"This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force." - Dorothy Parker

Random Playlist Song: Robert Shaw Festival Singers - Amazing Grace (American Hymns and Spirituals) - His Voice as the Sound.mp3

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Referrer to my homepage:

http://myedumail.moe.edu.sg/frame.html?rtfPossible=true〈=en

Gasp.

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If I were asked to come up with an equitable online MP3 downloading service, I'd probably come up with something similar to ALLOFMP3 or MP3Search.Ru.

These offer MP3 downloads (ie the files you download aren't restricted) at reasonable prices; MP3Search.Ru offers many (most? all?) songs at 10 cents per download, with the occasional free track, albeit usually very short, thrown in occasionally for good measure, and AllOfMP3 charges according to the bit rate of the MP3 you download (US$0.02 per MegaByte). The former even offers streaming 24kpbs 16kHz previews of the whole song, unlike the wimpy 30s previews that most other services have.

I believe most people would be willing to pay such reasonable prices, given that downloads are fast, you don't have to wait, since unlike P2P networks queues don't exist, and best of all, the artists and labels get paid.

So, you might ask, what's the catch?

Both of these sites are hosted in Russia, and their services are perfectly legal under Russian law. Unfortunately, that won't protect you if you're from another country and get caught for copyright infringement.


Artistes and labels are still trying to reap economic rent (registration not required) from their works, 50 long years after they were first placed on sale, and after they'd recovered their initial costs many times over. Most ironic then, that those who lobby the hardest for copyright extensions, being the most successful content producers, with the deepest pockets, are those who need the least incentive to create new content. To think that patents for drugs and other such goods (which surely are much more expensive to produce and research) last 20 years at most.

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Thanks to the blessings of Fortuna, I've retained a 4 day week, and without 5 hours of lessons straight too.

Looks like sacrificing that heifer was a wise thing to do. I must look into votary offerings next time!


Someone: this current batch of exchange students in biz are mostly europeans

Me: how do they stand all the shrill, anorexic, chinese speaking ah lians?

Someone: lol... you think the ah lians are gonna act like that? they're magically transformed to english-speaking, affected, wide eyed girls


Respondent 1: i would think that the europeans would be more put-off with the fako accents because if there's anything worse that shrill anorexic-sounding chinese, its fako anorexic-sounding english

Respondent 2: if u're e sort tt likes plain Janes and muggertoads, stop at engin
plentiful still on e shelf =P
i realised each faculty got its own speciality
for science and School of Computing there r plenty of cheena gals ard

Respondent 3: : actually, they don't need to say anything in the first place. girls are best appreciated with their mouths closed - angmoh exchange student.
europeans lah. they're all looking for fuck buddies
don't need to say so much. just do it and drink afterwards. or before
yah they're on holiday anyway
bo chup bo hiew bang, fuck and screw

this one girl followed an exchange student back to PGP. he had to go use the loo and when he got back she was naked on his bed.
he told her to put her clothes back on and that she should leave

well that's the story he told me!

Me: hahahah I wonder how common such stories are

Respondent 3: i don't know actually
prob not as common as singaporeans fucking away in raffles hall


Someone on tutorial bidding: fortunately for me science uses neon another sys
downside is that its really first come first served

Me: how come science is so special

Someone: coz we're a nation of kiasu chao muggers
if not why first come first served
u know how it works or not
must camp in front of ur comp and log in exact on the spot leh if not if the slot u want is hot that's it

Me: why not ballot like the rest of the school

Someone: coz we're a nation of KIASU chao muggers.
and must TRAIN to be so

Me: haha social engineering


Observations on lessons in the Premier Institution of Social Engineering (incidentally, thanks to me, searching this on Google brings up the NUS site as the 4th result in the list):

But one can never escape annoying classmates. like this long-winded philosophy major with a prissy arty farty accent and a tendency to ramble on and on like he's in love with the sound of his own voice.

or this Bimbo-Minus-the-Looks who actually asked out loud for the benefit of everyone around her, "Should I go to the toilet? [pauses as though waiting for answer to drop from heaven] Hmm I probably shouldn't hold my bladder for a whole hour." If only she were pretty, i would tune out the audio signals and just focus on visuals. but i suppose for every person out there with both looks and intelligence, there has to be someone like her...

(Link not included in a feeble attempt to preserve the person's privacy)

Ah, the joys of having an unknown blog where one can make this manner of semi-snide remarks at will :)

Meanwhile someone else has a novel definition of nirvana: it is the stage whereby you simply do not know wad to ask becos u do not know anyth in e first place


EN5243 - The Birth of the Critic

Reviews:

"A breath-taking thumbs-up module, even though it hasn't technically begun..."
- Martin Scriblerius XI

"Lots to read but nearly nothing to buy. ... The cheapest period course on the planet! One is even tempted to say that it could be the best of all possible courses!"
- Pangloss, Ph.D (Westphalia)

"Puts its institution a great many levels above the Grand Academy of Lagado!"
- Lemuel Gulliver

Heh. I'm tempted to add a few of my own, but can't think of a suitable literary in-joke.

