***
Number of American deaths per year that result directly or primarily from the following selected causes nationwide, according to World Almanacs, Life Insurance Actuarial (death) Rates, and the last 20 years of U.S. Surgeon Generals' reports.
Tobacco 340,000 to 450,000
Alcohol ((Not including 50% of all highway deaths and 65% of all murders) 150,000+
Aspirin (Including deliberate overdose) 180 to 1,000+
Caffeine (From stress, ulcers, and triggering irregular heartbeats, etc.) 1,000 to 10,000
"Legal" Drug Overdose (Deliberate or accidental) from legal, prescribed or patent medicines and/or mixing with alcohol - e.g. Valium/alcohol 14,000 to 27,000
Illegal Drug Overdose (Deliberate or accidental) from all illegal drugs. 3,800 to 5,200
Marijuana 0
(Marijuana users also have the same or lower incidence of murders and highway deaths and accidents than the general non-marijuana using population as a whole. Crancer Study, UCLA; U.S. Funded ($6 million), First & Second Jamaican Studies, 1968 to 1974; Costa Rican Studies, 1980 to 1982; et al. LOWEST TOXICITY 100% of the studies done at dozens of American universities and research facilities show pot toxicity does not exist. Medical history does not record anyone dying from an overdose of marijuana (UCLA, Harvard, Temple, etc.).
(Source)
The numbers seem accurate enough. The question is: how many deaths from Marijuana would there be if it were as widely consumed as Tobacco, Alcohol, Aspirin and Caffeine?
***
This event just ended, I wonder what they were doing:
Event Title:GIG Weekend
Organizer: Campus Crusade for Christ
Committee: Clubs and societies
Category: Excursions
What if all you thought you knew was a lie?
What if there really was someone beyond the sky?
Let me tell you how he would cry.
Let me tell you why he would die.
GIG WEEKEND-Where it begins. God under investigation
Date/Time: 2nd October 2004(afternoon) - 3rd October 2004(evening)
Venue: Scripture Union Campsite (at the white colonial house)
Contact: Daniel at : crun_5@yahoo.com or at 98513117
Places are limited. RSVP
***
Script/AOLer Translator
This is real powerful. The preceding section of this post is transformed into the following:
EVENT TITLEGIG WEKEND
ORGANIEZR CMPUS CRUSAED FOR CHRIST
COMITE CLUBS AND SOCEITEIS
CAETGORY WUT IF AL U THOUGHT U NU WAS A LEI????! OMG WTF WUT IF THEIR RILLY WAS SOMEON3 BYOND DA SKY?!!?!!
L3T MA TEL U HOW H3 WUD CRY!!!!1!1! OMG
LET MA TEL U Y HE WUD DEI1111!! OMG WTF
GIG WEKAND-WHARE IT BGINS!!!!11! OMG WTF GOD UND3R INVESTIGATION
DAET/TIEM 2ND OC2BR 204(AFTARNON) - 3RD OC2BR 204(3V3NNG)
V3NUE SCRIPTUR3 UNION CMPSIET (AT TEH WHIET COLONIAL HOUS3)
CONTACT DANEIL AT CRUN_5@YAHOCOM11!!!!! OMG LOL OR AT 9851317
PLAECS R LIMIETD1!1111!1 WTF LOL RSVP
***
Democracy fails Singapore battler - "Mr Lee is regarded as the most successful defamation litigant in history. In nine actions since the 1970s he has been awarded damages of more than A$3 million by the courts, and hundreds of thousands more in out-of-court settlements."
The Christian Faith and the New Physics - Interesting article on the history of Physics, though I *still* don't understand the Schrodinger's cat Thought Experiment. But it says almost nothing about its supposed topic!
Survey: Islam and the West - It is interesting to read this survey written in 1994. "Islamic radicals, the people who wish to turn back to the foundations of their faith... will need to ask themselves how the words Muhammad bequeathed 1,400-odd years ago square the wellbeing of today's Muslims in the matters of economic organisation, the rights of women, and the basic question of who rules a country." - the questions it asks are still very relevant, though it's rather disingenuous on the koran and women.
Stefan Landsberger's Chinese Propaganda Poster Pages - "This site is dedicated to the Chinese propaganda poster as it has been produced from 1949 till the present day. So-called propaganda art has played a major supporting role in the many campaigns that were designed to mobilize the people, and throughout the People's Republic, the propaganda poster has been the favored vehicle through which art conveyed model behavior."
