Links - 8th January 2013

"Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this, that you are dreadfully like other people." - James Russell Lowell

***

Have baby before 30, get 20% off HDB flat? - "the dippng fertility rate in East Asian cities like Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong has led to a doubling in rates of ovarian cancer. The medical impact of not bearing offspring is an increased risk of breast cancer, womb cancer and ovarian cancer for women, he forewarns. So despite the political incorrectness of telling women what to do with their womb these days, he unflinchingly advises all patients: 'Best to have a child before 30 and definitely by 35. Do it for your own health and sanity when you grow old'"

Game Theory: Are Video Games Addictive? - "Ariella Lehrer is a trained psychologist who designs games specifically for middle aged women. Her company focuses on romance and mystery, including games based on the novels of Jane Austen and the popular TV detective show "Murder She Wrote." But Lehrer said the psychology behind the games is pure Las Vegas. With flashy graphics and intermittent rewards, games are calibrated to hook you within 20 minutes"

Wife kills abusive husband in self-defense only to discover 'he' was actually a woman wearing prosthetic penis - "Throughout their seven-month relationship, Angela had never been 'bare' in the light with Elizabeth, and always insisted on having sex in the dark, according to a police report. Angelo, born Angela, actually told his wife that a previous girlfriend had gotten angry and burned his genitals."

Area Man Consults Internet Whenever Possible | The Onion - America's Finest News Source - "The Internet came in equally handy last Sunday, when Pamela suggested making pancakes for breakfast. "There was a good recipe on the side of the Bisquick box, but Larry insisted on getting on that AltaVista thing and searching for more," Pamela said. After only 30 minutes of searching, Wisniewski came up with nearly 200 different pancake recipes. "Without the Internet," Larry said, "she would've been stuck with the one variety of pancakes available from the box.""

NCBI ROFL: Batman to the rescue! - "parasocial relationship status (PSR; a one-sided psychological bond)... exposure to a muscular superhero with whom a PSR did not exist made men feel bad about their bodies (Hypothesis 1). However, having a PSR with a muscular superhero not only eliminated the negative effects of exposure on body satisfaction, but also increased men’s physical strength (Hypothesis 2). This research suggests that muscular superheroes change men’s body image and that the direction of that change is determined by PSR status... It would be easy to assume that the enjoyable acts of watching movies, reading comic books, and playing with videogames and action figures of muscular superheroes inevitably (and ironically) lead men and boys to the unenjoyable effect of poor body image. However, the current research suggests that this is not always the case and that the popularity of superheroes may come in part from men who identify with them, and thus experience psychological benefits from exposure. Indeed, the awesome power of Batman may come not only from his ability to defeat the likes of Mr. Freeze and the Joker, but also from his ability to make his devoted viewers feel strong and physically fit"
Not sure why this is on NCBI ROFL - feminists have been doing this for decades

Every Single Facebook Page (image)

Rich Dad, Poor Dad now a bankrupt dad: Best-selling author files for corporate bankruptcy after losing $24m judgement

Japanese model's popularity plummets after pic without makeup leaked online

Study: Even 'Moderate' Drinking Impairs Brain Cell Formation - "Blood alcohol levels of .08% are enough to affect the brain's plasticity."

Melissa Miller Drives 100 MPH After God Tells Her To - "God may work in strange and mysterious ways -- but does that include making a woman drive 100 mph in a 30 mph zone?"

Japan’s Kobe Beef Bound for U.S. - "The meat had never been exported until this year. It was first exported to Macau in January, then to Hong Kong in July. The U.S. shipment marks the first time it will be exported outside of Asia."

Rogue dentist’s 30-year crusade against wisdom teeth removal extracts results - " About 1 percent of people whose wisdom teeth are removed experience nerve damage -- usually temporary numbness of the lips, mouth, or tongue. Sometimes, that damage is permanent, leading to "frequent drooling, biting of the lip or the inside of the cheek or the side of the tongue, and paralytic disfigurement or drooping of the lip," Friedman wrote. Complications from anesthesia can lead to death in very rare instances. There's no long-term research, however, on the risks of retaining healthy wisdom teeth."

Childlessness 'may increase likelihood of early death' - "Childless women were four times more likely to die early from circulatory disease, cancers, and accidents than those with children- and men were about twice as likely."

Sex and alcohol make you happier than kids and religion, study finds

Japan manga "geeks" seek love at masked match-making - "Self-confessed geeks in Japan who might ordinarily be too shy to ask someone on a date are trying a new kind of matchmaking: wearing cartoon character masks."

