Here is fun test. It attempts to identify whether you are more female or male by how you solve certain problems, among other things. A new form of profiling or just a fun web page? You be the judge…
My personal favorite part was the “eyes” section, but maybe that’s because I nailed it. :) The 3D shapes test and word list were also interesting.
This is a nice example of trade-offs:
The Pune Jewellers’ Association, on Friday, tended an apology to bring an end to the controversy they raked up by barring burqa-clad women from entering their stores. “Our statements were misconstrued and sent wrong signals to society. We apologise in case it has hurt the sentiments of the Muslim community,” association president Fatechand Ranka said.
He said they had only sought the state government’s permission after a spate of thefts by burqa-clad robbers. “There are other means to put security in place. We will consult Muslim women on the measures to be taken for checking them before entering jewellery shops,” he said, after leading a protest march to the police commissionerate.
Maybe the jewelers would have been more successful with their ban if they had said a woman wearing a veil hurts their sentiments. I wonder what the other security measures might be. Put a cash deposit down, or even the whole amount, before handling the jewelry? Use man-trap doors so that no-one can leave the store until all the goods are accounted for? Anonymous purchase can only be seen as fair when the seller has some guarantee(s) against fraud/theft.
In somewhat related news, the I read a report earlier this year that banks in America believe anti-mask rules have been successful at reducing crime:
Some banks are also restricting what customers wear.
After several of its 33 branches were hit by the same ski-mask-wearing robber, West Suburban Bank installed signs asking customers to remove their hats, hoods and sunglasses. The Lombard, Ill.-based company says a similar program in Missouri reduced the number of robberies in participating banks by 40 percent.
Interesting statistic. Wonder if they were taking weather or other factors like seasonal changes into account. I have to say I also noted a very crucial detail at the end of the report:
Banking officials say most bank robbers usually net a few thousand dollars, at the most. The real harm comes in the form of reputational damage.
And that helps explain why the Jewelers would back down when a Muslim community complained about their rules. Incidentally, I’m sure someone must be wondering how these women can shop for jewelry at a public store when their entire body is covered from public view. Does it make more sense to give them private “viewing” rooms? The jewelers could thus put veiled customers in a small private room, with a small drop-box, and only allow them to leave after they returned the jewelry.
People often identify themselves or others by the food they eat. I guess for some it even becomes a point of national pride, as the BBC points out in a report about the latest nations to join the EU:
Mamaliga is so central to Romanian life, that Bulgarians sometimes refer to Romanians pejoratively as Mamaligi – though the dish exists in Bulgaria too, under the name kachamak.
One elderly Romanian voiced anxieties about Romania’s membership of the EU, telling BBC correspondent Oana Lungescu: “We’ll no longer be able to make our mamaliga, because we’ll have to eat sliced bread wrapped in plastic with a food safety stamp on it!
But do the Bulgarians mean it in a positive or negative fashion? What would New Yorkers think if everyone started calling them Bagelers? The funny thing is, Mamaliga not only exists in Bulgaria but many other parts of the world under the more common name of Polenta.
…a cornmeal dish popular in Italian, Savoyard, Swiss, Austrian, Croatian, Slovenian, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Corsican, Argentine, Brazilian, and Mexican cuisine, and it is a traditional staple food throughout much of northern Italy.
Will Romanian cornmeal-based dishes survive an onslaught of competitive foodstuffs? Hard to say, but it seems highly likely, especially if someone manages to market it to the EU or beyond as a more traditional, unique, or essential element of Romanian life (or maybe BalmoÅŸ is a better candidate). Actually, it did not take long to find exactly that kind of discussion already underway:
Again, with Romanians things are more complicated and tricky, because ‘mamaliga’, as many other things Romanian, is not just food; there is a whole symbolism behind the poor innocent ‘mamaliga’. The mystery dwells in, at least, few aspects: how ‘mamaliga’ is cooked; our history; how we dealt with our history across time.
[…]
Here is the trick: ‘mamaliga’ is made of corn, which is the peasants’ bread, is thick but not as consistent as bread, is not baked but boiled to a certain point. You eat it fast; the leftovers are not good, as it is with bread. If is chilling out too much, then ‘mamaliga’ is not good; if is not boiled enough is flawed. So, there you go to an ad-hoc manual in defining Romanians: we need to boil to the hottest point until we take any action; even so, we might get it wrong if not boiled properly or chilled out too much.
Look deep within your bowl and you may find the secrets to understanding geopolitical security. Reminds me of the movie Tampopo as I mentioned once before — the Japanese quest to create the perfect bowl of ramen. If nothing else, this story again just takes us back to the old saying “you are what you eat”.
Interesting story in BBC, which was somewhat predictable, about how the Ethiopian-backed forces are affecting the economy and people in Somalia:
And businesses are doing a brisk trade despite the rocketing prices of most basic items as residents have begun to stockpile food in anticipation that prices will continue to rise.
[…]
Ahmed Sa’id Ali says he runs his shop alone and is taking the risk of remaining open.
“I put my gun into a box six months ago, but I picked it up today for my security, ” he says.
People are also frightened to answer their mobile phones in the streets because of security fears.
“I used to pick up my mobile everywhere for the last six months. I am scared now because I am not sure which place is safe for me to be on the phone,” a business woman Madiina Abuukar Heyle said.
The big question is thus whether the new Somali government can establish a stable enough base for the markets to function and people to return to a same or better standard of living than what they experienced in the past six months. I can’t help but think about how this parallels the complex issues raised by Britain’s return of Haile Selassie to his seat of power after chasing the Italians out of Ethiopia in 1941. I’ve noticed a couple books written about the subject in the past few years. Maybe it’s time to dust off my Master’s Thesis…