Links - 9th July 2014

'Gorilla breast fetish' women sue - "Two women sacked from their jobs caring for a gorilla in the US have sued their ex-employer for allegedly ordering them to show the animal their breasts. Nancy Alperin and Kendra Keller claim they were told to show their nipples to the gorilla, Koko, as a way of bonding."

What Causes the Smell of New & Old Books?

Head teachers raise 'serious concerns' over Islamic school take-over - "Schools across Britain are likely to have been targeted in an alleged Islamist plot to take over classrooms, head teachers have warned. The National Association of Head Teachers said it had found “concerted efforts” to infiltrate at least six schools in Birmingham... attempts had been made to “alter their character in line with the Islamic faith”, including sidelining parts of the curriculum and attempting to influence the appointment of Muslim staff... girls at Park View school were made to sit at the back of the class, GCSE syllabuses were “restricted to comply with a conservative Islamic teaching” and an extremist preacher was invited to speak to children. Last week it emerged that Tahir Alam, the alleged ringleader of the plot and chairman of governors at Park View, wrote a detailed blueprint for the “Islamisation” of state schools in 2007."

Conflict is Normal | ParentFurther - "Conflict is a part of everyday life. As adults, we maneuver ourselves away from conflict throughout our days, and sometimes we know that it just happens. It goes without saying, so it is to be expected that some conflict is also normal in our children’s lives. All adults need to recognize that some of what we call “bullying” may actually be developmentally appropriate conflict and is a normal part of growing up"

Coping with the bullies 'is part of growing up', says child expert - "Youngsters must learn to cope with teasing and name-calling so they are able to handle awkward situations as adults, former Government adviser Tim Gill says. He believes the extent of bullying is being exaggerated by over-protective parents and teachers, who apply the label to childhood squabbles which were previously assumed to be part of growing up. The claims, in a book published today, are certain to fuel concerns over the escalation of the bullying 'industry'. Police officers warned this year that a target-chasing culture is forcing them to make 'easy' arrests for offences such as bullying. In one example, a child in Kent was arrested for throwing a slice of cucumber from a tuna sandwich at a classmate... Ofsted inspections are giving children the impression that bullying is widespread in adult life - and that presentation is more important than substance, according to an academic. Professor Cedric Cullingford, of Huddersfield University, said: 'Teachers are seen to become highly stressed and fearful of the inspectors and from this many pupils perceive inspections as a form of bullying. 'The message portrayed, and taken on by many of the youngsters, is that it's not what you do that counts, but the way you present yourself. Children are learning about spin from an early age.'"

Edward Said Accused of Stoning in South Lebanon - "What began as a family tour of southern Lebanon erupted into controversy when newspapers and websites throughout the Middle East reported that Edward Said, University Professor of English and comparative literature and renowned Palestinian academic, threw stones in the direction of Israeli soldiers earlier this month. On July 3, a photographer from Agence France-Presse, a French news agency, captured Said on film just before he reportedly hurled a rock over the Lebanon-Israeli wire fence border towards an Israeli watchtower while he was visiting the Lebanese border. Said is a prolific writer, whose texts on various Israel-Palestine issues, including his most influential book, Orientalism, have made him one of the West's most respected Arab intellectuals... According to the New York Daily News, Said, who had not visited the location since 1982, when Israel began a full-scale invasion on Lebanon, joined the crowd, saying, "this Zionist phenomenon, which stole the land and displaced the people, is continuing," referring to Israel's declaration of independence over 50 years ago... Said joined in and threw the stone as a symbolic act, the statement said... some sources argue that Said's actions, in addition to the daily stonings, go far beyond symbolic purposes and do, in fact, warrant examination. Israel has complained that the ritual stonings violate the U.N. resolutions that ended the occupation, evidenced by the permanent injuries of several soldiers since the troops withdrawl. Israel-based television journalist Dennis Zinn, who witnessed the stonings, counters Said's claim that members of the crowd threw the rocks for sentimental reasons. According to Zinn, "the Lebanese line up and wait to throw their rocks until soldiers and civilians are exposed." Although Said claimed that he did not aim the rock at Israeli soldiers, nor did he see soldiers in the vicinity, an eyewitness account in the Lebanese newspaper, As-Safir, claimed otherwise. According to the eyewitness, Said had positioned himself less than 30 feet from soldiers in a two-story, blue and white watchtower, from which flew five Israeli flags, before throwing the rock over the border fence. The rock that Said threw hit the barbed-wire fence in front of the watchtower, hitting no one... "He often speaks in terms of reconciliation between Arabs and Israelis," Weiner said. "How could this possibly benefit reconciliation?... Said's claim that he wasn't throwing at anyone reminds me of Clinton's assertion that while smoking marijuana, he didn't inhale," Weiner said... "It does not reflect well on the dignity of the University to have one of its most distinguished faculty members aggravating border disputes between two foreign nations by throwing rocks with a mob""
Working for peace = throwing stones

