Links - 2nd July 2017 (1)

Why 40% of Vietnamese People Have the Same Last Name - "In the United States, the most popular last name is Smith. As per the 2010 census, about 0.8 percent of Americans have it. In Vietnam, the most popular last name is Nguyen. The estimate for how many people answer to it? Somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of the country’s population. The 14 most popular last names in Vietnam account for well over 90 percent of the population. The 14 most popular last names in the US? Fewer than 6 percent... there isn’t really one correct way to say Nguyen. Vietnam has a few different dialects, with the biggest division between them being geographical, namely north-south... “This tradition of showing loyalty to a leader by taking the family name is probably the origin of why there are so many Nguyens in Vietnam,” says O’Harrow. Guess what the last ruling family in Vietnam was? Yep, the Nguyễn Dynasty, which ruled from 1802 to 1945."

Mothers shocked about formula milk companies' marketing costs - "between 2010 and 2014, the amount that all major manufacturers spent on marketing increased 42.4 per cent. The competition watchdog found that heavy investment in marketing and research likely led to the increase in markup of wholesale prices, and this in turn, was the main factor for increases in retail prices - which have, on average, more than doubled over the past nine years... Ms Lee, who spends about $190 per month on Dumex milk for her 16-month-old daughter: "I will not choose the cheaper brands. You get what you pay for. If they all meet the nutritional needs of infants, then why the price difference?""
No wonder the prices are so high

Does the AMDK Truly Exist? - "This one example sums it up perfectly:
AMDK at 1.75m tall: Height is just right. My type!
Sinkie at 1.75m tall: Sorry, you too short.
On Reddit, there’s a neatly organised compilation of such comparisons. As for whether these double standards truly exist, I decided to ask a few Caucasian men (and their Singaporean partners for an added local perspective) what they think."
Isn't asking WMAF couples if AMDK is real like asking Chinese people if Chinese privilege is real?

Asylum seeker in Germany 'stabbed mother to death because she converted to Christianity'
Damn Crusades

Exclusive: Facebook Has Been Continuously Shutting Down Atheist and Ex-Muslim Groups - "Syed believes the pages had been targeted in coordinated attacks by Muslim fundamentalists using “simple and effective” Facebook flagging tools to report that pages falsely for standards violations. Facebook, Syed said, isn’t doing enough to protect “groups vulnerable to malicious attacks”."

Unwed mum adopts own biological daughter - "The move essentially removes the label of illegitimacy without changing the circumstances of the child. Lorraine, for example, will have all the rights of a child born to a married couple. Currently, the differences between legitimate and illegitimate children are benefits such as housing, housing subsidies, the Baby Bonus cash gift, tax relief for the parent and inheritance priority."
This loophole means all the angst about single mothers not getting the same benefits as married ones is even less justified

A Philosopher Gets Pilloried - WSJ - "Ms. Tuvel’s paper, published in the feminist philosophy journal Hypatia, takes on one of the weakest points of the left’s mania for identity politics. Ms. Tuvel asks why society is increasingly willing to embrace people who identify as “transgender,” even as it rejects those who identify as “transracial.” Why laud Caitlyn Jenner while vilifying Rachel Dolezal ? Ms. Tuvel weighs several arguments that seek to “justify transgenderism and delegitimize transracialism.” She concludes: “Considerations that support transgenderism seem to apply equally to transracialism,” and therefore society “should also accept transracial individuals’ decisions to change races.”... Her paper briefly considers other exotic forms of self-identification. How do progressives reckon with people who say they’re really “otherkins,” identifying as nonhuman animals? Are we morally required to accept “transabled” people, who are born physically normal but feel one of their limbs transgresses on their identity?... Instead of taking on Ms. Tuvel’s arguments, the professoriate attacked her for asking questions to begin with. More than 500 academics signed a letter denouncing the paper. One of their main complaints was that Ms. Tuvel didn’t lace it with references to scholars “who are most vulnerable to the intersection of racial and gender oppressions (women of color).” Absent such citations, they said, her paper “painfully reflects a lack of engagement beyond white and cisgender privilege.” When academics would rather anathematize a critic than argue back, it’s a sure sign that they’ve departed from the realm of philosophy and rational discourse. “Calls for intellectual engagement are also being shut down because they ‘dignify’ the article,” Ms. Tuvel said in a written statement about the saga. “If this is considered beyond the pale as a response to a controversial piece of writing, then critical thought is in danger.” Some of Ms. Tuvel’s foes are employing the fashionable trope that criticism is a form of violence. On Twitter , a student at the University of California, San Francisco accused Ms. Tuvel of “epistemic violence.” The hundreds of academics who signed the petition asserted it was “dangerous” for Hypatia to leave the article up, given that “its continued availability causes further harm.” Within days Hypatia predictably buckled, posting an obsequious 1,000-word mea culpa on Facebook . Its editors promised to revamp their procedures... This liberal pile-on has rattled Ms. Tuvel, who burst into tears before declining my request for an interview. She fears, legitimately, that she’ll be blacklisted in academia. But it’s her opponents on the progressive left that this saga should really frighten. Their reaction suggests their ideas can’t withstand even the most basic critical scrutiny. Such fragile principles aren’t persuasive or enduring"
Even philosophy has been affected by the rot

