When you can't live without bananas

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Monday, September 09, 2024

Links - 9th September 2024 (1)

Organizational Effects of Gonadal Hormones on Human Sexual Orientation - "We find converging evidence that prenatal gonadal hormones influence the development of human sexual orientation and orchestrate its sexual differentiation primarily by regulating patterns of gene expression in the developing brain. Evidence is particularly strong that androgens increase sexual attraction to females. In our meta-analysis, PCOS was more common in non-heterosexual females (r = 0.18, p < 0.001). Some evidence also indicates that estrogens increase sexual attraction to males. We discuss why data may be less clear regarding variation in sexual orientation among males, including the possible existence of subgroups characterized by distinct biological pathways that contribute to same-sex sexual orientation. Moving forward, we propose that multiple measures and/or markers be considered together to better characterize early hormonal action on human sexual orientation."

Trunk (car) - Wikipedia - "Early designs had an exterior rack on the rear of the vehicle to attach a luggage trunk."

Steve Stewart-Williams on X - “Tough math teachers get lower ratings from students, because students like them less. However, students get better grades with the tough teachers than with laxer teachers. Reason #167 why student evaluations of teaching aren’t particularly useful.”
TracingWoodgrains on X - "the truism in education: what you like doesn't work, and what works, you won't like education policy is so thorny in large part because our instincts cry out against effective approaches"

Bobby Goodlatte on X - "My politics: I’m basically a Bill Clinton era Democrat, circa 1999. Which, by todays standards, places me on the “right”. Balanced budget, strong borders, skill-based immigration, pro-technology, socially liberal, unapologetically capitalist. I’ve stood still, you sprinted left"

Eremina desertorum - Wikipedia - "A specimen from Egypt thought to be dead was glued to an index card at the British Museum in March 1846. However, in March 1850, it was found to be alive...   It was later shown that the species could survive in suspended animation without food or water for even longer. As part of an experiment, 40 snails were put into a tin box in 1904. Approximately 8 years later, in 1912, 10 of them were found to be still alive"

Meme - john roderick @johnroderick: "Every time I use a word like "gay" or "retarded" some gay retard reminds me those words are hurtful."

The myth of collective wisdom | The Spectator - "when people have to make a decision in a collective setting, their first instinct may not be to choose well, but to avoid blame. It is dangerous to assume that the more people who are involved in a decision, the better the outcome will be. This is true only under certain conditions, when the process of decision-making is very well designed, otherwise a kind of collective insanity can arise...   I once asked my daughter why she always ordered pizzas for her friends from Domino’s even though other options were available. ‘Because if they don’t like their Domino’s pizza, they blame Domino’s. If they don’t like their Papa Johns pizza, they blame me for not choosing Domino’s.’ A trivial anecdote perhaps, except that, at scale, such ‘accountability sinks’ explains the outsize popularity of the big four consulting firms, the Horizon scandal, the overweening influence of HR, procurement and finance departments, the appalling decline in customer service and much more besides.   It is extraordinary how little is written about this. Other than the German psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer, who coined the phrase ‘defensive decision-making’, I knew of very little thought given to the problem.  Thankfully there is now a wonderful book which covers this topic. Dan Davies’s The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions – and How The World Lost its Mind is all the more fascinating as it tackles very contemporary problems by reviving the discipline of cybernetics and the work of Stafford Beer, with passing discursions involving squirrels, Brian Eno, Milton Friedman and a well-deserved kicking delivered to the discipline of modern economics."

eigenrobot on X - "Ruling is hard. This was maybe my answer to Tolkien, whom, as much as I admire him, I do quibble with. Lord of the Rings had a very medieval philosophy: that if the king was a good man, the land would prosper. We look at real history and it’s not that simple. Tolkien can say that Aragorn became king and reigned for a hundred years, and he was wise and good. But Tolkien doesn’t ask the question: What was Aragorn’s tax policy? Did he maintain a standing army? What did he do in times of flood and famine? And what about all these orcs? By the end of the war, Sauron is gone but all of the orcs aren’t gone – they’re in the mountains. Did Aragorn pursue a policy of systematic genocide and kill them? Even the little baby orcs, in their little orc cradles?"
"people will really be like "you invented entire languages for your fantasy world? that pales in effectiveness to my strategy, writing an epic story about medieval tax policy" and then not finish their epic story about medieval tax policy"

