Links - 21st July 2016

Going to Belgium? MFA advises Singaporeans to take precautions - "Those travelling to or residing in Belgium are "strongly advised" to take all necessary precautions for their personal safety, said Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Monday (Jul 18). In a travel notice posted on its website, MFA said the precautions include monitoring the local news and heeding the instructions of the local authorities. “Singaporeans should remain vigilant and where possible, avoid crowded places, public gatherings, and areas where there are ongoing police operations,” the notice said. Travellers should also purchase comprehensive travel insurance and be familiar with the terms and coverage, the ministry added."
Don't tell people to protect themselves from terrorists. Tell terrorists to stop attacking people

Double Standards: Leslie Jones' Racist Twitter History - "In an email sent from Twitter to Milo, the site said it had “permanently suspended” his account due to “repeated violation of Twitter rules, specifically our rules prohibiting participating in or inciting targeted abuse of individuals.” Jones, meanwhile, has repeatedly made derogatory comments about white people... Jones also violated Twitter’s policy against targeted harassment, directly ordering her followers to mob another user. This is the same policy that Twitter says Milo violated, despite the fact that the Breitbart editor never told his followers to attack Jones."
Addendum: "@Lesdoggg: @whitebecky1776 bitch I want to tell you about your self but I'm gonna let everybody else do it I'm gonna retweet your hate!! Get her!!"

PayPal won't refund Twitch troll's $50,000 in donations - "iNexus_Ninja wasn’t a generous viewer, but instead a nasty troll that intended to make these large donations and then cancel them through PayPal after 30 days — leaving the streamers on the hook for any portions spent. In short, he was the worst kind of troll, the type that sought to create real harm through internet mischief. Proving sometimes there is justice in the world, PayPal essentially told iNexus_Ninja — an 18-year-old Australian named Anthony Archer — to go fuck himself and that it wouldn’t be allowing the chargeback."

Why Still So Few Use Condoms - "It is politically incorrect to acknowledge the truth and simplicity of the condom's inadequacy. Criticism of the condom opens one to righteous demonization and condemnation. Condom defenders often stifle honest and helpful discussion about sexuality, unplanned pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections... Sex researcher Dr. Rachel Jones at the Guttmacher Institute recently published a study in the journal Contraception that found that the "withdrawal method of birth control is nearly as effective as condoms in preventing pregnancy." By the study's measures, "pulling out" had a failure rate of four percent, while condoms had a failure rate of two percent"

PrideSource - Study: Only 16 Percent Of Men Who Have Sex With Men Report Using Condoms 'Always' - ""The point estimate in our analysis of condom effectiveness when 'always' used by MSM during anal sex with any HIV-positive male partners is 70 percent, modestly less than the 80 percent estimate for condoms when 'always' used by heterosexual HIV-discordant couples," the study concludes. "Although these point estimates do not differ by tests of statistical significance, it is more appropriate to use the MSM specific point estimate of 70 percent effectiveness for discussions and models involving anal sex among MSM than to continue use of the heterosexual 80 percent effectiveness point estimate for MSM"

CDC: Half of Gay Black Men Will Get HIV - "Half of gay and bisexual black men and a quarter of gay and bisexual Hispanic men will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetimes, the Centers for Disease Control announced in a first-of-its-kind study... For Hispanic people living in the United States, the CDC has already outlined an array of factors behind the alarming rate of new infections: a high prevalence of HIV, poverty and lack of health insurance coverage, “machismo” that can encourage men to engage in risky sexual behavior as a show of strength, and reluctance to access prevention services for fear of revealing one’s immigration status... For black people, CDC resources show, prevention challenges are similar: poverty, stigma, barriers to health care access, and too few people knowing their status. Risk in black communities is especially high, the CDC notes, because “African Americans tend to have sex with partners of the same race/ethnicity mean[ing] that [they] face a greater risk of HIV infection with each new sexual encounter.”"

