Balderdash: Links - 16th July 2022 (1)

Saturday, July 16, 2022

Links - 16th July 2022 (1)

Murray Rothbard quote - "The State is, and always has been, the great single enemy of the human race, its liberty, happiness, and progress."
Many Americans take hating the government to be an article of religious faith
American conservatives hate their government. American liberals hate their country

RASNA WARAH - Is Balkanisation the Solution to Somalia’s Governance Woes? - "the president in present-day Somalia is merely a figurehead; he does not wield real power. The government in Mogadishu has had little control over the rest of the country, where clan-based fiefdoms and federal states do pretty much what they want, with little reference go Mogadishu. National security is largely in the hands of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces, not the Somalia National Army. The concept of a state that delivers services to citizens has also remained a mirage for most Somalis who are governed either by customary law known as xeer or the Sharia... In much of Somalia, services, such as health and education, are largely provided by foreign faith-based foundations, non-governmental organisations or the private sector, not the state. Many hospitals and schools are funded by foreign (mostly Arab) governments or religious institutions. This means that the state remains largely absent in people’s lives. And because NGOs and foundations can only do so much, much of the country remains unserviced, with the result that Somalia continues to remain one of the most underdeveloped countries in the world, with high levels of illiteracy (estimates indicate that the literacy rate is as low as 20 per cent). State institutions, such as the Central Bank and revenue collection authorities, are also either non-existent or dysfunctional."
The American anarchist who posted the Rothbard quote, when I suggested he move to Somalia since he claimed the state was always the problem, claimed that Somalia had a state and that the US didn't bomb stateless places

Jake Thomas on Twitter - "My Uncle (a retired fisherman) volunteered to build his first Grandson’s crib. ...There were mixed reactions. *Giant shark eating fishing boat with baby in it*

Meme - "Becca and Spencer
Brigham Young University-Idaho
NOT INTERESTED IN DATING. We're a married couple looking to see if anyone wants to come to church with us! We figure if you're on tinder, you might need a little extra Jesus in your life :P this is a real offer come with us!!"

S.H.A.M.E. Project › Shame the Hacks who Abuse Media Ethics...
This website is just a hit job on people the left hates. Their allegations are ridiculous

Daily Mail sues Google for monopoly over ad business - "Google faces similar allegations in a lawsuit filed by Texas and a group of other states in December. That lawsuit is one of a series filed against Google and Facebook Inc late last year."

Experience: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years - "I’ve had the same supper for 10 years, even on Christmas Day: two pieces of fish, one big onion, an egg, baked beans and a few biscuits at the end. For lunch I have a pear, an orange and four sandwiches with paste. But I allow myself a bit more variety; I’ll sometimes have soup if it’s cold. When I go to the supermarket, I know exactly what I want. I’m not interested in other food. I’ve never had Chinese, Indian, French food. Why change? I’ve already found the food I love. It would be a job to alter me. My uncle, a bachelor and farmer like me, had the same food for every meal. He had bread, butter, cheese and tea for breakfast, lunch and dinner (although he would bring out the jam for visitors). Whether it’s Easter Day or Christmas Day, being a farmer means every day is the same. The animals still need to be fed. Feeding the sheep and seeing how happy they are makes me happy, too. They never ask for anything different for supper."

The Effect of State Marijuana Legalizations: 2021 Update - "Limited post‐legalization data prevent us from ruling out that marijuana legalization causes small changes in marijuana use or other outcomes. As additional data become available, expanding this analysis will continue to inform debates surrounding marijuana reform. The data so far, however, provide little support for the strong claims about legalization made by either opponents or supporters; the notable exception is tax revenue, which has exceeded some expectations. The absence of significant adverse consequences is especially striking given the sometimes‐dire predictions made by legalization opponents."

Andrew Yang Is Not Giving Up on Politics — or the U.S. — Yet - Freakonomics - "LEVITT: So, Dubner and I did a bunch of media in the U.S., and then we did a tour of the U.K. And what was so different about T.V. is you’d go to the U.K. and instead of super fancy sets and really good-looking people interviewing you, there’d just be, like, crummy sets and there’d be shadows everywhere. And we’d be in the middle of an interview and the person talking to us would say, “Wait a second. This is just a bunch of rubbish. You guys don’t even make sense. Why would I believe this at all?” And it was interesting that the person who was interviewing us was actually thinking and disagreeing with us and challenging us, not in a sort of, “Oh, I’m a journalist, I have to challenge you,” but in a very heartfelt way, like, “Wait, this sounds really dumb to me. Why would you say something so dumb?” I loved doing British T.V. because it felt like there was actually some chance that you were communicating with real people about real things".

