Links - 19th June 2017 (1)

Daughter Starts Fundraising After She's Cut Off for Who She’s Dating— Dad Says ‘It Has Nothing to Do with Race’ - "No one is disputing the fact that Dowdle's parents will no longer be paying for her car, her phone, or continue to give her money for college. However, her father, Bill Dowdle, cites a different reason for telling his daughter — who attends private school — that it's time to start paying for herself... Bill points to his daughter being spoiled as the reason the family is making the move to hold back on the financial support... Allie decided to find someone else to come through with the money she needed to pay for school tuition by sharing her story on GoFundMe. The Tennessee teenager has raised thousands of dollars using her story of the heartbreak her parents have caused her, with strangers donating $13,230 towards the $10,000 goal she initially set."
Why are fundraisers so popular among liberal milennials?

The Plastic-Eating Fungi That Could Solve Our Garbage Problem - "the Yale researchers discussed finding the fungus, Pestalotiopsis microspora, in the Amazon, one of the most biologically diverse areas on the planet. The students brought a sample back to the United States, with permission from the Ecuadorean government, and isolated the enzymes in the fungus that enable its plastic-chomping properties... He points to one of the fungus’s properties, as outlined in the Yale paper: its potential ability to adopt other species’ genes and infect other species with its own genes. As the Yale study notes briefly, “Pestalotiopsis microspora...have a propensity for horizontal gene transfer.” Cohen cites the Uruguayan-bred virus myxomatosis, which was introduced to Australia in the 1950s in an attempt to curb the enormous rabbit population and quickly went wild across the continent. “What is the possibility of horizontal gene transfer for the gene that produces this digesting chemical to be transferred to other organisms that weren’t intended to have that gene?” asks Cohen. “Is there a risk that the process of degradation could spread out of control?” In other words, the trash-eating enzyme could possibly mutate with other organisms in the landfill and start breaking down materials besides polyurethane—great for horror-movie writers, less so for people living nearby"

Pepper Spray Eases Symptoms of Nasal Sinus Infection

Even 'Never Trump' Camp Eyes Clinton's 65% Tax Rate - "Most estate planning lawyers will say that the really big estates can find ways around many rules to at least materially reduce their impact. Yet planning to avoid the estate tax is expensive, and requires years of planning. The estate tax succeeds at catching many people unaware. It can be a hardship to family companies and family farms"

Take down 'racist' Theodore Roosevelt statue, activists tell New York museum - "Hundreds of activists gathered at the American Museum of Natural History on Monday to take down the “racist” statue of Theodore Roosevelt and an urgent call to rename Columbus Day... The group started with a 10-stop tour of the museum in which they highlighted a variety of exhibits they felt were racist and misrepresentative, which ranged from how the representation of Africans reinforces negative stereotypes to the exoticizing of Islam in the Hall of Islam exhibit. “Where is the Hall of Christendom?” one of the tour guides asked. “It’s just to echo what this is, it’s really a hall of white supremacy, that’s what this is,” said Nitasha Dhillon, one of the organizers. At the end of the tour in the hall, activists began chanting, “Respect! Remove! Rename!” before swarming around the large dinosaur skeletons in the lobby with signs that read, “DECOLONIZE THIS MUSEUM”, “ABOLISH WHITE SUPREMACY” and “BLACK LIVES MATTER”."

Why Western leftists adore right-wing religious extremists abroad - "When the history of the West is written it will say: they educated themselves to hate themselves and love what they hate about themselves in the other. American philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler said in 2006 that “understanding Hamas [and] Hezbollah as social movements that are progressive, that are on the left, that are part of the global left, is extremely important.” That contradictory view is emblematic of a phenomenon spanning everything from Michel Foucault’s embrace of the Islamic Revolution in Iran to those “anti-war” activists in the UK who support Syrian President Bashar Assad and Russia’s bombing of civilians... Why do those who dislike US presidential candidate Donald Trump find bombastic populists like Venezuala’s Hugo Chavez so endearing? Why is Assad’s war on terror so good, but George W. Bush’s so bad?... humans need to fill the void of rage within... the “Left” eschews nationalism at home. Yet the nationalism of the “other” is authentic and palatable. Discarding one’s own flag is de rigueur but filling oneself up with the nationalism of the other is acceptable... They don’t like Jerry Falwell, but if he was Ayatollah Jerry al-Falwell, he’d be beloved and honored

