Links - 19th April 2020 (1)

UK army recruitment ads target 'snowflake' millennials - "The British army is calling on “snowflakes, selfie addicts, class clowns, phone zombies, and me, me, millennials” to join its ranks in a recruitment drive targeting young people... The recruitment campaign comes as the army failed to meet recruitment targets as it “underestimated the complexity of what it was trying to achieve” when it embarked on a project with outsourcing giant Capita, according to a National Audit Office report in December.Capita was awarded the £495m contract for army recruitment in 2012 but the army has not recruited the number of soldiers it requires in any year since the contract began.The Commons defence committee was told in October that the army had 77,000 fully trained troops compared with a target of 82,500.Forty-seven per cent of applicants dropped out of the process voluntarily in 2017-18, and both the army and Capita believe the length of the process is a significant factor in this, according to the report."

Army accused of political correctness in recruitment campaign - "The British army has been accused of bowing to political correctness after launching a campaign to recruit more people from a diversity of genders, sexualities, ethnicities and faiths.It has also been criticised for appearing to mislead recruits by suggesting the army offers help for those with mental health problems. In a series of animations released on social media, the campaign positively answers questions such as “Can I be gay in the army?” and “What if I get emotional in the army?”.Other videos in the £1.6m campaign ask: “Can I practise my faith in the army?”, “Will I be listened to in the army?”, and “Do I have to be a superhero to join the army?”... retired colonel Richard Kemp, a former commander of British operations in Afghanistan, said the campaign would not solve the army’s recruitment problem.“The army, like the rest of government, is being forced down a route of political correctness,” he told BBC Breakfast. “What is most important is that the army is full of soldiers. It is of secondary importance that they reflect the composition of society.”He claimed that what attracted recruits was images of fighting. “The main group of people who are interested in joining aren’t worried so much about whether they are going to be listened to … they are going to be attracted by images of combat.”... “We must ensure that everybody knows that they have an opportunity of joining the British armed forces, and joining the army in particular, but we are not going to be soft and we are not going to be nice to people.”"

Army could phase out fossil fuels to attract ecofriendly recruits, senior general says - "Gen Sir Mark Carleton-Smith said today’s military equipment would probably be the last to be “dependent on fossil fuel engines”, and that a move toward clean energy would be beneficial logistically and put the military “on the right side of the environmental argument”."
Losing a war because your batteries ran out is alright, since you save the environment

Delingpole: British Army to Phase out Fossil Fuels to Attract Eco-Recruits - "bunny-hugging eco-loons are the very last people ever to want to join the Army. The only thing that might change their dope-addled minds is if it redesignated itself the Peace Corps and renounced its combat role altogether. But that might leave an awkward gap in Britain’s defence capabilities.Then again, what kind of loon would even want to join a military so careless of its proper purpose that it apparently puts more value on green virtue-signalling than it does on operational effectiveness?... Once you start prioritising other goals — appeasing Mother Gaia; trying to get friendly write-ups from the Guardian and the BBC; trying to persuade recruits that war has more to do with saving polar bears than killing the enemy — then you send a very clear message to the taxpayers who fund you: we incapable of defending you properly. And an even clearer message to the enemy: we are not serious so please, walk all over us."

It's Grandads' Army! Desperate defence chiefs are urging ex-soldiers as old as 57 to re-enlist - "As part of a New Year recruitment drive, service personnel are being urged to seek out veterans as old as 57, including ex-soldiers who retired on medical grounds or who left the Forces for disciplinary reasons... The campaign was ordered to tackle a manpower crisis in frontline units, some of which are 40 per cent short... In 2014 the ceiling was raised from 43 to 52. Now it is 57, the highest ever, even for infantry units in which troops are expected to march and run long distances while carrying heavy packs.It comes after the Army launched its latest campaign to attract teenage recruits by persuading them that a military career gives them more confidence than social media ‘likes’."
Guess the campaigns aren't working