Jared Diamond on the Downfall of Civilizations — and His Optimism for Ours - Freakonomics - "DIAMOND: The Vikings from Scandinavia began to spread out say from about the 700, 800s onwards. Eventually, they discovered Greenland. The idea today of settling in Greenland, covered with ice — who on earth would want to settle Greenland? But in fact, Greenland has some fjords that are well protected from sea storms. And particularly when the Vikings arrived around AD 1000, these valleys were great for growing hay, for developing the Norse lifestyle based on herding animals — on cows and sheep and making cheese. So, the Norse had a good lifestyle for several centuries, until it gradually got colder. And as it got colder, there was less hay, but also into Greenland came the Inuit, who were masters of living in frozen environments. You would have thought that the Vikings, when they came across the Inuit would have gone to some effort to make friendly relations with the Inuit, who were there in numbers and had these great boats and had sled dogs. In fact, the first account that we’ve got of the Vikings encountering the Inuit is some Vikings who went rather far north, and they came back and gave report on what they found. And they said “Up north, we found some people and the interesting thing about these people, is that when you stab them, initially, they don’t bleed. And then when you stab them some more, they bleed profusely.” Well, that was the first encounter of the Norse with the Intuit, which is not a great way of establishing good relations with people who are better masters of the environment than were the Norse. So, the Norse made some gross mistakes. They refused to eat fish, which is incredible...
LEVITT: These residents of Greenland were making enormous investments in looking like good Europeans. So, huge churches and following European fashions. And we’re talking about the 13th and 14th century, so it’s not like Europe was really having its finest moment either, but ultimately it seems like their undoing was that it was more important to them to have self-identity as Europeans than to thrive in an environment that was changing and inhospitable and eventually would lead to their doom.
DIAMOND: That’s exactly it. That their identity as Europeans led them to build a cathedral and to devote their limited trade with Norway. So, Greenland Vikings exported walrus tasks to Norway. They didn’t have that many walrus tusks. What are they going to get from Norway? Well, they get some wood, and they get some beer. But what they really get from Norway is bronze bells and stained-glass windows for their cathedrals. Well, what they should have gotten was metal so that they could have armor and spears to fight the Inuit, but no, their identity as Europeans was much more important to them. And in the United States today, I don’t need to name Americans whose identity depends upon doing particular things that are not very bright and are going to doom us, but it’s more important to keep doing these things and to remain blind to what it’s going to do to our society in the next 30 years... [In Greenland] Archaeologists have excavated a farm in what appears to be the last year of the settlement. We infer that the people ate their cattle and they ate their calves. So, they foreclosed the means of having calves next year. And then they eat their dogs. There are dog bones, but the dogs are what they use to go hunting. They are desperate. They’ve cut off the means of surviving into the future.
LEVITT: And yet they still didn’t need the fish...
DIAMOND: If you look around the world at where there is cannibalism, there’s not cannibalism in Africa. Why not? Because they are big game animals in Africa. The parts of the world where cannibalism is practiced, are areas by and large where there are not large game animals, where people are starved for protein. And that’s why it makes some sense to eat humans as the largest animal available."

Between Pleasure and Pain: A Pilot Study on the Biological Mechanisms Associated With BDSM Interactions in Dominants and Submissives - "Even though this is one of the first studies of its kind, we can conclude that there is a clear indication for increased pleasure in submissives when looking at biological effects of a BDSM interaction, which was related to the increases in experienced stress."

Is Singapore at risk of becoming a rentier society? - "The term rentier is used to refer to someone who lives off savings or inherited wealth, rather than through productive work. Every society has its share of rentier activity, with people and companies making money off investments... A couple of years ago, the Ministry of Trade and Industry presented a paper on the link between Reits and high rents. What it found was that rents were generally higher at Reit malls than single-owner malls and that rents had indeed risen faster at these malls. But the academics found that this was due to the characteristics of the mall - better location, for example - and the rise in rents was not per se caused by the Reit's acquisition. It would be foolhardy for a Reit to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. As the economy slows, rents will have to reflect the reality on the ground. A check showed that CapitaLand Mall Trust's (CMT's) rental reversion for the first nine months of last year was 1.3 per cent. CMT counts Junction 8, Bugis Junction and Tampines Mall among its portfolio properties. Rental reversion refers to the change in current rental rates compared with the rates inked previously. At 1.3 per cent, this means that rents increased by about 0.4 per cent per year for a typical three-year lease, a figure that hardly resembles a galloping increase. Reit managers would also resent the accusation that they just sit back and collect rents. With so many malls having sprung up, they have to invest to enhance the mall, to keep themselves in the game... The latest annual survey by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) found that 68 per cent of respondents cited operation costs (excluding labour costs) as the biggest challenge of operating in Singapore, while 66 per cent cited manpower issues and 55 per cent said it was business competition... Property looms large over the economy and Singapore psyche. Many investors have preferred to put their money in something tangible because they believe property can be a store of value. Investors have long memories of racking up losses when the stock markets tanked. So far, the property market has delivered on many occasions, for both individual investors and Singapore businesses. A person who bought a property in 1990 is undoubtedly sitting on a large gain, even though it may be smaller than at the market's peak."

Private Schools Are Indefensible - The Atlantic - "One post, by a man who graduated from Exeter in 1984, caught my attention. “I remember just minding my own business, a Black boy strolling through the gym on a Saturday afternoon. A gymnast was performing, and I could see her gracefully leap through the air, doing all kinds of motions I found very curious.” A white woman came up to him and told him to mind his own business. “She implied that I was not appreciating an athletic feat, but simply ogling at a young white girl."... In December, a document that 120 faculty and staff members had signed over the summer became public. It outlined a list of proposals: Half of all donations would have to be contributed to New York public schools if Dalton’s demographics did not match the city’s by 2025; the school would have to employ a total of 12 diversity officers (roughly one for every 100 students); all students would be required to take classes on Black liberation; and all adults at the school, including parent volunteers, would be required to complete annual anti-racist training. Tracked courses would have to be eliminated if Black students did not reach full parity by 2023... in science class there have been “racist cop” reenactments, art class has focused on “decentering whiteness,” and health class has examined white supremacy. “Love of learning and teaching is now being abandoned in favor of an ‘anti-racist curriculum,’ ” the parents wrote. “Every class this year has had an obsessive focus on race and identity.”"
Also headlined: "Private Schools Have Become Truly Obscene"
Classic liberal mistake - to assume that just because students at private schools have good outcomes, that it's the private schools causing those good outcomes, and the liberal impulse not to lift up the "oppressed" but to bring down the "powerful"
If the student were white and were staring at a gymnast, he'd be the villain

Meme - Corey A. DeAngelis @DeAngelisCorey: "teachers union misspelled "underpaid""
AFT Massachusetts @AFT Mass: "No amount of self-care articles or therapy sessions can replace being fairly paid for your labor. #FreedomToThrive"
"Therapy doesn't solve being overworked and underpayed"
"Antidepressants can't cure poverty"

Police investigate Singapore mookata shop over shirtless waiters - "The Mr Mookata shop on Liang Seah Street in Bugis had collaborated with Asia Farm Beverages to hire four handsome, muscular guys to serve drinks to customers on 8 January and 15 January... on the first evening of this promotion on Saturday, someone reported the restaurant to the police after apparently mistaking the hunky staff for naked exhibitionists. How this member of the public thought that the waiters were nude is a mystery, however, since they were each wearing an apron and jeans. Shirtless under the aprons, yes, but not full-on au naturel... The manager of Asia Farm Beverages told Shin Min that the purpose of the event was to promote the brand's healthy, low-sugar drinks. The hunks were featured in the promotion because they gave people a healthy feeling."

