Links - 22nd January 2015

HolyCrit organiser & volunteer facing a year in jail: Zul Awab interview - "Zul Awab got a phone call from the local traffic police asking him and Khoo to go to the station to ‘help them with their inquiries’. that visit resulted in a criminal charge and a potential jail term. which is slightly ironic, as the Holy Crit was started in the hope of keeping young kids out of trouble. “The idea behind this whole thing to keep these kids off the streets,” explains Awab. “In Singapore we have gangs, drugs, kids getting drunk at an early age, so we are trying to educate these kids about fixed gear and to get them into this sport. They don’t know about how to ride, about safety, helmets, all that. That was the aim.” the ide behind the Holy Crit is to give something back to the cycling community and to help deepen the existing culture there. Khoo runs a bicycle store but was frustrated by the lack of spaces available for the people buying his bikes to test their machines."

The role of reducing intakes of saturated fat in the prevention of cardiovascular disease: where does the evidence stand in 2010? - "the effect of particular foods on CHD cannot be predicted solely by their content of total SFAs because individual SFAs may have different cardiovascular effects and major SFA food sources contain other constituents that could influence CHD risk"

Real Junk Food Project: The Leeds cafe that has fed 10,000 people, using 20 tonnes of unwanted food – and started a worldwide movement - "Currently, a retailer will be prosecuted if it sells food after the use-by date, but not before the "best-before" date. Despite this, supermarkets from across the sector regularly throw food out before its "best-before" date and, in Mr Smith's experience, are scornful about working with enterprises like his, which would happily take it... "We cook the basics in the cafe because many people don’t know how to do the basic things with food," he said. "I know people who think they don’t know how to make a fruit salad and they are 40-years-old. They didn’t get it was just chopping up fruit and putting it into a bowl. We have realized there is a serious lack of basic education in the UK in terms of food awareness, what to make and where it comes from"

Hamas DID use schools and hospitals in Gaza Strip as 'human shields' - "Hamas appeared to admit using human shields to fire rockets into Israel for the first time today, but refused to accept responsibility for the slaughter of hundreds of innocent Palestinians killed in retaliatory airstrikes."
This 'admission', like the original evidence, must be a Jewish conspiracy too!

Malay population the most unhealthy group in Singapore - "Although Malays account for 13.5 per cent of the population, they make up 24.4 per cent of people on dialysis...

Age-standardised stroke rates for every 100,000 men last year was 296 for Malays, 199 for Indians and 184 for Chinese. For women, it was 195 for Malays, 131 for Indians and 105 for Chinese. Age-standardisation removes the influence of age distribution in each group and allows for a fair comparison. Malays are also more likely to suffer heart attacks. Since 2010, they have surged past Indians as the ethnic group with the highest rate of heart attacks."
Would a Healthy Lifestyle campaign targeted at Malays be racist and reinforce stereotypes?

Quebec’s child-care scheme pays for itself, economist - "After 12 years, the Quebec scheme more than pays for itself through mothers’ annual income and consumption taxes"

Why state should pay parents to be at home: It's cheaper than childcare subsidies, warns report

High School Teacher Taught His Class A Simple Yet Powerful Lesson About Privilege | Bored Panda
Comments: "Were these assigned seats or were the students free to choose where they sat? Those who choose to sit up front are usually more interested in learning than those who choose the rear of the classroom. While I understand the concept that the teacher was trying to convey, the students should also be shown that sometimes small decisions (like where you choose to sit in a classroom) can impact your life more than you realize. The privileges that some people enjoy and others do not may be the result of the choices we all make every day."
"I like this. I have a few suggestions. Middle school teachers should teach an additional lesson: the privileged kids at the front will learn how it feels to get spit-drenched paper balls aimed at the back of their heads by less privileged kids in the rows behind them. To teach about communism, place the bin in the center of a circle, so that the bin is equidistant from every kid. Discuss what a great idea this is. Then let the kids arrange their chairs as they wish. Notice how quickly the utopian circle is abandoned, while the more aggressive and sociopathic kids move directly in front of the bin and block the other kids. Explain socialism by asking the biggest bullies in the class to form a small inner ring (called "the leaders") around the bin. The leaders command the outer ring kids to toss their paper balls to the leaders "for the good of the class," while secretly throwing the balls from the outer ring into a separate trash can, and dropping their own paper balls into the privileged bin. If an outer ring kid tries to leave, a leader punches him and sends him back to his seat. The leaders high five each other."
"A better take away would be that, equal opportunity doesn't guarantee equal outcome."
""To be upset over what you don't have is to waste what you do have." -- Helen Keller"
"Every person alive is in front of at least one other person, but we can't live looking over our shoulders"

