Links - 10th August 2019 (1)

The Queen’s Twitter Account Makes Major Error When Tweeting About D-Day Commemoration - "The official twitter account of the Royal Family posted a video of Queen Elizabeth II welcoming leaders from “the allied nations that took part in D-Day,” but the footage included the chancellor of Germany.The video was taken while the queen was welcoming world leaders to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day ahead of the National Commemorative Event."

Stop asking 'how are you?' Harvard researchers say this is how successful people make small talk - "“How are you?” These are the three most useless words in the world of communication. The person asking doesn’t really want to know, and the person responding doesn’t tell the truth. What follows is a lost opportunity and meaningless exchange with zero connection.But the key to making the most out of small talk, according to Harvard researchers, is to simply ask the other person follow-up questions... those who were asked more meaningful follow-up questions (a.k.a. questions that aren’t “how are you?” or “what do you do?”), found the other person much more likable."

Clever Cosplayer Hacks Nerf Blaster to Cast Floating Holographic Spells

A Stanford professor drops his ridiculous defamation lawsuit against his scientific critics - Los Angeles Times - "Stanford environmental professor Mark Z. Jacobson made a big splash in 2015 with a paper predicting that renewable sources could provide 100% of the energy needed in the 48 contiguous states by 2050. But he made an even bigger splash last September, when he responded to a critique of his claim published in a leading scientific journal by filing a $10-million defamation lawsuit."

John and Yoko waiting for the maid to make the bed so they can continue protesting against the system. : pics

Irish Moms - Posts - "If animals can do it, and insects can do it, why the f*ck can't you?! *cyclists blocking an entire lane by riding 3 in a row*"

Chinese soldiers spotted hauling baby formula onto warships in Sydney Harbour

Anti-#GamerGate Journalist Peter Bright Arrested For Soliciting Child Sex - "Bright, however, has a long history of being anti-#GamerGate, and using his blue checkmark account on Twitter to rag on #GamerGate and accuse people of being pedophiles. This is despite the fact that in his Twitter profile he defines himself as poly/pan/pervy, and was a staunch supporter of feminism... the FBI report indicated that they could find not actionable evidence remotely indicating that #GamerGate was ever a harassment campaign... Bright also took digs at anime fans, claiming that “anime is for pedos”... the original allegations surrounding #PizzaGate was that there was coded language and odd phraseology in the John Podesta e-mail leak. It was alleged that the food references were code words used by pedophiles to talk about their victims. The coded language was never thoroughly proven, but in our examination of the e-mails there was one letter that outright stated that people would be bringing their kids to a pool party in October for Podesta’s “entertainment”. This was neither coded nor hidden, and the e-mail is still available to read on the Wikileaks website... the citizen investigators looking into #PizzaGate called for an investigation into Podesta and those linked to him, but the media swiftly changed the narrative into a story about dungeons in pizza parlors and then swiftly passed it off as a “fake hoax”, resulting in the Wikipedia entry purposefully leaving out key details in order to misrepresent and obfuscate the topic matter."
Another male feminist bites the dust

Troy Garnaut - There’s a reason there are only 100 Jews left in... - "Now lets kill some jews."
"There’s a reason there are only 100 Jews left in Egypt. Hesham Mansour is an Egyptian actor and writer with over 800,000 followers on Twitter, 55,000 Likes on Facebook, and another 51,000 followers on Instagram."
Naturally, blue check mark!

Training a Single AI Model Can Emit As Much Carbon As Five Cars In Their Lifetimes - "In a new paper, researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, performed a life cycle assessment for training several common large AI models. They found that the process can emit more than 626,000 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent -- nearly five times the lifetime emissions of the average American car (and that includes manufacture of the car itself)"

Unbiased America - Posts - "MEXICO OFFERS MAJOR IMMIGRATION CONCESSIONS TO AVOID TARIFFS U.S. and Mexican officials are closing in on a deal that would dramatically increase Mexico’s immigration enforcement efforts and give the United States far more power to deport Central Americans seeking asylum, the Washington Post is reporting"

Mexico says sale of presidential plane will curb illegal migration - "Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has pledged to use profits from the sale of his presidential plane to fund efforts to curb illegal migration. "

How Europe smothered the radical Left - "The ‘four freedoms’ refer to the European single market and its guarantee of free movement for goods, capital, services and people – i.e. unimpeded capitalism within the borders of an EU riven by inequalities of productivity, wealth, infrastructure and education. National borders are erased when it comes to things that suit the most powerful interests – access to cheap money, cheap assets, cheap products and cheap labour. But when it comes to the redistribution required to address the resulting imbalances in economic and social power, the borders magically reappear. In many ways, the EU is running a more radical and unequal form of capitalism than America is."

Lucas Adler - Finally catching up on #GOT. Like many men, I was... - " Like many men, I was initially worried about Cersei's quote that was sure to become the anthem of annoying girls everywhere - "You want a wh@re? Buy one. You want a queen? Earn her.."I was relieved to see what subsequently happened to Cersei after that scene. Please remind any annoying person who tries to use this as the new "If you can't handle me at my worst, you don't deserve me at my best" nonsense, lol."

