Links - 10th August 2019 (2)

David Marshall and the Dawn of Meet-the-People Sessions in Singapore – The Workers' Party - "So what did citizens enquire about back then in the 1950s? As Comber recalled, the top issue that MPs faced during MPS was unemployment; the second, immigration and social welfare matters; and the third, applications for subsidised flats from the now-defunct Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT). Today, residents of all walks of life continue to see their elected representatives at MPS to raise issues not too dissimilar from those of yesteryear.
So from the start, Singaporeans have used Meet the People sessions for bread and butter issues, i.e. to use their MPs as cheat codes for daily life

Hello, my name is Edward Foo, a volunteer from... - Edward Foo Poh Jien - "Hello, my name is Edward Foo, a volunteer from the Ready4Repeal online movement. I volunteered to talk to my Member of Parliament (MP), ER. DR. LEE BEE WAH regarding section 377a of the penal code... I then said: “This is regarding section 377a, and I was wondering what your views on this matter are.” The MP then said: “I have other residents with real problems”, and exited the room."

Kirsten Han - Looking at the comments related to Edward Foo’s post...
Comment: "our post misses the point because the objection is not about the role of a MP (about which you are surely right) but the purpose of Meet-the-People-Sessions. I've been volunteering at MPS for a few years and my understanding of it is that it's for social welfare and other bread-and-butter issues. If the MP had entertained them, she would have had less time for the other residents, many of whom have time-sensitive problems. As it is, the MP does not have time to meet each resident (this probably explains the MP's brusque reaction).As a political representative, the MP does have an obligation to hear the petition. But Edward Foo should have used an approach that did not come at the expense of other residents' ability to get social assistance. He could have emailed her, or even approach her after the MPS was over."

Masterchef Singapore Has to be Either Racist or Boring. Which Should It Be? - "Although Masterchef Channel 8 exercises majority privilege, it remains the only sensible decision because you cannot produce a Masterchef that is ‘Singaporean’ and inclusive at the same time.Our diversity forbids it.Pork and alcohol are haram to Muslims but an integral part of most Chinese cooking. Beef is freely consumed by Malay people, but forbidden for Buddhists and Hindus. To cover all bases, a good number of Hindus, Buddhists and Taoists are also vegetarians who forgo all of the above.How would Masterchef Singapore fare if you take into account everyone’s dietary taboos?My guess would be ‘badly’. "
Apparently there was some issue with the English rights too

Use the Command Line to Easily Create a List of Your Personal Files- Your Music, Your Pictures or Whatever - "If you have ever wanted to make a list of all the files contained in a particular folder, you will have discovered that the Windows Explorer interface provides no easy way to do this. It is very straightforward, however, when using the command line. Furthermore, the command line provides a simple way to list all the files of a certain type- for example, all your MP3 files. The method uses the directory or "dir" command. This command will be old news to many but it remains one of the most useful for average PC users."

Does Gargling Wlth Salt Water Ease a Sore Throat? - "Gargling with warm salt water actually does provide symptomatic relief -- and it has preventative benefits, too. Says Segal-Maurer, "You’re creating a high-salt barrier and you’re pulling out a lot of fluids from the tissues in the throat area, so you’re washing the virus out. The salt functions as a magnet for water. It’s good for symptomatic relief. And you end up swallowing some of it, so it’s sort of helping you with dehydration as well.”"

Journalist Petronella Wyatt Tells Today Programme She Was 'Flattered' By Groping In Westminster - "A senior political journalist has revealed she was “flattered” by men groping her when she worked in Westminster in the 1990s... Petronella Wyatt appeared with Women’s Equality Party leader and former political reporter Sophie Walker to talk about their experiences of working in politics, as allegations of sexual harassment continue to rock the chambers.Wyatt, who is the former deputy editor of the Spectator, told host Michelle Hussein: “There were a couple of men that were a bit gropey. But do you know what? I was flattered.”... “A lot of abuse or sexual harassment is a breach of good manners,” she claimed, adding “women have waived their right to gallantry by saying we’re the same as men”... Wyatt also accused Walker of “belittling” the severity of some of the accusations against MPs by ”equating a silly text message or a grope with rape.”"

Michael Ray Laemmle's answer to What is the funniest restaurant incident you have seen? - Quora - "A gorgeous black woman, clearly a business professional, physically fit, and put-together in a super sharp business suit and high heels, walked up to the counter and ordered three buckets of fried chicken and take-out meals. Potatoes, biscuits, and so on.The obese young black woman behind the counter, taking her order, asked, “Will you be dining in, or taking this out?”... “Bitch,” the business professional said, waving her hand in the air. “Do I look like I can eat a whole bucket of chicken myself?”The woman behind the counter threw up her hand in response, and said, “Bitch, do I look like I know your business?”The businesswoman threw up her hand and said, “Bitch, you better act like you know my business, because my business is gettin’ my shit and getting the fuck out of this here KFC.”“Bitch, your order be ready in about ten minutes. Can I get you something while you wait, bitch?”“Bitch, I’ll take a cup so I can get me some water.”Things had suddenly calmed down and de-escalated. I don’t know how, and what went unspoken, but the tension was definitely released.There was a lot going on here: racial tension, gender tension, class tension, personal tension"

