Links - 12th November 2015

[Theory] Jar Jar Binks was a trained Force user, knowing Sith collaborator, and will play a central role in The Force Awakens

Kensington Market cafe owner defends hanging accused stalker's artwork - "Gregory Alan Elliott, 54, has been charged with two counts of criminal harassment for allegedly stalking two Toronto women via Twitter. A judgment is expected in early 2016... The co-owner of I Deal Coffee, Julie, said she started displaying Elliott’s art in the Kensington location about two months ago, but on Sunday, someone noticed and posted about it on Facebook. The next day, a woman came into the store and threw coffee all over the art, splashing a customer, she said... Julie asked that her last name not be published, as she’s concerned about some of the comments being made online. “The way this has been going, I feel that I might be next in line, under attack,” she said. She said she believes I Deal Coffee is now experiencing the same online harassment that Elliott has been accused of... Greg Kourtoff, a communications expert, sat in on Metro’s interview and said I Deal Coffee has become the target of “a witch hunt.” “I Deal Coffee has been known to hire women and minorities, and this online campaign, if you want to call it such, by these individuals, doesn’t reflect, in any way, what I Deal stands for,” he said."
Feminist vandalism!

#ISupportIdealCoffee Toronto Cafe for I Deal Coffee | Generosity - "On Sunday, October 19, a swarm of internet shamers began a boycott that has overwhelmed the cafe's facebook and twitter feeds. Because of the art on the walls, people online have started a vicious campaign of intimidation and name calling. International ideological warfare that has led our local cafe community to face alienation and controversy."

Singapore news today | CHANGI AIRPORT FORGETS DEEPAVALI HOLIDAY & STARTS PUTTING UP XMAS DECORATIONS?
It's good that Changi Airport has no Deepavali decorations - there's no cultural appropriation in pursuit of a profit-driven neoliberal agenda

Why do South Indian people celebrate Diwali a day before North Indian's ? - Quora - "South Indians don't celebrate Diwali at all. Diwal, Diwali mean bankrupt in Tamil and perhaps so in other south Indian languages too... Some 30 years ago or so only a small fraction of Tamils, say like 10-15% of the people, celebrated, even in a big city like Chennai (then called Madras). The number of people who are celebrating it has now increased, but even today, in spite of its popularity, it is not the majority of the people, I think, who celebrate it. They don't really connect or identify really"
"Diwali or Deepavali is not celeberated in Kerala. In states like TN its marked but it isn't a big festival. Diwali isn't a nationwide festival, in South India only a fraction celeberate it."
Deepavali is more important in Singapore than South India probably for similar reasons to why Hanukkah has become so big

Why is no one asking about Jeremy Corbyn’s worrying connections? - "The 2008 financial crash has had two major consequences for British politics. The first is the destruction of the Labour party as a credible party of government. The second is a growing political parochialism on the part of politicians and the electorate. Such is the public indifference to events beyond Britain’s borders that a politician can hold almost any madcap belief on foreign affairs and get away with it. How else are Nigel Farage and Alex Salmond still taken seriously after lavishing praise on Vladimir Putin?... some of the things Corbyn is accused of are, to paraphrase George Orwell, still concerning even if the Daily Mail says so. For one thing, he is the chair of an organisation which a decade ago effectively supported attacks on British troops... More recently Stop the War has ludicrously accused the US of launching a “proxy war against Russia” in Ukraine... Take the fact that Corbyn once described it as his “honour and pleasure” to host “our friends” from Hamas and Hezbollah in parliament... The fact Corbyn believes in Keynesian economics is apparently a bigger faux pas to the Labour hierarchy than his association with the characters mentioned above."

Jeremy Corbyn, friend to Hamas, Iran and extremists - Telegraph - "In February 2013, he and his wife travelled to Gaza thanks to a £2,800 gift from Interpal, a British charity banned by the US government as “part of the funding network of Hamas” and as a terrorist organisation in its own right... Mr Corbyn has received at least two further free trips, worth £2,450, from the Palestinian Return Centre and its subsidiary the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza, based at the PRC office in Crown House, Wembley. The PRC is said by the Israeli government to be “Hamas’s organisational branch in Europe” whose members are “senior Hamas leaders who promote the movement’s agenda in Europe.” The PRC denies this. However, it takes a strongly pro-Hamas position and has regularly hosted Hamas leaders, including Mr Haniyeh, at its annual conferences... The Telegraph has obtained evidence from security sources showing that at least one senior PRC leader in Europe has recruited individuals to Hamas."

Creativity and mental illness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "Numerous studies have demonstrated correlations between creative occupations and mental illnesses, including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia."

