Links - 7th August 2013

Martin Ruhs warns government over 'spectacle' immigration policy - ""In liberal democracies we don't want to do the kinds of things that are commonplace in Singapore or maybe the Middle East... The row follows the Home Office's controversial use of vans in London bearing a message encouraging illegal immigrant to "go home". Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg - who said no Lib Dem minister had known of the plan in advance - said he was "very surprised" to see vans "driving aimlessly around north London" telling illegal immigrants to go home, and that they were not a "very clever way" of tackling the issue."

Saudi cleric favours one-eye veil - "A Muslim cleric in Saudi Arabia has called on women to wear a full veil, or niqab, that reveals only one eye. Sheikh Muhammad al-Habadan said showing both eyes encouraged women to use eye make-up to look seductive. "

Veils fuel harassment in Egypt, some say - "Surprisingly, some Egyptian women say their veils don't protect against harassment, as the ads argue, but fuel it. A survey released this summer supports the view... "I think a woman who wears hijab can be more provocative to them," Sayed said. "The more covered up you are, the more interesting you are to them." Zuhair Mohammed, 60, a shopper on the same street who stopped wearing the traditional covering long ago, agreed: "I feel like with the hijab, it makes them wonder, 'What are you hiding underneath?'"... This summer, Egyptian lawmakers called Britain's advisory a slur; Britain responded that more female British tourists were harassed, assaulted, and raped, while in Egypt than in any other country... About half of all the women said they were harassed daily on the streets. Foreign women identified Egyptian policemen and other security officials as the most frequent harassers."

Mickey Mod : « C’est très compliqué pour les hommes d’avoir une sexualité libre » - "Je pense que ma façon de baiser avec quelqu’un s’apparente à une sorte de danse, tu ressens les énergies et les mouvements de ton partenaire, et si ça sonne juste, si le tempo est bon, alors tout s’enchaîne facilement. Je ne me considère pas comme dominant ou dominé, je vois ça comme une exploration sexuelle, un peu comme si j’étais un journaliste et que je me disais : “J’ai envie d’essayer ça, peut-être que je m’y connais moins que d’autres, mais je vais quand même y aller avec un esprit curieux et ouvert et ça va le faire”... Quand j’ai commencé à tourner, je pensais que le terme de “queer” me définissait pas mal, dans le sens où je suis plus intéressé par la connexion que j’ai avec mon partenaire que son genre. Mais ça ne me correspond plus, je ne rentre tout simplement pas dans une catégorie.
Pansexuel ?
Quand je pense au mot pansexuel, j’imagine un mec qui va au festival Burning Man avec un boa en plumes autour du cou… Je viens de San Francisco et là-bas les pansexuels sont plus une communauté, dans laquelle je ne me retrouve pas vraiment... C’est très compliqué pour les hommes d’avoir une sexualité libre, d’arriver à jouer dans des scènes très différentes. On est tout de suite catalogué, c’est beaucoup plus simple pour une fille d’enchainer porn hétéro, lesbien, BDSM… Je ne sais pas si c’est typique des Etats-Unis ou si c’est pareil dans le reste du monde"

What’s Behind Hollywood’s Asian Flirtation? China’s Box Office - The Daily Beast - "“Lots of big social changes have happened for purely financial reasons, and that’s OK, but I think that’s just the beginning,” says the American-born Chu. “I’m excited for a future where there isn’t just an Asian actor included for box office, but an Asian-American actor that has nothing to do with being exotic, or from another land.”
The fact that he uses "Asian-American" at the end is very telling

Chinese Singles' Hangout (local & foreign) (Singapore) - Meetup - "Given the hectic demands of Singapore's competitive economy, singles are drained both physically and emotionally, and most in this corporate jungle leave to chance, their dormant quest for meaningful love. Love should be in our hands and not in the stars. Years of passive waiting to let nature take its course can be futile. Avail yourself to the acquaintances of other singles in these interactive gatherings of free mingling, as you discover interesting personalites that stir your enthusiasm for a fulfilling companionship of love, fun and giving. Avail yourself to the door of opportunities that leads to a world of lovely singles. This hangout is for local and foreign Chinese. It is English-speaking though most are also conversant in the mother tongue. Feel free to bring your Chinese single friends along!!!"
There is also the slightly more cosmopolitan one but otherwise more exclusionary below

Singapore Dating Hut for Chinese, Japanese, Korean Singles (Singapore) - Meetup - "Are you looking for more quality singles friends or to explore opportunities of finding a partner, then join Singapore Dating Hut for Chinese, Japanese, Korean Singles! With the strong Chinese, Korean and Japanese culture via dramas, performance and music in Singapore, we hope to promote cross-cultural interaction and exchange through our singles social events...
Quality Singles Profile:
Presentable appearance
Pleasant behaviour
No ill intention
Age group from 20s to 30s
Singapore Dating Hut for Singles are made up of mainly Chinese Singles, Japanese Singles and Korean Singles. Our singles group is mainly for Singaporean and PR, with selected expats or Employment Pass holders."

