Links - 24th September 2019 (1)

Most vitamins may be a waste of money, but study finds two exceptions - "The majority of vitamins and other nutritional supplements don’t increase lifespan or protect one’s heart health, a huge analysis out of Johns Hopkins University has found. There were two exceptions to the findings related to folic acid and omega-3 fatty acid supplements, however, while one particularly popular vitamin and mineral combination was linked to an increase in stroke risk... taking a vitamin D and calcium combo supplement was associated with a slight uptick in stroke risk.A growing number of studies have found that most adults do no need to take vitamins or other dietary supplements — in fact, some past researchers has found an association between certain supplements and decreased lifespan. Though that remains in contention, experts largely recommend that nutrients come from healthy food, not pills and tablets, in order to reap the benefits."

Interracial Marriage and Divorce - "Divorce rates among interracial couples are slightly higher than divorce rates among same-race couples... In 2002, the Center for Disease Control published statistics about divorce rates that showed interracial marriages were more likely to end in divorce than same-ethnic marriages — 41 percent versus 31 percent... One census study found that interracial couples that married young were more likely to divorce than interracial couples that married later... Marriages between a black husband and white wife were twice as likely to divorce as marriages involving a white husband and white wife. When adjusted for background aspects such as age at marriage and educational level, differences between black male/white female marriages and white male/white female marriages virtually disappeared in some cases... Asian male/white female marriages were 59 percent more likely to end in divorce than white male/white female marriages.
Marriages involving a white husband and black wife were substantially less likely to end in divorce than marriage involving a white husband and white wife; the former pairing’s divorce rate was 44 percent less than the latter...
Marriages including a black husband and white wife were more prone to divorce than those composed of black husbands and black wives. Black male/white female couples also had the highest likelihood of divorce of all white/non-white marriages.
While interracial marriage correlates to a higher rate of divorce, this parallel applies mainly to marriages involving a non-white male and white female."

BBC World Service - The Food Chain, Baristas: The daily grind - "I don't know if a lot of people do know that India was a coffee country before it became a tea country. Just that when, when the English was here, they started the entire idea of tea drinking and tea exporting and the business of tea"

Raheem Kassam on Twitter - ""Living here is very difficult for any type of family."@Noel_Phillips meets a family living in a converted shipping container in Ealing, offered to them as temporary accommodation. Mother Lulu Akubaker says it's not fit for people to live in. "
"Imagine coming into a country and then complaining you aren’t being given a big enough free house. My bedroom when I was growing up was smaller than the room shown in this clip."
Comment: "This looks bigger than most council houses people live in."
"People are purposely building small homes to minimize their footprint on the planet and this woman is complaining her free home isn't good enough."
"That would be a 3000dollar a month apartment in San Francisco. What happened to be thankful for what you have?"

Ms Nevada: Katie Williams stripped of title after sharing right-wing comments online - "“ALL the pageant asked of Ms Williams, in writing, is to keep separate social media accounts. One is for politics where she can voice her own opinion as Katie Williams and the other is a new Facebook page for the pageant representing Ms Nevada State 2019.“None of this had to do with her personal political views. They are immaterial. She has her personal Facebook page to voice her political views. She could be a President Trump supporter on her personal Facebook page all she wants for everyone to read. However, the Ms Nevada Facebook page should be devoid of political content.”"

Willie Myrick video: Abducted child set free after annoying his kidnapper by SINGING gospel songs

Tomi Lahren on Twitter - Upscale Vandal: "You and everyone who helped you produce this should kill yourselves"
"Apparently @Twitter doesn’t see any issue with a verified account telling me and others to “kill ourselves.”"
Lucky Upscale Vandal didn't say something truly horrifying, like misgender a trans person

