Links - 21st August 2018 (2)

Scientists agree: Coffee naps are better than coffee or naps alone - "drinking a cup of coffee and then taking a quick nap. This is called a coffee nap... if you nap for those 20 minutes, you'll reduce your levels of adenosine just in time for the caffeine to kick in. The caffeine will have less adenosine to compete with, and will thereby be even more effective in making you alert."

The Science of Loneliness: How Isolation Can Kill You - "The social experience that most reliably predicted whether an HIV-positive gay man would die quickly, Cole found, was whether or not he was in the closet. Closeted men infected with HIV died an average of two to three years earlier than out men. When Cole dosed AIDS-infected white blood cells with norepinephrine, a stress hormone, the virus replicated itself three to ten times faster than it did in non-dosed cells. Cole mulled these results over for a long time, but couldn’t understand why we would have been built in such a way that loneliness would interfere with our ability to fend off disease: “Did God want us to die when we got stressed?”"

This 0.5K run for underachievers has donuts, coffee, and a smoking rest stop - "Before the event every runner will get a free pint of beer to prepare them for their journey

'Wonder Woman' Wins Best Fight for "No Man's Land" Scene at MTV Movie & TV Awards - "The category's other nominees were Atomic Blonde's stairwell fight, T'Challa and M'Baku's Black Panther duel, Thor and Hulk's gladiator match in Thor: Ragnarok, and Black Widow, Okoye, and Scarlet Witch facing off against Proxima Midnight in Avengers: Infinity War."

How one fan gained a bunch of weight to see Peru play in the World Cup - ""The only tickets that were left on the FIFA website where ticket for disabled people,” Miguel told Clarin. “I looked at the requirements; be in a wheelchair, something specific for women and suffering from morbid obesity, over 35 BMI, body mass index. I was at 30, and I did the math. I needed to put on 25 kg.” He bought the ticket immediately and then set his sights on gaining the weight he needed in three months, which involved eating a lot of carbohydrates. Thankfully he managed to get a medical certificate proving his obesity... At the last World Cup in Brazil in 2014, El Comercio reported that people also took advantage of the disabled tickets to enter in wheelchairs. However, when pictures were released of these people standing up to applaud their teams, they sparked worldwide indignation. This year FIFA required medical certificates"

He told his friends his vest was stab-proof and offered to demonstrate. It wasn't - "Easton died from the self-inflicted knife wound"

Apple fined for misleading customers in Australia - "An Australian court has fined Apple A$9m (£5m;$6.5m) for refusing to fix iPhones and iPads that had been serviced by third parties."

Racial Immunity - "In each of the above incidents, the black person was either doing something illegal (taking up two parking spaces, taking up two handicapped spaces, making violent threats, using a charcoal barbecue in a prohibited area) or violating the policies of a private business (claiming a table and trying to use the bathroom without ordering, sleeping in a common area, demanding food from a bakery that was closed, refusing to follow golf club rules, disturbing fellow tenants). Yet in each case, activists, aided by the leftist press, painted the black people as victims of white racism. And now there’s a campaign, championed by the likes of the Huffington Post, CNN, and the L.A. Times (the latter two having run almost identically worded op-eds within four days of each other), to stop white people from calling the police on (or otherwise reporting) blacks who violate laws or break rules... Ms. Walker is leading a crusade to get “justice” for her 17-year-old brother, Charles Macklin, who was shot dead while trying to carjack a white guy. Authorities cleared the white guy of wrongdoing, and Walker is angry. Sure, her lil’ bro tried to steal the white dude’s car; she admits it. But the white man should’ve let him. “You’ve got insurance,” was her message to the ofay devil who dared to want to keep his vehicle"

Spanish students evicted from dorm to make room for ‘Aquarius’ migrants - "A grand gesture by Madrid to accept migrants rejected by Italy and Malta has backfired on some Spanish students, who were told to leave their dormitories in 24 hours to make room for the new arrivals. Pedro Sanchez, Spain’s newly appointed prime minister, agreed to take in passengers of the rescue ship Aquarius, who are mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, after Italy’s anti-immigration government and Malta blocked the ship from docking... The students, who reportedly pay as much as 750 euros per month for the accommodations, were told to vacate the rooms within 24 hours"
Future right wing voters coming up

Chief of Defence Force MG Melvyn Ong avoids answering questions on “tekan culture” in SAF - "Dave died of heat stroke on 30 Apr. He was admitted to Changi General Hospital in the middle of April after suffering a heat stroke during a training exercise. After struggling for his life close to 2 weeks at the hospital, he passed away... There have been allegations that Dave was 'being tekan' during training, which may have caused him to suffer from heat stroke... When the reporters asked about the question of a "tekan culture" especially in the Guards formation, MG Ong said "there is a certain purpose to every training that we do"... When pressed on by reporters if the "tekan" sessions could be conducted with the right purpose and safety coverage, MG Ong avoided answering."

