"All charming people have something to conceal, usually their total dependence on the appreciation of others." - Cyril Connolly

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For those of you who are still on the old Atom feed, there's no better time than the present to switch to the Feedburner feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/Balderdash).

Some advantages of doing so:

- optimised feed compatible with all versions of RSS/Atom
- item stats let me (try to) tailor content to readers

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Russian acquaintance: in russian [the meaning of] "nah" is very close to "fuck off"


Me on a Bulk and Skull LJ icon with the letters "OTP" emblazoned across it: What does OTP stand for btw?

Someone: it stands for "one true pairing" or some stupid shit.

Me: I see you're not into slash either ;)

Someone else: Slash is fun, but Bulk and Skull? *shivers*


How Girls Waste Time
123. Whining about men not being chivalrous or gentlemanly while refusing to conform to archaic and sexist notions of proper gender behavior themselves
Another one I'm quite proud of

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"McGinn reminds us that philosophy is hard. It is not as if all the smart people went into other professions, leaving the dregs for philosophy. When superstars in other professions try philosophy, their results are a joke."

Heh heh.


Possible evidence for the evolution of the incest taboo in primates:

"In the wild, [gorilla] females, who become sexually mature at about age 8, leave their natal group and attach themselves to a new group" (Apes & Monkeys)

Apparently the opposite happens with chimpanzees (the males leave the troupe when they reach sexual maturity).

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"Topic Magazine: Some laws were meant to be broken
*************************************************
Topic Magazine (www.topicmag.com) wants to see you at your finest, breaking the most ridiculous laws of your state/country. Send us a photo of you in action breaking one of the laws below. Well be featuring the most creative and outlandish photos in our upcoming sin issue, which means your pic will be credited in an international magazine.

If there is a stupid law in your region that we dont mention here, go ahead and break/document that, too. We cant wait to see your unlawful Kodak moments. Direct all
replies to info@topicmag.com.

Thailand :.
-No one may step of any of the nations currency.

SINGAPORE:
-It is illegal to pee in an elevator. [Ed: Emphasis mine]

AUSTRALIA:
-It is illegal to roam the streets wearing black clothes, felt shoes and black shoe polish on your face as these items are the tools of a cat burgular.

UNITED KINGDOM:
-It is illegal to be a drunk in possession of a cow.

Liverpool Laws
-It is illegal for a woman to be topless in public except as a clerk in a tropical fish store.

-Any boy under the age of 10 may not see a naked manequin.

ITALY:
-A man may be arrested for wearing a skirt."

Anyone willing to brave 3 (6?) months jail and a $500 ($1000?) fine?

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Seen in the readme of the KeepStatus Miranda plugin:

"--- Disclaimer ---

If something terrible happens, don't blame me."

Gah.

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Cowpat Roulette - "The game is called "Cow Bingo" or "Cowpat Roulette" and all it requires is a field divided into numbered squares - and a cow - it explains. Spectators bet on their chosen numbers, the cow is led into the field, and the winner is the player who picks the square where Daisy deposits the first cowpat."

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I was handed a flyer for eyebrow embroidery. From the before/after shots, it looks like a way of restoring sparse eyebrows. A cure for bad eyebrow plucking, perhaps?

In other news:

"Find Steven Lim" Digital Photo Contest

"Participant simply just need to take three photographs Together With Steven Lim in three different places & times with Steven Lim wearing different attire (just different tops will do) and each time you take a picture with him, remember to ask him for an autograph with the exact date of photo taking on a piece of paper as proof (total collect 3 autographs on any papers). Thus, all you need to do is to take three pics, develop/"wash" the pictures to 4R sized real photos in any photo developing shops and collect three of his original autographs, and send it to us together with the downloaded, printed and completed application form which you can download here and join in the great fun! The best entry that is chosen by Steven Lim will be the overall winner. Entries that Steven Lim like will also be posted on the web at this section to be appreciated by people around the world concurrently during this period and they stand a higher chance of being picked as the overall winner. So send in your entries ASAP!!! There is no limit to times of participating. For further details, please refer to the form. Closing date is strictly on 30th June 2005 and definitely there will be a winner takes all. No registration fee needed!!!!

Prizes:

Winner: Cash prize of $500 SIN Dollars with autographed book written by Steven Lim, titled Steven Lim, the street eyebrow plucker."

!@#$%^&*()

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The NUS co-op is realy scummy. They will only let you use your discount card to buy one copy of each textbook at once.


Quotes:

[On quartiles] Why are we studying all this boring stuff? Personally, I find it very boring. Some of my colleagues study income distribution. They spend day and night staring at quartiles

Ames, what's your name? (full name)

Boys: there are more girls here. Come and join them.

[On someone who folds paper very quickly] Eh, you sell popiah one ah

These are some of the games we play. You can get to know each other better. Have you found out each other's names?

[On Singapore] How about human capital? What have we been doing [to increase it]? [Someone, whispering: USP]

The minister mentor lamented that he allowed women to come to the University. Then all of you don't want to have children.

Some people, like Italy (countries)

You'foo population (youthful)

How many of you are Singaporeans?... Most of you are Singaporeans. I thought most of the time I am not speaking to Singaporeans.

[On almost no one living below the poverty line in Singapore] We hardly have people begging in the streets. [Me: That's because they put them in jail.]

OECD stands for 'Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development'. It's a rich man's club. But now some of them are quite poor. (for)

Who else is from China? Who is from China?... *incredulously* You're all Singaporeans.

Singapore received a lot of ate (aid)

[On imperfect information] Do you know everything about your girlfriend before you marry her?

air'true'istic (altruistic)

[On an economic analysis of Ah Beng and Ah Lian's decisions] Of course she doesn't have to pay for the meal. Ah Beng is paying for her.

[On Sungei Gedong] I heard a lot of SMSes coming in. For some providers, this is [considered] Malaysia. So you better be careful.

Do plants need to breathe? Maybe I should make you stand up. You're all, like... [Student very quickly: Yah, plants need to breathe]

[On squirrels] They eat meat. You think they eat nuts alone? Nooooooooo...

[On hair under the Nipah plant's leaves] [They] reach puberty

[On the girls' more skimpy dressing] You know girls can adapt to heat better than guys? We're baking.

[On the ecosystem] Who eats garoupas? [Student: Me]

Is there an insect on my hair?... It had legs... That's why I tied up my hair. [Someone: That's why I did my hair in a bun] [Me: Why don't you wear a tudung?]

How about soft shell crabs? [Student: They evolve so we can eat it] (them)

[On a plant particle landing in some girl's hair] It's trying to pollinate you

[On 'How Girls Waste Time'] Strictly speaking it's not a waste of time, because they're not doing anything anyway.

mud flats (flies)

You can go to Splash. I don't know where young people shop at nowadays. Zara, Mango. Not: CK Tang, the dowdy place. Metro, the dowdy place.

I give you a feel of what you can expat later on (expect)

[Phone rings] Eh, if I can switch off my handphone, why can't you? I better switch if off now *Laughs from audience* Nobody calls me.

Let me tell you a little bit of stories (more)

Angles' curve (Engel)

[On a video of an archerfish extinguishing someone's lit cigarette] NUS should have some of these guys, huh... Prevent the smoking ban from being violated.

If you go back to Chomsky, what does Chomsky say about the origin of language? Not that anyone reads Chomsky, because he's so hard to understand.

[On 'observing' Evolution] Very few of us have seen Africa, but we still believe that Africa is out there... Anything you do about Shakespeare is not by having Shakespeare come and talk to you. (done by)