Links - 3rd January 2017

Your Echo Chamber is Destroying Democracy - "On November 7, 2016, the day before the US election, I compared the number of social media followers, website performance, and Google search statistics of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. I was shocked when the data revealed the extent of Trump’s popularity. He had more followers across all social platforms and his posts had much higher engagement rates. I noticed that the second most popular article shared on social media in the last six months with words “Donald Trump” in the headline, “Why I’m Voting For Donald Trump”, had been shared 1.5 million times. Yet that story never made it into my Facebook newsfeed. I asked many of my liberal New York friends, and they all said they never seen it... According to Pew Research, 61 percent of millennials use Facebook as their primary source for news about politics and government"

12 Disney Movies That Have Horrifying Origin Stories - "In the Hans Christian Andersen version, the small print in the agreement is that Ariel’s legs will hurt all the time, as if she were walking on knives. Since pain and seduction don’t mix, in the end the prince marries another woman and Ariel throws herself into the ocean, where she turns into sea foam."

Why the experience of being trans has kept me from identifying as a Feminist - "Only when people know (and I have to tell them) that I wasn't born male, do they take me seriously when I speak of the problems of men, and this truly saddens me... I, one of the few people who can actually tell the difference between social treatment and its consequences in relation to gender, am being CENSORED along with others for speaking about some difficulties men face. And I am saying that the people who are doing the censoring are doing it in the name of feminism and this idea that men created the world to their benefit at the expense of others. Without this last idea there is no feminism, as much as anyone would want to tell you that it is about equality. Feminism is not about equality, feminism is about recognizing women suffer more than men do and doing something about that specifically. Feminism is as much about equality as Christianity is about love. I am not saying a feminist can't desire equality as I am not saying a Christian couldn't possibly know about love. What I am saying is that an ideology doesn't have to be about what it says it is, an ideology doesn't have to do what it says it does, and not because someone identifies with an ideology it means they understand it. The reason why I can't identify myself as a feminist is that based on my experience and that of many other trans people I know, it's not true that the way the world currently runs benefits men most, and it's not true that they protect this system, call it patriarchy or whatever you want, for their benefit."

Religion and spirituality in rehabilitation outcomes among individuals with traumatic brain injury. - "religious well-being (a sense of connection to a higher power) was a unique predictor for life satisfaction, distress and functional ability whereas public religious practice and existential well-being were not."

Religion and Rehabilitation - "compared to a control group, individuals who practiced spiritual meditation had increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, which helps with focus and impulse inhibition, increased activity in the anterior cingulate, which lowers anxiety and depression and enhances social awareness, and improvement in memory function. The enhanced ability to control attention, negative emotion, and mental conflict could be contributing factors to leading a law-abiding life."

Trump got more votes from people of color than Romney did. Here’s the data. - "Looking at the exit poll data from the 2016 election, and comparing them over time, the story on race and presidential voting gets a bit more complicated... Trump actually performed slightly worse among white voters than Mitt Romney did. He did, however, perform better than Romney among blacks, Latinos and Asian Americans, making it more difficult to claim that racial resentment was the dominant factor explaining Trump’s support nationally. The 2012 election was not an open one, however, since Obama was running for reelection. When we compare Republican nominee performances in prior open elections, we see that Trump made important gains among black voters as well as whites."

Carne Meats Wagyu Meatballs - Frozen 200g - from RedMart - "Carne Meats Wagyu Beef Meatballs are made from 100% Wagyu beef. It wonderfully tender and juicy beef that is intensely marbled for nutty flavours."
Maybe we've hit peak wagyu

4 of 10 Danish Muslims want Quran-based laws - "11.3 percent of Danish Muslims said that the Quran should serve as the sole basis for Denmark’s laws, while an additional 26.5 percent said that the nation’s laws should be built upon a mixture of the Quran’s teachings and the Danish constitution... The poll results come just a week after another survey found that 77.2 percent of Danish Muslims agreed that “the Quran’s instructions should be followed completely”, a marked increase from 2006 when just 62.4 percent agreed. Jens Peter Frølund Thomsen, a social studies professor at the University of Aarhus who specializes in the relationship between Danes and immigrants, said it is surprising that so many Danish Muslims think that their holy book should be part of the national legal system. “Here is an indicator that religious beliefs interfere in some political opinions and attitudes. Our secular society, in which political power and the rule of law are hailed above all else, is something that many have reservations about. It shows that democratic norms haven’t taken root amongst all immigrant groups,” Thomsen told Jyllands-Posten. Radwan Mansour, an Aarhus-based imam, said that he thinks Denmark should be ruled by a mixture of the constitution and the Quran, which he argues are not in conflict"

