Men’s Circle: An Honest Dialogue on Male Masturbation - "Let’s come together to undo shame, liberate our minds and free ourselves for deeper erotic potential...
Capacity: Limited to 15 people who identify as male"
Won't it be weird to have biological women at an Honest Dialogue on Male Masturbation?
Jerald Lie - This lady simply left me speechless. Many of my... - "She is very willing is submit to me. A lot of people do not understand the power when she does that. The power of submission isn't where you kowtow to someone or open the door for them. It is just submitting to a common mission where there is an absence of rebellion. The mission we are in is to lead a prosperous, united and blissful family. She is wholeheartedly willing to let me be the head of the home and choose to play the most important role in my life (my neck). Unknowingly, when she chooses to submit to me, surprisingly, she has the power."
If it's not okay for a woman to happily submit to a man, is it okay for men to hit women in BDSM?
Lena Dunham says she's received 'more hostility' for backing Clinton over Sanders - ""I have received more hostility for voting for a qualified female candidate than I have ever received anywhere from the American right wing," she said at a Clinton campaign event at NeueHouse in Hollywood. "The fact that other members of the Democratic Party have spoken to me like I was an ill informed child for voting for someone who represents everything I think this country should be is outrageous"... She said that she reached a "tipping point" last week when one commenter wrote to her, "Bernie Sanders has done more for feminism than Hillary Clinton has... "We have to deal in politics as we find them, not as we wish they were," Clinton said"
Mi Band Tools - Android Apps on Google Play
For some reason it's not documented anywhere that the default settings backup folder is Android/data/cz.zdenekhorak.mibandtools/files
Donald Trump Hitler comparisons: Australian Jewish leaders condemn ‘deeply offensive’ analogy - "Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC), said “once again we see celebrities using appalling comparisons to Hitler to attack others”. “There is simply no place for this kind of sickening distortion in our public discourse,” he said. While people were entitled to “strong opinions” on Donald Trump, “Hitler and his genocidal actions should never form part of the discussion about the American presidential elections and no candidate should ever be compared to Hitler”, Dr Abramovich said. Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg also criticised the comparisons. “Donald Trump has his detractors, and many for good reason, but to compare him with the evil Adolf Hitler responsible as he was for the deaths of millions of innocents is ridiculous in the extreme,” he told news.com.au. “It diminishes the Holocaust and a shameful chapter in the history of the world.” Dr Abramovich said the six million Jews and millions of others who perished at the hands of the Third Reich “deserve better and should not be used for political point sloganeering”. “It bears repeating again that these types of historically inaccurate comparisons diminish the profound tragedy of the Holocaust and are deeply offensive to the victims, to survivors and to their families,” he said. “Such ignorant posts only fuel the gross trivialisation of the Holocaust.” Jeremy Jones, Director of International and Community Affairs at the Australia-Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), said “generally we find it very unhelpful when people make these sorts of historical comparisons”. “One, it doesn’t help people understand the contemporary phenomenon, and two, the historical circumstances [of the Holocaust] had particular and unique features which tend to be brushed under the surface [when such comparisons are made],” he said."
If you compare Trump to Hitler does Godwin's Law apply and you lose the argument?
Donald Trump: Media wants public to kill candidate, Dilbert creator Scott Adams warns - "CNN granted a sit-down interview to 22-year-old Thomas DiMassimo, the protester who attempted to rush the stage at a Trump rally in Ohio. Mr DiMassimo, who was released on bail after being charged with inducing panic and disorderly conduct, claimed he only intended to grab the microphone. But the theatre student had previously tweeted his violent plans to followers. “Let me into a Trump rally I’m smacking fire into and see how his wig cap hold up,” he tweeted on March 6. He later tweeted a picture of Trump with a gun and winking face emoji, said he would “spit on their false king”, and replied “we gone [sic] see” to a follower saying “punch him plz”. Moments before rushing the stage, he tweeted, “I’m at this you know what rally bout to you know what”, adding “the goal is martyrdom”... A number of social media users have been visited by FBI and Secret Service agents for making threats on Trump’s life, Mashable reported. “If you see anything that applies on Twitter, we’re going to investigate it,” a Secret Service spokesman said. On Sunday, a leader from a civil rights organisation resigned after posting on Facebook that Trump supporters should be shot before election day... “We have to really reach out to those who might consider voting for Trump and say, ‘This is [Nazi propaganda minister Joseph] Goebbels. This is the final solution. If you are voting for him, I will have to shoot you before Election Day,’” Wirbel wrote last Monday.""
The Trump Riots That are Mostly My Fault | Scott Adams Blog - "we see the media priming the public to try to kill Trump, or at least create some photogenic mayhem at a public event. Again, no one is sitting in a room plotting Trump’s death, but – let’s be honest – at least half of the media believes Trump is the next Hitler, and a Hitler assassination would be morally justified. Also great for ratings. The media would not be charged with any crime for triggering some nut to act. There would be no smoking gun. No guilt. No repercussions. Just better ratings and bonuses all around... it would be equally easy to build a list of why Trump is definitely NOT like Hitler. For example:
- Trump is anti-war. Hitler, not so much.
- Trump asks us to favor legal citizens over non-citizens. He makes no mention of race. Hitler killed his own citizens and mostly cared about race.
- Trump wants citizens to be heavily armed to protect themselves against bad people, including dictators. Hitler didn’t want to arm his potential enemies.
- Trump wants greater freedom of speech that would include politically incorrect topics. Hitler wasn’t so big on free speech for others.
- Trump assures us his genitalia have “no problem.” Hitler had one testicle.
I could go on, but you see how easy this is. The mainstream media can either portray Trump as Hitler or non-Hitler. So far, they have chosen (subconsciously I assume) the Hitler analogy all the way."
Lee Kuan Yew looking over Singapore? Facebook group alludes to supernatural event - "A Facebook group comprising mainly of rabid fans of the People’s Action Party, Fabrications About the PAP, shared a picture with the caption, “by Adrian Peh: Do you see what we saw. No photoshop. Taken at 4.11pm today at Gardens By the Bay East. Pls credit my friend. Garrick Lin.”"
Deify him already!>
Flashback: Obama Tried to Filibuster Bush’s Supreme Court Pick - "Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has threatened to filibuster any of Obama's Supreme Court nominees... If Obama criticizes Cruz for this, then Cruz only has to point out that Obama himself supported filibustering Alito in 2006."
Blitzer Calls Out Wasserman Schultz on Democrats' Supreme Court Hypocrisy - "“And when Vice President Biden was a U.S. Senator back in 1992, he said President Bush, and I’m quoting him now, ‘should consider following the practice of the majority of his predecessors and not, and not name a nominee until after the November election is completed.’” “So if it was good for the Democrats then to make these kinds of statements during an election year in the case of Biden, why can’t the Republicans do that now?” Blitzer asked."
Mothers of Slain Black Teenagers Assail Bernie Sanders for 'Ghetto' Comments - First Draft. Political News, Now. - The New York Times - "The CNN moderator Don Lemon asked both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders to describe their “racial blind spots.” “When you’re white, you don’t know what it’s like to be living in a ghetto — you don’t know what it’s like to be poor,” Mr. Sanders said. “You don’t know what it’s like to be hassled when you walk down the street or you get dragged out of a car.” The remarks provoked an immediate online backlash from people who pointed out that many whites also live in dilapidated housing and in low-income neighborhoods"
A racial blind spot indeed...
Denmark Just ‘Burned’ Bernie Sanders — Country’s Prime Minister Says Presidential Hopeful Is Lying To Those Who ‘Feel The Bern’ - "Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s explanation of Denmark’s economy was originally made late last year, as reported by Investors. Not only that, Denmark apparently is rethinking its social welfare programs because many of their experts believe the country cannot long afford the current perks it gives its people, as reported by The New York Times. A lot of it can be associated to the “entitlement” state-of-mind, as in it is one’s “right” to have free this or free that. Karen Haekkerup, the minister of social affairs and integration at the time of the article, clarifies the situation:
"“In the past, people never asked for help unless they needed it. My grandmother was offered a pension and she was offended. She did not need it. But now people do not have that mentality. They think of these benefits as their rights. The rights have just expanded and expanded. And it has brought us a good quality of life. But now we need to go back to the rights and the duties. We all have to contribute.”"
On the Revocation of White Privilege in North Korea - "21-year-old Otto Warmbier... from Ohio.. was convicted of subversion for stealing a propaganda banner in North Korea, and sentenced to 15 years hard labor... young white man who went to an Asian country and violated their laws, and learned that the shield his cis white male identity provides here in America is not teflon abroad. As shocked as I am by the sentence handed down to Warmbier, I am even more shocked that a grown man, an American citizen, would not only voluntarily enter North Korea but also commit what’s been described a “college-style prank.” That kind of reckless gall is an unfortunate side effect of being socialized first as a white boy, and then as a white man in this country. Every economic, academic, legal and social system in this country has for more than three centuries functioned with the implicit purpose of ensuring that white men are the primary benefactors of all privilege. The kind of arrogance bred by that kind of conditioning is pathogenic, causing its host to develop a subconscious yet no less obnoxious perception that the rules do not apply to him, or at least that their application is negotiable."
So supposedly due to White Male Privilege the only people who play pranks in the USA are White Men
Comments: "Do you want feedback or not? If you only want to hear from people who agree with you, I suggest you not publish your thoughts publicly."
OP: "I actually didn’t ask for feedback and will continue to post whatever I want and interact with those who want to have fruitful conversation."
So fruitful conversation = masturbating each other in an ideological echo chamber
Man refuses to do housework, wife rips off his testicles - "Here's a cautionary tale for men who usually don't help out with housework... "I told him he was not any kind of man and I grabbed his testicles. "It was not my fault that he pulled away, and that's when it happened... He wife was reported to have said: "I thought maybe that some ice would solve the problem, but he insisted on calling an ambulance."
The guy should have poured acid in her face
BBC World Service - The World This Week, Donald Trump Changes the Nature and Language of US Politics - "But you don't get to be one of the most successful business executives of your generation by being stupid, and it's clear... this was no off the cuff remark or slip of the tongue. Instead it was part of a clear strategy. And the view which so many found abhorent was also being widely echoed among the people who count: American electors... does Mr Trump says sober what other people say drunk?"
BBC World Service - The World This Week, Iraqi troops move into Ramadi centre - "Both have been partly been driven by a desire on behalf of their universities not to offend their students, which has left more than academic to ponder publicly what the point of a expensive and time-consuming period at university is if not to challenge, to probe, to stimulate and maybe, to once or twice along the way, to offend the sensibilities of students. More worrying for some is the thought thathis process of re-evaluation might never end. Dotted around the grand squares of London are statues of the men who, amongst other achievements. created and defended the British Empire. It wasn't always pretty. In Parliament Square, looking out over the Palace of Westminster, the statue of a militarist imperialist survives, for now. Supporters of Winston Churchill and the fight for democracy can, for the moment, breathe easy. It's not the job of the present, said one academic of the Rhodes row, to tick off the past. But our tussle with history is part of our wrestle with the present. And it might be difficult to conduct that argument with much vigor if you're constantly afraid of giving or taking offence"
L'origine de Bert
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Friday, March 25, 2016
Pity and Redemption
"Occurrences like this astonish because they conflict with the image we have of man in harmony with himself, coherent, monolithic; and they should not astonish because that is not how man is. Compassion and brutality can coexist in the same individual and in the same moment, despite all logic; and for all that, compassion itself eludes logic. There is no proportion between the pity we feel and the extent of the pain by which the pity is aroused: a single Anne Frank excites more emotion than the myriads who suffered as she did but whose image has remained in the shadows. Perhaps it is necessary that it can be so. If we had to and were able to suffer the sufferings of everyone, we could not live. Perhaps the dreadful gift of pity for the many is granted only to saints; to the Monatti, to the members of the Special Squad, and to all of us there remains in the best of cases only the sporadic pity addressed to the single individual, the Mitmensch, the co-man: the human being of flesh and blood standing before us, within the reach of our providentially myopic senses...
In The Brothers Karamazov Grushenka tells the fable of the little onion. A vicious old woman dies and goes to hell, but her guardian angel, straining his memory, recalls that she once, only once, gave a beggar the gift of a little onion she had dug up from her garden. He holds the little onion out to her, and the old woman grasps it and is lifted out of the flames of hell. This fable has always struck me as revolting: what human monster did not throughout his life make the gift of a little onion; if not to others, to his children, his wife, his dog? That single, immediately erased instant of pity is certainly not enough to absolve Muhsfeld [a SS man]. It is enough, however, to place him too, although at its extreme boundary, within the gray band, that zone of ambiguity which radiates out from regimes based on terror and obsequiousness."
--- Holocaust: Origins, Implementation, Aftermath / Omer Bartov
In The Brothers Karamazov Grushenka tells the fable of the little onion. A vicious old woman dies and goes to hell, but her guardian angel, straining his memory, recalls that she once, only once, gave a beggar the gift of a little onion she had dug up from her garden. He holds the little onion out to her, and the old woman grasps it and is lifted out of the flames of hell. This fable has always struck me as revolting: what human monster did not throughout his life make the gift of a little onion; if not to others, to his children, his wife, his dog? That single, immediately erased instant of pity is certainly not enough to absolve Muhsfeld [a SS man]. It is enough, however, to place him too, although at its extreme boundary, within the gray band, that zone of ambiguity which radiates out from regimes based on terror and obsequiousness."
--- Holocaust: Origins, Implementation, Aftermath / Omer Bartov
Post ID: 3404516695674009424
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
White Skin Good, Yellow Skin Bad
Note: This was excerpted from Links - 15th March 2016 in order to classify it under the label "sangeetha"
Hand-in-hand with a white man: Dating and racial hierarchies in Singapore — Chinese Privilege - "To a young Tamil Singaporean woman like me, the concept of racism is nothing new or inconceivable. Nonetheless, it wasn’t until I started going out with my fiancé, who happens to be Caucasian, that I began to see a new side to racial discrimination in Singapore. The surprised looks by strangers were one thing, but the harsh comments made to me by fellow Indians, especially men, implying that I had somehow betrayed Indian men as a collective, came as quite a shock to me... Strangely, the most disapproving looks I have received are from fellow Indians. Some of my male Indian friends have remarked to me that my decision to date a Caucasian man, presumably before other Indian men, speaks to a broader pre-occupation with the white male ideal. These friends have even implied that it is insincere of me to be critical of heterosexual white male privilege and date a white man at the same time."
So Sangeetha claims Indian men date Chinese women to benefit from Chinese privilege, but publishes an article by an Indian woman dating a white man who doesn't call it benefiting from white privilege and who says those who criticise her are racist.
Win.
Hand-in-hand with a white man: Dating and racial hierarchies in Singapore — Chinese Privilege - "To a young Tamil Singaporean woman like me, the concept of racism is nothing new or inconceivable. Nonetheless, it wasn’t until I started going out with my fiancé, who happens to be Caucasian, that I began to see a new side to racial discrimination in Singapore. The surprised looks by strangers were one thing, but the harsh comments made to me by fellow Indians, especially men, implying that I had somehow betrayed Indian men as a collective, came as quite a shock to me... Strangely, the most disapproving looks I have received are from fellow Indians. Some of my male Indian friends have remarked to me that my decision to date a Caucasian man, presumably before other Indian men, speaks to a broader pre-occupation with the white male ideal. These friends have even implied that it is insincere of me to be critical of heterosexual white male privilege and date a white man at the same time."
So Sangeetha claims Indian men date Chinese women to benefit from Chinese privilege, but publishes an article by an Indian woman dating a white man who doesn't call it benefiting from white privilege and who says those who criticise her are racist.
Win.
Post ID: 1667367529039480715
Links - 15th March 2016
My dearest Dom, my heart continues to bleed for... - In memory of Dominique Sarron Lee - "What do I know? They are the experts in their fields. They must know best. They do no wrong. Dom, in these past 3+ years, I have been worn-down, beaten and defeated by the very government I taught you to trust; worn-down, beaten and defeated by the very system I counseled you to have faith in; worn-down, beaten and defeated by the very people I advised you to respect and honor. Dom, forgive me. I taught you wrong."
If fewer people have blind faith in the System, perhaps his death wouldn't have been entirely in vain
JK Rowling under fire for writing about 'Native American wizards' - "JK Rowling has been accused of appropriating the “living tradition of a marginalised people” by writing about the Navajo legend of the skinwalker in a new story... campaigner Dr Adrienne Keene told Rowling on Twitter that “it’s not ‘your’ world. It’s our (real) Native world. And skinwalker stories have context, roots, and reality … You can’t just claim and take a living tradition of a marginalised people. That’s straight up colonialism/appropriation.” The academic also took issue with Rowling’s use of the phrase “the Native American community”, saying that “one of the largest fights in the world of representations is to recognise Native peoples and communities and cultures are diverse, complex, and vastly different from one another”... Navajo writer Brian Young wrote on Twitter that he was “broken hearted” about the new piece of writing. “JK Rowling, my beliefs are not fantasy. If ever there was a need for diversity in YA lit it is bullsh!t like this,” said Young. “My ancestors didn’t survive colonisation so you could use our culture as a convenient prop.”
