From around the interwebs...

Links and tings.


Why do Russians film their car accidents?

Because they’re scared of scams and police corruption. Russia is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. And the glaring gap between rich and poor leads the latter to mount increasingly elaborate scams. For their own protection, drivers, the preferred targets of frauds, install cameras in their vehicles.

Quebec language laws spawn "Pastagate"

The offensive word? Pasta. Yep, as innocuous as the durum semolina-based product might seem, Quebec’s language police, the Office Quebecois de la langue française determined that “pasta is not a French word, and it’s appearance on a menu without an adequate translation violated Quebec’s Language Charter,” according to the report. Sticky wicket that one, because if you really want to nitty gritty the situation, how do you translate sandwich, pizza, taco, hamburger, pad thai or paella? Yeah, good luck with that.

A guide to driving in India without dying

At least six separate things happened on that first short drive to my hotel that, if they happened in the US, would have been the only thing I'd talk about for a week. In India, no one seemed to notice. In America if I, say, was driving with my family and drove into lanes of oncoming traffic and lane-split like a motorcyclist just to pass a 3-wheeler going 2 mph slower than the surrounding traffic, my wife would have finalized our divorce before I even got into third gear. By fourth gear she'd be signing the papers to have me committed, and I suspect I'd be in handcuffs by the first stop light. In India, nobody even bothers to dialate their pupils at these sorts of things.

Educating Indonesia

Indonesian educators and commentators have slammed the country's school system for placing more emphasis on rote learning than creative thinking. A culture of teaching anchored in obedience as well as a rigid approach to religious studies and assigned reading have been described as major problems. Education experts say less than half of the country's teachers possess even the minimum qualifications to teach properly and teacher absenteeism hovers at around 20 percent. Many teachers in the public school system work outside of the classroom to improve their incomes.

The more names change, the more they sound the same 

...names that start out as being restricted to boys sometimes later drift over into unisex usage—think of names like Dana, Jamie, or Drew. But Cassidy and her colleagues found that not all boys’ names were equally likely to drift. Names with very high male scores stayed firmly anchored in the masculine domain while those that scored as less male-sounding were more often appropriated as names for girls.

Why do British singers sound American?

Linguist Peter Trudgill tracked rhoticity in British rock music over the years and found that the Beatles’ pronunciation of Rs decreased over the course of the 1960s, settling into a trans-Atlantic sound that incorporated aspects of both British and American dialects. The trend also went in the opposite direction as new genres developed: American pop-punk vocalists like Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day took on a British-tinged accent to sound more like seminal artists such as Joe Strummer of the Clash. Contemporary singers continue to adopt various accents according to their genre; Keith Urban, who is Australian, sings country music with a marked American Southern accent.

From around the interwebs...

Links and tings.


What does it mean to be Asia-literate?

If this is the Asian Century what does being Asia literate look like for you? Is it learning an Asian language at school? Taking a Vietnamese cooking class or heading to Bali for the hollies? Or perhaps it is about going to live and study in an Asian country? What about for the generations of Asian-Australians?

Moderate Islamic Preachers Gain Followers in Indonesia 

When Mr. Almusawa takes his place, he starts off in a deep, soft baritone before building momentum and pitch as he addresses his subject: How Muslims should shrug off the "Innocence of Muslims" video that spread online. In his climactic thought, Mr. Almusawa calls it a test that Muslims must pass by letting the controversy go. The drums again begin and the congregation's voices swell in praise of the Prophet Muhammad. Speaking later at his home, Mr. Almusawa, a bearlike man with a trim beard and piercing gaze, says Muslims shouldn't allow themselves to be provoked by the Christian group in California that backed the video. "People like them don't understand Islam, so we shouldn't overreact," Mr. Almusawa said. "Otherwise we are just being driven by people who don't love our Prophet and his teachings."

Milk carton 'promoting homosexuality to children' 

Russian authorities are investigating a milk brand after an anti-gay group accused it of promoting homosexuality to children by featuring a rainbow on its milk cartons. The label features a mustachioed milkman and a prancing cow with purple spots under a rainbow. People's Council spokesman Antoly Artukh said the label "immediately put me on alert". "A rainbow appeared on the cartons, a world-renowned symbol of the gay movement."

Rejected as a refugee, accepted as a spinner

AS HE awaits word from Immigration Minister Chris Bowen about his claim for refugee protection, Pakistani asylum seeker Fawad Ahmed has emerged as a surprise figure in Australia's preparation for the Test series against South Africa. Ahmed - who fled Pakistan in 2010 and is living here on a bridging visa - has been plucked from Melbourne club cricket to help Australia's batsmen prepare for South Africa's formidable bowling attack because of his resemblance to Proteas leg-spinner Imran Tahir. Ahmed says he was persecuted by religious extremists in his northern Pakistani province for playing and coaching the sport he loves - receiving death threats for ''promoting Western culture''.

When did Japan stop being the future?

U.S. science fiction used to be fascinated with Japan, from Blade Runner to Neuromancer. Everything Japanese was cooler, sleeker and shinier than our grubby American aesthetic, and Japan was destined to dominate. And then, Japan's futuristic status waned. What happened?

Burning in the melting pot

“Multiculturalism is present but seems forced, ” says Ralph Antony, a 24-year-old engineering student. “I think deep down a lot of Australians would prefer less cultural diversity.”

The painful truth about affirmative action

The single biggest problem in this system -- a problem documented by a vast and growing array of research -- is the tendency of large preferences to boomerang and harm their intended beneficiaries. Large preferences often place students in environments where they can neither learn nor compete effectively -- even though these same students would thrive had they gone to less competitive but still quite good schools.

From around the interwebs...

 Golden Pig, Coffin Man and Noodles: When Asian tattoos don't turn out quite as planned

On a similar note, one young lady wished to have the word ‘Bitch’ carved into her skin, but the artist took some liberties with the language and instead inked the words ‘Cheap Whore.’

What Do Swedes Think of the Swedish Chef? 

They think he sounds Norwegian. Also, they’d like you to stop asking.

 Asian American youth culture is coming of age in 'the 626' 

San Gabriel Valley locals celebrate the 'fusion lifestyle' they're forging. It draws on U.S. hip-hop and Chinese dialects, includes Instagram and pho. Boba is a must.

What are some English phrases and terms commonly heard in India but rarely used elsewhere?

Soon, her mother will be looking for a suitable boy as she is of marriageable age. Unfortunately, her father expired recently. Her mother wants a foreign-returned or NRI bridegroom. Someone convent-educated from a status-family. Wheatish complexion highly desirable. 