Why Japanese men can’t stop spending money just to drink and talk with girls - "Hiramatsu says that psychologically, men have a stronger urge compared to women to control and dominate others. This, unfortunately, doesn’t happen often in real life. If you go to work, you have your boss or clients to answer to. Try it at home, and you’ll create a domestic dispute quicker than it takes to boil a pot of water. So, what do Japanese men do to vent their frustrations? They go to kyabakura, where the girls treat you like a king and patiently listen to all your woes with a kind smile. Well, no wonder men like it so much."
Apparently this is also what a lot of men do when they visit prostitutes

Veggies beware! - "The problem with all pesto is that it contains Parmesan, and, like our old friend the Mars bar, Parmesan is not made with vegetarian rennet, but the icky stuff out of calves' stomachs. There is no such thing as vegetarian Parmesan... Many low-fat yoghurts are not suitable for vegetarians... the source of whey now used in a Snickers bar contains rennet. Nestlé's KitKat, the UK's bestselling chocolate bar, is also unsuitable for vegetarians... Fascinatingly, Walker's cheese and onion crisps are suitable for vegetarians, while their mature cheddar crisps are not"

Death By Utopia - "No predators, no scarcity, the mice would have to be blind to not see the utopia around them. At least it began as Utopia... After day 600, the male mice just stopped defending their territory, listless mice congregated in the centres of the Universe. These gangs would burst into pointless and sporadic violence. Females stopped reproducing and even started attacking their own young. Mortality rose phenomenally. Roaming mice either attacked or attempted to mount others, irrespective of relation or gender, cannibalism and other acts of depravity consumed them. These were the feral ones"

Transsexual jailed 15 months for oral sex with boy - "The victim felt something was amiss when his leg accidentally brushed against Tan's groin, and realised that Tan was actually a male. He was in a state of panic and shock and tried to pull away from Tan, who bit his private parts. The victim eventually managed to pull away from Tan, pulled up his shorts and ran out of the store."

Ten fake profiles, one OkCupid experiment: OkCupid On Trial - "The most contacted woman had almost 17 times more messages in a week than the most contacted man.
Three of the men had no messages, despite their profiles being viewed about 25 times between them.
The women’s messages outnumbered the men’s 17 to 1 (mostly thanks to the two best looking women).
The two best looking men received 5 fewer messages than the 3rd and 4th best looking women."

The Monitor Celestra - "Nordic Larp inspired by Battlestar Galactica... Larp event of the decade: "The Monitor Celestra" is a technology enhanced science-fiction Nordic Live Action Roleplaying Game about cultural and personal conflict in the shadow of the destruction of the twelve colonies of mankind. It is the spiritual sequel to the legendary game “Carolus Rex” from 1999."

delanceyplace.com 10/22/12 - misfit monks - "Our typical image of monks is of pious men diligently transcribing text on vellum -- which indeed was part of their ascetic duty. But underneath that image lies the truth that monks were often the dregs of medieval society"

delanceyplace.com 12/31/12 - things to know about call girls - "In a world of twelve-year-olds in sexy boots and grannies in sparkly minidresses, the surest way to tell the prostitute walking into a hotel at Heathrow is to look for the lady in the designer suit"

What Psychopaths Teach Us about How to Succeed [Excerpt]: Scientific American - "Traits that are common among psychopathic serial killers—a grandiose sense of self-worth, persuasiveness, superficial charm, ruthlessness, lack of remorse and the manipulation of others—are also shared by politicians and world leaders... a number of psychopathic attributes were actually more common in business leaders than in so-called disturbed criminals—attributes such as superficial charm, egocentricity, persuasiveness, lack of empathy, independence, and focus"

27 Science Fictions That Became Science Facts In 2012 - "5. Invisibility Cloak Technology Took a Huge Leap Forward"

Why India Is So Damn Violent - India Real Time - WSJ - "an exclusive focus on the crime of rape also obscures the fact that India’s a violent place for men as it is for women and children. Let’s not forget that the male companion of the young woman who died was himself beaten and badly injured... Bollywood films are replete with scenes characterized by the harassment of women and even of rape. As he writes, one particular well-known screen villain did about 100 rape scenes “with the audience almost cheering him on”"

5 Medical Breakthroughs That Make Life Shockingly Easy | Cracked.com - "If dudes can't be bothered to roll on a condom, who's to say they will remember to take a pill? Or tell the truth about not taking it?"
It seems the only people who notice Cracked.com's misandry are Men's Rights Advocates (Stormfront complains about its racism, but I haven't really noticed it so far)