And... Once again I am unable to finish a travelogue before commencing another trip!
You can hear us push
Through the deepest bush
With a military air!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Links - 16th January 2012
Man ignores drowning boy, not knowing it was his son - "The father's apathy resulted in the death of his six-year-old son. Later, he filed a lawsuit against the neighbourhood committee over the boy's death, demanding a compensation of 470,000 yuan (S$96,841)"
Ahh, China!
Why bigger is not always better - "“Breast augmentation, if done well, can be a life-changing operation,” he says. “Some women are very introverted before the operation and feel so much more comfortable about their bodies afterwards. Many women who don’t have an awful lot of breast tissue just don’t feel particularly feminine. Just look at the number of padded bras sold around the world. “The idea that people want to look like Dolly Parton when they come for breast augmentation is very far from the truth. The vast majority simply want to feel good and look natural”"
Stradivarius may be bit of a fiddle at more than $1m, say researchers - "In an experiment, concert violinists were unable to pick out two Stradivarius violins from modern instruments, based on their sound alone"
Islamic Minister, MPs, PPM and religious groups condemn UN Human Rights Commissioner - "Statements by visiting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay calling for a moratorium on flogging as a punishment for fornication and criticising the Muslim-only clause for citizenship in the Maldivian constitution have been widely condemned by religious NGOs, public officials and political parties... Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari told local media that “a tenet of Islam cannot be changed” and flogging was a hudud punishment prescribed in the Quran (24:2) and “revealed down to us from seven heavens”... “This is a very serious problem. You can’t say flogging is a form of violence against women”... Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Ahmed Faiz noted that the constitution placed limits on free speech and the right to free expression “cannot be used under any circumstances outside of Islamic principles or in violation of a tenet of Islam”"
The Burning House - "nothing can replace Lache [my teddy bear] who saw me through all the difficult turning points in my life: surviving the 7.2, 1977 earthquake in Bucuresti, moving 10 times over a 25 year span, losing my dad to ALS, breaking up and being broken up with. Lache is with me in Zürich, as I try to adapt to a completely different culture. He’s resting in the closet in a thin pink mesh fabric bag my mom made for him. After I’m dead, I want to be cremated with Lache. I feel guilty for taking him with me but I hope he will understand I don’t want either one of us to be alone"
More sex might lead to younger appearance - "A study from Scotland's Royal Edinburgh Hospital states, frequent sex can make a person look up to seven years younger... "When one is in a good, harmonious relationship, and the couple are able to deal with the stresses through mutually satisfactory ways, including ‘sex,' it seems obvious that the person is going to feel less stress," Thompson said. "Therefore (they are) likely to feel better and look younger than those who are unhappy or stressed." Sidney Westervelt, sophomore in family and consumer science education, said when she feels better she tends to feel younger; however, she has reserved feelings regarding using sex as a beauty routine. "I would not have sex for simply that reason," Westervelt said."
From another report on the study: "Casual sex with different partners, or cheating, did not slow the aging process, the researchers say. In fact, Weeks says, it may cause premature aging from worry and stress. The sex doesn't work without a good relationship"
Jedi Church - Jedi Religion and Jedi Faith - "The Jedi Church recognises that there is one all powerful force that binds all things in the universe together, and accepts all races and species from all over the universe as potential members of the religion. Join the Jedi Church today! Our church had 21000 unique visitors last month. The Jedi Church is a good force in the universe."
NUS Business Leads - October 2005 - "Q: Why did you want to be an SOE writer?
Eunice: To be honest, it was for the $100 reward per interview.
Q: Having gotten a glimpse of the life of an entrepreneur, do you want to become one, and why?
Eunice: No, because being an entrepreneur is not as fulfilling to me as it is to others. I rather spend the time on my family and leave the "entrepreneuring" to my boyfriend.
Q: How has an education at NUS Business School played a role in your current decision, and in helping you pursue your aspirations?
Eunice: I met my boyfriend here."