The “Where Are You Really From” Power Dynamic 

“Where do you come from?” is a common question that some Anglo-Australians use to interrogate the identities of people of colour the moment that they meet them. I am a brown man and have experienced this sort of behavior all my life. This is what I have to put up with every single day and I find it very irritating. Do you realise that the question “where do you come from?” immediately sets in place a structure that excludes people, rejecting them with a form of passive racism?

From around the interwebs...

Links to things that are interesting me this week...

Michelle Bachmann's unholy crusade against Huma Abedin

Bachmann, a cocktail of self-righteousness mixed with vitriol and a dash of bitters, has suggested that Huma Abedin, a close adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. The Tea Party-aligned congresswoman would be laughable if she were not so dangerous. And she is. Former presidential candidate Bachmann, someone who did not know the difference between John Wayne and John Wayne Gacy, joined with four other House Republicans in signing a letter sent to the inspector general of the State Department that suggests the State Department may be influenced by people with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, people like Abedin. Abedin's parents — her father is deceased — and her brother may have known people who knew people who knew someone associated with a terrorist organization. It is a Kevin-Bacon-many-degrees-of-separation theory being used to destroy a person's reputation.

Swearing: Very much lost in translation

Translating swear words is hard. Often there is a literal equivalent. But some words are strictly taboo in one language, used only by the roughest of characters in their angriest moments, while the exact same word in another language might be pretty mild. For example, For Satan! is one of the harshest curses in Danish. The devil! is a silly old-fashioned thing only Monty Burns would say in English.

People with Norman names wealthier than other Britons

Research shows that the descendants of people who in 1858 had "rich" surnames such as Percy and Glanville, indicating they were descended from the French nobility, are still substantially wealthier in 2011 than those with traditionally "poor" or artisanal surnames. Artisans are defined as skilled manual workers. Popular names of the medieval elite who were descended from Norman families include Balliol, Baskerville, Bruce, Darcy, Glanville, Lacy, Mandeville, and Venables. Popular artisanal names that emerged in the 14th century include Smith, Carpenter, Mason, Shepherd, Cooper and Baker.

Anderson Cooper's coming out rattles China's closet

One particular area of concern, Mr. Zhang said, is the large number of Chinese women unwittingly married to gay men. (Due to traditional patriarchal attitudes that value a son’s offspring more than a daughter’s, it is somewhat easier for a woman to dodge marriage and reproduction. A gay woman may be less likely to marry against her will.) Mr. Zhang estimates that more than 90 percent of China’s gay men bow to pressure and marry women — without revealing their homosexuality. “There are over 10 million women married to homosexual men, perhaps 16 million,” he said.

Why do they hate us?

So: Yes, women all over the world have problems; yes, the United States has yet to elect a female president; and yes, women continue to be objectified in many "Western" countries (I live in one of them). That's where the conversation usually ends when you try to discuss why Arab societies hate women. But let's put aside what the United States does or doesn't do to women. Name me an Arab country, and I'll recite a litany of abuses fueled by a toxic mix of culture and religion that few seem willing or able to disentangle lest they blaspheme or offend. When more than 90 percent of ever-married women in Egypt -- including my mother and all but one of her six sisters -- have had their genitals cut in the name of modesty, then surely we must all blaspheme. When Egyptian women are subjected to humiliating "virginity tests" merely for speaking out, it's no time for silence. When an article in the Egyptian criminal code says that if a woman has been beaten by her husband "with good intentions" no punitive damages can be obtained, then to hell with political correctness.

From around the interwebs...

Links to fings wot interest me, innit.

Australian students lagging behind Asian students: report

The crucial difference is that teachers in East Asian countries enjoy higher status than their Australian colleagues, he said. "This is an importance difference, and it is the crucial difference between effective teaching and learning in Australia and these systems. In these systems teacher status is high - not because they work hard, not because it is a stressful job, but because it is considered a true profession where the complexities of diagnosing each student's learning and shaping teaching to ensure that each student's learning continually improves is recognised. Resources are put into it so teachers have the time and resources available to engage in improving teaching.

A tiger education: no pain, no gain

If Asia is our focus, then may I – as a first generation Australian-born Chinese (ABC) – humbly suggest that a wholesale cultural shift in our attitude towards education must take place. If we are to seriously compete with Asia, we must adopt an Asian academic culture of intense competition: a tiger education. A tiger education is not content with merely doing well but demands that we do better. It does not stop to celebrate the 90 per cent, but asks what happened to the missing 10 per cent. It pushes us to compete with the very best and demands whatever it takes to improve. Close enough is never good enough. Where the Australian approach to education is almost all carrot, Asian parents prefer to wield the bamboo stick (literally).

Why don't students learn Indonesian?

But, says Hill, Indonesia still has an image problem. Enrolment in Bahasa fell during the late 1990s Asian financial crisis, when students realised that fewer jobs would be available at multinationals in Jakarta until the economy recovered. Interest never really recovered, in part because more recent discussion of Indonesia focused on violence in East Timor and on terrorism, such as the bombing of Bali in 2002.
“There’s a whole raft of employment opportunities that are opening up but many kids in schools are yet to be made aware of that because much of the image of Indonesia is… hanging over from the 1990s, rather than [an image of] the post-Suharto democratising economy that’s projected to be one of the world’s largest,” says Hill.

7 worst international aid ideas

The benefit of involving celebrities in aid work is often that it works to focus the attention of their fans and the media machine more generally on understanding, for however brief a moment, something that is happening somewhere in the world. Out of that can come the kind of empathy and activism that makes things like the Save Darfur campaign possible.
The celebrity’s contribution, though, hinges on whether they can successfully translate attention on them into attention to the issues. When a humanitarian issue becomes a platform for pushing an energy drink on the back of people’s suffering, we should be ashamed.

DNA helps to flesh out Otzi's past

Since Otzi's mummified body was found 20 years ago, speculation about his lifestyle, how he died and even his sexuality have flourished in German, Austrian and Italian newspapers. One rumour was that semen had been found in his anal canal, prompting headlines about his supposed homosexuality. But Graefen set the record straight.
"This comes from the fact that seeds have been found in his intestine. The words for plant seeds and semen are actually the same in German," she laughs. "People still to this day think this urban legend is true. But this is nothing more than a translation fault."

French football quotes of the year 2011

“Montpellier champions of France? If I was Marseille, Paris, Lyon, Lille or Rennes, I’d stab myself in the arse with a sausage! What an embarrassment it would be for them.”
- Montpellier president Louis Nicollin delves into his bottomless bag of weird and wonderful metaphors to express how he’d feel if his side were to win the league.

From around the interwebs...

Here are some cool things I read recently. I present them here so that you too may read them, and thereby become smarter and more interesting, and thus make more money and have better sex.
No need to thank me.