No white people will star in the ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’ movie, and that’s a beautiful thing - ""The cast is entirely Japanese, but the setting is Europe. However, their race and nationality isn’t expressed in a specific form." This news is particularly refreshing in the wake of the upcoming Dr. Strange and Ghost in the Shell movies' whitewashing of the Asian characters in their source material, tapping Tilda Swinton and Scarlett Johansson, respectively, to play them."
I read this a few times and still don't understand what the Jedi mind trick is supposed to be - unless it's that white people are evil

Ghost in the Shell Publisher 'Never Imagined' a Japanese Actress in the Lead Role - "“Looking at her career so far, I think Scarlett Johansson is well-cast,” Sam Yoshiba, director of the international business division at Kodansha’s headquarters in Tokyo, told The Hollywood Reporter (via AnimeNewsNetwork and RocketNews). “She has the cyberpunk feel. And we never imagined it would be a Japanese actress in the first place.” “This is a chance for a Japanese property to be seen around the world,” said Yoshiba. According to The Hollywood Reporter, this comes after Yoshiba recently came back from the movie’s New Zealand set and said, as The Hollywood Reporter writes, “he was impressed by the respect being shown for the source material.”... In Japan, however, many people online don’t seem too upset or even surprised about the casting. Some said they didn’t care because they had no plans to see the film anyway."
One claim is that Ghost in the Shell is unique to the context of 1980s Japan, so you need to cast Japanese actors. In that case you can only cast White British actors in Shakespeare (except for Othello)

Chongqing farmer finds ancient sword, unwittingly uses it as kitchen knife for several years - "The sword is suspected to originate from the Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1912) due to the presence of three Chinese characters which read "Qing Long Jian" (Green Dragon Sword)."

U.S. judge blocks Trump order to restrict funding for 'sanctuary cities'
"a judge that is suppose to defend the law punishing the Trump administration for enforcing the law"

Symone Sanders Mocks Trump Supporter Beat Up By Mob: 'Oh My Goodness, Poor White People!'

That 'Useless' Liberal Arts Degree Has Become Tech's Hottest Ticket - "Slack's core business benefits from the philosopher's touch. Hard-core engineers have been trying to build knowledge-management software for at least 15 years. Most of their approaches are so cumbersome that corporate users can't wait to quit. Slack makes everything simple. It bridges everything from Dropbox to Twitter, helping users organize documents, photos and data files into streamlined channels for easy browsing. Considering that Butterfield spent his early 20s trying to make sense of Wittgenstein's writings, sorting out corporate knowledge might seem simple... Add up the jobs held by people who majored in psychology, history, gender studies and the like, and they quickly surpass the totals for engineering and computer science. Run the numbers on recent graduates of Boston University, the University of Texas at Austin or any of the University of California campuses, and the hiring pattern in Silicon Valley is seen to be broadly similar."

Banana peel is just as nutritious as the flesh

Growing a penis at 12: the 'Guevedoce' boys of the Dominican Republic - Telegraph - " Johnny is known as a “Guevedoce”, which literally means, “penis at twelve”. And the reason he’s called that is because, like 1 in 90 of the boys in the area, he first started to grow a penis when he was going through puberty. Guevedoces are also sometimes called “machihembras” meaning “first a woman, then a man”. When they’re born they look like girls with no testes and what appears to be a vagina. It is only when they near puberty that the penis grows and testicles descend"

Piece of Cake: Traditional Kueh Lapis - "3 tbsp rum"
So Kueh Lapis shouldn't be Halal!

Heroic Artist Gets 'Make America Great Again' Tattooed Around His Anus (NSFW) - "“I always worked my body as a weapon and a political tool,” Azcona said. “For more than 12 years I have been performing political and social performances and exhibitions that have led me to jail, detention or death threats. I believe in the empowerment of the body and of the pain. The anus is a pleasure zone for many people, and an area of sin for others. I think demystifying what the anus is, and writing a fascist political motto like that in my anus, is a clearly critical and subversive action.”"
We honor him this day. He was an hero

Japanese theme park now offering fake thugs you can “beat up” to impress your girlfriend【Video】

New password guidelines say everything we thought about passwords is wrong - "Here is a quick look at the three main changes the NIST has proposed:
No more periodic password changes
No more imposed password complexity
Mandatory validation of newly created passwords against a list of commonly-used, expected, or compromised passwords."