Bitcoin Could Break the Internet, Central Bank Overseer Says - "The Bank for International Settlements just told the cryptocurrency world it’s not ready for prime time -- and as far as mainstream financial services go, may never be... cryptocurrencies are too unstable, consume too much electricity, and are subject to too much manipulation and fraud to ever serve as bona fide mediums of exchange in the global economy... the race by so-called Bitcoin miners to be the first to process transactions eats about the same amount of electricity as Switzerland does. “Put in the simplest terms, the quest for decentralized trust has quickly become an environmental disaster”"

Giant Horror Plant That Causes 3rd Degree Burns Has Spread to Yet Another US State

Soul Calibur VI's Female Fighters Get Slut-Shamed, Body-Shamed By Kotaku

Yoga and meditation boost your ego, say psychology researchers

Anthony Bourdain and Barack Obama's Dinner Table – Ngô Thì Nhậm, Vietnam - "It looks much as it did when Bourdain and Obama sat down to eat there, but there are a few key changes. Guests hoping to relive the experience can now order a “Combo Obama” from the menu: bun cha, a seafood spring roll, and a bottle of Hanoi beer for a total of 85,000 VND, or about $3.60. But what they can’t do is sit down at that same table, in those same blue plastic stools. The restaurant’s encased the entire set-up in glass for posterity. (From time to time, they also pop a decorative plant on top.) The metal-topped table’s still set, as if waiting for the return of its diners, ready with plates, bowls, chopsticks, and beers."

President's 14-person delegation includes top lieutenants and is HALF WOMEN - "President Donald Trump headed a 14-member delegation that included seven women that during his first summit event in Singapore in advance of his meeting with Kim Jong-un."
So much for sexism

Mobile App Tracks Microaggressions on College Campuses - "A professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has created an app for students to report microaggressions on campus. Christy Byrd, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, created the app to gather more data on the amount and types of microaggressions that were occurring on campus... those who reported more microaggressions typically had lower self-esteem, a higher chance of depression, and lower feelings of competence."

As funding dries up, Umno cybertroopers fade away or switch sides - "They used to earn tens of thousands a month, with some pulling in several million ringgit to slander Pakatan Harapan (PH) and trumpet the virtues of Barisan Nasional (BN)."

Why Sally Mann’s Photographs of Her Children Can Still Make Viewers Uncomfortable - Artsy - "Many of the subsequent images that eventually formed the “Immediate Family” series featured her children on the family farm—in the nude, injured, or in other vulnerable positions"

White People Are Cowards - "I thought white people were evil. I was wrong... Until all white people do and say something, people in power will always be able to point to the silent majority and say that no one cares about racism or inequality. Ultimately, whiteness affords them the right to remain silent. I thought white people were evil. I was right."
And they wonder why the "Far right" is growing
Meanwhile, if you ask all Muslims to condemn Islamist terrorism...

Are the Roma Primitive, or Just Poor? - The New York Times - "members of the defense team offered an unusual legal defense: rather than focusing on the argument that the Roma are forced to resort to crime because of poverty and discrimination, it claimed that in some cases they were simply following age-old Roma traditions and generally operate outside the norms of society in “the style of the Middle Ages.”... the interior minister, Manuel Valls, a Socialist, caused a furor by saying only a minority of Roma could fit into French society... In the Marais district of Paris, where young Roma gangs brazenly target tourists and locals at metros and bank machines, one pregnant girl said begging was her only lifeline... what prosecutors had characterized as the practice of selling child brides was, in fact, part of a centuries-old tradition of Roma dowry... Ms. Jaroka, who grew up in a poor community of Roma musicians in Tata, in Hungary, said she owed her success to her parents, a waiter and dressmaker, who insisted that she, her sister and her brother get an education in unsegregated schools. Today, her sister is a music therapist; her brother, a soccer coach. “We Roma,” she said, “also need to learn to emancipate ourselves.”"

The shamed faces of the Roma men accused of selling their women for their stealing skills as France launches major crackdown on the community - "There are an estimated 15,000 Roma gipsies in France. Two years ago the then interior minister, Claude Gueant, claimed the vast majority of street robberies in Paris were carried out by Romanian immigrants."

