Links - 8th April 2020 (2)

France to make 'Gallic Google' Qwant government's default search engine amid privacy issues - "French government computers are to adopt the Gallic-funded search engine Qwant as their default browser amid alleged concerns that Google insufficiently protects data privacy.Founded in 2013, Qwant is a Franco-German encrypted search engine that functions the same way as Google but doesn’t keep logs and places a heavy emphasis on user privacy."

Call It a Crime of Pasta - The New York Times - "According to the mayor’s office, in mid-October police inspectors busted a local restaurant for serving untraceable orecchiette, a violation of Italian and European Union regulations that require food in restaurants to be clearly sourced. The police fined the restaurateur and forced him to trash three kilos of pasta, or about seven pounds. The November news reports (“Strong hand against the handmade orecchiette in Old Bari” wrote La Repubblica) immediately worried the sharp-elbowed women of Bari, who are permitted to sell small plastic baggies of pasta for personal use, but who are not licensed to deliver large, unlabeled shipments to restaurants. The women don’t earn much to begin with, and fear having to wear hairnets, issue receipts and pay taxes. People here are asking if the Italian zeal for regulations, however often ignored, will end up overpowering the local pride in a custom that has brought Bari — where many families have their go-to pasta lady — tourists and much-needed good press... Vito Leccese, the mayor’s chief of staff, said his boss received a police bodyguard after taking on criminally linked street-food vendors and upset some traditionalists for prohibiting locals from selling raw mussels rinsed in seaport water... Michele Fanelli, an advocate for local traditions who also offers classes in orecchiette making, has stepped forward to defend the women, arguing that they are last vestiges of a disappearing Bari. “Globalization is threatening the traditions”"
The joys of regulation!

Asia Times | 75% of young want to escape South Korean ‘Hell’ - "From afar, South Koreans might appear to be blessed among East Asians.Citizens of a prosperous democracy that has birthed a hero-to-zero national success story, world-beating corporate brands, a futuristic infrastructure and the glitzy K-pop universe that is beloved across the region, they boast enviable looks, lifestyles and quality of life.Up close, things look different. According to a recent survey of 5,000 persons, 75% of 19-34 year old natives of the world’s 11th richest nation want out... 79.1% of young women and 72.1% of young men want to leave Korea, that 83.1% of young women and 78.4% of young men consider Korea “hell” and that 29.8% of young women and 34.1% of young men consider themselves “losers.”... “I don’t think Korea is particularly unequal – it is quite middle class compared to other wealthy countries – but if you go back one or two generations, things were very equal: everyone had nothing.” he said. “When everyone has nothing you don’t feel poor, but now, even if you have quite a decent standard of living, you look at others around and you may feel, ‘Oh my god!’”"

Student brings books to school in microwave after backpack ban - The Post Millennial - "A student at Spalding Grammar School in the U.K. has been suspended for his silent protest of his school’s ban on backpacks. The ban was brought forth under the guise of health and safety. The school stated, “injury was being caused to younger students as a result of sixth formers carrying ever-larger bags on their shoulders.” Jacob Ford, 17, protested the ban by taking his school supplies to class in a microwave... Ford brought his supplies to class not only in a microwave but also a wicker basket, another day in a saucepan and finally in a part of a lawnmower"

I’m a Developer. I Won’t Teach My Kids to Code, and Neither Should You. - "while these products may teach kids specific coding languages, they actually have very little to do with the work of creating software... Coding is not the new literacy. While most parents are literate and know to read to their kids, most are not programmers and have no idea what kind of skills a programmer needs. Coding books for kids present coding as a set of problems with “correct” solutions. And if your children can just master the syntax, they’ll be able to make things quickly and easily. But that is not the way programming works. Programming is messy. Programming is a mix of creativity and determination. Being a developer is about more than syntax, and certain skills can only be taught to the very young... There are no books that teach you how to solve a problem no one has seen before. This is why I don’t want my kids to learn syntax. I want them to learn to solve problems, to dive deep into an issue, to be creative... every time you involve your kids when you work on something you value, you are teaching them how to do things well. You are preparing them to write code.But you’re not only teaching them that. You’re teaching them the world is full of interesting things to discover. You’re showing them how to be passionate and look for that ephemeral sense of quality in everything they do. The best part is that even if they don’t become coders—most shouldn’t and won’t—the same skills can be used in nearly any career, in every hobby, in every life. When we force kids to learn syntax, we reinforce the idea that if something is not a blatantly employable skill, it’s not valuable. Adults can learn syntax. Only kids can learn to embrace curiosity"

Esoterismo Global - Posts - "**3 storeyed building with each storey being bigger than the one below it* Defying Physics, gravity, math, engineering, space, time, NASA, Einstein and the Holy Spirit."

Gabino Iglesias - "I just spent an inordinate amount of time reading about how Hollywood movies got handmade posters in Ghana for years. In many cases the artists hadn't seen the movies. These are glorious. Here are some of my favorites"

Ben Sixsmith on Twitter - "Dozens of bearded, bespectacled young men who write about decolonizing Marvel films are currently sweating over the keyboards in an effort dig up supposedly incriminating quotes from Roger Scruton and convince the world that he, unlike them, was no intellectual."