5 Experts Answer: Can Your IQ Change? - "Absolutely. And there's plenty of evidence documenting this."

The Divorce Surge Is Over, but the Myth Lives On - NYTimes.com - "The divorce rate peaked in the 1970s and early 1980s and has been declining for the three decades since. About 70 percent of marriages that began in the 1990s reached their 15th anniversary (excluding those in which a spouse died), up from about 65 percent of those that began in the 1970s and 1980s. Those who married in the 2000s are so far divorcing at even lower rates. If current trends continue, nearly two-thirds of marriages will never involve a divorce, according to data from Justin Wolfers, a University of Michigan economist (who also contributes to The Upshot)."

Tuition for toddlers – necessary or over the top? - "Each hour-long session includes memory games, Chinese flash-cards activities, worksheets and basic abacus so that he can start doing simple Mathematics mental sums soon. On top of home tuition classes and nursery, Gabriel also attends piano classes and takes tapdancing lessons. Mrs Tan estimates that she spends about $3,000 a month on enrichment classes and school for her youngest son."

Men = Testosterone Damaged Women! – Greg Laden's Blog
Comment: Males = Testosterone enhanced Females
True that sis!

Domestic Violence Between Same-Sex Partners: Implications for Counseling - "25% to 30% of all U.S. women are at risk of domestic violence during their lifetime... Domestic violence is also prevalent in the gay and lesbian communities, occuring with the same or even greater frequency than in heterosexual communities... The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence estimates that 25% to 33% of all same-sex relationships include domestic violence... According to W.O.M.E.N. Inc., a San Francisco organization serving battered women, domestic violence also occurs in one of four lesbian relationships... 50% of lesbians polled at the 1985 Michigan women's music festival said that they had been a victim of domestic violence by a female partner (Oatley, 1994). Fifty percent of those surveyed also said they had been the abuser in a same-sex relationship"
If lesbian relationships have as much or more domestic violence than straight ones, what does that say about 'patriarchy'?

CheckMyPrivilege - "Odds are you found this website because you said something horribly privileged, and some helpful soul linked you here to see just how privileged you are. So go ahead and take our quiz, and remember, always check your privilege!
We helpfully added a link to a store that sells disgusting patriarchal T-Shirts like the one worn by somebody that compensates for his manhood by building large phallic replacements and raping mother nature with them, so that you may more easily boycott such things."

Answer to What is it like to be a blonde woman? - Quora - "the second I coloured black, people treated me very differently. I thought that was because I looked a tiny bit older, like an adult, so I didn't think too much of it. After all, I was almost an adult. I took advantage of this to buy cigarettes (teehee!). After 10 years as an adult brunette however, I simply got very very bored with the lifeless colour that is light brown, and bleached it.
Light Blonde, almost the exact same shade I grew up wth - my natural one was a bit more golden, the hairdresser made this one more ashy.
I absolutely HATED it!
First of all, the change was dramatic, most noticeable by the fact that I had to cut down the amount of makeup I used by 2/3. I barely even touched my eyelashes with the mascara wand before I looked like a bimbo. And people thought I was dumb again"

Indonesia's Jakarta Post rejects blasphemy claim over IS cartoon - "The Post, a leading English-language daily, said the cartoon was meant as a critique of the use of religious symbols in acts of violence. But some Muslim groups said the cartoon was offensive towards Islam. The Post apologised and retracted the cartoon on 8 July, saying it regretted the "error in judgement". On Thursday, police named the Jakarta Post's editor-in-chief, Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, a suspect for religious defamation."
Presumably it is worse to defame Islam than to kill Muslims in the name of Islam