Meme - "You want a whore, buy one. You want a queen, earn her"
"Oh man... She's just like me *fat purple haired woman on couch with facial hair and bad complexion*"

Extremism and hate preachers on the rise at campuses, universities warned - "Extremist speakers are on the rise at universities, figures show, amid warnings that hate preachers are enjoying “near unfettered” access to students.During the last academic year, there were 200 events held at university campuses which featured individuals with radical views, according to an analysis by a counter extremism think-tank.These included hate preachers, pro-jihad activists and anti-Semites, some of whom toured around the country delivering lectures to students... some of those 200 speakers’ views include supporting convicted terrorists, defending Hamas’s use of suicide bombings and animosity towards Jews and “disbelievers”.They also include advocating for an intifada in America and violent jihad, punishments such as stonings for homosexuals and the establishment of an Islamic caliphate... The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) hosted more extreme speakers and events in the past academic year than any other university in the country, for the third year running the report claimed.The London university, which is known for its liberal outlook, held 43 events that featured speakers with extreme Islamic views, a three-fold increase on the previous year."

Far-right Polish priest detained at Stansted airport - "A notorious Polish priest accused of spreading antisemitism and Islamophobia has been detained by UK authorities hours before he was due to address a far-right rally in Shropshire.Jacek Międlar, a leading figure for rightwing extremists in Poland, was held by UK border officials after landing at Stansted airport, Essex, to prevent him attending the controversial event in Telford."

JMP - "Health insurance is a primary driver of rising medical expenditures. I examine insurance’s effect on risky sex, a behavior with quick, meaningful negative results. Leveraging mandated zero cost-sharing for contraception and pre-policy insured rates as a measure of treatment intensity, I find this 2012 policy reduced fertility but caused unintended consequences: decreased prevention and increased sexually transmitted infections. I discuss imperfections of controlling for pre-trends using state-trends in difference-in-differences and suggest approaches to control for pre-trends directly. I use the 2010 dependent coverage mandate to examine the overall effect of insurance and find protective net effects of insurance on STIs."
Humans respond to incentives
This suggests that free contraception increases STIs/STDs

MDA confirms ban on Christ film - "The Media Development Authority (MDA) has confirmed that the film, The Last Temptation of Christ, is banned in Singapore... One of the most notable critics of the ban on the book, however, was Singapore’s former Minister of Culture, S Rajaratnam.“The banning of a memorable book which the vast majority of Singaporeans have ignored for some 30 years without serious damage to their health and mind is unlikely to bring Singapore crashing down,” he wrote in one of his letters to the Straits Times then.Mr Rajaratnam said his persistence in speaking against the ban “is not over the banning of one book but concern over the cast of mind and motive that led to the banning.”Rebutting the government’s reason that the ban was imposed to ensure religious harmony, Mr Rajaratnam said, “[The] best way of ensuring racial and religious harmony would be by compelling the hysterical minority to ‘empathise’ with the sane majority.”He added, “The reason why Singapore has so far been an exception to what is becoming a world-wide rule is that this Government had the courage always to be on the side of sanity against the intolerance of the hysterical.” In 2011, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, George Yeo, explained why the government had chosen to ban The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, which Muslims found offensive, but allowed The Last Temptation of Christ, the book. The Straits Times reported Mr Yeo as having said, “So we got questioned. Our reply was the Christians are less likely to riot.”"
Strange, it seems race and religion were not always as hysterically treated in Singapore as they are now. Probably because the Communist bogeyman still existed back then

James Lindsay on Twitter - "When I taught in the university, my last classes ending at Christmas 2009, the general consensus was that if your students could correctly guess your religion or your politics, that was a sign you were doing something wrong in your classroom that needed correction.
You may be wondering what makes Social Justice scholars feel entitled to teach their ideology. Beyond self-righteousness, it is this: their theory claims that *everything* carries ideology with it, so you must teach the right(eous) ideology rather than the (unjust) default ones.
In Social Justice philosophy, it is taught that established (aka rigorous) ways of knowing were developed by the white supremacist cishetero-patriarchy, and because that power and privilege always works to maintain itself, legitimate ways of knowing carry an ideology of injustice
This, admittedly, sounds batshit insane (because it 99.9% is). The explanation is that they believe everything comes down to ways we talk about things ("discourses," which maintain power dynamics), and the dominant always rig the system to maintain their dominance in that way.
Therefore, Social Justice scholarship, thus educational activism, believe that oppressive ideologies are being taught not only by default but also beneath our awareness. Their mission of "liberation" seeks to undo this, so it's a "superior" ideology to teach and institutionalize.
It's of incredible importance to realize that Social Justice thought isn't nonsense or bullshit; it's a bizarre comic-book universe that, from within, makes a kind of sense. Imposed upon the world, however, it's a disaster."
"Of all the comparisons between social justice ideology and religion, perhaps my favorite is the implicit belief that if you fail to indoctrinate the impressionable, you won’t win their minds in a fair battle of ideas."
"I used to teach A Women in Politics course. First assignment: write a persuasive essay on any women’s issue. Second assignment: write a persuasive essay taking the opposite viewpoint of the first assignment."