Robert Pattinson took fan to dinner - "Twilight actor Robert Pattinson invited a fan who had waited outside his apartment for three weeks to have dinner with him because he was bored.The 25-year-old was filming Little Ashes in Spain and after being followed by a female admirer for several weeks, he asked her to spend the evening with him... "Her parents had a restaurant, she took me there. I complained about everything in my life for about two hours, then she gave me the bill to pay and was never back outside my apartment ever again"... The actor also said he attempts to disguise himself when he goes out, but doesn't do it very well."I attempt to disguise myself - it doesn't particularly work ever. I started off just trying to make strange expressions, but that's not a particularly good tactic.""
National Indian Gaming Association - Wikipedia - "The National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1985 made up of 184 Indian Nations"
Syed on Twitter - Sunny Singh @ProfSunnySingh: "I get regular invites to debate on various platforms. I always say no.Because debate is an imperialist capitalist white supremacist cis heteropatriarchal technique that transforms a potential exchange of knowledge into a tool of exclusion & oppression."
"How can an actual professor say “debate is an imperialist capitalist white supremacist cis heteropatriarchal technique” when our history is filled with debates in palaces & academies -from China to Athens & Baghdad? 🤷🏽♂️ Debates in Abbasid courts triggered intellectual renaissance."
The SANDWICH ALIGNMENT CHART - "INGREDIENT PURIST: Must Have Classic Sandwich Toppings. Meat Cheese Lettuce Condiments Etc
INGREDIENT NEUTRAL: Can Contain a Broader Scope of Savoury Ingredients
INGREDIENT REBEL: Can Contain Literally Any Food Products Sandwiched Together
STRUCTURE PURIST: a Sandwich Must Have a Classic Sandwich Shape: Two Pieces of Bread/baked Product With Toppings in Between
STRUCTURE NEUTRAL: the Container Must Be on Either Side of the Toppings but Not Necessarily Two Separate Pieces
STRUCTURE REBEL: Can Contain Any Food Enveloped in Any Way by a Containing Food
HARDLINE TRADITIONALISTS: a BLT Is a Sandwich
STRUCTURAL PURIST, INGREDIENT NEUTRAL: a Chip butty Is a Sandwich
STRUCTURAL PURIST INGREDIENT REBEL: Ice Cream Between Waffles Is a Sandwich
STRUCTURAL NEUTRAL, INGREDIENT PURIST: a Sub Is a Sandwich
TRUE NEUTRAL: a Hot Dog Is a Sandwich
STRUCTURAL NEUTRAL, INGREDIENT REBEL: an Ice Cream Taco Is a Sandwich
STRUCTURAL REBEL INGREDIENT PURIST: a Chicken Wrap Is a Sandwich
STRUCTURAL REBEL INGREDIENT NEUTRAL: a Burrito Is a Sandwich
RADICAL SANDWICH ANARCHY: a Pop-Tart Is a Sandwich"
Hotel in Thailand That Jailed American Gets New Tripadvisor Label - The New York Times - "The resort hotel in Thailand got its public apology. The unhappy American guest who spent two nights in jail for criticizing the hotel online got his criminal charges dropped. But it was Tripadvisor, the giant online travel review platform, that got the last word.Wesley Barnes, the American traveler who was arrested after being charged with criminal defamation for posting critical reviews of the Sea View resort on the island of Koh Chang, quietly left Thailand this week.With Mr. Barnes safely out of the country, Tripadvisor took punitive action on Wednesday against the resort, posting a one-of-a-kind notice on the Sea View’s page warning travelers that the hotel was behind the jailing of a guest for his harsh reviews.“This hotel or individuals associated with this hotel filed criminal charges against a Tripadvisor user in relation to the traveler writing and posting online reviews,” the warning reads. “The reviewer spent time in jail as a result.” The dispute between the resort and its guest began over a $15 corkage fee, but turned into a clash between American principles of free speech and Thailand’s far-reaching laws that limit expression and are used to stifle criticism of businesses, the government and the monarchy... “Thailand’s use of criminal defamation is really off the charts,” said Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch. “It seems like the Asian notion of ‘saving face’ has really been taken to heart by Thais who don’t hesitate to head to court over the smallest perceived slight or insult. If Thailand would simply decriminalize defamation, making it a purely civil law matter, this would create a major change in Thai society overnight.”