Links - 15th May 2017 (2)

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent Podcast, The All-Seeing Eye - "[On Turkey's fortune tellers] Those too afraid of terror attacks to leave their houses consult apps and TV mystics. One app *name*, has been downloaded over 1/2 million times. Users upload pictures of their coffee grounds swirled the requisite 3 times, and a team of remote mystics respond with their predictions...
[On SE Nigeria] 60% of parents know they're sending their kids into prostitution abroad, she says. Because of the hardship here, it's very tempting. This contradicts the narrative of many anti-trafficking groups who say most women are simply duped. A decade ago, maybe, says Sister Bibiana (sp?), but those innocent times are gone. She learnt this the hard way last year while distributing leaflets warning people that if they sent their children to Europe, they'd almost certainly end up in prostitution. In one marketplace the women threw the leaflets back at us... Why can't our girls go to Europe? Are you going to give them work instead?"

Mama Yuli: The trans women's leader no-one messes with - ""I felt like a weight had been lifted from me. I saw that if we wear beautiful clothes and make-up you could easily attract guys," she says. Waria are often lusted after - most work as prostitutes. Many are also rejected by their families, and as Indonesia embraces a stricter version of Islam, they are increasingly despised, or even attacked by vigilantes... "I have been stripped naked, beaten and my face slashed with a knife," she says. "And they chant 'Allahu Akbar' while they hit us." Mama Yuli says she wasn't pretty enough to become a prostitute, so instead she became their protector. And it was while she was working with the prostitutes that she heard her parents had died. To this day she feels somehow responsible. "They were so disappointed that I was wearing women's clothes that they died," she says. "It's as if I killed them."
Was Lee Kuan Yew really being Islamophobic when he said Muslims should be less strict?
Disapproving of transexuality supposedly can lead to trans people killing themselves. Now we see that the converse (kind of) can occur too

Semyon Gluzman: Meeting a Soviet-era dissident again after 35 years - "Some activists in the West were confused when Gorbachev released the political prisoners. The dissidents were not what they expected. Not everyone can be a Mandela. One woman in Holland who used to write letters to a dissident invited him to stay with her. But within hours of his arriving, she discovered he was a fascist"

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent, Too Many Ways to Talk - "Among young people in America, texting is now the #1 cause of car crashes"

Travelling the world with cats and a dog - "there's the paperwork, and what I've discovered to be the fundamental, immutable law of pet migration. The stricter and more extensive the requirements ahead of travel - for passports, jabs, microchips, special crates, transit fees and all the rest of it - the bigger the smiles of the customs officials at the destination airport, as they wave away your dossier full of hard-won paperwork without a glance, and crouch down to stroke the new arrival."

Pakistan asks Facebook and Twitter to help identify blasphemers - "Pakistan has asked Facebook and Twitter to help identify Pakistanis suspected of blasphemy so it can prosecute them or pursue their extradition. Under the country’s strict blasphemy laws, anyone found to have insulted Islam or the prophet Muhammad can be sentenced to death."

Illiberal arts colleges: Pay more, get less (free speech) - "schools where students have attempted disinvite speakers are substantially wealthier and more expensive than average... The quintessentially liberal commitment to free and open dialogue is indispensable for building mutual understanding and respect in a diverse society. Cultural separation fueled by economic inequality, however, undermines that dialogue and respect. The spectacle of rich, “progressive” protestors refusing to hear a lecture on the roots of their own privilege; well, it tells you how much work there is to do. The class gap in American today is economic, educational and residential. Perhaps most dangerous of all, it is cultural, too. Mutual distrust across class lines is one of the causes of our current toxic politics. Greater understanding, shared learning and self-reflection are all needed now more than ever. And you don’t learn anything by shouting others down."

Lawyer proposes motion to end serving of alcohol at Malaysian Bar events - "Lawyer Mohd Amir Sharil Bahari Md Noor had in his motion noted the diverse backgrounds of Malaysian Bar members who are multi-ethnic and of different religions, before going on to say that “all major religions” allegedly prohibit the consumption of alcohol... “Whereas the intention of serving alcohol on Malaysian Bar functions remains questionable,” the lawyer better known as Amir Bahari wrote in his proposed motion for the Malaysian Bar’s 71st annual general meeting (AGM) this Saturday. “Whereas the application of Jurisprudence principle of Harm Must Be Eliminated should be upheld at all times"... In his campaign last month for the Kuala Lumpur Bar chairman post, Amir Bahari had among other things promised to “Islamise” the Kuala Lumpur Bar by discontinuing the serving of alcohol at its events."

This Is What Flight Attendant Training in China Looks Like - "Trainee stewardesses also hold a piece of paper between their knees in order to learn how to stand properly."

