Links - 13th September 2014

Why Does Scotland Want Independence? It’s Culture vs. Economics - NYTimes.com - "It seems slightly bonkers for Scots to get so frustrated about ceding power to bureaucrats in London and turn immediately to bureaucrats in Brussels, but there it is"
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Dear iPhone 6 users: Welcome to 2012! (image) - ""If you need help with your iPhone's new features, just ask an Android user. We've had this stuff for years"

Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America - "Berkeley linguistics professor John McWhorter, born at the dawn of the post-Civil Rights era, spent years trying to make sense of this question. Now he dares to say the unsayable: racism's ugliest legacy is the disease of defeatism that has infected black America. Losing the Race explores the three main components of this cultural virus: the cults of victimology, separatism, and antiintellectualism that are making blacks their own worst enemies in the struggle for success."

Ethnicity and conflict: theory and facts. - "Over the second half of the 20th century, conflicts within national boundaries became increasingly dominant. One-third of all countries experienced civil conflict. Many (if not most) such conflicts involved violence along ethnic lines. On the basis of recent theoretical and empirical research, we provide evidence that preexisting ethnic divisions do influence social conflict. Our analysis also points to particular channels of influence. Specifically, we show that two different measures of ethnic division--polarization and fractionalization--jointly influence conflict, the former more so when the winners enjoy a "public" prize (such as political power or religious hegemony), the latter more so when the prize is "private" (such as looted resources, government subsidies, or infrastructures). The available data appear to strongly support existing theories of intergroup conflict. Our argument also provides indirect evidence that ethnic conflicts are likely to be instrumental, rather than driven by primordial hatreds."
Viewing ethnic conflicts as only about race is seductively simplistic

California affirmative-action ban: Why liberals should let it stand. - "UCLA and UC–Berkeley are far more socioeconomically diverse than most selective colleges. In 2011–12, the proportion of students eligible for Pell grants (federal financial aid for lower-income students) at UCLA was 38 percent and at Berkeley 37 percent, compared with just 13 percent at another top public institution, the University of Virginia. These steps helped accomplish what education is supposed to do—promote social mobility. But they are likely to disappear if universities can go back to recruiting by race. Prestige-conscious universities receive no points from the U.S. News & World Report rankings for admitting low-income students. They’re actually “diverting” funding from things that will boost rankings... To their credit, universities care about racial diversity, perhaps because the lack of it is visible. But they generally do not aggressively pursue socioeconomic diversity except where race has been taken off the table and recruiting low-income students is the next best way to achieve racial diversity. The second major reason that liberals should be concerned about a return of racial preferences is the one raised by the Chinese-American protesters: The shift would hurt Asian-Americans, who have suffered their own history of discrimination"

A German Man Was Evicted Because His Sex Swing Was Too Squeaky - "A German court ruled Friday that a landlady had the right to evict a tenant who broke his rental agreement of keeping quiet between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. by using his “very old,” loud, chain sex swing"

What your doctor wishes you would ask about sex - ""There's this idea that women want to be magically carried off into the bedroom" to spark arousal, explained Foley. But even when women don't initially feel in the mood, said Foley, they may want to make time and effort for sexual intimacy. "Don't expect it to look like Madonna in one of her musical videos singing 'I want it. I want it,'" said Foley, referring to a lyric in the Michigan-bred pop star's 1989 song "Hanky Panky." "Instead, think that once I start being touched and touch my partner," said Foley, "my body will remind me of how much I want it.""
More problems with 'enthusiastic consent'

Dad Calls Cops on Son to Teach Him a Lesson, Cops Shoot Son Dead - "James Comstock told the Des Moines Register he called the police on his son Tyler after the latter took the former's truck in retaliation for refusing to buy him cigarettes. Ames Police Officer Adam McPherson reportedly spotted the lawn care company vehicle and pursued it onto the Iowa State University campus, where a brief standoff ensued after Tyler allegedly refused orders to turn off the engine. McPherson eventually fired six shots into the truck, two of which struck Tyler who was later pronounced dead. The official report claims the action was necessary in order "to stop the ongoing threat to the public and the officers." Tyler's dad says he was unarmed at the time."