Why there's no such thing as sex addiction - "I’ve publicly challenged the validity of sex addiction, and this has brought me trouble. I’ve been accused of being “evil”, “dangerous” and “heartless”. Sex addiction therapists have attacked me — I’ve even been accused of being a sex addict myself, told that I am in “denial” about the danger of my own sexual desires... It hasn’t been recognised as a bona fide disease by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders... there are a dozen or so competing definitions and no two psychotherapists who apply the concept in the same way... There are many embedded moral concepts in these definitions, all of which suggest that sex is dangerous, shouldn’t be “enjoyed too much” and that something that creates imbalance in a person’s life is inherently unhealthy. However, people like Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa made single things the overwhelming focus of their lives — and yet these lives of “imbalance” are not judged unhealthy... Nobody in history has ever died from wanting sex and being unable to have it. Wanting something that you don’t have and being dissatisfied, even sexually, is a condition that people around the world deal with every day. They cope with it without losing control, without lying, cheating and manipulating, and without proclaiming themselves an addict... Porn exposure is almost universal in men and if it had the destructive effect that doomsayers claim, we would be awash with sex crime, and every day would look like the erotic chaos of Carnival and Mardi Gras... a diagnosis of sex addiction is used to somehow absolve men and women (though mostly men) of all responsibility for their actions that is, in my opinion, the most malign feature of the sex addiction industry... Sex addiction tells people that sexual desire is a destructive, weakening thing, and that the only way men can control their sexual desire is to excise it, and ring it with fear and prohibitions. But sex is not a disease. In fact, it’s good for you... If male sexuality is inherently addictive and dangerous, then a healthy male is one who has no sexuality. That’s a frightening and emasculating concept"
Women pay to remove ‘ugly’ demons - "The paper reported confessions by two stewardesses that they did not mind taking the exorcism beauty treatment as long as it did not cloud their religious beliefs or harm their body. The paper, however, quoted Kelantan Mufti Datuk Mohamad Shukri as saying that there should be an in-depth study on the method used to ensure it did not go against the tenets of Islam"
Simon Doonan’s Eating Guide for Gay and Straight - NYTimes.com - "“Gay chips are baked,” he said. “Straight chips are deep-fried. It’s that simple”... I ate the way a lot of straight men automatically do: with gluttonous, meat-and-cheese-and-avocado-mad disregard for the repercussions. If I wanted to slim down after the holidays, he suggested, I should try to eat like a gay man... One of the tongue-in-cheek propositions of Mr. Doonan’s new book, “Gay Men Don’t Get Fat” (Blue Rider Press, $24.95), is that the vast range of the world’s culinary options can be boiled down to two core categories: gay food and straight food. Seeking out a balanced diet of both is the savviest way to stay svelte. Think of it, if you must, as bisexual eating... “Gay foods are more decorative; they’re more frivolous,” he said. “The macaron craze is the ne plus ultra of gay fooderie. I can’t believe any red-blooded straight guy can even walk into a macaron shop. If you wanted to ruin a politician’s career, just publish a picture of him shopping for macarons”... Meanwhile, Mr. Doonan freely uses “lesbian” to describe certain earthy, healthful foods. “Organic olive oil, thick porridge, heaping helpings of wheat germ,” he said. “A crusty loaf of whole-grain bread is both ferociously lesbian and wildly heterosexual”... “I love sweeping generalizations,” he said. “Sweeping generalizations are the key to everything, and they invariably contain nuggets of truth. Sometimes infinitesimally small nuggets”"
Cee Lo Green changes John Lennon's 'Imagine' lyrics to push pro-religion views - "The singer sang "all religion is true" during his NYE performance in New York"
The incident at Petrich - "The incident at Petrich, named after the Bulgarian border town Petrich, which was shortly occupied by Greek forces, occurred on 22 October 1925. It allegedly started when a Greek soldier ran after his dog, which had strayed across the border from Macedonia; thus, it is some times speculatively referred as the War of the Stray Dog"
Naturalism and Its Limits - NYTimes.com - "Accepting the naturalist slogan without looking beneath the slick packaging is an unscientific way to form one’s beliefs about the world, not something naturalists should recommend... One challenge to naturalism is to find a place for mathematics. Natural sciences rely on it, but should we count it a science in its own right? If we do, then the description of scientific method just given is wrong, for it does not fit the science of mathematics, which proves its results by pure reasoning, rather than the hypothetico-deductive method... Dismissing an idea as “inconsistent with naturalism” is little better than dismissing it as “inconsistent with Christianity... any theory can be applied in an unscientific spirit, as a polemical device to reinforce prejudice. Naturalism as dogma is one more enemy of the scientific spirit”
Moral Pornography | Philosophy Now - "Here at least, at last is wrongness pure and simple: Let us despise it with all of our moral might. Further magnifying this effect is that the alleged perpetrators are under lock and key. They are completely in our power, so our feelings are able to find the most concrete and satisfying expression imaginable. Not only can we call these men whatever names we please but we can, and do (in letters to the editor and blogs) call for their death, even by torture... There is vicarious pleasure to be found in the verbal and virtual stoning of these monsters... Just as patriotism is ‘the last refuge of a scoundrel,’ righteousness diverts attention from run-of-the-mill wrongdoing. We can feel innocent by comparison to the miscreant. Dare I say that we thereby enact the salvation story: the lifting of our guilt by its imposition on another (who is, furthermore on the amoralist account, in fact without sin)? More: the catharsis of denunciation is a source of self-satisfaction that makes us feel morally superior"
The veil, the chair and the virtue police - "Some Nour Party candidates and Salafi politicians have been speaking as though the extremist Islamification of Egyptian society is just around the corner... a Hadith by the prophet Mohamed forbids women from wearing perfume outdoors... Salafis call for separating men and women in burial places as well, while one Yemeni Salafi cleric proclaims that women should not sit on couches and chairs because they are Western inventions that allow women to relax and spread her legs, inviting demons to engage with them sexually... While many are dismayed by the stric Salafi rulings, the more politically savvy say they saw it coming. “Political Islam is a cover for social and sexual tension,” says Saed Sadek, professor of sociology at the American University in Cairo, who believes that Salafi politicians consider women an easy target. “After their sweeping success in the parliament, Islamists will start to tweak and alter divorce laws, custody and women rights”... Sheikh Mahmoud Amer, a Salafi figure in Damanhour, stated that voting for a non-praying Muslim, a Christian, a liberal, a former NDP member or a secular candidate is religiously forbidden... Ahmed Farid, board member of the Salafi Call in Alexandria, added that Islam doesn’t recognize liberalism or absolute freedom in all aspects of life: economic, political, social and sexual. Sheikh Hesham al-Naggar, Nour Party candidate in Sharqiya called for a fight against secularists. “We will deter secularism like we daunted the crusaders”"
Ahh, China!
