Links - 18th August 2013

Urine-cooked eggs a delicacy in China city: ‘Virgin boy eggs’ are spring tradition in Dongyang - "Vendors collect buckets of boy's urine from from local schools and homes in order to make the unusual broth... “It’s so delicious that I can eat 10 eggs a day,” a woman surnamed Liu told Shanghai Daily. “I am addicted." Wu Yunhua at Dongyang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine told the Daily that the urine “diminishes the internal heat of the human body.”"

Police: Kidnapped MoveOn.org Staffer's "Please Help" Emails Went Completely Ignored - "Over months in captivity, kidnapping victim Kat Barr sent hundreds of emails to her MoveOn mailing list only to have them immediately deleted by the recipients without being read."

Why Did So Many Muslims Seem to Celebrate 9/11? - "some of those same voices of [Islamic] moderation had occasionally expressed their approval of Islamic groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah that engage in terrorism. In the years since 9/11, scholars and experts have done little to resolve the contradictions. Often, they have merely taken them to a higher level... Bewildering as all this has been, Americans might have found it easier to negotiate if they had paid as much attention to the Arab side of the terrorists' identity as they did to the Muslim side... Kepel argues that September 11 was a last-ditch effort on the part of Islamist extremists to revive their waning movement. "In spite of what many hasty commentators concluded in its aftermath," Kepel writes, "the attack on the United States was a desperate symbol of the isolation, fragmentation, and decline of the Islamist movement, not a sign of its strength and irrepressible might." Perhaps. But even if true, Kepel's analysis offers little comfort to the victims of this desperate insurgency within Islam. And even if extremist Islamists are only a minority within Islam, no one should forget the lesson of the Russian Bolsheviks: Determined minorities sometimes win."

Should Petain Road be renamed? - "In the light of these historical facts, we must agree with the French community that it is inappropriate to continue to honour Petain by naming a road after him. The question is whether there is a precedent for changing the road's name. I think I have found a good precedent. Chulia Street was originally named Kling Street"

Gen Y more gracious than Gen X: Survey

Woman wastes 98 tons of water flushing toilet|China Scene|chinadaily.com.cn - "A 68-year-old rural woman who went to the city for the first time in her life wasted 98 tons of water over two months by flushing the toilet in her son's home... The lady, surnamed Song, flushed the toilet almost every five minutes because she found it interesting, the paper said. Song told the paper that she thought flushing the toilet was different from running water, and didn't cost any money.""

Mustache transplants on the rise in Middle East - "In 2008 the Jerusalem Post reported that Gaza militants shaved the mustache off a Fatah rival they had abducted"

Need a Mustache Transplant? Visit Turkey - WSJ.com - "Despite Turkey's emergence as a hub for facial hair transplants, the number of Turkish men wearing mustaches has declined rapidly, according to pollsters. A study by Istanbul's TNS Market Research Company found that while 77% of Turkish men had mustaches in 1993, the figure fell to 34% in 2011 and is still sliding. The number wearing beards, by contrast, has risen to 24% from 18% over the same period, a sign for some that the country has become more religious under the decadelong leadership of the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party... "Personally, I'd be suspicious of a Turk who couldn't grow a mustache""

Groucho Marx voted America’s favorite facial hair icon - "the results were particularly noteworthy since Marx's mustache was a fake for most of his career. Marx's trademark mustache was actually made of greasepaint, though he chose to grow a real mustache in later years rather than applying the makeup for performances... Of course, you might want to stay away from the mustache, and any other facial hair for that matter, if you plan on running for public office. Thomas Dewey was the last major party candidate for president of the United States to sport facial hair, losing the 1948 election to clean-shaven Harry S. Truman. A 1986 Boston Globe article even went so far as to argue that Dewey's mustache worked against him in the race."

Do Short Skirts Really Mean Better Times? - " "Fashion used to be much more of an indicator of economic trends," says Marshal Cohen, president of NPDFashionworld, a market research firm based in Port Washington, N.Y. Cohen says over the past few years, the casual look that's become so popular in U.S. workplaces has diminished fashion's importance in indicating trends."