... The Sea View, located in the Gulf of Thailand, an hour’s flight from Bangkok, said it tried unsuccessfully to persuade him to delete his posts and had no choice but to file a police complaint. Mr. Barnes was arrested in September and spent two nights in jail as he tried to make bail. He faced two years in prison.Tripadvisor began paying his legal fees and helped bring the parties together to negotiate. Eventually, the Sea View agreed to drop its complaint if Mr. Barnes made a “sincere apology” for his reviews, which they said included “xenophobic comments against hotel staff.”Mr. Barnes accepted the offer, and in a statement that resembled a forced confession, he apologized and thanked the hotel for forgiving him... The fine print of the settlement also required Mr. Barnes to obtain an agreement from Tripadvisor, and he asked the company for a commitment that it would not post a “red badge” warning — Tripadvisor’s most dreaded notice — on the hotel’s page.Tripadvisor posts various warnings to alert travelers to safety issues, and such notices can result in a significant drop in business. Agreeing to the hotel’s demand meant going against the company’s own practice of informing travelers.“That was problematic for us,” Mr. Young said. “The settlement agreement basically required Mr. Barnes to convince Tripadvisor to stop acting like Tripadvisor.”The company has been criticized in the past for not doing enough to warn travelers of specific dangers, especially cases of rape.In the end, Tripadvisor gave Mr. Barnes a letter that he hand delivered to the hotel, promising the company would not post a “red badge” on the hotel’s page... Tripadvisor began drafting a new type of warning that it posted on Wednesday, after Mr. Barnes had reached his destination outside Thailand. The warning comes with a penalty: a substantial drop in the hotel’s ranking on the website."
CEO Secrets: 'We tried paying everyone the same salary. It failed' - "When Calvin Benton started his psychotherapy company Spill, he had the idea of paying everyone the same amount of money. He thought it would bring harmony to the team. Instead, he was forced to abandon the scheme within a year because of the rancour it created and pay people according to their seniority and expertise."We realised that we had to pay attention to market forces," says Calvin. "Sometimes, traditional practices are there for a reason."... Initially, the measure worked well and fostered a lot of goodwill within the team."Let's say we were going out for drinks," says Calvin. "There wasn't a problem of who pays, or whether this person doesn't get paid as much as this person so maybe the manager has to pay. Everyone got paid the same, so it was much easier in those social situations."As Spill took off, Calvin recruited new staff such as a software developer, a salesperson and clerical workers - and decided to offer them all the same £36,000 salary. This is when the problems started."Software developers are typically very in demand, and they usually take a higher salary than £36,000," says Calvin. "Salespeople are typically paid on commission. So it was not a model which particularly suited either of those two industries."We really struggled to attract senior talent for the software role. And it got to about three months in when the salesperson started asking to be paid according to sales targets they'd achieved, saying the fixed salary wasn't working for them."At the same time, Calvin was getting overwhelmed with applications for the £36,000-a-year clerical jobs he was advertising."We were offering a lot more than other clerical jobs paid and a lot of people were applying to the roles because they really wanted this high salary, rather than wanting to work at Spill because they believed in the mission behind the company."... Among the newly expanded workforce, the equal pay system was starting to cause grumbling."When we grew the team, we started to have some people who contributed more than others. You had some people who worked longer hours than others. The question started to arise: should this person be paid the same amount as me?"
Thai national park sends rubbish back to tourists - "Authorities in the popular Khao Yai National Park near Bangkok will start sending rubbish back to litterers, Thailand's environment minister said.Offenders will also be registered with the police.Visitors to the park have to register with their addresses, making it easy for rangers to track them down if they leave rubbish behind."