Daniel on X - "Whenever we do a prisoner exchange with Russia we get back our WNBA star and our NYT fashion correspondent and Russia gets back Vladmir Rapisti, convicted in 2010 of selling nuclear bombs to Rwanda so they can blow up orphans"

max seddon on X - "The children of Anna and Artem Dultsev, the Russian deep cover spies returned home as part of the prisoner exchange, didn’t know they were Russian until their plane took off for Moscow for the swap, the Kremlin says. They don’t speak Russian, so Putin greeted them in Spanish."

Luke Thompson on X - "Tammy Baldwin spends her weekends in Manhattan with her partner, Maria Brisbane. Brisbane is a private wealth advisor to the ultra-rich. She routinely invests her clients’ money in industries that Baldwin regulates. Because they aren’t legally married, this goes undisclosed."

Wide Awake Media on X - "Club of Rome co-president: In order "to reach as many [UN Agenda 2030] Sustainable Development Goals" as possible, a "Giant Leap" is necessary, which—among other things—includes "transforming the food system" and "transitioning to clean energy".   "We see a switch to healthier, plant-based diets... We half carbon dioxide emissions every decade to reach Net Zero by 2050. The economic model everywhere is circular... Material consumption of unsustainable resources is reined in, fossil energy phased out, and we see a significant redistribution of wealth... We introduce a universal basic dividend, operating like a universal basic income."  "We know the Giant Leap will be disruptive—we're talking about a complete shake-up... It will create shocks."  It kind of echoes Mao Zedong's 'Great Leap Forward'—which killed up to 55 million people, in arguably the worst famine in human history—doesn't it? 🙄  H/t: @TimHinchliffe"

Thread by @jarvis_best on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "Keith Olbermann has called for Elon’s arrest so I thought I would do a thread of my favorite times Keith has demanded someone be arrested along with why he wants them locked up.
Elon Musk: Donating to a PAC that gathers voter info.
Ron DeSantis: Flying migrants to Martha’s Vineyard
“Select Supreme Court Justices”: He didn’t like one of their rulings
Rep MTG: Talking about border security
Tom Wilson: Fighting in hockey
Rep. Gosar: Endorsing Trump
Donald Trump: Making terrorist threats
Ted Cruz: asking for an audit
Rep Heather Scott: posting on Twitter a picture someone sent her
Chief Justice John Roberts: arrest needed if he doesn’t respond to a subpoena from Dick Durbin
Jared Kushner: Espionage
Donald Trump Jr: treason.
Ending it with my overall favorite Keith moment that doesn’t involve him demanding an arrest: the time he tried to dunk on someone but ended up saying he pisses on his own face."

Marko Jukic on X - "One of my European friends told me TikTok has the best content of any social media platform because it's the only one without 1+ billion Indians affecting the algorithm (India banned TikTok because they hate China) and now I can't stop thinking about that anytime I scroll."

