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Thursday, January 30, 2020

Links - 30th January 2020 (1)

Police Lieutenant Indicted For Murder For Shooting Active Shooter - "The suspect, later identified as 34-year-old Micheal Ann Godsey, ultimately opened fire on police as they pursued her through the town... Blackwell Police Lieutenant John Mitchell managed to pull in behind the active shooter’s vehicle... a state grand jury determined that Lt. Mitchell engaged in “imminently dangerous conduct” towards Godsey without excusable or justifiable cause by firing approximately 60 rounds during the gun battle, The Oklahoman reported.  He faces up to 10 years in prison if he is convicted of the second-degree murder charge against him... Smith noted that the indictment against Lt. Mitchell marked the “first time in American history that a police officer – or anybody – was charged with the crime of murder for shooting at an active shooter”"

Rober Escobar - Y sí fuera al revés? Sí los policías fuesen todas... - "*Picture of a woman flashing her breasts at police* [Auto-translated] And what if it was backwards? What if the policemen were all women and a guy came to show his dick off in front of their faces? He'd be arrested, treated as a beast, a degenerated, a rapist..., and they'd want him to end up in prison. Honestly, I don't understand this equality they talk about."

Alyssa Milano Rips ICE For Sting Operation Using Fake University. It Was Created Under The Obama Administration. - "alerted that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had arrested roughly 250 students since January on immigration violations as part of a sting operation involving a fake university, actress Alyssa Milano, a fervent opponent of ICE, tweeted, “OH MY GOD. ICE has arrested about 250 students who were enrolled at a fake university set up by ICE to lure in students.”... Prosecutors argued that the students enrolled in the university so they could retain their student-visa status and stay in the U.S. despite being aware “that they would not attend any actual classes, earn credits or make academic progress towards an actual degree”... Former federal prosecutor Peter Henning stated, “It’s creative and it’s not entrapment. The government can put out the bait but it’s up to the defendants to fall for it.”"
I saw a lot of people slamming ICE. I guess if you believe in open borders, visa fraud is not a crime

Stop the Anti-Science Movement - Posts - "Marie Kondo opening an online shop that sells dumb crap you don't need is my favorite heel turn of 2019"
Actually looking for things that "spark joy" ties perfectly into consumerism, with habituation

Meet VN Parthiban - The 55-YO Chennai Professor Who Has A Whopping 145 Academic Degrees To His Credit

GarbageHuman - Posts - "PETA: "HE LOOKS MISERABLE! NO dog deserves to be packed up, carted from state to state, and paraded in front of a stadium full of screaming fans. Animals are NOT mascots"
"Peta says sorry for taking girl's pet chihuahua and putting it down"

New Study Gives Hope To Sleep Apnea Sufferers Who Can't Tolerate CPAP - "the pacemaker-like device monitors breathing patterns and is activated during sleep to stimulate the hypoglossal nerve, which controls muscles in the upper airway... the Cleveland Clinic Head & Neck Institute utilizes the Inspire® hypoglossal nerve stimulator implant system, though there are other systems available. The Inspire® device is controlled by a small handheld sleep remote that allows the user to turn it on and off, increase and decrease stimulation strength and pause during the night if needed.  The FDA approved the Inspire® device for use in patients who are unresponsive to or intolerant of other treatments for OSA in 2014. “This device operates by generating electrical stimulation, which advances the tongue forward and opens the pharyngeal airway during respiration. It is made up of three implanted elements: a breathing sensor, a small electrical impulse generator and a hypoglossal nerve stimulator”"

'Cannot make this sh*t up’: Battle erupts over gender of military dog Conan - "The gender of the military canine who participated in the raid that resulted in the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi has become a controversial topic since it has been labeled as both a male and female."

Conflict, Conquest, and the Performance of War in Pre-Columbian America - "The presence of violent conflict and warfare is widely acknowledged throughout the Pre-Columbian Americas"
Of course, some people think the pre-Columbian Americas were peaceful before the Europeans came

Actress, 43, left bruised and covered in blood after ‘being attacked by thugs’ yelling ‘dirty white b****es’ - "AN actress was left bloody and bruised after a mob allegedly ambushed her and some friends at a New York City club early Saturday morning.Jennifer Agostini, 43, and her friend Prendinellys Garcia, 47, were leaving the Sky Room when a group of thugs - allegedly shouting anti-white slurs - attacked. According to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, a group of 10 to 15 people reportedly shouted out "white motherf***ers,” “dirty white b***es” and “f**k those white b****es and their money.""
If it'd been the other way around...

"Straight" Pakistani Men Are Resorting To Sex With Other Men Because They're Not Getting Any Action Otherwise - "It’s understandable why they are resorting to this option and also, no one will have to live with the “shame” of being labelled as gay (the shame attached to the term gay is another story altogether) because when you say that you’re having sex with men because you can’t find a woman, you’re not gay, right?"
Of course, sex educators like to claim that orientation is about interest and not behavior - i.e. you can be a lesbian but sleep with men

Gay Pakistan: Where sex is available and relationships are difficult - "Pakistan is not the kind of place that most people would associate with gay liberation. But some say the country is a great place to be gay - even describing the port city of Karachi as "a gay man's paradise".Underground parties, group sex at shrines and "marriages of convenience" to members of the opposite sex are just some of the surprises that gay Pakistan has to offer. Under its veneer of strict social conformity, the country is bustling with same-sex activity... Sex between men occurs in some very public places - including, surprisingly, Karachi's busiest shrine.Families go to the Abdullah Shah-Ghazi shrine to honour the holy man buried there and to ask for God's blessings, but it is also Karachi's biggest cruising ground. Every Thursday evening, as the sun sets, men from across the city gather there. A tightly packed circle is formed and those in the centre of the circle are groped by those on the periphery... "In Pakistan men are discouraged from having girlfriends and so often, their first sexual experiences will be with male friends or cousins. This is often seen as a part of growing up and it can be overlooked by families - it's the idea that 'boys will be boys'," he says.  "Sex between men will be overlooked as long as no-one feels that tradition or religion are being challenged. At the end of it all, everyone gets married to a member of the opposite sex and nothing is spoken about."... "There was an instance where two boys were caught having sex in a field," says Iqbal."The family tried to bribe the police with money because they didn't want the story going public. When the police wouldn't back down the family asked for one detail to be changed - they wanted their son to be presented as the active sexual partner. For them, their son being passive would be even more shameful." In almost all cases charges will be dropped, Iqbal says, but the boys will be forced to get married by their families."