Why bigger is not always better - "“Breast augmentation, if done well, can be a life-changing operation,” he says. “Some women are very introverted before the operation and feel so much more comfortable about their bodies afterwards. Many women who don’t have an awful lot of breast tissue just don’t feel particularly feminine. Just look at the number of padded bras sold around the world. “The idea that people want to look like Dolly Parton when they come for breast augmentation is very far from the truth. The vast majority simply want to feel good and look natural”"
Stradivarius may be bit of a fiddle at more than $1m, say researchers - "In an experiment, concert violinists were unable to pick out two Stradivarius violins from modern instruments, based on their sound alone"
Islamic Minister, MPs, PPM and religious groups condemn UN Human Rights Commissioner - "Statements by visiting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay calling for a moratorium on flogging as a punishment for fornication and criticising the Muslim-only clause for citizenship in the Maldivian constitution have been widely condemned by religious NGOs, public officials and political parties... Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari told local media that “a tenet of Islam cannot be changed” and flogging was a hudud punishment prescribed in the Quran (24:2) and “revealed down to us from seven heavens”... “This is a very serious problem. You can’t say flogging is a form of violence against women”... Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Ahmed Faiz noted that the constitution placed limits on free speech and the right to free expression “cannot be used under any circumstances outside of Islamic principles or in violation of a tenet of Islam”"
The Burning House - "nothing can replace Lache [my teddy bear] who saw me through all the difficult turning points in my life: surviving the 7.2, 1977 earthquake in Bucuresti, moving 10 times over a 25 year span, losing my dad to ALS, breaking up and being broken up with. Lache is with me in Zürich, as I try to adapt to a completely different culture. He’s resting in the closet in a thin pink mesh fabric bag my mom made for him. After I’m dead, I want to be cremated with Lache. I feel guilty for taking him with me but I hope he will understand I don’t want either one of us to be alone"
More sex might lead to younger appearance - "A study from Scotland's Royal Edinburgh Hospital states, frequent sex can make a person look up to seven years younger... "When one is in a good, harmonious relationship, and the couple are able to deal with the stresses through mutually satisfactory ways, including ‘sex,' it seems obvious that the person is going to feel less stress," Thompson said. "Therefore (they are) likely to feel better and look younger than those who are unhappy or stressed." Sidney Westervelt, sophomore in family and consumer science education, said when she feels better she tends to feel younger; however, she has reserved feelings regarding using sex as a beauty routine. "I would not have sex for simply that reason," Westervelt said."
From another report on the study: "Casual sex with different partners, or cheating, did not slow the aging process, the researchers say. In fact, Weeks says, it may cause premature aging from worry and stress. The sex doesn't work without a good relationship"
Jedi Church - Jedi Religion and Jedi Faith - "The Jedi Church recognises that there is one all powerful force that binds all things in the universe together, and accepts all races and species from all over the universe as potential members of the religion. Join the Jedi Church today! Our church had 21000 unique visitors last month. The Jedi Church is a good force in the universe."
NUS Business Leads - October 2005 - "Q: Why did you want to be an SOE writer?
Eunice: To be honest, it was for the $100 reward per interview.
Q: Having gotten a glimpse of the life of an entrepreneur, do you want to become one, and why?
Eunice: No, because being an entrepreneur is not as fulfilling to me as it is to others. I rather spend the time on my family and leave the "entrepreneuring" to my boyfriend.
Q: How has an education at NUS Business School played a role in your current decision, and in helping you pursue your aspirations?
Eunice: I met my boyfriend here."
Why there's no such thing as sex addiction - "I’ve publicly challenged the validity of sex addiction, and this has brought me trouble. I’ve been accused of being “evil”, “dangerous” and “heartless”. Sex addiction therapists have attacked me — I’ve even been accused of being a sex addict myself, told that I am in “denial” about the danger of my own sexual desires... It hasn’t been recognised as a bona fide disease by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders... there are a dozen or so competing definitions and no two psychotherapists who apply the concept in the same way... There are many embedded moral concepts in these definitions, all of which suggest that sex is dangerous, shouldn’t be “enjoyed too much” and that something that creates imbalance in a person’s life is inherently unhealthy. However, people like Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa made single things the overwhelming focus of their lives — and yet these lives of “imbalance” are not judged unhealthy... Nobody in history has ever died from wanting sex and being unable to have it. Wanting something that you don’t have and being dissatisfied, even sexually, is a condition that people around the world deal with every day. They cope with it without losing control, without lying, cheating and manipulating, and without proclaiming themselves an addict... Porn exposure is almost universal in men and if it had the destructive effect that doomsayers claim, we would be awash with sex crime, and every day would look like the erotic chaos of Carnival and Mardi Gras... a diagnosis of sex addiction is used to somehow absolve men and women (though mostly men) of all responsibility for their actions that is, in my opinion, the most malign feature of the sex addiction industry... Sex addiction tells people that sexual desire is a destructive, weakening thing, and that the only way men can control their sexual desire is to excise it, and ring it with fear and prohibitions. But sex is not a disease. In fact, it’s good for you... If male sexuality is inherently addictive and dangerous, then a healthy male is one who has no sexuality. That’s a frightening and emasculating concept"