‘No snitches’ code feeds gun violence - "One of the people killed during this spree, a 28-year-old Queens resident named Arsenio Gravesande, summed up the challenges that law enforcement officials encounter in going after chronic gun violence with three words.When asked by the NYPD to identify the person who shot him, he said, “F- -k you, son!” It was one of the last things he uttered before dying from a gunshot wound to his hip.The refusal to snitch out of a pathological hatred for police is nothing new. We’re all familiar with the phrase, “Snitches get stitches,” which is common street code.But as New York City contends with a rise in shootings in some communities, we simply cannot afford to let this mindset hamper law enforcement’s efforts to make our neighborhoods safer.I served in the NYPD for 22 years, and I can vividly recall trying to extract information from people who refused to cooperate. Not only did it make our jobs harder, it often hurt those who were abiding by the street code the most.It’s no secret that gun violence impacts young men of color, like Mr. Gravesande, the most... One case from my days on the force illustrates this dynamic. During one midnight tour while I served as the platoon commander in the 88th Precinct, we received reports of a shooting. The young man who was shot knew the perpetrator, but he refused to tell us who shot him, and the gun and shooter remained on the streets. A few days later, the victim’s younger brother was also shot, the same tragic, yet preventable, fate.We must not and will not allow shooters and criminals to find safe haven in the communities they victimize. Upholding a code of silence only serves to promote violence."
Far easier to blame white people

Kukubird, the fashion brand, rides on Singapore interest by offering 'special' - "Kukubird, the fashion brand from the UK that shares an unfortunate name with our local slang for penis, is now penetrating the Singapore market by offering a "special rate" to customers here.This comes after the internet spotted Kukubird's existence half the world away recently... When asked why a British label is suddenly holding a Singapore promotion, they replied, "We at Kukubird have received so much love and support from Singapore recently, so we have decided to give a special rate to our Singaporean customers in order to return the love!"But perhaps it has to do with reports linking Kukubird the brand with "kukubird" the slang.The word made the headlines after undergraduates were filmed chanting to it at a Nanyang Technological University (NTU) freshman orientation camp."

Man charged with mobility scooter drink driving at Skegness McDonald's drive-thru

How I learned to live with a name that's a constant source of humiliation - "My name—my given name—is Fuk-yu (馥瑜)... the owner replied with an apology. He had reviewed the security footage, which resulted in the staff members involved losing two days’ pay and taking a sensitivity class... Was I happy about the outcome? I wasn’t sure. The owner was sincere, but what if the employees’ families depended on that money? I also began to realize I shouldn’t have expected strangers to understand my complex identity. Why should I expect others to have contextual knowledge about my culture, and my name?The next time you hear me explaining my Chinese name, that’s me trying to let the world know that my name is more than an unfortunate transliteration. If I don’t take the opportunity to draw interest to the meaning behind it, what the world would take away from an exchange with me might be only what sounds to them like a rather hilarious name. That’s not what I want my legacy to be."
I thought this was going to conclude with a rant about "racism", but happily it ended on a bright note

The mistake that led to a £1.2bn business - "When Kristo Kaarmann was kicking himself for being "incredibly stupid", little did he know that it would spark an idea for a business that is now estimated to be worth more than £1.2bn.Back in 2008, the then 28-year-old Estonian was working in London as a management consultant when he got a very chunky Christmas bonus of £10,000.As interest rates were higher back in Estonia, he decided that he'd transfer the money from his UK current account to his Estonian savings account, so as to earn more from the cash. "So I paid my UK bank a £15 fee, and transferred the £10,000, and then a week later I saw that £500 less than I had expected had arrived in the Estonian account," says Kristo, now 38."I started digging to find out what had happened, and I realised that I had been incredibly stupid."I had foolishly expected that my UK bank would have given me the exchange rate I saw when I looked on [news wires] Reuters and Bloomberg."Instead the bank had used an exchange rate 5% less favourable, which is how it and all the other banks get their cut. It was my mistake."Annoyed with himself, Kristo vowed to come up with a way of transferring money overseas that removed banks from the process... in 2011 they launched London-based TransferWise, a financial technology or "fintech" website that allows users to transfer money overseas to a different currency at the mid-market rate for a set fee of 0.5%. Today, TransferWise is a global business, and investors include Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson and PayPal co-founder Max Levchin."

Top Workplace TransferWise lets employees come as they are - "One of the interview questions at TransferWise was: On a scale of 1 to 10, how weird are you?"I said 'a solid 7,' '' Maquire says. "It was intended to show if you're trustable, teachable and smart.'' He was hired."

