Links - 27th September 2016

French town flooded with wine after protesters crack open vats - "A protest group has cracked open vats of wine in a southern French town, sending thousands of litres into the streets, local media have reported. Emergency services had to help bring the flood under control and prevent it spilling into underground car parks. Those responsible said they belonged to the militant group the Regional Action Committee of Winemakers (Crav), France 3 reported. Crav has been alarmed by cheap imports and has claimed previous attacks"

'Ghostbusters' Heading for $70M-Plus Loss, Sequel Unlikely - "Immediately upon the opening of Ghostbusters in mid-July, top Sony executives boldly declared a sequel to Paul Feig's all-female reboot of Ivan Reitman's 1984 classic was a given. "While nothing has been officially announced yet, there's no doubt in my mind it will happen," said Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution at Sony. That was the studio's last public mention of a sequel. As of Aug. 7, Ghostbusters had earned just under $180 million at the global box office, including $117 million domestic. The film still hasn't opened in a few markets, including France, Japan and Mexico, but box-office experts say it will have trouble getting to $225 million despite a hefty net production budget of $144 million plus a big marketing spend. The studio has said break-even would be $300 million."
SJWing can't make a movie profitable

Daughter of Lee Kuan Yew criticises ‘authoritarian’ government - FT.com - "The daughter of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding father, has criticised the city state’s government as “authoritarian” in an unusual public row over a proposed law which human rights groups fear will be used to stifle dissent. Lee Wei Ling, sister of current prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, on Facebook compared her fellow citizens to people who have become so used to the smell of smoke that they can no longer detect the potential threat to their wellbeing. Dr Lee attacked a draft contempt of court bill as “an attempt to muzzle public opinion”."

BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, The perfect climate for political stand-up? - "'Geoff Norcott says he is the UK's only declared Conservative-voting comedian'...
'I'm probably the only one stupid enough to centre a lot of my show around it, in the Scottish sea'...
'If an audience comes along and they're all left wing, and then the comedian on stage is left wing, you're just sort of confirming everybody's thoughts that they already thought before. I think that's a bit boring'...
''If I do my show to an audience of people who largely agree with what I say, it's not right. It doesn't feel good. It feels, start to feel like a bit of a rally. I actually rely on compassionate liberal left wingers to give the show a bit of creative tension'"

BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Guest Editor: Miriam Gonzalez Durantez - "The Frenchman, he offered me a deal... his right hand man, a Brit, said you know, we like the music and things, but we have a problem with your speaking voice. Can you do another accent? And I said, yeah I could do Pakistani... my manager stood up and said let's get the hell out of here. So it's interesting how we do judge people in England on our accents...
'I always say that being a politician isn't a job. It's a way of life. And I think that's because it's all-encompassing'...
'I'm Spanish as you can hear from my accent. And I come from a culture where we talk about food all the time. So I remember when Nick first came to visit my family he was completely shocked that at breakfast time we talk about what we are going to have for lunch, and at lunch we talk about what we are going to have for dinner'"

Unplanned overdraft fees 'four times costlier than payday loans' - "Going overdrawn on a current account without permission can now be up to four times more costly than taking out a payday loan, according to new research from consumer body Which?... Which? suggested that unauthorised overdrafts were now more expensive than payday loans, which are notorious for their high interest rates: Wonga charges a representative APR of 1,509%."

The Blue Danube - J. Strauss Jr. - "Everything began when one Josef Weyl wrote an ode to the newly installed electric light, brightening the streets of Vienna. The song was composed in order to be performed by the local choir, but was soon forgotten, when electricity and street-lights became commonplace. But Jaohann Strauss, the composer of the song, did not forget the catchy tune. Several years later, when asked to write a musical piece for an exhibition in Paris, he again took the same melody and rearranged it for a string orchestra. The Parisian performance, by an exhibition orchestra, became a huge success. "The Blue Danube" became a hit, and its score is the best-selling music score of all time, of any musical piece"

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Modern Love - "'Your life just kind of revolves around it. You wake up and you swipe, you go to sleep and you swipe and if you're like me, during conference calls at work, you swipe'... I tried Tinder very briefly in Bombay. In Bombay it it is still okay. In Delhi, really bad idea... I've heard horror stories from my friends about people who just sort of - in Hindi we have this term called chape (sp?) which means that they just refuse to take no for an answer so they will keep messaging you and bombarding you and sometimes it will get downright nasty... Attacks like the [Delhi gang rape] affect people's willingness to date... the victim was criticised by some for being out after dark with a man who wasn't her relative...
I'm not that interested. And I'll do the thing called ghosting where you just kinda disappear and you stop interacting with him. And I feel like it's as a last ditch, they'll randomly send you a photo of their penis. Or it'll be like 2 am and you're thinking that maybe they're drunk and they're just like: she should have seen what she missed on. And it's sorta funny cos you'll show it to all your girlfriends in the morning and you'll laugh. So maybe don't send penis photos"

They haven't got a queue: Government to teach immigrants the British art of lining up - "Immigrants are to be educated in how to queue properly to help them integrate into society. Foreigners applying to settle here will have to learn about the revered British practice of forming an orderly line for everything from buses to sandwiches. The art of queuing could be included in the test on aspects of the British way of life which foreign nationals applying for citizenship have to take...
Immigration minister Phil Woolas has claimed that much tension in communities is caused by foreigners not understanding they must wait in line for services rather than barging to the front as may be the custom in their own culture. Surveys show that 91 per cent of Britons object strongly to queue jumping."
Clearly British values aren't universal values

Is it more difficult for vegans to push themselves to physical extremes? - "it was crucial to seek a dietician's advice if you were a vegan looking to take part in sports that involve extreme physical endurance. "Another issue is the sheer quantity you would need to eat," she added, an issue especially pertinent on Everest, where every kilogram counts as kits are carried up the side of a mountain. "Lots of animal-based foods are more densely-packed with energy, protein, vitamins and minerals. "Because there's so much fibre in a vegan diet, you could be spending much more time eating. Look at the Tour de France - the time cyclists have to take in enough nutrition is minimal.""