Women pay to remove ‘ugly’ demons - "The paper reported confessions by two stewardesses that they did not mind taking the exorcism beauty treatment as long as it did not cloud their religious beliefs or harm their body. The paper, however, quoted Kelantan Mufti Datuk Mohamad Shukri as saying that there should be an in-depth study on the method used to ensure it did not go against the tenets of Islam"
Simon Doonan’s Eating Guide for Gay and Straight - NYTimes.com - "“Gay chips are baked,” he said. “Straight chips are deep-fried. It’s that simple”... I ate the way a lot of straight men automatically do: with gluttonous, meat-and-cheese-and-avocado-mad disregard for the repercussions. If I wanted to slim down after the holidays, he suggested, I should try to eat like a gay man... One of the tongue-in-cheek propositions of Mr. Doonan’s new book, “Gay Men Don’t Get Fat” (Blue Rider Press, $24.95), is that the vast range of the world’s culinary options can be boiled down to two core categories: gay food and straight food. Seeking out a balanced diet of both is the savviest way to stay svelte. Think of it, if you must, as bisexual eating... “Gay foods are more decorative; they’re more frivolous,” he said. “The macaron craze is the ne plus ultra of gay fooderie. I can’t believe any red-blooded straight guy can even walk into a macaron shop. If you wanted to ruin a politician’s career, just publish a picture of him shopping for macarons”... Meanwhile, Mr. Doonan freely uses “lesbian” to describe certain earthy, healthful foods. “Organic olive oil, thick porridge, heaping helpings of wheat germ,” he said. “A crusty loaf of whole-grain bread is both ferociously lesbian and wildly heterosexual”... “I love sweeping generalizations,” he said. “Sweeping generalizations are the key to everything, and they invariably contain nuggets of truth. Sometimes infinitesimally small nuggets”"
Cee Lo Green changes John Lennon's 'Imagine' lyrics to push pro-religion views - "The singer sang "all religion is true" during his NYE performance in New York"
The incident at Petrich - "The incident at Petrich, named after the Bulgarian border town Petrich, which was shortly occupied by Greek forces, occurred on 22 October 1925. It allegedly started when a Greek soldier ran after his dog, which had strayed across the border from Macedonia; thus, it is some times speculatively referred as the War of the Stray Dog"
Naturalism and Its Limits - NYTimes.com - "Accepting the naturalist slogan without looking beneath the slick packaging is an unscientific way to form one’s beliefs about the world, not something naturalists should recommend... One challenge to naturalism is to find a place for mathematics. Natural sciences rely on it, but should we count it a science in its own right? If we do, then the description of scientific method just given is wrong, for it does not fit the science of mathematics, which proves its results by pure reasoning, rather than the hypothetico-deductive method... Dismissing an idea as “inconsistent with naturalism” is little better than dismissing it as “inconsistent with Christianity... any theory can be applied in an unscientific spirit, as a polemical device to reinforce prejudice. Naturalism as dogma is one more enemy of the scientific spirit”
Moral Pornography | Philosophy Now - "Here at least, at last is wrongness pure and simple: Let us despise it with all of our moral might. Further magnifying this effect is that the alleged perpetrators are under lock and key. They are completely in our power, so our feelings are able to find the most concrete and satisfying expression imaginable. Not only can we call these men whatever names we please but we can, and do (in letters to the editor and blogs) call for their death, even by torture... There is vicarious pleasure to be found in the verbal and virtual stoning of these monsters... Just as patriotism is ‘the last refuge of a scoundrel,’ righteousness diverts attention from run-of-the-mill wrongdoing. We can feel innocent by comparison to the miscreant. Dare I say that we thereby enact the salvation story: the lifting of our guilt by its imposition on another (who is, furthermore on the amoralist account, in fact without sin)? More: the catharsis of denunciation is a source of self-satisfaction that makes us feel morally superior"
The veil, the chair and the virtue police - "Some Nour Party candidates and Salafi politicians have been speaking as though the extremist Islamification of Egyptian society is just around the corner... a Hadith by the prophet Mohamed forbids women from wearing perfume outdoors... Salafis call for separating men and women in burial places as well, while one Yemeni Salafi cleric proclaims that women should not sit on couches and chairs because they are Western inventions that allow women to relax and spread her legs, inviting demons to engage with them sexually... While many are dismayed by the stric Salafi rulings, the more politically savvy say they saw it coming. “Political Islam is a cover for social and sexual tension,” says Saed Sadek, professor of sociology at the American University in Cairo, who believes that Salafi politicians consider women an easy target. “After their sweeping success in the parliament, Islamists will start to tweak and alter divorce laws, custody and women rights”... Sheikh Mahmoud Amer, a Salafi figure in Damanhour, stated that voting for a non-praying Muslim, a Christian, a liberal, a former NDP member or a secular candidate is religiously forbidden... Ahmed Farid, board member of the Salafi Call in Alexandria, added that Islam doesn’t recognize liberalism or absolute freedom in all aspects of life: economic, political, social and sexual. Sheikh Hesham al-Naggar, Nour Party candidate in Sharqiya called for a fight against secularists. “We will deter secularism like we daunted the crusaders”"
Post ID: 5417808804628674248
Sunday, January 15, 2012
u r wt u wr - 15th January 2012
u r wt u wr:
- 'Make love not babies'
- 'I ♥ nerds' (the boy beside her was quite so)
- '[Eye chart layout] -something - to kiss me. Salaud. Do u luv me?'
