Links - 28th August 2019

ZUBY: on Twitter - "Women: "Men have unrealistic standards for women!"
Data: "LOL"… "
*OkCupid data on men rating women's attractiveness relatively evenly, e.g. 88% were rated 2-6/7*
*OkCupid data on women rating men's attractiveness with insane expectations - 81% were 5-7/7*
Hypergamy!

How America made Scandinavian social democracy possible | FT Alphaville - "places largely populated by voluntary migrants and their descendants — such as the United States — are more entrepreneurial, wealthier, and more unequal than source countries, such as Europe. New research presented at the annual conference of the Economic History Society suggests the stereotype fairly describes the outcome of migration from Norway and Sweden to the United States in the second half of the 19th century... the migration flows, which were small relative to the native population of America but equivalent to about 25 per cent of the total population of Scandinavia, changed the character of Norwegian and Swedish society by removing the most ambitious and independently-minded people.In other words, Scandinavian social democracy might not be possible without America’s historic willingness to absorb those who refused to follow the “Law of Jante”. The methodology centres on names. Psychologists have long found that people with relatively rare names are more likely to be “unique”... This presents interesting questions for policy.If you want a highly individualistic society, with all the benefits and pitfalls that entails, you should want large-scale immigration, particularly from places that are far away. If you prefer more tight-knit communities and a large welfare state, you might prefer to avoid taking in ambitious nonconformists from abroad and instead try to get your own “troublemakers” to leave.Perhaps it’s no coincidence that America’s greatest period of social conformity and social democracy occurred when immigration was essentially zero"

Meme: - "WHEN WHITE PEOPLE ARE THE VICTIMS
Muslims Are on Alert for Misplaced Retaliation After Paris Attacks
As a Muslim Woman Who Wears Hijab I Made a Conscious Decision to Remain at Home the Day After the Paris Attacks So I Could as I Told My Friends 'Stay Out of Harm's Way'
'I'm Frightened' After Attacks in Paris New York Muslims Cope With a Backlash
De Blasio Pledges to Protect City's Muslim Community
Australian Muslim Leaders Wary of London Attack Backlash
Why Muslims Should Never Have to Apologize for Terrorism
You Shouldn't Blame Islam for Terrorism Religion Isn't a Crucial Factor in Attacks
Don't Blame Islam for One Cowardly Man's Attack in New York
Muslims 'Absolutely' the Group Most Victimized by Global Terrorism Researchers Say
Terrorists Don't Kill for Their Religion It's Something Else Entirely
After Bastille Day Attack Young Muslims and Arabs Fear for Their Future in France
The Worst Thing We Could Do Is Blame the Australian Muslim Community
WHEN MUSLIMS ARE THE VICTIMS
In Solidarity With Muslims New Zealand Jewish Community Shut Synagogues on Shabbat for First Time in History
New Zealand Massacre Highlights Global Reach of White Extremism
Morrison Government Bans Milo Yiannopoulos in Wake of Christchurch Massacre
DON'T JUST CONDEMN THE NEW ZEALAND ATTACKS - POLITICIANS AND PUNDITS MUST STOP THEIR ANTI-MUSLIM RHETORIC
Trump Downplayed the Threat From White Nationalists After the Deadly New Zealand Attacks
Jews, Christians, Sikhs and Others stand with Muslims after New Zealand Attack
New Zealand Mosque Shootings: John Legend Urges Trump to Condemn, Fight White Supremacy
New Zealand Mosque ShootingsL How US Racism Might Be Fueling Hate Around the World
Robin DiAngelo on Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
The New Zealand Shooter's Manifesto Shows how White Nationalist Rhetoric Spreads
Confronting Domestic Terrorism Means Confronting White Nationalism"

NUSWhispers - Posts - "Generally, North Asian girls tend to be classier with Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese girls being at the top of the table. Hands down, they're far prettier and act with more class and grace than any local or SEA girls. With China girls, it's tricky.... there are very beautiful china girls as well but they're often very materialistic and superficial hence you need to be lucky. Moving on, I would say that Hk girls are the prettier and smarter cousin of Singaporean girls. Both are very similar in that they're equally shallow but the difference with HK girls, I would argue is that their TOP girls are very well rounded and they do NOT date bums or angmohs for the fun of it. They are "smarter" in the sense that they know their value goes down when they date poorly so they tend to stick to an elite crowd of bankers, consultants etc.. again, they're generally snobbish like Singaporean girls but FAR more astute. I have seen well rounded expats getting the cold shoulder in Singapore doing very well with them."

Teach "Don't Steal", not "Lock your doors" - Posts - "you must uncritically accept my worldview
why??
umm it’s called being a decent human being"

Teach "Don't Steal", not "Lock your doors" - Posts - "'white cis men are an evil cancer on humanity and the world would be a peaceful paradise without them destroying everything good'
'no we aren't'
'haha wow so sensitive
your fragile white masculinity is showing lol male tears'"

