Links - 8th September 2019 (2)

Ariana Grande used to look like Ariel from the little mermaid, now she looks like Ariel from the little mermaid.

RETRACTED: The Negative Association between Religiousness and Children’s Altruism across the World: Current Biology - "In our paper, we reported cross-cultural differences in how the religious environment of a child negatively impacted their sharing, their judgments of the actions of others, and how their parents evaluated them. An error in this article, our incorrect inclusion of country of origin as a covariate in many analyses, was pointed out in a correspondence from Shariff, Willard, Muthukrishna, Kramer, and Henrich (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.06.031). When we reanalyzed these data to correct this error, we found that country of origin, rather than religious affiliation, is the primary predictor of several of the outcomes. While our title finding that increased household religiousness predicts less sharing in children remains significant, we feel it necessary to explicitly correct the scientific record, and we are therefore retracting the article. We apologize to the scientific community for any inconvenience caused."

Unofficial Artist formally known as Diversity and Comics Yaboiposting - Posts - "I think Coke casually dropped a singular they into that ad?"
"Yes! Glad you noticed, Parker! We value and celebrate diversity."
"Coca-Cola Accused of Funding Colombian Death Squad
Coca-Cola was accused of hiring hitmen from a prominent paramilitary group between 1990 and 2002 to kill at least 10 trade union leaders."
"So? Who hasn't funded a few death squads?"

San Francisco adopting new language for criminals, 'convicted felon' now will be called a 'justice-involved person' - "The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a criminal released from custody will be called a “formerly incarcerated person” or a “returning resident.”... crime in the city has gone up seeing one of the highest crime rates in the country"
The euphemism treadmill moves on

Unofficial Artist formally known as Diversity and Comics Yaboiposting - Posts - "Misgendering Borderlands 3 Character FL4K May Get You Banned
If the character FL4K is incorrectly (and intentionally) referred to as ,,he" instead of "they", it will result in a ban on the account on the off‌icial Borderlands 3. According to one of the moderators, this is a violation of rules concerning hate speech. They must be trolling, right? Right?"
"Expect a day soon where xXXCoxSlayer69xXx is losing to you at CoD, says his real name is Vanessa, and has you banned from Xbox live forever"

Is Spaceflight Colonialism? - "How Armstrong's “giant leap for mankind” helped perpetuate inequality—on Earth and beyond."
"“Is Spaceflight Colonialism?” We have a winner of the “Worst Article about Apollo 11” competition. Bravo ⁦⁦@thenation⁩ !"

'Cats' movie slammed for whitewashing lead actress Francesca Hayward - "After the trailer 's release, disgruntled fans took to Twitter to voice their concerns that Francesca Hayward, a Kenyan-born actress and dancer, wasn't able to be recognized as a person of color."
Apparently cats have human races. But gender swapping Old Deuteronomy is a good thing, apparently
Why bother casting minorities if people will still find some angle to attack you from?

Sexualized Female Game Characters Don't Cause Body Dissatisfaction, Aggression Towards Women, According To Study - "This might seem like common sense to most people, but there has been an increasing wave of media paranoia and fear-mongering peppering the wide public with the idea that video games turn people into mass murderers, and – via culture critics from the third-wave feminist sector – that video games make gamers sexist...
“Our study also adds to increasing literature that fictional media in general, and video games specifically, have less impact on consumers than had previously been thought. Much of this issue had occurred on the topic of violence, where an increasing number of null studies have raised concerns that social science may have damaged its credibility by staking an early claim to public health impacts that could not be supported by subsequent data […]. We suspect that this field would benefit from being more cautious in asserting casual effects for sexualized video games until more data are available.""
Another feminist claim bites the dust

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) - Posts - "Evolve your language. Unlearn how we've been taught to think of other animals. They’re NOT an "it" and should never be talked about like objects. #EndSpeciesism"
Comments: "So did you assume the animals pronouns or did they tell you? Asking for a friend..."

Meme - "How ignorant can we be? Betsy Ross was a Quaker. Quakers were Abolitionist. Quakers help ban slavery in England. Quakers were vital to the American Underground Railroad to free slaves. Objecting to the Betsy Ross flag because it represents slavery, shows complete and utter ignorance of history"

David Burge on Twitter - "Attention Assembly Line 1143: cease work on Nike Model 7306-B, they remind American sports person of slavery https://t.co/Z29M6AVD5J""

[#42|+4436|563] - "Calling for reparations for slavery that ended 150 years ago, while wearing Nikes and using an iPhone, that are both made by slaves in China in our very day and age, is the ultimate hypocrisy and reeks of virtue signaling. [/r/unpopularopinion] : undelete"

Metal drinking straw warning after death of woman impaled through eye - "Metal straws should be used with caution, a coroner has said, after a retired jockey died when she fell onto one which impaled her eye and caused a traumatic brain injury.Elena Struthers-Gardner, 60, was carrying a mason-jar style drinking glass with a screw-top lid in her kitchen in Poole, Dorset, when she collapsed.The 10ins stainless steel straw entered her left eye socket and pierced her brain."