Indian student made to remove bra over exam cheat fears - "this year's prohibited articles list which includes dark clothes, long sleeves, brooches, badges, closed shoes and socks... a metal detector started to beep during a security check... Another student's parent said his daughter was forced to remove the button on her jeans after it set off the metal detector... Cheating in exams is common in India including paying large bribes to buy test papers, although there have been more elaborate ruses. Hundreds of people were arrested in eastern Bihar state in 2015 for scaling the walls of schools and providing crib sheets and study materials to their relatives during exams."

Shakespeare's Words | Glossary - "nice:
1 fastidious, particular, fussy, overscrupulous
5 trivial, unimportant, slight
6 foolish, stupid
7 whimsical, capricious, temperamental
9 lustful, lecherous, lascivious, wanton"

Our two-faced lives on Facebook, Google search - "On social media, the top descriptors to complete the phrase "My husband is ..." are "the best", "my best friend", "amazing", "the greatest" and "so cute". On Google, one of the top five ways to complete that phrase is also "amazing". So that checks out. The other four: "a jerk", "annoying", "gay" and "mean"."

The meaning of life in a world without work - "What is a religion if not a big virtual reality game played by millions of people together? Religions such as Islam and Christianity invent imaginary laws, such as “don’t eat pork”, “repeat the same prayers a set number of times each day”, “don’t have sex with somebody from your own gender” and so forth. These laws exist only in the human imagination. No natural law requires the repetition of magical formulas, and no natural law forbids homosexuality or eating pork. Muslims and Christians go through life trying to gain points in their favorite virtual reality game. If you pray every day, you get points. If you forget to pray, you lose points. If by the end of your life you gain enough points, then after you die you go to the next level of the game (aka heaven)... Work is essential for meaning only according to some ideologies and lifestyles. Eighteenth-century English country squires, present-day ultra-orthodox Jews, and children in all cultures and eras have found a lot of interest and meaning in life even without working. People in 2050 will probably be able to play deeper games and to construct more complex virtual worlds than in any previous time in history"

PROGRESS: Harvard To Hold Blacks-Only Graduation Ceremony

LSD microdoses make people feel sharper, and scientists want to know how - "microdosing can be an aid for productivity, and it can provide relief for treatment-resistant depression"

Villagers stunned to discover 'angel from heaven' on beach. Turns out to be a sex doll - "Residents of a remote Indonesia village recently discovered what they believed to be an "angel" on a beach."

Doctors save Canadian woman's life by removing her lungs for six days

Gay Never Trumper Becomes Latest Victim of Campus Attacks on Free Speech - "Activists accuse Kirchick—a longtime supporter of gay rights who has spent years covering oppressive regimes around the globe—of promoting Islamophobia and other forms of racism. They compare Kirchick to alt-right firebrand Milo Yiannopoulos, but fail to note that Kirchick has repeatedly and prominently criticized Yiannopoulos. Other flyers being handed out on campus mock Kirchick's gay rights activism and accuse him of delivering a "hateful message" due to his opinion that Islamic regimes, such as those in Saudi Arabia and Iran, are enemies of gay rights."
Apparently Muslims are above gays on the progressive stack

Trump: Flip, flop or flexibility? - "he is and always will be a businessman driven by results, not ideology. For example, he didn't think NATO was serving America's interest. Now that he is involved, he clearly believes he can change that... Some sources say the President is most influenced by the last person who talked to him. Others say that's not quite right. A senior administration official with the President every day says that it is true he is swayed by aides, advisers, friends, members of Congress and others he talks to who try to influence him. But this source insists that it is not necessarily the last argument that the President hears that wins out, it's the one he thinks is most cogent and compelling."