No Country for the Old - "Sweetheart-scamming the old and infirm did not originate with this San Francisco family; there is a long tradition of such cons in Gypsy culture... Olsen reports that according to Gypsy legend, a Gypsy had stolen the gold spike intended to pierce the heart of Jesus. So before dying, ''a grateful Christ on the cross had given Gypsies a heavenly license to steal from the gaje'' (non-Gypsies). A Gypsy in Florida who had left the life to become a deputy sheriff told Faron, ''They consider the United States a great big fruit tree, and they take that fruit and eat it.''... more than a million complaints of financial chicanery committed against elderly people are filed each year in the country, many involving Gypsies. Many more cases go unreported, because the victims are too humiliated to admit that they have been taken"

Anger as 100 travellers invade historic Thwaites Brewery and evict staff - "TRAVELLERS turned the site of a historic British brewery into “a disgusting mess” after more than 100 moved their caravans in and violently threatened employees turning up for work"

'Disastrous' copyright bill vote approved - "They voted to approve the controversial Article 13, which critics warn could put an end to memes, remixes and other user-generated content. Article 11, requiring online platforms to pay publishers a fee if they link to their news content, was also approved... 70 influential tech leaders, including Vint Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee, signed a letter opposing Article 13, which they called "an imminent threat to the future" of the internet... "15 MEPs voted for upload filtering. They understand the internet better than the people who invented it, apparently.""

New Zealand: We don't want foreign buyers — except Singaporeans? - "Singapore nationals will join Australians and certain types of visa holders in an exemption from a controversial bill seeking to ban sales in the Kiwi residential property market to foreigners."

Southern Poverty Law Center, Inc. Admits It Was Wrong, Apologizes to Quilliam and Maajid Nawaz for Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists, and Agrees to Pay $3.375 Million Settlement

The Southern Poverty Law Center has lost all credibility - The Washington Post - "The SPLC is a once-storied organization that did important work filing civil rights lawsuits against the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. But it has become a caricature of itself, labeling virtually anyone who does not fall in line with its left-wing ideology an “extremist” or “hate group.” Nawaz is a case in point. Since abandoning Islamic radicalism, he has advised three British prime ministers and created the Quilliam Foundation, to fight extremism. He is not anti-Muslim. He is a Muslim and has argued that “Islam is a religion of peace.” So how did he end up in the SPLC’s pseudo-guide to anti-Muslim bigots? His crime, apparently, is that he has become a leading critic of the radical Islamist ideology he once embraced... Let’s hope this settlement is the first of many, because this is not the first time the SPLC has done this. In 2010, it placed the Family Research Council (FRC) — a conservative Christian advocacy group that opposes abortion and same-sex marriage — on its “hate map.” Two years later, a gunman walked into the FRC headquarters with the intention to “kill as many as possible and smear the Chick-fil-A sandwiches in victims’ faces.” He told the FBI that he had used the SPLC website to pick his target. Unfortunately, many in the media still take the SPLC seriously... The SPLC also lists Charles Murray, a colleague of mine at the American Enterprise Institute and one of the most respected conservative intellectuals in the United States, on its website as a “White Nationalist.” Last year, an angry mob of students, many citing the SPLC’s designation, physically attacked Murray during a speech at Middlebury College. He escaped unharmed, but the liberal professor who invited him ended up in the hospital... Unfortunately, the settlement that the SPLC reached with Nawaz is not likely to deter it from smearing others — $3.4 million is a drop in the bucket for the center, which raised $132 million between November 2016 and October 2017 and has a $477 million endowment, including a reported $92 million in offshore accounts. Sliming conservatives is big business. The only way to stop the SPLC is if people stop giving it money and the media stop quoting it or taking it seriously"

What is Political “Extremism”? - "In analyzing the rhetoric and literature of several hundred “fringe” and militant “special interest” groups I have identified several specific traits that tend to represent the extremist style...
1. Character Assassination.
2. Name Calling And Labeling.
3. Irresponsible Sweeping Generalizations.
4. Inadequate Proof For Assertions.
5. Advocacy Of Double Standards.
6. Extremists Tend To View Their Opponents And Critics As Essentially Evil
7. Extremists Tend To Have A Manichean Worldview.
8. Extremists Very Often Advocate Some Degree Of Censorship And Repression Of Their Opponents And Critics.
9. Extremists Tend To Identify Themselves In Terms Of Who Their Enemies Are
10. Extremists Are Given To Arguments By Intimidation.
11. Wide Use Of Slogans, Buzzwords And Thought-Stopping Cliches.
12. Doomsday Thinking.
13. Extremists Often Claim Some Kind Of Moral Or Other Superiority Over Others.
14. Extremists Tend To Believe That It’s OK To Do Bad Things In The Service Of A “Good” Cause.
15. Extremists Tend To Place Great Value On Emotional Responses.
16. Some Extremists, Particularly Those Involved In “Cults” Or religious movements such as fundamental evangelical Christians, Zionists, members of the numerous new age groups and followers of certain “gurus,” claim some kind of supernatural, mystical or divinely-inspired rationale for their beliefs and actions...
Extremists traits tend to have three things in common:
The represent some attempt to distort reality for themselves and others.
They try to discourage critical examination of their beliefs, either by false logic, rhetorical trickery or some kind of intimidation.
They represent an attempt to act out private, personal grudges or rationalize the pursuit of special interests in the name of public welfare"

The Value of Arguing with Extremists: Building a Moderate Center - "Know your enemy
Get extremists to show their true colors
Bring more reasonable people at risk of developing extremist views into the conversation"