The modern ones are generally less cheesy, except for those sliming Falungong
chipmunks - The true story of Alvin, Simon and Theodore.
Rapture! - "This film talks about the rapture that is happening soon in the year
***
I had a taste of the World Famous Ramly Burger (Chicken) one day when I was in Clementi. Really, though some people swear by it, it's nothing special, and though I was assured by a friend that the stall we'd bought them from was "average", I cannot imagine a "good" Ramly Burger would be all that much better. I also cannot understand why it was so popular that there were *4* Ramly Burger outlets in the area near Clementi MRT (they're having a pasar malam/carnival/food fest now, but still, 4 is a hell of a lot).
Indeed, the Ramly Burger offers a genuine Malaysian Taste, what with simple and raw, yet strong flavours that hit you in the face with no pretense at subtlety (I'm told that technically Ramly Burgers are banned in Singapore because they don't pass Health and Safety regulations, so maybe we can guess at how their arrive at their special taste).
My chicken patty was a little limp had a very processed taste, as was Abdullah's beef, I would imagine. The thin wrapping of egg folded around the patty lent an interesting texture, but this was unfortunately not followed up upon by the few shreds of white cabbage that lay under the egg wrapping - they were dry and tasteless. To complete the whole taste experience, a dark brown sauce (BBQ or Worcestershire, I couldn't tell) and a white sauce (probably cheap Malaysian mayonnaise made from palm oil, since it tasted very thin and had no body) were drizzled on top of the patty.
A big minus point for Ramly burger, though, is that in the typical Malaysian (Hawker) fashion, gratuitous use is made of oil and deep frying (for the patties). And I'll bet my hat that there's loads of palm oil in there too.
Other people's comments:
"it's juicy, it's meaty and it's definitely better than McDonalds"
"i like how they wrap the egg and put all those sauces inside, it rocks. it's pretty smart and unique if u ask me"
"Nothing special about the patty. But the amt of mayo and tomato liberally piled inside the burger made my tastebuds hurl and my stomach churn"
[Addendum: My sources tell me I got the lousy Ramly Burger, and the good vendors are like nomads. Looks like they have no quality control.]
The morals of money-lending
The oldest references to usury are found in religious manuscripts of India, dating back to 2000-1400 BC where the 'usurer' is associated with any interest lender. In the Hindu Sutra (700-100 BC) as well as in the Buddhist Jatakas (600-400 BC) there are many references to the payment of interest, along with expressions of disdain for the practice.
Vasishtha, a prominent lawmaker of the era, drafted a law that banned the high caste Brahmans and Kshatryas from being usurers or money-lenders. In the second century AD, the term usury becomes relative, meaning that interest above the legal rate could not be charged; that would be a usurious loan. But usury in some form or other has continued to the present day, and although in principle it is condemned, the term 'usury' refers only to exorbitant interest, ie well above socially accepted rates. The practice operates in most parts of the world.
The Singapore Association for the Deaf has put out this ad: "I'm an engineering graduate. I'm a teacher. I'm a sportsman. I'm deaf. But I'm certainly not dumb and mute". I'm sure they are attempting a pun, but methinks it cuts a little bit too close for comfort, and the connection between "dumb and mute" and not being able to be a graduate, teacher or sportsman is tenuous. How would deaf people feel if the Singapore Association for the Dumb put out an ad: "I'm an engineering graduate. I'm a teacher. I'm a sportsman. I'm dumb. But I'm certainly not deaf"?
Nowadays I don't see many Super Buses (two storied, air-conditioned SBS buses) with the counters that tell you how many seats on the upper deck are free. There must be too many people like me scheming to crash them.
"This is unbelievable, Goldar. Once again you have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory" - Lord Zedd
***
We watched a video on child labour in India. Apparently 65 million (?) children under the age of 14 in India work, mostly in rural areas. Very sad, yes, but if the children don't work, what are they going to do? The government is not going to provide free education for 65 million children, which will almost certainly have to include some sort of incentive (like a free lunch) to get children to attend school, especially if even 10% of Indian women are like this crazy woman interviewed in the video who expressed a wish to have 2 dozen children.