- 'I make bedtime fun'
- *picture of bicycle*
- 'Save a horse, ride a cowboy' (I doubt any would want her to ride him)
- 'Little Dracula -cartoon girl with fangs, horns and tail reading a book "how to bite"-'
- 'ravishing' (repeated many times)
- [Woman in her 40s] 'Status has changed to single'
- 'Your must have. Morgan de toi'
- 'Your dream'
- [Back] 'Heartbreaker Rome 71'
- 'Dropped your bikini? It happens. *picture of woman in water in distress* For secure swimming always ask for Mavi brand swimwear' (I had to ask her to let me read the last sentence)
- 'Not so innocent *pic of tweety*'
- 'You - me = sad'
- 'Be my superstar *cartoon representation of girl taking photo*'
- 'What's this funny feeling inside' (indigestion, maybe?)
- 'Smile please'
- 'Put on your gold lipstick kiss me'
- 'Make my day ♥'
- 'Lady' (maybe she was insecure, or didn't think people would know at first glance)
- 'I've been -good- really I -have-'
- 'I'm so very unhappy'
- 'Love. The only story -something- Flirt with Romeo -something-'
- 'I'm the bomb' (the words were in a bomb) (as usual this was false advertising)
After a certain length, fake eyelashes make you look like a mutant
Guys:
- 'Make love not babies'
- 'Boobies make me smile'
- 'Make love not babies'
- 'I ♥ nerds' (the boy beside her was quite so)
- '[Eye chart layout] -something - to kiss me. Salaud. Do u luv me?'
- 'I make bedtime fun'
- *picture of bicycle*
- 'Save a horse, ride a cowboy' (I doubt any would want her to ride him)
- 'Little Dracula -cartoon girl with fangs, horns and tail reading a book "how to bite"-'
- 'ravishing' (repeated many times)
- [Woman in her 40s] 'Status has changed to single'
- 'Your must have. Morgan de toi'
- 'Your dream'
- [Back] 'Heartbreaker Rome 71'
- 'Dropped your bikini? It happens. *picture of woman in water in distress* For secure swimming always ask for Mavi brand swimwear' (I had to ask her to let me read the last sentence)
- 'Not so innocent *pic of tweety*'
- 'You - me = sad'
- 'Be my superstar *cartoon representation of girl taking photo*'
- 'What's this funny feeling inside' (indigestion, maybe?)
- 'Smile please'
- 'Put on your gold lipstick kiss me'
- 'Make my day ♥'
- 'Lady' (maybe she was insecure, or didn't think people would know at first glance)
- 'I've been -good- really I -have-'
- 'I'm so very unhappy'
- 'Love. The only story -something- Flirt with Romeo -something-'
- 'I'm the bomb' (the words were in a bomb) (as usual this was false advertising)
After a certain length, fake eyelashes make you look like a mutant
Guys:
- 'Make love not babies'
- 'Boobies make me smile'
Post ID: 6808553218039735559
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Links - 11th January 2012
"People see weakness in a woman and they want to help. They see weakness in a man and they want to stamp it out" - Norah Vincent, Self Made Man
***
Lan Guage (Lahn Gwij) - "Wah Lan. Wah lan eh! Simi lan?! - Varying degrees of saying "What the ****""
Can high salary curb corruption? - "Most highly paid bosses head the most corrupt organisations, according to bribery survey"
Singapore University hacked - "The hackers alleged they were spurred on after an error message generated by probes of the website stated:"If you're trying to use the SQL error message to dig for juicy information, get lost.” "I made it my personal goal to get in and r*pe their sorry asses for the message," the hackers said."
Economics blogs: A less dismal debate | The Economist - "Forbes once called blogs “the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective”. Previous publishing revolutions, such as the advent of printing, prompted similar concerns about trivialisation and extremism. But whatever you think about the impact of blogging on political, scientific or religious debate, it is hard to argue that the internet has cheapened the global conversation about economics. On the contrary, it has improved it"
Shocked woman dies at own funeral after heart attack - "Started screaming as mourners gathered around coffin saying prayers for her soul"
Ex-SLA exec paid underage girl for sex, jailed 9 months - "Deputy Public Prosecutor Fu Qijing said the onus was on grown men to exercise caution and check the age of their sexual partners"
Subsection (4) of section 140 of the Women's Charter:: "Subject to subsection (5) and notwithstanding anything in section 79 of the Penal Code (Cap. 224), a reasonable mistake as to the age of a girl shall not be a defence to a charge of an offence under subsection (1)(i)". In other words, if she shows you a fake identity card, you still go to jail (unless you're under 21)
The Subjectivity of Wine - "Brochet invited 57 wine experts and asked them to give their impressions of what looked like two glasses of red and white wine. The wines were actually the same white wine, one of which had been tinted red with food coloring. But that didn't stop the experts from describing the "red" wine in language typically used to describe red wines... He took a middling Bordeaux and served it in two different bottles. One bottle was a fancy grand-cru. The other bottle was an ordinary vin du table. Despite the fact that they were actually being served the exact same wine, the experts gave the differently labeled bottles nearly opposite ratings"
The scam of wine!
