Gray Matter
By LAURA NIEMI and LIANE YOUNG JUNE 24, 2016
IF you are mugged on a midnight stroll through the park, some people will feel compassion for you, while others will admonish you for being there in the first place. If you are raped by an acquaintance after getting drunk at a party, some will be moved by your misfortune, while others will ask why you put yourself in such a situation.
What determines whether someone feels sympathy or scorn for the victim of a crime? Is it a function of political affiliation? Of gender? Of the nature of the crime?
In a recent series of studies, we found that the critical factor lies in a particular set of moral values. Our findings, published on Thursday in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, show that the more strongly you privilege loyalty, obedience and purity — as opposed to values such as care and fairness — the more likely you are to blame the victim.
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Singlish: Friend or foe?
Sumiko Tan
Deputy Editor
JUN 5, 2016,
I don't think we should celebrate Singlish, but there's no escaping how it identifies and brings Singaporeans closer together
I've not seen my sister for nearly four years, which is why I'm looking forward to the next two weeks.
We have planned a family holiday in Edinburgh and London.
She, her husband and two children will be flying in to Heathrow Airport from the United States to meet my mother, H and me. H's daughter from Wales will also be joining us.
We've booked two Airbnb houses with kitchens, so I'm packing some Singapore goodies that we can cook and eat there.
I've bought Prima Taste Singapore Curry mix and will be getting Bengawan Solo pineapple tarts, Ya Kun kaya, Bee Cheng Hiang bak kwa and Spring Home frozen roti prata.
There's nothing like the taste of Singapore to bond two Singaporean sisters, right?
Actually, it's more likely going to be the sound of Singapore - Singlish - that does it.
Deputy Editor
JUN 5, 2016,
I don't think we should celebrate Singlish, but there's no escaping how it identifies and brings Singaporeans closer together
I've not seen my sister for nearly four years, which is why I'm looking forward to the next two weeks.
We have planned a family holiday in Edinburgh and London.
She, her husband and two children will be flying in to Heathrow Airport from the United States to meet my mother, H and me. H's daughter from Wales will also be joining us.
We've booked two Airbnb houses with kitchens, so I'm packing some Singapore goodies that we can cook and eat there.
I've bought Prima Taste Singapore Curry mix and will be getting Bengawan Solo pineapple tarts, Ya Kun kaya, Bee Cheng Hiang bak kwa and Spring Home frozen roti prata.
There's nothing like the taste of Singapore to bond two Singaporean sisters, right?
Actually, it's more likely going to be the sound of Singapore - Singlish - that does it.
If Europe gets its power from bus-size nuclear reactors, why can't we?
August 14, 2009
[Note: this article is from 2009, 7 years ago as of this blogpost.]
Dear Cecil:
Are there really bus-size nuclear reactors all over Europe (especially in France), that can safely power small towns? If so, why don’t we have them?
— Keith Runfola
Cecil replies:
If by “bus-size” you mean “not bus-size,” and by “all over Europe” you mean “not all over Europe,” then sure. Otherwise, no.
[Note: this article is from 2009, 7 years ago as of this blogpost.]
Dear Cecil:
Are there really bus-size nuclear reactors all over Europe (especially in France), that can safely power small towns? If so, why don’t we have them?
— Keith Runfola
Cecil replies:
If by “bus-size” you mean “not bus-size,” and by “all over Europe” you mean “not all over Europe,” then sure. Otherwise, no.
Monday, June 27, 2016
Robots may cut off path to prosperity in developing world
Sarah O’Connor
June 27, 2016
TODAY
There is a gloomy view you hear in the developed world that goes something like this: First the factories went overseas, now the robots are coming for the jobs that are left. In other words, automation will sweep up the crumbs that globalisation left behind.
But the relationship between globalisation and automation is more interesting than that. Rich countries are beginning to see factories return to their shores — and they have the robots to thank.
Take Adidas. When chief executive Herbert Hainer joined the German sportswear company in 1987, factories were beginning to close in Germany and move to China. This month, he announced Adidas would bring some shoe production back to Germany for the first time in three decades, thanks to a highly-automated factory in Bavaria. “I find it almost uncanny how things have come full circle,” he said.
June 27, 2016
TODAY
There is a gloomy view you hear in the developed world that goes something like this: First the factories went overseas, now the robots are coming for the jobs that are left. In other words, automation will sweep up the crumbs that globalisation left behind.
But the relationship between globalisation and automation is more interesting than that. Rich countries are beginning to see factories return to their shores — and they have the robots to thank.
Take Adidas. When chief executive Herbert Hainer joined the German sportswear company in 1987, factories were beginning to close in Germany and move to China. This month, he announced Adidas would bring some shoe production back to Germany for the first time in three decades, thanks to a highly-automated factory in Bavaria. “I find it almost uncanny how things have come full circle,” he said.
The European Union expanded too fast and will probably fail, Lee Kuan Yew said back in 2012
June 27 2016
As the world struggles to make sense of Brexit, there has been renewed public interest in the future of Britain and the European Union(EU). One Singaporean who had tracked Europe's great effort at integration over many decades was the late Lee Kuan Yew.
In the years following the European debt crisis which began unfolding in late 2009, Mr Lee was asked on several occasions for his views on the EU. He weighed in, speaking with clarity, depth of understanding and keen insight.