Is Pakistan a gay man’s paradise? - "Pakistan is an extremely patriarchal, macho culture, with a strict understanding of gender expression and behaviour. Ironically, it’s that culture that enables same-sex relationships to flourish, as long as the participants are discreet.This is because Pakistan is a homosocial society, as Sinaan puts it, meaning that men can only go out in public or socialize with men, women with women. Male friends can often be seen in twos or threes, holding hands or with an arm affectionately around the other’s waist or neck.In macho Pakistani culture, having sex with a man — as long as you’re the one penetrating or “the top” — means you are the epitome of machismo. “It makes you super-straight,” says Ali (who asked that only his first name be published). “You’re dominating a guy. Dominating a woman is easy, but you’re dominating a guy. You must be super masculine.”“I’m going to sodomize you” is a common insult, Ali says, something that fathers would use for their sons, or brothers use for each other. It’s not a sexual threat, but an expression of domination, power and punishment, similar to an English expression like “I’m going to knock your teeth out.” Some gay men describe Pakistan as a paradise, where sex is always available, especially with men who identify as heterosexual. Sinaan recounts the story of a man he knows, an Ahmadi Muslim, who moved to Canada to avoid religious persecution and now writes to him saying, “I’m in hell.” In Pakistan it was extremely easy for the man to find macho, straight men to have sex with, Sinaan explains, but in Canada, this is not the case. The man wouldn’t have sex with gay men in Pakistan, Sinaan notes, because he found them too effeminate... For some gay men, they are pressured into marriage in order to preserve the honour of their sisters. Sinaan says he “has always been posing as a straight man” because of his parents and two sisters, though his two brothers know the truth and are supportive. In Pakistan’s patriarchal society, if a man brings dishonour to his family by being openly gay, he could destroy his sisters’ chances of a suitable marriage."

The Ultimate Toronto Neighbourhood Rankings - "Everybody knows that Toronto is one of the best places to live in the world. But where’s the best place to live in Toronto? To figure that out, we ranked all of the city's neighbourhoods, measuring everything from housing to transit to diversity. Click the button below to see our list, or pick your own priorities to generate a custom ranking suited to your needs."

Supercharged small towns are offering an attractive alternative to big-city living - "We compared 415 municipalities across the country; more than three-fifths of the top 50 are towns with fewer than 40,000 people like Salmon Arm (the sixth-best place to live in the country and the top place in B.C.). Contrary to the popular image of the struggling small town, these communities rose to the top of the ranking because of their high incomes, strong population growth and access to thriving regional economies. These places are all either within driving distance of a larger population centre or are hubs of local economic activity in their own right. They’re supercharged small towns, and residents don’t have to compromise—they’ve got access to the same amenities a suburb might offer, the natural splendour of a rural area and the opportunities of an urban centre. Anyone trying to decide where to live in Canada faces a paradox. Toronto and Vancouver create most of the country’s high-paying jobs, but the cost of owning a home in those cities has spiralled out of reach for most people... Vicki-May Hamm, mayor of Magog, Que., has spent years combatting the perception that all small towns are struggling. Her community—the 110th-best community in Canada and the 10th best in Quebec, according to our ranking—may be small, but it’s an hour from Montreal, two from Quebec City and 30 minutes from the U.S. border.“Magog has all the services I need—the hospitals, the schools, the kindergartens, the local businesses. I have almost everything I need here without the inconvenience of traffic, of pollution,” says Hamm, a past president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. “If, for example, your head office is in Montreal, and you only have to go once or twice a week, why wouldn’t you live here next to the lake?”... Ontario and B.C. communities dominate the top of the ranking, with Ontario towns and cities accounting for 28 of the top 50 and B.C. accounting for 16. Municipalities in those two provinces are at an advantage because of B.C.’s and Ontario’s strong economies and great weather (for Canada, anyway). Ontario also has the shortest health care wait times in the country and B.C. has low sales and income taxes... census data on commuting patterns suggest few people living in these small towns are driving to work in the big city."

Lee Valley Jar Opener - "We have all developed techniques for opening jar lids, perhaps even buying special wrenches to provide greater leverage when twisting off a lid. However, the reason jar lids are so tight is that the contents are under a partial vacuum, sucking the rubber-lined lid down tightly on the jar. If you release the vacuum, the jar lid unscrews easily.That's exactly what our jar opener does. It's as simple as hooking one of the ends over the lid, pressing the contoured handle down until you hear the telltale "swoosh" of the invading air. The lid can then be unscrewed effortlessly.The small hook end is for the most common lid size, while the larger end is for the deeper lids, usually found on jars of salsa or spaghetti sauce. Whichever way it is used, the handle is always situated over the jar preventing it from tipping. The only lids it won't work on are two-piece canning jar lids, which are not normally a problem because you just unscrew the ring and, yes, lift the lid slightly to break the vacuum.The combination of effectiveness, simplicity and utility truly makes it one of those "why didn't I think of that" kinds of tools."
There's a tool for everything
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