Syrian refugee arrested in Germany with bomb-making materials - "German police arrested a 20-year-old Syrian refugee who sympathized with Islamic State after he tried to cross into Denmark with potential bomb-making materials... He declined to provide any more details but said the quantities of material involved were "not typical of what would be used in a normal household"... In October, Syrian refugee Jaber Albakr hanged himself after being arrested on suspicion of planning an attack on a Berlin airport."

Lucasfilm Consider Ending Main Star Wars Movies & Focusing On Spinoffs - "The Expanded Universe began to feel rather more restrictive than it should have done, with original characters often standing in the shadow of the legendary main families. Worse still, it became less and less accessible as it went along; by the time of the "New Jedi Order" novels, you needed a phenomenal amount of background knowledge to make sense of many of the subplots. What's more, the movies face a challenge the novels don't. As strong as the Skywalker / Solo brand may be, sooner or later Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher are going to want to step out of the saga. That doesn't matter if you're writing novels; but if your ongoing Star Wars movie franchise is centered around these actors, then you have a real problem."
(this link no longer works)

The High Cost of the Model Minority Myth for Asian and Pacific Islander Americans - "The APIA racial group created by the US Government for census purposes encompasses more than forty distinct ethnic groups and over one hundred language groups. It contains some of the best and least educated ethnic groups in America and the richest and poorest, reflecting the range of immigration experiences of individuals within the APIA community. For every well-to-do APIA techie, doctor, and banker, there is also a poor APIA manicurist, launderer, and cab driver."
What would happen if one pointed out that white privilege was also an over simplification, and there was a lot of variation in white people's backgrounds and experiences?

The trial of Peter Liang and confronting the reality of Asian American privilege
Comments: "It's so funny to me how these critical race theory professors always write about how white supremacy and white privilege rule America, yet when faced with the reality of Asian success in America, they don't have an answer so they create "Asian privilege". And "Asian privilege" cannot exists in a country where white supremacy rules by definition. Also, she criticizes an Asian first mentality yet seems to have no problem with activists in the black community demanding that Silicon Valley hire less Asians or the UC system accept less Asians. Where the solidarity there?"
"I am privileged because my parents busted their butts, saved money, and provided me with more than I can ask for in life. We had the privilege of growing up in a 99% white town where eggs were thrown at our house and we were told to go back where we belong. The Asian progressives from Berkeley who likely lack any true diversity or clear lense on life need to step outside their own bubble."
"Is it possible that, if black culture and behavior were similar to that of Asians, that they, too, would be welcome in white schools and neighborhoods?"
"Some time ago, I was having brunch with a friend, who is white, at a restaurant on Long Island. Suddenly a parade of loud, uncouth people came in, stood around our table and loudly began lecturing us on the privileges we had, to the point where we could not enjoy our food. They aggressively demanded that my friend acknowledge that people who looked like her had murdered black people, and that my friend was therefore equally guilty. I stood up and reminded them that people who looked like them had murdered far more black people than people who looked like my friend had murdered, and by their own logic, were equally guilty of same. At that point, they became silent, hung their heads in shame, and left."
"when we get in trouble with the law our parents DO NOT side with the children which is why you don't here about it. Where I live the cops think it's funny that when they show up to question or return a Asian child for doing wrong the Asian parents physically discipline their kids. Asian parents hit us more when the cops let us go unlike many other cultures whos parents will stand up for their kids against the police. In our REAL culture the Asian parents trust the police and assume the police are always right and their kids are lying. Asian parents DO NOT CAUSE A FUSS - They know their kids are gangbangers so when they get shot by the police Asian parents are sad but DO NOT deny that their kid wasn't wrong. Do not speak for Asian culture when you clearly have no real experience on the streets"

Melissa Chen - The left fetishizes Fidel Castro for being... - "The left fetishizes Fidel Castro for being "anti-imperialist"... the logic appears to be that anti-imperialism is good as long as it's anti-Western imperialism. All other Imperialists of Color (IoCs), like the Ottomans, Arabs, Japanese and other puppets of the Russian empire are rarely even considered "imperialistic" and are given a pass, simply because they stood AGAINST the West. So we've now established that those composing panegyrics about Castro's legacy aren't really against imperialism per se. What are they against, then? Capitalism, it seems."