Oddly enough on Twitter many native Americans are supporting Rowling, and some are criticising the SJWs
Maybe minorities are underrepresented in popular culture because even if you make an attempt to include them you get flamed anyway
Comment: "I'm still seething about Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. As a born and bred cockney from Whitechapel, having an American in an American film appropriate my culture is very upsetting. And as for the "Cockney" accent, gor blimey, guv, words fail me. If Americans cannot do their research and treat other cultures with respect, then leave them alone."
"The only appropriation going on here is the appropriation of Rowling's well-deserved fame by a bunch of obscure philistine pedants trying to make a career out of the historical sufferings of the people they claim to represent."
"Giants, leprechauns and banshees are part of Northern Ireland's (where I live) folklore but you don't get us or the Republic of Ireland moaning, when she used them. You don't get the British, French and Spanish moaning about being grouped together as European (by JKR) so why do some silly people find the term Native American offensive?"
Magic in North America Part 1: Ugh. | Native Appropriations
Comments: "This is the catch-22 that no one is addressing. If Rowling chose "not to go there", you can bet your bottom dollar on these very same people crying out "erasure!" for not being represented... Some people are never happy."
"I'll grant you it doesn't focus on queer issues, but as a gay person myself I don't see why that matters. Aren't we more than our sexuality? Not every book has to focus on sexual orientation - or even bring it up. LGBT people make up maybe 5-10% of the population. As such, unless the book specifically revolves around that theme it's not a requirement to in, rather a nice bonus. There's no need to expect authors to go into the sexual lives of background characters if the main characters are not LGBT themselves. That's just picky. If you want books catered to your every demand, your best bet is to write them yourself because no author can please everyone's pet agenda. Very white? Come off it - have you even read the books? Dean Thomas, Angelina Johnson, Lee Jordan, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Cho Chang (I know people have issues with the name), Parvati and Padma Patil etc.. are non-white characters I can come up with off the top of my head, playing relatively big roles outside of the main trio. Again, catch-22... everyone says we shouldn't focus on skin colour, race etc... and then when authors don't bring it up, people like you complain they aren't there! Do you just enjoy complaining?"
"That's one thing that really gets my goat about a large part of the LGBT community, their sexuality is literally their whole identity."
"If she had to write a book by committee, can you imagine what that would be like? Basically, it would stink."
"She mentioned African wizards in passing during Goblet of Fire. She has now mentioned Native American wizards in passing during this writing. So I assume that you'll be demanding a full apology and a series of short stories about colonial wizard powers in Africa."
"Jesus, this is like trying to explain hobbits to someone who wants to insist that J.R.R. Tolkien hated short people."
"There's no mention of talking cats in Britain, but Hello Kitty is supposed to be British and is made by a Japanese person, which does wonders for the promotion of Britain there. Are you going to call appropriation for that? If the fear of misrepresentation is rooted in the fear of extinction, realize that Natives will be learning Chinese by 2040 more likely than anyone will try to learn anything about Native culture if they stop any spread of their image."
"there is even a game featuring Native Americans called "Shadow Hearts 3: From the new world"... it carries all the features of what you might call "appropriation" but hey, at least a White person didn't make it so the standards don't have to be the same."
"I don't understand how someone can be critiqued for being ignorant of a culture while simultaneously being told it is none of their business to learn more?"
"Prior the 60s, Chinese martial arts martial arts masters believed that Kung Fu should only be taught to Chinese. Bruce Lee disagreed. He believed Kung Fu should be available for everyone, Chinese, white, black, whoever. Did Bruce Lee sell out Chinese culture by allowing for this cultural appropriation? Are the Kung Fu elders racist for objecting to black people being taught Kung Fu?"
Is Luke Skywalker Gay? Mark Hamill Opens Up About 'Star Wars' Characters' Sexuality - ""Fans are writing and ask all these questions, 'I'm bullied in school ... I'm afraid to come out,'" Hamill told the Sun. "They say to me, 'Could Luke be gay?' I'd say it is meant to be interpreted by the viewer. If you think Luke is gay, of course he is. You should not be ashamed of it. Judge Luke by his character, not by who he loves.""
I judge characters by their character. Which is why I don't care if Luke is gay and people gushing about this are stupid
Paul Denlinger's answer to Do foreign journalists intentionally misrepresent or even lie about China? - Quora - "Many Chinese who grew up in the PRC are taught to think that the west has deliberately plotted to humiliate China, the nation, and Chinese for nearly two centuries. It has done this by taking sides and backing certain parties when China was internally divided. According to this narrative, this internal division was brought to an end with the founding of the PRC, which presented a united front against the west, and stood up for the best interests of the Chinese people. Through good policies, China, and Chinese, are now respected all over the world. This narrative presents the view that the west intentionally puts down China's rise as much as possible, which is why Chinese must extend their influence, mostly by acquisitions of companies in other countries. The important notion about this view is that it makes what the west does part of an intentional policy."
Mystery cancers are cropping up in children in aftermath of Fukushima - "The March 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant caused extensive human suffering—evacuations, emotional trauma and premature deaths, disrupted jobs and schooling. What they have not caused, so far, is radiation-related illness among the general public, and few specialists expect dramatic increases in cancers or other ailments. The reactors spewed just a tenth of the radiation emitted by the Chernobyl disaster, winds blew much of that out to sea, and evacuations were swift. Yet one wave of illness has been linked to the disaster—the ironic result of a well-intentioned screening program... One result, says Kenji Shibuya, a public health specialist at University of Tokyo, was “overdiagnosis and overtreatment,” leading dozens of children to have their thyroids removed, perhaps unnecessarily"
Voter ID Laws: Reasonable, Not Racist - "the idea that voter ID laws exist so that racist southern governors can prevent minorities from voting is absurd on its face: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware and Washington State all require some form of identification to vote. The record amongst other nations is even more telling. Our friendly neighbor to the north, Canada, requires citizens to show proof of address to vote. Sweden, Switzerland and Ireland all require some proof of identification to vote. In the Netherlands, where practically everything is legal, voters need to show both a government issued polling notification and a photo ID in order to vote. That’s Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland and the Netherlands – hardly a roll call of institutionally racist countries. Indeed, most other countries in the civilized world look at the United States in disbelief that we don’t require proof of identification to vote. Even our own bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform recommended a voter ID requirement when they issued their comprehensive recommendations in 2005. Their report called voter identification one of “five pillars” that would “build confidence” in the integrity of federal elections... National opinion polls continually show about 70% support for voter ID laws. Does anyone really believe that 70% of Americans want to suppress minority voting rights? But the first instinct of too many on the left is to brand those who would protect the time-honored tenet of “one citizen, one vote” as “racists” is a sad commentary on the state of our discourse. As Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal recently put it, “there is no more shallow, hollow, or soulless way to think about human beings than in terms of their skin color.”"
It's racist for employers to hire people with college degrees because minorities are less likely to have college degrees
Law Graduate Gets Her Day in Court, Suing Law School - The New York Times - "As her debt mounted and her job prospects faltered, she filed a lawsuit in 2011, arguing that she would not have enrolled at Thomas Jefferson if she had known the law school’s statistics were misleading... Thomas Jefferson, like other accused law schools, maintained that it filed only the data that the American Bar Association’s accrediting body required. And judges largely agreed. Students would have to be “wearing blinders” not to see that a “goodly number of law school graduates toil (perhaps part time) in drudgery or have less than hugely successful careers,” Justice Melvin L. Schweitzer of New York Supreme Court wrote in 2012, dismissing a lawsuit by nine former students against New York Law School."
Is the Cretan Diet the “real” Mediterranean diet? - "Twenty-three countries surround the Mediterranean Sea. How can all these countries, which differ in culture, religion, geographical location, products, socioeconomic status, have a single diet, called the Mediterranean Diet? Is the term Mediterranean Diet misleading? Not all Countries in the Mediterranean have a Mediterranean Style diet"
We must stop indoctrinating boys in feminist ideology - Telegraph - "By all means, let’s teach children about healthy relationships, but that’s not really what these campaigns are about. Instead there is an overwhelming emphasis on imposing an ideological worldview that first and foremost sees young men as potential abusers and perpetrators, while routinely ignoring and minimising the very real threat of violence, both physical and sexual, that boys and young men face themselves"
Danish ‘Sharia council’ voluntarily disbands - "After the existence of the so-called ‘Sharia council’ came to light, members decided to voluntarily disband the council “out of respect for Danish values”... three members of the Sharia council told a woman that she could not divorce her husband even though she had been subjected to physical abuse... hidden camera footage showed imams at the highly controversial Grimhøj Mosque saying that adulterers should be stoned and that children should be beaten for not praying."
Harvard Law School dean asks to change the school’s shield because of its ties to slavery - "A committee at Harvard Law School has recommended that the shield that has long been used as a symbol should be retired, because it is the family crest of a slaveholder and does not reflect the values of the school. The shield is a powerful symbol: For decades, it has represented one of the world’s most prestigious institutions, and for many alumni, their pride in the school and their accomplishments... From Princeton to the University of Mississippi to Yale, students have demanded long-held traditions be changed, redefining the legacy of benefactors such as President Woodrow Wilson and John C. Calhoun and rejecting banners and titles such as the Confederate flag and “masters” of houses because of their connotation of slavery... a Harvard Law Record straw poll found 55 percent of the more than 500 respondents supported changing the shield, while 31 percent preferred to keep the shield and acknowledge its history. More than a thousand people contacted the committee with their opinions, which did not fall along predictable lines such as age, race, or political leanings... Many older African American alumni were deeply attached to the shield, not knowing its history, the report noted, “as a proud, even defiant, symbol of their accomplishment at a time when the larger world often refused to recognize their merit.” Some felt removing it would be an erasure.any older African American alumni were deeply attached to the shield, not knowing its history, the report noted, “as a proud, even defiant, symbol of their accomplishment at a time when the larger world often refused to recognize their merit.” Some felt removing it would be an erasure.
Might as well abolish Harvard since its history is tainted
Details of 22,000 jihadis revealed in huge cache of leaked ISIS HR forms - "Only when a recruit had filled in the 23-question registration card were they allowed into the group, also known as Daesh. Questions on the form included date of birth, marital status, previous jobs, who recommended them, if they had fought before, what role they would take – for instance, ‘fighter’ – and any ‘specialist skills’. The forms even includes contact details for next of kin. Many of the names on the registration cards are well known."
Ontario Human Rights Commission calls for end to skimpy dress codes - "Hooters U.S. parent company did not respond to requests for comment on the dress codes in its restaurants across Canada."
Women are too stupid to not work at restaurants with skimpy dress codes if they don't like them
2 male former Hooters employees in Costa Mesa file sex-harassment suit - "The lawsuit alleges that Leukert threw Cagnina to the ground in the parking lot after a bikini contest in Costa Mesa and forcibly simulated sodomy in front of spectators"
Women Are Paying Strangers To Stroke Their Vaginas, Because 2016 - "The peculiar sex trend involves women paying strangers to touch their private parts in order to reach a ‘larger state of consciousness’ while also ‘improving intimacy’ and ‘increasing your orgasm skills’."
If fewer people have blind faith in the System, perhaps his death wouldn't have been entirely in vain
JK Rowling under fire for writing about 'Native American wizards' - "JK Rowling has been accused of appropriating the “living tradition of a marginalised people” by writing about the Navajo legend of the skinwalker in a new story... campaigner Dr Adrienne Keene told Rowling on Twitter that “it’s not ‘your’ world. It’s our (real) Native world. And skinwalker stories have context, roots, and reality … You can’t just claim and take a living tradition of a marginalised people. That’s straight up colonialism/appropriation.” The academic also took issue with Rowling’s use of the phrase “the Native American community”, saying that “one of the largest fights in the world of representations is to recognise Native peoples and communities and cultures are diverse, complex, and vastly different from one another”... Navajo writer Brian Young wrote on Twitter that he was “broken hearted” about the new piece of writing. “JK Rowling, my beliefs are not fantasy. If ever there was a need for diversity in YA lit it is bullsh!t like this,” said Young. “My ancestors didn’t survive colonisation so you could use our culture as a convenient prop.”
Oddly enough on Twitter many native Americans are supporting Rowling, and some are criticising the SJWs
Maybe minorities are underrepresented in popular culture because even if you make an attempt to include them you get flamed anyway
Comment: "I'm still seething about Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. As a born and bred cockney from Whitechapel, having an American in an American film appropriate my culture is very upsetting. And as for the "Cockney" accent, gor blimey, guv, words fail me. If Americans cannot do their research and treat other cultures with respect, then leave them alone."
"The only appropriation going on here is the appropriation of Rowling's well-deserved fame by a bunch of obscure philistine pedants trying to make a career out of the historical sufferings of the people they claim to represent."
"Giants, leprechauns and banshees are part of Northern Ireland's (where I live) folklore but you don't get us or the Republic of Ireland moaning, when she used them. You don't get the British, French and Spanish moaning about being grouped together as European (by JKR) so why do some silly people find the term Native American offensive?"
Magic in North America Part 1: Ugh. | Native Appropriations
Comments: "This is the catch-22 that no one is addressing. If Rowling chose "not to go there", you can bet your bottom dollar on these very same people crying out "erasure!" for not being represented... Some people are never happy."
"I'll grant you it doesn't focus on queer issues, but as a gay person myself I don't see why that matters. Aren't we more than our sexuality? Not every book has to focus on sexual orientation - or even bring it up. LGBT people make up maybe 5-10% of the population. As such, unless the book specifically revolves around that theme it's not a requirement to in, rather a nice bonus. There's no need to expect authors to go into the sexual lives of background characters if the main characters are not LGBT themselves. That's just picky. If you want books catered to your every demand, your best bet is to write them yourself because no author can please everyone's pet agenda. Very white? Come off it - have you even read the books? Dean Thomas, Angelina Johnson, Lee Jordan, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Cho Chang (I know people have issues with the name), Parvati and Padma Patil etc.. are non-white characters I can come up with off the top of my head, playing relatively big roles outside of the main trio. Again, catch-22... everyone says we shouldn't focus on skin colour, race etc... and then when authors don't bring it up, people like you complain they aren't there! Do you just enjoy complaining?"
"That's one thing that really gets my goat about a large part of the LGBT community, their sexuality is literally their whole identity."
"If she had to write a book by committee, can you imagine what that would be like? Basically, it would stink."
"She mentioned African wizards in passing during Goblet of Fire. She has now mentioned Native American wizards in passing during this writing. So I assume that you'll be demanding a full apology and a series of short stories about colonial wizard powers in Africa."
"Jesus, this is like trying to explain hobbits to someone who wants to insist that J.R.R. Tolkien hated short people."
"There's no mention of talking cats in Britain, but Hello Kitty is supposed to be British and is made by a Japanese person, which does wonders for the promotion of Britain there. Are you going to call appropriation for that? If the fear of misrepresentation is rooted in the fear of extinction, realize that Natives will be learning Chinese by 2040 more likely than anyone will try to learn anything about Native culture if they stop any spread of their image."
"there is even a game featuring Native Americans called "Shadow Hearts 3: From the new world"... it carries all the features of what you might call "appropriation" but hey, at least a White person didn't make it so the standards don't have to be the same."
"I don't understand how someone can be critiqued for being ignorant of a culture while simultaneously being told it is none of their business to learn more?"
"Prior the 60s, Chinese martial arts martial arts masters believed that Kung Fu should only be taught to Chinese. Bruce Lee disagreed. He believed Kung Fu should be available for everyone, Chinese, white, black, whoever. Did Bruce Lee sell out Chinese culture by allowing for this cultural appropriation? Are the Kung Fu elders racist for objecting to black people being taught Kung Fu?"
Is Luke Skywalker Gay? Mark Hamill Opens Up About 'Star Wars' Characters' Sexuality - ""Fans are writing and ask all these questions, 'I'm bullied in school ... I'm afraid to come out,'" Hamill told the Sun. "They say to me, 'Could Luke be gay?' I'd say it is meant to be interpreted by the viewer. If you think Luke is gay, of course he is. You should not be ashamed of it. Judge Luke by his character, not by who he loves.""