Malaysian hawker under fire for selling claypot chicken rice cooked with rice wine, no halal cert - "A Malay-owned claypot chicken rice stall in Malaysia that went viral on social media for its owners’ proficiency in the Cantonese dialect has come under fire from some local diners after Islamic officials declared the stall had been operating without halal certification.  Aman’s Food Stall – located at Restoran Ahmad Muzakin in Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur – offered a pork-free version of the dish, which has origins in China and is also popular among Chinese communities in Malaysia and Singapore.  Both Muslims and non-Muslims were served the dish, which was featured on some popular food blogs and received a positive review from online news site Malay Mail.  The food stall faced trouble after a video was circulated online showing the stall owner known as Aman dousing a portion of the dish with rice wine, which contains alcohol that Muslims are prohibited from consuming. The rice wine would make the claypot dish forbidden as well. In response to “unrest among Muslim patrons” of the stall, the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) said on Saturday that it had never issued the stall’s operator any halal certification.   In a Facebook post, Jakim advised Muslim consumers to be mindful when patronising food premises, and to check its official portal or the Verify Halal app to ascertain whether eateries hold valid halal certification.  The restaurant said on Sept 5 that it would be closed until further notice, with “improvement in progress”... Malaysia’s syariah law outlaws the consumption of alcohol, viewed as an intoxicant, among Muslims. A Malaysian Muslim woman caught drinking beer at a beach resort in 2007 was sentenced to six strokes of the cane, although she was later made to perform community service instead.  Before Jakim issued its statement, users of video-sharing platform TikTok had analysed the video of the stall operator’s actions, seeking evidence that Mr Aman had used the shaoxing variety of rice wine with an alcohol content of around 16 per cent.  While it is unlikely Malaysian Muslims will be disciplined for eating at the stall, many have asked for enforcement action to be taken against the stall owner. Some accused the eatery of “confusing its customers”, while others said that consumers should not assume stall operators wearing Muslim head coverings are selling halal food."
Clearly, Muslims must be banned from this stall and similar stalls, or it's Islamophobic

Man shares genius plan to retire to Holiday Inn instead of nursing home because it's cheaper - "Back in 2019, Terry Robinson, from Spring, TX, said he has no intention of checking into a nursing home and would rather the hotel... he highlighted that, in his opinion, the hotel offered better bang for buck with perks like breakfast, special TV movies, spa, swimming pool as well some of the free toiletries... Robinson said he would get all of the perks he listed in his Facebook post and more for just $59 a night compared to a nursing home, which he claimed was triple that at $188 a night.  While it might sound good on paper, it is worth noting that nursing homes offer around-the-clock care, medical supervision, three meals a day, assistance with everyday activities, and even some rehabilitation. However, Robinson said he wasn’t worried about the need for medical attention and said he would ask someone at the desk to simply call an ambulance for him. Problem solved... i suppose.  Holiday Inn has said that a similar post has long circulated social media since 2004, and another post back in 2016.  However, they still welcomed Robinson with open arms and even highlighted another perk he might not have thought of... "While we’re not certain how Mr. Robison arrived at his current budget calculations, we look forward to welcoming him when he reaches his 'golden age'. He did miss one big benefit in his long list of reasons to stay with us – kids eat for free at Holiday Inn. So that’s another excuse for the grandkids to come and visit.""

Meme - "Big Bird once again kindly offers money to homeless Oscar. He knows fully well that Oscar would immediately use it to fufill his heroin addiction, which is precisly what he wants. Enough money to help him stay addicted, but not enough to get him to quit or die. An endless cycle of suffering that keeps him throbbinglv erect at night"

reactions on X - "I’m not sick I’m twisted sick makes it sound like there is a cure hahahhhahahah"

Gabriel Milland on X - "That awkward moment when you discover the idyllic bit of rural France where you booked the lovely gîte for this summer just voted massively for the fascists."
Nate Hochman on X - "What if I told you that it might be idyllic because of those political views, rather than in spite of them?"
Cold957 on X - "Meanwhile, the so called anti fascists are committing acts of arson, because they don’t like democracy. Instead of relying on your lazy tropes, you should be asking why are the people voting elsewhere?"
Bouli ☃️ on X - "Instead, spend your vacation in the suburbs where they vote better. *riot scene*"

Meme - "22. Officer Judy Hopps (Zootopia 2016) *TO SCALE
- Breast Volume: 17.16in3
Breast Surface Area: 16.1in2"
"how do you even explain this to god on the judgement day"

Microsoft Flight Simulator - Wikipedia - "As of November 2022, Microsoft Flight Simulator is the longest-running software product line for Microsoft, predating Windows by three years... In 1982, Artwick's company licensed a version of Flight Simulator for the IBM PC to Microsoft, which marketed it as Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.00."

