Links - 6th June 2014

Answer to Why is Singapore so sexist? - Quora - "Perhaps because there are organizations that get more funding by propagating that impression?"

The Manipulated Man - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "The Manipulated Man (German: Der Dressierte Mann) is a 1971 book by author Esther Vilar. The main idea behind the book is that women are not oppressed by men but rather control men to their advantage"

Janese Boots's answer to Teachers: As a teacher, what's the funniest thing you've confiscated? - Quora - "I confiscated a packet of M&M's and put them on my table at the front. I told the kid that everytime I saw them ignoring their work or talking, I would eat one. It worked quite effectively, they finished their work and I only ate 2."

80% of Singaporeans Are Poorer Than A Cleaner In Norway | The Real Singapore - "what is perhaps most shocking is how cheap Pampers diapers are! They cost only about $2 in Norway but it is more than 10 times more expensive in Singapore!... public housing in Singapore is as expensive as private housing in Norway. And private housing in Norway is actually twice as cheap as private housing in Singapore, on a relative basis... Taking note that the average Singapore earns only half of what a Norwegian earns and a low-income earner in Singapore earns less than one-fifth what a Norwegian earns, it might be clear at this point that the standard of living in Singapore is way off the mark – our livelihoods are very much dampened... the Norwegian government would first provide free education for its citizens, then extend it to international students. In Singapore, it is the other way around – more than 50% of international graduate and under-undergraduate students are on scholarships, however only 6% of Singaporean students are on scholarships... even though Singapore is now the most expensive place to live in the world, Singaporeans earn the lowest wages among the high-income countries. But of course, we haven’t forgotten about tax and social security. It is a common assumption that Norway has one of the highest tax and social security rates in the world. However, this is not true. For a low-income earner in Norway, he/she only needs to pay 35.2% into tax and social security. In comparison, a low-income earner would need to pay 37% into CPF."

lesbian swagger | miss halfway - "I have noticed that there are always these tells that lesbians give that tell the world about their gayness. I’ve referenced these things before – short nails, zip-up hoodies, etc. – but this time, that is not what I mean. I’m talking about the way that lesbians walk. And I named it.
Lesbian swagger.
Lesbian swagger!!
It’s a thing. Lesbians just walk a cut above the rest. It’s this cool, confident thing that comes from being comfortable with oneself enough to just own a damn room upon entrance, or own the street in which they walk on because THEY’RE HERE, THEY’RE QUEER, AND DON’T YOU WANT THEM!? Yes. Yes, you do. Lesbian swagger was the thing that attracted me to my future girlfriend when I first met her. She stood up and walked over to introduce herself and I found myself immediately turned on; immediately into her. What?! But how!? Lesbian swagger. That’s how."

How Did You Hear About The YMCA? | WeKnowMemes

Now is the time to switch back to Firefox - "I switched back to Mozilla Firefox in the middle of last summer, when it first became a better browser than Chrome, at least for me. Chrome was crashing too often, and in particular, Chrome's built-in Flash was crashing multiple times per day. When it was working, Chrome often failed to display web pages: where the text and images should have been were pale blue blank screens. I put this down to Chrome's heavy consumption of memory and other resources. (Yes, it's my fault for opening too many tabs, but that's how many people work.) In March 2013, I wrote about OneTab, a small utility that would close all the tabs and recover memory. But while that was a temporary answer, it was the wrong answer. Firefox supports 80 or more tabs on the same PC. What's more, Firefox keeps the tabs the same size, so I can still read them. Also, after Firefox crashes, it doesn't try to load all the old tabs at once, so you don't have to wait for it to catch up. Firefox only reloads tabs when you click on them. Perhaps surprisingly, Firefox is now roughly as fast as Chrome, and sometimes loads pages a lot faster. It used to be slow, but Tom's Hardware published a test last June (Chrome 27, Firefox 22, IE10, And Opera Next, Benchmarked) which said: "Firefox 22 pulls off an upset, replacing the long-time performance champion Google Chrome as the new speed king!" There's not a lot in it. However, if you switched to Chrome for its speed, that may no longer apply. While using Firefox, I've discovered many other ways in which it's better than Chrome. In particular, it's much easier to find the tab you need. First, tabs always stay big enough to read, and you can set a minimum size. Second, there are arrow keys you can click to scroll through open tabs. Third, if you hold the mouse pointer over the tabs, you can use the mouse-wheel to whiz through them really quickly. Fourth, one click provides a drop-down menu of all your tabs. Fifth, you can organise tabs into groups and save or reload groups of tabs: this is very handy if you switch between several tasks. Sixth, you can have Tree Style Tabs that work like a folder tree in Windows Explorer. Indeed, you can even have tabs tiled if you want, using Tile Tabs 11.5. Another way to find a tab is to start typing the address in the address bar: you'll be offered the option to "Switch to tab"."

What Japanese history lessons leave out - "Japanese people often fail to understand why neighbouring countries harbour a grudge over events that happened in the 1930s and 40s. The reason, in many cases, is that they barely learned any 20th Century history. I myself only got a full picture when I left Japan and went to school in Australia. From Homo erectus to the present day - more than a million years of history in just one year of lessons. That is how, at the age of 14, I first learned of Japan's relations with the outside world. For three hours a week - 105 hours over the year - we edged towards the 20th Century. It's hardly surprising that some classes, in some schools, never get there, and are told by teachers to finish the book in their spare time... Having experienced history education in two countries, the way history is taught in Japan has at least one advantage - students come away with a comprehensive understanding of when events happened, in what order."

