Links - 3rd October 2018 (2)

Makansutra founder reveals “shocking” costs for hawkers at new Government-run food centres - "“The folks at social enterprise food centres pay a total of $4000 pmth on average. The shocking facts, (just some) seen in some of the contracts, include compulsory payments for
“coin changing service”,
a Gross Turnover Profit percentage (they take a percentage of your overall takings each month or basic rents, whichever is higher),
separate charges for crockery washing, collection and return (despite efforts and cost to facilitate self tray-return)
and this brazen clause (see image) that hawkers pay the management $600 a month to have them spot check their food quality and operation ( in short, charge the hawkers to do what they naturally do anyway). As if they know better than the hawkers how to cook and operate.
They also have monetary penalties like in a food court model for closures and they are expected to open 8-12 hours a day (minus preparation time). The law only allow people to work up to 12 hours a day. The old NEA hawker centres will allow emergency closures like for health, religious holidays and personal issues, just let them know.
Despite these startling high cost of operation and management fees, they are expected to offer at least one dish at below $3 in the menu.”
Seetoh further noted that such costs will have an impact on the prices consumers have to pay and predicted that this will have a “domino effect on all other F&B rentals in Singapore” if such costs continue to prevail at the SEHCs"

The last of Singapore’s old-style Kopitiams to make way for development next year - "Located at 59 Jalan Benaan Kapal near the Kallang Indoor Stadium, the unassuming shipyard style canteen has served thousands of Singaporeans over the years and has earned a place in the hearts of many, with it’s ridiculously low prices, nostalgia-inducing food and beverages and kindly shopkeepers. About 10 stalls at the Jalan Benaan Kapal food centre – which remains modern Singapore’s oldest food centres – serve a variety of Singapore favorites, from Kopi that costs $0.50, Kopi and toast sets for $1 and a plethora of other local dishes like chicken rice, nasi padang, lontong, and mee goreng."

‘Countrywide problem’: Mother whose son's daycare group has ‘2 out of 25’ German-speaking kids to RT - "A mother who is frustrated by the situation in her son’s daycare group, where only “two out of twenty five speak German”, told RT that the problem may result in “lost children” who can neither speak German nor integrate."

The babies who nap in sub-zero temperatures - "Would you put your baby or toddler outside in the freezing cold for their lunchtime nap? Most Nordic parents wouldn't give it a second thought. For them it's part of their daily routine."

Toronto District School Board chair defends controversial Islamic guidebook - "The guide, compiled by volunteers but stamped with the TDSB logo, recommends a number of religious intrusions in the classroom ranging from the explaining and reciting of the Muslim greeting “As-salamu alaykum” (peace be upon you) during morning announcements to having children make paper cut-outs of famous mosques. But it was the guidebook’s definition of the phrase Islamophobia that caused B’nai Brith to send off a complaint, calling it “fear, prejudice, hatred or dislike directed against Islam or Muslims, or towards Islamic politics or culture.” The Jewish advocacy group in their original press release saw big problems with this: “The TDSB definition, if enforced, could lead to punishment for students or teachers who display ‘dislike’ towards the persecution of LGBTQ people in the Islamic Republic of Iran, harsh restrictions on women in Saudi Arabia, and Palestinian terrorism against Israelis, all of which are examples of ‘Islamic politics’.”... The 170-page guidebook addresses issues such as women’s rights in Islam in an entirely positive light without acknowledging its challenges and controversies."

Backers Hound Chuck Tingle, Zoe Quinn For Answers Regarding Delayed $85,000 Kickstarter Project - "According to the Kickstarter page the adventure dating simulator was supposed to be released in beta between February and April of 2017. When April rolled around there was still no pre-alpha access. Then May came, then June, and by July there was an update to backers informing them about why some of the merchandise was missing for the physical backer rewards... After the January, 2018 update there was silence… a lot of it. In fact, there were no further updates until a report on Kickscammed popped up, noting that the project hadn’t been delivered on its stated date and that the creators of the project had not responded to inquiries about its delivery date. When Chuck Tingle and Zoe Quinn were reached for comment by Kickscammed, they didn’t return any of the queries."

Left-Wing Media Cabal Outed, Features 400 Members From Journalism, Academia - "This kind of social engineering through media manipulation has been going on for years across nearly every sector of media journalism, including video games... These groups existing and shaping news media narratives has proven to be very dangerous when it comes to informing the general public, since the views and the news being presented are sculpted by what a self-appointed group of gatekeepers want you to know as opposed to what you should know."

