Links - 10th May 2020 (1)

MOH Confirms 2 Brands Of Canned Sardines From China Are Contaminated With Parasites - "in March, Indonesia's Food and Drugs Monitoring Agency (BPOM) found that 27 brands of canned mackerel were contaminated with threadworms. According to BPOM head Penny Kusumastuti Lukito, out of the 27 brands, 16 brands are imported while the remaining 11 are local products."

Vietnamese Factory Has Been Mixing Dirt And Battery Chemicals Into Their Coffee Since 2016 - "Despite the owner’s confession and evidence, police have not found enough proof to conclude that the “coffee” was sold for food and drinks... this isn’t the first time Vietnamese coffee has been found to hold chemicals. Back in 2015 in Ho Chi Minh, a black liquid that smelled like coffee was believed to contain dangerous heavy metals such as mercury and lead... According to Xuan, the liquid actually comes from China."

You Could Be Buying Toxic, Fake Food Products Sold Under Brands Like Maggi And Lee Kum Kee - "a massive underground business in Tianjin, China has been making fake-branded sauces and flavourings using illegal ingredients like industrial salt that can be harmful to human health... The manufacturers have gone lengths to ensure the public is convinced by making sure that everything is copied down to the last detail.  Using the same packaging as their branded counterparts is one thing, but these manufacturers also took an extra step to copy and use QR barcodes from genuine products on their own counterfeit items. Clearly, the profit margin for selling those bogus products can be really significant as producers have allegedly earned so much money from this business that they are able to drive around in Porsches."

Instruments of Macabre Origin | The Metropolitan Museum of Art - "Lyre. Central Africa, 19th century. Human skull, antelope horn, skin, gut, hair...
A highly unusual musical instrument in the Museum's collection is a lyre fashioned from a human skull. Although the piece has not been exhibited since before 1980, it gained fame in Jerzy Kosinski's 1982 best-selling novel Pinball—a rock 'n' roll mystery written for George Harrison—and perennially draws attention.Not much is known about this instrument. It was purchased from an unnamed dealer at the end of the nineteenth century and was originally thought to have come from South America when it was cataloged in 1906, but was later reattributed to Central Africa. There is no known tradition to which this instrument may be assigned, although some have suggested it may have a symbolic or clandestine ritual use. Most likely it is a sensational item made by a clever indigenous entrepreneur for trade and profit with Europeans."

The case for mocking religion. - "Is it not clear, then, that those who are determined to be “offended” will discover a provocation somewhere? We cannot possibly adjust enough to please the fanatics, and it is degrading to make the attempt."
I wonder what Hitchens would have said about SJWs

A Cough Cure For Kids? Try Honey - "there might be dozens of bottles of cough syrup promising to help your kid's cough. You'll see labels with babies and crescent moons that promise to relieve "chest congestion" and help your kid sleep.Pediatrician Jennifer Shu says don't buy it. Shu, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, says the shelves of kids' cough medicine at the pharmacy are not really about good medicine — it's marketing... Mostly, these kids cough syrups have either a cough suppressant like dextromethorphan (in Robitussin and Delsym, for example) or an antihistamine like diphenhydramine (in Benadryl and Dimetapp). "What the studies have shown is that — for some reason — in kids they aren't that effective," she explains.Plus, these drugs can cause side effects, she says, "such as increasing your blood pressure, making your heart rate go up or suppressing the drive to breathe — and that's definitely something we don't want for kids."So what can desperate, sleep-starved parents give their kids? The answer might be already in the kitchen cupboard."Honey is at least as effective as those many, many products that you see in the drugstore"... This is only for kids older than 1 year old. (There's a risk of botulism for infants.) ... "Honey has some natural antibacterial and antiviral properties," she says. "It contains hydrogen peroxide, so there is a theory that that's why it might help fight a cold. But also the thickness of it helps coat the throat and makes it feel more comfortable so you don't have that dry, ticklish feeling that's causing your cough."... kids can get an average of one cold a month in the winter — and each one can last two weeks — or longer."