International online survey: female ejaculation has a positive impact on women's and their partners' sexual lives - "Most women ejaculate a few times a week. The volume of ejaculation is approximately 2 oz (29.1%), and the fluid is usually clear as water (83.1%).
For most women (78.8%) and their partners (90.0%), female ejaculation is an enrichment of their sexual lives, whereas 14 women (4.4%) stated that their partners were unaware of their potential ejaculation...
Published literature on female ejaculation dates back more than 2000 years...
the fact that female ejaculation is sometimes used as a pro or a con in feminist discussions may have motivated the respondents to participate in an online survey.
Interestingly, no obviously false or absurd data sets were registered among 330 entries... Today, the present study design is the best means of obtaining such a large body of information on this significant aspect of female sexual function. Online surveys have become an important tool to investigate certain questions among large groups of individuals not limited by access to healthcare systems or by geographical restrictions. To date, 100 published papers on Pubmed include the term ‘online survey’ in their title."

The Most Hated People in the United States May Not Be Who You Think - "According to the hate crime statistics kept by the FBI, Jews are the primary victims of religious hate crimes. More than 50% of all hate crimes (57% in 2014) are committed against them. For a point of comparison, anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2014 were 16%. If you include other groupings by ethnicity, race, or sexuality, Jewish people are still at the top. They are more than three times more likely to be the victim of a hate crime than any other group... In Europe, the situation for Jews is much worse. In the UK, new figures show that the annual total anti-Semitic hate crimes in London in 2015 was the highest on record. Today, Jews are leaving France in record numbers. There have been many high-profile attacks including those at the kosher market in Paris and the synagogue in Copenhagen last year. Citing countless examples of hate crimes, in 2014, the president of Germany’s Central Council of Jews told the Guardian, “These are the worst times since the Nazi era.”"
Yet, people are only obsessed about 'Islamophobia' and 'homophobia'

Elon Musk's growing empire is fueled by $4.9 billion in government subsidies - "Tesla and SolarCity continue to report net losses after a decade in business, but the stocks of both companies have soared on their potential; Musk's stake in the firms alone is worth about $10 billion. (SpaceX, a private company, does not publicly report financial performance.) Musk and his companies' investors enjoy most of the financial upside of the government support, while taxpayers shoulder the cost... Musk has proved so adept at landing incentives that states now compete to give him money, said Ashlee Vance, author of "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future," a recently published biography. "As his star has risen, every state wants a piece of Elon Musk," Vance said.

Migrants sink their own boat after crashing it into the side of a Tunisian fishing trawler they mistook for the coast guard - "The video was uploaded onto Youtube, where a commentator says: 'The crew were reluctant to help since letting them on board would have been a serious security risk as it would have them outnumbered 10 to 1. 'The only way to help would be individuals of the crew rappelling down to to the sea line, which would most likely result in their own death as the immigrants would drag them down.' The Italian coastguard has a policy of escorting to shore any migrants it finds at sea and it is thought those on the migrant boat thought they would be rescued and taken to Italy if their boat capsized next to the ship. They were unaware it was just a fishing vessel operating out of a Tunisian port."
People respond to incentives
From YouTube video: "This amateur footage, taken by a Tunisian crewman of a fishing ship, shows the disastrous consequences of the EU's open border policy that permits and encourages the continued scam of illegal African immigrants that deliberately sink their own boats near coast guard vessels to receive a shuttle service to Europe under the disguise of so-called "Syrian refugees". As the African males approach the ship, they capsize their own boats, pretending to be in distress at sea because they assume the ship is equipped to pick up refugees. Is it only after they realize the crew atop the fishing boat is physically unable to provide help that the situation escalates and the Africans start screaming for their life as they drown."