squeezing His Testicles

Frustrations Of An Asian American Whedonite - "The most familiar blinders for your average Whedon fan involve gender. Joss is well-known as a crusader on behalf of women’s rights... It’s very, very admirable that Joss is able to grasp and articulate the reasons why gender equity is something that is valuable and important to everyone. This is something that a very, very large number of creators would be incapable of doing. It’s even more admirable that he’s become such a vocal and active champion for feminism. It’s also unfortunate that he doesn’t see the overlap with the ongoing racial inequities in America"
I was going to make a snarky comment, but this apparently sincere comment says it all: "joss whedon needs to write a show where the main cast includes the following: women of varying sizes, more than one asian main character, more than one character who isn't straight, and fewer white people than people of colour in the cast overall. toss in a few people who are disabled in a manner that is irrelevant to the plot of the show (and is just a part of their lives). i'd peg that the perfect show". He just forgot to add that they need ugly people too.

Gun control or carry permits won't stop mass murder - "Tighter restrictions on gun purchasing -- for example, eliminating multiple gun sales and closing the gun-show loophole -- may help reduce America's gun violence problem generally, but mass murder is unlike most other forms of violent conflict. Mass killers are determined, deliberate and dead-set on murder. They plan methodically to execute their victims, finding the means no matter what laws or other impediments the state attempts to place in their way. To them, the will to kill cannot be denied... in the chaos of the moment, few gun owners would be prepared to mount an effective counterattack. And in a crowded setting, such as the movie theater clouded with tear gas and smoke, it would be virtually impossible to distinguish the bad guy with a gun from the good guys with their guns"

10 things foreign guys do that make Japanese girls fall head over heels - "1. A real proposal
2. Flattering text messages
3. Makeup flowers
4. Mornings just like in the movies
5. A flower for every occasion
6. Leaving his love in a letter
7. Saying “I love you” on the phone
8. The first and last bite
9. Eat, sleep, breathe, kiss
10. Pet names"
Substitute "Western" for "foreign" and "East Asian" for "Japanese" and we get a broader understanding

Anything But Engineering by Derrick Ko - "Singaporeans don’t want to become engineers... if they do remain in the engineering world, they seek out non-engineering positions such as project managers or analysts. Basically, anything but engineering... Whenever a top independent consultant gives a quote for a project, the first question that’s asked is “why so expensive?”, followed by a reference that outsourcing is much cheaper... for tech companies, business plan competitions are meaningless. People are better off spending time learning to build a better product than a better business plan. As a friend wisely said, “competitions should be about building things rather than talking about building things”... As seen in an exchange I had with a NUS student computing society president, we are a long way off...
“Ok. So do you at least help or encourage students to seek out internships during the break?”
“We are a small faculty so that makes competing in Rag and Flag (a school float parade) tough. So we actually rather the students stay back and help out instead.”"

The Simpsons Theme Song (Vocal Cover) AS HEARD ON THE SIMPSONS!! - YouTube

Old women don't swim, young ones have no career on Twitpic

Liak Teng Lit: Why the dung beetle is his hero - "The human body is designed to die eventually, he says. Fighting death hooked up to ventilators and fed through intravenous tubes results in the patient having 'unnecessary procedures which do nothing but extend pain'. 'But it's easier to overdo than to underdo, because if you overdo, nobody is going to scold you'... He frowns upon how subsidies have inflated the demand for health care and led to shortages: 'The truth is when we go for a buffet, almost all of us eat a little bit more than we normally do. If you subsidise something, at the margin, there will always be more demand'... His fear for Singaporeans today is that they clamour for their rights but disown their responsibilities. 'In cyberspace, there are howling monkeys who scream, shout and demoralise others. 'My worry is that everybody is screaming about his rights as a citizen to get subsidies, but he doesn't feel he has a responsibility to contribute or pay his taxes. They have the right to treatment but don't have a responsibility to take care of their health,' he says."

前奖学金得主治性癖　要将性欲转女友身上 - "教育部前奖学金得主，希望将性欲转移到女友身上，并声称他的主治医生，已经征得该女友的同意"

Thank You for Work Flexibility, Now Let’s Reconsider? - "So what is the answer? Perhaps it is a return to more rigid work hours with a clear delineation between work and home? Perhaps it is simply having two separate email accounts and cellphones? Perhaps it is blurring the boundaries between work and home and accepting the overlaps happily as an inevitability? Perhaps it is being much clearer about objectives and motivations with oneself and one’s employer? Perhaps it is lowering expectations slightly and being content with a little less than absolutely everything we want to absolutely perfect?"

The 11 Most Unintentionally Hilarious Religious Paintings | Cracked.com
Cracked.com's Progressive bias is clear here - it's okay to be offensive towards religion, but just a hint of a joke about women...

Oldest male stripper - Dedication - Explore Records - Guinness World Records - "Bernie Barker (USA) ( b. 31 July 1940), began his career in 2000 at the age of 60 as a way to get in shape after recovering from prostate cancer. Since leaving his previous job of selling real estate, he has won over 40 contests. Sadly Mr Barker died on 21 March 2007, aged 66 years 233 days."

Bovine Boarding at Pakistan’s Traditional Bull Races

Friday - A Rebecca Black Themed Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Book by Daniel McCoy - "Inspired by Rebecca Black's infamous song of the same name, Friday is a choose your own adventure book involving secret societies, Egyptian pyramids, and maybe even an explanation for Rebecca's poorly received contribution to the world of music"

Study: People view information on Twitter as less credible than on news websites - ""Despite the official New York Times ‘‘stamp,’’ these stories were still viewed in a more negative light when posted to Twitter. Participants even saw the larger news organization as less credible"... It’s also possible that greater familiarity with Twitter leads to increased skepticism about the accuracy of information shared there"

Kit Kat Facebook fail - "The picture of the nut brown-coloured bear was used briefly to promote Kit Kat Bars on the Facebook page of the Nestle-owned chocolate bar. The company said it had no idea that the image matched that of “Pedobear”"

Police issue warning about 'Pedo bear' - "At one convention of IT enthusiasts the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department issued a notice warning parents about a man dressed as a bear... "Recently, pedophiles have adopted the bear as a mascot. Although there have been no reported sightings of the image on the Central Coast, individuals dressed in the bear costume and car decals have been seen in Southern California." It remains unclear whether the warning was intended to be taken seriously"

macarons: ladurée vs pierre hermé

#levitationSG - "Inspired by Yowayowa girl, fueled by the Singapore spirit"

Milk was the world's first superfood - "The success of the milk drinkers meant they went on to inhabit most of Europe and explains why everyone who lives on the Continent is tolerant to the milk sugar lactose – unlike 65 per cent of the globe. It could also be why Europe became the first superpower"

You know anot? Whitepaper: Private Tuition in Singapore - "For Singaporeans with kids currently enrolled in tuition, 1 in 2 spend more than $500 a month per child Almost 1 in 3 Singaporeans (23%) think kids should start tuition in pre-school, before they begin formal education Two-thirds or 67% of Singaporeans with kids currently have or have previously enrolled their children in tuition 46% of Singaporeans think tuition is necessary for kids to stay competitive with their peers"

Intellectually disabled teenage girl raped by half-brother - "He then pushed the girl down on the mattress and told his wife to grab her legs. The wife held on silently as he forced himself on the victim... His wife has not been charged. The punishment for rape and sodomy is up to 20 years in jail and either a caning or a fine."
This is even better than claiming you are depressed and getting probation