LAPD Officers Ignore Robbery in Progress to Catch Snorlax in Pokémon Go - "Two Los Angeles police officers were fired for ignoring a robbery in progress and instead trying to catch a Snorlax in Pokémon Go... Eventually, both admitted to going after the Snorlax because they wanted to “chase this mythical creature.” Anyways, both of the former officers were fired, appealed the decision by claiming that the LAPD violated their privacy by listening to their conversation, and lost their appeal... Both officers tried to get reinstated by referencing a 1975 case in which an employee named Dr. Skelly who regularly drank alcohol on the job and skipped shifts was reinstated, but the Los Angeles police department argued that playing Pokémon Go and lying about it was by far a worse infraction"

Meme - "Why are so many sex toys purple, is there some sort of science behind purple and horniness
someone commission me to investigate this"
REALTinkyWinky @WinkyReal: "Sex toys are purple because the manufacturers want people to associate them with me, Tinky-Winky, a living manifestation of pure lust."

No Nut November doesn't actually affect porn traffic

Sikh girl kidnapped in Pakistan, allegedly being converted to Islam; 55th case in 9 months: DSGMC - "A 17-year old Sikh girl was reportedly kidnapped and is being converted to Islam in Pakistan, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) said on Saturday. Pritam Singh, head granthi of historic Panja Sahib Gurdwara in Hassan Abdal city, has feared conversion of his daughter, Bulbaul Kaur, to Islam. The DSGMC, which has taken up the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said the girl has gone missing about 15 days ago. According to the committee, as many as 55 Sikh girls have been kidnapped and forcefully married in the last nine months in Pakistan. The incident took almost a year after the alleged abduction and conversion of Nankana Sahib Sikh girl Jagjit Kaur alias Ayesha Bibi in the neighboring country."

Why Dutch people don't mind you staring into their homes - "For many visitors to the Netherlands, one of the great discoveries when wandering through the streets of Amsterdam or other towns and cities is that you can often take a look inside people's homes when it gets dark. That's because many Dutch people never close their curtains or blinds. Often, people don't even have curtains or blinds... The most popular explanation stems from the Protestant religious tradition of Calvinism, which insists that honest citizens have nothing to hide... Anthropologists Hilje van der Horst and Jantine Messing researched the phenomenon in 2006 and observed that people in tight-knit neighborhoods were more likely to leave their curtain open -- and more likely to decorate their windows with statues, vases, and (fake) flowers. Another reason, of course, is the desire of residents to watch the world go by. It's fair to say that Dutch people typically like to look outside and see the lights, the hustle and bustle of the streets, and people walking by. The interaction between inside and outside helps foster the open culture for which the Dutch are well known."
But in Germany it's the reverse

Trappist Beer Needs Trappist Monks to Brew It, but the Vocation Is Dwindling - WSJ - " Brothers at the picturesque abbeys are aging, and fewer men are taking vows these days. But in order to be labeled an “Authentic Trappist Product”—which commands a price premium as well as historical cachet—real monks need to be involved. The situation got so bad at St. Benedict’s Abbey in Hamont-Achel, Belgium, that in January it relinquished the Authentic label for its Achel beers, known for their malty and fruity taste, because no monks remained to supervise production... Other modern business needs can be a challenge for the aging brothers. At St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Mass., the monks run sales and marketing for their Trappist beer, including Instagram and Facebook accounts. “To be candid, the monastic lifestyle doesn’t attract a lot of people who are skilled at that,” says Father Isaac Keeley, the 70-year-old chief executive of the brewery. The challenge facing the abbeys echoes the quandary for many craft brewers seeking to maintain authenticity against commercial temptations. Two decades ago, a group of abbeys formed the International Trappist Association to protect the Trappist designation from commercial brewers using monastic images to market beers. To win membership the beer must be brewed at a monastery; the business supervised by monks; and the profits used for the needs of the abbey or charity."

Coffee Machine Hit By Ransomware Attack—Yes, You Read That Right

Bro, don't like that la, bro FAN PAGE | A friend went to a coffee shop to order some drink | Facebook - "A friend went to a coffee shop to order some drink. He saw some pretty barista and straight ask for her number. Didn't know that she is a "he" till he pull off the mask and said "betul nak ke, abg?""