Britain's strictest school's first GCSE results are four times better than national average - "Britain's strictest school has received its first ever GCSE results after opening five years ago - and they are four times better than the national average... Headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh has come under criticism in the past for her "strict" methods at the free school, which aim to instill private school-esque order in state school children.The school has a number of unusual rules, including silence in the corridor and it has a strict "no excuses" policy where pupils are given detention for coming to school one minute late.They are also penalised for not completing homework or if the work is scruffy, for not having the correct stationery , or for tutting, rolling eyes, or "persistently turning around in class".Its policy is based on "tough love"... "If a school is too permissive, allowing too many exceptions, it risks creating helplessness, selfishness or dependence in its pupils rather than responsibility, consideration and agency. If a school reduces its standards for poorer pupils because of their poverty or difficult home life, it does them a disservice; frankly, it doesn’t believe in them enough"... "She fought the bureaucracy to establish a free school. Many of her intake came from disadvantaged backgrounds. She put her trust in old-fashioned teaching methods. Now, five years on, this is the result."The headteacher had previously vowed never to teach in the state sector again and said at the Conservative Party Conference in 2010 that working in the state sector had turned her into a conservative.She said at the time: "In schools and in society, we need high expectations, of everyone, even if you're black, or live on a council estate – Why can't they sit exams at the end of the year?"We need to rid the classrooms of chaos by unshackling heads and setting our schools free.""
Strange, liberal pedagogy tells us they should be doing very badly since they're harshly treated instead of coddled, suffering from white supremacy and are not getting accommodated

New Data Breach Has Exposed Millions Of Fingerprint And Facial Recognition Records: Report - "The issue with biometric data being stored in this way is that, unlike usernames and passwords, it cannot be changed. Once it’s compromised, it’s compromised"

The bizarre fallout from that assault on two lesbians - "Talk about ungrateful. Brits, and people around the world, offered empathy and solidarity to the two gay women who were battered by thugs on a London bus. And yet now one of the women has turned around and told us we only care about them because they are white. It’s only because they are ‘two attractive, white, cisgender women’ that so many people and organisations gave a damn about them and tweeted about them, apparently. Thanks a bunch. We offer our human concern for your wellbeing and you tell us we’re being racist. We’ve reached peak identitarian bollocks... What is most striking about her piece is that she flagellates herself for her privilege. Yes, this woman who last month was badly beaten allegedly on account of her sexuality is now beating herself up in the national press over her privileged identity. She says she has ‘evaded much of the violence and oppression imposed on so many others by our capitalist, white-supremacist, patriarchal system because of the privileges I enjoy by dint of my race, health, education, and conventional gender presentation’. What a strange, self-hating mindset it must take to be victimised for your sexuality and then to say: ‘God, I’m SO privileged.’ Chris even does us the service of providing a list of people who are far less privileged than her and who us phoney empathisers should finally start noticing. It is ‘open season’, she says, on ‘people of colour, indigenous people, transgender people, disabled people, queer people, poor people, women and migrants’. This is classic virtue-signalling. She is engaging in the Oppression Olympics while making it clear she doesn’t deserve any gold medals in said Olympics because she is white, educated, cisgender, etc. A masterclass in identitarian showboating. Ironically, while bemoaning her privilege, Chris and her partner have exercised the key privilege of our age – victim privilege. Witness how the liberal media have fallen over themselves to solicit the women’s opinions on political matters. They think Boris is unfit to be PM, one headline tells us. Commentators claim the attack on them shows how ugly Brexit Britain has become. What this isolated assault has got to do with Brexit is anyone’s guess, not least since the alleged perpetrators are teenagers who are not even old enough to vote and probably couldn’t care less about politics. Why are these women’s political opinions being sought out, anyway? We don’t ask victims of armed robbery or knife crime what they think of Boris Johnson getting into Downing Street, so why ask victims of a physical assault on a bus? It’s because they enjoy identitarian privilege; they are on the oppression scale and thus their views matter more than other people’s. This whole affair confirms how ugly and divisive the politics of identity has become. This nasty new politics makes solidarity impossible... ‘Is it cos I is white?’. No, it’s because you are a human being, and while sections of the virtual left might have disappeared up the fundament of the anti-human, anti-solidarity politics of identity, the rest of us have not. In that photo, we saw two human beings unfairly abused and assaulted. Nothing more, nothing less. Stop imputing malice and prejudice into our humanist urge to empathise with other people."
Identity politics poisons everything
On the Geymonat/Chris case