What's Really Behind the High HIV Rates for Black Gay Men? - "black men who have sex with men (MSM) were no more likely than other gay or bisexual men to have unprotected sex. And despite societal problems, such as the fact that black men face higher rates of unemployment than other races or are less likely to graduate from high school, the analysis points out that black gay men are actually 40 percent more likely to do simple protective things like wear a condom during sex... a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis of four studies noted that black MSM had fewer unprotected sexual encounters than white MSM—an average of three for receptive sex and six for insertive over six months for black men, compared with 11 and 12, respectively, for whites."

Rio Olympics 2016: why transgender and intersex issues could dominate the Games - "Ross Tucker interviewed Joanna Harper who describes herself as a "scientist first, an athlete second, and a transgender person third" and as such is the only transgender person in history to be part of the team to advise the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on gender-based issues. Harper fears that "much of the anticipation for the upcoming Rio Olympics will be overshadowed by the spectre of intersex athletes dominating some events in women's athletics, the premier sport of the games. It is also unfortunate that many people will blame the medal-winning intersex athletes whose only crime is to compete with the gifts that nature gave them. The real problem is that sports need some policy governing intersex athletes and currently there is none". She also points out that Semenya will not be the only intersex athlete likely to medal at the Games. Harper suggests that in the 800 metre event alone, we could see an all intersex podium with five of the eight finalists being intersex athletes... "I believe that billions of potential female athletes deserve the right to compete with some semblance of a level playing field, and that requiring all women to compete within a given testosterone range is the best way we currently have to create such a playing field"."

Hyperandrogenism and women vs women vs men in sport: A Q&A with Joanna Harper - "Both of the “extreme” arguments are simple to explain and defend, often passionately. It is much harder to inspire passion over a compromise position that is painstakingly put together by a committee of divergent views. But this compromise position has been embraced by many people who value well-reasoned logic... while it might not be a right, success in sports is one of the greatest advancements in women’s lives. If we value women’s equality, it is imperative that we protect the ability of all women to succeed in sports."
This is a good line on avoiding extremism and valuing compromise

Why Trans Women Care About Caitlyn Jenner's Pronouns - "Jenner’s decision to continue using male pronouns and her assigned name even after she disclosed as trans is, to me, the clearest indication that she hasn’t made an effort to reach out to the wider trans community for feedback, which I consider a prerequisite to claiming to represent and advocate for us"
Comments: ""Jenner has every right to set her priorities as an individual”
... But then you spend the rest of the article complaining that actually she didn’t have a choice, and should have done what the ‘trans community’ wanted. This stuff is getting pretty tiring now. You’re an individual until you’re not an individual. You’re an advocate until you’re not an advocate. Let her do what she wants. She can do certain things that you can’t because she’s a celebrity and you’re not. That’s the same with any celebrity and any normal person."
"Funny how gender is fluid until someone decides to go their own way."
"Basically what I hear is "She can handle her transition how she wants as long as it's inline with my opinion". Find something more productive to do."
"you lost all credibility when you told the story about how you tried to trick a man into dating you"

Japanese 'naked restaurant' to ban overweight diners - "Following the lead of establishments in London and Melbourne, "The Amrita" -- Sanskrit for 'immortality' -- also has strict age restrictions, with only patrons between 18 and 60 allowed in, after they check in their clothes and put on paper underwear provided by the restaurant... Tattooed customers are barred from entry"

BBC World Service - The World This Week, Obama points to how Saudis must change - "You can almost say that if we get dementia, that is a spectacularly good thing... Our great great great great grandparents - if they survived into their 40s without dying of tuberculosis or any other range of infectious diseases, would have been over the moon. And then as we developed things like antibiotics and vaccinations all developed, and suddenly we started to get a grip on infectious diseases and they were no longer the big killers that they used to be... you'll probably survive your first heart attacks... treatments for cancer have really developed... dementia is now that kind of like final barrier that we're crushing against. And at some point in the future, we're starting to see hints of it already, we'll move beyond dementia as well and there'll be something else waiting for us on the horizon"