Microsoft Has Announced We Can Finally Remove USBs Without Ejecting Them - "After years of chastising us for failing to safely eject USB drives from computers, Microsoft has done the unthinkable: finally acknowledging it's okay to yank that sucker out and live your best life. Ever since USB drives became a thing, the Windows maker has warned and admonished computer users for not safely removing external hardware like USB sticks and external hard drives by ejecting the media before you pull them out. This protocol has existed for years, and for good reason. In previous versions of Windows, and even in Windows 10, failing to eject USBs (and other external devices, like flash cards) before taking them out could run the risk of significant file problems, especially if data was being written to the drive at the time of removal. Thankfully, a new update to Windows 10 does away with this painstaking, time-sapping procedure – a commonplace hindrance that over time has become fodder for countless memes... This has been a very long time coming. Despite the change, though, you probably don't want to tempt fate (or interrupt file transfers) by pulling USB devices out when you know data is actively being copied. But if it's just sitting there, you've now got the green light."

damien on Twitter - "hookup culture actually helps a lot of people clean their bedrooms"

Meme - John Collins @Logically_JC: "I like to start my day with a workout, coffee, and telling Republicans to fuck off."
John Collins @Logically_JC: "Can Republicans stop dividing us and act like Americans for five minutes? Seriously, we need it."

ava on Twitter - "just tried to order a pizza with a vegan, a vegetarian, someone who hates mushrooms, someone who loves meat, and someone operating on 3 hours of sleep (me). it was the hardest, most emotionally taxing experience of my life. took over an hour. not sure if we’re friends anymore"

Geologist Finds Rare Formation Inside Rock That Looks Exactly Like The Cookie Monster

Meme - "Russians can no longer pay for Netflix and Spotify with their bank cards, they also can no longer use Apple pay or Google pay. Before we get rid of cash and go fully down this path, it's worth thinking both about the fragility of the system, and who can turn it off and on."

UK judge orders rightwing extremist to read classic literature or face prison - "A former student who downloaded almost 70,000 white supremacist documents and bomb-making instructions has avoided a prison sentence “by the skin of his teeth” after being told to read classic literature by Dickens, Austen, Shakespeare and Hardy. Ben John, 21, from Lincoln, a former student at De Montfort University in Leicester, has to return to court every four months to be tested on his reading, Judge Timothy Spencer QC said"

Exclusive: Government Secretly Orders Google To Identify Anyone Who Searched A Sexual Assault Victim’s Name, Address Or Telephone Number - "In 2019, federal investigators in Wisconsin were hunting men they believed had participated in the trafficking and sexual abuse of a minor. She had gone missing that year but had emerged claiming to have been kidnapped and sexually assaulted, according to a search warrant reviewed by Forbes. In an attempt to chase down the perpetrators, investigators turned to Google, asking the tech giant to provide information on anyone who had searched for the victim’s name, two spellings of her mother’s name or her address over 16 days across the year. After being asked to provide all relevant Google accounts and IP addresses of those who made the searches, Google responded with data in mid-2020, though the court documents do not reveal how many users had their data sent to the government. It’s a rare example of a so-called keyword warrant and, with the number of search terms included, the broadest on record... privacy experts are concerned about the precedent set by such warrants and the potential for any such order to be a breach of Fourth Amendment protections from unreasonable searches. There are also concerns about First Amendment freedom of speech issues, given the potential to cause anxiety amongst Google users that their identities could be handed to the government because of what they searched for... The Wisconsin case was supposed to have remained secret, too. The warrant only came to light because it was accidentally unsealed by the Justice Department"
Sexual abuse of a minor makes most people go insane and abandon all logic, so this is not going to get the pushback it should

FUCK THE CERTAIN PRICE OF GOODS : engrish

Man propositioned 11-year-old girl for sex, was stopped by supermarket employee

'No maids, please': Why the problem goes beyond just country clubs - "several other clubs have the same "no-maids" policy. When asked, a long-time Tanglin Club member said: "I know it sounds snobbish, but coming here is my way of being away from the marketplace, and we pay a premium for that." A club membership broker said such policies signalled to members that they should interact with their own children while at the club, and not rely on helpers... Many here refer to foreign domestic helpers as "maids", thus defining them by their position of servitude."
Apparently there is no difference between a guest and an employee
Does referring to a teacher as a "teacher" define him by his profession?

4 Reasons Singaporeans are So Reliant on Their Maids - "Many lack the necessary skills to cook for themselves...
Long hours at work...
Inadequate eldercare options...
Maids are cheaper than other paid options...
The cost of hiring an Indonesian helper starts from just $500 a month. By contrast, if you were to outsource all the tasks your maid could do for you, you would be spending on the following:
Childcare
Weekly cleaning
Senior daycare, live-in nurse or nursing home
Eating out"

Man deemed too old to be dangerous convicted of murder, again - "A man who served decades in prison for stabbing his wife 14 times in front of her daughter was convicted Wednesday in a nearly identical crime — stabbing a woman at least 11 times while her twin children watched. Albert Flick, 77, whom a judge previously deemed too old to be a threat, was convicted in the 2018 death of Kimberly Dobbie... Flick has a long history of violence against women. In 1979, he was sentenced to prison and served 25 years for stabbing his then-wife. more than a dozen times in front of her daughter. In 2010, he was sentenced again for assaulting another woman. The judge at the time ignored the recommendation of the prosecutor for a longer sentence, saying Flick would not be a threat because of his age and it didn't make sense to keep him incarcerated. He was released and moved to Lewiston in 2014."

Pablo Escobar's 'cocaine hippos' are legally people, U.S. court rules | Toronto Sun - "The Animal Legal Defense Fund, which sought the interested persons designation for the “cocaine hippos,” called the ruling by a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio a “critical milestone” in its larger effort to have the American legal system recognize “enforceable rights” to which animals are entitled. Escobar smuggled several hippos onto his estate in the 1980s, but their wild spawn now roam the wetlands north of Bogotá, the largest invasive species on the planet. Colombia had considered culling them, but Luis Domingo Gómez Maldonado, an animal rights lawyer, filed a lawsuit in that country in July 2020 seeking to prevent their killings. Colombian authorities have since said they will instead sterilize the herd with a chemical contraceptive called GonaCon that was developed by the U.S. Agriculture Department. The United States has donated dozens of doses of the chemical, currently used to sterilize animals such as horses and deer, to Colombia... In 2018, a Colombia court also granted legal personhood status to part of the Amazon rainforest in a landmark decision that urged the government to put an end to the region’s deforestation crisis."
So humans can be sterilised against their will?