Toa Payoh couple arrested: Experts caution against lynch-mob mentality - "The couple was initially identified by netizens as staff of UOB’s Toa Payoh branch but the bank later clarified that they were not. Noting how cyber sleuths also identified the wrong driver who ran over a dog at Pasir Ris Farmway 3 last year, Mr Ng said: “Too many times now, online vigilantes took over and identified someone who is really not the perpetrator, and the poor person has to take the brunt of it.”... “Someone respectable and seen as a neutral party, if available, could have stepped in to resolve the conflict, and nudge the offending party to apologise to the one receiving the bad treatment,” he said. However, he noted that the norm in Singapore “seems to be that only the authority of the state could resolve” such incidents. Mr Ng urged bystanders to not just film such incidents, but step in and defuse the situation where appropriate. “I hope we don’t progress to the stage where we all just film and nobody helps the person who needs help,” he said"

Three Isis fighters 'mauled to death by wild boars in Iraq'

ANTIFA Leftist Group Is Selling Concealed Knives On Their Website For Slicing Conservatives - "Following the recent violent mobilization of Antifa in Berkeley, the domestic terror organization has begun to embrace violence as part of its message. There is a visible evil to the entity and sadly it is comprised of young Americans who have adopted a violent, Marxist mentality. They are now selling small, concealed knives and are actively promoting violence in an effort to fight perceived “fascism”... A petition was started in February to declare Antifa a terrorist organization. They were throwing M-80’s, glass bottles and bricks at Trump supporters in Berkeley and now they are selling concealed knives to be used."

Egyptian Writer: “Islam Cannot Be Reformed” - "“If it had been possible to reform Islam, it would have been done centuries ago,” Abdel Samad told the Moroccan French-language magazine. “Islam is an ultra-sacralized entity. Who would dare to reform Allah’s word? Furthermore, there is no central authority in charge of Islam as it is the case with the Catholic and Orthodox churches.” The German-Egyptian author claimed that, as Islam goes beyond religious belief, it cannot be reformed. “Islam is basically incompatible with secularism. It is a tradition that mixes religion with economy, and politics with militarism. It complicates the relationships between Muslims and non-Muslims. I don’t believe in general salvation.” On the other hand, Muslims’ mentality, according to Abdel Samad, can be “reformed”... A death fatwa was issued against him live on a salafist Egyptian TV channel in 2013. In Germany, he has been living under police protection."
Is this racism?

Man Fined $500 for Crime of Writing 'I Am An Engineer' in an Email to the Government - "In September 2014, Mats Järlström, an electronics engineer living in Beaverton, Oregon, sent an email to the state's engineering board. The email claimed that yellow traffic lights don't last long enough, which "puts the public at risk." "I would like to present these facts for your review and comments," he wrote. This email resulted not with a meeting, but with a threat. The Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying responded with this dystopian message: "ORS 672.020(1) prohibits the practice of engineering in Oregon without registration … at a minimum, your use of the title 'electronics engineer' and the statement 'I'm an engineer' … create violations.""

Don't call pregnant women 'expectant mothers' as it might offend transgender people, BMA says - "The British Medical Association has said pregnant women should not be called "expectant mothers" as it could offend transgender people. Instead, they should call them "pregnant people" so as not to upset intersex and transgender men, the union has said. The advice comes in an internal document to staff outlining a raft of common phrases that should be avoided for fear of causing offence. "The elderly" should be referred to as "older people", "disabled lifts" called "accessible lifts" and someone who is "biologically male or female" should be called "assigned male or female"... listing prefixes for names such as "Prof", "Dr", "Mr", "Mrs" or "Miss" should not be put in a particular order on forms to avoid a "perceived hierarchy"."

The FBI Says It Can't Find Hackers to Hire Because They All Smoke Pot

The Unintended Consequences of Borrowing Business Tools to Run a University - "When an academic institution adopts business concepts, the tools themselves can influence the very basis of what the college provides. To be sure, on my campus we use focus groups and surveys to great effect. They help us discover ways to improve the experience we offer. Yet I believe we make a serious mistake if we start to think about students as customers."