Random Playlist Song: Trevor Pinnock - The English Concert and Choir: Handel - Messiah - Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter Of Zion (soprano, air)
Rejoice greatly, o daughter of Zion; shout, o daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy king cometh unto thee; he is the righteous saviour, and he shall speak peace unto the heathen.
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You scored as Clio. You are Clio, the muse of history. You love academic pursuits, but still know to have fun. You're a bit of a tease and a prankster.
Which of the Greek Muses are you? created with QuizFarm.com |
And I am very amused by my result for the "What Social Status are you?" one: "You scored as alternative. You're partially respected for being an individual in a conformist world yet others take you as a radical. You have no place in society because you choose not to belong there - you're the luckiest of them all, even if your parents are completely ashamed of you. Just don't take drugs ok?"
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MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia: Conversion disorder
Alternative name: Hysterical neurosis
Definition: Conversion disorder is a psychiatric condition in which emotional distress or unconscious conflict are expressed through physical symptoms.
Causes, incidence, and risk factors: Conversion disorder is one of several types of somatoform disorders, in which psychological problems produce physical symptoms.
These disorders have typically been highly stigmatized, with physicians telling patients that the problem is "all in your head." Research on the connection between mind and body is steadily increasing our understanding of these disorders and should reduce the stigma, as it becomes clear that these conditions are real, cause real distress, and cannot just be turned on and off at will.
The onset of symptoms in this disorder is usually very sudden and follows a stressful experience. Loss of function, such as in inability to move a limb, may unconsciously symbolize the underlying conflict associated with the experience. Risk factors include a history of histrionic personality disorder or dependent personality disorder.
Symptoms: The symptoms of conversion disorder involve the loss of one or more bodily functions. These may include blindness, paralysis or the inability to speak. The loss of physical function is involuntary and diagnostic testing does not show a physical cause for the dysfunction.
Signs and tests: Some of the common signs of conversion disorder include:
* The sudden onset of a debilitating symptom
* A history of a recent psychological conflict that is resolved through the development of the symptom
* A lack of concern that is usually associated with a severe symptom
A physical examination is performed to rule out physical causes for the loss of function. Specific diagnostic testing related to the symptom is warranted to rule out a physical cause.
Treatment: Psychiatric treatment is recommended to help the person understand the underlying psychological conflict. The integrity of the affected body part or function must be maintained until the conflict is resolved and the symptoms usually disappear. For example, paralyzed limbs must be exercised to avoid muscle wasting.
Expectations (prognosis): Symptoms usually last for days to weeks and may resolve spontaneously. Usually the symptom itself is not life-threatening, but the development of complications as a result of the symptom can be debilitating.
Also fun: The Theories of Sigmund Freud. Or: how to piss people off by diagnosing them with various disorders and behaviors based on little or no evidence.
"The only thing more common than a blind admiration for Freud seems to be an equally blind hatred for him."
"Parapraxes. A parapraxis is a slip of the tongue, often called a Freudian slip. Freud felt that they were also clues to unconscious conflicts. Freud was also interested in the jokes his clients told. In fact, Freud felt that almost everything meant something almost all the time -- dialing a wrong number, making a wrong turn, misspelling a word, were serious objects of study for Freud. However, he himself noted, in response to a student who asked what his cigar might be a symbol for, that "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." Or is it?"
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Who or Whom?
The traditional rules for choosing between who and whom are relatively simple but not always easy to apply. Who is used where a nominative pronoun such as I or he would be appropriate, that is, for the subject of a verb or for a predicate nominative; whom is used for a direct or indirect object or for the object of a prepostion. Thus, we write the actor who played Hamlet was there, since who is the subject of played; and Whom do you like best? because whom is the object of the verb like and To whom did you give the letter? because whom is the object of the preposition to.
It is more difficult, however, to apply these rules in complicated sentences, particularly when who or whom is separated from the verb or preposition that determines its form. Intervening words may make it difficult to see that Who do you think is the best candidate? requires who as the subject of the verb is (not whom as the object of think) and The man whom the papers criticized did not show up requires whom as the object of the verb criticized (not who as the subject of showed up). Highly complex sentences such as I met the man whom the government had tried to get France to extradite require careful analysis - in this case, to determine that whom should be chosen as the object of the verb extradite, several clauses away. It is thus not surprising that writers from Shakespeare onward have often interchanged who and whom.