Filter bubbles revisited: The internet may not be driving political polarization. - "Americans older than 75 experienced by far the greatest ideological divergence of any age group over the time period studied. Yet just 20 percent of this group reported using social media as of 2012. In contrast, the vast majority (80 percent) of Americans aged 18 to 39 used social media. Yet according to the study’s findings, this younger group was hardly any more polarized in 2012 than it had been in 1996, when online media barely existed. “These facts argue against the hypothesis that the internet is a primary driver of rising political polarization”... The finding is consistent with a previous body of work by Gentzkow, Shapiro, and others, who have found little evidence for the hypothesis—advanced by legal scholar Cass Sunstein—that the internet is tearing us apart. In 2011, for instance, they reported that people were actually more likely to encounter opposing views in online media than they are in their day-to-day interactions with neighbors, co-workers, and family."

3 Ways the Gay Rights Agenda™ Has Perpetuated Oppression - Everyday Feminism - "The Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell... The repeal of DADT had no impact on the military’s daily assault on racial and gender justice; it just gave out brownie points to an otherwise oppressive institution."

Muslim imam Sheikh Mohammed Tawhidi in hiding after supporting calls from Ayaan Hirsi Ali to close Australia s Muslim schools - "Mohammed Tawhidi, of the Islamic Association of South Australia, said he agrees with Ms Ali's call to close Islamic schools in Australia. He has also rejected extremist groups. Ms Ali cancelled her tour of Australia this week because of fears for her safety. "These schools do exist that are a problem and they need to be either shut down or changed completely," Imam Tawhidi said. Fearing reprisals, the Adelaide-based Imam said he was escorted into hiding by police."

University Feminists Demand Ban for Pro-Life Society Before It Even Starts - "Campaigners from the University of Liverpool have demanded that the new organisation must be shut down because it is “misogynistic” and a “danger” to women"

Religious chocolate nipples ranging from young girls to mature ladies launched in Japan - "A new brand of chocolates manufactured by the Mme KIKI company will be hitting the shelves next year in Japan in the form of women’s nipples. The “CHOCONIP” set will be sold with eight different nipples representing the transformation from a young girl’s nipple to the mature age female nipple. The CHOCONIP set of chocolates has been inspired by the Jison-in Temple in Wakayama Prefecture, which in the past was a facility only for women to worship at, known as a nyonin koya in Japanese. The picture below shows the worshipping of nipples at the Jison-in Temple in Wakayama for things such as fertility and safe child-birth... The Mme KIKI company, which will be manufacturing the chocolate nipples, has said the idea came to them suddenly when they thought “Why don’t we make chocolate in the shape of young girls’ nipples?”"

Sailor-style school uniform outfits for men are warm, fleecy and said to reduce stress
Damn Japs

Upcoming party in Shibuya combines house music with cutting open a tuna, girls get in free

Only in Japan: Rent a hot guy to make you cry then wipe your tears away

Bacon is a bit of a misnomer in Japan. When you say the word bacon to a foreigner, they often imagine crispy, tasty strips of goodness; you also might need to wipe up a bit of their drool. However, when confronted with “bacon” in Japan, the disappointment is immense. What is labeled as bacon looks like strangely cut pre-cooked ham. Even when you attempt to bring home the bacon and cook it yourself, as much as you attempt to crisp it up, you will still have supremely floppy frustration. Or you overcook it and end up with black burnt inedible garbage. There is a little trick that has been making its way around the Internet that is turning floppy disappointments into crispy deliciousness. All it takes is one little secret ingredient! Sugar

Japanese high school holds annual contest to decide the prettiest “girl” in school - "one Japanese all-boys high school, faced with an utter lack of girls to ogle, chose to get a little creative"

School textbook is withdrawn after “teacher” on the front is recognized as Japanese adult video star - "This Thai textbook publisher, however, has come under fire for apparently sourcing an image from the internet to use on a book’s front cover"

$15 Melon vs. $270 Japanese Melon Taste Test

Remembering the war in New Guinea - Australian attitudes towards the Japanese - "observation and experience heightened the hatred that Australian front-line soldiers felt for the Japanese. Racist prejudgements, and even the threat to Australia, did not goad Australian soldiers in the same way as personal experiences or personal expectations based on reports from other front-line soldiers. Many Australians who campaigned against the Japanese considered their opponent evil, detestable, underhanded and frightening in his methods. At the jungle training school at Canungra, recruits were told that the Japanese was "a cunning little rat", who was "full of little ruses and tricks." Australians were unwilling to take Japanese prisoners largely because of distrust born of bad experiences, with Japanese offering surrender and then acting as human bombs by detonating concealed explosive. The thousands of Australian soldiers who passed through Canungra were advised to shoot any Japanese surrendering with their hands closed. Frank Rolleston recalls that an apparently defenceless Japanese carrying a white cloth at Milne Bay was shot down on the grounds that "we were not prepared to take the slightest risk with an enemy that had proved to be the limit in deception and treachery." The fact that Australian wounded, and the stretcher bearers who carried them, could expect no immunity from enemy fire was a major source of criticism, as was Japanese bombing of medical facilities. Thus a medical officer wrote about a tent "ward" attacked by enemy aircraft in Papua: "When the smoke cleared the twelve [patients] were still in the tents, but each one was dead - killed by the deliberate sub-human fury of Tojo's men." Japanese callousness and brutality towards helpless men caused fierce animosity in Australians. While unchivalrous and callous behaviour was encountered against the Germans, the Japanese lifted brutality to a higher level. Brutal acts were committed more often by Japanese than by any other enemy. I'm sure you are all aware of Japanese massacres of Australian prisoners in Malaya, Singapore, Timor, New Britain, Ambon."