As the world struggles to make sense of Brexit, there has been renewed public interest in the future of Britain and the European Union(EU). One Singaporean who had tracked Europe's great effort at integration over many decades was the late Lee Kuan Yew.
In the years following the European debt crisis which began unfolding in late 2009, Mr Lee was asked on several occasions for his views on the EU. He weighed in, speaking with clarity, depth of understanding and keen insight.
Friday, June 24, 2016
Brexit referendum: A question both naive and necessary
[The "Leave" votes may have it. ]
Janan Ganesh
June 23 2106
A decision can be reckless and unavoidable as a film can be lousy and underrated. When Mr David Cameron committed to a referendum on Britain's place in the European Union (EU) three years ago, allies of the Prime Minister - especially his nearest, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne - feared for their Conservative Party. Economists anticipated an expensive chill on confidence and investment. Sticklers for representative democracy pictured a tawdry, unreflective campaign.
Their every dread has transpired, and even they did not expect a further problem that any advertising executive could have seen coming. A proposition, however barmy, gains a spurious credibility when offered in a side-by-side choice with something else. There was never a clamour to leave the EU. But once exit was tabled as an official option, it attained a rough parity of esteem with the status quo, and not just because broadcast media had to give each side equal weight. It is hard to damn a course of action as unthinkable when you have just opened it to the country. The vagaries of choice architecture should engage politicians as much as the peddlers of washing powder and brands of cola.
A naive referendum, then, that has left Britain with a material chance of exit. Yet it made all the sense in the world. Without that pledge, Mr Cameron would certainly have succumbed to mutinous forces in his party before the 2015 general election. The Tories would have fallen to right-wing leadership. A referendum would have been held eventually anyway, most likely by a Conservative prime minister set on leaving. All else being equal, the campaign for exit would have stood a better chance than it does today.
Janan Ganesh
June 23 2106
A decision can be reckless and unavoidable as a film can be lousy and underrated. When Mr David Cameron committed to a referendum on Britain's place in the European Union (EU) three years ago, allies of the Prime Minister - especially his nearest, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne - feared for their Conservative Party. Economists anticipated an expensive chill on confidence and investment. Sticklers for representative democracy pictured a tawdry, unreflective campaign.
Their every dread has transpired, and even they did not expect a further problem that any advertising executive could have seen coming. A proposition, however barmy, gains a spurious credibility when offered in a side-by-side choice with something else. There was never a clamour to leave the EU. But once exit was tabled as an official option, it attained a rough parity of esteem with the status quo, and not just because broadcast media had to give each side equal weight. It is hard to damn a course of action as unthinkable when you have just opened it to the country. The vagaries of choice architecture should engage politicians as much as the peddlers of washing powder and brands of cola.
A naive referendum, then, that has left Britain with a material chance of exit. Yet it made all the sense in the world. Without that pledge, Mr Cameron would certainly have succumbed to mutinous forces in his party before the 2015 general election. The Tories would have fallen to right-wing leadership. A referendum would have been held eventually anyway, most likely by a Conservative prime minister set on leaving. All else being equal, the campaign for exit would have stood a better chance than it does today.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Brexit and the burden of being Germany
Jonathan Eyal
Europe Correspondent
JUN 20, 2016
Its leaders' hopes of a federal Europe and further integration are all but dead
LONDON • Being Europe's biggest power is no fun, for it entails more liabilities than advantages. Just ask the Germans, who are invariably expected to pick up the pieces in every European crisis, but are then also invariably blamed for any outcome.
However, this week's referendum on Britain's continued membership in the European Union (EU) will test German power and patience to their outer limits. For almost regardless of whether the British decide to stay or leave the EU in the ballot scheduled for Thursday, it will fall on Germany to guide Europe the day thereafter. And this time, even Germany's legendary powers won't be enough, for the country is no longer as big as Europe's mounting problems.
It is an article of faith among those who oppose the European Union that the organisation is a German "plot" to dominate the continent through nefarious bureaucratic means. One of the most disgraceful slogans by EU opponents during the present British referendum campaign claimed that Hitler tried to dominate Europe "with gas", while current German Chancellor Angela Merkel "does it with paperwork".
Europe Correspondent
JUN 20, 2016
Its leaders' hopes of a federal Europe and further integration are all but dead
LONDON • Being Europe's biggest power is no fun, for it entails more liabilities than advantages. Just ask the Germans, who are invariably expected to pick up the pieces in every European crisis, but are then also invariably blamed for any outcome.
However, this week's referendum on Britain's continued membership in the European Union (EU) will test German power and patience to their outer limits. For almost regardless of whether the British decide to stay or leave the EU in the ballot scheduled for Thursday, it will fall on Germany to guide Europe the day thereafter. And this time, even Germany's legendary powers won't be enough, for the country is no longer as big as Europe's mounting problems.
It is an article of faith among those who oppose the European Union that the organisation is a German "plot" to dominate the continent through nefarious bureaucratic means. One of the most disgraceful slogans by EU opponents during the present British referendum campaign claimed that Hitler tried to dominate Europe "with gas", while current German Chancellor Angela Merkel "does it with paperwork".
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