Cambridge students say they could be ‘triggered’ by soldiers - "Cambridge University Students Union (CUSU) has said that the presence of soldiers at its annual freshers’ fair could ‘trigger’ students. A motion to ban armed-forces personnel from carrying weapons at the freshers’ fair passed this week by 55 per cent. Stella Swain, the CUSU welfare officer who proposed the motion, said that the presence of soldiers could damage students’ mental health... CUSU’s move was part of a broader campaign to ‘demilitarise’ the university.What is most striking here is not these students’ opposition to the military per se (Britain has certainly embroiled itself in numerous bloody conflicts), but the way in which their opposition to the military takes the form of complaints about their hurty feelings. It is extraordinary that ‘the potential to detrimentally affect’ the ‘mental welfare’ of Cambridge students, as one SU officer put it, can even come up in discussions of British militarism"

Dad sets up Dudes & Dogs walking group to get men talking about their feelings - ""The aim of the group is to create an environment where people can relax and drop their barriers "It [walking a dog] is a good way to do so because you do not have to look at each other in the eye and are in an open space. "It is at their pace and there is no expectation for them to have to talk - it could be that they just listen the first few times." He realised that saying "let's go for a walk" was a much easier way of saying 'let's have a chat', which some people can find difficult to say.The dog owner said that people were also able to get moments of relief and joy through interacting with his dog."

What is the tradwife trend sweping households - "Amid the Me Too movement and radical feminism, a new opposing trend has emerged across Britain - the 'tradwife' trend.Harking back to 1950s Britain, and already established in the US, the trend sees women reverting to the traditional roles of housewives, practiced in the fifties and sixties. The belief behind the movement is that wives should not work, and rather spend their days cooking, cleaning, wearing modest and feminine dress, and practice traditional etiquette, being submissive to their husbands and 'always put them first'... Among the women is British housewife Alena Kate Pettit, who has started up a 'femininity finishing school' vlog called 'The Darling Academy', and who admits that growing up in the Spice Girls 'girl power' era made her feel uncomfortable... Alena says she was a 'career girl' in her twenties and followed messages from hit show Sex and The City, which she interpreted as telling women working was 'liberating and they should follow their sexual desires'. Not identifying with this persona, she then turned to shows like the Real Housewives, but found the wives were 'too rich to do their own cleaning and everyone was cheating on each other'.She then went online and discovered an underground movement of other women who felt the same, explaining they craved the sense of 'belonging, home quaintness and tradition'. Alena, who strongly believes your husband should 'always come first and should know this', says some feminists believe her movement is throwing their work for equality back in their faces.Revealing her take on feminism, she explained: 'My view on feminism is that it's about choices. To say you can go into the working world and compete with men and you're not allowed to stay at home -to me is taking a choice away'... The movement is controversial among many feminists, as it claims women should 'submit' to their husbands... One of the movement's pin-up girls is Helen Andelin, the American author of the 1963 'Fascinating Womanhood' book, which teaches women that subordination is the 'key to a happy marriage' and has regained popularity... 'The movement's rising because women have had enough of feminism in the UK and elsewhere.   'We say to feminists: thanks for the trousers, but we see life a different way'."
Too bad she missed the memos from feminists that feminism is not about choice

El Paso Zoo allows you to name a cockroach after your ex then feed it to a meerkat on Valentine's Day - "You can message the zoo on Facebook with your ex's name, then wait patiently for February 14 to watch the roach get devoured during the "Quit Bugging Me" meerkat event, which will live-stream on Facebook and the zoo's website. The names of those exes will also be displayed around the meerkat exhibit and on social media starting February 11. The zoo calls it "the perfect Valentine's Day gift.""This is a fun way to get the community involved in our daily enrichment activities"... The El Paso Zoo isn't the only zoo offering a non-traditional Valentine's Day promotion. The Hemsley Conservation Center in Kent, England, will name a cockroach after your ex in exchange for a donation. You can also name a roach at the Bronx Zoo, which calls them "eternal" and "timeless" gifts."