Des policiers chinois à Paris, un symbole dérangeant - "Cet été, ne soyez pas surpris si vous croisez un policier chinois en uniforme sous la tour Eiffel. En Chine, le budget annuel du maintien de l’ordre dépasse celui de l’armée pour écraser toute velléité de révolte. En France, ces policiers viendront « faire de la prévention » face aux pickpockets. Cette semaine, le ministère de l’Intérieur a annoncé cette mesure surprenante – voire choquante, compte tenu de la nature du régime chinois – dans le cadre de son plan annuel pour la sécurité des touristes. « Des patrouilleurs chinois, – policiers pour la plupart – effectueront des rondes sur les sites touristiques », en collaboration étroite avec la police française. Les voyageurs chinois en visite à Paris sont régulièrement victimes de vols, souvent accompagnés de violences, à la sortie des boutiques de luxe, devant les monuments ou au restaurant. Les autorités françaises préféreraient éviter que Paris traîne une sale réputation dans toute l’Asie... Le traité de Prüm, signé par sept Etats de l’Union européenne en 2005 (puis élargi), autorise depuis 2008 des policiers allemands, néerlandais, roumains, belges, espagnols, etc. à patrouiller en France et assister les ressortissants de leurs Etats respectifs."

RUSI - Extracting Counterinsurgency lessons: The Malayan Emergency and Afghanistan - "At the highest political levels, the key was working with prevailing currents. As with American policy in post-2003 Iraq, Britain started with idealistic ideas of introducing Western-style politics, with ethnic groups to be mixed into policy-driven parties. But the British soon compromised with ethnically-defined politics. For example, the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) played a vital role in screening detainees, and the British eventually accepted that an alliance between the MCA and the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) would dominate, with the latter calling the shots in a system of 'elite accommodation'. In more general terms, the British lost insurgencies where they failed to win a major local political ally (Cyprus, Palestine, Aden), and won where they allied with core local groups such as with key factions of the Kikuyu in Kenya. In Northern Ireland, meanwhile, Britain's escape from defeat was linked to Loyalist interest in supporting the security forces, while the ultimate peace agreement had more to do with a stalemate of murder between different local factions, than with any new or increased British military success."

Head butt! Goat Simulator to become a real Steam game - "The news that Goat Simulator will become a real playable video game is another grand instance of a glorified joke becoming reality, much like when ThinkGeek's April Fools tauntaun sleeping bag became an actual product due to popular demand."

Soda Drinker sim has all the fizz, none of the calories - "The world's first first-person soda game will also hopefully be the world's last. Welcome to a bizarre world where you wander about in a haze of cheap graphics while sipping a virtual soda."

The 15 worst PC games of all time - "Aside from classic gods and fantasy, games typically avoid religion in the name of an easy life. The You Testament... goes a different direction. So bad, yet apparently so sincere, philosophers could argue for years about whether it’s actually the best troll ever, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a game about following Jesus around, and occasionally punching him in the face by accident. Sometimes he turns the other cheek, sometimes he threatens to kill you dead. That's what you get when the combat comes straight from a wrestling game. Later, you gain religion-themed superpowers, like terrain manipulation and seeing the world in wire frame mode. No, really. The best thing about all this craziness? There’s a sequel. Same basic game. About Mohammed. Talk about actual giant, steel-plated balls."

The Pathology of Classical Sculpture - Neatorama - "I walked down one side of one of the enormous Vatican halls that extend seemingly unto infinity, each side of which is lined with sculptures, paintings and tapestries, and did an SPL count on a consecutive series of 50 sculptures of males with genital exposure—whether the subjects be adults, children, angels, or putti. To my amazement, almost 80% had lost their sexual termini... far fewer noses were lost than penises: just over 20%... I did a final recount of my small sample group of sculptures, and to my delight—never believe a scientist who claims to be unconcerned about what is found—the number of broken noses, if you include those missing and those repaired and replaced, was over 70%, similar to the number of broken-off penises."

Sperm that attract ants. What does it mean? - Doctor's insight on HealthcareMagic - "Semen contains fructose in it, its a type of natural sugar to keep the sperms nourished. Obviously the ants get attracted because there is sugary substance on your cloth"

Neo Tiew - Abandoned Housing Estate - "In Lim Chu Kang, there is a small public housing area known as Neo Tiew Estate (or Lim Chu Kang Rural Centre). The whole area was en-bloc in 2002, with the residents shifted to Jurong West. The estate was vacated since then, and is currently used for FIBUA (Fighting in Built-Up Areas) trainings by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF)... Built in 1979, there are three 3-storey flats in the estate, numbered 3 to 5. The abandoned flats are accompanied by a wet market and a playground. Lacking maintenance, the flats are left with dirty walls with paint peeling off and rusty windows. Overgrown bushes nearly cover the entire neighbourhood."

▶ Japanese Girl Spends Over $100K on Plastic Surgery to Look Like a 'French Doll' - YouTube