The one-shot society: Exams in Korea
In The Economist

Korea’s well-educated, hard-working population has powered its economic miracle. The country has risen from barefoot to broadband since 1960, and last year, despite the global slowdown, its economy grew by 6.2%. In the age of the knowledge economy, education is economic destiny. So the system has had far-reaching and beneficial consequences.

Yet it also has huge costs. For a start, high school is hell. Two months before the day of his exams Kim Min-sung, a typical student, was monosyllabic and shy. All the joy seemed to have been squeezed out of him, to make room for facts. His classes lasted from 7am until 4pm, after which he headed straight for the library until midnight. He studied seven days a week. “You get used to it,” he mumbled.

The Butchers of Nigeria - How a corrupt nation bred Boko Haram, the Islamic sect terrorizing the country’s Christians.

Wole Soyinka at The Daily Beast

This horde has remained available to political opportunists and criminal leaders desperate to stave off the day of reckoning. Most are highly placed, highly disgruntled, and thus highly motivated individuals who, having lost out in the power stakes, resort to the manipulation of these products of warped fervor. Their aim is to bring society to its knees, to create a situation of total anarchy that will either break up the nation or bring back the military, which ruled Nigeria in a succession of coups between the mid-1960s and the late ’90s. Again and again they have declared their blunt manifesto—not merely to Islamize the nation but to bring it under a specific kind of fundamentalist strain. Rather than act in defense of Nigeria’s Constitution, past rulers have cosseted the aggressors for short-term political gains. However, those who have tweaked the religious chord are discovering that they have conjured up a Frankenstein.

Why the Chinese save
Sheldon Garon at Foreign Policy Magazine

To be sure, many East and Southeast Asian societies appear culturally disposed toward thrift. But I question the timelessness and uniqueness of so-called Asian values regarding saving and consumption. As heretical as it may sound, the widespread “urge to save” in Asian economies has less to do with their shared “Asianness,” and may be more related to their common adoption of savings promotion practices from other countries.

Pornistan - A brief history of sex
Iqbal Latif at The Iranian

Which is the No. 1 Nation in Sexy Web Searches? i.e. The Pornistan of the world! Google found that of the top 10 countries - searching for sex-related sites - six were Muslim, with Pakistan on the top i.e. The other Muslim countries are Egypt at number 2, Iran at 4, Morocco at 5, Saudi Arabia at 7 and Turkey at 8. Non-Muslim states are Vietnam at 3, India at 6, Philippines at 9 and Poland at 10. Google lifts the veil now and most of the hardcore puritan nations come out unclothed!! Sexual frustrations lead to choked sex sites on Google within most of the Islamic crescent! Even though homosexuality is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom ranks No. 2 for searches for "gay sex," behind the Philippines.

5 things you can learn about India from their action movies
At Cracked.com

Every shot in Enthiran watches like a blind editor came in and chopped the first and last third off of the scene, regardless of consequence. The movie switches locations before you realized the conversation ended, and new characters pop in for lines, even though you had no idea they were in the room in the first place, or else they leave the scene entirely and the film doesn't bother to show you. The end result is the implication that this entire society has mastered the art of teleportation, but mostly just use it to nag each other across a span of continents.

2011 in recap: My top posts for the year

The beginning of 2012 gives me the chance to shamelessly promote the stuff I wrote in 2011 which you should read, if you haven't already.

Here are some ruminations on race, ethnicity, culture and religion:


Pursuing a Better, Smarter Kind of Immigrant?
What are the Actual Benefits of Ethnic Diversity?
Asians are "Rape-ish"
UCLA Library is Overrun by Hordes of Asians
Comebacks to Stereotypical and Racist Comments - South Asian Edition
Satoshi Kanazawa and Black Women
The Geography of Knob Size
The Racial Politics of Imitating Someone's Accent
Indian Film Stars versus Regular Indians

The Thorny Question of Muslim Youth and Rape

Is it Islamophobic to Ban the Burqa?

As usual, about a month of my year is spent in Southeast Asia. Here are some of the posts inspired by my journeys there and by the people I know there:

Bersih 2.0: The Malaysian Government Shows its True Colours
Random Thailand Thoughts

Thoughts from my Latest Malaysia Trip

The Assumption of Sugar, or not
Mistakes Indonesians Make when Trying to Speak English



This year I also landed a blogging gig for Peril, an online Asian-Australian arts and culture magazine. Here are the posts I wrote, which are all featured on the Peril website:


How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Karaoke
Your Normal Is Weird
The Lure of Black Music
Comparing Asian-Australians and Asian-Americans
Asian Food and Australia's Changing Palate
When White People Cook Asian Food

I've also been posting occasionally at Brown Pundits. You can check my posts (some of which I have also posted on my own blog) here.

Back to my own blog now, here are some more articles that touch primarily upon Asian-Australian issues.

The Bloke from the Anti-Asian Party and his Asian Wife
The Whiteness of the Australian Modelling Industry
Are Asian-Australians Moving Towards Voting Liberal?
Shock and Disbelief as Andrew Bolt is Revealed to be Racist
White Flight from Selective Schools

Making a big splash this year, and eliciting responses ranging from praise to outright hatred, was Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, or specifically the edited excerpt of it published in the Wall Street Journal. Here are some of my thoughts:
On Hardass Asian Parents
More on Amy Chua
So, I Finally Read "...Tiger Mother"

Some other random things:

Quiz Time! (European Names)
Quiz Time! (Asian Diasporas)
Great Black Cover Versions of White Songs, part 2
Viking Influence on the English Language
Eating Seasonally and Ethnically

Open Letter to my Flatmate

Housemate Hunting: Highs, Lows and Finding "The One"


More like this:
2010 in recap: My top posts for the year
Listmania: My favourite movies of the 00s
Listmania: Greatest tracks of the 00s

Tumblrs that I'm digging right now...

http://thai-flood-hacks.tumblr.com/

http://shitmystudentswrite.tumblr.com/

From around the interwebs...

Cool things I've read recently when I should have been studying:


Bali is Paradise Lost for middle-class white people (at The Punch)
This is a brilliant f*cking article, taking the piss out of a not-so-brilliant travel article. (See also this excellent response: It's Bali, Not Paris.)

Now it’s all sell, sell, sell as Webb so brutally discovered. It’s as if Asians – or the Balinese in this case – seem to think that they can exploit innocent western travelers by slowly and steadfastly chipping away at the integrity of white cultural traditions like bargain hunting and getting-away-from-it-all.
What was once a beautiful cultural experience for westerners has been consumed by the voracious greed of the locals who have the audacity to try and make a quick buck at the expense of package tourists. Now you can’t even enjoy a $3 cocktail in peace without some grabby little Balinese person trying to get you to help them put food on their family’s table.

Tiny martyr for Chinese freedom (at The Drum)
Analyzes the social context surrounding the infamous hit-and-run incident in Foshan where a toddler was hit twice by trucks, and drivers and onlookers did nothing to help.