Man arrested after allegedly driving van into GOP registration tent - "A man has been arrested after allegedly deliberately driving a van into a tent full of Trump supporters who were working to register new voters at a shopping center parking lot.The incident occurred on Saturday afternoon in the Kernan Village Shopping Center in eastern Jacksonville, Florida, when a man, later identified by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office as 27-year-old Gregory Timm, allegedly drove a van through a tent where people were working to register voters. The driver narrowly missed several people in the tent and fled the scene after the incident by car."
Of course, since no one was killed liberals can continue dismissing this kind of incident and go on supporting inflammatory antifa rhetoric

Report: Man tells police he targeted Trump campaign volunteers because he does not like the President - "The man who police say drove a van through a tent in a Walmart parking lot on Saturday in Jacksonville, Florida, where Trump campaign volunteers were gathered told officers he doesn't like President Donald Trump"

Anti-Trump terrorist van attacker: 'Someone had to take a stand' - "Timm himself confirmed that the van action was an anti-Trump political attack, which would classify it as a terrorist attack by Florida state law... “Someone had to take a stand,” said Timm to police. The video did not show the moment the van struck the tent, as Timm stated the video ended before “the good part.”"

Why Labeling Antonio Banderas A 'Person Of Color' Triggers Such A Backlash - "Outlets called Antonio Banderas, nominated for best actor for his role in Pedro Almodóvar's Pain and Glory, an actor of color.The thing is, Banderas is from Málaga, Spain, and does not identify as a person of color. There are nonwhite Spanish people, but this isn't the case for him... "I don't know what I am," he told Ramos. "When I've gone to the U.S., I've considered myself Latino, because those are the people I've connected with the most."Banderas then recalled filling out an official form in the U.S.: When he went to check the box for "white" under race, he was told that was wrong, that he was Hispanic."I said, 'Hispanic isn't actually a race,' " Banderas told Ramos, but he went ahead and checked the Hispanic box. "Great, I'm happy to be Hispanic, Spanish, Latino, and if I'm a person of color, well then I'm a person of color."... Spaniards are technically considered Hispanic by the U.S. Census Bureau, which defines the term as "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race."... Banderas has often taken on Latin American roles in movies, including a Mexican mariachi assassin in Robert Rodriguez's Desperado... Spanish media pounced on the word choice. Some publications accused the U.S. of having an "absurd obsession" with race... Juan Pedro Sánchez, 25, who lives in Madrid and weighed in on the Twitter discussion, criticized those who responded negatively, saying the concept of race and ethnicity varies according to where you are. He said Spaniards were all too quick to point out that they're white."A lot of people in Spain are bothered if others confuse them for Latin American because Spaniards see Latinos as people of color, and they don't want to be associated with that"... At times in history, many Spaniards have also felt like the "other" in Europe... there's a reason the term Hispanic is so vague. When it was first introduced into the U.S. census in 1980, the idea was to be as inclusive and all-encompassing as possible, so as to not leave out any groups. Before 1980, people of Latin American descent were labeled white by the U.S. government — but by being grouped with whites, there were few statistics on the Latinx community and therefore no way of knowing what its concerns and needs were. "There wasn't a lot of consensus about what it meant to be Hispanic in the first place, and so [those lobbying for the term to be created] were kind of reluctant to give very clear parameters around that," says Jones. "But they realized there was power in numbers to be able to make claims to the state, in terms of resources and support, to create a voting bloc and to get lawsuits around these kinds of issues. So they sort of banded together as a way of asking for a category."Linguistic anthropologist Jonathan Rosa at Stanford University says it's precisely because of this inclusive language that people from Spain can now strategically access certain political and economic markets — and benefit from the ambiguity of the definition of Hispanic. "People fought really hard to have these categories or to make recognition possible for artistic or athletic or intellectual prowess," Rosa says. "And I think there's legitimate concern when someone who isn't associated with the kinds of histories of marginalization and exclusion ... is benefiting.""
Identity politics poisons everything
Presumably it's okay for rich African Americans to benefit from the political power of being "black" since "history" trumps contemporary reality

ZUBY: on Twitter - "I've NEVER seen a push for 50/50 'gender equity' in a male-dominated field that involves dangerous work, exposure to the elements, extended time away from home, or hard physical labour. I wonder why..."

If You're Going Bald, Consider Rubbing Wasabi on Your Head - "Japanese wasabi company Kinin recently made an announcement that chemicals found within the wasabi plant help regrow hair faster than current hair-loss remedies such as Rogaine (minoxidil). Keep in mind that they mean real wasabi, and not that toxic-green playdough sitting in a mound next to the birthday-pink pickled ginger that you're undoubtedly familiar with. Considering fresh wasabi typically goes for around $80 per pound, and has a rather pungent odor, you might be better off picking up some Rogaine... Onions (pick your favorite variety) can be frapped and put on the head. A study from 2002, claims that onion juice is actually effective in treating alopecia areata, a less common form of hair loss"