I judge characters by their character. Which is why I don't care if Luke is gay and people gushing about this are stupid
Paul Denlinger's answer to Do foreign journalists intentionally misrepresent or even lie about China? - Quora - "Many Chinese who grew up in the PRC are taught to think that the west has deliberately plotted to humiliate China, the nation, and Chinese for nearly two centuries. It has done this by taking sides and backing certain parties when China was internally divided. According to this narrative, this internal division was brought to an end with the founding of the PRC, which presented a united front against the west, and stood up for the best interests of the Chinese people. Through good policies, China, and Chinese, are now respected all over the world. This narrative presents the view that the west intentionally puts down China's rise as much as possible, which is why Chinese must extend their influence, mostly by acquisitions of companies in other countries. The important notion about this view is that it makes what the west does part of an intentional policy."
Mystery cancers are cropping up in children in aftermath of Fukushima - "The March 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant caused extensive human suffering—evacuations, emotional trauma and premature deaths, disrupted jobs and schooling. What they have not caused, so far, is radiation-related illness among the general public, and few specialists expect dramatic increases in cancers or other ailments. The reactors spewed just a tenth of the radiation emitted by the Chernobyl disaster, winds blew much of that out to sea, and evacuations were swift. Yet one wave of illness has been linked to the disaster—the ironic result of a well-intentioned screening program... One result, says Kenji Shibuya, a public health specialist at University of Tokyo, was “overdiagnosis and overtreatment,” leading dozens of children to have their thyroids removed, perhaps unnecessarily"
Voter ID Laws: Reasonable, Not Racist - "the idea that voter ID laws exist so that racist southern governors can prevent minorities from voting is absurd on its face: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware and Washington State all require some form of identification to vote. The record amongst other nations is even more telling. Our friendly neighbor to the north, Canada, requires citizens to show proof of address to vote. Sweden, Switzerland and Ireland all require some proof of identification to vote. In the Netherlands, where practically everything is legal, voters need to show both a government issued polling notification and a photo ID in order to vote. That’s Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland and the Netherlands – hardly a roll call of institutionally racist countries. Indeed, most other countries in the civilized world look at the United States in disbelief that we don’t require proof of identification to vote. Even our own bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform recommended a voter ID requirement when they issued their comprehensive recommendations in 2005. Their report called voter identification one of “five pillars” that would “build confidence” in the integrity of federal elections... National opinion polls continually show about 70% support for voter ID laws. Does anyone really believe that 70% of Americans want to suppress minority voting rights? But the first instinct of too many on the left is to brand those who would protect the time-honored tenet of “one citizen, one vote” as “racists” is a sad commentary on the state of our discourse. As Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal recently put it, “there is no more shallow, hollow, or soulless way to think about human beings than in terms of their skin color.”"
It's racist for employers to hire people with college degrees because minorities are less likely to have college degrees
Law Graduate Gets Her Day in Court, Suing Law School - The New York Times - "As her debt mounted and her job prospects faltered, she filed a lawsuit in 2011, arguing that she would not have enrolled at Thomas Jefferson if she had known the law school’s statistics were misleading... Thomas Jefferson, like other accused law schools, maintained that it filed only the data that the American Bar Association’s accrediting body required. And judges largely agreed. Students would have to be “wearing blinders” not to see that a “goodly number of law school graduates toil (perhaps part time) in drudgery or have less than hugely successful careers,” Justice Melvin L. Schweitzer of New York Supreme Court wrote in 2012, dismissing a lawsuit by nine former students against New York Law School."
Is the Cretan Diet the “real” Mediterranean diet? - "Twenty-three countries surround the Mediterranean Sea. How can all these countries, which differ in culture, religion, geographical location, products, socioeconomic status, have a single diet, called the Mediterranean Diet? Is the term Mediterranean Diet misleading? Not all Countries in the Mediterranean have a Mediterranean Style diet"
We must stop indoctrinating boys in feminist ideology - Telegraph - "By all means, let’s teach children about healthy relationships, but that’s not really what these campaigns are about. Instead there is an overwhelming emphasis on imposing an ideological worldview that first and foremost sees young men as potential abusers and perpetrators, while routinely ignoring and minimising the very real threat of violence, both physical and sexual, that boys and young men face themselves"
Danish ‘Sharia council’ voluntarily disbands - "After the existence of the so-called ‘Sharia council’ came to light, members decided to voluntarily disband the council “out of respect for Danish values”... three members of the Sharia council told a woman that she could not divorce her husband even though she had been subjected to physical abuse... hidden camera footage showed imams at the highly controversial Grimhøj Mosque saying that adulterers should be stoned and that children should be beaten for not praying."
Harvard Law School dean asks to change the school’s shield because of its ties to slavery - "A committee at Harvard Law School has recommended that the shield that has long been used as a symbol should be retired, because it is the family crest of a slaveholder and does not reflect the values of the school. The shield is a powerful symbol: For decades, it has represented one of the world’s most prestigious institutions, and for many alumni, their pride in the school and their accomplishments... From Princeton to the University of Mississippi to Yale, students have demanded long-held traditions be changed, redefining the legacy of benefactors such as President Woodrow Wilson and John C. Calhoun and rejecting banners and titles such as the Confederate flag and “masters” of houses because of their connotation of slavery... a Harvard Law Record straw poll found 55 percent of the more than 500 respondents supported changing the shield, while 31 percent preferred to keep the shield and acknowledge its history. More than a thousand people contacted the committee with their opinions, which did not fall along predictable lines such as age, race, or political leanings... Many older African American alumni were deeply attached to the shield, not knowing its history, the report noted, “as a proud, even defiant, symbol of their accomplishment at a time when the larger world often refused to recognize their merit.” Some felt removing it would be an erasure.any older African American alumni were deeply attached to the shield, not knowing its history, the report noted, “as a proud, even defiant, symbol of their accomplishment at a time when the larger world often refused to recognize their merit.” Some felt removing it would be an erasure.
Might as well abolish Harvard since its history is tainted
Details of 22,000 jihadis revealed in huge cache of leaked ISIS HR forms - "Only when a recruit had filled in the 23-question registration card were they allowed into the group, also known as Daesh. Questions on the form included date of birth, marital status, previous jobs, who recommended them, if they had fought before, what role they would take – for instance, ‘fighter’ – and any ‘specialist skills’. The forms even includes contact details for next of kin. Many of the names on the registration cards are well known."
Ontario Human Rights Commission calls for end to skimpy dress codes - "Hooters U.S. parent company did not respond to requests for comment on the dress codes in its restaurants across Canada."
Women are too stupid to not work at restaurants with skimpy dress codes if they don't like them
2 male former Hooters employees in Costa Mesa file sex-harassment suit - "The lawsuit alleges that Leukert threw Cagnina to the ground in the parking lot after a bikini contest in Costa Mesa and forcibly simulated sodomy in front of spectators"
Women Are Paying Strangers To Stroke Their Vaginas, Because 2016 - "The peculiar sex trend involves women paying strangers to touch their private parts in order to reach a ‘larger state of consciousness’ while also ‘improving intimacy’ and ‘increasing your orgasm skills’."
Post ID: 8600931189181758883
Comments about Roy Ngerng Defamation Verdict
The comments (and likes on them) on TODAY are more representative of how Singaporeans think than the liberal echo chamber:
TODAY - JUST IN: Blogger Roy Ngerng will pay S$100 a month for 5...
Top Comment: "Our country needs to teach people like him must teach a hard lesson . If not they will destroy our values. Thank you for the laws in Singapore."
Others:
"Roy Ngerng deserves every bit of it as he did not watch his mouths and make false allegations and he was unable to substantiate his accusations. Freedom of speech does not equates to freedom to malign another person, in this case, it happens to be the PM."
"You can't just say anything you want and expect no consequences. That is childishness."
"多你—个不祘多，少你一个不祘少。我相李总理也不希窂你的respect. *thumbs down*"
"Now just teach you a lesson with the Chinese Saying : " catch the chicken's to teach the monkey"
But if you still insist then you must be a Nut"
"PM Lee let him off too lightly. Respect him."
"forgiveness is wasted on the unrepentants"
"Hello. He published articles to say that PM corrupts and that should not be taken into task ?"
"Its an act of deterrent so that no Tom Dick n Harry will talk rubbish without thinking"
"You taking the Prime Minister as a joke.....your behavior getting out of hand....wonder what type of education you received from your parents or school not respecting....."
"Roy hope you learn your lesson think before you speak! And think more for your old age parents."
"PM has been too soft on Roy . He should be grateful and hopefully he has learned his lesson."
"Hahaha!!!!! Not bad at least he remembers what he did for this instalments of foolish act by a 'foreign' who think he is smart *crying laugh smiley*"
"Honestly LHL has a big heart , I mean be rational if u r the one suing !"
"Hope this young man learned his lesson. Refocus his priorities in life"
"I hope you can at least be grateful now, rather than continue to be an ingrate."
"Aiyah, after 5 years, LHL will absolve him of the rest lah.
Thats what he did for CSJ."
"LHL better not repeat the same mistake. See how CSJ is out there hopping around again now."
"Don't pick fights which you know you can't win. Stupid Roy. Go home."
"Fking bully sia our PM... just like Donald Trumph... okay not as bad but well..."
TODAY - JUST IN: Blogger Roy Ngerng will pay S$100 a month for 5...
Top Comment: "Our country needs to teach people like him must teach a hard lesson . If not they will destroy our values. Thank you for the laws in Singapore."
Others:
"Roy Ngerng deserves every bit of it as he did not watch his mouths and make false allegations and he was unable to substantiate his accusations. Freedom of speech does not equates to freedom to malign another person, in this case, it happens to be the PM."
"You can't just say anything you want and expect no consequences. That is childishness."
"多你—个不祘多，少你一个不祘少。我相李总理也不希窂你的respect. *thumbs down*"
"Now just teach you a lesson with the Chinese Saying : " catch the chicken's to teach the monkey"
But if you still insist then you must be a Nut"
"PM Lee let him off too lightly. Respect him."
"forgiveness is wasted on the unrepentants"
"Hello. He published articles to say that PM corrupts and that should not be taken into task ?"
"Its an act of deterrent so that no Tom Dick n Harry will talk rubbish without thinking"
"You taking the Prime Minister as a joke.....your behavior getting out of hand....wonder what type of education you received from your parents or school not respecting....."
"Roy hope you learn your lesson think before you speak! And think more for your old age parents."
"PM has been too soft on Roy . He should be grateful and hopefully he has learned his lesson."
"Hahaha!!!!! Not bad at least he remembers what he did for this instalments of foolish act by a 'foreign' who think he is smart *crying laugh smiley*"
"Honestly LHL has a big heart , I mean be rational if u r the one suing !"
"Hope this young man learned his lesson. Refocus his priorities in life"
"I hope you can at least be grateful now, rather than continue to be an ingrate."
"Aiyah, after 5 years, LHL will absolve him of the rest lah.
Thats what he did for CSJ."
"LHL better not repeat the same mistake. See how CSJ is out there hopping around again now."
"Don't pick fights which you know you can't win. Stupid Roy. Go home."
"Fking bully sia our PM... just like Donald Trumph... okay not as bad but well..."
Post ID: 8447991519236956113
Saturday, March 12, 2016
Links - 12th March 2016
BBC World Service - The World This Week, Donald Trump Changes the Nature and Language of US Politics - "But you don't get to be one of the most successful business executives of your generation by being stupid, and it's clear... this was no off the cuff remark or slip of the tongue. Instead it was part of a clear strategy. And the view which so many found abhorent was also being widely echoed among the people who count: American electors... does Mr Trump says sober what other people say drunk?"
BBC World Service - The World This Week, Iraqi troops move into Ramadi centre - "Both have been partly been driven by a desire on behalf of their universities not to offend their students, which has left more than academic to ponder publicly what the point of a expensive and time-consuming period at university is if not to challenge, to probe, to stimulate and maybe, to once or twice along the way, to offend the sensibilities of students. More worrying for some is the thought thathis process of re-evaluation might never end. Dotted around the grand squares of London are statues of the men who, amongst other achievements. created and defended the British Empire. It wasn't always pretty. In Parliament Square, looking out over the Palace of Westminster, the statue of a militarist imperialist survives, for now. Supporters of Winston Churchill and the fight for democracy can, for the moment, breathe easy. It's not the job of the present, said one academic of the Rhodes row, to tick off the past. But our tussle with history is part of our wrestle with the present. And it might be difficult to conduct that argument with much vigor if you're constantly afraid of giving or taking offence"
BBC World Service - The World This Week, Turkey Shoots Down a Russian Bomber - "When the Syrians shot down a Turkish jet a few years ago which had entered Syrian airspace, President Erdogan's furious response was that a short-term border violation can never be a pretext for an attack. Ah. Ironic then that the image that stayed with me this week was the sight of a Russian bomber falling almost gracefully from the sky trailing a plume of smoke and flame. A Turkish plane had shot it down above the border with Syria...
Anastasia Lin said when she became Miss Canada earlier this year, that Chinese security services visited her father, who still lives in China. She said they threatened there would be consequences if she continued to speak out. 'Dad's really scared', she told the BBC. She said Miss World officials had also been bullied. Inside China the authorities have stamped out virtually all criticism of those who govern. The case of Anastasia Lin shows they're also trying to put pressure on critics beyond their borders. And the row over a simple sash in Austria makes it clear that no issue is too small for China when it comes to defending its position. A few years ago, Beijing expressed its approval when Britain changed its official position on Tibet. London previously recognised Chinese suzerainty over the Himalayan region. But that was amended to sovereignty. Just a few changed letters, but a world of difference to a Chinese diplomat. In the eyes of Britain, Tibet changed from being a tributary state of China to a part of China. The founder of Communist China Mao Zedong, quoted this week in the British Parliament, is the author of this attention to detail. Mao saw enemies everywhere and believed everything was political. He once said there was no such thing as art for art's sake: it had to serve the Revolution
current leaders don't see a beauty pageant as a simple parade of beauties"
'We'll break your phones and your bones': Journalists and JNU students attacked in court - "Mobs of lawyers thrashed journalists, with some even being attacked inside courtrooms, as they sought to send a message to anyone who was, in their eyes, a "traitor"... the scenes of violence in the court, with journalists being attacked in broad daylight, took place despite massive presence of police personnel throughout the court complex."
Why is British politics in an ‘Eton mess’? - "when Douglas Hurd ran against Major for the Tory leadership in 1990, he constantly had his Eton education used against him as a Bad Thing. So much so that in one interview he flipped, and said: ‘I thought I was running for the leadership of the Conservative Party, not some demented Marxist sect.’"
Snow Penis Causes 'Bias Incident' At Michigan U - "Michigan’s student life website defines bias incidents as “incidents that make people feel targeted because of their social identity group membership.” It’s unclear what group the reporting individual believes was targeted by the snow penis. “Based on this definition, it is unclear if the bias incident report was generated because of the perceived white male privilege displayed by the pearly member rising out up from the ground or because of inadequate sex representation as no efforts had been made to create a snow vagina.” A member of Michigan’s residential staff complained to the Review that it was “a little ridiculous” that a “phallic snow object” was taking up the time of campus officials. It’s unclear if Michigan has ever received a bias incident complaint for the throwing of “snowballs.”"
Germany: Traditional sausages banned in public canteens out of respect to Muslims claims Merkel ally - ""Vegetarians, vegans and Muslims are in a Holy Trinity: taking over power in Schleswig-Holstein canteens," deputy leader Ralf Stegner of the centre Social Democrat party mocked."
Emily Bright's answer to Without feminism, how do you make sure your autonomy isn't weaseled away? - Quora - "I frequently find myself disagreeing with the feminist voice. Not always, but more often than not. I think that in a lot of ways, feminism attempts to silence the voice of women who dissent from their opinion by grouping all women into a single entity like this... I don't find myself being silenced within antifeminist circles. I don't even find myself being silenced when I talk to MRAs. However, I do often find myself silenced by feminists by being outright blocked, told that I don't know what I'm talking about, or lumped into their sweeping generalizations"
Ahh... feminism and tolerance
Singing show tunes helps fight off dementia: study - "Researchers working with elderly residents at an East Coast care home found in a four-month long study found that people who sang their favorite songs showed a marked improvement compared to those who just listened. Among the songs sung during 50-minute sessions were hits from "The Wizard of Oz," "Oklahoma!" and "The Sound of Music.""
Jobs wanted in Australia: But not if they clash with golf - "A 58-year-old man was not prepared to work for three hours on Sundays because that was when he played golf.
A 19-year-old man turned down a job “to follow his dream of becoming an actor”.
A 26-year-old man refused a job because “he doesn’t work with chickens”.
A 50-year-old woman declined a receptionist position because of a “bad smell” in the office.
A 33-year-old man rejected car washing as “too difficult”.
A 23-year-old man refused to become a driver’s assistant because he wanted to drive."
Tired drivers as bad as drunk drivers - "driving for only three hours at night has a similar effect to driving under the influence of alcohol, and even two hours can be equivalent to a couple of drinks... up to 20 percent of traffic accidents in industrialized countries can be attributed to sleepiness while driving because of long periods behind the wheel, or because of the use of medicinal drugs."