The Chinese people have been forced by almost 60 years of communist rule into survival mode, trusting only themselves and their chosen circle. They have re-erected their metaphoric family compound walls against an arbitrary state and a ferociously competitive economy. With minimal security and trust, there is minimal capacity to take a leap of altruism.

“I Really Want You To Do My Vice-America President.”
Jon Huntsman claims he’s fluent in Chinese. Is he? (at Slate)
Interesting article about the way we tend to overstate the ability of English speakers who have learned another language, especially in comparison to non-English speakers who learn English.

Considering Huntsman’s moderate Chinese speaking ability, the better question may be why American media have been so eager to gush praise upon a skill it cannot evaluate. NPR says that Huntsman’s appearance on the Colbert Report (where he asked Colbert to “do my vice-America president”) “did win some points for fluency”; Colbert pronounced it “terrifying.” New York magazine calls the seven-second clip of Huntsman at the Faith and Freedom Conference “a brief but impressive reminder of his fluency in two languages, or two more than Sarah Palin.”

GOP Nominee For KY-GOV Slams Dem For Participating In Hindu ‘Idolatry’ (at TMG)
Democratic Governor of Kentucky Steve Beshear catches heat for hanging out with Indians and not lecturing them about how Jesus is more awesome than Vishnu.

“He’s there participating with Hindu priests, participating in a religious ceremony,” Williams said. “They can say what they want to. He’s sitting down there with his legs crossed, participating in Hindu prayers with a dot on his forehead with incense burning around him. I don’t know what the man was thinking.”
Williams further told reports: “If I’m a Christian, I don’t participate in Jewish prayers. I’m glad they do that. I don’t participate in Hindu prayers. I don’t participate in Muslim prayers. I don’t do that. To get down and get involved and participate in prayers to these polytheistic situations, where you have these Hindu gods that they are praying to, doesn’t appear to me to be in line with what a governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky ought to be doing.”

From around the interwebs... Asian parenting, education and achievement

Three interesting articles I've chanced across this week...


How to raise a global kid

Taking Tiger Mom tactics to radical new heights, these parents are packing up the family for a total Far East Immersion.


Happy Rogers, age 8, stands among her classmates in the schoolyard at dismissal time, immune, it seems, to the cacophonous din. Her parents and baby sister are waiting outside, but still she lingers, engrossed in conversation. A poised and precocious blonde, Hilton Augusta Parker Rogers, nicknamed Happy, would be at home in the schoolyard of any affluent American suburb or big-city private school. But here, at the elite, bilingual Nanyang Primary School in Singapore, Happy is in the minority, her Dakota Fanning hair shimmering in a sea of darker heads. This is what her parents have traveled halfway around the world for. While her American peers are feasting on the idiocies fed to them by junk TV and summer movies, Happy is navigating her friendships and doing her homework entirely in Mandarin.

Asians Underrepresented in Senior Ranks, Study Says

Despite relatively high salaries and an outsized share of Ivy League degrees, Asian-Americans are underrepresented in executive suites, according to a study released Monday.

 One-quarter of Asian respondents said they face workplace discrimination, while only 4% of Caucasians believe Asians are treated unfairly on the job. According to the report, Asian-American workers are also more likely than other minority workers to work less or consider quitting because of bias."In Asia, there's a saying that the loudest duck gets shot; in America it's: the squeaky wheel gets the grease," said Ms. Hyun. "These things are totally different and at odds with each other."

Ironically, the relative success of Asian workers may be exacerbating the problem. To date, few companies have had career development programs for Asian employees, because they are seen as a "model minority," according to the report.


Ripa Rashid, a coauthor of the report, said that the survey reveals something that she hears often from workers and managers: Asian-American employees are culturally uncomfortable with the type of swagger and self-promotion that often spells success in U.S. firms.


The study also showed that Asian employees may be less comfortable sharing their personal lives with coworkers and less likely to enlist more senior coworkers as mentors or sponsors.


"They just put their heads down and work and believe that's all it takes to get to the top," Ms. Rashid said.

 
Tiger Mothers or Elephant Mothers? by Peter Singer

Tiger mothering might seem to be a useful counterbalance to such permissiveness, but both extremes leave something out. Chua’s focus is unrelentingly on solitary activities in the home, with no encouragement of group activities, or of concern for others, either in school or in the wider community. Thus, she appears to view school plays as a waste of time that could be better spent studying or practicing music.

But to take part in a school play is to contribute to a community good. If talented children stay away, the quality of the production will suffer, to the detriment of the others who take part (and of the audience that will watch it). And all children whose parents bar them from such activities miss the opportunity to develop social skills that are just as important and rewarding – and just as demanding to master – as those that monopolize Chua’s attention.


We should aim for our children to be good people, and to live ethical lives that manifest concern for others as well as for themselves. This approach to child-rearing is not unrelated to happiness: there is abundant evidence that those who are generous and kind are more content with their lives than those who are not. But it is also an important goal in its own right.

See also:

Summation of Wesley Yang's "Paper Tigers"

Asian kids, Jewish education

On hardass Asian parents

So I finally read "Tiger Mother"

From around the interwebs...

Links and stuff to ponder. I do not necessarily endorse the content, just present it for your perusal.


Coast bandit given "wok for"
[Apologies for the cringeworthy title]
...As the robber attempted to steal the till, pocket-sized Mr Chung came up from behind with a wok full of scorching chicken chow mein and his ladle. He poured the contents of the wok on to the bandit's back. The armed man, now in agony, struggled from behind the counter as Mr Chung continued to wallop him with the wok, the force causing him to drop the knife. It was quickly picked up by Mrs Chung who, with her husband, chased the man down Universal Drive.


Cultural Differences Are Evident Deep in the Brain of Caucasian and Asian People (at ScienceDaily)
...For decades, psychologists believed that it's natural for humans to see behaviors and automatically link them to personality. "For example, when you see somebody giving a seat to an old man in a train, you might jump to the conclusion that that person is very nice and kind," says Shinobu Kitayama, of the University of Michigan. He co wrote the new study with Jinkyung Na. "But the behavior may be motivated by some other things. For example, maybe his boss at work may be in that same train, or there might be very strong social norms" that led to the younger man giving up his seat



Last two speakers of dying language refuse to speak to each other
...Manuel Segovia and Isidro Velazquezto live less than a kilometre apart in Ayapa village in southern Mexico but according to the Daily Mail, they don't get on. Those close to the men aren't sure what the conflict is about. They're the last two speakers of this remote language but they refuse to discuss how best to preserve their dying language.