Teen dating violence is down, but boys still report more violence than girls - "When it comes to teen dating violence, boys are more likely to report being the victim of violence—being hit, slapped, or pushed—than girls. That’s the surprising finding of new research from the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University... “It could be that it’s still socially acceptable for girls to hit or slap boys in dating relationships,” she said. “This has been found in studies of adolescents in other countries as well.”"
Male privilege!

Silicon Valley Sex Parties: Emily Chang's Brotopia - "Women trying to break into the bro-centric world of Silicon Valley apparently must also navigate another minefield: invitations to exclusive, drug-fueled sex parties attended by some of the tech industry’s most powerful men. And it isn’t once-in-blue-moon thing, either. These parties are a regularly tech industry occurrence"

Men Pay $895 at 'Male Feminism Camp' to Cope With Their Own Toxicity - "For $895 you could have secured yourself a place in this summer's "Women Teach Men" wellness retreat in the scenically mountainous town of Ojai, California."

Why Do They Hate Us? – Foreign Policy - "The real war on women is in the Middle East."

The violent misogyny of the gender debate | Coffee House - "Social pressure is used to threaten the employment of those considered Terfs: read this Mumsnet thread for a disturbing litany of what happens to women who ask questions about the self-identity agenda in the workplace, especially in academia and the public sector. In politics, women who question the self-ID agenda have faced censure and expulsion in Labour, the Greens and, yes, the Women’s Equality Party. It is hard not to conclude that such things are at least partly the result of a concerted attempt to stigmatise and demonise women who attempt to raise concerns about a policy that they feel poses risks to their safety and even their fundamental existence... a group of people who were raised male and in some cases retain full male anatomy are perpetuating a narrative that harm – including physical violence — can and should be inflicted on women who question the things those people say are true... Britain in 2018 is still a country where women who speak out risk a smack in the mouth."

‘White-Informed Civility’ Is the Latest Target in the Campus Wars - WSJ - "From the land that irony forgot—which earlier gave us microaggressions and trigger warnings—comes a new and surprising movement, this time to combat civility. Civility, you see, is a manifestation of the white patriarchy. Spearheading this campaign are a duo of University of Northern Iowa professors, who assert that “civility within higher education is a racialized, rather than universal, norm.” Their article in the Howard Journal of Communications, “Civility and White Institutional Presence: An Exploration of White Students’ Understanding of Race-Talk at a Traditionally White Institution,” describes a need to stamp out what they call “whiteness-informed civility,” or WIC. The pervasiveness of WIC, it seems, erases “racial identity” and reinforces “white racial power.”... the “woke” white student’s endeavor to avoid microaggressions against black peers is itself a microaggression—a form of noblesse oblige whereby white students are in fact patronizing students of color. Not only that, but by treating black students with common courtesy and expecting the same in return, white students elide black grievances, bypassing the “race talk” that is supposed to occur in preamble to all other conversations... Students are pointedly discouraged from rebutting feelings that don’t jibe with verifiable reality"
In another age it might've been considered racist and sexist to say that racial minorities and women were incapable of civility
Microaggressions are racist. Avoiding them is also racist. But then all whites are assumed to be racist, so

A Visit to Islamic England - WSJ - "Inside the East London Mosque, visitors were expected to dress “modestly.” Headscarves were provided at reception for any woman who showed up without one. A kind man on staff showed me around the men’s quarters. He gave me a bag filled with booklets about Islam. In one, Muslims are encouraged to “re-establish the Shari’ah,” or Islamic law. Those who ignore this mandate are “of little worth to any society.”... I was unprepared for what I would see next in Luton, a small town 30 miles north of London and the birthplace of the English Defense League, which has held unruly anti-Muslim demonstrations... All the businesses had a religious flair: The eateries were halal, the fitness center was sex-segregated, and the boutiques displayed “modest” outfits on mannequins. Pakistani flags flew high and proud. I never saw a Union Jack... I grabbed the first booklet that was in English. It was by Zakir Naik, a fundamentalist preacher from India. “The Qur’an says that Hijab has been prescribed for the women,” the booklet explained in one section, “so that they are recognised as modest women and this will also prevent them from being molested.” Other tourists might remember London for Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus and Big Ben. I’ll remember it for its failed multiculturalism. Or perhaps this is what successful multiculturalism looks like."