Gwyneth Paltrow stunned by kids' graphic sex education at school | Toronto Sun
She's the newest member of the "far right"

Murray Rothbard quote - "The State is, and always has been, the great single enemy of the human race, its liberty, happiness, and progress."
Many Americans take hating the government to be an article of religious faith
American conservatives hate their government. American liberals hate their country

RASNA WARAH - Is Balkanisation the Solution to Somalia’s Governance Woes? - "the president in present-day Somalia is merely a figurehead; he does not wield real power. The government in Mogadishu has had little control over the rest of the country, where clan-based fiefdoms and federal states do pretty much what they want, with little reference go Mogadishu. National security is largely in the hands of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces, not the Somalia National Army. The concept of a state that delivers services to citizens has also remained a mirage for most Somalis who are governed either by customary law known as xeer or the Sharia... In much of Somalia, services, such as health and education, are largely provided by foreign faith-based foundations, non-governmental organisations or the private sector, not the state. Many hospitals and schools are funded by foreign (mostly Arab) governments or religious institutions. This means that the state remains largely absent in people’s lives. And because NGOs and foundations can only do so much, much of the country remains unserviced, with the result that Somalia continues to remain one of the most underdeveloped countries in the world, with high levels of illiteracy (estimates indicate that the literacy rate is as low as 20 per cent). State institutions, such as the Central Bank and revenue collection authorities, are also either non-existent or dysfunctional."
The American anarchist who posted the Rothbard quote, when I suggested he move to Somalia since he claimed the state was always the problem, claimed that Somalia had a state and that the US didn't bomb stateless places

Jake Thomas on Twitter - "My Uncle (a retired fisherman) volunteered to build his first Grandson’s crib. ...There were mixed reactions. *Giant shark eating fishing boat with baby in it*

Meme - "Becca and Spencer
Brigham Young University-Idaho
NOT INTERESTED IN DATING. We're a married couple looking to see if anyone wants to come to church with us! We figure if you're on tinder, you might need a little extra Jesus in your life :P this is a real offer come with us!!"

S.H.A.M.E. Project › Shame the Hacks who Abuse Media Ethics...
This website is just a hit job on people the left hates. Their allegations are ridiculous

Daily Mail sues Google for monopoly over ad business - "Google faces similar allegations in a lawsuit filed by Texas and a group of other states in December. That lawsuit is one of a series filed against Google and Facebook Inc late last year."

Experience: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years - "I’ve had the same supper for 10 years, even on Christmas Day: two pieces of fish, one big onion, an egg, baked beans and a few biscuits at the end. For lunch I have a pear, an orange and four sandwiches with paste. But I allow myself a bit more variety; I’ll sometimes have soup if it’s cold. When I go to the supermarket, I know exactly what I want. I’m not interested in other food. I’ve never had Chinese, Indian, French food. Why change? I’ve already found the food I love. It would be a job to alter me. My uncle, a bachelor and farmer like me, had the same food for every meal. He had bread, butter, cheese and tea for breakfast, lunch and dinner (although he would bring out the jam for visitors). Whether it’s Easter Day or Christmas Day, being a farmer means every day is the same. The animals still need to be fed. Feeding the sheep and seeing how happy they are makes me happy, too. They never ask for anything different for supper."

The Effect of State Marijuana Legalizations: 2021 Update - "Limited post‐legalization data prevent us from ruling out that marijuana legalization causes small changes in marijuana use or other outcomes. As additional data become available, expanding this analysis will continue to inform debates surrounding marijuana reform. The data so far, however, provide little support for the strong claims about legalization made by either opponents or supporters; the notable exception is tax revenue, which has exceeded some expectations. The absence of significant adverse consequences is especially striking given the sometimes‐dire predictions made by legalization opponents."

Andrew Yang Is Not Giving Up on Politics — or the U.S. — Yet - Freakonomics - "LEVITT: So, Dubner and I did a bunch of media in the U.S., and then we did a tour of the U.K. And what was so different about T.V. is you’d go to the U.K. and instead of super fancy sets and really good-looking people interviewing you, there’d just be, like, crummy sets and there’d be shadows everywhere. And we’d be in the middle of an interview and the person talking to us would say, “Wait a second. This is just a bunch of rubbish. You guys don’t even make sense. Why would I believe this at all?” And it was interesting that the person who was interviewing us was actually thinking and disagreeing with us and challenging us, not in a sort of, “Oh, I’m a journalist, I have to challenge you,” but in a very heartfelt way, like, “Wait, this sounds really dumb to me. Why would you say something so dumb?” I loved doing British T.V. because it felt like there was actually some chance that you were communicating with real people about real things".