American shares contacts of almost 100 Singapore girls he slept with on Craigslist - "During these 4 years, I've bedded 65 Chinese women, 13 Malay ladies, 5 Indians and 9 Eurasian girls.... All very friendly and wonderful sex partners. About 70% were single, the rest married. The one thing common among all of them is that they love sex and other than a half dozen of them, seem to only want to be fucked by Caucasians (at least that's the impression I got from our conversation)"

Answer to What does it feel like to be hit on as a woman? - Quora - "It's really annoying.
A few weeks ago I went to the beach on the prettiest day ever to walk around and take photos and read for a few hours. I left after one hour, because my day was literally going like this:
5 minutes of reading. Interruption by a dude wanting to hit on me. 15 minutes of trying to get rid of him politely.
5 minutes of reading. Another interruption by a dude. 15 more minutes of getting hit on.
Pack up my stuff and go for a walk, because maybe if I'm moving dudes won't bug me so much. Accidentally make eye contact with a passerby. Get hit on by passerby. Tell passerby 3 times that no, I don't want to go get lunch with him and no, I don't want a tour of the downtown.
Walk down the beach some more. Get hit on by three dudes while taking photos of waves. Give one my number just so he'll leave me alone. Save his number in my phone so I know not to answer when he calls.
Leave beach and look for someplace I can read my book in peace."

Rosie Law's answer to What does it feel like to be hit on as a woman? - Quora - "It can be very flattering, but mainly it tends to be annoying. It can be much like being stuck, in the middle of the High Street, by market researchers! You don't want what they're offering, you've told them that you're not interested, but they still keep pestering you in the hope that they can persuade you to change your mind."

I’ve Raped Countless Women—According to Feminists - "If you want to get angry at a bunch of stupid feminist broads, check out this collection of these signs... worse than her sanctimonious expression is what her sign actually says: “I need FEMINISM because men can still RAPE even without laying a hand on a woman.” Now that is one talented man, let me just say. I’ve never heard of such an ability as to rape someone while your hands are basically tied behind your back (and hopefully the guy’s in jail so he never demonstrates his act on me). Of course what this radical feminist is saying is that ogling women is tantamount to rape, and that she needs feminism (as if abstract ideas can be in one’s possession) until that day when men get their choice (choice!) taken away as to whether or not they may direct their eyeballs in the direction of a female."

The coolest, weirdest Internet community you’ll never be able to join - "Bushfield is the one-man impresario behind LearnedLeague, a booming, invitation-only, underground trivia competition I joined two years ago"

Queen Victoria’s Secret Scottish Sex Castle - "Victoria’s grief at the premature death of Albert from typhoid in 1861 was as intense as her passion for him when alive – she became the epitome of the inconsolable widow perpetually in black and invariably sour in temperament. That is, until a rough-tongued Scotsman rekindled the flame."

Jose Canaura - Mobile Uploads - "So I was nominated for ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. I'm not going to participate nor will I pay the donation money. With a little bit of research, fairly simple, I found the following. As of 2012, ALSA has directed only 7.71% of its budget to Research"

That awkward moment when you haven't unlocked your boyfriend as a playable character yet.

People Keep Getting Into Strangers' Cars Because They Think It's An Uber

Draper Kauffman's answer to What does it feel like to be a male who pretends to be a female online? - Quora - "I swapped accounts with her, and you won't be surprised to find out that when I was writing as her, I got all the same sexist shit, and when she was writing as me, she got treated with considerably more respect. So was it the perceived gender, not the writing style, that made the difference? Probably, because the difference was immediate. But I was also intrigued by the fact that our writing styles did gradually shift. Hers became more direct and concise, and I found myself trying to sound more sympathetic to people's emotions and stress levels and writing things like, "It's important to all of us to maintain a level of civil discourse, so it would be helpful if you would be less confrontational in these situations," instead of, "Stop flaming everyone or we'll boot you!"... A decade or so later, playing WoW, I was amused at how people treated female toons differently, even though most people were aware that many (most?) female characters were being played by male players. Random strangers were much more helpful, but also less likely to accept advice, if you switched from a male character to a female character. I also had the impression that male players seemed more cooperative and less confrontational when playing female characters than when playing male characters. So, again, it's a chicken and egg question. Do male players change behavior when playing female toons, and thereby elicit different responses from others? Or do the different responses elicit the changed behavior? Or is it a mutual reinforcing loop based in part on real interactions and in part on our knowledge of the expected differences in gender roles? My hunch is the latter, but I think that we really do automatically adopt the gender identities of our avatars to a considerable extent."

