Word of the day(it's past midnight): "sorite"

Another amusing test someone sent me - the Magic Creature Test. I am a Unicorn/Centaur, apparently.

I really should be sleeping, but I noticed Gabriel's assiduous posts, so I should keep pace and fire off a quick one before going to bed. Besides - I actually have a fair amount of work to do tomorrow. Damn it.

Firstly, with regards to the spiritual crusade over the fate of Some Poor Bastard's Nokia, so far all the commentary reinforcement has been for the side of angels.I guess everyone likes an underdog. As for citing the Golden Rule however; in my life it's always been "Do unto others before they do unto me." The battle rages on. Keep the moral paratroop drops coming.

Secondly, Manglish = Malaysian English; the local equivalent to Singlish. And as for the differences between the two; well, I've said earlier it's rather difficult to go into an extended colloquy on the whole linguistic gap issue - particulary when one realises that Malaysians in different part of Malaysia DO have different speech patterns. An East Malaysian Mandarin-speaker is verbally closer to Singapore compared to their more gracile, Cantonese-using counterparts in Selangor. There is also a greater use of Malay vernacular, such as "lari"(zhao), "lepak"(zuo bo), and "jakun"(obiang). I leave the last word to my Collins English Dictionary(Australian Edition) from its preface on the evolution of the English language:

"The popular tendency to lump together the English of Singapore with that of Kuala Lumpur is probably an oversimplification. Research yet to be undertaken is likely to reveal systematic differences due to the predominant Chinese and Malay influences respectively. Vocabulary differences reflect cultural differences."

ACJC sluts - *amused* - I've known a few. And yes, free of your inhibiting political correctness, I would say that ACJC girls (at least in my day) tended to have a distinct leaning towards slutty behaviour.

Vandread is an anime series with some of the best CGI use around.

Akira Fubuki is a very good-looking Japanese hard-core porn star. Savour the joy.

There's nothing inherently wrong with Asians having Western accents; I just have an irrational prejudice towards them. Think of it as part of my conservative moral values. And it is the fact that they are "as Australian as the natural Aussies" that I find mildly offensive - assimilation is one thing, but in my experience, many of them seem excessively eager to ignore their roots. Not that one can blame them - Western culture with all its compelling hedonism and allure - but anyway, I have no idea how this thread of conversation degenerated into me being the defender of Chinese culture. So I'll leave it at that.

I *have* known a Caucasian raised in Penang. Speaks perfect Hokkien in a Chinese accent. He's a beng in angmoh form.

I'm actually thinking of going into full sit-ups, but I hear it's bad for your back. And I'm too lazy to do a full gym routine - with cardio, warm-ups, calisthenics, weights and all. Ah well - given my piteous physical state, even crunches are an exertion for me. So I'm hope I'm getting *something* there....

SJI's bad statues are all in the new building. The old building actually had some pretty nice murals and portraits around - which, as you say, may explain why it's now the Singapore Art Museum. All their artistic sensitivities must have been left there as well in the move to Malcolm Road.

The Economist's greatest strength for me is the way it picks esoteric but relevant topics, in addition to its usual pithy insights on the latest news. It also has a very clear political and economic ideology which it hews to consistently - unlike most other mainstream rags which try to waffle around centre-left liberalism(esp. Newsweek) but happily pick up right-wing rhetoric when the national mood suits them.

SCGS - "yellow" - because the building is painted yellow. Or was, in my day.Well, not exactly yellow, more like this off-shoot of beige. What do you expect; I'm colour-blind! (literally - the green/red variety which means I fail that eye test where they show you a bunch of dots and ask you discern a number)

Just completed a discussion of Islamic Banking with a friend of mine. Bear this in mind: Islam prohibits usury - which kind of is the underlying principle of all banking activity right? Somehow, them funky Syariah scholars have managed to develop a very comprehensive range of Islamic products from banking, insurance, to fixed-income securities... some of which are actually viable alternatives to conventional banking products. Most of this is achieved through very amusing sophistry that results in products whose stated underlying principle differs from normal products, but produces the same net effect.

And yes.. we're a diverse bunch; we've got the happyhappy international student, the stressed-out army boy, the working dude.. who else? Hell, we're even international (or at least cross-border). With the amount of stuff we discuss, some of those words have got to surface on search engines eventually... I just wonder if other blogs get as much porn-related hits as we do. Incidentally, a large proportion of the people referred to your site came from other blogs, Gabriel. It seems that word is spreading - but then again, most of those sites belong to people who list Balderdash under their "Friends" link, implying a real-life connection. Bah. Reality.