Nevertheless, the distinction remains a hallmark of formal style. In
speech and informal writing, however, considerations other than strict
grammatical correctness often come into play. Who may sound more natural than whom in a sentence such as Who did John say he was going to support? - though it is incorrect according to the traditional rules. In general, who tends to predominate over whom in informal contexts. Whom may sound stuffy even when correctly used, and when used where who would be correct, as in Whom shall I say is calling? whom may betray grammatical ignorance. Similarly, though traditionalists will insist on whom when the relative pronoun is the object of a preposition that ends a sentence, grammarians since Noah Webster have argued that the excessive formality of whom is at odds with the relative informality associated with this construction; thus they contend that a sentence such as Who did you give it to? should be regarded as entirely acceptable.
Some grammarians have argued that only who and not that should be used to introduce a restrictive relative clause that identifies a person. This restriction has no basis either in logic or in the usage of the best writers; it is entirely acceptable to write either the woman that wanted to talk to you or the woman who wanted to talk to you. The grammatical rules governing the use of who and whom in formal writing apply equally to whoever and whomever and are simililarly often ignored in speech and informal writing.
No, I didn't really understand that either, so I shall be one of the writers from Shakespeare onwards who often interchanges who and whom.
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One of the silliest threads on the Sammyboy forums that I've ever seen (not that I've seen many, since I don't frequent them):
Malays Who Wear Spectacles
"I have a question.
Why is it that nowadays I see quite a number of Malays who wear spectacles ?
They don't study after all, and are good at only 3 things -
1. play guitar at void deck
2. ride motorcycle and make irritating loud noises with their exhaust
3. beheading and bombing
These activities don't require one to do reading of any sort - and thus won't result in the deterioration of their eyesight right ?"
It's quite obvious that this is a joke, yet some people reply with fiery condemnation and accusations of racism.
Some of the replies in the thread are not only amusing, they are also thought-provoking (though not in the way they were intended:
"Take note that those Malays are extremely racist too - the call us "Cina Babi" all the time, but try referring to them as "Malay Pigs" and see what happens to you. All we do is crack jokes about them ... no violence or malice over here."
There's no violence towards ethnic minorities here, but I'm not sure we can say the same about malice. Animosity, definitely, but malice is perhaps too extreme a term.
I stopped reading after the first 25 messages since after that it seemed to degenerate into name-calling, threats, accusations of racism and other similar silly behavior.
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Good summary of Creation 'Science':
"Their contributions to ongoing science consist of nit-picking and the extraction of trivialities from the vast literature of biology and of unsupported statements about what-they insist-cannot happen: “Darwinism”-organic evolution shaped by natural selection and reflecting the common ancestry of all life forms. In the face of the extraordinary and often highly practical twentieth-century progress of the life sciences under the unifying concepts of evolution, their “science” consists of quote-mining-minute searching of the biological literature-including outdated literature-for minor slips and inconsistencies and for polemically promising examples of internal arguments. These internal disagreements, fundamental to the working of all natural science, are then presented dramatically to lay audiences as evidence of the fraudulence and impending collapse of “Darwinism.” How are such audiences to know that modern biology is not a house of cards, not founded on a “dying theory”?
[...]
This movement seeks nothing less than to overthrow the system of rules and procedures of modern science and those intellectual footings of our culture laid down in the Enlightenment and over some 300 years. If this sounds overwrought, we ask our readers to proceed at least a little way into the following chapters to judge for themselves. In any case, the Wedge admits that this is its aim. By its own boastful reports, the Wedge has undertaken to discredit the naturalistic methodology that has been the working principle of all effective science since the seventeenth century. It desires to substitute for it a particular version of “theistic science,” whose chief argument is that nothing about nature is to be understood or taught without reference to supernatural or at least unknowable causes-in effect, to God."