Get Peppy Or Get Out

Get Peppy Or Get Out - New York Times

Much has been written about football players as a disturbed overclass, but on Super Bowl Sunday, let's not neglect that other all-American totem: the cheerleader. Once content with frothy squeals, today's cheerleaders can boast that their athletic, high-difficulty displays cause more deaths and injuries than any high-school or college women's sport. Driven to interpersonal frenzies, they can also get downright nasty:

*Last fall, two high-school cheerleaders from Bainbridge Island, Wash., spiked the drink of a fellow cheerleader with vomit-inducing ipecac syrup. Although police discounted the incident as a possible prank, Ann Noble, mother of a cheerleader who wasn't involved, disagreed. ''They wanted to put her out of the game,'' she said, ''because they didn't think she was a good enough cheerleader.''

*Citing safety concerns, Andrews High School in Andrews, Tex., prohitibted Callie Smartt, who has cerebral palsy and led cheers in a wheelchair, from traveling to away games and cheering on the sideline at home games. Her colleagues' reaction: relief. ''It was like she was forced on us,'' the head cheerleader, Jennifer Francis, told a local paper. ''We got sick of it.''

*Karen Reamey, the mother of a junior-varsity cheerleader in Rustburg, Va., was recently convicted of misdemeanor assault and battery for shoving, punching and ripping the wig off another cheerleader's mother in the middle of a squad practice. Motive? An argument over a $5 fee for after-practice cheerleader snacks.
Reacting to the form's broader pathologies, the X-Cheerleaders, a New York-based group of dancers and former cheerleaders, perform feminist cheers at venues all over the country. Though their shows poke fun at cheerleading's misdeeds, a co-director, Jody Oberfelder, still prefers cheering to football. ''I can't get very excited about people running into each other,'' says Oberfelder, who is skipping the Super Bowl. ''Cheerleaders are powerful women doing amazing group acrobatics. It's those silly uniforms that make them look like Barbie dolls.''

Japanese male porn stars rarer than Bengal Tigers: actor

Japan's vast pornography industry is desperately short of men, one actor claims, insisting even the endangered Bengal Tiger is more numerous.

A veteran porn star known only as Shimiken says he is one of just 70 male actors, with just a handful of them doing all the heavy lifting.

"Everyday I meet the same people and see the same names on scripts," he said on Twitter under his @shimiken username last month, adding the number was "lower than that of Bengal Tigers".

Quite why there aren’t enough willing participants is a mystery to Shimiken: "This job is like an Aladdin’s Cave, in many senses."

"In contrast, the number of porn actresses is as high as 10,000, with 4,000 movies released every month," Shimiken said. "We lack porn actors here."

The huge imbalance in the field stands in marked contrast to other areas of employment in Japan, where men outnumber women. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has declared he wants 30 per cent of senior positions occupied by women by 2020.

The number of tigers in the world has fallen drastically from around 100,000 in the early 20th century to about 4,000 today, according to the international conservation body, WWF.

Most Bengal tigers live in India, where a little over 1,700 are found, according to another conservation group, the IUCN Global Species Programme.