London Calling: An American SJW Lays Down the Law - "Her inquiry begs two questions.  The first deals with her definition of “homophobia,” which, if her op-ed is any reflection thereof, probably includes any opinion that doesn’t exactly coincide with her own.  Is the hate-driven beating of two lesbian women an act of homophobia?  Absolutely.  Is the polite refusal of a soft-spoken baker to take part in a ceremony which runs counter to his sincere religious beliefs an act of homophobia?  Absolutely not, no more than would his refusal to service a bigamist marriage be evidence of hatred and fear against Mormons. Second, the news is saturated daily with acts of injustice which, taken individually, outrage almost all of us.  But each one of us needs to process and prioritize these outrages, and we can only do so for so long.  Anyone perpetually outraged by every outrage finds little room for genuine happiness. (does Michael Eric Dyson seem happy to you?)  And of the outrages over which we do empathize, we nonetheless need to rank them.  We can’t be equally outraged at every outrage. There are desperate Venezuelan parents digging through garbage bins to feed their children.  People in China and North Korea are languishing in gulags.  Churches and synagogues are being bombed.  Women in the Islamic world are blinded and disfigured in acid attacks because they dared show their face in public.  There is still chattel slavery in parts of North Africa and the Middle East, and the global sex slave trade shows no signs of abating.  Chris must surely understand that, if by nothing other than virtue of severity, some outrages light up the midway high striker more than others. Even if one were to scrutinize only crimes against gays, the specter of state executions by stoning take precedent on the outrage spectrum over the anomalous beating of a gay couple. In the white ciheteropatriarchal capitalist hell of London, such an attack is truly outrageous. In Hyderabad, such an attack is getting off lucky.And if one were to scrutinize only crimes against women, a three-hour road trip from Chris’s London residence brings you to Rotherham... In her op-ed, Chris thrice refers to both herself and Melania as “white,” alleging that, “The press coverage, and timely law enforcement response, was not coincidental to our complexions.”  So Melania is “white,” huh?  I bet on the college applications she isn’t.  Why is Chris trying to pass off Melania, a clearly darker-skinned Latina, as “white”?  She is either prepping her for a senate run as Elizabeth Warren’s alter ego, or she is twisting herself another pretzel to feed a dogmatic ideological worldview.  In Chris’s narrative, the “capitalist, white supremacist, patriarchal system” only protects its own.  It makes no sense that it would serve a brown Uruguayan immigrant.   To the fanatic, it’s less uncomfortable to ignore reality than to open your mind.  Hence, Melania is now “white.” These are the circles Chris tries to square to insulate her biases.  Mind you, she offers precisely zero evidence to back her accusation that the police and media performed their duties through racialist partiality.  That’s due largely to her Guardian interviewers refusing to hold her to account (and its absence of a “Comments” section, which is telling).  But her willingness to exploit her own girlfriend as a racial prop for political expediency speaks more to her own zealotry than to any alleged racism of her cliched strawmen. This doesn’t mean the justice system is unbiased.  Most of the underage female victims of the aforementioned Rotherham rape rings were white.  The rapists were almost all Pakistani Muslim men.  There were certain, ah, “cultural” considerations factored into the decisions of officials to conceal the abuse.  The systemic rape of 1400 girls is apparently a small sacrifice to make before the Golden Calf of Diversity, especially when you’re not the one being gang raped... let’s discuss the five arrested perpetrators.  Chris refers to them as “idiots.”  Not homophobes.  Not misogynists.  Just “idiots”, for whom she explains she reserves no anger. (but you and I are hateful bigots, got it?)  Because of the authorities’ inexplicable refusal to release any details about them, we can only speculate.  The one clue we have to their identity, other than their age, is that Melania claimed that three of the attackers had British accents.  Normally, this wouldn’t be much of a clue.  The attack occurred in Britain, so why wouldn’t they have British accents?  Unless, of course, their British accents were an extricating factor... One would think a socialist rag like the Guardian would have an acute interest in exposing both the perpetrators and the motives behind such hate crimes, especially if they fit Chris’s theory with regards to their supposed systemic foundations.  One of the attackers is a legal adult, so there is no legal reason his identity cannot be publicized.  One wonders if there aren’t other reasons.  Political reasons.  Maybe the attackers’ identities don’t fit a certain narrative"