Loco loco over Poco-Poco in Malaysia (At Unspun)
...Islamic clerics in a Malaysian state want Muslims to avoid a popular dance they claim has Christian influences. The “poco-poco” is a line dance that is common at social events in Muslim-majority Malaysia. It is widely thought to have originated in Indonesia. Islamic scholars in Malaysia’s Perak state say they believe the “poco-poco” is traditionally a Christian dance and that its steps make the sign of the cross.


5 Chinese drinking habits explained (at CNN Go)
...If you thought shotgunning a beer in under five seconds back in uni was the pinnacle of drinking prowess, you’ve probably never been properly ganbei’d. China’s version of “down the hatch” is a bit like the power hour, involving repeated and prolonged shooting of small amounts of alcohol -- red wine if you’re lucky, baijiu if you’re not.
Though observed in all social circles, ganbei is particularly prominent in China’s formal banquet culture, where business suits and government officials rub elbows, talk business and get completely sloshed.


Why blacks take birtherism more personally (by David A. Love at The Root)
...This is an attempt to strip a visibly black man of his American-ness. To call President Obama an "Arab" or a "Kenyan" or a "Muslim" is merely to highlight the foreignness with which black Americans are still regarded by some segments of the population. This is a slap in the face to the descendants of slaves who have suffered through years of pent-up anxiety and sensitivity because the greater society has failed to accept them.


How I lost faith in multiculturalism (by Greg Sheridan in The Australian)
...It may be that by 2030 we will start to have a much more European-style, polarised society as a result.
Coming to these sombre conclusions marks a crisis of faith for me. All my life I have been, intellectually and as a matter of personal experience, strongly supportive of a big and completely racially non-discriminatory immigration program. This grew out of my convictions, my world view, and also my personal experience.
Mark Latham once remarked that the journalists and commentators who most vigorously support big immigration in Sydney live in the eastern suburbs, the inner city or the north shore. They don't live in the western suburbs where life is much more hard scrabble.


Racism? Or political correctness gone mad? (by Craig Platt in the Sydney Morning Herald)
...So are we too sensitive here in Australia? Jokes on race are probably the last remaining taboo in Australian comedy – it's a free-for-all on pretty much any other transgressive topic you can name (paedophile and incest gags are a dime-a-dozen these days). The exception is when you are a member of that race – you are allowed to ridicule your own people (something Reginald D Hunter compare to minorities 'dancing for the white folks' in his show this year).


The Conversation: Is France right to "ban the burqa"? (in The Guardian)
...Salma Yaqoob, leader of the Respect party, is opposed, while commentator Yasmin Alibhai-Brown believes the French may be doing the right thing.

From around the interwebs...

Here is some stuff that happened.

Race row erupts as Bonds Baby Search turns nasty
THE search for the ultimate cute baby has descended into nastiness after mothers angry at a voting glitch started to launch cruel and racist attacks on other people's children.
The taunts transformed the Bonds Baby Search - all chubby cheeks and cuteness overload - into sheer ugliness as angry mothers took to the company's Facebook site.
Pippa Taylor was floored when someone posted a comment on a picture of her Eurasian daughter Lilli, saying "Bonds Australia not Asia".
Classy. And bear in mind that wasn't even a "full" Asian baby.


Iran says London 2012 logo racist: report

Iran has protested against the already controversial logo for the 2012 Olympic Games, saying the emblem is racist and spells the word 'Zion,' the ILNA news agency reported on Monday.

Iran's national Olympic committee have written to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) making an official complaint about the logo and are threatening to boycott the Games.
The jagged, multi-coloured emblem, which reportedly cost £400,000 (nearly $650,000), features four bold numerals representing 2012, with the signature Olympic Rings emblazoned within the digit zero.
But Mohammad Aliabadi, head of the national Olympic committee in the Islamic republic, said the logo was undermining the event and accused the British organisers of indulging in "racism," ILNA reported.
"Unfortunately, we all are witnessing that the upcoming Olympics ... faces a serious challenge, definitely spawned out of some people's racist spirit," Aliabadi said in a letter to IOC president Jacques Rogge. "The use of the word Zion by the designer of the Olympics logo ... in the emblem of the Olympics Games 2012 is a very revolting act," he added, warning that if Rogge did not act, the logo would "affect the participation of several countries, especially Iran, which insists on following principles and values".
Zion is a biblical that often refers to the city Jerusalem.
Sure, the emblem does look like "Zion", but only provided you read it in a zig-zag fashion and rotate several of the characters. In other words, it doesn't look like "Zion". Even if it did, how that is "racist" is beyond me. Seriously, don't Iran's government ever take a break from being douchebags?


Pakistan has abdicated its responsibilities
Pakistan has lost another brave heart. Two months after the Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, my father, was assassinated for speaking out against Pakistan's cruel blasphemy laws, Shahbaz Bhatti was shot dead by unknown assailants. Bhatti was one of Pakistan's progressives.

Under his guidance, the government introduced affirmative action for minorities – 5% of all federal employment – and designated 11 August a holiday to celebrate minorities. He banned the sale of properties belonging to minorities while law enforcement authorities took action against them. He launched a national campaign to promote inter-faith harmony through seminars, awareness groups and workshops and was initiating comparative religion classes into schools and universities.
Bhatti introduced a prayer room for non-Muslims in the prison system, and started a 24-hour crisis hotline to report acts of violence against minorities. He began a campaign to protect religious artefacts and sites that belong to minorities. This is the man we have lost.
Taseer and Bhatti's murders are a grim warning to those who dare to speak out against injustices.


Malawi row over whether new law bans farting
Two of Malawi's most senior judicial officials are arguing over whether a new bill includes a provision that outlaws breaking wind in public. Justice Minister George Chaponda says the new bill would criminalise flatulence to promote "public decency".
"Just go to the toilet when you feel like farting," he told local radio. However, he was directly contradicted by Solicitor General Anthony Kamanga, who says the reference to "fouling the air" means pollution.
"How any reasonable or sensible person can construe the provision to criminalising farting in public is beyond me," he said, adding that the prohibition contained in the new law has been in place since 1929.
The enforcement of this law would be the most intriguing. I wonder if "silent but deadly" would receive the same punishment as "loud and proud".
Speaking 2 languages may delay getting Alzheimer's

Being bilingual does nothing to prevent Alzheimer's disease from striking. But once the disease does begin its silent attack, those years of robust executive control provide a buffer so that symptoms don't become apparent as quickly, Bialystok said.

"They've been able to cope with the disease," she said. Her work supports an earlier study from other researchers that also found a protective effect.
What is it about being bilingual that enhances that all-important executive control system?
Both languages are essentially turned on all the time, but the brain learns to inhibit the one you don't need, said psychology professor Teresa Bajo of the University of Granada in Spain. That's pretty constant activity.
That's not the only area. University of British Columbia psychologist Janet Werker studies infants exposed to two languages from birth to see why they don't confuse the two, and says bilingual babies learn very early to pay attention better.
I knew all those hours studying Klingon would pay off.