Everyone's A Little Bit Racist

"I was talking about racist comments with my therapist, who's an Indian by the way, and we had so much laughter over it. He told me that he believes everyone is racist, which i find appalling, and after his explanation, I can agree to his point. One being, as born and bred Singaporeans, we had kinda seen enough racist during the early days, when I was a kid in fact. However, once when we are able to overlook the race issue, and just accept ourselves as who we are, racist comments does not affect us at all. Instead, it provides a platform to laugh about oneself, and to share it with other races. Like my Indian therapist will tell me the racist comments about Indians, and he laughs about it, and I shared by version of Chinese racist jokes. The idea being, we are living in a multiracial country, and it is a fact. There's no need to pretend that at times we havn't no racist thoughts. To pretend that we are not racist is quite a joke. Everyone is racist in minor ways. The fact that I do not date my own race, as a chinese, I never had a chinese partner. That act itself made me a racist in his point of view. So in other words, racist comments will not hurt us, if we can learn to laugh about it, the absurdity of it, or the slight truth in it. It is about how the individual reacts and the interactions amongst human that make a racist comment vile or simply a laughable topic to share. Being a gay chinese woman, my favourite racist comment has always been 'the straightest part of a chinese person is only the hair'. Personally I think it is funny. It's the perception of it. For usually, one tells a racist joke in the idea of joke, but also the connotation to bring another race down. But it also help one to learn how to laugh at oneself, and put perspective on a lighter note. Instead of seeing it as a form of vile triggers. Ultimately, the simple fact that there are different races itself is a universal truth. And that despite of the fact that we pretend that we are not racist, or try had to be a non racist, we are born racist. But of course, it all boils down to individuals, who makes the how racist ideology malicious, or we just simply live with the fact and enjoy the ride. For we know, that if we don't give it the attention it wants, that vileness can't hurt nobody."



The Same: From my understanding, it is a natural thing for humans to distrust and show fear and aggression towards other humans whom we choose to believe, are different from ourselves. It could be a religion thing, a race thing, a sexuality thing, it could be of a nation thing. I am having problem understanding the issue of naming and categorizing types of people. Like Racist and Xenophobes.

Links - 9th September 2014

Soul mates are doomed - "Why wouldn’t anyone want to be with someone who was made for them in heaven? Well, because taking that view of a relationship could ultimately contribute to the couple’s demise, according to a new study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Researchers observed that while there are myriad ways people talk about love, two common ways of framing relationships — the “other half/soul mate” approach and the “our love is a journey, look how far we’ve come” approach — both contribute hugely to the way people view conflict in their relationships, but in nearly opposite ways. For people with a we’re-on-a-journey view of their partners, everyday relationship struggles are just surmountable hurdles along the way. But for “soul mates,” conflicts are more difficult to deal with — after all, if two people are truly “made for each other,” why would they face any conflict in the first place? “Our findings corroborate prior research showing that people who implicitly think of relationships as perfect unity between soul mates have worse relationships than people who implicitly think of relationships as a journey of growing and working things out”"

Coca Cola's Dasani Bottled Water has Lethal Drug: Facts - "It is a fact that potassium chloride is used as a lethal drug, in some cardiac surgery procedures that cannot be carried out on the beating heart. In such cases, the surgical team will bypass the heart with a heart-lung machine and inject potassium chloride into the heart muscle to stop the heartbeat. However, the amount of potassium chloride used is the key here. As mentioned in an article on OpEdNews.com that raises these concerns, for potassium chloride to be toxic, a person has to consume more than 2500 mg/kg (of his weight) of KCl, which is an extremely large amount. The amount of KCl, which is less than 5 mg in each Dasani bottled water, is negligible according to FDA standards. Responding to these concerns, a representative from Coca-Cola stated that potassium chloride is added to their Dasani bottled water "because consumers prefer it.""

Students outraged as Yale fraternity suspended for 'no means yes' chants establishes chapter at Edinburgh - "The Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA) has developed a reputation this academic year for having a zero-tolerance attitude towards misogyny, and 'lad culture'. In September 2013, it became the first students' union in the country to ban the controversial anthem 'Blurred Lines', while in December, it passed a motion declaring that 'EUSA is a feminist'... Natan Misak, a second year Economics student at the University of Edinburgh, originally from Brooklyn, New York, said: "One of the reasons I left the US for university was to escape the 'bro culture' of frats. I wanted to get away from the 'us' versus 'them' mentality that they breed.""
Presumably feminists don't have an 'us' versus 'them' mentality. Maybe because 'misogynists' aren't real people

