Quote of the Post: "Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good." - Thomas Sowell (1993)

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Someone: actually, your entire argument rests upon definition

Me: don't all arguments

Someone: no, in the sense that we cannot even define what a god is

Me: hahaha
an imaginary friend with superhuman powers

Someone: haha
i think i must've known god when i was in pri sch
and i presume your personal god is kimberly? satisfies the criteria ;)


A friend sent me this exchange:

Him: I don't think I got alot of meat... what about yours?
Me: Oh, hmm... guess I'm luckier. Mine's quite meaty. Heh (boyish toothy grin)
Him: Looks quite big leh, how do you handle it? (Looks with concern)
Me: Oh don't worry, it's cut. (Nods in assurance)
Him: Lemme have a look will you?
Me: (takes it out and points the tip at him) Here you go... see how its bulging? Always gets me excited.
Him: Wah! So big ar? Damn. I feel so shortchanged... mine is only a six incher, should have had yours...
Me: Hehe. Don't feel bad man, I'm kinda regretting having such a big one.
Him: Yar... I don't think I can fit it in my mouth also. (stares in wonder)
Me: Here, you wanna try? (lifts it with both hands and offers it to him) Careful not to stain your shirt... it's beginning to drip...

Me: hot dog?
Friend: yeap...... it's definitely not in that sense. Make a guess?
Me: subway sandwich
Friend: head on! wah... really food guru


Someone: btw your comments on [them] treating us like commodities are spot on. More like domesticated animals really. They even encourage us to inbreed.

Me: really? they keep having mixers?

Someone: Yes, and they openly say that they hope it will help to produce a new generation of scientists. And I have this suspicion the sports people are eagerly awaiting Susilo and Li's offspring.


Someone else on me pressing others' self destruct buttons: so it's some analogy for the indian nuclear standoff then. hahah. south asia is getting to me. 'pressing each other's buttons'

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I used to use Dictionary.com for all my dictionary needs, not least because they had a bookmarklet making looking up words easy. Then, when they started coming up with ways to try to force users to pay for their premium service, I moved to Merriam-Webster and hacked out a similar bookmarklet for my purposes, based on the one on Dictionary.com.

Now, I've discovered The Free Dictionary, which provides the word searched for in context by showing how it is used in Classic Literary works. For pronunciation, though, Merriam-Webster is still better as they have WAV files of people pronouncing the words, albeit with an American accent and in an American fashion, and not for all words.

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5 Gmail invites are still up for grabs.

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Singapore not so straitlaced

"Prostitution is permitted. Indeed that's one of the great ironies of Asia: prostitution is permitted in Singapore but is illegal in Bangkok. But pimping, soliciting and streetwalking are not permitted. Pimping can attract stiff penalties including lengthy jail terms. But prostitutes who are registered are quite able to work in licensed brothels that operate openly in Singapore's Designated Red-light Areas (DRAs), of which there are about six in which as many as 400 licensed brothels operate. The principal DRAs are located in Geylang, Flanders Square, Keong Saik Road and Desker Road. Additionally, escort services and private callgirls are permitted... Prostitutes are required to register and carry a Yellow Card supplied by the Government. It is the same size and in the same style as a national identity card and carries the holder's photograph and thumb print. Card holders are required to submit to a health check every two weeks.

Prostitution is apparent even on Orchard Road. The Orchard Towers complex, right on Singapore's premier shopping strip, has earned the moniker The Four Floors of Whores. It's not a DRA, but you wouldn't know it. It has several discos that cater mostly to a Filipino crowd. Massage parlours and KTV lounges that specialise in mainland Chinese prostitutes also operate from the building.

The Singapore Government bans movies such as Eyes Wide Shut and Lolita on account of their "pornographic" content. It bans magazines such as Playboy too. And yet pornographic DVDs are readily available in the city's many red-light districts. Sex toys and pornographic magazines too are sold most evenings from lean-to stalls along Desker Road in Singapore's Little India district. Indeed, Desker Road is the only place in Asia that I've seen child pornography available for sale. This in a red-light district that's licensed by the Government.

Some point to widespread rumours in Singapore that a prominent local political figure maintains a boyfriend across the causeway in the Malaysian city of Johor Bahru as one reason for the apparent liberalisation.

But that is what happens when you have the tight media controls that the Singapore Government insists upon: people create their own news and are willing to believe anything once the established media has lost its credibility.

More likely, it all points to the lengths to which Singapore will go to stay afloat, given that it is a small economy that's feeling the heat. The Nation Party received almost no coverage in the Government-controlled local media, but it was reported widely in the region.

And that's exactly what the Singapore Government seems to want: to appear disapproving of all this to the point of keeping homosexual acts banned, while making money from it on the side as visitors flock in to attend the festivities. It's hypocritical of course. But in Singapore, hypocrisy, at least, is not a crime."


Meanwhile, everyone's favourite periodical got sued, on the basis of one or two glancingly snide remarks whose target had to be inferred. I wonder why Berlusconi and Mugabe don't bother suing them, given that they are much more heavily slammed, instead of being mentioned sarcastically.

Of course Hwa points out that they knew they were going to be sued when they published it, and were gunning for the publicity, but still I find it quite sad.

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My senior, if he passes all his modules this term, will have done 19 modules in 3 semesters. Wth?!