Links - 16th April 2014

Dix raisons de ne pas aimer les Anglais - "plutôt que ces mesquineries, on préfère retenir tout ce que l'on aime en Angleterre.
>7. Les paysages des Highlands (Écosse) sont de toute beauté.
>9. Les stages de langues et à nous les petites Anglaises...!"

Some Kids Are Never Spanked - Do They Turn Out Better? - "In NurtureShock, we described some extensive cross-ethnic and international research on spanking by Drs. Jennifer Lansford and Ken Dodge. Their data suggested that if a culture views spanking as the normal consequence for bad behavior, kids aren’t damaged by its occasional use. To explain this shocker, the scholars suggested that in cultures or communities where spanking is common, parents are less agitated when administering spankings. Spanking almost never—when combined with losing your temper—can be worse than spanking frequently... almost a quarter of these teens report they were never spanked. So this is a perfect opportunity to answer a very simple question: are kids who’ve never been spanked any better off, long term? Gunnoe’s summary is blunt: “I didn’t find that in my data.”

'Dumb Starbucks': comedian Nathan Fielder reveals he set up parody store - "The comedian Nathan Fielder has outed himself as the man behind a parody coffee shop called Dumb Starbucks that appeared to throw down a gauntlet to the real Starbucks."

Where did my feminist wedding go? - "One of the first things I told my fiancé after we got engaged was, “I am not wearing a fuckingwhite dress.” Fast-forward to now, mere days before the wedding, and I am wearing a fucking white dress. That isn’t all. I spent hundreds of dollars on makeup and makeovers. I purchased multiple pairs of sparkly high-heeled shoes that left me limping after trying them on. I crash-dieted. I bought a pair of Spanx, a modern girdle (a contradiction in terms if there ever was one). One evening I earnestly told my fiancé, “Maybe I should wear fake eyelashes for the wedding.” Without missing a beat, he replied, “Baby … remember feminism?”... By the end of college, I was convinced that makeup, leg shaving and high heels were tools of the patriarchy. I would make such proclamations with an ironic self-mocking grin (but actually, no, seriously, it is the patriarchy). And yet, I participated anyway. It was one thing to think these things, it was another to live them. Really, what it came down to was that I wanted male attention more than I wanted to live by my intellectual principles. So, I resentfully applied makeup and hobbled around in heels that sent me to a podiatrist — until I found my person. Then it was comfortable shoes and an incredibly lazy leg-shaving routine. Conveniently, he didn’t care about such things. This felt like freedom, a battle won — but then there came the wedding... The deep-down truth that I hate to admit even to myself is that I care deeply about what people think. It is cowardly and superficial and uncreative, but I want to fulfill everyone else’s vision of the blushing bride. A wedding, as with so many moments in life, is a social performance — and when these times arise, I am still that teenage girl flipping through women’s magazines, looking for the secret to being acceptable."

We Hacked North Korea With Balloons and USB Drives - "The balloons rise and drift toward the border dividing democratic South Korea and Kim Jong Un’s totalitarian regime in the north. Each balloon carries a bundle containing DVDs, USBs, transistor radios, and tens of thousands of leaflets printed with information about the world outside North Korea. Once the balloons travel far enough north, a small timer will break open the sturdy plastic bags and shower the contents of the packages over the countryside. The text printed on the leaflets is changed from launch to launch; the leaflets we are using today contain a cartoon depicting Kim Jong Un’s execution of his uncle as well as pro-democracy and human rights literature. In preparation for Wednesday’s launch, a group of men and women, most defectors themselves, put together the precious cargo the balloons carry. This group is part of an organization called Fighters for a Free North Korea... many South Koreans regard the human rights struggle in the North as merely a distraction and an annoyance."

How fruit juice went from health food to junk food - "Not everybody is racing to demonise juice just yet. "It's about portion size. 150ml of fruit juice is perfectly acceptable as one of your five-a-day," says Azmina Govindji, dietitian and spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association. "But we would suggest you have it with a meal so it doesn't make your blood sugar go up too quickly. I think the difficulty comes when people think of fruit juice as being a really healthy drink and having half a pint, or having it throughout the day, or where children are being brought up on large amounts... One recent survey found 41% of Britons had a pot of hummus in their fridge"

Suicide Bomb Trainer in Iraq Accidentally Blows Up His Class - NYTimes.com - "a commander at a secluded terrorist training camp north of Baghdad unwittingly used a belt packed with explosives while conducting a demonstration early Monday for a group of militants, killing himself and 21 other members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria... Raad Hashim, working the counter at a liquor store near the site of the attack, burst out laughing when he heard the news. “This is so funny,” Mr. Hashim said. “It shows how stupid they are, those dogs and sons of dogs”... Another resident of the area, who lives near the ministry building that was targeted last week, said: “I heard this today when my friend rang me in the afternoon to tell me about it. He was so happy as if he was getting married. “Which made me happy as well,” the resident said. “I hope that their graves burn and all the rest of them burn as well. I was not happy with the number killed, though: I wanted more of them to die, as I remember my friend who was killed by a suicide bomber in 2007”... Back at the liquor store in Baghdad on Monday evening, Mr. Hashim, in almost a celebratory mood, passed four bottles of Corona to a customer and took his money. “What happened today was not death, but it was life to us,” Mr. Hashim said. “Those 22 who were killed today might have killed hundreds of Iraqis, hundreds of innocent souls. May they burn in hell.”"