Muslim flight attendant sues ExpressJet for insisting she serve alcohol - "Many contrasted her with Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage certificates to gay couples on religious grounds. The two stories emerged around the same time. Davis, who was sued and jailed for six days, was allowed to return to work provided she did not interfere with the issuance of marriage licenses. The lawsuit states that ExpressJet is in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because the airline did not provide a reasonable accommodation for Stanley’s religious beliefs"

Why Peppa Pig is evil - "They all go for a plate of Granny’s biscuits but Granny won’t let anyone eat the biscuits unless they say “Daddy’s Big Tummy”, and so Daddy’s humiliation is complete as the contempt felt for him now spans three pig generations."

National inquiry should not study violence against aboriginal men: experts - "The federal government should not study the alarming rate of violence against aboriginal men as part of its upcoming national inquiry into Canada’s missing and murdered indigenous women, international human-rights experts caution, saying that doing so would confuse the issue."
In another context, this might be called intersectionality (especially since aboriginal men get murdered more than women)

Indigenous Canadians comprised 23% of country's murder victims in 2014 - "Almost a quarter of homicide victims in Canada last year were aboriginal, even though the country’s indigenous people account for just 5% of the population, newly released federal statistics show. Twenty-three percent of the country’s 516 homicide victims in 2014 were aboriginal, making them almost six times more likely than non-indigenous Canadians to become victims of deadly violence, the federal statistics agency reported on Wednesday... the data confirmed that aboriginal people are overrepresented as both victims and perpetrators. Indigenous men are the most at risk, with data suggesting they were seven times more likely to be homicide victims than their non-aboriginal counterparts. The rate of people accused of homicide was also higher in the aboriginal population. Almost a third of those accused in 2014 – 431 people – were aboriginal... The previous Conservative government had angered First Nations leaders and activists by suggesting the high rates of violence were predominantly a domestic violence issue."

Chinese table tennis domination leads to exodus of talent - "Only three nations in the women's competition in 2012 were without a China-born player, or a player with Chinese roots — Egypt, North Korea and Japan... coaches in China required even the sick and injured to train. "If you want to be a world champion, it is better to train in China," Zhang said in an interview posted on the USA Table Tennis website last year. "But if you want to have a balanced life and want to be happy and free, then training in the U.S. is better"... For the players who leave China to compete for new countries, there can also be psychological strain. "When you don't know the opponent, you don't feel anything emotionally," said Jeon, the China-born ace for South Korea. "But because I know (the Chinese players) and have trained there ... my thoughts become complicated.""

Sick of all the "racist" Jynx Crap - Pokemon X Message Board for 3DS - Page 13 - GameFAQs - "Jynx is based on the Yama-Uba and not blackface. I'm not gonna post the Game Theories youtube link again but they're pretty expansive in their explanation."
"Black face isn't racist in Japan so jynx isn't racist. Its actually that simple. People still use black face in Japan today because its not considered racist. So if you have a problem with black face it's just that your problem. Plus there a fashion fad around before pokemon came out were japenese girls would dye there hair blond get a dark tan and wear lots of bright pink make up which some say is what jynx was based on."

Memin Pinguin: Mexican Cartoon Boy As Obama - "CNN and The Houston Chronicle reported on a protest in Houston that has caused retail giant Wal-Mart to pull a popular Mexican comic book from its shelves, at least in the Houston area. The offending comic is entitled “Memin Runs For President” and is about the beloved Mexican character Memin Pinguin. Shawnedria McGinty, an African-American woman, was browsing the store shelves and came across the comic. Memin is a young boy, clearly of African descent, and indeed is generally referred to in the comics as what is translated to as Black or Negro. Nothing wrong there. But Memin, and his mother, are drawn with huge lips and ears, and with features that together, to most, undoubtedly looks like a monkey... to many Mexicans, particularly those who have practically grown up with Memin, this was, as it was with the Japanese monkey controversy, just a cultural misunderstanding. Speaking to CNN, Javier Salas, a Spanish-language talk show host in Chicago said, “We respect him (Memin), we love him. And that’s why its so absurd for us to hear complaints from people who don’t know, don’t understand Memin.” He pointed out that to many Mexicans, the Memin character, who has been around for sixty years, is a positive role model, that many Mexican kids use to learn from. It should also be pointed out that this is not the first time Memin has come up as an issue in this country. In 2005, the Mexican government decided to honor Memin by issuing stamps with his image. The uproar in the U.S. from Blacks and leaders like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, even prompted The White House to issue a statement decrying the decision. Then Mexican President Vicente Fox even stepped into the discussion and defended the character and said Americans simply didn’t understand Mexican culture."
Isn't it racist to be ethnocentric and claim something you don't understand is racist?

Anti-Feminazi - "As a Japanese citizen, let me just say....HOW in the world is this racist?!?! Haha seriously...."
"As a Japanese citizen, let me just say....HOW in the world is this racist?!?! Haha seriously....
"Whitesplaining how to get offended. Good job warrior."