Glass Onion (song) - Wikipedia - "Lennon wrote the song to confuse people who read too much into the lyrical meanings of Beatles songs, which annoyed him"

Supreme Court rules environmental impact legislation largely unconstitutional | CBC News - "Canada's top court has delivered a highly anticipated judgment, writing in a majority opinion that Ottawa's Impact Assessment Act (IAA) is largely unconstitutional.  The IAA, previously known as Bill C-69, allows federal regulators to consider the potential environmental and social impacts of various resource and infrastructure projects. It was enacted in 2019.   The IAA has long been controversial among conservative politicians in Alberta, including former premier Jason Kenney, who frequently referred to it as the "no more pipelines act."  The ruling was part of a "reference case," which involves the provincial and federal governments asking courts for advisory opinions.  It doesn't mean the law is now off the books — a ruling such as this from the Supreme Court of Canada is not necessarily binding, but is traditionally treated as being binding by governments, noted David Wright, an associate professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary.  "I think what we can expect is the federal government is going to get to work very quickly to put together a suite of amendments to bring the act into conformity with the law," Wright said. Writing for the majority in a 5-2 decision, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada Richard Wagner said the process set forth in Sections 81 to 91 of the IAA were constitutional and could be separated out.   Those sections involve projects carried out or financed by federal authorities on federal lands, or outside Canada, and therefore fall under federal jurisdiction. Those provisions were not challenged as unconstitutional.   However, Wagner wrote that the balance of the scheme, involving "designated projects," was unconstitutional... Alberta previously filed a constitutional challenge with the Alberta Court of Appeal, and was supported by the governments of Saskatchewan and Ontario, three First Nations and the Indian Resource Council.  Various environmental and legal groups, as well as other First Nations, supported Ottawa. In a 4-1 decision, the court called the law an "existential threat" when it came to Canada's Constitution."
From 2023

🤡Bouncy🤡 on X - "If u fuck a mime girl she has to hold up a sign that says * macaroni noises * bc the mimussy is silent"

All about Aston Martin DB5 and Its Driver in New James Bond Movie - "The Matera chase involves Jaguar XE sedans and Triumph motorcycles for the bad guys and the old DB5 for Bond. Only, the DB5 in this chase does things no DB5 could actually do. Like powerslides, donuts with Gatling guns poking out of the headlight buckets, and lurid drifts that go on for weeks. Since old DB5s are necessarily fragile, not that powerful, and sell at auction for spit-take prices, Aston and the production company had to come up with alternative plans.  They landed on using eight replicas of the DB5 for stunt work... Since the replicas weren't built for sale to the public or to be licensed to operate on public roads, they didn't have to meet any government's vehicle regulations. No airbags, no emissions equipment, no carpet, no sound insulation, and no GPS-based navigation systems... "We poured Coca-Cola on the ground to get some grip," Higgins explains in his Manx accent. "The Coke seems to work better than anything. It was incredible how well it was working." Keep that in mind the next time you want to drift on cobblestones. "The terrain in Scotland was a bit of a challenge," Higgins continues about the relative risk of the two chases. "But in terms of hitting something taking a wheel off, it was Matera. It was very narrow and very low grip. So there was more chance of writing a car off." And there was no unplanned vehicular destruction. "This film went really, really well."... No Time To Die is sort of a celebration of 007's obsession with Aston Martin."

Lose a Million - UKGameshows - "The only game show where you won by getting the questions wrong, three contestants were invited to attempt to lose a (fictional) £1million in prizes in order to win £5,000"

Meme - "Grass cells are so cute under a microscope. they look so happy, just chlorafilled with joy!"

Meme - "The majestic man-taur. Half man... half another man"
"I HATE THIS. I hate this so much and I want everyone to see it."