It's a scientific FACT: Online comment trolls are SADISTS - "The Canadian psychologists' paper is entitled "Trolls just want to have fun", which is not merely a bit of boffinary humor at the expense of Cyndi Lauper, but rather a reference to one of the researchers' findings. "We found clear evidence," they write, "that sadists tend to troll because they enjoy it.""

Why the CDC Stopped Calling Sex Without a Condom 'Unprotected Sex' - "The advocates’ argument hinges on the fact that there are now multiple ways to have safer sex when the goal is preventing HIV transmission. Condoms obviously still play an important role, but there are other ways individuals can protect themselves as well. Many HIV experts, for example, talk about treatment as prevention. Individuals who are on antiretroviral therapy (ART), which suppresses the replication of HIV, often have an undetectable viral load (a measure of the number of copies of HIV in a given blood sample). Though it is possible to transmit HIV even when one’s viral load is very low, it is much less likely... you are more likely to get hit by lightning twice than get HIV from oral sex... rates of other STDs are on the rise, and men who have sex with men are disproportionately affected."
You wouldn't know that MSM are disproportionately affected if you only read the HPB FAQ

NSA using 'leaky apps' like Angry Birds, Google Maps to siphon user data

Olympians Stand Tall in Their Onesies - NYTimes.com - "OnePiece’s outfits cost $200 to $250, which could be considered a lot considering that it’s basically a sweatsuit with an extra-large zipper. (The zipper disconcertingly extends to the top of the hood, enclosing your face.) But for a certain class of Russians, the price tag is part of the appeal. “Russian people like useless things for a high price,” said Vladimir Zakharov, a shopper who described himself only as “a businessman.”"

Florida Ordinance Makes It Illegal For Homeless To Use Blankets - "this law was applicable to anyone who used a blanket or news paper to cover themselves in public. Even if you got stuck in a city park because it was raining and you tried to shield yourself, you would technically be in violation of this ordinance and subject to arrest. So would your wife and child if they laid down with a blanket at a picnic or festival."

DHL Trolls UPS Like A Champ - YouTube

Anya Deason's answer to Barack Obama Presidency: Second Term (2013–17): Is the South bringing the United States down? - Quora - "If you remember, we had a government shut-down during the reign of Bill Clinton, a born and bred Southerner who was otherwise known as "Bubba." Bill Clinton is a conservative, neoliberal Democrat, and the vitriol unleashed on him by the embryonic Tea Party wing was not anti-Southern, nor was it racial in motivation. The right wing of the Republican Party hated Bill Clinton for appropriating and implementing their economic policy ideas, including the following: balanced budgets, global trade agreements and so-called welfare reform. A lot of media banter contains implications that Southerners are motivated by the racial issues of yesteryear. There are a lot of interracial marriages and mixed race people in the South; verbal assertions of anti-racism don't speak louder than this fact. As predicted by MLK, the South integrated quicker than the North. MLK attributed this to the fact that Southerners had always lived close together. My black history professor illustrated the point by showing film footage of riots during Northern school integration, including multiple shots of well dressed housewives, participating in attempts to turn over cars, etc. In the Southern footage, it was just a narrow band of zealots, and they have long since faded into the background down here... For the liberal wing of the media, it's easier to fight the Civil Rights Movement over and over again than to address today's oppressive issue: income inequality. It also allows media figures to feel like heroic characters from a Harper Lee novel, "great white hopes" so to speak. Some media figures cross the threshold of bigotry in their portrayal of the South, especially class-based bigotry. It seems like humans require a group to look down on, thereby pumping themselves up; and since it isn't socially acceptable to mock minorities, some in the media are deriving satisfaction from belittling Southerners... In Southern cities with a 15% minority population, there are many large corporate workplaces and large government agencies, where minorities comprise 80% to 90% of the workforce. Many of these jobs require long state exams, and many people jump through all the hoops, wanting these jobs that have benefits and slightly higher wages. I won't list all the specifics in this post, but let me assure you that it is not an advantage to be white in those jobs. In fact, it is a palpable disadvantage to be white in many jobs where whites are in the minority. Where is the media coverage?"

Snake eating itself : WTF

Women prisoners: Sex in prison is commonplace, the male inmates just hide it more than girls - "Inmates even judge each other. There are some crimes that even behind bars are seen as absolutely despicable and even fellow inmates will ostracise you if you are convicted of one of these. The most offensive to all are crimes against children. Although I do remember being at work one day when a van came in and it was rocking. There was a lot of shouting and there were threats being made from one set of inmates to another of what they would do when they got into reception. I was horrified. What crime was so terrible that it would garner such a reaction? Had these people murdered or assaulted a child in the most horrific way imaginable? No, it turned out they had stolen a teddy bear from outside Kensington palace when Princess Diana had died."

In sickness and health, sex keeps older couples happy: study

Japanese porn star hailed marketing genius - "Aoi’s Weibo account, established in 2010, has already garnered over 14,000,000 fans and is ranked 69th on Weibo celebrities’ fame list. So what strategies have been applied to make her stand tall from all competitors? Apple Daily’s columnist and marketing expert Yuan Xu concludes there are three key success factors."