Jared Diamond on the Downfall of Civilizations — and His Optimism for Ours - Freakonomics - "DIAMOND: The Vikings from Scandinavia began to spread out say from about the 700, 800s onwards. Eventually, they discovered Greenland. The idea today of settling in Greenland, covered with ice — who on earth would want to settle Greenland? But in fact, Greenland has some fjords that are well protected from sea storms. And particularly when the Vikings arrived around AD 1000, these valleys were great for growing hay, for developing the Norse lifestyle based on herding animals — on cows and sheep and making cheese. So, the Norse had a good lifestyle for several centuries, until it gradually got colder. And as it got colder, there was less hay, but also into Greenland came the Inuit, who were masters of living in frozen environments. You would have thought that the Vikings, when they came across the Inuit would have gone to some effort to make friendly relations with the Inuit, who were there in numbers and had these great boats and had sled dogs. In fact, the first account that we’ve got of the Vikings encountering the Inuit is some Vikings who went rather far north, and they came back and gave report on what they found. And they said “Up north, we found some people and the interesting thing about these people, is that when you stab them, initially, they don’t bleed. And then when you stab them some more, they bleed profusely.” Well, that was the first encounter of the Norse with the Intuit, which is not a great way of establishing good relations with people who are better masters of the environment than were the Norse. So, the Norse made some gross mistakes. They refused to eat fish, which is incredible...
LEVITT: These residents of Greenland were making enormous investments in looking like good Europeans. So, huge churches and following European fashions. And we’re talking about the 13th and 14th century, so it’s not like Europe was really having its finest moment either, but ultimately it seems like their undoing was that it was more important to them to have self-identity as Europeans than to thrive in an environment that was changing and inhospitable and eventually would lead to their doom.
DIAMOND: That’s exactly it. That their identity as Europeans led them to build a cathedral and to devote their limited trade with Norway. So, Greenland Vikings exported walrus tasks to Norway. They didn’t have that many walrus tusks. What are they going to get from Norway? Well, they get some wood, and they get some beer. But what they really get from Norway is bronze bells and stained-glass windows for their cathedrals. Well, what they should have gotten was metal so that they could have armor and spears to fight the Inuit, but no, their identity as Europeans was much more important to them. And in the United States today, I don’t need to name Americans whose identity depends upon doing particular things that are not very bright and are going to doom us, but it’s more important to keep doing these things and to remain blind to what it’s going to do to our society in the next 30 years... [In Greenland] Archaeologists have excavated a farm in what appears to be the last year of the settlement. We infer that the people ate their cattle and they ate their calves. So, they foreclosed the means of having calves next year. And then they eat their dogs. There are dog bones, but the dogs are what they use to go hunting. They are desperate. They’ve cut off the means of surviving into the future.
LEVITT: And yet they still didn’t need the fish...
DIAMOND: If you look around the world at where there is cannibalism, there’s not cannibalism in Africa. Why not? Because they are big game animals in Africa. The parts of the world where cannibalism is practiced, are areas by and large where there are not large game animals, where people are starved for protein. And that’s why it makes some sense to eat humans as the largest animal available."

Between Pleasure and Pain: A Pilot Study on the Biological Mechanisms Associated With BDSM Interactions in Dominants and Submissives - "Even though this is one of the first studies of its kind, we can conclude that there is a clear indication for increased pleasure in submissives when looking at biological effects of a BDSM interaction, which was related to the increases in experienced stress."

Is Singapore at risk of becoming a rentier society? - "The term rentier is used to refer to someone who lives off savings or inherited wealth, rather than through productive work. Every society has its share of rentier activity, with people and companies making money off investments... A couple of years ago, the Ministry of Trade and Industry presented a paper on the link between Reits and high rents. What it found was that rents were generally higher at Reit malls than single-owner malls and that rents had indeed risen faster at these malls. But the academics found that this was due to the characteristics of the mall - better location, for example - and the rise in rents was not per se caused by the Reit's acquisition. It would be foolhardy for a Reit to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. As the economy slows, rents will have to reflect the reality on the ground. A check showed that CapitaLand Mall Trust's (CMT's) rental reversion for the first nine months of last year was 1.3 per cent. CMT counts Junction 8, Bugis Junction and Tampines Mall among its portfolio properties. Rental reversion refers to the change in current rental rates compared with the rates inked previously. At 1.3 per cent, this means that rents increased by about 0.4 per cent per year for a typical three-year lease, a figure that hardly resembles a galloping increase. Reit managers would also resent the accusation that they just sit back and collect rents. With so many malls having sprung up, they have to invest to enhance the mall, to keep themselves in the game... The latest annual survey by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) found that 68 per cent of respondents cited operation costs (excluding labour costs) as the biggest challenge of operating in Singapore, while 66 per cent cited manpower issues and 55 per cent said it was business competition... Property looms large over the economy and Singapore psyche. Many investors have preferred to put their money in something tangible because they believe property can be a store of value. Investors have long memories of racking up losses when the stock markets tanked. So far, the property market has delivered on many occasions, for both individual investors and Singapore businesses. A person who bought a property in 1990 is undoubtedly sitting on a large gain, even though it may be smaller than at the market's peak."

Private Schools Are Indefensible - The Atlantic - "One post, by a man who graduated from Exeter in 1984, caught my attention. “I remember just minding my own business, a Black boy strolling through the gym on a Saturday afternoon. A gymnast was performing, and I could see her gracefully leap through the air, doing all kinds of motions I found very curious.” A white woman came up to him and told him to mind his own business. “She implied that I was not appreciating an athletic feat, but simply ogling at a young white girl."... In December, a document that 120 faculty and staff members had signed over the summer became public. It outlined a list of proposals: Half of all donations would have to be contributed to New York public schools if Dalton’s demographics did not match the city’s by 2025; the school would have to employ a total of 12 diversity officers (roughly one for every 100 students); all students would be required to take classes on Black liberation; and all adults at the school, including parent volunteers, would be required to complete annual anti-racist training. Tracked courses would have to be eliminated if Black students did not reach full parity by 2023... in science class there have been “racist cop” reenactments, art class has focused on “decentering whiteness,” and health class has examined white supremacy. “Love of learning and teaching is now being abandoned in favor of an ‘anti-racist curriculum,’ ” the parents wrote. “Every class this year has had an obsessive focus on race and identity.”"
Also headlined: "Private Schools Have Become Truly Obscene"
Classic liberal mistake - to assume that just because students at private schools have good outcomes, that it's the private schools causing those good outcomes, and the liberal impulse not to lift up the "oppressed" but to bring down the "powerful"
If the student were white and were staring at a gymnast, he'd be the villain

Meme - Corey A. DeAngelis @DeAngelisCorey: "teachers union misspelled "underpaid""
AFT Massachusetts @AFT Mass: "No amount of self-care articles or therapy sessions can replace being fairly paid for your labor. #FreedomToThrive"
"Therapy doesn't solve being overworked and underpayed"
"Antidepressants can't cure poverty"

Police investigate Singapore mookata shop over shirtless waiters - "The Mr Mookata shop on Liang Seah Street in Bugis had collaborated with Asia Farm Beverages to hire four handsome, muscular guys to serve drinks to customers on 8 January and 15 January... on the first evening of this promotion on Saturday, someone reported the restaurant to the police after apparently mistaking the hunky staff for naked exhibitionists. How this member of the public thought that the waiters were nude is a mystery, however, since they were each wearing an apron and jeans. Shirtless under the aprons, yes, but not full-on au naturel... The manager of Asia Farm Beverages told Shin Min that the purpose of the event was to promote the brand's healthy, low-sugar drinks. The hunks were featured in the promotion because they gave people a healthy feeling."

