Links - 2nd November 2016

Donovan Choy - The term “social justice” used to hold a precious... - "Today in 2016, the term social justice is but an empty shell of its former glory. In fact, the term “social justice warrior” (SJW) is used as a derogatory slang. How did such a term come to be so warped with negative connotations? One does not have to look very far on the internet for a prime example. Just last night, less than 24 hours ago, I saw a most curious development on my Facebook. An Indian lady by the name of Pooja Nansi was snarkily hassling local entertainment site TheSmartLocal."

Removing Curry Odor - "I had rented my condo and the tenants cooked with curry. After 13 months the cabinets were saturated with cooking grease and I could not rent the unit as the smell would drive prospective tenants away. I finally used turpentine to break down the grease from all surfaces in the kitchen, appliances, hardwood floors, everything. Then we had the place painted with Kilz and then final paint. This helped considerably, but the smell was still there and the unit unrentable. The final step was to have a company come in. They applied some type of microbial solution to all the walls and floor and appliances. Then ran an ozone generator for 5 days. We then aired out the unit for a day. It has been a month now and the unit smells brand new. The entire process cost almost $2300 between paint, cleansers and the ozone treatment.The microwave had to be replaced as you could not get into the workings of the unit to clear the grease"

Tenants that cook with curry - "non-Indians tend to find the Indian Spices smell unappealing - but also to the fact that Indian buyers tend to find an Indian Only house immediately More appealing in it's familiarity of smells. Smell is the most primal of senses."
"If you are in the rental business for the investment of your money looking to make more money than you must make a business decision when screening your tenants! It's no different than companies and corporations performing background and credit checks to determine the risk of hiring a new employee to further protect the owners/shareholders investments/money. If you, the landlord feel that those odors are going to cost you money and potential tenants now and in the long run, then you must decide and take that into consideration doing your screening process. Nothing racist, unethical, or in-moral about that, you're just an very conscious and protective business person! I work for a very successful indian couple who's net worth is well over $10MM and the very first time I talked to him about real estate investments, the 2nd thing that came out his mouth was he never do business with his own people because of the curry smell! And I'm being polite on his actual words! Ultimately, its your decision, profit & losses!"

Marah al-Bakri - Shot By Israelis, Exploited By Muslims - "As a supporter of both Israeli and Palestinian rights to freedom and sovereignty, I am constantly appalled by the violence, as well as the wanton lies and exploitation, by both sides. The Israelis though can take comfort that they are not saddled by the idiots that the Palestinians have to put up with. These idiots continuously diminish the Palestinian cause with their constant barrage of lies. As if there is no truth worth telling? Take this case of the 16-year old Marah al-Bakri who was shot by the Israelis on the 12th of October for allegedly stabbing a border policeman near Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem. The fact that a 16-year old girl was shot is shocking enough to generate outrage, even though she allegedly stabbed a policeman first. But no, these idiots had to change the story to something else altogether. Even worse, they changed it to something petty – the tudung (headscarf)... As a supporter of Palestinian right to self-rule and independence, I am constantly dismayed by the inanity of many pro-Palestinian supporters. The Palestinian cause is a noble one, a just one; but they chose to disparage it by spreading lies. In Islam, a false accusation is said to be the most wicked of crimes"

The word Aiyoh is now in the Oxford English Dictionary - "How many times does your answer to a question thrown at you in your day begin with “Aiyoh” or a variant of that? Or does the word creep into your day’s talk at some point? This expression is so widely used in that it is now in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED)... “I’m appalled at the inclusion of this word!” says Shailaja Vishwanath, former English teacher and currently freelance writer-editor. “It is not English. At some level I understand they (OED) are adapting to regional usage. But at the level of a language, as a writer and editor, it hurts me deeply. I believe in purity of language for all its effect. I cannot accept these words in the OED, though I may use them in my everyday life within a context. But does their inclusion in OED validate it? I don’t know.... The OED included the laughing emoticon some time ago and it took me a long time to come around to accept that!”"

Bob Dylan's Nobel prize isn't radical. He's just another white male writer - "Giving the award to any white male writer, no matter what form he writes in, is in no way innovative or inspired. It is simply a return to the status quo – albeit in a different genre"
Comments: "I guess we are not supposed to give awards based on merit. We should give the awards to potentially less deserving people based on skin color and gender. That's the left wing for you. Pandering to minorities and women."
"An ant can bite an elephant but the ant remains an ant and the elephant remains an elephant"
"The continual drip-drip-drip of anti-male articles such as this may eventually produce a massive backlash."

