Rotundus.com

Saudi Arabia deports 3 men for being too sexy

"Sitting in the stands as delegates from the United Arab Emirates at the Jenadrivah Heritage & Cultural Festival in Riyad on Sunday, nothing seemed to be wrong with the men in question but that didn't stop the mutaween, Saudi Arabia's religious police, from charging in and hauling the men away ... 'A festival official said the three Emiratis were taken out on the grounds they are too handsome and that the Commission members feared female visitors could fall for them'"

Judith Grossman: A Mother, a Feminist, Aghast

"Unsubstantiated accusations against my son by a former girlfriend landed him before a nightmarish college tribunal."

Ottawa sets up taxpayer-funded food truck in Mexico to promote Canadian cuisine (whatever that means)

"The new Canada-branded, taxpayer-funded venture, which kicked off its three-week pilot project last week, is serving up a Mexican-ized version of poutine, using Oaxaca cheese instead of curds. Also on the menu are Alberta beef tourtière, and maple-glazed Albacore tuna. The truck is trying to draw attention to Canadian products such as McCain French fries, and promote the ‘Canada Brand’ in Mexico."

Killer given domestic violence award

"An Asian woman who was jailed for life for setting fire to her husband has been honoured at an awards ceremony for breaking the taboo of domestic violence."

Women in Computing Around the World

"This paper describes the participation of women in computing in more than 30 countries, by focussing on participation at undergraduate level. A brief discussion covers how societal and cultural factors may affect women's participation. Statistics from many different sources are presented for comparison. Generally, participation is low - most countries fall in the 10-40% range with a few below 10% and a few above 40%."

Manufacturing Terrorists

"How FBI sting operations make jihadists out of hapless malcontents"

USC battery wields silicon nanowires to hold triple the energy, charge in 10 minutes

"Triple the capacity of today's batteries? Full recharges in 10 minutes? More than 2,000 charging cycles? Check. It all sounds a bit fantastical, but USC does see real-world use on the horizon." Would be nice if this turns out to be workable though I'll remain skeptical for the moment.

Teaching to Fail

"What can we conclude when undergraduates bemoan, "How did anyone ever come up with this stuff?" Although the students might feel confused or bedazzled, there’s one thing for certain: the instructor jumped over the requisite missteps that originally led to the discovery at hand. ... Individuals need to embrace the realization that taking risks and failing are often the essential moves necessary to bring clarity, understanding, and innovation. By making a mistake, we are led to the pivotal question: "Why was that wrong?" By answering this question, we are intentionally placing ourselves in a position to develop a new insight and to eventually succeed. But how do we foster such a critical habit of mind in our students — students who are hardwired to avoid failure at all costs?" The author of this article apparently includes in his grading scheme 5% of the final grade for their "quality of failure." I'd agree that accepting failure and learning how to address it is important. I'm just not sure this is a particularly effective way.

Such was the title of a recent Slate article. Its argument:

I understand why people worry about technological unemployment. And I understand why people worry about rising entitlement spending burdens. What I don't understand is why people worry about them both simultaneously. In the technological unemployment world, we'll be able to give everyone a 2013 level of consumption goods with a radically diminished workforce ... The other worry is the opposite of this one. It's that in the future a very large share of our population will be elderly nonworkers and a very large share of our workforce will be dedicated to taking care of elderly nonworkers ("skyrocketing health care costs"), and that consequently younger people's living standards will diminish or stagnate. Either of those things could happen, but they can't both happen.

The article is in a sense true, but I also think its missing something - societal instability. What are the impacts of large-scale unemployment likely to be? From a historical angle war wouldn't seem to be unprecedented. How do you run a society with a small number of wealthy working individuals? Historically its seemed to be the wealthy taking advantage of the opportunity to live a quieter existence on the backs of a impoverished working class. The following seems to highlight the current dilemna:

For the first time in human history, the rich work longer hours than the proletariat.

Iraq deadly bombings hit Nasariyah, Kirkuk and Baghdad

"At least 31 people have been killed and more than 200 others wounded in a series of early-morning explosions in cities across Iraq, officials say." Same day as the Boston Marathon bombings and a death toll more than 10 times as high. Which have you heard more about?

German 'Wise Men' push for wealth seizure to fund EMU bail-outs

"Two top advisers to German Chancellor Angela Merkel have called for a tax on private wealth and property in eurozone debtor states to force the rich to fund rescue costs, marking a radical new departure for EMU crisis strategy." It's no secret that a lot countries seem to run with unsustainable spending, but this illustrates why personal savings may not be a way around that.

Men's Rights Movement Sees Resurgence Among Millennial Males

A fairly decent overview.

Judge holds self in contempt for his smartphone

"A Michigan judge whose smartphone disrupted a hearing in his own courtroom has held himself in contempt and paid $25 for the infraction."