LAPD Officers Ignore Robbery in Progress to Catch Snorlax in Pokémon Go - "Two Los Angeles police officers were fired for ignoring a robbery in progress and instead trying to catch a Snorlax in Pokémon Go... Eventually, both admitted to going after the Snorlax because they wanted to “chase this mythical creature.” Anyways, both of the former officers were fired, appealed the decision by claiming that the LAPD violated their privacy by listening to their conversation, and lost their appeal... Both officers tried to get reinstated by referencing a 1975 case in which an employee named Dr. Skelly who regularly drank alcohol on the job and skipped shifts was reinstated, but the Los Angeles police department argued that playing Pokémon Go and lying about it was by far a worse infraction"

Meme - "Why are so many sex toys purple, is there some sort of science behind purple and horniness
someone commission me to investigate this"
REALTinkyWinky @WinkyReal: "Sex toys are purple because the manufacturers want people to associate them with me, Tinky-Winky, a living manifestation of pure lust."

No Nut November doesn't actually affect porn traffic

Sikh girl kidnapped in Pakistan, allegedly being converted to Islam; 55th case in 9 months: DSGMC - "A 17-year old Sikh girl was reportedly kidnapped and is being converted to Islam in Pakistan, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) said on Saturday. Pritam Singh, head granthi of historic Panja Sahib Gurdwara in Hassan Abdal city, has feared conversion of his daughter, Bulbaul Kaur, to Islam. The DSGMC, which has taken up the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said the girl has gone missing about 15 days ago. According to the committee, as many as 55 Sikh girls have been kidnapped and forcefully married in the last nine months in Pakistan. The incident took almost a year after the alleged abduction and conversion of Nankana Sahib Sikh girl Jagjit Kaur alias Ayesha Bibi in the neighboring country."

Why Dutch people don't mind you staring into their homes - "For many visitors to the Netherlands, one of the great discoveries when wandering through the streets of Amsterdam or other towns and cities is that you can often take a look inside people's homes when it gets dark. That's because many Dutch people never close their curtains or blinds. Often, people don't even have curtains or blinds... The most popular explanation stems from the Protestant religious tradition of Calvinism, which insists that honest citizens have nothing to hide... Anthropologists Hilje van der Horst and Jantine Messing researched the phenomenon in 2006 and observed that people in tight-knit neighborhoods were more likely to leave their curtain open -- and more likely to decorate their windows with statues, vases, and (fake) flowers. Another reason, of course, is the desire of residents to watch the world go by. It's fair to say that Dutch people typically like to look outside and see the lights, the hustle and bustle of the streets, and people walking by. The interaction between inside and outside helps foster the open culture for which the Dutch are well known."
But in Germany it's the reverse

Trappist Beer Needs Trappist Monks to Brew It, but the Vocation Is Dwindling - WSJ - " Brothers at the picturesque abbeys are aging, and fewer men are taking vows these days. But in order to be labeled an “Authentic Trappist Product”—which commands a price premium as well as historical cachet—real monks need to be involved. The situation got so bad at St. Benedict’s Abbey in Hamont-Achel, Belgium, that in January it relinquished the Authentic label for its Achel beers, known for their malty and fruity taste, because no monks remained to supervise production... Other modern business needs can be a challenge for the aging brothers. At St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Mass., the monks run sales and marketing for their Trappist beer, including Instagram and Facebook accounts. “To be candid, the monastic lifestyle doesn’t attract a lot of people who are skilled at that,” says Father Isaac Keeley, the 70-year-old chief executive of the brewery. The challenge facing the abbeys echoes the quandary for many craft brewers seeking to maintain authenticity against commercial temptations. Two decades ago, a group of abbeys formed the International Trappist Association to protect the Trappist designation from commercial brewers using monastic images to market beers. To win membership the beer must be brewed at a monastery; the business supervised by monks; and the profits used for the needs of the abbey or charity."

Coffee Machine Hit By Ransomware Attack—Yes, You Read That Right

Bro, don't like that la, bro FAN PAGE | A friend went to a coffee shop to order some drink | Facebook - "A friend went to a coffee shop to order some drink. He saw some pretty barista and straight ask for her number. Didn't know that she is a "he" till he pull off the mask and said "betul nak ke, abg?""

Microsoft Has Announced We Can Finally Remove USBs Without Ejecting Them - "After years of chastising us for failing to safely eject USB drives from computers, Microsoft has done the unthinkable: finally acknowledging it's okay to yank that sucker out and live your best life. Ever since USB drives became a thing, the Windows maker has warned and admonished computer users for not safely removing external hardware like USB sticks and external hard drives by ejecting the media before you pull them out. This protocol has existed for years, and for good reason. In previous versions of Windows, and even in Windows 10, failing to eject USBs (and other external devices, like flash cards) before taking them out could run the risk of significant file problems, especially if data was being written to the drive at the time of removal. Thankfully, a new update to Windows 10 does away with this painstaking, time-sapping procedure – a commonplace hindrance that over time has become fodder for countless memes... This has been a very long time coming. Despite the change, though, you probably don't want to tempt fate (or interrupt file transfers) by pulling USB devices out when you know data is actively being copied. But if it's just sitting there, you've now got the green light."