Yuxiang - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "Despite the term literally meaning "fish fragrance" in Chinese, yuxiang contains no seafood, is typically not used in seafood, but rather for dishes often containing beef, pork, or chicken, as well as vegetarian recipes"
Gah

Stormfront or Social Justice Warrior?
Examples: "Even though most rapists, pedophiles and murderers are [blank], [blank] are still expected to trust them because not liking [blank] is the biggest crime of all, apparently."
"If I see one more [race] man with a biracial child and his non [race] wife/gf, I will physically throw their child over a fucking bridge. [race] are beautiful. Stop feeling ashamed of your race. We'll all be extinct if you keep this bullshit up."
""I am increasingly convinced that the only thing stopping a lot of [blank] from acting like complete animals is the social construct. The second they feel free from that contract or in a space where they won't be judged for acting against it, they'll get down to base instinct so fast""

USDA will no longer refer to small raisins as “midgets,” after Little People petition

Pig in Japan: the nation's most popular meat - "The most popular type of meat by far in Japan is pork. Nearly as much pork is consumed as chicken and beef combined... with the establishing of Buddhism as the official state religion during the Nara Period (710-784), attitudes toward the consumption of meat changed from the top down. The Imperial court found both the killing and the eating of meat distasteful, and various official edicts were issued by Emperor Temmu regarding the way animals could be hunted and slaughtered. Curiously enough, hunting wild animals was considered to be more acceptable than domesticating animals for the purpose of consuming them later. So while people continued to hunt for meat, the domesticated pig gradually disappeared. The popularity of meat waxed and waned over the years, depending on who had control of the government at the time. When the bushi (samurai) class came into full power during the Kamakura Period (1185-1333), for example, the warriors who had conquered the country with much shedding of human blood decided that the shedding of animal blood was beneath them, and a wholesale ban was placed on meat. The eating of four-legged creatures such as pigs was considered to be the most offensive, two-legged beasts such as fowl a bit less so, and creatures with no legs — namely fish — were barely acceptable. This attitude prevailed right up until the Meiji Restoration of 1868... During the mostly peaceful Edo Period (1603-1868), the well-to-do were still able to eat pork under the guise of health reasons. Meat was believed to make you strong and give you stamina, and pork was sold as a medicine by several Edo area merchants. The very last Tokugawa shogun, Yoshinobu, was so fond of pork that he got the nickname “Tonichi-sama” (Master No. 1 Pig), though it was probably never said to his face. During the Meiji Period (1868-1912), the consumption of meat was actively encouraged by the central government — a total about-face from what had preceded it for hundreds of years. The new leaders, looking to the West and seeing how their diet was centered on meat, considered that the Japanese people too should eat a lot of meat and dairy products, to become strong and tall like the Europeans and Americans. To eat meat was a patriotic duty. Pork was a lot cheaper to produce than beef, so its consumption increased rapidly."

S'pore workers among world's least engaged - "Singapore, with neighbouring Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, has one of the world's highest proportions of employees described as "not engaged" - meaning that they lack motivation and are less likely to invest effort in organisational goals. A Gallup poll has found that more than three quarters (76 per cent) of Singaporean employees, surveyed in 2011 and last year, are in this category. Another 15 per cent are classed as "actively disengaged", that is, they are unproductive and potentially hostile to their organisations; these are the ones who would, for instance, spread negativity to co-workers.

Anger Can Make You More Rational, Not Less, According To Recent Studies - "The current research, conclude the authors, suggests that angry people can and do process information analytically but are often influenced by more mental shortcuts. Although it is not always the case, anger-induced action is sometimes the result of quite clear-minded and deliberative processing. The article "Thinking straight while seeing red: The influence of anger on information processing," was published by SAGE in the May issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin."

Viewpoint: Japan's 'sorry' seems to be the hardest word to remember - "Japanese leaders have apologised countless times for the exactions of Imperial Japan. Besides statements by former Prime Ministers Murayama and Koizumi, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kono, as well as expressions of regrets from the emperor, Japan has paid formal and informal reparations to numerous victims of Japanese aggression. Yet, the perceived wisdom in many quarters is that Japan has not shown any contrition for the deeds of its empire. These criticisms are always followed by: "Germany, however, has faced its Nazi past honestly, unlike Japan"... official Japan lacks "message discipline," a critical skill in the internet age, where even second-rate politicians can get heard worldwide at the speed of light. Secondly, by world standards, Japan has done a lot of apologising. It is obviously way ahead of the Chinese Communist Party, whose policies sent tens of millions of Chinese to their deaths, and of Vladimir Putin, who calls the demise of the equally genocidal Soviet Union a tragedy. But, even compared to Western Europe, when it comes to colonial killings - or the American republics and Australia regarding slavery and the destruction of native societies - Japan is probably above average in the realm of apologies. But Imperial Japan will always be compared to Nazi Germany, its Axis ally... Thirdly, the international politics of historical memory are complex... In the end, Japan is the world's largest sheep in wolf's clothing. Its message mismanagement has convinced many that it is an aggressive polity even though, of the world's 200 countries, it is one of the most peace-loving and non-militaristic nations."

China's Valentine's Day dims future for fireflies - "Ditching flowers and chocolates as gifts for China's "Valentine's Day," some lovers have instead gone online to buy insects glowing in the dark. Fireflies are widely available on the country's booming e-trade sites, marketed as symbols of love and beauty... Jars of 55 fireflies, supposedly meaning "I love you," were part of promotions ahead of Qixi. With many of the insects not surviving shipping, extra fireflies are often added to the sets for free... To promote the business as sustainable, many online sellers claim their fireflies are bred in captivity. But experts say the low price of the insects gives away that they are actually captured in the wild."