To Erase Militarist Past, Japan Must Re-Learn It - "Radha Binod Pal... was the only Indian judge at the so-called Tokyo Trials, Japan’s protracted version of Nuremberg. In his 1,235-page dissent, he voted to acquit the 25 Japanese accused by Allied powers of the “unprecedented” crime of “conspiring against peace”... the Soviet Union’s representative had previously served as a judge in Josef Stalin’s mock trials of the 1930s. The British, Dutch and French presuming to judge Japan’s conduct invited attention to their own much-despised imperialisms in Asia. Though “fiendish,” Pal argued, Japan’s expansionism was hardly unprecedented. Like all modern imperialist and industrial powers, Japan had sought to advance its outsized ambitions and respond to perceived threats. Other points raised by Pal also warned against an easy moral clarity about Japan’s war in Asia. He argued that the firebombing of Japanese cities and the nuclear incineration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki should also be counted as major war crimes. In fact, the trial was rendered absurd from the very beginning by Allied Supreme Commander Douglas MacArthur’s aggressive and obsessive attempt to shield Emperor Hirohito from responsibility for his country’s crimes. The chief Japanese militarist Hideki Tojo was forced to recant his statement of the obvious: that he could not have done anything against the wishes of the divinely ordained emperor. The American chief prosecutor lunched with Hirohito on the day Tojo’s death sentence was confirmed. Even the right-wing General Charles Willoughby, MacArthur’s chief intelligence officer, privately denounced the trials as the “worst hypocrisy in recorded history”... Japanese revisionists may be heartened by the inscription in stone at Pal’s memorial at Yasukuni:
When time shall have softened passion and prejudice,/ When reason shall have stripped the mask from misrepresentation,/ Then justice, holding evenly her scales, will require/ much of past censure and praise to change places"

More than 40 per cent of Japan's adult singles are virgins, says study - "The last time the study was conducted in 2010, only 36.2 per cent of men and 38.7 percent of women said they were virgins... An organisation called Virgin Academia, set up by the non-profit organisation White Hands, now offers lectures focusing on how to establish healthy relationships, as well as activities such as nude life drawing classes."

Man beaten to pulp after offering to pay for attackers’ meal - "A good Samaritan who offered to lend two men short on cash a couple bucks to cover their meal at a Brooklyn eatery ended up beaten and robbed for trying to help"

People Without Electricity Don’t Get 8 Hours’ Sleep Either - "People from these groups—two in Africa, one in South America—tend to nod off long after sundown and wake before dawn, contrary to the romantic vision of life without electric lights and electronic gadgets... “Seeing the same pattern in three groups separated by thousands of miles on two continents (makes) it pretty clear that this is the natural pattern,” says study leader and sleep researcher Jerome Siegel of the University of California, Los Angeles. “Maybe people should be a little bit more relaxed about sleeping. If you sleep seven hours a night, that’s close to what our ancestors were sleeping”... Though the San, Tsimane, and Hadza often average less than seven hours of sleep, they seem to be getting enough sleep. They seldom nap, and they don’t have trouble dozing off. The San and Tsimane languages have no word for insomnia, and when researchers tried to explain it to them, “they still don’t seem to quite understand,” Siegel says. So what are they doing in the hours after dark? The Tsimane eat, chat and sometimes weave or even hunt, Yetish says. The Hadza connect with family and friends after days hunting for tubers, game and wild honey"

How The Cars Of Logan Grappled With The Very Real Future

I turned $1.24 into $1000 of UberEATS credit - "I created a URL where I shared my unique referral code. I then claimed some free advertising credit and ran some ads to my site directed at those looking to use Uber EATS for the first time (the only way my referral code works)."

PatchCleaner - safely clean your windows installer directory - "When applications are installed and updated on the Windows Operating System a hidden directory "c:\Windows\Installer" is used to store the installer (.msi) files and the patch (.msp) files. Generally these files are important as during updating, patching or uninstalling software it will use the .msi/.msp files. If you blanketly delete all the files in this folder, you will find yourself needing to rebuild windows. Over time as your computer is patched and patched again, these installer files become outdated and orphaned. They are no longer required, but they can take up many gigabytes of data."

Man 'ran into ocean to avoid £375 restaurant bill' - "Terry Peck, 33, ran up a tab of A$621 (£375) at the Omeros Bros Seafood Restaurant on Australia's Gold Coast on Sunday evening. He is believed to have ordered two lobster mornays, 21 oyster shooters, a baby octopus and Corona beers... Lifeguards took two police officers out on jet skis to pursue Peck and, when he refused to return to land, they arrested him the water... After leaving court Peck told waiting reporters: “The lobster was a bit overcooked.” Mark Hunnybun, assistant manager at the Omeros Bros restaurant, refuted the claim, telling ABC: "We cook our lobsters perfectly here — we pride ourselves on cooking our lobsters perfectly""

Farm spices up yoga class with a bunch of baby goats