damien on Twitter - "hookup culture actually helps a lot of people clean their bedrooms"

Meme - John Collins @Logically_JC: "I like to start my day with a workout, coffee, and telling Republicans to fuck off."
John Collins @Logically_JC: "Can Republicans stop dividing us and act like Americans for five minutes? Seriously, we need it."

ava on Twitter - "just tried to order a pizza with a vegan, a vegetarian, someone who hates mushrooms, someone who loves meat, and someone operating on 3 hours of sleep (me). it was the hardest, most emotionally taxing experience of my life. took over an hour. not sure if we’re friends anymore"

Geologist Finds Rare Formation Inside Rock That Looks Exactly Like The Cookie Monster

Meme - "Russians can no longer pay for Netflix and Spotify with their bank cards, they also can no longer use Apple pay or Google pay. Before we get rid of cash and go fully down this path, it's worth thinking both about the fragility of the system, and who can turn it off and on."

UK judge orders rightwing extremist to read classic literature or face prison - "A former student who downloaded almost 70,000 white supremacist documents and bomb-making instructions has avoided a prison sentence “by the skin of his teeth” after being told to read classic literature by Dickens, Austen, Shakespeare and Hardy. Ben John, 21, from Lincoln, a former student at De Montfort University in Leicester, has to return to court every four months to be tested on his reading, Judge Timothy Spencer QC said"

Exclusive: Government Secretly Orders Google To Identify Anyone Who Searched A Sexual Assault Victim’s Name, Address Or Telephone Number - "In 2019, federal investigators in Wisconsin were hunting men they believed had participated in the trafficking and sexual abuse of a minor. She had gone missing that year but had emerged claiming to have been kidnapped and sexually assaulted, according to a search warrant reviewed by Forbes. In an attempt to chase down the perpetrators, investigators turned to Google, asking the tech giant to provide information on anyone who had searched for the victim’s name, two spellings of her mother’s name or her address over 16 days across the year. After being asked to provide all relevant Google accounts and IP addresses of those who made the searches, Google responded with data in mid-2020, though the court documents do not reveal how many users had their data sent to the government. It’s a rare example of a so-called keyword warrant and, with the number of search terms included, the broadest on record... privacy experts are concerned about the precedent set by such warrants and the potential for any such order to be a breach of Fourth Amendment protections from unreasonable searches. There are also concerns about First Amendment freedom of speech issues, given the potential to cause anxiety amongst Google users that their identities could be handed to the government because of what they searched for... The Wisconsin case was supposed to have remained secret, too. The warrant only came to light because it was accidentally unsealed by the Justice Department"
Sexual abuse of a minor makes most people go insane and abandon all logic, so this is not going to get the pushback it should

FUCK THE CERTAIN PRICE OF GOODS : engrish

Man propositioned 11-year-old girl for sex, was stopped by supermarket employee

'No maids, please': Why the problem goes beyond just country clubs - "several other clubs have the same "no-maids" policy. When asked, a long-time Tanglin Club member said: "I know it sounds snobbish, but coming here is my way of being away from the marketplace, and we pay a premium for that." A club membership broker said such policies signalled to members that they should interact with their own children while at the club, and not rely on helpers... Many here refer to foreign domestic helpers as "maids", thus defining them by their position of servitude."
Apparently there is no difference between a guest and an employee
Does referring to a teacher as a "teacher" define him by his profession?

4 Reasons Singaporeans are So Reliant on Their Maids - "Many lack the necessary skills to cook for themselves...
Long hours at work...
Inadequate eldercare options...
Maids are cheaper than other paid options...
The cost of hiring an Indonesian helper starts from just $500 a month. By contrast, if you were to outsource all the tasks your maid could do for you, you would be spending on the following:
Childcare
Weekly cleaning
Senior daycare, live-in nurse or nursing home
Eating out"

Man deemed too old to be dangerous convicted of murder, again - "A man who served decades in prison for stabbing his wife 14 times in front of her daughter was convicted Wednesday in a nearly identical crime — stabbing a woman at least 11 times while her twin children watched. Albert Flick, 77, whom a judge previously deemed too old to be a threat, was convicted in the 2018 death of Kimberly Dobbie... Flick has a long history of violence against women. In 1979, he was sentenced to prison and served 25 years for stabbing his then-wife. more than a dozen times in front of her daughter. In 2010, he was sentenced again for assaulting another woman. The judge at the time ignored the recommendation of the prosecutor for a longer sentence, saying Flick would not be a threat because of his age and it didn't make sense to keep him incarcerated. He was released and moved to Lewiston in 2014."

Pablo Escobar's 'cocaine hippos' are legally people, U.S. court rules | Toronto Sun - "The Animal Legal Defense Fund, which sought the interested persons designation for the “cocaine hippos,” called the ruling by a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio a “critical milestone” in its larger effort to have the American legal system recognize “enforceable rights” to which animals are entitled. Escobar smuggled several hippos onto his estate in the 1980s, but their wild spawn now roam the wetlands north of Bogotá, the largest invasive species on the planet. Colombia had considered culling them, but Luis Domingo Gómez Maldonado, an animal rights lawyer, filed a lawsuit in that country in July 2020 seeking to prevent their killings. Colombian authorities have since said they will instead sterilize the herd with a chemical contraceptive called GonaCon that was developed by the U.S. Agriculture Department. The United States has donated dozens of doses of the chemical, currently used to sterilize animals such as horses and deer, to Colombia... In 2018, a Colombia court also granted legal personhood status to part of the Amazon rainforest in a landmark decision that urged the government to put an end to the region’s deforestation crisis."
So humans can be sterilised against their will?

Gwyneth Paltrow stunned by kids' graphic sex education at school | Toronto Sun
She's the newest member of the "far right"

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