"Printer concept trades your bulky inkjet for a Stack of paper | The Verge - "he's trading the bulk of conventional units for a compact device that sits atop a pile of paper and "eats" its way down"

How One Perfect Shot Saved Pinball From Being Illegal - "Roger had been selected for this particular task not only for his knowledge and expertise, but for his legendary hand-eye coordination. He was there to prove that this was a game of skill, not chance. He was there to overturn the ban. He was there to save the game of pinball."

China's Barking Mad Dog-Lion Zoo to Reopen with 'Correct Signs’ - "Visitors said that the lion at the zoo was actually a dog, which was made clear when it started barking. It also had two rats in the snake display area and foxes purporting to be leopards. A pet dog was also seen in the wolf enclosure. According to the Beijing Times, zoo officials issued a public apology for tricking paying customers - the zoo charged adults 14 yuan (£1.50) for a ticket."

A "Glitch" Made All the Doors in a Max. Security Prison Open at Once - "Even the guards admit that the circumstances surrounding the incident are "suspicious." Perhaps the most suspicious part is that fact that this was the second time in as many months that these doors opened without warning, leading some to suspect that the first incident was a test to see how long it would take guards to react"

New Study Questions Myth Of Left-Brained And Right-Brained Personality Traits - "no evidence exists within brain imaging that pinpoints a difference in the way humans use their brains. "

Elizabeth Loftus: Falsifying memories | Mo Costandi | Science | theguardian.com - "It is therefore perfectly plausible that memories of childhood sexual abuse could be buried for years and then recalled, and that motivated forgetting, dissociative amnesia, or some other mechanism could account for some of the allegations in cases that Loftus has testified in... Some feminists are also concerned that Loftus' involvement in these cases has altered the way in which the mass media and general public view women who make such claims. They argue that the debate has shifted the focus away from viewing those who make the claims as victims, and onto the doubts over recovered memories. The ultimate effect, they say, is to undermine the credibility of all women who make such allegations"

Dying To Get A Free Education: Indian Policeman Fakes Death To Enable Daughter To Enter Medical College

Bill O'Reilly Defends Himself, Says He Donated $25,000 To Al Sharpton's Charity - "O'Reilly made the revelation after Sharpton criticized a segment he did about food stamps. O'Reilly had said that the program was rife with abuses, and allowed some people to be "parasites" — which prompted Sharpton to accuse him of "attacking the poor"... "And here's the crusher on Sharpton," the Fox News host said, defending himself. "He's been portraying me as a racist and a brutalizer of the poor. A few years ago Sharpton told me that his charity in Harlem, New York, was out of money and that it could not provide Christmas presents and Christmas dinners to hundreds of poor people in Harlem. So I gave Sharpton a $25,000 donation to provide the gifts and the food." "I never mentioned it, because it wasn’t necessary to mention it," O'Reilly continued. "But now it is. To prove exactly what kind of person Sharpton is." Sharpton responded to Politico on Friday, saying that O'Reilly should explain why he donated to an organization run by someone who he has accused of being part of the "grievance industry.""
Apparently altruism is questionable when it's by Bill O'Reilly

Rent-a-boyfriend dispatch service: Because Japanese women get lonely too

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

'Creepy Cameraman' pushes limits of public surveillance — a glimpse of the future? - "an unidentified man takes a camera around Seattle and other parts of Washington state, walking up to people and recording them for no apparent reason other than to make a point: How is what he’s doing different than those stationary surveillance cameras tucked away in buildings and public places?"

Walk A Mile Toronto - "“You can’t really understand another person’s experience until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” That’s why we’re asking you to put on a pair of high heels and join the White Ribbon Campaign to Walk A Mile in Her Shoes®"

Prudhomme's Lost Cajun Kitchen Must Offer Atheists Its Church-Goer Discount, State Rules - "A Pennsylvania restaurant owner must offer her church-goer discount to diners of all denominations, even atheists"
I thought private organisations could do as they pleased

Disability history month: Was Tamerlane disabled? - "Rarely can any man, let alone an aspiring world conqueror, have overcome physical disability with such terrifying ease, as hundreds of thousands of Asians, brutally slaughtered and decapitated, discovered to their cost."
Hurrah for overturning able-ist stereotypes!

The French Don't Drink Wine Anymore, World Is Officially Over

Ludicrous sex tips that will ruin your sex life