The New York Times > Books > Sunday Book Review > 'The End of Poverty': Brother, Can You Spare $195 Billion? - "Sachs's missionary zeal is infectious, but the flaws in ''The End of Poverty'' should sound important notes of caution. There is, for one thing, the matter of Sachs's ego. Anyone who can write that ''as a young faculty member, I lectured widely to high acclaim, published broadly and was on a rapid academic climb to tenure, which I received in 1983 when I was 28'' clearly lacks the gift of understatement. This faith in his own abilities is what allowed him, as a relative newcomer to development economics, to declare that he had found the answer to extreme global poverty where others who had devoted their lives to it have failed. However, longtime experts in the field who read this book may feel a strong sense of déjà vu. They should. Much of Sachs's argument can be summed up in this passage from Walt W. Rostow's book ''The Stages of Economic Growth,'' written in 1960: ''The creation of the preconditions for takeoff was largely a matter of building social overhead capital -- railways, ports and roads -- and of finding an economic setting in which a shift from agriculture and trade to manufacture was profitable.'' Sachs neglects to mention the extent to which the Rostow model dominated discussions of development in the 1950's, 60's and 70's. But in that era, waste and corruption fattened up United Nations agencies and recipient governments while doing very little for the poor. As the development expert William Easterly has observed, Sachs's sales pitch has been made in the past, and the results were meager. Elsewhere, Sachs oversells or contradicts his own arguments. On the question of AIDS prevention, for example, he triumphantly cites a recent article to argue against the hypothesis that Africans engage in more sexual activity outside of marriage than is the case in other cultures. Sachs's assertion, while politically correct, is off the mark. The very article he cites goes on to say that because of ''the much higher number of cumulative sexual acts'' outside of wedlock in countries like Uganda, the likelihood of H.I.V. transmission is much greater in Africa. Furthermore, these sexual practices make quick-fix solutions -- like promoting condom use -- much less effective. Similarly, Sachs dismisses critics who argue that culture is an important factor in explaining poverty even as he concedes that religious and cultural traditions have prevented women from educating themselves, which in turn has slowed development. He acknowledges that governments should not invest in business capital: ''When governments run businesses, they tend to do so for political rather than economic reasons.'' But he fails to consider just how much this dictum applies to everything governments run. His unspoken assumption is that governments as corrupt as Nigeria's or Kenya's would allocate health or education investments in a nonpolitical manner."

Article #27, Copyright, Enjoy Arts & Scientific Development : Youth For Human Rights Video - "Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author."
If copyright is a human right, can we prosecute pirates for violating human rights?

Topic: Meatspin source video. — Tinychan - "The magic happens at 6:14 :D"

'Twice as Many' British Muslims Fighting for ISIS as UK Armed Forces - "There are now more than twice as many British Muslims fighting for Islamic State than there are serving in the British armed forces, according to a British Member of Parliament (MP). Khalid Mahmood, the MP for Perry Barr in Birmingham, estimates that at least 1,500 young British Muslims have been recruited by extremists fighting in Iraq and Syria in the last three years."

Answer to Wealth: Is getting rich worth it? - Quora - "being rich is better than not being rich, but it's not nearly as good as you imagine it is... The next thing you need to understand about money is this: all of the things you picture buying, they are only worthwhile to you because you cannot afford them (or have to work really hard to acquire them). Maybe you have your eye on a new Audi -- once you can easily afford it, it just doesn't mean as much to you anymore. Everything is relative, and you are more or less powerless to that. Yes, the first month you drive the Audi, or eat in a fancy restaurant, you really enjoy it. But then you sort of get used to it. And then you are looking towards the next thing, the next level up. And the problem is that you have reset your expectations, and everything below that level doesn't get you quite as excited anymore... Most people hold the illusion that if only they had more money, their life would be better and they would be happier. Then they get rich, and that doesn't happen, and it can throw them into a serious life crisis. "

