The Reasons for ‘Lookism’

There is apparently an evolutionary reason behind ‘lookism’, the aversion to ugly people. Christoph Klebl, Professor Brock Bastian, Dr Katie Greenaway and Joshua Ju-suk Rhee of the University of Melbourne write: “We found that our psychological bias against people and things we consider ugly is tied up in a built-in human response that’s designed to alert us to objects that may contain potentially harmful diseases. This is not to say that unattractive people are actually more likely to have diseases, but that an instinct kicks-in that overrides logic.”

There is a “physiological immune system … serving as a first line of defence against disease”, though Western moderns forgot that it exists.

The ugly truth
We say looks don’t matter but University of Melbourne research finds more evidence that they do; understanding our response to ugliness can help counteract it
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The war vs carbon in the 3rd world

Planners want to replace the legacy Philippine jeepney vehicle fleet with “environmentally friendly models”. But the drivers are up in arms at the new units, “that operate through electricity or more environment-friendly fuel” at 2.4 to 2.6 million pesos each which are much more expensive than current vehicles costing from 200 to 600 K pesos.

Jeepney phaseout: It’s more than just new vehicles
MANILA, Philippines—The validity of provisional authorities (PAs), which allows individual operators to ply traditional jeepneys, has been extended again but transport group Manibela vowed
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Dialectics 101

DEI is coming to medical schools. “Increasingly, medical schools and schools of public health are enthusiastically embracing the values of DEI and instituting far-reaching policies to demonstrate their commitments to the cause. … That ideology is exemplified by a research methodology called “public health critical race praxis” (PHCRP)—designed, as the name suggests, to apply critical race theory to the field of public health.

Welcome to America’s Racialized Medical Schools
Forget about the oath to do no harm, future doctors are being forced to swear allegiance to racial dogmas
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Hitting the Taiwan Beach

The key thing to keep in mind in any conflict in the Indo-Pacific is that sea denial/access depends as much on ground expeditionary forces covering naval movements as it does on forces afloat. This applies to China as much to the USA. “The RAND corporation has run simulations which suggest that it would take a salvo of around 50 missiles to knock out a dozen amphibious warfare ships attempting to cross the relatively narrow Taiwan Strait. It is estimated that it would take a modest 10,000 to 20,000 pounds of ordinance to decimate an amphibious landing force of around 90 ships in a hostile littoral.”

This means China cannot readily advance without suppressing ground based precision fire threats to its amphibious fleet.

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US, Japan Create Force to Defend Luzon

Japanese defense forces can now deploy to the Philippines. “The new defense agreement allows Japan to deploy its forces for humanitarian missions and disaster response in the Philippines, an arrangement Japan hopes to eventually upgrade to include joint military training, cooperation and mutual visits, Japanese officials said.”

Japan, Philippines agree to sharply boost defense ties
The leaders of Japan and the Philippines have agreed to sharply boost their defense ties, allowing Japanese troops greater access to Philippine territory, as tensions rise in Asia amid China’s growing influence
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