Guide to water heaters: Essential information and considerations when buying - "According to information on City Gas’ website, based on an energy study conducted by Dr. Lee Siew Eang, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s department of building, gas water heaters are relatively more environmentally-friendly with 63 per cent less carbon emissions as compared to electrical heaters"

Why didn't electricity immediately change manufacturing? - "The leading thinker on economic growth, Robert Solow, famously quipped: "You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics."... Economists called it the "productivity paradox".For a hint about what was going on, rewind 100 years. Another remarkable new technology was proving disappointing: electricity... Until about 1910, plenty of entrepreneurs looked at the new electrical drive system and opted for good old-fashioned steam.Why? Because to take advantage of electricity, factory owners had to think in a very different way. They could, of course, use an electric motor in the same way as they used steam engines. It would slot right into their old systems.But electric motors could do much more. Electricity allowed power to be delivered exactly where and when it was needed.Small steam engines were hopelessly inefficient but small electric motors worked just fine. So a factory could contain several smaller motors, each driving a small drive shaft"

[Bad] mega.co.nz may delete your data immediately when they suspend your account - Google Groups

What Left-Wing Educators Don't Teach During 'Black History Month' - "As economist and author Thomas Sowell says: "More whites were brought as slaves to North Africa than blacks brought as slaves to the United States or to the 13 colonies from which it was formed. White slaves were still being bought and sold in the Ottoman Empire, decades after blacks were freed in the United States." Are students taught that "race-based preferences," sometimes called "affirmative action," were opposed by several civil rights leaders? While National Urban League Executive Director Whitney Young supported a type of "Marshall Plan" for a period of 10 years to make up for historical discrimination, his board of directors refused to endorse the plan. In rejecting it, the president of the Urban League in Pittsburgh said the public would ask, "What in blazes are these guys up to? They tell us for years that we must buy (nondiscrimination) and then they say, 'It isn't what we want.'" A member of the Urban League in New York objected to what he called "the heart of it -- the business of employing Negroes (because they are Negroes)." Bayard Rustin was one of Martin Luther King Jr.'s key lieutenants and helped to plan and organize the civil rights march in D.C. that culminated in King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Rustin, an openly gay black man, also opposed race-based preferences... generations of civil rights leaders opposed immigration -- both legal and illegal immigration? After the Civil War, black abolitionist Frederick Douglass implored employers to hire blacks over new immigrants. Twenty-five years later, Booker T. Washington pleaded with Southern industrialists to hire blacks over new immigrants"

Why is Australia filled with so many dangerous animals/plants? : askscience - "For the question of why we have so many venomous snakes here to begin with, one has to look at the dispersal of snakes within Australia. First there was the best snakes of all (fact), the Aspidites-- primitive snakes that branched off the snake family before pythons evolved. Australia was pretty empty with just these guys around, so when the elapids came down from Asia, there was lots of space for them to diversify into. Elapids are very venomous snakes with fixed front fangs: cobras, mamba, etc. All venomous snakes in Australia are descended from these elapids.Australia has pretty venomous snakes because they all came from highly venomous stock... Our spiders are not more venomous that those of anywhere else in the world. We haven't had a spider-bite fatality since the '50s, and even then it was children and the elderly that succumbed.South America and Africa have many more venomous species than Australia, including more venomous lizards and venomous mammals (!).Edit: I worked out some ratios of lethal snakes:non-lethal snakes for a few different countries here. Australia ain't so bad."
"we only have two species [of spider] that can kill you. We definitely don't have larger ones either-- while there are outliers like the lanky huntsman, we don't have anything approaching the size of tarantulas and other spiders from South America and Asia."
Maybe Australia is just an outlier for the developed world

Matchmaking service clients looking for Mr Right but finding nothing but unhappiness - "Ko, who would not give her real name, recalled a consultant at Love Group Hong Kong showing her photos of four to five men – all said to have the qualities of her ideal partner. The men had to be at least 179cm tall with an annual salary of HK$1 million (US$127,528) or more, English-speaking and with overseas experience. The 31-year-old was told she could meet these men after she had paid for the service. But after forking out HK$19,900 (US$2,538) from October last year for a six-month plan, she did not meet any men who fitted the bill for her.Instead, she received 28 profiles of potential matches by February, with just one or two who came close to her stated requirements. Her worst date, she claimed, was a marble manufacturer who was rude and could not speak English. “I felt like I was being cheated,” Ko said... Psychologist Bella Chan, 45, signed a six-month plan for HK$39,900 (US$5,088) in April last year. Chan, not her real name, wanted to meet a Western man in his late 40s to early 50s with an income of more than HK$1 million per year."