Links - 18th February 2013

Fertility Theories: Can They Explain the Negative Fertility-Income Relationship? - "There is overwhelming empirical evidence that fertility is negatively related to income in most countries at most times. Several theories have been proposed in the literature to explain this somewhat puzzling fact. The most common one is based on the opportunity cost of time being higher for individuals with higher earnings. Alternatively, people might differ in their desire to procreate and accordingly some people invest more in children and less in market-specific human capital and thus have lower earnings. We revisit these and other possible explanations. We find that these theories are not as robust as is commonly believed. That is, several special assumptions are needed to generate the negative relationship. Not all assumptions are equally plausible. Such findings will be useful to distinguish alternative theories. We conclude that further research along these lines is needed."

From Same-Sex Marriage to Polygamy and Polyandry - "if we redefine marriage for one group, there's no logical reason to deny other nonconformist advocates their right to do so, especially if they successfully argue their version of marriage on utilitarian grounds -- it benefits or does no harm to society. I don't know who invented the slippery slope fallacy, but he or she shouldn't be decorated with a medal. Sometimes the slope exists, it really is slippery, and people actually slide down it. In the 1950s, Lucy and Ricky were shown in separate beds. In the late 1960s and early 1970s the Brady Bunch parents shared the same extra-wide king-size bed, but were far apart. Today? No need to describe primetime or daytime TV. The sex drive is powerful, and society has publically slid down that slippery, muddy slope long ago... Of course religious scholars can't deny the clear teaching of the Quran. Allah wills it. So they inform us of the social benefits of polygamy."

Polygamy, Too - "The increasingly prominent profile of Islamic polygamy in the West has inspired a range of accommodations. Several governments now recognize plural marriages contracted lawfully in immigrants’ countries of origin. In the United Kingdom, these polygamous men are eligible to receive extra welfare benefits — an arrangement that some government ministers hope to kill — and a Scottish court once permitted a Muslim who had been cited for speeding to retain his driver’s license because he had to commute between his wives."

Japan Radiation Map
Singapore has more or a comparable amount of radiation than/to a large part of Fukushima

Sex workers don't want rescue - "More than a score commercial sex workers rescued on Wednesday and sent to a shelter in the city began a violent clamour last morning for a return ticket to brothel life... In yesterday's drama a member of the management suffered a minor injury on the arm... "In major raids, initially such things happen," said Padiyare. "In an earlier raid, when 46 girls were brought, the same thing had happened.""

Rescued 'cybersex' girls bolt DSWD office in CDO - "Fifteen girls, rescued by police and National Bureau of Agency (NBI) men from a cybersex den operated by two Swedish nationals, have escaped... the girls escaped after mauling the duty security guard. The girls then flagged down a passenger jeepney and forced its driver to bring them away from the DSWD office"

Chinese prostitutes resist effort to rescue them from Africa - "After a joint raid by Chinese and Congolese police on the karaoke bar, however, the women decided to stay in the country, saying it was easier to make good money there than in China... As well as prostitution, the women, mostly from China's underdeveloped Sichuan province, were able to take cheap goods from China to Africa after visits home and sell them for big profits"

Hookers rescued ‘against their will’ in Angeles City - "“The women don’t really consider it a rescue,” said CIDG Women and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD) head Supt. Emma Libunao, who led the raids. “They kept cursing us, and tried their best to escape”"

What I Learned by Being a Migrant Sex Worker (Part 1): Parrenas - "A decade ago, the U.S. government determined that apart from terrorism, the gravest threat to democracy in the world was human trafficking. It vowed to wage war on this scourge as well as on terrorism... According to the 2004 report, Filipinas who work as hostesses in clubs in Japan constituted the world’s largest group of sex-trafficked persons, making up more than 10 percent of those 800,000 victims... In a nine-month study in Tokyo in 2005 and 2006, I interviewed 56 Filipina hostesses and worked as a hostess myself. None of the hostesses I encountered wanted to be rescued from their employment. Most found that migration had made them breadwinners in their families, a position that granted them decision-making power and earned them the respect of their kin. In some instances, participating in commercial flirtation allowed them to challenge conservative norms that limited the acceptable sexual activities of women. Here’s something else I found, an observation supported by other studies: Filipina hostesses in Japan sell drinks, not sex, in hostess clubs. While they perform sex work in that they titillate customers via commercial flirtation, “sex work” is not “prostitution.” It encompasses a wide array of services including flirtation and stripping -- in addition to prostitution. For hostesses, acts of commercial flirtation include playful bantering, seductive dance and song performances, and, in rare instances, sex acts such as groping and discreet masturbation of customers beneath the table. For the most part, no one coerced my fellow hostesses to work in Japan... migrant Filipina entertainers see servitude abroad as a much better option than their other choice of immobility in the Philippines"
Part 2: "In the clubs, men bond over their ability to objectify hostesses with no admonishment... I often heard customers describe me as “futote,” meaning fat, and “kuroi,” meaning dark. I could not retort because customers patronize hostess clubs not only to avoid rejection but to experience male superiority. Hostesses can express only positive comments about clients. As one of my co-workers observed of our clients, “No one wants to listen to them. No one tells them they are good-looking. No one admires them. That is why they go to the club.” Hostesses try to generate sales by bolstering the masculinity of their customers... For Filipina hostesses, the goal should be job improvement, not job elimination"