Racial Discrimination Act: HRC accepts 18C complaint lodged by David Leyonhjelm - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) - "The Human Rights Commission has accepted a racial discrimination complaint lodged by crossbench senator David Leyonhjelm. The Liberal Democrat lodged the complaint over an article by veteran Fairfax journalist Mark Kenny that blasted him over his wish to see section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act abolished. The article, published last month, described him as an "angry white male"."

Swedish court allows the flying of ISIS flag - "Sjovalls said the waving of the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) flag cannot be considered hate speech because it is not an expression of disrespect towards any ethnic or minority group, for example, in the same way the swastika could be considered a symbol of racial hatred. Instead, IS are “against everyone except those who don’t belong to IS.” “Incitement of racial hatred is defined as the public dissemination of statements that threaten or disparage a group of persons with allusion to race, color, national or ethnic origin, religious belief or sexual orientation,” she said."
I thought ISIS was against everyone who wasn't their type of Muslim. That certain counts as religious discrimination

Never Again? - "I suspect too many people in the wider international community still only recognize genocide in this one most specific sense. They are always looking for Birkenau — expecting industrialized killing rather than seeing genocide the way it unfolds today. They ignore the evidence that in the right environment, simple machetes can be just as effective as rail networks and gas chambers... Definition is held to be paramount, when the real issue is political will."

Singapore gaming world champion Xian: ‘What we do is equivalent to sport’ - "Today, eSports games are broadcast by the likes of ESPN; US universities are offering athletic scholarships to gamers; teams are hiring managers and coaches; and the landscape includes match-fixing and performance-enhancing drug scandals. All of which makes a case for gaming to be viewed as sport - a point echoed by reigning EVO champion Lee “Infiltration” Seon-woo. “A lot of fans might think eSports, or Street Fighter, is something using your brain and fingers only,” the South Korean said. “But as I see it, it’s more like sports because you have to train hard to get physically in shape to play more, and play better.” “We train almost eight to 10 hours a day,” Ho explained. “We also do some exercise like jogging to make sure when we go to tournaments, we don’t choke. Because there it’s just a two to three minute game, and you cannot get distracted easily. It’s very important to at least have a good mindset and be healthy to compete.” Lee said injuries are commonplace. “My left-hand joints are quite sore sometimes. When I was practicing different ways to press buttons, I had some Band-Aids on my fingers because I was practicing too hard.”"

PERSPECTIVE ON CORPORAL PUNISHMENT : Would 'Caning' Work Here? No! : It's not a deterrent; it is discriminatory and cruel, and it would seriously harm our justice system. - "Fay's caning seems like excessive punishment to me. The Singapore authorities do not disagree. The caning may be overly harsh, they acknowledge, but it will, they say, deter other youths tempted to commit crimes against property. The evidence for this assumption is sparse and unclear. In 1960, a British Home Office research group (the Cadogan Committee) undertook a study of 3,000 cases of violent robbery, virtually the only offense where corporal punishment was still being imposed in Britain. The researchers found that robbers who were flogged were slightly more likely to be again convicted of robbery with violence than those who were not flogged."

Corporal Punishment - Effectiveness - Offenders, Committee, Robbery, and Cadogan - "The Cadogan Committee devoted special attention to five cases of corporal punishment used as an exemplary sentence in response to major outbreaks of crimes for which, according to public opinion, the penalty was particularly suitable. The committee found that in some cases the facts plainly contradicted such beliefs and that reductions in crime could just as plausibly be attributed to causes other than the penalties imposed on offenders. It also noted that the incidence of robbery with violence in England and Wales had declined steadily in the years before World War I notwithstanding infrequent and decreasing use of corporal punishment, whereas in the postwar years it had tended to increase despite a much greater and increasing resort to floggings. It was also shown that between 1890 and 1934 the incidence of robbery in England and Wales (where corporal punishment might have served as a deterrent) declined more slowly than in Scotland, where corporal punishment was not inflicted for those offenses (Cadogan Committee). ACTO also compared the incidence of robbery with violence in England and Wales before and after corporal punishment was abolished as a judicial penalty in 1948. The number of robberies reported to the police increased steadily during and after World War II, although corporal punishment was employed more frequently than before the war. After 1948, however, there was a marked downward trend, and until 1957 instances of robbery remained well below the 1948 level. The causes of this reduction were unknown, but ACTO inferred that corporal punishment had not been a strong deterrent immediately before its abolition and noted that abolition was not followed by an increase in the offenses for which it had previously been imposed (Advisory Council on the Treatment of Offenders). In short, no evidence proved that corporal punishment provided more deterrence than imprisonment, to which it commonly served as an alternative penalty before abolition. Canadian and New Zealand studies confirmed these findings (Canada, Parliament; New Zealand Department of Justice)."