5 Inspiring Religions That Worship Penises | Cracked.com - "At Min's temple, worshipers would rub the leaves of the Egyptian lettuce plant (Lactuca serriola), some varieties of which are tall, straight and round, and which would emit a milky white sap. Yep, they masturbated lettuce."
Unsurprisingly 2/5 are Japanese
Nonsense on stilts - "Life in Mexico must be an absolute living hell. Why else would millions of desperate Mexicans endure the following to try to reach those California fields?... Yet it turns out that if Mexico is a living hell, it is an extremely happy living hell. Robin Hanson recently cited research that shows Mexico is the second happiest country on Earth. I claim that Mexico is a country with very low utility, full of very happy people. Think of ‘happiness’ as “personality,” and think of ‘utility’ as “living conditions”... So what are the policy implications, should government officials try to maximize happiness or utility? I’m a utilitarian, so naturally I favor utility. Do you really want to defend a policy goal that implies there’s little point in clearing land mines from Cambodia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, because happiness always reverts to a set-point?... families without children should move next door to child molesters. Why? Because houses are much cheaper, indeed $14,340 cheaper if within 0.1 miles of a child molester in rural Virginia"
Freakonomics » Why Is “I Don’t Know” So Hard to Say? A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast - "I really have come to believe teaching MBAs that one of the most important things you learn as an MBA is how to pretend you know the answer to any question even though you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. And I’ve found it’s really one of the most destructive factors in business — is that everyone masquerades like they know the answer and no one will ever admit they don’t know the answer, and it makes it almost impossible to learn."
No One Who Lives In New York Is Really From New York - "In its first incarnation, which peaked during the 1840s, American Nativism had a distinctly anti-Irish character... they promulgated lurid propaganda about Catholics (their occult infant-sacrifice rituals and the like) that helped whipped up violent fury among the “native born” population. Througout the period, riots flared up across the Northeast, especially in New York (a recent fictionalization is the Martin Scorcese film, Gangs of New York); destruction of Catholic property and loss of life usually followed"
Perhaps this can tell us something about racial integration today
“This picture just makes me smile. Great photographs do not need to be serious, they just need to evoke emotion.” (LIFE)
Ask Veronica: Is it true black people can't get lice?
My Student, the 'Terrorist' - ""If we are engaged in a war against terror—and we most certainly are," FBI Assistant Director Mark J. Mershon publicly claimed, "then Syed Hashmi aided the enemy by supplying military gear to Al Qaeda." The government had caught a "quartermaster." Despite the sensationalism, the government had been forced to admit it was not actually accusing Hashmi of supplying military gear himself; "quartermastering" consisted of allowing an acquaintance with luggage to stay in his apartment. "Military gear" in the luggage amounted to raincoats, ponchos, and waterproof socks."
"In her numerous pleas on behalf of Syed Hashmi, Jeanne Theoharis curiously neglects to mention that in addition to helping furnish al-Qaida with waterproof socks, his material support thereof extended to violating the U.S. export ban on night vision equipment. Next time a coalition soldier gets killed in the dark, she and her amen corner can take pride in their small but significant facilitation of whitewashing the enablers of his assailants"
From the Mailbag | Regretsy - "Rather than have the violin returned to me, PayPal made the buyer DESTROY the violin in order to get his money back"
BBC chief: male musical tastes more 'intellectual' - "The head of popular music at the BBC, Lesley Douglas, has sparked controversy by suggesting that men "tend to be more interested in the intellectual side of music", while their female counterparts' relationship with the art form is one rooted in emotion."
Are economists selfish? A lit review - "There is a selection effect for economics majors, who are less likely to donate than other students, and that there is an indoctrination effect for non-majors but not for majors"
Does Apple service stolen phones? - "What happened instead turned out to be a case of instant karma, when Apple refused to help Barkley and ended up giving away a phone to the man who may have stolen Barkley’s, or bought it from the person who did"
25 Everyday Things You Never Knew Had Names - "13. Paresthesia. The pins and needles feeling you get when part of your body falls asleep. Bonus! This is known as obdormition."
Angry Belgians Are Taking Action Over Ikea’s Cheap Meatballs - "Restaurant owners in Belgium are so angry at the low prices in Ikea’s in-store cafeterias that they have begun sending homeless people to eat there"
Muslims and the Koran: In the beginning were the words | The Economist - "When it comes to parsing holy writ, there is one big difference between Islam and most other text-based faiths. Barring a brief interlude in the ninth and tenth centuries, and a few modern liberals, Muslims have mostly believed that the Koran is distinct from every other communication. As God’s final revelation to man, it belongs not to earthly, created things but to an eternal realm. That is a bigger claim than other faiths usually make for their holy writings. The Koran may be interpreted but from a believer’s viewpoint, nothing in it can be set aside... What can be debated in most Muslim countries differs hugely from what is discussed in the West... Egypt’s leading advocate of a liberal reading of the Koran—Nasr Abu Zayd, who died in 2010—was denounced as an apostate, forcibly divorced from his wife and had to spend his later life abroad... [in] several British campuses... scholars say they find it hard to get funding for work that threatens orthodoxy... if people expect Islam to change into something like liberal Christianity—treating scripture as a useful but fallible aid to belief—they are wrong. As Mustafa Akyol, a Turkish writer, says: “If you say the Koran is a human text, then you cease to be Muslim”"
Is this seditious?