Man opens Singh’sbury Local - and says resemblance to supermarket is coincidence - "Mandeep Singh Chatha’s off-licence has become a tourist attraction in Wolverhampton after he erected the sign in orange lettering.Customers have been lining up to take selfies outside his Singh’sbury Local that – some say – looks like a Sainsbury’s.But former sandwich delivery driver Mandeep, 34, insists there is an innocent explanation, saying: “I decided on the name. My name is Singh and it’s on Bushbury Road.""

Wechat Stock Scam - not sure what it's called but it's a type of pump and dump. "Tickets" for group stock market movers. : Scams - "I was friends with someone in HK for awhile on wechat. A supposed day trader. Their stock tips (on the HK exchange) seemed ok (before I got involved). The very first tip that I used of (and they wanted to see proof I had bought/sold) they gave the incorrect advice (I should have shorted but they said to buy) and of course I was upside down. They claimed it was a translation error. The next tip (which apparently they buy as a ticket from a group of stock market movers) I decided to defraud them back and I didn't invest real money but quickly mocked up fake screen shots. Sure enough it was a bad tip (inverted advice). I obviously now just ignore them and am only down $4,000 on the bad trade but it left a bad taste in my mouth from my own greed and their arseholethisness. They use people like me to drive the market the way the insiders want I assume and the people on the outside take hit with the market going the wrong way."

Spider bites Australian man on penis again - "A 21-year-old Australian tradesman has been bitten by a venomous spider on the penis for a second time.The man was using a portable toilet on a Sydney building site on Tuesday, when he suffered a repeat of the incident five months ago.Jordan, who preferred not to reveal his surname, said he was bitten on "pretty much the same spot" by the spider."I'm the most unlucky guy in the country at the moment," he told the BBC."I was sitting on the toilet doing my business and just felt the sting that I felt the first time."I was like 'I can't believe it's happened again.' I looked down and I've seen a few little legs come from around the rim." He said that being bitten the first time had made him wary of using portable toilets."

Northern Rail to be renationalised this week after rail chaos for millions - "After years of poor performance millions of customers faced a 2.7 per cent increase in fares this month as the firm’s lines plunged into chaos and cancellations. The formal renationalisation will be ordered by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps who descibed the private ownership’s delivery as “completely unacceptable”. It will become the second of the national networks 16 rail passenger franchises to be nationalised under the Government-owned “operator of last resort” which is owned outright by the taxpayer."
How can libertarians blame government regulation for this?

Steve Mnuchin Just Adult-splained Economics to Greta Thunberg - VICE
Liberals only value expertise when they agree with it

Arizona man dresses up skeleton to drive in HOV lane - "A driver in the US has been caught trying to disguise a fake skeleton as a passenger so he could use a high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane.The Arizona Department of Public Safety said the 62-year-old was pulled over when an official noticed the skeleton, which was wearing a hat and tied to the passenger seat with yellow rope... "Think you can use the HOV lane with Skeletor riding shotgun? You're dead wrong!" it wrote, referring to the fictional nemesis of He-Man in the Masters of the Universe series. It ended the post with the hashtags "#NiceTry" and "#YoureNotHeMan"... a man was caught driving in an HOV lane with a mannequin wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses"

Video claims that if you can read a certain font, you are probably not Japanese - "English language proficiency is a tricky subject with Japanese people. There’s always an excuse about why they can’t understand it, from, “I’ll never use English,” and “It’s not interesting,” to the catch-all, “It’s too hard.” Well, it’s a good thing the Ministry of Education isn’t looking to adopt any new fonts for their textbooks as a little-known computer font developed back in 1998 is gaining some notoriety for being absolutely impossible to read by native Japanese. You might be able to read it, but can your Japanese friends?... this font resembles the written characters of the Japanese katakana syllabary so much that he can’t get his brain to focus on the fact that the font’s text is supposed to be English letters."