I saw this girl, undoubtedly a hall resident, wearing flip flops which were of different colours - 1 was yellow and 1 was orange. Doubtless it was a fashion statement. Bah. In other news, I saw a man wearing a gray singlet which seemed exactly like the Army one, except that instead of the word "ARMY" printed in bold lettering across the back, the word "Nike" was printed in a small font at the front and at the back. Oh, and someone (presumably the man) had scrawled the word "army" below "Nike".
Quotes:
Today we'll be doing Tutorial 3... All of you guys [are] sleeping right? Today is Tutorial 2.
[On buffets] We'd eat until the restaurant closed down. It happened: this Tim Sum buffet... The next day they stopped it.
[On a Brazillian all-you-can-eat] If you go there and you don't eat $40 worth, which is what girls do.
Good morning everybody. [{Female} Student in middle, in a bright voice: Good morning! *waves hand*]
[On child labour and child abuse in India] You have to explain these things. Not like 'this is bad' or 'Indian culture is bad'
Bear the burnt of domination and discrimination (brunt)
gender in'ekwairlity (equality)
South Asia is a mo'sar'ik of cultures (mosaic)
I got too many slides as usual, but I did a smart thing for once. I made the important ones blue, so you can sort of fade out and when the screen turns blue, see whether you can train yourselves to wake up again.
What is knowledge?... You might have a Socratic sort of investigation. I could say: 'Students, what is knowledge? And then you could say some things and I could try to make you look like fools in front of your friends and drawing contradictions from the things you say, and we might make some progress that way.
Here's a smartass quote by Ernest Rutherford, but famous physicists are allowed to be snarky sometimes. 'In science there is only physics. Everything else is stamp collecting.' Now I don't know exactly what he meant by that. Maybe he thinks stamp collecting is wonderful and there's some complex irony going on here.
Here's a quote from our Platonic dialogue, the Meno. This is from the end. By this point you were probably nodding off whe nyou read so maybe you don't remember it so well.
Wow, there's a bird in here. Now that's an unusual. Gosh. I feel a little sorry for it. There's not really a lot I can do for it though... I can see whether I can think of an epistemological example to use on the basis of the bird.
[On the lecture's end] That's the end of my show for today.
[Someone on pictures of pioneers in Electro-magnetic Induction: All old men] [Someone else: He's quite handsome] Right. That's another session we're gonna have. Electro-magnetic idols.
[On a student's explanation for the direction of electro-magnetically induced current] You can see it in both ways. In terms of Lenz's Law or [Student: My law]
[On shorting an anmeter by connecting it to the output of a transformer] If any smoke goes off, if anything blows up - this is your experiment.
Is that all? The class seems to be getting smaller and smaller... Friday afternoon: they go to Orchard for shopping. Thank you for coming.
Toilet paper is a favourite consumption good of Singaporeans. When the cars come from JB, when they open the boots at Customs - rolls and rolls of toilet paper.
Actually I dub it very much (doubt)
There are a lot of good jokes about economists on the net... You type 'resources for Economists'... One of the links has a lot of jokes there.
The money supply keeps increasing. THe government prints money every year. But bank robberies are falling. We're very well-run.
[On German hyper-inflation] In one week the value of your money has shrunk by 3 times. That is incredulous (incredible)
[On German hyper-inflation] Already I see people dozing off, so I'm going to help them doze off further by telling them this grandfather story.
Treaty of Ver'siles (Versailles)
In Singapore, we don't have many seasons. I guess it's autumn out there. I go out: it looks like autumn.
Cyclical [Pronounced as: sai'clical] unemployment. For years, people have been trying to convince me that it's pronounced 'cyclical' [Pronounced as: si'clical] unemployment. I'm not convinced. One day I'll go down to the British COuncil to find out how it's pronounced. They have tutors there who teach you how to speak the Queen's English, according to the bus ads.
[On the efficiency wage] Even if you are in the central tower, you don't know what they are doing. They might be playing mahjong in the cockpit. You pay them very high wages to stop them from playing mahjong in the cockpit. If they are caught playing mahjong in the cockpit, you sack them straightaway.
It's even more fun when you read girls' magazines. They tell you how guys think. Then you think: 'I don't think like that.' [Someone: There's another possibility. Maybe you're abnormal.]