Burned by Maria Ozawa - "Filipinos almost got a gift this Christmas when a supposed Facebook page by the Japan-based porn star Maria Ozawa reported that its owner would be or was already in the Philippines. Moreover, Ozawa had declared that she would be auditioning any willing male Filipinos this January 2012 for an upcoming porn film involving bukkake with her. Of course there was a great number of male Filipino fans who were more than willing. The likes on the FB page soon hit more than ten thousand and Twitter was almost roaring with Filipinos' joy over Ozawa's promised visit. Alas, the joy was short-lived as it was discovered that the FB page was fake"
I had sex with my grandmother regularly - "You were young, hot and horny, and could not control your raging hormones and sexual desires"
These are quite lame exculpatory factors
Citeology - Projects - Autodesk Research - "Citeology looks at the relationship between research publications through their use of citations... These citations are represented by the curved lines in the graphic, linking each paper to those that it referenced"
Linguistics: Babelicious! - "Expansion simplifies language... Big, spreading languages have fewer of these features. They have fewer case-markings on nouns. Verbs are less likely to vary with person, place, time and so forth. Mandarin, for example, has no obligatory past tense at all; an extra word can come after the verb to indicate it happened in the past, or this can be left to context. By contrast, Yagua, spoken in Peru, has an obligatory five-way distinction. Past-tense verbs must show whether the event happened a few hours ago, a day before, a week to a month ago, and so on. The number of speakers of each language correlated best with morphological complexity, better than the area the language is spread over or the number of neighbours... “simple” people with primitive technologies do not speak simple languages"
***
Lan Guage (Lahn Gwij) - "Wah Lan. Wah lan eh! Simi lan?! - Varying degrees of saying "What the ****""
Can high salary curb corruption? - "Most highly paid bosses head the most corrupt organisations, according to bribery survey"
Singapore University hacked - "The hackers alleged they were spurred on after an error message generated by probes of the website stated:"If you're trying to use the SQL error message to dig for juicy information, get lost.” "I made it my personal goal to get in and r*pe their sorry asses for the message," the hackers said."
Economics blogs: A less dismal debate | The Economist - "Forbes once called blogs “the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective”. Previous publishing revolutions, such as the advent of printing, prompted similar concerns about trivialisation and extremism. But whatever you think about the impact of blogging on political, scientific or religious debate, it is hard to argue that the internet has cheapened the global conversation about economics. On the contrary, it has improved it"
Shocked woman dies at own funeral after heart attack - "Started screaming as mourners gathered around coffin saying prayers for her soul"
Ex-SLA exec paid underage girl for sex, jailed 9 months - "Deputy Public Prosecutor Fu Qijing said the onus was on grown men to exercise caution and check the age of their sexual partners"
Subsection (4) of section 140 of the Women's Charter:: "Subject to subsection (5) and notwithstanding anything in section 79 of the Penal Code (Cap. 224), a reasonable mistake as to the age of a girl shall not be a defence to a charge of an offence under subsection (1)(i)". In other words, if she shows you a fake identity card, you still go to jail (unless you're under 21)
The Subjectivity of Wine - "Brochet invited 57 wine experts and asked them to give their impressions of what looked like two glasses of red and white wine. The wines were actually the same white wine, one of which had been tinted red with food coloring. But that didn't stop the experts from describing the "red" wine in language typically used to describe red wines... He took a middling Bordeaux and served it in two different bottles. One bottle was a fancy grand-cru. The other bottle was an ordinary vin du table. Despite the fact that they were actually being served the exact same wine, the experts gave the differently labeled bottles nearly opposite ratings"
The scam of wine!
5 Inspiring Religions That Worship Penises | Cracked.com - "At Min's temple, worshipers would rub the leaves of the Egyptian lettuce plant (Lactuca serriola), some varieties of which are tall, straight and round, and which would emit a milky white sap. Yep, they masturbated lettuce."
Unsurprisingly 2/5 are Japanese
Nonsense on stilts - "Life in Mexico must be an absolute living hell. Why else would millions of desperate Mexicans endure the following to try to reach those California fields?... Yet it turns out that if Mexico is a living hell, it is an extremely happy living hell. Robin Hanson recently cited research that shows Mexico is the second happiest country on Earth. I claim that Mexico is a country with very low utility, full of very happy people. Think of ‘happiness’ as “personality,” and think of ‘utility’ as “living conditions”... So what are the policy implications, should government officials try to maximize happiness or utility? I’m a utilitarian, so naturally I favor utility. Do you really want to defend a policy goal that implies there’s little point in clearing land mines from Cambodia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, because happiness always reverts to a set-point?... families without children should move next door to child molesters. Why? Because houses are much cheaper, indeed $14,340 cheaper if within 0.1 miles of a child molester in rural Virginia"
Freakonomics » Why Is “I Don’t Know” So Hard to Say? A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast - "I really have come to believe teaching MBAs that one of the most important things you learn as an MBA is how to pretend you know the answer to any question even though you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. And I’ve found it’s really one of the most destructive factors in business — is that everyone masquerades like they know the answer and no one will ever admit they don’t know the answer, and it makes it almost impossible to learn."