If drunk drivers are jailed, why not sleepy ones?
Sikh group calls for politicians and media to stop using term 'Asian' to describe Rotherham grooming gang - "A Sikh group is urging the media and politicians not to describe the Rotherham grooming gang as “Asian” as the term is too vague and “besmirches” communities... “One of the demands in the Sikh Manifesto that we published a year ago before the General Election was that the government should encourage public bodies and the media to abandon the use of the term ‘Asian’ when describing perpetrators for reasons of political correctness. “If the four men that have been found guilty and carried out the abuse were Pakistani Muslims, this is how they should be described and not called Asian.”"
Muslim woman fined after lying about being attacked for wearing hijab - "The woman was given a £90 fine for wasting police time after officers even accompanied her to the scene to retrace her steps. Miss Choudhury said she was too scared to walk alone after the made-up attack and claimed Muslims were being targeted after the atrocities in the French capital"
Christian student kicked off Sheffield University course for anti-gay Facebook post - "Mr Ngole is appealing against the decision, but if it is not overturned it may prevent him from becoming a social worker. He believes the decision is an effective "bar to office for Christians" and that he may suffered discrimination. He said: "I wonder whether the university would have taken any action if a Muslim student who believes in Sharia law, with its teaching about women and homosexuality, had made moderate comments on his Facebook page. I don't think so.""
Why America’s obsession with STEM education is dangerous - "the United States has never done well on international tests, and they are not good predictors of our national success. Since 1964, when the first such exam was administered to 13-year-olds in 12 countries, Americahas lagged behind its peers, rarely rising above the middle of the pack and doing particularly poorly in science and math. And yet over these past five decades, that same laggard country has dominated the world of science, technology, research and innovation. Consider the same pattern in two other highly innovative countries, Sweden and Israel. Israel ranks first in the world in venture-capital investments as a percentage of GDP; the United States ranks second, and Sweden is sixth, ahead of Great Britain and Germany. These nations do well by most measures of innovation, such as research and development spending and the number of high-tech companies as a share of all public companies. Yet all three countries fare surprisingly poorly in the OECD test rankings... other than bad test-takers, their economies have a few important traits in common: They are flexible. Their work cultures are non-hierarchical and merit-based. All operate like young countries, with energy and dynamism. All three are open societies, happy to let in the world’s ideas, goods and services. And people in all three nations are confident — a characteristic that can be measured. Despite ranking 27th and 30th in math, respectively, American and Israeli students came out at the top in their belief in their math abilities... Companies often prefer strong basics to narrow expertise. Andrew Benett, a management consultant, surveyed 100 business leaders and found that 84 of them said they would rather hire smart, passionate people, even if they didn’t have the exact skills their companies needed... Twenty years ago, tech companies might have survived simply as product manufacturers. Now they have to be on the cutting edge of design, marketing and social networking. You can make a sneaker equally well in many parts of the world, but you can’t sell it for $300 unless you’ve built a story around it... In 2013, two Oxford scholars conducted a comprehensive study on employment and found that, for workers to avoid the computerization of their jobs, “they will have to acquire creative and social skills.”
Alejandro González Iñárritu on race at the Oscars: 'It's not just black and white' - "he urged society to “liberate ourselves from all prejudice” – and to make sure the “colour of our skin becomes as irrelevant as the length of our hair”"
Why would he want people to discriminate by race as much as by hair length? Maybe Hollywood doesn't discriminate by hair length
New study: Electric cars may be worse for the environment than gas-powered - "In monetary terms, electric cars are about half-a-cent worse per mile for the environment than gas-powered cars, on average. This means that if a government wants to tax a car based on how much it pollutes, electric cars should be taxed half of one cent more per mile driven than gasoline cars. Much depends on where the car is driven. Gas-powered cars do worse in congested urban areas. For example, in Los Angeles, electric cars are 3.3 cents per mile better for the environment than gas-powered cars. Outside of metropolitan areas, electric cars are 1.5 cents per mile worse than gas-powered. In Grand Forks, N.D., for example, electric cars are 3 cents per mile worse."
Electric cars 'pose environmental threat' - ""The production phase of electric vehicles proved substantially more environmentally intensive," the report said, comparing it to how petrol and diesel cars are made. "The global warming potential from electric vehicle production is about twice that of conventional vehicles." In addition, producing batteries and electric motors requires a lot of toxic minerals such as nickel, copper and aluminium. Hence, the acidification impact is much greater than that of conventional car production. "Across the other impacts considered in the analysis including potential for effects related to acid rain, airborne particulate matter, smog, human toxicity, ecosystem toxicity and depletion of fossil fuel and mineral resources, electric vehicles consistently perform worse or on par with modern internal combustion engine vehicles, despite virtually zero direct emissions during operation," according to Prof Stromman."
‘Use me’: outcry after scantily-clad women brave cold on streets of Beijing to promote phone app - "A publicity stunt has been strongly criticised on the internet in China after a group of women in their underwear braved the cold on the streets of Beijing to advertise a smartphone social media app. About 20 women wearing black underwear and high heels walked around the city’s business district promoting the product until they were stopped by security guards, the Beijing Times reported. The women all had the Chinese characters “use me” stamped on their back and computer scanning product codes on their buttocks... Police in Beijing briefly detained at least two foreigners dressed as Spartan warriors in July who took part in a publicity stunt on the streets of the capital to promote a salad company. Dozens of young foreign men dressed in tight leather shorts and flowing capes took part in the promotion."
PETA needs to go to China
BBC World Service - The World This Week, Iraqi troops move into Ramadi centre - "Both have been partly been driven by a desire on behalf of their universities not to offend their students, which has left more than academic to ponder publicly what the point of a expensive and time-consuming period at university is if not to challenge, to probe, to stimulate and maybe, to once or twice along the way, to offend the sensibilities of students. More worrying for some is the thought thathis process of re-evaluation might never end. Dotted around the grand squares of London are statues of the men who, amongst other achievements. created and defended the British Empire. It wasn't always pretty. In Parliament Square, looking out over the Palace of Westminster, the statue of a militarist imperialist survives, for now. Supporters of Winston Churchill and the fight for democracy can, for the moment, breathe easy. It's not the job of the present, said one academic of the Rhodes row, to tick off the past. But our tussle with history is part of our wrestle with the present. And it might be difficult to conduct that argument with much vigor if you're constantly afraid of giving or taking offence"
BBC World Service - The World This Week, Turkey Shoots Down a Russian Bomber - "When the Syrians shot down a Turkish jet a few years ago which had entered Syrian airspace, President Erdogan's furious response was that a short-term border violation can never be a pretext for an attack. Ah. Ironic then that the image that stayed with me this week was the sight of a Russian bomber falling almost gracefully from the sky trailing a plume of smoke and flame. A Turkish plane had shot it down above the border with Syria...
Anastasia Lin said when she became Miss Canada earlier this year, that Chinese security services visited her father, who still lives in China. She said they threatened there would be consequences if she continued to speak out. 'Dad's really scared', she told the BBC. She said Miss World officials had also been bullied. Inside China the authorities have stamped out virtually all criticism of those who govern. The case of Anastasia Lin shows they're also trying to put pressure on critics beyond their borders. And the row over a simple sash in Austria makes it clear that no issue is too small for China when it comes to defending its position. A few years ago, Beijing expressed its approval when Britain changed its official position on Tibet. London previously recognised Chinese suzerainty over the Himalayan region. But that was amended to sovereignty. Just a few changed letters, but a world of difference to a Chinese diplomat. In the eyes of Britain, Tibet changed from being a tributary state of China to a part of China. The founder of Communist China Mao Zedong, quoted this week in the British Parliament, is the author of this attention to detail. Mao saw enemies everywhere and believed everything was political. He once said there was no such thing as art for art's sake: it had to serve the Revolution
current leaders don't see a beauty pageant as a simple parade of beauties"
'We'll break your phones and your bones': Journalists and JNU students attacked in court - "Mobs of lawyers thrashed journalists, with some even being attacked inside courtrooms, as they sought to send a message to anyone who was, in their eyes, a "traitor"... the scenes of violence in the court, with journalists being attacked in broad daylight, took place despite massive presence of police personnel throughout the court complex."
Why is British politics in an ‘Eton mess’? - "when Douglas Hurd ran against Major for the Tory leadership in 1990, he constantly had his Eton education used against him as a Bad Thing. So much so that in one interview he flipped, and said: ‘I thought I was running for the leadership of the Conservative Party, not some demented Marxist sect.’"
Snow Penis Causes 'Bias Incident' At Michigan U - "Michigan’s student life website defines bias incidents as “incidents that make people feel targeted because of their social identity group membership.” It’s unclear what group the reporting individual believes was targeted by the snow penis. “Based on this definition, it is unclear if the bias incident report was generated because of the perceived white male privilege displayed by the pearly member rising out up from the ground or because of inadequate sex representation as no efforts had been made to create a snow vagina.” A member of Michigan’s residential staff complained to the Review that it was “a little ridiculous” that a “phallic snow object” was taking up the time of campus officials. It’s unclear if Michigan has ever received a bias incident complaint for the throwing of “snowballs.”"
Germany: Traditional sausages banned in public canteens out of respect to Muslims claims Merkel ally - ""Vegetarians, vegans and Muslims are in a Holy Trinity: taking over power in Schleswig-Holstein canteens," deputy leader Ralf Stegner of the centre Social Democrat party mocked."
Emily Bright's answer to Without feminism, how do you make sure your autonomy isn't weaseled away? - Quora - "I frequently find myself disagreeing with the feminist voice. Not always, but more often than not. I think that in a lot of ways, feminism attempts to silence the voice of women who dissent from their opinion by grouping all women into a single entity like this... I don't find myself being silenced within antifeminist circles. I don't even find myself being silenced when I talk to MRAs. However, I do often find myself silenced by feminists by being outright blocked, told that I don't know what I'm talking about, or lumped into their sweeping generalizations"
Ahh... feminism and tolerance
Singing show tunes helps fight off dementia: study - "Researchers working with elderly residents at an East Coast care home found in a four-month long study found that people who sang their favorite songs showed a marked improvement compared to those who just listened. Among the songs sung during 50-minute sessions were hits from "The Wizard of Oz," "Oklahoma!" and "The Sound of Music.""
Jobs wanted in Australia: But not if they clash with golf - "A 58-year-old man was not prepared to work for three hours on Sundays because that was when he played golf.
A 19-year-old man turned down a job “to follow his dream of becoming an actor”.
A 26-year-old man refused a job because “he doesn’t work with chickens”.
A 50-year-old woman declined a receptionist position because of a “bad smell” in the office.
A 33-year-old man rejected car washing as “too difficult”.
A 23-year-old man refused to become a driver’s assistant because he wanted to drive."
Tired drivers as bad as drunk drivers - "driving for only three hours at night has a similar effect to driving under the influence of alcohol, and even two hours can be equivalent to a couple of drinks... up to 20 percent of traffic accidents in industrialized countries can be attributed to sleepiness while driving because of long periods behind the wheel, or because of the use of medicinal drugs."
If drunk drivers are jailed, why not sleepy ones?
Sikh group calls for politicians and media to stop using term 'Asian' to describe Rotherham grooming gang - "A Sikh group is urging the media and politicians not to describe the Rotherham grooming gang as “Asian” as the term is too vague and “besmirches” communities... “One of the demands in the Sikh Manifesto that we published a year ago before the General Election was that the government should encourage public bodies and the media to abandon the use of the term ‘Asian’ when describing perpetrators for reasons of political correctness. “If the four men that have been found guilty and carried out the abuse were Pakistani Muslims, this is how they should be described and not called Asian.”"
Muslim woman fined after lying about being attacked for wearing hijab - "The woman was given a £90 fine for wasting police time after officers even accompanied her to the scene to retrace her steps. Miss Choudhury said she was too scared to walk alone after the made-up attack and claimed Muslims were being targeted after the atrocities in the French capital"
Christian student kicked off Sheffield University course for anti-gay Facebook post - "Mr Ngole is appealing against the decision, but if it is not overturned it may prevent him from becoming a social worker. He believes the decision is an effective "bar to office for Christians" and that he may suffered discrimination. He said: "I wonder whether the university would have taken any action if a Muslim student who believes in Sharia law, with its teaching about women and homosexuality, had made moderate comments on his Facebook page. I don't think so.""
Why America’s obsession with STEM education is dangerous - "the United States has never done well on international tests, and they are not good predictors of our national success. Since 1964, when the first such exam was administered to 13-year-olds in 12 countries, Americahas lagged behind its peers, rarely rising above the middle of the pack and doing particularly poorly in science and math. And yet over these past five decades, that same laggard country has dominated the world of science, technology, research and innovation. Consider the same pattern in two other highly innovative countries, Sweden and Israel. Israel ranks first in the world in venture-capital investments as a percentage of GDP; the United States ranks second, and Sweden is sixth, ahead of Great Britain and Germany. These nations do well by most measures of innovation, such as research and development spending and the number of high-tech companies as a share of all public companies. Yet all three countries fare surprisingly poorly in the OECD test rankings... other than bad test-takers, their economies have a few important traits in common: They are flexible. Their work cultures are non-hierarchical and merit-based. All operate like young countries, with energy and dynamism. All three are open societies, happy to let in the world’s ideas, goods and services. And people in all three nations are confident — a characteristic that can be measured. Despite ranking 27th and 30th in math, respectively, American and Israeli students came out at the top in their belief in their math abilities... Companies often prefer strong basics to narrow expertise. Andrew Benett, a management consultant, surveyed 100 business leaders and found that 84 of them said they would rather hire smart, passionate people, even if they didn’t have the exact skills their companies needed... Twenty years ago, tech companies might have survived simply as product manufacturers. Now they have to be on the cutting edge of design, marketing and social networking. You can make a sneaker equally well in many parts of the world, but you can’t sell it for $300 unless you’ve built a story around it... In 2013, two Oxford scholars conducted a comprehensive study on employment and found that, for workers to avoid the computerization of their jobs, “they will have to acquire creative and social skills.”
Alejandro González Iñárritu on race at the Oscars: 'It's not just black and white' - "he urged society to “liberate ourselves from all prejudice” – and to make sure the “colour of our skin becomes as irrelevant as the length of our hair”"
Why would he want people to discriminate by race as much as by hair length? Maybe Hollywood doesn't discriminate by hair length
New study: Electric cars may be worse for the environment than gas-powered - "In monetary terms, electric cars are about half-a-cent worse per mile for the environment than gas-powered cars, on average. This means that if a government wants to tax a car based on how much it pollutes, electric cars should be taxed half of one cent more per mile driven than gasoline cars. Much depends on where the car is driven. Gas-powered cars do worse in congested urban areas. For example, in Los Angeles, electric cars are 3.3 cents per mile better for the environment than gas-powered cars. Outside of metropolitan areas, electric cars are 1.5 cents per mile worse than gas-powered. In Grand Forks, N.D., for example, electric cars are 3 cents per mile worse."
Electric cars 'pose environmental threat' - ""The production phase of electric vehicles proved substantially more environmentally intensive," the report said, comparing it to how petrol and diesel cars are made. "The global warming potential from electric vehicle production is about twice that of conventional vehicles." In addition, producing batteries and electric motors requires a lot of toxic minerals such as nickel, copper and aluminium. Hence, the acidification impact is much greater than that of conventional car production. "Across the other impacts considered in the analysis including potential for effects related to acid rain, airborne particulate matter, smog, human toxicity, ecosystem toxicity and depletion of fossil fuel and mineral resources, electric vehicles consistently perform worse or on par with modern internal combustion engine vehicles, despite virtually zero direct emissions during operation," according to Prof Stromman."
‘Use me’: outcry after scantily-clad women brave cold on streets of Beijing to promote phone app - "A publicity stunt has been strongly criticised on the internet in China after a group of women in their underwear braved the cold on the streets of Beijing to advertise a smartphone social media app. About 20 women wearing black underwear and high heels walked around the city’s business district promoting the product until they were stopped by security guards, the Beijing Times reported. The women all had the Chinese characters “use me” stamped on their back and computer scanning product codes on their buttocks... Police in Beijing briefly detained at least two foreigners dressed as Spartan warriors in July who took part in a publicity stunt on the streets of the capital to promote a salad company. Dozens of young foreign men dressed in tight leather shorts and flowing capes took part in the promotion."
PETA needs to go to China
Post ID: 8819960179116337826
The Postman's Last Day
The postman was retiring and on his final day, some people on his route decided to thank him by giving him gifts.
On his last house on his route, a beautiful blonde lady comes out and asks if he'd like to come in with her.
The postman agrees and he ends up spending the night with her.
He wakes up the next morning to see her cooking breakfast for him.