Nine questions those protesting against Donald Trump’s immigration ban must answer - "If you decide that border restrictions are fascist then you are declaring the views of most people to be fascist, because most people believe in border security. If you believe that restricting people coming in to your country or any other country is bigoted then you are claiming that most of the world is filled with bigots. If you believe absolutely everybody from everywhere should be treated in exactly the same manner (i.e. that immigration controls should everywhere and always be origin-blind) then you are arguing against the security protocols of every border security agency on earth."

EA says Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes players log an average of 162 minutes a day in the game - "That is a high level of engagement. According to Vetro Analytics, the average mobile user spends 24 minutes a day playing games on their device"

Political Correctness Is Bad: Discuss - "A fallback for political correctness supporters is to claim that:
what it basically comes down to is political correctness means not being a jerk to others. Political correctness is nothing more than treating others with respect. Being kind. Being a nice person.
But politically correct people are quite capable of being jerks too. Being nice is not using words that might be hurtful. It’s letting people speak, especially those who may not usually be heard. Being nice is not declaring that certain words or actions must not be used. It is not telling people that they should shut up. It is not assuming the worst about people’s background or motives. Being nice is never sending anyone abuse for any reason, even if they disagree with you, and even if you think they are very wrong, or very stupid.
Check your privilege? What could be more privileged than being able to run away from or shout down things you don’t want to hear?...
Political correctness is about encouraging minority voices  -  but only if what they have to say is politically correct. Are you an ex-Muslim who wants to talk about leaving her religion? (traitor!) Or a trans person who doesn’t live full time as a person of their trans gender? (faker!) Or a 50-year veteran of gay activism who prefers free speech over “no platform”? (racist!) Or a drag queen veteran of gay pride marches? (you make people uncomfortable!) Or a gay man seeking a voice in LGBT issues? (not oppressed enough!) Or a trans woman, LGBTQ activist who’s Jewish but not sufficiently anti-Zionist? Then political correctness can declare your minority voice verboten. You know PC has ‘jumped the shark’ when it’s considered more offensive to criticise FGM than it is to sexually mutilate young girls"

Transgender Bathroom Use, North Carolina, Mississippi, and America's Profound Gender Anxiety - "American culture has been shifting in this direction for some time, pushed along by academic gender theorists, the sexual revolution, and the gay-rights movement. But even as feminists argued for decades that gender is socially constructed and multi-formed, and increasing numbers of people became open about being gay, lesbian, or bisexual, most Americans remained comfortable with the notion that some people are men and some people are women. All of a sudden, a different consensus seems to have emerged.... In some sense, America’s new wave of gender anxiety began with something very straight: [gay] marriage... why did bathrooms come next? These bills seem to be about something slightly different. They’re not objections to what people do—having gay sex, for example, or getting married to a person of the same sex. They’re objections to what people are, which isn’t tied to any particular act
This is evidence that the slippery slope that the fetish for gay marriage led to the trans obsession
Isn't going into a toilet that doesn't match your birth sex something you do rather than am?
Amusingly this article got condemned as transphobic

On Being Black, 'Woke,' And Dating White People - "according to the biography Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama written by David Garrow, Obama let go of his white woman (who was actually a half Dutch and half Japanese woman named Sheila Miyoshi Jagger) for a calculated reason ― he knew that in order to become president one day, to be credibly black, he had to be married to a black woman. That Obama, the first black president of the United States, allegedly felt that a non-black partner would be a liability to his political career says a lot about the way we view black leaders, activists, public figures and those who they choose to date"

The Left must finally give us a workable definition of what a modern Nazi is - "Most on the Antifa-supporting wing of the Left I have talked to (with some refreshing exceptions) have glaringly failed to do this, even at times dismissing me as a Nazi sympathizer or privileged white asshole for even raising the issue or having the gall to ask this question... When a sizable chunk of the Left defines something like opposition to Federal Affirmative Action policy to be ‘Nazi ideology’, we have a fundamental breakdown of basic definition parameters... the attempt to bring public pressure, social disapproval and mass embarrassment on the White Nationalist movement (something that we certainly need to do) has unfortunately been weaponized by many as a tool to conduct ideological witch hunts and cast out heretics. It has become a means of closing the conversation to dissenting views, without trial or reasoned argument... Take it from a PSYOP veteran: this tactic saturates the discussion space, pushes much of society away, and actually damages our ability to single out and put targeted social pressure on actual White Nationalists and their propaganda"