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"Having grown up playing both consoles and computers, the console RPG, to me, has always been lacking that extra bit of depth usually found in the best computer RPG's - the Ultimas, Wizardrys, Baldur's Gates, and the list goes on. The Ultimas, Wizardrys and even Baldur's Gate knock-offs and spin-offs on consoles do not count, I'm afraid." (Source - I only found it because I wanted to know what on earth soft shadows were)
Hahahaha.
Meanwhile Han comments, about Planescape Torment, that "in terms of storyline, I don't think I can think of any other game that even comes close, except for some of the Japanese RPGs."
Japanese "RPGs" aren't games - they're animated storybooks.
"Games"?! Pfffffffth.
If I want to have an experience where I am guided along like a little child and have absolutely no say in what my character can do, I'll read a book.
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Someone: my website referral thing broke. i've no stats since october. stupid server admin damn lazy, this is what happens when they're friends
Heh heh.
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I just found out what the opposite of a banana (yellow on the outside, white on the inside) is. An egg - white on the outside, yellow on the inside.
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Student's World - "Gabriel Seah Jia He" - He is forever tainted
Shane Messer's Find those Weapons and Hunt for WMD - "In December 2003, we released a game where people could hunt for "Weapons of Mass Destruction" by searching through thousands of real life documents. The game was solved in August 2004, after over a thousand people spent nearly 8 months playing."
On the Contrary: Americans Aren't in the Market for Freedom - "The one thing nobody is insisting you rush out and buy is freedom. Ever hear of it? I don't mean freedom of speech or religion, which we enjoy in spades. I mean the freedom to do what you want -- including, if necessary, telling your boss to drop dead. For non-lottery winners, it's the kind of freedom that comes of thrift, and maybe also self-knowledge. What I'm suggesting, in other words, is to forget that big new professional-quality range or $40,000 sport utility vehicle and buy yourself some freedom; you really can, because it's a commodity just like any other."
History of (Protestant) Work Ethic - So much for it being an "Asian Value".
Abortion Isn't Just a Woman's Issue - "Women, we're told, grieve -- often for years -- after an abortion. But is a man's grief somehow not as "real" as a woman's? Under the law, Jane can do what she wants, but when she does, Tom may be left to mourn the loss of the child he had always dreamed of. Imagine now that Jane decides to keep the child and that Tom says he is not financially prepared to become a parent. Society's reaction? "You should have thought of that sooner and you'd better keep those child support checks coming in or we'll throw you in jail." (One of many interesting articles on MenWeb - Men's Issues: Men's Voices Magazine)
The Bloodsport of Divorce - "Imagine how a woman would feel if a man could petition for divorce and have her thrown out of the marital home? Imagine how a woman would feel if men were automatically given custody? Imagine how a woman would feel if they could only see their kid every other weekend? Imagine how a woman would feel if her ex-husband denied her visitation to be vindictive and the system did nothing about it. Imagine how the maternal grandparents would feel if the son-in-law denied them a relationship with their grandchildren? Imagine special laws where a man could persecute his former wife by falsely accusing her of sex abuse or physical abuse. Imagine a system where a woman would have to spend thousands to prove her innocence while a lying ex-husband had no liability for telling such lies? Women would scream that such a system was sexist, paternalistic, unjust, unfair, irresponsible and injurious to both genders and the kids and they would be right. But this is the system, except fathers are the victims and mothers smugly accept the maternal monopoly over children that the system has handed them."
More on the sexism that men face.
Some people are 'immune' to exercise - "Public-health campaigns regularly plug exercise as a sure-fire way to avoid an early grave. But that message may be too simplistic. For an unhappy few, even quite strenuous exercise may have no effect on their fitness or their risk of developing diseases like diabetes."
ClassiColor - A simulation of how those ancient statues would have looked like painted (as they originally were)
Is this any way to treat a child? - "Why our kids are hooked on crisps: Not so long ago, crisps were thought healthy enough to be tucked into a child's lunch box along with an apple and a sandwich. Now we're eating 12 billion packets a year, and a bag of smoky bacon has become the Devil's own snack."