Rationally Speaking | Official Podcast of New York City Skeptics - Current Episodes - RS 225 - Neerav Kingsland on "The case for charter schools" - "'we have pretty decent evidence that you don't see massive drops in academic learning as charter schools scale... I don't think the point of a public school system is to increase its revenue, it's to increase learning. I think we should think about the public dollars being more associated with children than any one given institution.I don't view movement of dollars as a moral positive or negative. I'm much more concerned about, I think if we were watching charters grow, and then that was causing crazy academic drops in the traditional system, then we have to think are we hurting some of the people that aren't getting it. And we just don't see that'...
'It's also interesting because it suggests … If you follow that logic it seems to suggest that we should maximize class sizes, and so on, because we wanna get more benefit per dollar.'
'Exactly. When you're thinking about public interventions, I think you should start with the baseline that almost nothing works. Here, with urban charter schools, we have something that works, something that's getting better overtime, something that works more cheaply and is higher productive. Something that’s scaling fairly rapidly and something that doesn't hurt the existing system.That's as close as you get like a miracle in public policy. I've just become a huge believer, and I think the politics of it are unfortunate.'...
'That seems like it would imply that the students left behind in the non-charter schools have less involved, or less motivated, parents. How could it be that we don't see educational outcomes dropping in the regular public school system?'...
'As the charters were growing, the district kept on getting better and better, and we really got to an “all boats rising” situation.That's my hope, is that the competition creates more nimbleness in the traditional system, and that's better for the kids and educators in that system too.'...
'I think in New Orleans it was roughly, parents who were willing to travel an extra mile or two for ever letter grade bump in the school... Parents care more about absolute student achievement than academic growth.'...
'The last objection that I can think of off the top of my head to charter schools, that we haven't covered, is just: parents who put their kids in charter schools then having less stake in the public school system, and being probably less inclined to vote for superintendents who are gonna do a good job, et cetera. Is that something you're worried about?'
'If forcing people to attend crappy schools is a way to increase civic engagement to then fix the schools, we've run that playbook. And it hasn't worked... that's an idea that might be a good talking point but it doesn't really hit reality when you look at the unfortunate lack of democratic accountability and civic participation.'"

Once Threatened, Europe’s Night Trains Rebound - The New York Times - "“The most important thing for me these days is the climate discussion, because they are really climate-friendly alternatives to middle-distance flying,” Bernhard Knierim, an activist with Back on Track, said of trains. For Mr. Knierim, the optimal distance for overnight rail travel is “anything up to 1,000 kilometers,” or about 620 miles... Not only do night trains allow travelers to avoid the guilt of flygskam, but train travel can also be productive, thanks to the onboard Wi-Fi that many night trains offer for free. For most travelers, however, the main “productive” time will be spent sleeping. They are also cost effective: These trains eliminate the need for booking a night of accommodation... “There’s something really great about waking up and being dumped off in the center of the place you’re traveling to, instead of 20 or 30 kilometers out, as you are with most flights”"

Princeton grad, 34, faces life behind bars, convicted of killing dad who cut off his allowance - "Thomas Gilbert Jr., now 34, was 30 years old when he became angry with his father, whom New York authorities said had made cuts to the son’s weekly allowance of as much as $1,000. The son had been living a lavish lifestyle of golf, surfing and travel – all paid for by his parents, prosecutors said."

Can you trust TripAdvisor and Yelp, or does ‘wisdom of crowds’ theory fail when applied to online review sites? - "the crowd’s supposedly superior wisdom depends upon a diversity of independent opinion... Independence prevents the copying of others’ mistakes, as is likely if most existing views tend in one direction, which can cause a cascading effect that leads not to wisdom but to an avalanche of ignorance.Those looking to form their own opinions on a product or service who visit review-driven sites read a mass of existing material before returning to contribute... As Galton pointed out about the ox competition, “The 6d fee deterred practical joking.” But there’s no such restraint online, where the only qualifi­cation for posting on most sites is a willingness to do so, permitting advice not only from well-intentioned ignorance, but from bias, a desire to mislead for economic gain, or sheer mischief... Some recommend ignoring the top 10 or even 20 restaurants in any particular location on the grounds that these are the ones most likely to have manipulated the reviews, or to have been praised by those simply carried along by the hype. Some argue that restaurants with fewer than five reviews should be ignored, and at least there’s some logic in that... buyers tended to choose products with larger numbers of reviews. Even when there was a choice of two products each with predominantly negative reviews, buyers would still choose the one with the most comments.But the law of large numbers says that the more data points there are, the more likely the average is to be accurate, and so the product with the most negative reviews should be the one that’s avoided... buyers tended to choose products with larger numbers of reviews. Even when there was a choice of two products each with predominantly negative reviews, buyers would still choose the one with the most comments.But the law of large numbers says that the more data points there are, the more likely the average is to be accurate, and so the product with the most negative reviews should be the one that’s avoided."

Tim Pool on Twitter - "Its kind of terrifying that Trump just made history trying hard to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula and 'resistance' personalities and media hate Trump so much they are actively trying to sabotage him
Vox even said Tulsi Gabbard had a "conservative stance on wars" what the fuck is wrong with these people. This is dangerous sociopathy. These people *want* death and chaos"
If Trump were pro-vaccine, liberals would be anti-vaccine

Rationally Speaking | Official Podcast of New York City Skeptics - Current Episodes - RS 194 - Robert Wright on "Why Buddhism is True" - "One of the models that has come along in psychology that I think has a lot to be said for it, and is especially, although not only, associated with evolutionary psychology is called the modular model of the mind. The idea here is that the mind consists of a lot of little actors... This is in a lot of ways compatible with Buddhist thinking, and it's compatible with a particular observation you hear from meditation teachers, and advanced meditators. They'll say, "Thoughts think themselves." What they mean by that ... What they mean is if you get your mind to a sufficient state of quiet, and you observe thought, suddenly it doesn't seem like you're generating them, it seems like they're kind of drifting in from left field. You realize that maybe normally the situation is thoughts actually just kinda enter my consciousness from somewhere in my brain and I automatically take ownership with them and assume that I'm the originator of them. But, if you really calm your mind you realize that actually, thoughts are being injected into consciousness. So that's a case of an introspective meditative observation, that's kind of nicely compatible with a model from modern psychology, that I think has a lot to be said for it"