Introduction « The Honest Courtesan - "I can almost hear some of my readers’ protests: “Oh, I don’t think sex is dirty, but it’s so intimate. How could you do it with someone you don’t know?” Therapists listen to intimate details of their patients’ lives all the time and give them intimate advice on subjects they wouldn’t discuss with their best friends. My gynecologist sticks her fingers into my vagina without a qualm, and nurses give very intimate care to bedridden patients. None of this seems to bother anyone. Or this one: “Oh, but sex is special; it’s for showing affection to someone you love.” Well, there are many ways of showing affection. If a professional chef prepares a special meal for her husband, is that gesture lessened by the fact that she prepares meals for strangers every day? If a masseuse gives her man a massage, is he concerned that she has been rubbing other men’s backs? If I dated an artist, would the picture he painted for me be any less a gift for his having painted many other women? Of course not... Although I had more than a few clients whose names you might recognize, those names will never pass my lips... those of us in the higher strata of harlotry have professional ethics just as any other professional has. I would no more reveal a client’s name than his lawyer, doctor or clergyman would reveal any of his other secrets... if you’re looking for pornographic detail you may as go elsewhere because you won’t find it here. If I wanted to provide wanking material I’d start a phone-sex business and it certainly wouldn’t be for free!"

Men in India get murdered on buses. Where’s the outcry? - "Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir, has asked all high courts to set up fast track courts to deal exclusively with offenses against women. Why was this? It was because, he said, the brutal gang-rape and murder of Delhi girl has shaken the conscience of the nation. On 26 July 2012, the Hindu newspaper reported that not one, but THREE people had just been stabbed to death on a bus in Andhra Pradesh State, India. There were apparently NO demonstrations, NO international media coverage, and NO demands by to set up special courts to violence against men."

Court OKs Barring High IQs for Cops - "Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, took the exam in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125. But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training.
This seems to be proof that cops/police are stupid (at least if they stay for a while).

The Gadget Hackwrench Religion - "'Fess up - who though that Gadget Hackwrench from the Disney TV series Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers back in the early 90s, was adorable?... Well, believe it or not, a group of Russian fans of Gadget Hackwrench have created a new religion, with the above mentioned cartoon character as the idol. They pray to posters of her, gather to talk about how incredibly great she is, compose songs about her, and spread stickers of Miss Hackwrench, wherever they go. It’s pretty unbelievable, but if Maradona has his own cult, why couldn’t Gadget Hackwrench?"

映画 『デッド寿司』 予告編　Dead Sushi (Long Version)　Trailer　HD - YouTube - "Sushi Action!
Sushi Erotica!
Sushi Violence!
Attack of The Killer Sushi!"

Falling over - "To keep old people from falling down so much, says Dr Frederick R Carrick, play them songs sung by someone special. But Dr Carrick cautions that this is a musical power distinct from the mundane sort that shatters glass or eardrums or a listener's complacency. So rare is this potency that only one singer - 25-year-old French pop star Nolwenn Leroy - is known to possess it."

Are Humans Getting Dumber? - "Roving the African plains in small dispersed packs that would not develop language until much later, survival as an early hunter-gatherer was not for the dull-witted. Life for our early ancestors who made the strategic switch to surviving by their wits was, in Crabtree’s words, “more intellectually demanding than we would commonly think”... this ability to tame nature and therefore mitigate the harshness of our environment may paradoxically be the greatest blessing and curse that our unique intelligence has given us as a species."

Icelandic Girl Fights For Right To Her Own Name - "A 15-year-old is suing the Icelandic state for the right to legally use the name given to her by her mother. The problem? Blaer, which means “light breeze” in Icelandic, is not on a list approved by the government."

Saudi Royal Princess Maha Al-Sudairi 'does a £5m runner from Paris hotel' - "Most offenders in her position would have been arrested on the spot, charged and perhaps would already be behind bars. But because the princess is protected by diplomatic immunity, police were unable to arrest or even charge her with an offence... she had been confined to a palace in the middle eastern state by Saudi King Abdullah after leaving behind a trail of unpaid bills with luxury firms across Europe, reportedly including Dior, jewellery outlets Chaumet and Victoria Casal, and at least one hotel."