He eats but when he finishes his coffee he sees a dollar bill at the bottom of the cup.
He asks her about it and she replies:: "Oh, when I told my husband we should do something for your retirement, he told me 'Fuck'em, give'em a dollar!'."
The blonde turns and smiles to the postman, "Breakfast was my idea!"
On his last house on his route, a beautiful blonde lady comes out and asks if he'd like to come in with her.
The postman agrees and he ends up spending the night with her.
He wakes up the next morning to see her cooking breakfast for him.
He eats but when he finishes his coffee he sees a dollar bill at the bottom of the cup.
He asks her about it and she replies:: "Oh, when I told my husband we should do something for your retirement, he told me 'Fuck'em, give'em a dollar!'."
The blonde turns and smiles to the postman, "Breakfast was my idea!"
Post ID: 941083317034401968
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Links - 10th March 2016
The StingRay’s tale | The Economist - "The Hailstorm is a more advanced version of the StingRay, a surveillance device that operates by mimicking a cellular tower, forcing all nearby mobile phones to reveal their unique identifying codes, known as IMSI numbers. By crosschecking the IMSI numbers of suspects’ phones with those collected by “cell-site simulators” such as Hailstorm and StingRay, police officers can pinpoint people with astonishing precision. The tools have been used to trail suspects to specific rooms in apartment blocks and to find them on moving buses on busy city streets. Developed at first for military and intelligence services, cell-site simulators are now furtively used by federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as well as by local police forces across the land."
Texas family releases shocking video of fatal deputy-involved shooting - "Footage of the terrifying encounter, which was captured on a home security camera, shows the two officers trying to coax Blair out of the bathroom he locked himself in after threatening suicide. But when the officers manage to open the door, they see Blair brandishing a knife. “He’s got a knife! He’s got a knife!” one cop yells. “Stay down! Stay down!” But Blair shuts the door on the officers, who kick it back open. “I do not want to shoot you,” one deputy tell him. “I do not want to shoot you.” The officers ordered Blair to drop the knife about 50 times until one of the officers fired a Taser at the emotionally disturbed man. “Keep Tasing, keep Tasing,” one deputy tells his partner. “Drop the knife! Drop the knife!” But, suddenly, the blade-wielding man stands up and appears to lunge towards one officer — who opened fire, striking Blair 11 times... The officers were later cleared of any wrongdoing after an internal investigation and, later, when the case was presented in front of a grand jury."
Poor police officers
"There seems to be this romantic notion that a police officer can shoot a suspect non-fatally to avoid unnecessary death. It's not widely known, but even after being shot in the heart or brain, humans can still act for a few seconds, longer still if they are on some kind of stimulant. In those few seconds, a rapidly moving attacker can still do a lot of damage. Perhaps some of you might have experience dealing with drug-intoxicated aggressive individuals? I do. They have unnatural speed and strength, and can mount immense aggression."
Here's Why Cops Often Shoot Suspects Multiple Times - "But the public should not focus too heavily on the number of times Brown was shot, two experts on police force told us. It sounds excessive when you hear that a police officer shot a suspect multiple times, but these experts say cops often have very good reasons for doing so. “Hollywood has us believing that if you shoot someone once or twice, they fall,” former police chief Chuck Drago told BI over the phone. But, he added, “I’ve seen people shot many times, and they don’t even slow down.” Police often keep firing because they don’t even realize they hit the person, Drago says. Cops are also taught to fire three times before reassessing the threat — a procedure known as “triple tap,” according to Dr. Daniel Kennedy, a forensic criminologist."
Stunning video: African family shown how to use toilet in their new flat as homeless veteran freezes to death in street - "After being evicted from the hospital, Sture first took to a public toilet, but there he was chased away by foreign beggars. He then turned back to the hospital and sat down at the bench at the bus stop where he froze to death during the night, when the temperature was about 12-14 degrees below zero. RIP Sture, and shame on Sweden!"
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "Kyary explained her stage name in a Japanese MTV interview. Wearing blonde wigs as a fashion affectation in high school, a friend began calling her "Kyari" because she embraced Western culture and seemed "like a foreign girl". The name stuck. Upon starting her blog, she felt the name "Kyari" — a phonetic Japanese spelling of the Western name "Carrie" — was too short, and "missing something". She added "Pamyu Pamyu" because it sounded cute. She states her full stage name as "Caroline Charonplop Kyary Pamyu Pamyu" (きゃろらいんちゃろんぷろっぷきゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ Kyarorain Charonpuroppu Kyarī Pamyu Pamyu)"
Dorothy Parker martini poem: Why the attribution is spurious. - "In 1959, an undergraduate humor magazine at the university founded by Thomas Jefferson published a column of gags that included a certain quatrain:
I wish I could drink like a lady.
"Two or three," at the most.
But two, and I'm under the table—
And three, I'm under the host."
Change Your Account's Gender in Web Services to Avoid Annoying Advertisements - "After switching my gender to Female, Pandora showed me nothing but birth control ads, which, while not exactly applicable to me, were a whole lot less annoying than the over-animated, window-usurping Bud Light ads I was getting before."
Vagina kung-fu master wants to women to empower themselves through vaginal weightlifting - "Anami says that without a device inserted into the vagina, which she claims is how Dr Kegel originally intended them to be performed, they are useless. Explaining her technique, she writes: “This is the equivalent to me going to the gym, staring at the weight rack, and waving my arms and legs wildly in the air. Then I wipe the imaginary sweat off my brow, congratulate myself on a ‘Great workout!’ and go home.” Anami believes her method of vaginal weightlifting will increase libido, give you and your partner orgasms and – added bonus – allow you to “ejaculate across the room - every woman can.”"
Under China's New Law, Divorced Women Can End Up Homeless - TIME - "In China, nothing quite kills the romance like the threat of losing real estate. Last month, the country's Supreme Court rolled out a new interpretation of China's Marriage Law that changes the way property disputes are handled after a divorce. Since then, couples across China have been thinking more seriously about tying the knot: in the southwest city of Chongqing alone, marriage registrations fell by 30% in the weeks after the changes were made."
People respond to incentives. Even with regard to marriage and family life
Star Wars: The Empire Strips Back
Halal certification bad for business because we can’t sell alcohol, Sabah seafood restaurant owners say - "With fresh seafood being one of the state’s attractions, some seafood restaurants have said it does not want to lose out on potential tourist dollars or any side income it may get from selling alcohol and cigarettes... Another popular outlet, Welcome Seafood Restaurant, appeals to Muslims by having a separate kitchen that did not serve pork and specified green tables which its Muslim clientele may feel more comfortable dining in."
Five privacy questions for Singapore's gantry-free ERP system - "In an exchange of letters in the media in 2001, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) rather contradicted itself when it claimed it did not track all the vehicles passing through or kept records of them. If so, it was a mystery how the LTA had once issued refunds to those who were wrongly charged by the system. How did it identify these vehicles? If the authorities were not clear then about the way data was collected and stored, what about now, when there’s the added ability to also analyse the data? Sadly, the LTA has so far not been clear either. Almost as a side note to the big news of this impressive satellite tracking technology, it has been telling people not to worry so much."
What Do We Know About the Association Between Firearm Legislation and Firearm-Related Injuries? - " Evidence from 130 studies in 10 countries suggests that in certain nations the simultaneous implementation of laws targeting multiple firearms restrictions is associated with reductions in firearm deaths. Laws restricting the purchase of (e.g., background checks) and access to (e.g., safer storage) firearms are also associated with lower rates of intimate partner homicides and firearm unintentional deaths in children, respectively"
Why Some Healthy Foods Are Not Sustainable
Between health, sustainability, organic, animal cruelty and Fairtrade, you might as well starve to death
Backlash against Olympics, IOC demands is about much more than Rio woes - "During the bidding process for the 2022 Winter Games, five cities that expressed interest in bidding abandoned their candidacies because voters or the government wouldn't accept the financial risk. Many of them also blamed the IOC's demands and even "arrogance." Jeff Ruffolo, an American who helped Beijing operate the 2008 Summer Games and make its 2022 bid successful, called the bidding process "a joke." "Everybody's laughing about it except for the people in Lausanne," Ruffolo told the Guardian, referring to the IOC's headquarters in Switzerland. "They don't realize they are riding a dead horse." The specter of many of the world's major cities balking at chasing the Olympics was prophesized back in 2002, when then-IOC president Jacques Rogge acknowledged a "need to streamline costs and scale down the Games so the host cities are not limited to wealthy metropolises. The scale of the Games is a threat to their quality"... London ran up a $15 billion cost overrun in 2012. Now Tokyo, host of the 2020 Summer Games, has already decided it can't afford the stadium that was a centerpiece of its bid. The plans were scrapped in July amid howls of protest. "Does the IOC care?" Short asks. "What's happened is a classic lesson from the global financial crisis: If you're not responsible for risk, you do stupid things. But many cities are recalculating. That could finally be the crunch"... mass withdrawals from the 2022 Winter Games bidding left the IOC with a choice between only Almaty, Kazakhstan, and a return to Beijing, which will have to manufacture massive amounts of snow and is as far as 90 miles from the mountains that will host events. What do the former Soviet Republic and China have in common? "They're two of the worst places for human rights in the world," Short says. "A lot of European cities are having a hard time getting the choice to bid on the Games past voters. Boston also said no. So what you're left with are countries desperate for recognition and a boost in prestige. Or cities from nondemocratic, totalitarian countries where there are no voter referendums"... Short, in an op-ed piece for The Washington Post, advocates a more radical approach. It's a fresh, somewhat utopian twist on an old idea that never launched and isn't under serious discussion now: staging the Summer Games in a permanent site near Athens, the ancestral home of the Olympics. Short proposes making the IOC pay -- for a change -- for the construction, facility maintenance and staging of the Games at a green, sustainably built, multivenue complex on one of Greek's many islands and that it be used for other cultural and athletic purposes year-round."
'Ruin Porn' --- the Aftermath of the Beijing Olympics - The New York Times - "In Athens, site of the 2004 Summer Games, 21 of the 22 stadiums were reported to be unoccupied by 2009. Some even blame the Greek financial crisis, in part, on the $15 billion cost of the Games. The poster child of ill-conceived venues is undoubtedly the main Olympic Stadium in Montreal. A report on Canadian Broadcasting said the stadium became “a familiar mix of tragedy and farce,” the brainchild of Jean Drapeau, the late mayor who was “widely portrayed here as a megalomaniac who led Montreal over a cliff.”"
40% of Millennials OK with limiting speech offensive to minorities - "Even though a larger share of Millennials favor allowing offensive speech against minorities, the 40% who oppose it is striking given that only around a quarter of Gen Xers (27%) and Boomers (24%) and roughly one-in-ten Silents (12%) say the government should be able to prevent such speech... Nearly twice as many Democrats say the government should be able to stop speech against minorities (35%) compared with Republicans (18%). Independents, as is often the case, find themselves in the middle. One-third of all women say the government should be able to curtail speech that is offensive to minorities vs. 23% of men who say the same. Furthermore, Americans who have a high school degree or less are more likely than those with at least a college degree to say that speech offensive to minority groups should be able to be restricted (a 9-percentage-point difference)."
Unsurprisingly, Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to support censorship to 'protect' 'minorities'. And those with a college degree are more likely to support censorship. Yet more proof that Modern Liberals have betrayed the Enlightenment
BBC World Service - The World This Week, Chinese President Xi Jinping courts a willing Britain - "They will not support the Springboks. They will support their opponents. And that reminded me of a time in the 80s when we grew up, I grew up under apartheid Emily as you know. And there was a big boxing fight here between an African American boxer known as John Tate against a local white Afrikaner heavyweight champion Gerrie Coetzee. And in the suburbs where white people lived... they supported Gerrie Coetzee, who was the South African. And in the townships we were supporting a man we didn't know, we've never met called John Tate. purely because he was black. And that's how people felt when the Springbok left for the Rugby World Cup"
Texas family releases shocking video of fatal deputy-involved shooting - "Footage of the terrifying encounter, which was captured on a home security camera, shows the two officers trying to coax Blair out of the bathroom he locked himself in after threatening suicide. But when the officers manage to open the door, they see Blair brandishing a knife. “He’s got a knife! He’s got a knife!” one cop yells. “Stay down! Stay down!” But Blair shuts the door on the officers, who kick it back open. “I do not want to shoot you,” one deputy tell him. “I do not want to shoot you.” The officers ordered Blair to drop the knife about 50 times until one of the officers fired a Taser at the emotionally disturbed man. “Keep Tasing, keep Tasing,” one deputy tells his partner. “Drop the knife! Drop the knife!” But, suddenly, the blade-wielding man stands up and appears to lunge towards one officer — who opened fire, striking Blair 11 times... The officers were later cleared of any wrongdoing after an internal investigation and, later, when the case was presented in front of a grand jury."
Poor police officers
"There seems to be this romantic notion that a police officer can shoot a suspect non-fatally to avoid unnecessary death. It's not widely known, but even after being shot in the heart or brain, humans can still act for a few seconds, longer still if they are on some kind of stimulant. In those few seconds, a rapidly moving attacker can still do a lot of damage. Perhaps some of you might have experience dealing with drug-intoxicated aggressive individuals? I do. They have unnatural speed and strength, and can mount immense aggression."
Here's Why Cops Often Shoot Suspects Multiple Times - "But the public should not focus too heavily on the number of times Brown was shot, two experts on police force told us. It sounds excessive when you hear that a police officer shot a suspect multiple times, but these experts say cops often have very good reasons for doing so. “Hollywood has us believing that if you shoot someone once or twice, they fall,” former police chief Chuck Drago told BI over the phone. But, he added, “I’ve seen people shot many times, and they don’t even slow down.” Police often keep firing because they don’t even realize they hit the person, Drago says. Cops are also taught to fire three times before reassessing the threat — a procedure known as “triple tap,” according to Dr. Daniel Kennedy, a forensic criminologist."
Stunning video: African family shown how to use toilet in their new flat as homeless veteran freezes to death in street - "After being evicted from the hospital, Sture first took to a public toilet, but there he was chased away by foreign beggars. He then turned back to the hospital and sat down at the bench at the bus stop where he froze to death during the night, when the temperature was about 12-14 degrees below zero. RIP Sture, and shame on Sweden!"
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "Kyary explained her stage name in a Japanese MTV interview. Wearing blonde wigs as a fashion affectation in high school, a friend began calling her "Kyari" because she embraced Western culture and seemed "like a foreign girl". The name stuck. Upon starting her blog, she felt the name "Kyari" — a phonetic Japanese spelling of the Western name "Carrie" — was too short, and "missing something". She added "Pamyu Pamyu" because it sounded cute. She states her full stage name as "Caroline Charonplop Kyary Pamyu Pamyu" (きゃろらいんちゃろんぷろっぷきゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ Kyarorain Charonpuroppu Kyarī Pamyu Pamyu)"
Dorothy Parker martini poem: Why the attribution is spurious. - "In 1959, an undergraduate humor magazine at the university founded by Thomas Jefferson published a column of gags that included a certain quatrain:
I wish I could drink like a lady.
"Two or three," at the most.
But two, and I'm under the table—
And three, I'm under the host."
Change Your Account's Gender in Web Services to Avoid Annoying Advertisements - "After switching my gender to Female, Pandora showed me nothing but birth control ads, which, while not exactly applicable to me, were a whole lot less annoying than the over-animated, window-usurping Bud Light ads I was getting before."
Vagina kung-fu master wants to women to empower themselves through vaginal weightlifting - "Anami says that without a device inserted into the vagina, which she claims is how Dr Kegel originally intended them to be performed, they are useless. Explaining her technique, she writes: “This is the equivalent to me going to the gym, staring at the weight rack, and waving my arms and legs wildly in the air. Then I wipe the imaginary sweat off my brow, congratulate myself on a ‘Great workout!’ and go home.” Anami believes her method of vaginal weightlifting will increase libido, give you and your partner orgasms and – added bonus – allow you to “ejaculate across the room - every woman can.”"
Under China's New Law, Divorced Women Can End Up Homeless - TIME - "In China, nothing quite kills the romance like the threat of losing real estate. Last month, the country's Supreme Court rolled out a new interpretation of China's Marriage Law that changes the way property disputes are handled after a divorce. Since then, couples across China have been thinking more seriously about tying the knot: in the southwest city of Chongqing alone, marriage registrations fell by 30% in the weeks after the changes were made."
People respond to incentives. Even with regard to marriage and family life
Star Wars: The Empire Strips Back
Halal certification bad for business because we can’t sell alcohol, Sabah seafood restaurant owners say - "With fresh seafood being one of the state’s attractions, some seafood restaurants have said it does not want to lose out on potential tourist dollars or any side income it may get from selling alcohol and cigarettes... Another popular outlet, Welcome Seafood Restaurant, appeals to Muslims by having a separate kitchen that did not serve pork and specified green tables which its Muslim clientele may feel more comfortable dining in."