Meme - "when ur telling ur grandparents about ur job and they have no clue what ur talking bout but they're supportive"

Meme - "Brand new cybertruck! Boulder CO
$145,800 $200,000
Description: Very fast, lots of women"

Meme - "My plans if my IT career doesn't work out
Plan A *Crypto*
Plan B *Gambling*
Plan C *pairing up with old lady*
Plan D *trafficking cocaine*"

Hey Logitech, every mouse should be a forever mouse - "Logitech’s vision of a “forever mouse” isn’t just a bad idea. It’s predatory, and a practice that’s not only bad for consumers but doesn’t even make sense as an actual product... we should expect hardware companies to support their products as a matter of rote. It’s been that way for years. Second, hiding additional features behind a paywall gate sucks. And finally, who needs hardware as a service? It’s a very anti-customer trend, and it needs to stop...   Hardware as a service is becoming more prevalent because software is becoming a more intrinsic part of hardware companies. The hardware industry has always been about exceeding limits: overclocking, for example. As hardware companies have begun to invest in software, hardware has become more like software, attaching permissions, licenses, restrictions and eventually subscriptions to what you can and cannot do... the concept of a “forever mouse” doesn’t even really even make sense — because most mice are “forever mice” anyway. Mice can get gummed up by crud, and their switches can eventually wear out, especially if you’re a gamer. But plug in any USB mouse into a Windows PC and it will just work. That’s one of the fundamental principles of the PC — since most everything is backwards-compatible, older devices run, well, forever. About the only major change to mice in the past two decades or so has been the elimination of the PC serial port and its replacement with USB. Bluetooth isn’t going away, either.   And I mean, well, it’s a mouse. Do we really need a mouse subscription?  All Logitech’s talk does is annoy people who have no desire for another subscription in the first place. And for anyone else considering the same strategy: I’d rather buy from your competition than deal with paying yet another monthly service charge. I suspect I’m not alone."

Actual Fact Bot: Revived | Facebook - "Legendary baseball star Ichiro Suzuki once refused to disclose his dog's name to the media, stating that he "didn't have the dog's permission." He also attributed his decision to stay with his longtime team, the Seattle Mariners, to his dog's influence."

Actual Fact Bot: Revived | Facebook - "Surströmming is a Swedish delicacy which is known for being the world’s smelliest food. It is made by fermented Baltic Sea herring. It smells so bad that several airlines have banned passengers from carrying tin cans of this stuff. In one case, a tenant was evicted in Germany after spreading the Surströmming brine in the stairway. The landlord was taken to court, where he brought a can of Surströmming as evidence. After being opened, the court unanimously ruled in his favor because of the smell."

Meme - Hans Landa: "Mr. Shapiro, you have milk in your refrigerator, but I see no cows in your field... You are hiding Abigail Shapiro under the floorboards, are you not?"

Sydney Sweeney ‘won’t stop’ doing nude scenes - "With two first-time Emmy nominations for her roles in “Euphoria” and “The White Lotus,” Sydney Sweeney is riding pretty high in Hollywood.  But that doesn’t mean she’s set for life.  “If I wanted to take a six-month break, I don’t have income to cover that,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “I don’t have someone supporting me, I don’t have anyone I can turn to, to pay my bills or call for help.”"

Meme - "I spent a few minutes thinking this was a meme
X-Ray of the brain
MRI of the brain
MRA of the brain
PET Scan of the brain"

White Shark Café - Wikipedia - "The White Shark Café is a remote mid-Pacific Ocean area noted as a winter and spring habitat of otherwise coastal great white sharks."

Meme - Fish: "I'm GonnA TRY "WALKING"!"
*ZAP*
Time Traveller: "I'M FROM THE FUTURE. SORRY, YOUR iDEA JUST LEADS To A BUNCH OF BULLSHIT. *steps on fish*
Time Traveller fading: "BYEEEEEE"

Meme - "EVERYONE KEEPS REFERRING TO ME AS AFRICAN AMERICAN. i'M FROM THE UK"
"THEY KEEP CALLING ME CHINESE. BUT ACTUALLY I'M KOREAN"
"THEY KEEP CALLING ME DRUNK. I'M JUST IRISH"

Meme - "Oscar
"i miss you."
"I moved on already liz"
"oh. I hope she treats you good."
"he*"
"wait what"
"I like it from the back now"

Meme - GameStop @GameStop: "bet y'all wish you bought physical copies now"
Culture Crave @culturecrave: "The Xbox 360 store has officially shut down. End of an era"
Except DRM...

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