Why honey is the only food that doesn't go bad - "“Honey in its natural form is very low moisture. Very few bacteria or microorganisms can survive in an environment like that, they just die. They’re smothered by it, essentially.” The fact that organisms can't survive long in honey means they don't get the chance to spoil it. Another thing that sets honey apart from other sugars is its acidity. Honey's pH is between 3 and 4.5 (or, more precisely, 3.26-4.48), which also kills off anything trying to make a home in honey."

Small Boobs Classified As A Physical Defect By Russian Officials

Organisations have to stop unnecessary collection of NRIC details from September 2019 - "organisations can collect, use or disclose NRIC numbers or copies of the NRIC only under certain specific circumstances. First, if they are required by the law or deemed necessary to accurately verify one’s identity to a “high degree of fidelity”, the PDPC said in its press release... The second exception is when failing to provide NRIC details could pose a significant safety or security risk, or may pose a risk of significant impact or harm to an individual and the organisation... The updated guidelines do not apply to a public agency or an organisation acting on its behalf"

All reported rapes in Oslo by foreigners: police - "From a UNHCR summary, news of a culture clash with terrible consequences:
A report released by the (Oslo) police on Wednesday states that all assault rapes during last year were committed by men with a non-Western origin. All the reported rapes during the last 5 years are done by men with a foreign origin. Police inspector Hanne Kristin Rodhe says the perpetrators often are unemployed, have been asylum-seekers during the last five years and come from a traumatized environment. She adds that their perception of women can be one of the motives behind the rapes."

Tajikistan removes hijabs from women and shaves beards off men to tackle jihadism - "the parliament voted to ban Arabic or 'foreign-sounding names' after a rise in babies named Mohammad... Tajikistan is a majority Muslim country, but has a secular government."
Islamophobia!

Unpacking Peggy McIntosh's Knapsack - "I grew up a very poor white kid. By which I mean, single-mother-on-welfare-in-Alberta poor. As a child, I remember feeling utterly hopeless about ever making any sort of life for myself. If I were at school in British Columbia today, I would now have to deal with seeing this admonition every morning as well. One wonders why Teresa Downs doesn’t simply step down from her $200,000 a year job and pass it to a person of colour since she acquired it unfairly. Is her public declaration of culpability supposed to be compensation enough? Presumably, like Peggy McIntosh, she has convinced herself that human well-being will be better served by shaming the children of people whose average annual income is around $23,000... Identity politics have made organizing in social movements almost impossible, as division and suspicion are increasingly encouraged and groups splinter as a result. Every work and every action is now scrutinized for micro-aggressions and the “invisible package of unearned assets” benefitting anyone not deemed to be sufficiently ‘marginal.’ No one, it seems, is interested in questioning the wealth gap anymore. Those of us on the Left who still care about social justice are now expected to devote the limited resource of our attention bandwidth to the cultural appropriateness of cafeteria food. And, all the while, the emphasis on divisive racial categories and the arrogant dismissal of debate has handed the radical Right the best recruiting tool it has ever had... The year I turned 25, I was serving as a United Nations Peacekeeper in the former Yugoslavia. My unit engaged the Croatian Army in what would come to be known as the Battle of Medak Pocket... The area that the Croatian army had briefly overrun had been mixed Croatian and Serbian farming villages. These people had lived together for half a century. They had intermarried, lived in the same streets, eaten the same food, and attended the same social events. But slowly, starting in the 1980s, political leaders and demagogues of various stripes had started using a politics of identity to solidify their social and political power. Each side’s citizens were repeatedly told by respected academic figures that they were being robbed, and that the ‘other’ was exploiting unearned ‘social privilege’ granted by their ethnic status. Children were taught this in school as received truth and ostracized if they dared to question it. Slowly, this curated resentment built into hatred. From there, events developed according to an inescapable logic... the same divisive hatreds were being broadcast across Rwanda by Télévision Libre des Mille Collines... Every time identity politics has been used by any faction in human history for any reason violence eventually follows. No matter how detailed and intricate the justification, no matter how reasonable it can be made to sound as a way to correct for unequal social conditions and historical injustice, it always ends in the same foul basement of mutual fear, loathing, and depravity"