Opera community up in arms over 'sizeist' comments - "Singers and teachers know that being underweight is far more damaging to a singer’s wellbeing and performance than being overweight… I know from my own journey that I began to sing with far more physical authority when I got beyond a certain physical weight. Below that I just wasn’t a strong enough vehicle to launch sound from freely into large theatres and concert halls"

Synthesized 'solar' jet fuel: Renewable kerosene from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide

The Larger Your Penis, The More Likely Your Wife Will Cheat Says New Study - ""Every one inch longer penis increased the likelihood of women being involved in extra-marital partnership by almost one-and-half times," the researchers wrote. "Women associated large penises with pain and discomfort during sex which precludes the enjoyment and sexual satisfaction that women are supposed to feel." In fact, one woman interviewed for the study told the researchers the following: "Some penis may be large yet my vagina is small, when he tries to insert it inside, it hurts so much that I will have to look for another man who has a smaller one [penis] and can do it in a way I can enjoy." According to the study, 6.2 percent of the 545 females had affairs during the six-month study. Other factors that increased the likelihood of women straying outside the marriage included domestic violence, being denied sex or denied preferred sexual position, being under age of 25 and a lack of sexual satisfaction. "

Why are women more opposed to abortion? - "A 2013 YouGov poll on behalf of the University of Lancaster found 26% of men supporting a reduction or ban, versus 43% of women. Interestingly, 53% of women in that survey believed that life begins at conception, against 35% of men – not exactly "every sperm is sacred", but not too far off. The difference even holds up when you poll Catholics... if it were left to women to vote on the issue, with men out of the picture, there’s a good chance that the result would be in favour of restricting abortion. On the flip side, if only men voted, they’d almost certainly vote in favour of women’s reproductive rights... Husband-and-wife economists George Akerlof and Janet Yellen touched on the problem in a famous (and controversial) 1996 paper on the impacts of new "reproductive technology" in the late 20th century. In it, they suggested that the availability of abortion changed men's attitudes to unplanned parenthood, as neatly expressed by an unnamed "internet contributor": "Since the decision to have the child is solely up to the mother, I don't see how both parents have responsibility to that child." Where prior to the 1960s men would have felt culturally bound to "do the right thing" by sexual partners who became pregnant, medicine now provided them with a convenient get-out clause. It is therefore not that surprising that they'd resist any changes that would threaten that. As for women, there’s the heavy weight of centuries of cultural baggage and social expectation"
I think the reason is that women want children more than men do. And they feel the mystical link to what is inside of them.
Being "pro-women" doesn't mean listening to women; somehow only women are victimised by "centuries of cultural baggage and social expectation"

PERSONALITY TRAITS OF WOMEN WITH BREAST CANCER: BEFORE AND AFTER DIAGNOSIS - "A statistically significant decrease in scores on three scales (Rationality, Emotional Expresion-out, and Emotional-Control) was reported by the patient group"
The stereotype of people who have survived serious illness is they come out nicer and milder. But some become angry, combative and bad tempered

Models Dive 25 Meters To An Underwater Shipwreck In Bali For A Literally Breathtaking Photoshoot

Human-on-dolphin sex is not really that weird - "Truth is, these hands-on techniques have a far more common, everyday application: the breeding of animals. How else do you think semen samples are collected?... I asked Wallen why it’s considered acceptable to manually stimulate animals in order to collect semen for breeding purposes when the same behavior is often forbidden in a research context. “It is strange, isn’t it, that masturbation for commerce is seen as normal and appropriate, but masturbation where its end point is sexual arousal is not,” said Wallen. Sex has an uncanny way of revealing the inconsistencies in our thinking. “I have always suspected that it reflects the odd feelings we have about sexual pleasure,” says Wallen. “It is not pleasure in general, but specifically sexual pleasure.” It’s an important distinction: We think nothing of scratching under a cat’s chin while it purrs, of course, but look askance at a human stimulating a cat in heat. (Although — surprise! — there are videos of people doing that on YouTube too.) As Lovatt learned this week, sex is one arena where nuance is forbidden."