Amsterdam's first female mayor set to end red light district 'human window displays' - "The city’s first female mayor, Femke Halsema, has vowed to address “the humiliation of women by large groups of tourists”.Following a number of interviews with residents, business owners and the women themselves, Halsema deemed the practice of visitors gawping at the latter with no intention of paying for their services “unacceptable”.The mayor has proposed several solutions to the issue, one of which would see the Netherlands capital’s 330 windows obscured by curtains... It follows Amsterdam’s decision to outlaw all tours of the Red Light District from 2020."
When you need an excuse to do what you want to do anyway...

The Independent - Posts - "Let’s close down all Rolex stores as everyone looks but no one goes inside the store."
Comments on the above story

Sex workers give red light to leaving famed Amsterdam district - ""I have one thing to say to all these people who call us vulnerable, and that is that they don't know us at all," said Felicia Anna, chairwoman of Red Light United, a newly-formed union for window-frame sex workers... "Our research among 170 sex workers behind the windows showed clearly that 93 percent of them do not want to move away from the red light district," said Romanian-born Anna."
The reality of lived experience is useless when it conflicts with feminism

An0maly on Twitter - "Islam is a more conservative religion than Christianity. No disrespect to either of them. But it’s true. When it comes to women & homosexuality, Islam is more strict. Notice in Western countries “liberals” hate Christians & protect Muslims.
This shows their true agenda.
They aren’t fueled by their love for LGBT, black, Muslim or liberalism like they claim. They are fueled by their hate for Christians, white people & America. It’s only going to get clearer. Their agenda has NOTHING to do with stopping oppression & helping the needy.
It’s hate."

UK Headmistress Suspends Two 10-Year-Olds for ‘Homophobia’ - "The headteacher of Heavers Farm Primary School in South London suspended two 10-year-old Christian students after one of them asked for permission not to participate in an LGBT lesson during “Gay Pride Month.”The headteacher, Susan Papas, who obliged schoolchildren to participate in a “Gay Pride” parade last year, told the two children, who are both of African descent, they are “a disappointment to the school”... head teacher Papas reportedly called in the two children and shouted at them: “How dare you? You are a disappointment to the school.”Ms. Papas, whose daughter Attie is a lesbian and the School Manager, next put the children in separate rooms and scolded Kaysey: “How dare you say that you want to kill LGBT people?”Kaysey replied: “I didn’t say kill.”"

♱ on Twitte - "2006: "How does two men getting married affect you?"
2019: "Your children must participate in our Pride events or else they will get suspended.""
I am old enough to remember when homophiles kept claiming: "If you don't support gay marriage, don't get one". Though some still claim that today

Unprofessional Madman - Posts - "Niche Gamer: Mordhau Dev Won't Police Their Fanbase, Suggests Offended Players Use the Mute Function"
"Kotaku: Mordhau's developers are on some bullshit."
"Rampant racism and toxicity are driving players away from Mordhau"
"Three separate takes."
So much for 'if you don't like it, don't view it'

Belgian husband leaves wife of 19 years after discovering she was a man (and he says he now knows why she was no good at ironing) - "The duped 64-year-old - named only as Jan - said he had 'no clue' his bride had been born a boy.The shocking revelation only emerged after almost two decades of marriage when a cousin from his wife's native Indonesia finally exposed the truth.Jan told how he met 'Monica' in 1993 when she arrived in his home town of Antwerp as an au-pair to his sister's children. He described as her 'very beautiful and feminine' - but said he now understood why she was 'no good at ironing'... 'Over the years she said she was taking the pill, and even during sex I never noticed anything, though now I understand why she always used a lubricant, which is apparently normal among transexuals."
From 2012, before it was not woke to lament this
She was from Indonesia, so...

Belgian discovers his wife used to be a man after 19 years - "The man, only named as Jan, married Monica, his family's former au pair in a previous marriage, in 1993 despite legal difficulties raised by the Belgian immigration authorities... she fooled him by pretending to menstruate, using sanitary towels, "to conceal the truth". "Even during sex, I never noticed anything," he said."

The mystery of screaming schoolgirls in Malaysia - "Robert Bartholomew spent decades researching the phenomenon in Malaysia. He calls the South East Asian country "the mass hysteria capital of the world"."It is a deeply religious and spiritual country where many people, especially those from rural and conservative states, believe in the powers of traditional folklore and the supernatural."But the issue of hysteria remains a sensitive one. In Malaysia, cases have involved adolescent girls from the Malay Muslim ethnic majority more than any other group."There's no denying that mass hysteria is an overwhelmingly female phenomenon," says Mr Bartholomew. "It's the one constant in the [academic] literature."... If Malaysia is the "mass hysteria capital of the world", Kelantan on the north-east coast is ground zero."It is no coincidence that Kelantan, the most religiously conservative of all Malaysian states, is also the one most prone to outbreaks," Robert Bartholomew says... To clinical psychologists like Steven Diamond, the "painful, frightening and embarrassing symptoms" often associated with mass hysteria could be "indicative of a frustrated need for attention"."
Addendum: The implications of this for religious phenomena are interesting