Anti-Shiite Prejudice in Singapore and Malaysia: A Preliminary Study - "There has been a growth in prejudice towards the Shiite minority among the Malay-Muslims in Singapore and Malaysia in the recent years. This is reflected greatly online, on social media websites and blogs, as well as in the mainstream Malaysian media. Some seek to help Sunni Muslims “detect” Shiites by outlining certain stereotypical traits of Shiites, while others go straight to vilifying and misrepresenting the Shiite creed and practices. Such prejudice has also been manifested in concrete action, such as through persecutions in Malaysia, done in the name of protecting the sanctity of the Islamic faith and also in the name of national security."

Man interrupts bear sex, pays the price

Caffeine - "If you have problems with your PC locking or going to sleep, caffeine will keep it awake. It works by simulating a keypress once every 59 seconds, so your machine thinks you're still working at the keyboard, so won't lock the screen or activate the screensaver... Caffeine works by simulating an F15 key up event every 59 seconds. Of all the key presses available, F15 is probably the least intrusive (I've never seen a PC keyboard with that key!), and least likely to interfere with your work"

Woman inflates 13ft Ghostbusters Stay Puft man in living room; didn't think it through

Old Navy misses the point with 'sexist' Ghostbusters tees for toddlers - "when you go into the Toddler Girls section, the same design comes with the disclaimer: ‘Ghostbuster in training’... according to Old Navy, girl ghostbusters need sleeves (chasing paranormal activity can get chilly, ladies!), which will cost you an extra $1.05, or 80p."
Given that the one for 'boys' doesn't say 'Ghostbuster' (ni.e. ot in training) this is just the offence brigade having nothing better to do again. If having sleeves is sexist, what do we make of the fact that formal clothing for adult women doesn't need sleeves?

Teenage Boys With Tits: Here's My Problem With Ghostbusters - "The overarching problem with Ghostbusters is that the script is a greater abomination to God than any of the demons and ghosts in the franchise. I’m sure they could have done a worse job, but they’d have to study Tobin’s Spirit Guide to summon a script from an even deeper circle of Hell. Mostly, it’s a lack of intelligence. In the original movie, the bad guys weren’t actually the ghosts — everybody loves Slimer and the Marshmallow Man. No, the bad guys were the clueless bureaucrats in the government, who set off a supernatural crisis through bumbling and red tape. In this film, by contrast, the enemy is all men, while the government ends up playing dad. Every man in the movie is a combination of malevolent and moronic. The chick ‘busters shame the mayor so much they end up getting government funding at the end. Like all feminists, they can only survive by sucking on the teat of Big Government. I’ll skip over the vacuous and incoherent plot. You won’t understand it watching the movie and you won’t understand it reading my summary so who cares. This, unlike any movie I’ve ever seen before, seems to have been conceived entirely out of spite, with the result that its plot is largely irrelevant... Ghostbusters, the film acting as standard bearer for the social justice left, is full of female characters that are simply stand-ins for men plus a black character worthy of a minstrel show"

Why James Rolfe is on the Right Side of History for Not Wanting to See Ghostbusters - "Why are the Daily Beast, The Atlantic, Salon and various other outlets writing 2,000-word pieces tearing apart a YouTube film reviewer? James Rolfe of Cinemassacre (also known as the Angry Video Game Nerd) committed a fairly frivolous crime. He made a video calmly telling his fans why he will not be reviewing the next Ghostbusters... From watching Rolfe’s video he makes three main points – and strangely none of them have to do with women... So who will be on the right side of history here? The film critic who predicts a terrible movie — or the horde of Twitter bullies trying to ruin the man’s life?"

New Hampshire Safety Laws - Cell Phone, Seat Belt, & Car Seat | DMV.org - "There is currently no helmet law for motorcycle riders or passengers 18 years old and over in New Hampshire... Kids under 18 years old must wear a seat belt. The Department of Safety strongly recommends safety belts for every driver and passenger."
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