▶ The Bob & Tom Show Camel Toe Song (Original version) - YouTube

An Arab View... - "As soon as the sirens went off, many Palestinians took to the streets and rooftops, especially in Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods, to cheer Hamas. Sometimes they responded to the Hamas rockets by launching fireworks into the air as a sign of joy, and chanting, "We are all Hamas!" and, "O Jews, the army of Mohammed is coming after you!" Scenes of jubilation over the rocket attacks on Israel were also reported in several Palestinian cities in the West Bank, including Ramallah, the center of Palestinian "pragmatism and moderation." Later, upon learning that Hamas's rockets had failed to kill Israelis in the two cities, the Palestinians voiced disappointment... The celebrations reflect the strong hostility that many Palestinians continue to feel toward Israel despite 20 years of a peace process, and billions of dollars of Western aid. This hostility is the direct result of years of anti-Israel and anti-Western incitement in the Arab and Islamic world. The hostility is directed not only toward Israel, but also its friends -- above all, the United States. Similar outbursts of joy had erupted in many parts of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem immediately after Palestinians heard of the 9/11 terror attacks in the US. And this was not the first time that Palestinians had expressed joy over the targeting of Israeli cities. During the 2006 war in Lebanon, Palestinians and some Arab citizens of Israel took to rooftops to cheer Hizbullah's rocket attacks on northern cities in Israel. During the second intifada, many Palestinians, particularly in the Gaza Strip, used to take to the streets to sing and dance and hand out candies after hearing about another suicide bombing inside Israel. And when Saddam Hussein fired rockets at Israel in the early 1990's, Palestinians also took to the streets and rooftops, chanting, "O beloved Saddam, strike strike at Tel Aviv!"... In today's world of the Palestinians, anyone who talks about peace with Israel is a traitor and a collaborator; but anyone who calls for the destruction of Israel and fires rockets at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem is a hero."

220 minors caught on cybersoliciting - "The National Police Agency reported Thursday that police gave correctional guidance nationwide to a total of 220 minors younger than 18 who tried to provide sex for money or sell their used underwear online from January to June this year... Since more and more minors are attempting to find men willing to pay for sex through the Internet, the NPA reasoned that sexual crimes against minors could not be prevented using their conventional approach of giving guidance to minors found soliciting in busy commercial areas."

Facebook Removes Developer of Elven Blood from the Platform - Inside Facebook - "There are no confirmed reasons as to why the applications have been taken down. However, other application developers have previously complained about Facebook Platform terms of service breaches, like cross-promotion of applications through notifications. Prior to the application’s removal “Elven Blood” had around 240,000 monthly active users according to AppData"
And... now it's on iOS, with a shitty way to invite friends (and the same requirements to have friends to progress)

Iraq Crisis: Kurds Push to Take Mosul Dam as U.S. Gains Controversial Guerrilla Ally - WSJ - "Syrian commanders say the security and quality of life is improving as their guerrilla forces expand rapidly, propelled by thousands of young volunteers. Recruitment is boosted by the deployment of women soldiers on the front line, often in all-female units. "The jihadists don't like fighting women, because if they're killed by a female, they think they won't go to heaven," said one female fighter."

Scientists explain their processes with a little too much honesty [17 pictures] | 22 Words - "We did not make the corrections suggested by reviewer 1 because we think reviewer 1 is a f***ing idiot #overlyhonestmethods"

Religion and intergroup conflict: findings from the Global Group Relations Project. - "When religion was infused in group life, groups were especially prejudiced against those groups that held incompatible values, and they were likely to discriminate against such groups. Moreover, whereas disadvantaged groups with low levels of religious infusion typically avoided directing aggression against their resource-rich and powerful counterparts, disadvantaged groups with high levels of religious infusion directed significant aggression against them-despite the significant tangible costs to the disadvantaged groups potentially posed by enacting such aggression. This research suggests mechanisms through which religion may increase intergroup conflict and introduces an innovative method for performing nuanced, cross-societal research. "
This is a good counter to those who claim that ostensibly religious conflicts have nothing to do with religion, and that religion doesn't make people do bad things

The science behind Isis savagery - "Revenge, which is a strong value in Arab culture, may play a part in perpetuating the savagery. Of course vengeful retaliation for savagery begets more savagery in a never-ending cycle. But more, while revenge is a powerful motivator, it is also a deceiver, because the evidence is that taking revenge on someone, far from quelling the distress and anger which drives it, actually perpetuates and magnifies it"

"There is no better way to learn than to talk to someone who disagrees with you"

Robert Reich:

"I have a conservative friend with whom I make a point to have lunch at least once a month. Why? I like him but that’s not the main reason. He makes me think. In forcing me defend my assumptions and ideas, he gets me to examine them more deeply. I hope I do the same for him. One of the biggest problems in America today is most of us live in ideological cocoons surrounded by people who think like us. Yet there is no better way to learn than to talk to someone who disagrees with you."