Five privacy questions for Singapore's gantry-free ERP system - "In an exchange of letters in the media in 2001, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) rather contradicted itself when it claimed it did not track all the vehicles passing through or kept records of them. If so, it was a mystery how the LTA had once issued refunds to those who were wrongly charged by the system. How did it identify these vehicles? If the authorities were not clear then about the way data was collected and stored, what about now, when there’s the added ability to also analyse the data? Sadly, the LTA has so far not been clear either. Almost as a side note to the big news of this impressive satellite tracking technology, it has been telling people not to worry so much."
What Do We Know About the Association Between Firearm Legislation and Firearm-Related Injuries? - " Evidence from 130 studies in 10 countries suggests that in certain nations the simultaneous implementation of laws targeting multiple firearms restrictions is associated with reductions in firearm deaths. Laws restricting the purchase of (e.g., background checks) and access to (e.g., safer storage) firearms are also associated with lower rates of intimate partner homicides and firearm unintentional deaths in children, respectively"
Why Some Healthy Foods Are Not Sustainable
Between health, sustainability, organic, animal cruelty and Fairtrade, you might as well starve to death
Backlash against Olympics, IOC demands is about much more than Rio woes - "During the bidding process for the 2022 Winter Games, five cities that expressed interest in bidding abandoned their candidacies because voters or the government wouldn't accept the financial risk. Many of them also blamed the IOC's demands and even "arrogance." Jeff Ruffolo, an American who helped Beijing operate the 2008 Summer Games and make its 2022 bid successful, called the bidding process "a joke." "Everybody's laughing about it except for the people in Lausanne," Ruffolo told the Guardian, referring to the IOC's headquarters in Switzerland. "They don't realize they are riding a dead horse." The specter of many of the world's major cities balking at chasing the Olympics was prophesized back in 2002, when then-IOC president Jacques Rogge acknowledged a "need to streamline costs and scale down the Games so the host cities are not limited to wealthy metropolises. The scale of the Games is a threat to their quality"... London ran up a $15 billion cost overrun in 2012. Now Tokyo, host of the 2020 Summer Games, has already decided it can't afford the stadium that was a centerpiece of its bid. The plans were scrapped in July amid howls of protest. "Does the IOC care?" Short asks. "What's happened is a classic lesson from the global financial crisis: If you're not responsible for risk, you do stupid things. But many cities are recalculating. That could finally be the crunch"... mass withdrawals from the 2022 Winter Games bidding left the IOC with a choice between only Almaty, Kazakhstan, and a return to Beijing, which will have to manufacture massive amounts of snow and is as far as 90 miles from the mountains that will host events. What do the former Soviet Republic and China have in common? "They're two of the worst places for human rights in the world," Short says. "A lot of European cities are having a hard time getting the choice to bid on the Games past voters. Boston also said no. So what you're left with are countries desperate for recognition and a boost in prestige. Or cities from nondemocratic, totalitarian countries where there are no voter referendums"... Short, in an op-ed piece for The Washington Post, advocates a more radical approach. It's a fresh, somewhat utopian twist on an old idea that never launched and isn't under serious discussion now: staging the Summer Games in a permanent site near Athens, the ancestral home of the Olympics. Short proposes making the IOC pay -- for a change -- for the construction, facility maintenance and staging of the Games at a green, sustainably built, multivenue complex on one of Greek's many islands and that it be used for other cultural and athletic purposes year-round."
'Ruin Porn' --- the Aftermath of the Beijing Olympics - The New York Times - "In Athens, site of the 2004 Summer Games, 21 of the 22 stadiums were reported to be unoccupied by 2009. Some even blame the Greek financial crisis, in part, on the $15 billion cost of the Games. The poster child of ill-conceived venues is undoubtedly the main Olympic Stadium in Montreal. A report on Canadian Broadcasting said the stadium became “a familiar mix of tragedy and farce,” the brainchild of Jean Drapeau, the late mayor who was “widely portrayed here as a megalomaniac who led Montreal over a cliff.”"
40% of Millennials OK with limiting speech offensive to minorities - "Even though a larger share of Millennials favor allowing offensive speech against minorities, the 40% who oppose it is striking given that only around a quarter of Gen Xers (27%) and Boomers (24%) and roughly one-in-ten Silents (12%) say the government should be able to prevent such speech... Nearly twice as many Democrats say the government should be able to stop speech against minorities (35%) compared with Republicans (18%). Independents, as is often the case, find themselves in the middle. One-third of all women say the government should be able to curtail speech that is offensive to minorities vs. 23% of men who say the same. Furthermore, Americans who have a high school degree or less are more likely than those with at least a college degree to say that speech offensive to minority groups should be able to be restricted (a 9-percentage-point difference)."
Unsurprisingly, Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to support censorship to 'protect' 'minorities'. And those with a college degree are more likely to support censorship. Yet more proof that Modern Liberals have betrayed the Enlightenment
BBC World Service - The World This Week, Chinese President Xi Jinping courts a willing Britain - "They will not support the Springboks. They will support their opponents. And that reminded me of a time in the 80s when we grew up, I grew up under apartheid Emily as you know. And there was a big boxing fight here between an African American boxer known as John Tate against a local white Afrikaner heavyweight champion Gerrie Coetzee. And in the suburbs where white people lived... they supported Gerrie Coetzee, who was the South African. And in the townships we were supporting a man we didn't know, we've never met called John Tate. purely because he was black. And that's how people felt when the Springbok left for the Rugby World Cup"
Post ID: 7348877650777123916
Malay Marginalisation in Singapore
Basheer Khan - "The Malay community in Singapore is facing...
""The Malay community in Singapore is facing tremendous socio-economic pressures. Despite gains made, one can still observe a general lagging in comparison to other races. The factors are many and the situation is complex.
Given the situation, the "marginalisation thesis" took root. It is a one-dimensional argument: that there is a systematic effort to push the Malay community to the margins. Although one cannot deny that some aspects of Malay underdevelopment has got to do with the effects of certain policies, the "marginalisation thesis" reduces a complex phenomenon to a single blame-factor - the government - which is said to be largely responsible for the state of affairs of the Malay community.
Seductive as this may be as an explanation, one must question this by pointing out how it fails to take into account a myriad of other factors, which may or may not be within the control of the government. Yet, time and time again, the "marginalisation thesis" has been exploited by certain groups with an interest not for the betterment of the community, but for an ideological goal which is expressedly and exclusively ethno-religio-centric, with political undertone. I am wary of this utilisation of the "marginalisation thesis", even as I question some aspects of the argument, as proposed by some scholars.
Recently, a friend shared with me a Whatsapp message that is circulating among Muslim circles in Jakarta. The message calls for Muslims not to elect Ahok (the current non-Muslim and Chinese Jakarta governor). What is interesting is the citing of Singapore Malay's condition as an example of why Muslims must not allow a non-Muslim Chinese to rule over them: it will lead to the marginalisation of the Muslims, like how Malay Muslims in Singapore are "oppressed" by the Chinese non-Muslim government of PAP.
This transition from a "marginalised community" to an "oppressed community" is both amusing and worrying. Are Malays really oppressed in Singapore? Recently, I hosted a group of Malay students from Malaysia to observe and have a snapshot of Singapore, including talking to local Malays and being briefed on various aspects of Malay life in Singapore. Sure, there are issues and problems, but to call the Malays in Singapore as "marginalised" and "oppressed" seems to be largely an exaggeration that serves more of the political interest of racial/religious politics in Malaysia, and now in Jakarta. Of course, this is not to say that Singapore does not utilise its own "bogeyman" across the north and south for its own local politics. But the persistent exaggeration of the Malay condition in Singapore will not bode well for local Malays who can be swayed by such irresponsible stoking of sentiments and be dragged into the racial/religious politics elsewhere.
My worry is this: it will develop a victim-mentality that can absolve responsibility and blind analysts to other factors and dynamics in society. This will create a wedge that can cause the community to withdraw and be on a siege-mentality that will rob it of the confidence to deal with the problems facing the community, and instead be distracted by some grand conspiratorial charges, including falling into some right-wing etho-chauvinist and religious fundamentalist agenda.
Won't this give more reasons for the state to harp on the issue of "Malays are not integrating"? "
An interesting read into the Malay "marginalisation" dilemma in Singapore"
A: I don't know about you but I find that at times, this 'marginalization' is a self imposed act.
Growing up, I've always been told that we got the short end of the stick but then watched the same people who tell me that just sit back and wallow in self-pity, take potshots at those who do better than them and expect the same people whom they just 'potshot'-ed to give them hand outs.
B: How well have the privileged Malays done in Malaysia? I believe, they have been handicapped in life. For the non Malays that have been marginalized, they have to survive and become more competitive. It has everything to do with attitude
C: The marginalization of Malays is due to several factors. Yes - the Gov has its fair share of blame BUT let us NOT forget that the Malays too, contribute to their own marginalization by insisting on Islamic purity. Let me be the Devil's Advocate here and ask - had the Malays been Buddhists, would they be marginalised ? Of course not ! They would have inter-married with the Chinese and would fit right in. Indeed that is precisely what happened in Thailand. There is hardly a problem between the Chinese and the indigenous Thais because both share very similar religious practices. The Malays however, insist on Islamic purity and that keeps them isolated from integrating with the rest of the nation. I dare say this - coz its plain obvious to all and sundry.
Indeed this marginalization of the Malays is NOT unique to Malays. When Conservative Muslims live in a Non Muslim majority environment, they face severe issues involving integration, marginalization etc. Why ? Because Conservative Muslims try very hard to maintain "Islamic purity".
In conclusion - one MAJOR factor in the marginalization of the Malays is precisely their desire to maintain "Islamic purity". That is something for all of us to think about.
Of course - Islamic purity is precisely the one thing that the Malays will not sacrifice. So the wayang goes on year after year. As much as I hate to admit it, perhaps there was some truth to Hard Truths...
D: You mean like those Muslims who migrated from a 3rd world country to the west. Don't want to integrate but insist on their host country to adopt Sharia Law?
E: The victim mentality is dominant in the Gulf countries.
Addendum:
F: Like many here said - yes the government shares some blame but on the other hand the community has to meet everyone else halfway.
I was at first apprehensive about the counterpoint to the marginalization thesis that places some responsibility on the community itself because of unfortunate potential implications, until I heard some very close Malay friends lament about the exact same thing regarding other Malays with my own ears.
From what I understand, much of the community has this 'crab mentality', where they cannot accept that maybe a fellow member is able to break free of the mold and prosper on their own terms in spite of the odds. They simply *cannot* just be happy for and supportive of their peer's success and *must* find a way to pull that person back down and explain away their success like, "Oh he must know the right people", "Oh, he must have sucked up to the Chinese business partners and abandon the values of his own people" (and this one is particular was an especially blatant lie)...
...and the ever-favourite "Which bomoh he went to ah? So powerful one."
No - these people took the plunge, made the leap of faith, worked their butts off to get where they are, often not for selfiah reasons but to provide a better life for their families (in particular single guys trying to provide for their elderly parents) - and people only know how to criticize their career choicrs, or being a sell-out or - when they have run out of things to point at - their unmarried status.
...and it's not just in the realm of social success but also in other things, like the right to wear hijab. I was one of those who harped on and on about how solutions to integrate the hijab with uniforms (such as basically designing a uniform-centric hijab for Muslim employees to use) are well within reach if institutions could only just be bothered, until I realized that layered inside the community was, inversely, another group fighting for the right NOT to wear hijab (citing personal or medical reasons), and I would be doing them no favour.
My BF's mother, for example, is asthmatic and very sensitive to hot weather. She is all for those who feel the conviction to wear the hijab but she herself prefers not to when going outdoors because the stuffiness aggravates her condition and causes shortness of breath and energy - meaning any outing in which she has to wear the hijab has to be cut short at some point because she will need to go home and recuperate.
Unfortunately, she is caught between a rock and a hard place because whenever she steps out she stands to get judged left-right-centre by a lot of people who don't care to sympathize with her condition and instead harp on her exposed head - to the point that it actually affects her freedom to go outdoors and socialize because she doesn't want to be 'caught' by someone she knows.
""The Malay community in Singapore is facing tremendous socio-economic pressures. Despite gains made, one can still observe a general lagging in comparison to other races. The factors are many and the situation is complex.
Given the situation, the "marginalisation thesis" took root. It is a one-dimensional argument: that there is a systematic effort to push the Malay community to the margins. Although one cannot deny that some aspects of Malay underdevelopment has got to do with the effects of certain policies, the "marginalisation thesis" reduces a complex phenomenon to a single blame-factor - the government - which is said to be largely responsible for the state of affairs of the Malay community.
Seductive as this may be as an explanation, one must question this by pointing out how it fails to take into account a myriad of other factors, which may or may not be within the control of the government. Yet, time and time again, the "marginalisation thesis" has been exploited by certain groups with an interest not for the betterment of the community, but for an ideological goal which is expressedly and exclusively ethno-religio-centric, with political undertone. I am wary of this utilisation of the "marginalisation thesis", even as I question some aspects of the argument, as proposed by some scholars.
Recently, a friend shared with me a Whatsapp message that is circulating among Muslim circles in Jakarta. The message calls for Muslims not to elect Ahok (the current non-Muslim and Chinese Jakarta governor). What is interesting is the citing of Singapore Malay's condition as an example of why Muslims must not allow a non-Muslim Chinese to rule over them: it will lead to the marginalisation of the Muslims, like how Malay Muslims in Singapore are "oppressed" by the Chinese non-Muslim government of PAP.
This transition from a "marginalised community" to an "oppressed community" is both amusing and worrying. Are Malays really oppressed in Singapore? Recently, I hosted a group of Malay students from Malaysia to observe and have a snapshot of Singapore, including talking to local Malays and being briefed on various aspects of Malay life in Singapore. Sure, there are issues and problems, but to call the Malays in Singapore as "marginalised" and "oppressed" seems to be largely an exaggeration that serves more of the political interest of racial/religious politics in Malaysia, and now in Jakarta. Of course, this is not to say that Singapore does not utilise its own "bogeyman" across the north and south for its own local politics. But the persistent exaggeration of the Malay condition in Singapore will not bode well for local Malays who can be swayed by such irresponsible stoking of sentiments and be dragged into the racial/religious politics elsewhere.
My worry is this: it will develop a victim-mentality that can absolve responsibility and blind analysts to other factors and dynamics in society. This will create a wedge that can cause the community to withdraw and be on a siege-mentality that will rob it of the confidence to deal with the problems facing the community, and instead be distracted by some grand conspiratorial charges, including falling into some right-wing etho-chauvinist and religious fundamentalist agenda.
Won't this give more reasons for the state to harp on the issue of "Malays are not integrating"? "
An interesting read into the Malay "marginalisation" dilemma in Singapore"
A: I don't know about you but I find that at times, this 'marginalization' is a self imposed act.
Growing up, I've always been told that we got the short end of the stick but then watched the same people who tell me that just sit back and wallow in self-pity, take potshots at those who do better than them and expect the same people whom they just 'potshot'-ed to give them hand outs.
B: How well have the privileged Malays done in Malaysia? I believe, they have been handicapped in life. For the non Malays that have been marginalized, they have to survive and become more competitive. It has everything to do with attitude
C: The marginalization of Malays is due to several factors. Yes - the Gov has its fair share of blame BUT let us NOT forget that the Malays too, contribute to their own marginalization by insisting on Islamic purity. Let me be the Devil's Advocate here and ask - had the Malays been Buddhists, would they be marginalised ? Of course not ! They would have inter-married with the Chinese and would fit right in. Indeed that is precisely what happened in Thailand. There is hardly a problem between the Chinese and the indigenous Thais because both share very similar religious practices. The Malays however, insist on Islamic purity and that keeps them isolated from integrating with the rest of the nation. I dare say this - coz its plain obvious to all and sundry.
Indeed this marginalization of the Malays is NOT unique to Malays. When Conservative Muslims live in a Non Muslim majority environment, they face severe issues involving integration, marginalization etc. Why ? Because Conservative Muslims try very hard to maintain "Islamic purity".
In conclusion - one MAJOR factor in the marginalization of the Malays is precisely their desire to maintain "Islamic purity". That is something for all of us to think about.
Of course - Islamic purity is precisely the one thing that the Malays will not sacrifice. So the wayang goes on year after year. As much as I hate to admit it, perhaps there was some truth to Hard Truths...
D: You mean like those Muslims who migrated from a 3rd world country to the west. Don't want to integrate but insist on their host country to adopt Sharia Law?
E: The victim mentality is dominant in the Gulf countries.
Addendum:
F: Like many here said - yes the government shares some blame but on the other hand the community has to meet everyone else halfway.