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Techno Prince relates a tale of gore, ichor and antennae, which would not be out of place in a primary school narrative essay (heh):

"The cockroach, its body partially mangled, is still alive, but barely. Its cuticle, which has helped its kind persist through the eons, could not withstand the crushing jaws and shearing carnassials of my dog’s mouth. I notice a section of its abdomen that appears somewhat crushed, and a leg is twisted at an odd angle. It creeps along on its belly pathetically, seeking reprieve, seeking dignity and a quiet place to live its final moments.

But my dog will deny it even this. Her curiosity piqued once again by my inspection, she gets up and stares at the now-still cockroach. Her body tenses. She crouches slightly. For a moment, I think I have caught a rare glimpse of the predatory fire that still burns deep within my dog. Generations far removed from the wolves that would give rise to all domestic dog breeds, she still retains some of that spark, that instinct, to sustain life by taking the lives of others. She pounces.

The cockroach is defenceless. My dog paws it repeatedly, then catches it between her incisors and tosses it. It lands on its back once again, kicks the air in a frantic attempt to escape, and then stops moving..."

[more]

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Intelligent design: comparison to other beliefs about origins

"What kind of God does ID attempt to prove the existence of?

ID researchers only attempt to prove that a super-human intelligence existed in the universe. Many only speculate on the nature of that intelligence; they do not try to prove whether that intelligence is an actual deity. They do not necessarily believe that it is the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God: a bodiless spirit, single, infinite, immutable, loving, eternal, immortal, invisible, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. They can only hope to show that:

- One or more intelligent entities existed at the time that a particular design was implemented. However, the entity or entities do not necessarily exist now.
- It or they had powers well beyond that of normal humans -- but were not necessarily omnipotent.

In fact, the designers of life forms or other features of the universe that they are trying to detect might be any of the thousands of Gods and Goddesses worshiped by humans. A deity or deities may not be involved at all. Designs could have been created by some form of extraterrestrial beings who are centuries ahead of humans in knowledge.

Proponents of ID have a wide range of theological and philosophical beliefs. Persons with all of the following beliefs could embrace ID:

- A strict monotheist (e.g. a Jew or Muslim who believes in one God).
- A duotheist (e.g. a Wiccan or Zoroastrian who believes in two deities).
- A trinitarian (e.g. a Christian who believes in three divine persons within the unity of a single Godhead).
- A henotheist (e.g. a Hindu who believes in many Gods and Goddesses who are aspects of a single deity, Brahman).
- A polytheist (e.g. followers of many of the Aboriginal religions in the world who believe in many Gods and Goddess as discrete entities.)
- A Deist who believes that God created the universe, set it in motion, left, and has not been seen since.
- An Atheist, Agnostic, Humanist, or anyone else who might hold open the possibility of a very advanced species of intelligent beings existing in the universe."

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Alan Studowski : Please be my girlfriend - "Hey, thanks for visiting my site. My name is Alan Studowski, the one and only, and i hope my heart can find someone to love. You will enjoy a look at my photos from all the exciting places i go in America. My life is very good because I have a lot to do. One thing I like to do is walk. I walk to many great places everyday. My favorite place to walk is McDonalds. There I can get a Big Mac and a coke. Once I went to three different McDonalds in the same day!! Another thing I like to do is have a girlfriend. I do not have a girlfriend now, but if you send me an e-mail telling me you want to be my girlfriend i will let you. Last time I had a girlfriend we were in love. I think it is so much fun to be in love. As a boyfriend I will love you. Sometimes it is hard to stop loving my girlfriend when we break up, but i do, then i love my new girlfriend. My new girlfriend could be you. Well I guess you should start having fun on my website. I have so much to look at, It wouldn't suprise me if you spent five days taking it all in. Even if you are a man I want you to email me and be my friend. Maybe if you have a sister she can be my girlfriend. Thank you for stopping by."

The Star Trek: The Next Generation Movie Plot Generator - "When watching a movie starring the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, you may think it's difficult to come up with such storylines. Well, that couldn't be further from the truth! It's simple to make a TNG movie! By filling in the blanks below, you can create your own TNG film script that is JUST AS GOOD as any TNG film that has already been released! Enjoy!"

Analysis of 12 Storeys (among other things) - "At San San’s household in 12 Storeys, San San has her first flashback of her late mother. The old woman says, in Cantonese, “Ah Ling and I worked...” Her words may contain a hidden reference to a lesbian relationship..."
Ah, I love literature. Oh, and I learnt that Mee Pok Man was about necrophilia. Whee.

Is Your Brain Really Necessary? - "John Lorber, a British neurologist, has studied many cases of hydrocephalus (water on the brain) and concluded that the loss of nearly all of the cerebral cortex (the brain's convoluted outer layer) does not necessarily lead to mental impairment. He cites the case of a student at Sheffield University, who has an IQ of 126 and won first-class honors in mathematics. Yet, this boy has virtually no brain; his cortex measures only a millimeter or so thick compared to the normal 4.5 centimeters."
This is from 1981, though.

TATTOO The Cup of Devils - "Throughout history the tattoo bears the mark of paganism, demonism, Baal worship, shamanism, mysticism, heathenism, cannibalism and just about every other pagan belief known. The tattoo has NEVER been associated with Bible Believing Christians. And whenever and wherever, in history Christianity appears – tattoos disappear. The only exception -- 20th century, lukewarm, carnal, disobedient, Laodicean Christians."
Hilarious stuff!