2010 in recap: My top posts for the year

Blatant plug time!
The year end gives me a chance to remind you of some of the posts I have spat out over the last year which you may have missed.

These are what I think are some of the best things I've written these year. Some of them are insightful, some are dumb but possibly mildly amusing, others are both. If you haven't read them, your life may well be significantly poorer as a result.
Asian drivers are safer. Seriously?
Are white people more racist than everyone else?
"Tim Tam from Vietnam" - or, how NOT to make jokes about Asians
Race and dating: "What is it with you and Indian chicks?"
A bit about Asian men and white women
HBD (Human Biodiversity) and "Race Realism"
The problem of when Western cooking shows go "Eastern"
Tofu containers - an essential storage item for every Asian?
So "Asian-Australian" means what, exactly?
"You are NOT Eurasian" - the weirdest email I've ever received


STUFF I WROTE FOR OTHER BLOGSI did a few guest posts this year. Check it:
Stuff Asian People Like: Spitting
Stuff Asian People Like: Cheesy Ballads
Stuff White People Do: Blame their accusers instead of themselves


SOUTH EAST ASIAN STUFF
Given that I spend a considerable amount of time in Indonesia and Malaysia, I do write a few things about those places. Occasionally I even know what I'm talking about.
The ugly politics of race in Malaysia
3 things Indonesia can teach Malaysia
The most awesome Thai names
Being vegetarian in Malaysia
Being vegetarian in Indonesia


HISTORICAL CONTEXTUAL STUFF
This is the sort of thing that you can quote to people at parties, which will either make you seem really interesting, or a dreadful bore. I think it's interesting though, and that's what matters.
How Muslim names evolve across the world
How language tells the history of Malaysia and Indonesia
English words of Indian origin
The complicated history of the song "Sukiyaki"
Hip-hop's Ethiopian flirtations


RACE IN AUSTRALIA
Many of the people who read this blog have been drawn to it by my writings about Asian-Australian issues, and the ins and outs of race and racism in this country. Here are some of the better ones.
Addressing the myths and misconceptions about anti-Indian violence in Australia
How to use the media to incite racial hatred
Of geeks and gangsters: the "model minority"
You're damned if you do...
The white-out of Billy SingHow the media manufactures a racist "controversy"
"The suspect was described as having dark skin"
Victorian police accused of racism towards African youth
It couldn't have been a white person...? More on ethnic descriptors of criminals


LISTS
Given that last year was the end of a decade, I put together a couple of lists of the films and songs I dug the most in that 10 years.
Listmania: Greatest tracks of the 00s
Listmania: My favourite movies of the 00s


THE O MAN
Barack Obama has been something of a fascination for me, largely because the reaction to having a coloured fella as POTUS tells you a lot about how far we still have to come on race issues in general.
If Obama is a Muslim, maybe I am too...
Now 1 in 5 Americans believe Obama is a Muslim
More "Obama's not an American" nonsense
Obama bows again. Conservatives are outraged. Sensible people couldn't care less
The Muslim-ness of Obama's family, and what it has to do with his presidency


FUNNY SH*T
These are some videos by other people that made me LOL, ROFL or say "WTF?" this year, and I posted them because I want you to do the same.
Ninja say what?
Interview with Miss Universe China. Oh man, this is good.
Japanese precision walking
Let's Muscle!
Koreans, you too can curse like an American
"The Red House" ad - furniture that both black and white people can enjoy


SHALLOW STUFF
If your primary interests are who's hot and who's not, these polls will interest you. The World Cup one got more hits than any other post this year.
Who are the hottest players at the World Cup?
Who is the hottest world leader - part 1 (males) and part 2 (females)

Some Asian-Australian bits and pieces

Asians in the Australian modelling industry
'Bucknall makes a point of signing ethnic models to FRM but is constantly frustrated, he says, and even shocked at some reactions. "On numerous occasions when I'm sending a group of models in for castings I've been told, "We don't use blacks or Asians, so don't send them."

Matthew Anderson, director of Chadwick models, says his agency, which currently has only one Asian-Australian model signed, reflects the commercial reality of supply and demand, which in turn reflects a culture stuck on one concept of fashionable beauty.'


Poh's Family Garden
Malaysians are terminally obsessed with food and eating, and this segment of Gardening Australia shows another part of the cycle. TV chef Poh Ling Yeow takes the show to visit her uncle and auntie and their garden in Adelaide, where they cultivate kangkung, bok choy, snow peas and other Asian vegetable goodies.

Natalie Tran's travel video blog at Lonely Planet
I've somehow remained largely oblivious to the Natalie Tran phenomenon, but the 24-year-old Sydney v-logger is an international internet celebrity whose humorous observations have led to her being the 6th-most-subscribed director of all time on Youtube. She's now landed herself a gig as a guest video blogger for Lonely Planet, detailing her travels around the world. It's worth checking out.

Indian student tells of Melbourne stabbing
"An Indian cookery student in Melbourne has recalled the night he was stabbed in the stomach by two men after he finished work in a South Yarra bar. The 31-year-old man, who wants to remain anonymous, now bears a 26-stitch scar where doctors performed emergency surgery on his punctured bowel after the attack on November 5."

From around the interwebs...

Links and all that.


Merkel jumps on xenophobe bandwagon
by Leo Kretzenbacher in The Age
"If a statement is completely wrong and illogical, Germans call it "so wrong that not even its opposite is correct". Seldom has this characterisation been more fitting than for German Chancellor Angela Merkel's recent announcement that multiculturalism in Germany had failed. For it to have succeeded or failed it would have had to have been tried in some serious way first. German governments have never been guilty of any serious effort to create a multicultural society."



Culture is more than just a national costume
by Pino Migliorino in the Sydney Morning Herald
"I think that the balance is not achieved by adjusting migration numbers. The balance is one of attitude. It is the balance that the existing nations all over the world, including Australia, have to find in creating equal dialogues between all its cultures and communities. It does not mean that any side has to passively accept what is proposed to them. At the very least, we have to be able to accept that we all have the capacity to learn new things and to change."



Striking a balance in Australia's immigration future
by Pallavi Jain in The Age
"Australia is one of the most developed countries in the world but to maintain that in an increasingly globalised world, it is imperative that it manages its immigration policy well. Very low immigration will deny Australia the benefits of the best minds in the world. Too much immigration may give rise to unforseen social unrest, apart from being a huge burden on the infrastructure and the environment. Striking this balance will be a key to Australia's future."



Western politicians prefer to ignore Israel's inherent racism
by Antony Lowenstein in The Age.
"Imagine a mainstream Australian politician saying that Aborigines should be banned from leading tourists around Uluru because they might "present anti-Australian positions" to visitors. The outcry would be furious.