Late LG Ng rejected PM Lee's offer to "live off" Govt unlike LGs Desmond Kuek and Ng Yat Chung - "He revealed that he was one of the key architects behind the decision to retire military officers by the age of 50, so as to create career progression in the SAF... the SAF doesn’t guarantee anyone a second career after retirement at 50. He said, “You look for it yourself. To a certain extent, people who are scholars would find a second career easier, because the good scholars are also attracted into the Administrative Service.”  “Of course, they can do something else. Some of them go into politics, and so politics becomes their second career – Teo Chee Hean, George Yeo, you know. And some of them, on their own effort, find jobs with Temasek companies. But it’s up to Temasek to accept them… Mindef does not have such powers. It’s between the individual and Temasek,” he emphasized. “The decision-maker is the employer. Mindef has no power to insist. Mindef may recommend, but Mindef cannot insist.”... LG Ng also disclosed that he had a meeting with then-DPM Lee Hsien Loong one year before his retirement from SAF.  LG Ng recalled, “Of course, he asked me what I wanted to do next. Was I thinking of a permanent secretary position, a statutory board, ambassadorship?”  “If I had decided that I wanted to become an ambassador, I’m sure the Defence Minister would have called the Foreign Minister and said, our CDF is retiring and wants to be an ambassador, could you consider him?” he continued.  “In any case, I said no, I think it’s fair and ethical that I will look after myself. I said, we’ve just started this system. I’m the first case. So as principal architect, I surely cannot be seen in my second career to be living off the Government.”  “The basis of the second career is that the SAF has trained and groomed a person who is of this calibre, and a person of this calibre should be able to hold his own outside of the SAF”"

Subaru responds to 'unfortunate' name of new vehicle: 'We had nothing to do with this' - "Subaru is apologizing after the outlandish, NSFW name of one of its new vehicles went viral on Twitter.The car, which the Japanese automaker unveiled at the 2020 Singapore Motor Show, was labeled the Forester Ultimate Customised Kit Special edition. And yes, that acronym spells out exactly what you think it does."

What does human flesh taste like? Canadian English teacher faces child abuse charges for showing BBC video in South Korea - "An English teacher from Canada who showed a BBC documentary titled “What does human flesh taste like?” to a group of children as young as six faces child abuse charges in South Korea."... In the footage, which is almost four minutes long, the host of the show allows a medical professional to take a sample of flesh from his thigh for analysis and has the sample cooked. The host, Greg Foot, then smells the sample, saying its aroma is “a lot richer than pork or chicken” and that “it’s like beef and ale stew or something”. However, noting that eating human flesh is illegal, he stops short of tasting it. Instead he gets a scientist to analyse the sample’s aroma, concluding that it is closest to a mixture of beef and lamb. He then cooks and eats a burger made up of a mixture the analysis suggests is close to his own flesh. “I think that’s going to be the closest I am ever going to get to tasting human. I tell you what, it’s pretty good”, he says.The teacher told police she had searched for the video in response to a question from a child about what human flesh would taste like. Her lawyer said she did not intend to shock the children."

Meme - "I'm PISSED I Spent My Skinny Years Thinking I Was Fat"

Scottish Journo Told She Needs Protective Gear To Hold Drop Bear - "Debi Edward, UK’s ITV News Asia correspondent, was reporting on the bushfires when she was told that some locals had a surprise for her reserved only for “special visitors”. She was going to hold the koala’s terrifying cousin, the drop bear, on camera. Now Debi doesn’t know much about drop bears so she’s told some basic facts about the animal. Drop bears are “vicious”, have fangs, and are poisonous... To protect her from the feral creature, Debi was geared up in full body armour complete with goggles and gloves and boots. Not to mention, someone had a dart gun handy… just in case... “I’m trying not to be worried because I’ve been told that he can sense if I’m worried”... I absolutely do not blame her for saying “fucking Aussies” afterwards – what a bloody good sport."

New York City 'poop train' a disgusting nightmare for Alabama town: 'It smells like death' - "A stinking trainload of human waste from New York City is stranded in a tiny Alabama town, spreading a stench like a giant backed-up toilet — and the "poop train" is just the latest example of the South being used as a dumping ground for other states' waste... New York City has discontinued shipping it to Alabama for the time being, said Eric Timbers, a city spokesman. Its waste, recovered from the sewage treatment process and often called "biosolids," has been sent out of state partly because the federal government in the late 1980s banned disposal in the Atlantic Ocean.In an earlier trash saga, a barge laden with 3,186 tons (2,890 metric tons) of non-toxic paper and commercial garbage from Long Island and New York City wandered the ocean for months in 1987, seeking a place to dump it after plans by a private developer to turn it into methane gas in North Carolina fell through. It was turned away by North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Belize and the Bahamas."

Immune cell that kills most cancers discovered by accident by British scientists - "A new type of immune cell which kills most cancers has been discovered by accident by British scientists, in a finding which could herald a major breakthrough in treatment.Researchers at Cardiff University were analysing blood from a bank in Wales, looking for immune cells that could fight bacteria, when they found an entirely new type of T-cell.That new immune cell carries a never-before-seen receptor which acts like a grappling hook, latching on to most human cancers, while ignoring healthy cells.In laboratory studies, immune cells equipped with the new receptor were shown to kill lung, skin, blood, colon, breast, bone, prostate, ovarian, kidney and cervical cancer.Professor Andrew Sewell, lead author on the study and an expert in T-cells from Cardiff University’s School of Medicine, said it was “highly unusual” to find a cell that had broad cancer-fighting therapies, and raised the prospect of a universal therapy."
There's a story like this every few years

A Brief History of Fascinators, the Haiku of Hats - "It was named in the 1960s, re-emerged with heightened artistry in the late 70s, and today is worn by both royals and the fashion forward. It traces back through the centuries, perhaps to the moment in the 1770s when on a whim Marie Antoinette planted some feathers—ostrich and peacock—into her pomaded hair... “You know,” says Jones, “they’re supposed to look like a caprice. Something that means nothing. And things which are supposed to mean nothing—they actually mean everything.”"