BBC World Service - The World This Week, France Tries Middle East Peace Plan - "What you had in Yugoslavia would be child's play compared to what we would have in Nigeria... It would be really messy to break up Nigeria because first of all, many of the huge minority groups would not want to be part of a larger group either predominated by the Hausas or the Yorubas or the Ibos. They wouldn't want that. The reason that these grievances keep coming up is because many of these regions feel marginalised. I can't think of any ethnic group in Nigeria that does not feel hard done by the Nigerian state"

3 Outlets: Bust Treatments
6 types of ptosis? I didn't know so many things could be wrong with breasts

Singapore's "arrogance" haunts ties with neighbours - Google Groups - "RECURRING SPATS with other countries are giving Singapore a bad reputation as a nation whose riches have made it arrogant and prone to treat its neighbours as inferior, regional analysts say. Disputes over the years with the Philippines and Thailand were followed recently by Malaysian fury over a remark by Singapore elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew that Malaysia's Johor state was "notorious for shootings, muggings and car-jackings". In language unheard in the 30-year-history of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), Malayian demonstrators called Lee "senile" and a "stupid pig"... "There has to be some serious soul-searching in Singapore on the way it handles relations with close friends and neighbours," said Mohamed Jabbar Hassan of the Institute for Strategic and International Studies in Kuala Lumpur. Analysts in Singapore refused to comment on the issue. "I do not want to comment on that. You can ask me about any other issue, but not that issue. I'm sorry," one analyst said. The Singapore governmentn also declined comment... "I believe that if Singapore does not try to lessen its trouble-making with neighbours, it will be in trouble"... Wibisono said race plays a part in Singapore's arrogance. "Singapore is considered Chinese by the other neighbours and I think this is the source of the problem," he said. "They feel a little bit superior, and the others are seen as inferior because they (Singaporeans) are more industrious, productive and creative.""

S’pore most forward-looking country in the world: Report - "A large number of millennials rated Singapore highly (No 1) in heritage, namely cultural accessibility, rich history, good food and cultural attractions."
Err.

The disturbing growth of partisan bias - "partisan bias doesn’t just lead people to preemptively reject ideas emanating from the opposing party. It also causes partisans to justify or overlook bad behavior by their own side. Both Republican and Democratic partisans have turned a blind eye to or even supported much from their own leaders that they would have opposed tooth and nail if the other side had done the same thing. Under Obama, the left-wing antiwar movement has largely evaporated, even as he continues and in some cases even expands Bush’s abuses of executive war powers."
Conservatives/Republicans are not the only hypocrites

SSD reliability in the real world: Google's experience - "SSD UBER rates are higher than disk rates, which means that backing up SSDs is even more important than it is with disks. The SSD is less likely to fail during its normal life, but more likely to lose data"

Prostitution Vigilante Hooked For Pimping - "An Oklahoma man who has gained national exposure for his "video vigilante" campaign to expose street prostitution in his hometown was arrested yesterday for allegedly paying hookers to ensure that they serviced customers in an area where he could easily film the illicit trysts."

Police: A quarter of crime victims don’t want to prosecute offenders - "He has urged people to think before phoning police. He said: “Looking into the crimes reported this year and investigated by team, I have been astounded by the high proportion of crimes where the victim doesn’t support the investigation. “In some of those cases it might be that they have had bad experiences with either the police or the court and I would urge them to try again and work with us to improve out service and to achieve a better outcome next time. “In other cases, people simply have no intention of going to court for the matters and I would ask that when they phone, they leave us some understanding of what they want from us and are really clear from the outset so we can record the crime, as we are required to do, but we don’t invest our resources in fruitless investigations that were never wanted in the first place.”"
Maybe some people just want to give others hell and don't want to be prosecuted for making false complaints