But a bill is currently before the Israeli Knesset, led by a parliamentarian from the "moderate" Kadima party, that would bar Arab residents of East Jerusalem from working as tour guides in the city. Knesset member Gideon Ezra said it was essential tourist groups are "accompanied by a tour guide who is an Israeli citizen and has institutional loyalty to the [Jewish] state of Israel".
It is just the latest sign in an ever-tightening noose around Arabs from the Zionist mainstream in the self-described Jewish nation."


Feminism curbing Third World women
By Durkhanai Ayubi in The Age

"To me it boils down to this - cultural relativism or the PC brigade should not tie the tongue of Western feminists in speaking out for women who come from less fortunate regions of the world. However, if the argument is ignorant to the complexity of factors in play, then perhaps it would not be so unfortunate if the tongue-getting cat made an appearance."



Shoe throwing only served to harm the left
by Michael Koziol in the Sydney Morning Herald
"Indeed, John Howard's appearance in its totality has been met with widespread praise: he was eloquent, assertive, and handled Shoegate with grace – at least in the eyes of much of the Twitterverse. But many Twitterers – and I suspect many others watching on - afforded shoe thrower Peter Gray hero status for his action, and that is foolish even for those who sympathise with the left.

The concern now is that the shoe thrower will come to represent the left more broadly. It wouldn't be a sensible act of stereotyping but it will happen: those already sceptical of left-wing politics will watch the footage of this silliness and it will reinforce preconceptions about people on the left, what they look like and how they behave. It is the sort of irresponsible behaviour that provides a justification for dismissing intelligent progressive ideas as the musings of delusional hippies."

From around the interwebs...

I link therefore I am...

Entrepreneurs rise in the ashes of India's caste system (NY Times)
"While in the south lower caste members concentrated on economic development and education as a route to prosperity, in the north the chief aim of caste-based groups has been political power and its spoils. As a result India’s northern lower castes tend to be less educated and less prosperous than their southern counterparts. Charismatic leaders in the north from lower castes have used caste identity as a way to mobilize voters, winning control over several large north Indian states. Caste so thoroughly permeates politics in the northern half of the world’s largest democracy that it is often said that people don’t cast their vote; they vote their caste."


Racism Is Still Alive And Well In Online Comment Sections (NewsOne)
"Although you rarely hear racial insults on Main Street these days, there’s a place where unashamed bigotry is all too easy to find: tossed off in the comments sections of some of the Internet’s most popular websites, today’s virtual Main Street. Internet anonymity has removed one of the strongest barriers to the type of language that can ruin reputations and end careers.
Do these comments reflect a reversal of racial progress? Is that progress an illusion while racism thrives underground? What kind of harm are these statements doing? Could there be any value in such venting? And what, if anything, should a free society do about it?"


Silenced in court (The Age)
"Of course, Bolt tackles the issue with trademark belligerence. The merits of his argument will now be tested in court. But put aside the conservative commentator. This isn't about the collected works and opinions of Andrew Bolt. And put aside the complexities of racial identity, Aboriginality and reconciliation.
This case is troubling because of what it says about our right to freedom of speech. If successful - or just really expensive to defend - this lawsuit could have a stifling effect on political debate."


 
Morrisey's parochialism echoes the whole indie tribe (The Guardian)
'Last Saturday, there were small-scale tremors in response to an interview in the Guardian's Weekend magazine, where, musing on the far eastern meat trade, he claimed that Chinese people are a "subspecies". There followed the usual trawls through his cuttings file, where plenty of material awaited. From 1986: "To get on Top Of The Pops these days one has to be, by law, black." Circa 1992: "I don't really think … black people and white people will ever really get on or like each other." And what about this peach, uttered three years ago? "The higher the influx into England, the more the British identity disappears."'

Response: Indie music is not the only genre that has erected racial barriers (The Guardian)
"However, the unpleasant fact is that this is part of a larger picture in rock'n'roll, even though the genre owes its very existence to musicians such as Chuck Berry and his peers.
In America, unfortunately, white rock has always been considered as art, and black music as commerce."


The Aussie card (The Australian)
'What is it about us that draws such adoration? Is it our laconic humour, our relaxed manner, the sense of freedom we exude? Is it Steve Irwin? Is it that we are without the prejudices of those from older countries, who are often burdened with historical baggage and ideologies? Is it just that we’re perceived as kind? Even though we’re notoriously bad tippers, I’ve heard many times how nice we are. “Aussies treat us like equals,” I was told by a hotel bellboy.'

From around the interwebs...

Things I've been reading this week in order to pretend to be interesting...


PC brigade kills debate on burqa ban
(by Sushi Das in The Age.)

"The burqa ban debate is not about robbing people of their identity or wanting to crush Islam. And it is not just about facilitating communication. It's more than that.

In a society in which we celebrate human rights, promote free institutions and respect representative government, no matter how imperfect those efforts might be, we are entitled to feel proud of our enlightened ways. Preserving and enforcing full rights and benefits to women is a significant achievement of modern society.
Debating the burqa is about creating a space that is beyond the control of extremists. We should not be cowed by those who seek to polarise this debate. We should feel free to declare, full-throated, that the burqa is an abomination."

New dissent in Japan is loudly anti-foreign
(from the New York Times)

While these groups remain a small if noisy fringe element here, they have won growing attention as an alarming side effect of Japan’s long economic and political decline. Most of their members appear to be young men, many of whom hold the low-paying part-time or contract jobs that have proliferated in Japan in recent years.

Though some here compare these groups to neo-Nazis, sociologists say that they are different because they lack an aggressive ideology of racial supremacy, and have so far been careful to draw the line at violence. There have been no reports of injuries, or violence beyond pushing and shouting. Rather, the Net right’s main purpose seems to be venting frustration, both about Japan’s diminished stature and in their own personal economic difficulties.
“These are men who feel disenfranchised in their own society,” said Kensuke Suzuki, a sociology professor at Kwansei Gakuin University. “They are looking for someone to blame, and foreigners are the most obvious target.”

Glenn Beck vs Christ the Liberator
(by Reverend James Martin at The Huffington Post)

"Briefly put, liberation theology (there are many definitions, by the way) is a Gospel-based critique of the world through the eyes of the poor. Contrary to what Beck implies, the liberation theologian doesn't see himself or herself as victim; rather proponents call us to see how the poor are marginalized by society, to work among them, to advocate on their behalf, and to help them advocate for themselves. It has nothing to do with seeing yourself as victim. It is, like all authentic Christian practices, "other-directed." ...

It's not hard to see what Beck has against "liberation theology." It's the same reason people are often against "social justice." Both ideas ask us to consider the plight of the poor. And that's disturbing."