Hilarious Photos Of Walmart’s Greatest Customers - "Walking VLC Player
This woman has a clear message for anyone who even thinks about violating social distancing guidelines. She is masked, but boy is she orange! Hard to miss, stay away!"
Police: Man arrested for driving through pro-police rally in Eaton - "The driver, identified as 21-year-old Isaiah Cordova, was later located by police and arrested on suspicion of attempted first degree assault, felony menacing and reckless driving, according to police."
Toa Payoh Becomes Bubble Tea City With Bubble Tea Shops Every 500m - "In Toa Payoh Central alone, there is a whopping number of bubble tea shops within a 500-metre radius of each other around the train station"
ITALIANS HERE AND OVER THERE FIGHT IT OUT OVER PASTA IMPORTS - Chicago Tribune - "Italians and Italian-Americans are one in their taste for the national dish: pasta in all its forms--spaghetti, macaroni, tagliatelle, lasagna, et al. But the harmony dissolves when it comes to making and selling the product... They don`t see eye to eye at all, including how to prepare the product in its various manifestations... the dish is bastardized, the Italian exporters claim, and many residents of the ''little Italys'' found in every American city of any size seem to agree with them, preferring the foreign variety.The contrast was epitomized 40 years ago when, after World War II, Marshall Plan shipments to an Italy suffering from food shortages included such items as canned spaghetti with meat balls, for which the recipients had no taste."
Meme - "boys? you mean sex toys that are rude and don't even vibrate?"
"Whatever, Fleshlight that cries."
Salt chip on Twitter - "For anyone curious about the deleted/hidden Bali thread"
"If they think we're hating because they're black:Tell them back in June 2020 we also have a national outrage because some white people have the audacity to arranged a mass yoga event in the middle of pandemicWe managed to deport the organizer too"
Shitposting in Asia Ironically™ | Facebook - "Somehow sjw especially in USA try to live in Bali without paying taxes at all and then they can try discrimination only we are brown when we're not all brown. It's really tempting for people to have lived in their own country for so long."
"Imagine having more earnings and opportunities than 90% of the people here, yet claiming themselves as “the most oppressed people in the world”"
"It's like, damn bro we all want to get out of this shitty country, you're not special because you realize American Life is a scam.Just move somewhere and shut the fuck up, integrate, pay your fucking taxes. Don't be an instagram colonizer.Not that Bali isn't already completely ruined by people like her anyway."
"“Buy my book!” Is all I got from that. Hilarious blowback from flexing."
"Did they actually tried pulling the race card in Asia?"
"yes, idk what they're thinking"
"#BALINESELIVEMATTER"
"Westerners are something huh. No wonder aliens starts invading their country first for a reason."
"'to foreigners, from localsplease stop glorifying and moving to Bali, Indonesian economy are worse now with covid around. You will gentrified Bali more and make it worse for locals. If you like Bali, please just visit and have a great vacation.'
'Help, Im being bullied by Indonesians. They are anti queer black americans.'"
(PDF) Suicide and Ambient Temperature: A Multi-Country Multi-City Study - "Previous literature suggests that higher ambient temperature may play a role in increasing the risk of suicide... Higher ambient temperature was associated with an increased risk of suicide in general, and we observed a nonlinear association (inverted J-shaped curve) with the highest risk at 27°C. The relative risk (RR) for the highest risk was 1.33 (95% CI: 1.30, 1.36) compared with the risk at the first percentile. Country-specific results showed that the nonlinear associations were more obvious in northeast Asia (Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan). The temperature with the highest risk of suicide ranged from the 87th to 88th percentiles in the northeast Asian countries, whereas this value was the 99th percentile in Western countries (Canada, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, and the United States) and South Africa, where nearly linear associations were estimated... Our findings showed that the risk of suicide increased with increasing ambient temperature in many countries, but to varying extents and not necessarily linearly"