Assimilation Studies - "A preference for marriage with cousins characterizes large sections of the Muslim world... the Muslim preference for cousin marriage (along with several associated social practices) helps explain why it has become difficult to reconcile Islamic social life with modernity, why Muslim immigrants in Europe have been slow to assimilate, and ultimately, why we are engaged in a war with Islamic terrorists."

There is no such thing as "King of the Belgians"... - Patricio de Aulia - "The last legitimate document concerning the monarchs over the territory of which consist now Belgium (The Netherlands and Luxemburg) is the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549. 1815 is illegitimate, 1830 is illegitimate etc."
"Seriously Mr. Patricio? You do not recognize the Miraculous circumstance which occurred in Rheims during the Baptism of Clovis as any form of indication?
It is after all none other than Pope Saint Gregory The Great that stated of the event and it's relationship to the Throne of France."
This is an amusing discussion of how divine/papal sanction legitimates European monarchies

B-society - "The B-Society is working towards making a flexible society, which can accommodate different types of families, ways of working and circadian rhythms."

21 Awesome Real Easter Eggs Hidden on the Internet Slideshow

China to Release More of Its Pork Reserves - NYTimes.com - "Some nations have strategic oil reserves. Some keep grain reserves. China has both, and something others have somehow overlooked: a national pork reserve."

Foxconn buildings covered in suicide nets, though most workers are just sleepy and bored - "The saddest part of the whole piece is that the factory workers rarely, if ever, get to use the final products that they're all helping to build - nevermind own one. Considering one of the tenents of Ford's original assembly line was that they price their cars so that everyone who worked on the line could afford one, it's sad to see the biggest electronics factories in the world today don't follow in that spirit."

▶ This is how we never met - YouTube

The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition): Daily News from Korea - Youth Unemployment at Crisis Level - "Youth unemployment has reached crisis proportions, with more than one in five people between 15 and 29 out of work, according to a survey. The survey by the Hyundai Research Institute showed that the real number of unemployed young people stood at 1.1 million in October last year, which translated into a rate of 22.1 percent. The number increased substantially from 990,000 in 2003, when the rate was 17.7 percent. But government statistics put youth unemployment at a mere 7.7 percent in 2011 and showed the number of officially unemployed young people falling from 401,000 in 2003 to 324,000 in 2011 as the young population itself dwindled. The reason for the discrepancy is that the government data do not include those who have given up looking for work altogether and those who keep returning to private training or studies to increase their chances"
No wonder there're so many Koreans in Singapore working in the service industries

Is sexual addiction the real deal? - "the brain response of these individuals to sexual images was not related in any way to the severity of their hypersexuality but was instead tied only to their level of sexual desire. In other words, hypersexuality did not appear to explain brain differences in sexual response any more than simply having a high libido... such symptoms are not necessarily representative of an addiction -- in fact, non-pathological, high sexual desire could also explain this cluster of problems."

REALLY IMPORTANT SCIENCE | Scientists clear the air: Women's farts smell worse than men's

How Chinese Ingenuity Destroyed Salad Bars at Pizza Hut - "it became a fad of sorts to build enormous fruit and vegetable structures at Pizza Hut salad bars. The reason was that customers only got one plate and one trip to the salad bar, so they wanted their visit to be worth it. And was it ever. .. Pizza Hut actually announced it was removing salad bars from its restaurants as part of a menu revamp. It was believed that salad stacking was to blame. Ya think?"

Lewis Liu's answer to Dating and Relationships: What is your definition of the term "slut?" - Quora - "Trick question. A slut is someone who's dirty about it. Cf. the German schlampe, "slattern". This is the old "how many grains of sand make a pile" except with an opportunity for quora folks to make a public profession of feminism by saying "no number is too high". And this is me being grossed out by so much enforced politically correct piety, and laughing at this hugely arbitrary assumption that pro promiscuity is automatically feminist."

George Sawyer's answer to Sex: What is it like to have sex with a flight attendant? - Quora - "he was flying Cathay Pacific, and he was flying first class. He was in his early 30s, an executive, single, and had a British passport... All the girls on the flight, as a matter of routine, checked out the passenger lists in first and business class to find good prospective husbands, and did research on the flight – asking the passengers ordinary questions ‘will you be meeting your wife in Hong Kong?” to confirm if someone was single, "what kind of business do you do?" etc. etc. Martin had not told them what hotel he was staying at, but they had his complete name from the flight manifest, and they sat down and called all the top hotels in Hong Kong until they found him. As a team they watched his hotel lobby, and one girl, who drew the long straw, was the one who ‘bumped into him’ in the lobby."