China traffic jam could last weeks
(from the Wall Street Journal)
And I thought the jams in Jakarta and Bangkok were hellish. This one is 60 miles long and may last a whole month.

"China's roads suffer from extra wear and tear from illegally overloaded trucks, especially along key coal routes. Coal supplies move from Mongolia through the outskirts of the capital on their way to factories. There are few rail lines to handle the extra load. Though the current massive gridlock is unusual, thousands of trucks line up along the main thoroughfares into Beijing even on the best days."

 
Black and Jewish, and seeing no contradiction
(from the New York Times)

"Nobody keeps track of how many black Orthodox Jews are in New York or across the nation, and surely it is a tiny fraction of both populations. Indeed, even the number of black Jews over all is elusive, though a 2005 book about Jewish diversity, “In Every Tongue,” cited studies suggesting that some 435,000 American Jews, or 7 percent, were black, Hispanic, Asian or American Indian.

“Everyone agrees that the numbers have grown, and they should be noticed,” said Jonathan D. Sarna of Brandeis University, a pre-eminent historian of American Jewry. “Once, there was a sense that ‘so-and-so looked Jewish.’ Today, because of conversion and intermarriage and patrilineal descent, that’s less and less true. The average synagogue looks more like America."

 
The individual and social risks of cousin marriage
at Gene Expression 

"Setting religion aside, there are also social reasons why this practice is common. As I noted above sex segregation means that you may not know women outside of your family well, and in some societies where veiling is practiced it may be that you do not see many women you are not related to (even if veiling occurs at puberty, you may have seen your cousin at a younger age)."

From around the interwebs...

... some things, and some other things.

Australia tops miser ranking on refugees
"As a nation, we pride ourselves on our competitiveness and seek a top-five finish in the Olympics, the title of best cricketing nation and the prize of the Rugby World Cup. But when it comes to compassion, we appear determined to push the bar as low as possible."
With border protection being one of the hot-button issues at this coming election, law professor John Tobin points out that Australia is ranked 77th in the world for refugee intake for GDP per capita.



Glenn Beck compares Barack Obama to Lucifer
No sh!t, the Fox News host actually went there. Even used flames for effect. I guess calling BO a racist, a fascist and a socialist wasn't dramatic enough. What a c*ck.


Multiculturalism threatens free thinking
Not saying I agree with this, but it's one conservative take on a debate going on in New Zealand, sparked by a Maori leader expressing his preference for his children not to marry pakeha (whites).

The Origins of Ice Cream
Food writer Laura Kelley explores the beginnings of the world's favourite sweet treat, the invention of which is variously ascribed to the Chinese, Persians, Greeks, Indians and Arabs.


These ignorant racists clearly haven't evolved
While overt racism in English football seems to be mostly a thing of the past, black players plying their trade on the continent are still dealing with monkey chants and having bananas thrown at them.


1 in 200 men direct descendants of Genghis Khan
Seriously, check it out. Although it doesn't actually mean the great Mongol leader was the Casanova of his day.

The heart of Lao cuisine
An exploration of the food of Luang Prabang, and the underappreciated cuisine of Laos, by Robyn Eckhardt of Eating Asia fame.


With American lingo, we've imported toxic US culture
As Australian English takes on more and more aspects of US vernacular, how will it impact on our outlook on life as well?

From around the interwebs...

In other words, interesting links and sh*t:

Lost in Translation - Does language influence culture?
"Do the languages we speak shape the way we think? Do they merely express thoughts, or do the structures in languages (without our knowledge or consent) shape the very thoughts we wish to express?"


Malaysia tops Power Distance Index
The Power Distance Index represents the level of power inequality in a society between those at the top at the bottom. Asian societies are among the most hierarchical, with Malaysia achieving the top score of 100.


Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attacks Paul the Octopus
The world's most sane leader claims the football-predicting octopus is a symbol of decadence and decay among "his enemies", and accuses him of spreading Western propaganda and superstition. Perhaps Mahmoud is just pissed that Iran didn't make the World Cup this time around. Anyway, there's no truth to the rumour that Paul masterminded the recent bomb attack on the President.


The First New Zealanders and their Rats
Looks at how the initial peopling of Aoteoroa can be traced by the radiocarbon dating of rat bones - the Pacific rat or kiore, introduced by the Maori. But the article also examines how history in New Zealand has become increasingly politicised. Some are misusing such evidence to claim that there were other people there before the Maori - and thus attempting to deny Maori claims over traditional lands.


Why white people like Ayaan Hirsi Ali
One feminist writer's take on the opinion-polarising Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali refugee turned Dutch politician and anti-Islam activist.


Garlic bubble leaves bad taste in Chinese mouths
A combination of factors, including its reputed ability to protect against swine flu - have meant that garlic prices have rocketed as much as 30-fold in the last 18 months in China.




Why pop culture matters to race bloggers
Those of us who blog about race can sometimes seem overly obsessed with movies, TV and other forms of popular culture. But as Jenn Fang writes here, "Pop culture doesn't just reflect popular trends and ideas, it also helps create them."

From around the interwebs...

Some random stuff to make you think about stuff...



Moonshine or the kids?
Writing from the Congo, NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof illuminates an uncomfortable truth about poverty around the world. In far too many cases, some of the world's poorest people spend far more of their incomes on alcohol, tobacco and other frivolities, than they do educating their kids. And the culprit is usually the man of the house. Give women control of the finances, and outcomes begin to look very different. There's a follow-up post on his blog, here.


The Basiometer: "stale" bules
A quirky article at Indonesia Matters.
"In short, Basiness [staleness] is that kind of icky feeling you get when you meet a Bule [white person] and you know and they know they've been in Indonesia too long."


Charities fear rise in acid attacks avenging slights on family honour
Acid attacks are on the rise in Britain. While this ghastly form of violence is usually associated with South Asian and Middle-Eastern cultures, it also takes place with some frequency in South East Asia, East Africa and the Caribbean. It is almost always associated with some kind of gender-based conflict or resentment.


Hollywood whitewash? 'Airbender' and 'Prince of Persia' anger fans with ethnic casting
You may have already heard about how upcoming film The Last Airbender has royally pissed off Asian-Americans with its casting of mostly Caucasian lead actors in a film clearly set in an Asian-inspired fantasy world. But consider also Prince of Persia, starring the decidely un-Persian-looking Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton in the lead role. Fortunately for us, director Jerry Bruckheimer is around to grant us a revisionist history lesson: “Persians were very light skinned,” he said. “The Turks kind of changed everything. But back in the 6th century, a lot of them were blond and blue-eyed.”
I can't say I was around then, but that sounds suspiciously like some BS to me.

Above: Two, um... "Persians"