I was at first apprehensive about the counterpoint to the marginalization thesis that places some responsibility on the community itself because of unfortunate potential implications, until I heard some very close Malay friends lament about the exact same thing regarding other Malays with my own ears.
From what I understand, much of the community has this 'crab mentality', where they cannot accept that maybe a fellow member is able to break free of the mold and prosper on their own terms in spite of the odds. They simply *cannot* just be happy for and supportive of their peer's success and *must* find a way to pull that person back down and explain away their success like, "Oh he must know the right people", "Oh, he must have sucked up to the Chinese business partners and abandon the values of his own people" (and this one is particular was an especially blatant lie)...
...and the ever-favourite "Which bomoh he went to ah? So powerful one."
No - these people took the plunge, made the leap of faith, worked their butts off to get where they are, often not for selfiah reasons but to provide a better life for their families (in particular single guys trying to provide for their elderly parents) - and people only know how to criticize their career choicrs, or being a sell-out or - when they have run out of things to point at - their unmarried status.
...and it's not just in the realm of social success but also in other things, like the right to wear hijab. I was one of those who harped on and on about how solutions to integrate the hijab with uniforms (such as basically designing a uniform-centric hijab for Muslim employees to use) are well within reach if institutions could only just be bothered, until I realized that layered inside the community was, inversely, another group fighting for the right NOT to wear hijab (citing personal or medical reasons), and I would be doing them no favour.
My BF's mother, for example, is asthmatic and very sensitive to hot weather. She is all for those who feel the conviction to wear the hijab but she herself prefers not to when going outdoors because the stuffiness aggravates her condition and causes shortness of breath and energy - meaning any outing in which she has to wear the hijab has to be cut short at some point because she will need to go home and recuperate.
Unfortunately, she is caught between a rock and a hard place because whenever she steps out she stands to get judged left-right-centre by a lot of people who don't care to sympathize with her condition and instead harp on her exposed head - to the point that it actually affects her freedom to go outdoors and socialize because she doesn't want to be 'caught' by someone she knows.
Post ID: 2278630518996990889
Tuesday, March 08, 2016
Links - 8th March 2016
5 myths about Trump supporters - "Many conservatives love Trump, but they’re not alone — and his appeal spans ideologies in ways his rivals can’t match. Cruz’s support tanks among self-identified moderates, and Rubio struggles for a significant foothold among those who self-identify as very conservative, but Trump’s share of the vote has so far been fairly consistent across ideological boundaries in the exit polls, a result that’s consistent with a host of pre-primary media surveys and other polls this year... Trump’s supporters are not only untroubled by his smattering of moderate-to-liberal policy positions — many of his backers share them. Take abortion: Private surveys for other 2016 presidential campaigns (shown to POLITICO on condition that the campaigns wouldn’t be identified) have shown Trump running stronger than his average among Republicans who support abortion rights... Trump’s support rose as groups of voters grew more favorable toward labor unions and raising taxes on the wealthy, positions way out of step with Republican orthodoxy but more in keeping with Trump himself... Trump has yet to fall below 24 percent support from women in a single state, according to those surveys, and he has climbed above 30 percent support in many of them. Simply put, Trump would not have been able to get this far in the GOP presidential race — 10 state wins and hundreds of delegates — without significant support from female Republican voters."
Cross Island Line could save commuters 40 minutes: LTA chief - "Some Singaporeans have even questioned the need for the line in the first place... “half of the 30-over stations have connections to other lines. This creates many more travel options for commuters. And it will help redistribute load in the other lines, generally giving better comfort to all commuters. At the same time, during disruptions, you have alternative travel options, enhancing the resilience of the entire network”... what was currently missing was a systematic cost-benefit analysis of the two options. “We are not seeing a cost-benefit analysis being done. What we are hearing is how much additional cost it would take. This is cost effectiveness, not cost benefit; in other words, the cheapest way,” said Professor Quah, head of economics at the Nanyang Technological University... In terms of the more tangible benefits, for instance, going directly across the nature reserve would mean savings in travel time and the cost of land acquisition. Skirting it could mean the ability to pick up more passengers and spur more business activity in affected areas, noted Prof Quah... Transport analyst Lee Der Horng, of the National University of Singapore’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, also noted that the longer alignment would see “more curvatures” that could mean “more wear and tear”, leading to higher costs of train maintenance in the future. But the intangibles – such as the loss to nature - are just as important in a cost-benefit study, said Prof Quah. A dollar value should be put to items such as flora, fauna, biodiversity and water contamination. “We have to know what is the magnitude and the probability of (such damage) happening; and then we can compute what would be the impact cost on society,” he said. How to assign a value? Find out how much people would be willing to pay to avoid crossing the central catchment area – such as through a survey about increasing the price of an MRT ride, suggested Prof Quah. It is not the final answer that is important, he said, but the process of making people think about what trade-off they will accept between economic development and environmental conservation. But MacRitchie advocate Mr Tan said: “You cannot always put a dollar value on everything"... LTA’s Mr Chew reiterated that if it’s decided to take the direct route across the forest, there would be no structures, including ventilation shafts, on the surface. As for the construction, he emphasised: “We are only going to launch and recover the tunnel boring machine well outside the central nature reserve. We are not going to have a situation where trucks and vehicle movement are within the nature reserve - at all. We’re not going to do that”... "the overarching worry is, what is the likelihood of failure? Whether a vehicle accidentally tramples or knocks into something … What happens if mitigation measures fail? Will the damage be irrecoverable? Very likely so. And if it fails, who will take accountability?”"
This is Singapore's Greenies' version of Pascal's Wager; if the calculations are wrong and the Large Hadron Collider creates a black hole that could destroy the Earth, we're all doomed. SHUT DOWN THE LHC
Anita Sarkeesian at TEDxWomen 2012 - YouTube - "It is no secret that the video game industry boasts some of the most sexually objectified, stereotyped and downright oppressive portrayals of women in any medium"
To liberals, free speech is oppressive
Anita Sarkeesian Wants To Have Cake And Eat Men, Too - "Feminist agitator and self-proclaimed video game critic Anita Sarkeesian has had a bad few weeks. Her most recent video, “Women as Reward,” attracted nowhere near the amount of fanfare previous outings did, her censorious comments regarding the “Doom” franchise got her roundly mocked, and now she’s at the center of the slow-motion train crash that is the United Nations Cyberviolence Report. Even her collaborator on said report, Zoe Quinn, has disowned it, while Sarkeesian has stayed suspiciously silent. All in all, it seems the old girl has lost a bit of her edge at attracting fawning press coverage for her supposed bravery and cogency. That’s a victory for truth, at least, because Sarkeesian is neither brave nor cogent. Her “bravery” largely consists of telling off anonymous Twitter trolls and hyperventilating over specious bomb threats even after law enforcement has dismissed those threats. As for “cogency,” Sarkeesian’s videos are less arguments than extended logical fallacies. As I detailed in a previous lengthy series on this topic, Sarkeesian poisons the well so often that cholera bacteria would tell her to slow down, and she seems to think begging the question is an Olympic sport. That’s not even touching her numerous errors of fact and interpretation... Sarkeesian’s desired world is one where women face no expectations of any kind, nor any possible consequences for their choices... If a woman wants to lead a man on, Sarkeesian seems to say that’s her prerogative. If a woman wants to laugh in the face of a rescuer and call him a loser, Sarkeesian seems to say that’s her prerogative. No matter their actions (in video games, at least), women should be free from the threat of harm or consequences of any kind."
Isn't facing "no expectations of any kind, nor any possible consequences for their choices" a good summary of feminism?
Feminist Frequency‘How to be a Feminist’ Panel at All About Women « - "Unfortunately many contemporary discourses in and around feminism tend to emphasize a form of hyper individualism (informed by the neoliberal worldview)... Choice feminism posits that each individual woman determines what is empowering for herself, which might sound good on the surface but this concept risks obscuring the bigger picture and larger, fundamental goals of the movement by focusing on individual women and a very narrow, individual notion of “empowerment”. It erases the reality that some choices that women make have an enormous negative impact on other women’s lives. It is not enough to feel personally empowered or be personally successful within the oppressive framework of the current system. Even if an individual woman can make patriarchy work for her, it’s still a losing game for the rest of the women on this planet. The fact of the matter is that some choices have ramifications beyond ourselves and reinforce harmful patriarchal ideas about women as a group and about women’s bodies in our wider shared culture. And because of how systems of oppression intersect and compound one another, it’s women of color, indigenous women, women living in the global south, women with disabilities, queer women, and transwomen who bare the brunt of those ramifications. “Choice feminism” also obscures the fact that women don’t have a real choice. We have a very narrow set of predetermined choices within patriarchy. Women can choose from a pre-approved palette, but we cannot meaningfully choose liberation, we cannot choose a way out from our constraints, at least not without ending those oppressive systems that limit our options. So when we talk about free choice in today’s world, we’re really talking about a very narrow spectrum of choices that are amenable to patriarchy... We are all connected, we are bond together under the oppression of patriarchy and as such our personal actions or inactions do have a harmful effect on other women, especially those from the most marginalized communities"
Basically women, like children, don't know what's good for them, so they must be forced to make the "correct" choices. Freedom is Slavery
Anita Sarkeesian Makes it Clear: Feminism is About Collectivism, Free Choice Be Damned - "women only choose to have kids because they lack access to abortions? How dismissive of individual women can you possibly be? Of course Anita just said feminism is not about the individual, so it only stands to reason that her attitudes about the personal decisions women make would be dismissive. But this comic is downright abhorrent. Look at how it treats homemakers and working women. It’s mind-boggling."
Planet Blue Coat: Mapping Global Censorship and Surveillance Tools - "Blue Coat Devices capable of filtering, censorship, and surveillance are being used around the world. During several weeks of scanning and validation that ended in January 2013, we uncovered 61 Blue Coat ProxySG devices and 316 Blue Coat PacketShaper appliances, devices with specific functionality permitting filtering, censorship, and surveillance. 61 of these Blue Coat appliances are on public or government networks in countries with a history of concerns over human rights, surveillance, and censorship (11 ProxySG and 50 PacketShaper appliances). We found these appliances in the following locations:
- Blue Coat ProxySG: Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE.
- PacketShaper: Afghanistan, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, and Venezuela."
Video: I Dared Two Elite Hackers to Ruin My Life - "after reporting on the hacks of Sony Pictures, JPMorgan Chase, Ashley Madison, and other major companies, I got curious about what it felt like to be on the victim’s side of a data breach, in a time when so much of our lives is contained in these giant, fragile online containers. So I decided to stage an experiment that, in hindsight, sounds like a terrible idea: I invited two of the world’s most elite hackers (neither of whom I’d ever met) to spend two weeks hacking me as deeply and thoroughly as they could, using all of the tools at their disposal. My only conditions were that the hackers had to promise not to steal money or any other assets from me, reveal any of my private information, or do any harm to me, my data, or anyone else. And then, at the end of the hack, I wanted them to tell me what they found, delete any copies they’d made, and help me fix any security flaws or vulnerabilities I had... it didn’t matter how good my defenses were. Against a pair of world-class hackers, my feeble protections were about as useful as cardboard shields trying to stop a rocket launcher. For weeks, these hackers owned the hell out of me. They bypassed every defense I’d set up, broke into the most sensitive and private information I have, and turned my digital life inside out. And then, when they’d had enough, I met them at DefCon (the world’s biggest hacker convention, held in Las Vegas every year) and they told me exactly how bad the damage was... it’s not likely that I fit the profile of someone whose life an attacker would be interested in destroying. This principle is called “privacy through obscurity.” Basically, the idea is that although anyone can theoretically be hacked by anyone with enough skill and time on their hands, the vast majority of us simply aren’t interesting enough for hackers to care about. “Do you worry about trained martial artists beating you up on the street?” Marquis-Boire asked me. “Not particularly,” I responded. “But you’re aware that they exist,” he said. “You’re also aware that you probably couldn’t do anything about it if one of them wanted to beat you up in the street”... The real danger isn’t the trained martial artist attacking you; it’s the thief who notices that your car is unlocked and decides to help himself to some electronics... The goal of these tools isn’t to make yourself hack-proof; no app or service can do that. But using good security practices can deter hackers, or at least convince them to move on to an easier target."
Chess forbidden in Islam, rules Saudi mufti, but issue not black and white - "Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti has ruled that chess is forbidden in Islam, saying it encourages gambling and is a waste of time... Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s supreme Shia religious authority, has previously issued rulings forbidding chess... The region’s clerical establishment figures are no strangers to seemingly strange fatwas, or edicts. In the early 2000s, Saudi and other clerics issued a fatwa against the popular Pokémon franchise, and during football’s 2010 World Cup in South Africa, religious scholars in the United Arab Emirates said that using the widely reviled vuvuzela instrument was forbidden if the sound produced was above 100 decibels."
When gods were hauled into Indian courts - "In India, many devout Hindus have very intimate relationships with their gods and goddesses and, keeping that in mind, the Indian judicial system regards deities as legal beings. This means that there have also been instances where they have been hauled into court... A lawyer recently took one of Hinduism's most popular gods, Ram, to court for being "unjust to his wife Sita". Chandan Kumar Singh identifies as a practising Hindu, and says that although he worships Ram like millions of people in India and around the world, he cannot ignore the fact that Ram mistreated Sita... Gods cannot play the stock market, the high court in Mumbai ruled in 2010. The judges rejected a petition from a religious trust which wanted to open trading accounts in the names of five gods, including Ganesha, the elephant-headed god. The trust, owned by the former royal family of Sangli in the western state of Maharashtra, said the deities had savings bank accounts and income tax cards, but the judges were unmoved. Trading in shares on the stock market requires certain skills and expertise and the judges said that to expect this from deities would not be proper, adding that "gods and goddesses were meant to be worshipped, and not dragged into commercial activities like share trading"."
Eight women who decided to propose - "In a US survey by AP, nearly one in four people said they felt it was not acceptable for a woman to propose. And out of the respondents who were already married, only 5% said the woman was the one to propose... Throughout history it has been traditional for men to propose to women, but once every four years, on 29 February, women were "allowed" to propose to men"
Cross Island Line could save commuters 40 minutes: LTA chief - "Some Singaporeans have even questioned the need for the line in the first place... “half of the 30-over stations have connections to other lines. This creates many more travel options for commuters. And it will help redistribute load in the other lines, generally giving better comfort to all commuters. At the same time, during disruptions, you have alternative travel options, enhancing the resilience of the entire network”... what was currently missing was a systematic cost-benefit analysis of the two options. “We are not seeing a cost-benefit analysis being done. What we are hearing is how much additional cost it would take. This is cost effectiveness, not cost benefit; in other words, the cheapest way,” said Professor Quah, head of economics at the Nanyang Technological University... In terms of the more tangible benefits, for instance, going directly across the nature reserve would mean savings in travel time and the cost of land acquisition. Skirting it could mean the ability to pick up more passengers and spur more business activity in affected areas, noted Prof Quah... Transport analyst Lee Der Horng, of the National University of Singapore’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, also noted that the longer alignment would see “more curvatures” that could mean “more wear and tear”, leading to higher costs of train maintenance in the future. But the intangibles – such as the loss to nature - are just as important in a cost-benefit study, said Prof Quah. A dollar value should be put to items such as flora, fauna, biodiversity and water contamination. “We have to know what is the magnitude and the probability of (such damage) happening; and then we can compute what would be the impact cost on society,” he said. How to assign a value? Find out how much people would be willing to pay to avoid crossing the central catchment area – such as through a survey about increasing the price of an MRT ride, suggested Prof Quah. It is not the final answer that is important, he said, but the process of making people think about what trade-off they will accept between economic development and environmental conservation. But MacRitchie advocate Mr Tan said: “You cannot always put a dollar value on everything"... LTA’s Mr Chew reiterated that if it’s decided to take the direct route across the forest, there would be no structures, including ventilation shafts, on the surface. As for the construction, he emphasised: “We are only going to launch and recover the tunnel boring machine well outside the central nature reserve. We are not going to have a situation where trucks and vehicle movement are within the nature reserve - at all. We’re not going to do that”... "the overarching worry is, what is the likelihood of failure? Whether a vehicle accidentally tramples or knocks into something … What happens if mitigation measures fail? Will the damage be irrecoverable? Very likely so. And if it fails, who will take accountability?”"