No One Who Lives In New York Is Really From New York - "In its first incarnation, which peaked during the 1840s, American Nativism had a distinctly anti-Irish character... they promulgated lurid propaganda about Catholics (their occult infant-sacrifice rituals and the like) that helped whipped up violent fury among the “native born” population. Througout the period, riots flared up across the Northeast, especially in New York (a recent fictionalization is the Martin Scorcese film, Gangs of New York); destruction of Catholic property and loss of life usually followed"
Perhaps this can tell us something about racial integration today
“This picture just makes me smile. Great photographs do not need to be serious, they just need to evoke emotion.” (LIFE)
Ask Veronica: Is it true black people can't get lice?
My Student, the 'Terrorist' - ""If we are engaged in a war against terror—and we most certainly are," FBI Assistant Director Mark J. Mershon publicly claimed, "then Syed Hashmi aided the enemy by supplying military gear to Al Qaeda." The government had caught a "quartermaster." Despite the sensationalism, the government had been forced to admit it was not actually accusing Hashmi of supplying military gear himself; "quartermastering" consisted of allowing an acquaintance with luggage to stay in his apartment. "Military gear" in the luggage amounted to raincoats, ponchos, and waterproof socks."
"In her numerous pleas on behalf of Syed Hashmi, Jeanne Theoharis curiously neglects to mention that in addition to helping furnish al-Qaida with waterproof socks, his material support thereof extended to violating the U.S. export ban on night vision equipment. Next time a coalition soldier gets killed in the dark, she and her amen corner can take pride in their small but significant facilitation of whitewashing the enablers of his assailants"
From the Mailbag | Regretsy - "Rather than have the violin returned to me, PayPal made the buyer DESTROY the violin in order to get his money back"
BBC chief: male musical tastes more 'intellectual' - "The head of popular music at the BBC, Lesley Douglas, has sparked controversy by suggesting that men "tend to be more interested in the intellectual side of music", while their female counterparts' relationship with the art form is one rooted in emotion."
Are economists selfish? A lit review - "There is a selection effect for economics majors, who are less likely to donate than other students, and that there is an indoctrination effect for non-majors but not for majors"
Does Apple service stolen phones? - "What happened instead turned out to be a case of instant karma, when Apple refused to help Barkley and ended up giving away a phone to the man who may have stolen Barkley’s, or bought it from the person who did"
25 Everyday Things You Never Knew Had Names - "13. Paresthesia. The pins and needles feeling you get when part of your body falls asleep. Bonus! This is known as obdormition."
Angry Belgians Are Taking Action Over Ikea’s Cheap Meatballs - "Restaurant owners in Belgium are so angry at the low prices in Ikea’s in-store cafeterias that they have begun sending homeless people to eat there"
Muslims and the Koran: In the beginning were the words | The Economist - "When it comes to parsing holy writ, there is one big difference between Islam and most other text-based faiths. Barring a brief interlude in the ninth and tenth centuries, and a few modern liberals, Muslims have mostly believed that the Koran is distinct from every other communication. As God’s final revelation to man, it belongs not to earthly, created things but to an eternal realm. That is a bigger claim than other faiths usually make for their holy writings. The Koran may be interpreted but from a believer’s viewpoint, nothing in it can be set aside... What can be debated in most Muslim countries differs hugely from what is discussed in the West... Egypt’s leading advocate of a liberal reading of the Koran—Nasr Abu Zayd, who died in 2010—was denounced as an apostate, forcibly divorced from his wife and had to spend his later life abroad... [in] several British campuses... scholars say they find it hard to get funding for work that threatens orthodoxy... if people expect Islam to change into something like liberal Christianity—treating scripture as a useful but fallible aid to belief—they are wrong. As Mustafa Akyol, a Turkish writer, says: “If you say the Koran is a human text, then you cease to be Muslim”"
Is this seditious?
Burned by Maria Ozawa - "Filipinos almost got a gift this Christmas when a supposed Facebook page by the Japan-based porn star Maria Ozawa reported that its owner would be or was already in the Philippines. Moreover, Ozawa had declared that she would be auditioning any willing male Filipinos this January 2012 for an upcoming porn film involving bukkake with her. Of course there was a great number of male Filipino fans who were more than willing. The likes on the FB page soon hit more than ten thousand and Twitter was almost roaring with Filipinos' joy over Ozawa's promised visit. Alas, the joy was short-lived as it was discovered that the FB page was fake"
I had sex with my grandmother regularly - "You were young, hot and horny, and could not control your raging hormones and sexual desires"
These are quite lame exculpatory factors
Citeology - Projects - Autodesk Research - "Citeology looks at the relationship between research publications through their use of citations... These citations are represented by the curved lines in the graphic, linking each paper to those that it referenced"
Linguistics: Babelicious! - "Expansion simplifies language... Big, spreading languages have fewer of these features. They have fewer case-markings on nouns. Verbs are less likely to vary with person, place, time and so forth. Mandarin, for example, has no obligatory past tense at all; an extra word can come after the verb to indicate it happened in the past, or this can be left to context. By contrast, Yagua, spoken in Peru, has an obligatory five-way distinction. Past-tense verbs must show whether the event happened a few hours ago, a day before, a week to a month ago, and so on. The number of speakers of each language correlated best with morphological complexity, better than the area the language is spread over or the number of neighbours... “simple” people with primitive technologies do not speak simple languages"
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