This is Singapore's Greenies' version of Pascal's Wager; if the calculations are wrong and the Large Hadron Collider creates a black hole that could destroy the Earth, we're all doomed. SHUT DOWN THE LHC
Anita Sarkeesian at TEDxWomen 2012 - YouTube - "It is no secret that the video game industry boasts some of the most sexually objectified, stereotyped and downright oppressive portrayals of women in any medium"
To liberals, free speech is oppressive
Anita Sarkeesian Wants To Have Cake And Eat Men, Too - "Feminist agitator and self-proclaimed video game critic Anita Sarkeesian has had a bad few weeks. Her most recent video, “Women as Reward,” attracted nowhere near the amount of fanfare previous outings did, her censorious comments regarding the “Doom” franchise got her roundly mocked, and now she’s at the center of the slow-motion train crash that is the United Nations Cyberviolence Report. Even her collaborator on said report, Zoe Quinn, has disowned it, while Sarkeesian has stayed suspiciously silent. All in all, it seems the old girl has lost a bit of her edge at attracting fawning press coverage for her supposed bravery and cogency. That’s a victory for truth, at least, because Sarkeesian is neither brave nor cogent. Her “bravery” largely consists of telling off anonymous Twitter trolls and hyperventilating over specious bomb threats even after law enforcement has dismissed those threats. As for “cogency,” Sarkeesian’s videos are less arguments than extended logical fallacies. As I detailed in a previous lengthy series on this topic, Sarkeesian poisons the well so often that cholera bacteria would tell her to slow down, and she seems to think begging the question is an Olympic sport. That’s not even touching her numerous errors of fact and interpretation... Sarkeesian’s desired world is one where women face no expectations of any kind, nor any possible consequences for their choices... If a woman wants to lead a man on, Sarkeesian seems to say that’s her prerogative. If a woman wants to laugh in the face of a rescuer and call him a loser, Sarkeesian seems to say that’s her prerogative. No matter their actions (in video games, at least), women should be free from the threat of harm or consequences of any kind."
Isn't facing "no expectations of any kind, nor any possible consequences for their choices" a good summary of feminism?
Feminist Frequency‘How to be a Feminist’ Panel at All About Women « - "Unfortunately many contemporary discourses in and around feminism tend to emphasize a form of hyper individualism (informed by the neoliberal worldview)... Choice feminism posits that each individual woman determines what is empowering for herself, which might sound good on the surface but this concept risks obscuring the bigger picture and larger, fundamental goals of the movement by focusing on individual women and a very narrow, individual notion of “empowerment”. It erases the reality that some choices that women make have an enormous negative impact on other women’s lives. It is not enough to feel personally empowered or be personally successful within the oppressive framework of the current system. Even if an individual woman can make patriarchy work for her, it’s still a losing game for the rest of the women on this planet. The fact of the matter is that some choices have ramifications beyond ourselves and reinforce harmful patriarchal ideas about women as a group and about women’s bodies in our wider shared culture. And because of how systems of oppression intersect and compound one another, it’s women of color, indigenous women, women living in the global south, women with disabilities, queer women, and transwomen who bare the brunt of those ramifications. “Choice feminism” also obscures the fact that women don’t have a real choice. We have a very narrow set of predetermined choices within patriarchy. Women can choose from a pre-approved palette, but we cannot meaningfully choose liberation, we cannot choose a way out from our constraints, at least not without ending those oppressive systems that limit our options. So when we talk about free choice in today’s world, we’re really talking about a very narrow spectrum of choices that are amenable to patriarchy... We are all connected, we are bond together under the oppression of patriarchy and as such our personal actions or inactions do have a harmful effect on other women, especially those from the most marginalized communities"
Basically women, like children, don't know what's good for them, so they must be forced to make the "correct" choices. Freedom is Slavery
Anita Sarkeesian Makes it Clear: Feminism is About Collectivism, Free Choice Be Damned - "women only choose to have kids because they lack access to abortions? How dismissive of individual women can you possibly be? Of course Anita just said feminism is not about the individual, so it only stands to reason that her attitudes about the personal decisions women make would be dismissive. But this comic is downright abhorrent. Look at how it treats homemakers and working women. It’s mind-boggling."
Planet Blue Coat: Mapping Global Censorship and Surveillance Tools - "Blue Coat Devices capable of filtering, censorship, and surveillance are being used around the world. During several weeks of scanning and validation that ended in January 2013, we uncovered 61 Blue Coat ProxySG devices and 316 Blue Coat PacketShaper appliances, devices with specific functionality permitting filtering, censorship, and surveillance. 61 of these Blue Coat appliances are on public or government networks in countries with a history of concerns over human rights, surveillance, and censorship (11 ProxySG and 50 PacketShaper appliances). We found these appliances in the following locations:
- Blue Coat ProxySG: Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE.
- PacketShaper: Afghanistan, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, and Venezuela."
Video: I Dared Two Elite Hackers to Ruin My Life - "after reporting on the hacks of Sony Pictures, JPMorgan Chase, Ashley Madison, and other major companies, I got curious about what it felt like to be on the victim’s side of a data breach, in a time when so much of our lives is contained in these giant, fragile online containers. So I decided to stage an experiment that, in hindsight, sounds like a terrible idea: I invited two of the world’s most elite hackers (neither of whom I’d ever met) to spend two weeks hacking me as deeply and thoroughly as they could, using all of the tools at their disposal. My only conditions were that the hackers had to promise not to steal money or any other assets from me, reveal any of my private information, or do any harm to me, my data, or anyone else. And then, at the end of the hack, I wanted them to tell me what they found, delete any copies they’d made, and help me fix any security flaws or vulnerabilities I had... it didn’t matter how good my defenses were. Against a pair of world-class hackers, my feeble protections were about as useful as cardboard shields trying to stop a rocket launcher. For weeks, these hackers owned the hell out of me. They bypassed every defense I’d set up, broke into the most sensitive and private information I have, and turned my digital life inside out. And then, when they’d had enough, I met them at DefCon (the world’s biggest hacker convention, held in Las Vegas every year) and they told me exactly how bad the damage was... it’s not likely that I fit the profile of someone whose life an attacker would be interested in destroying. This principle is called “privacy through obscurity.” Basically, the idea is that although anyone can theoretically be hacked by anyone with enough skill and time on their hands, the vast majority of us simply aren’t interesting enough for hackers to care about. “Do you worry about trained martial artists beating you up on the street?” Marquis-Boire asked me. “Not particularly,” I responded. “But you’re aware that they exist,” he said. “You’re also aware that you probably couldn’t do anything about it if one of them wanted to beat you up in the street”... The real danger isn’t the trained martial artist attacking you; it’s the thief who notices that your car is unlocked and decides to help himself to some electronics... The goal of these tools isn’t to make yourself hack-proof; no app or service can do that. But using good security practices can deter hackers, or at least convince them to move on to an easier target."
Chess forbidden in Islam, rules Saudi mufti, but issue not black and white - "Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti has ruled that chess is forbidden in Islam, saying it encourages gambling and is a waste of time... Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s supreme Shia religious authority, has previously issued rulings forbidding chess... The region’s clerical establishment figures are no strangers to seemingly strange fatwas, or edicts. In the early 2000s, Saudi and other clerics issued a fatwa against the popular Pokémon franchise, and during football’s 2010 World Cup in South Africa, religious scholars in the United Arab Emirates said that using the widely reviled vuvuzela instrument was forbidden if the sound produced was above 100 decibels."
When gods were hauled into Indian courts - "In India, many devout Hindus have very intimate relationships with their gods and goddesses and, keeping that in mind, the Indian judicial system regards deities as legal beings. This means that there have also been instances where they have been hauled into court... A lawyer recently took one of Hinduism's most popular gods, Ram, to court for being "unjust to his wife Sita". Chandan Kumar Singh identifies as a practising Hindu, and says that although he worships Ram like millions of people in India and around the world, he cannot ignore the fact that Ram mistreated Sita... Gods cannot play the stock market, the high court in Mumbai ruled in 2010. The judges rejected a petition from a religious trust which wanted to open trading accounts in the names of five gods, including Ganesha, the elephant-headed god. The trust, owned by the former royal family of Sangli in the western state of Maharashtra, said the deities had savings bank accounts and income tax cards, but the judges were unmoved. Trading in shares on the stock market requires certain skills and expertise and the judges said that to expect this from deities would not be proper, adding that "gods and goddesses were meant to be worshipped, and not dragged into commercial activities like share trading"."
Eight women who decided to propose - "In a US survey by AP, nearly one in four people said they felt it was not acceptable for a woman to propose. And out of the respondents who were already married, only 5% said the woman was the one to propose... Throughout history it has been traditional for men to propose to women, but once every four years, on 29 February, women were "allowed" to propose to men"
Post ID: 115301538115421000
Feminist "Science" of the Day
Glaciers, gender, and science
Abstract: "Glaciers are key icons of climate change and global environmental change. However, the relationships among gender, science, and glaciers – particularly related to epistemological questions about the production of glaciological knowledge – remain understudied. This paper thus proposes a feminist glaciology framework with four key components: 1) knowledge producers; (2) gendered science and knowledge; (3) systems of scientific domination; and (4) alternative representations of glaciers. Merging feminist postcolonial science studies and feminist political ecology, the feminist glaciology framework generates robust analysis of gender, power, and epistemologies in dynamic social-ecological systems, thereby leading to more just and equitable science and human-ice interactions."
Addendum: Gem of a paragraph: "Feminist and postcolonial theories enrich and complement each other by showing how gender and colonialism are co-constituted, as well as how both women and indigenous peoples have been marginalized historically (Schnabel, 2014). Feminist glaciology builds from feminist postcolonial science studies, analyzing not only gender dynamics and situated knowledges, but also alternative knowledges and folk glaciologies that are generally marginalized through colonialism, imperialism, inequality, unequal power relations, patriarchy, and the domination of Western science (Harding, 2009)."
This was very entertaining.
The article is a great example in saying a lot but meaning little (inasmuch as the aim is to improve glaciology).
But then again, the authors' aim is to have "more just and equitable science and human-ice interactions". They say nothing about actually improving our knowledge about the world (you know, what science is supposed to be about).
We learn a lot about the image, history and the statistical and inherent inequality of glaciology, but practically nothing of substance about the subject. To apply a feminist-inspired critique, this is like criticising Angela Merkel for her clothes rather than her policies. Ironically the article criticises a New York Times article on the melting Greenland glaciers saying it doesn't talk much about science (a criticism that can be applied even more strongly to itself). This also fails to situate the NYT article in its context - there is a whole genre of NYT articles written in this way which is more about the human interest angle than the putative issue that motivates it.
The authors claim that you don't need to actually have experience working on a glacier to be a glaciologist (e.g. you can be a computer modeler). Apparently the feminist ideas of "lived experience" and "authentic experience" don't apply to Science.
There is a claim that the manly portrayal of researchers in the media "can shape scientific credibility in the academy, such as with hiring and possibly even with peer reviewing". No evidence is given to support this claim. At all.
The authors are also surprised that a traditional societies "are often no more egalitarian" than the sciences. No shit, Sherlock. You don't find much feminism in traditional societies.
"‘The centrality of mathematical and technological science . . . structured by masculinist ideologies of domination and mastery’, thus determining who can or cannot participate in climate science and policy-making" is criticised. So presumably anyone should be able to talk out of their ass, all perspectives should be valued (even demonstrably false ones) and anyone, no matter how ignorant, should "participate in climate science and policy-making".
At one point, Eskimo taboos about cooking with grease near glaciers are mentioned. This "demonstrate[s] the capacity of folk glaciologies to diversify the field of glaciology and subvert the hegemony of natural sciences". I'm sure there're Eskimo tribes who have taboos about studying glaciers. So let's shut down glaciology as a field of study!
The article gets even better towards the end where they talk about "glacier-oriented visual and literary arts", including the recording of the sounds of glaciers on glacial meltwater which has been frozen into an LP. I'm just surprised that nothing involving a vagina and/or menstrual blood was cited.
The one saving grace of this article is that doesn't have (much) jargon (well, aside from it being free).
And the one useful takeaway is that the climate is a lot less predictable than we would like (but then from what I know existing climate models already have caveats about uncertainty; this is also why, as everyone knows, weather forecasts beyond a few days are inaccurate). So I'm not sure this point is very novel.
The most depressing bit of the article is that "This work is based upon work supported by the US National Science Foundation under grant #1253779". Who is conducting a War on Science, again? [Addendum: The grant description sounds VERY different from this article]
Other fields ripe for Feminist Science's Disruption:
- Cosmology needs to take into account Australian aborigines' perspectives about The Dreamtime.
- Astronomy needs to take into account astrological perspectives about the constellations' effects on our lives
- Medicine neglects the holistic viewpoint of homeopathy in contributing to human wellness
I don't know whether to be disturbed or amused that Progress in Human Geography has a ranking of 2/76. The Impact Factor is 5.010, which is higher than PLOS ONE (3.234) - if you cite an article to debunk it that raises its citation count and thus the journal's Imapct Factor, right?
Abstract: "Glaciers are key icons of climate change and global environmental change. However, the relationships among gender, science, and glaciers – particularly related to epistemological questions about the production of glaciological knowledge – remain understudied. This paper thus proposes a feminist glaciology framework with four key components: 1) knowledge producers; (2) gendered science and knowledge; (3) systems of scientific domination; and (4) alternative representations of glaciers. Merging feminist postcolonial science studies and feminist political ecology, the feminist glaciology framework generates robust analysis of gender, power, and epistemologies in dynamic social-ecological systems, thereby leading to more just and equitable science and human-ice interactions."
Addendum: Gem of a paragraph: "Feminist and postcolonial theories enrich and complement each other by showing how gender and colonialism are co-constituted, as well as how both women and indigenous peoples have been marginalized historically (Schnabel, 2014). Feminist glaciology builds from feminist postcolonial science studies, analyzing not only gender dynamics and situated knowledges, but also alternative knowledges and folk glaciologies that are generally marginalized through colonialism, imperialism, inequality, unequal power relations, patriarchy, and the domination of Western science (Harding, 2009)."
This was very entertaining.
The article is a great example in saying a lot but meaning little (inasmuch as the aim is to improve glaciology).
But then again, the authors' aim is to have "more just and equitable science and human-ice interactions". They say nothing about actually improving our knowledge about the world (you know, what science is supposed to be about).
We learn a lot about the image, history and the statistical and inherent inequality of glaciology, but practically nothing of substance about the subject. To apply a feminist-inspired critique, this is like criticising Angela Merkel for her clothes rather than her policies. Ironically the article criticises a New York Times article on the melting Greenland glaciers saying it doesn't talk much about science (a criticism that can be applied even more strongly to itself). This also fails to situate the NYT article in its context - there is a whole genre of NYT articles written in this way which is more about the human interest angle than the putative issue that motivates it.
The authors claim that you don't need to actually have experience working on a glacier to be a glaciologist (e.g. you can be a computer modeler). Apparently the feminist ideas of "lived experience" and "authentic experience" don't apply to Science.
There is a claim that the manly portrayal of researchers in the media "can shape scientific credibility in the academy, such as with hiring and possibly even with peer reviewing". No evidence is given to support this claim. At all.
The authors are also surprised that a traditional societies "are often no more egalitarian" than the sciences. No shit, Sherlock. You don't find much feminism in traditional societies.
"‘The centrality of mathematical and technological science . . . structured by masculinist ideologies of domination and mastery’, thus determining who can or cannot participate in climate science and policy-making" is criticised. So presumably anyone should be able to talk out of their ass, all perspectives should be valued (even demonstrably false ones) and anyone, no matter how ignorant, should "participate in climate science and policy-making".
At one point, Eskimo taboos about cooking with grease near glaciers are mentioned. This "demonstrate[s] the capacity of folk glaciologies to diversify the field of glaciology and subvert the hegemony of natural sciences". I'm sure there're Eskimo tribes who have taboos about studying glaciers. So let's shut down glaciology as a field of study!
The article gets even better towards the end where they talk about "glacier-oriented visual and literary arts", including the recording of the sounds of glaciers on glacial meltwater which has been frozen into an LP. I'm just surprised that nothing involving a vagina and/or menstrual blood was cited.
The one saving grace of this article is that doesn't have (much) jargon (well, aside from it being free).
And the one useful takeaway is that the climate is a lot less predictable than we would like (but then from what I know existing climate models already have caveats about uncertainty; this is also why, as everyone knows, weather forecasts beyond a few days are inaccurate). So I'm not sure this point is very novel.
The most depressing bit of the article is that "This work is based upon work supported by the US National Science Foundation under grant #1253779". Who is conducting a War on Science, again? [Addendum: The grant description sounds VERY different from this article]
Other fields ripe for Feminist Science's Disruption:
- Cosmology needs to take into account Australian aborigines' perspectives about The Dreamtime.
- Astronomy needs to take into account astrological perspectives about the constellations' effects on our lives
- Medicine neglects the holistic viewpoint of homeopathy in contributing to human wellness
I don't know whether to be disturbed or amused that Progress in Human Geography has a ranking of 2/76. The Impact Factor is 5.010, which is higher than PLOS ONE (3.234) - if you cite an article to debunk it that raises its citation count and thus the journal's Imapct Factor, right?
Post ID: 7912258135024082597
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
