"I am a Marxist--of the Groucho tendency." - Anonymous

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I screwed up my sleep cycle once again by falling asleep for 5 hours in the afternoon. Which explains the time of this post.

I've really got to stop doing this.

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Some interesting posts that lie beneath this one (for readers who are disinclined to scroll all the way down):

My anti-Halal manifesto - "For quite some time, I have been against the idea of Halal food. The following serves to articulate the reasons why I am against it, and to show that it is not instinctive religio-phobia that lies behind my rejection of it, since it seems that whenever someone criticises Islam, Muslims or related topics, the first reaction is for people to blame Islamo-phobia."

Youbloodyfool - "There’s a certain person who has dedicated a whole site to criticize all things Singaporean -the students, the government, the way of life..."

Previous general post on the Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum, my beautiful custom-made badges, a rant on bad webpage design and 'God: killer, bumbler or fake?'

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Stomatopod and Rubik's Cube - A crustacean solves Rubik's Cube.

Lucid Dreaming - "Most people don't realize they've been dreaming until after they've awakened and the dream has come to an end. Some people, however, are conscious that they're dreaming. These people -- called LUCID dreamers -- can literally direct the content of a dream, scientists have discovered, deciding perhaps to talk physics with Einstein, woo and marry a movie star, or assume the powers of Superman."

Hilarious Dude Lip Syncing - "Now you all clicked on Lindsays lip sync which is fine. But this dude deserves a chance too. I personally think this is hilarious! He has the Drew Carey type personality and the song he sings is very entertaining."

The Swift Report: Bush State of the Union to Identify New 'Axis of Evil': SpongeBob, Buster and Winnie the Pooh - "In the first State of the Union address of his second term, President Bush is expected to warn Americans to prepare themselves to confront three cartoon “evildoers” in their midst: SpongeBob, Buster and Winnie the Pooh. But despite tough talk from the White House, insiders say that the administration is deeply divided on whether to open a new line of attack against Buster before declaring victory in its campaign against SpongeBob SquarePants, the openly homosexual underwater cartoon icon."

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I find the number of people who believe in the sagging myth astounding. Various sources I hope will clear the air:

teenwire
Bras don't preserve the shape or perkiness of breasts. Sagging results from a number of factors unrelated to brassiere wearing

What causes sagging breasts? How to define what is saggy?
"Breast drooping can't truly be prevented even though bras of course can conceal it. (However, bras preventing sagging is a myth.) It is only the teenager breast that stays so perky that the nipple is pointing right ahead."

Breasts Weren't Made for Bras
"Most women believe the myth that breasts need to be properly supported to prevent sagging when we do not have the research to prove the necessity of breast support. In her book Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book, Dr. Love writes: "A mistaken popular belief maintains that wearing a bra strengthens your breasts and prevents their eventual sagging. But you sag because of the proportion of fat and tissue in your breasts, and no bra changes that.""


Which is why I haven't suffered from sagging yet. INFORMATION OVERLOAD!!!

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Gold and Pure Silk Are Forbidden for Men: Why? - "Islam has, however, prohibited two kinds of adornment for men, while permitting them to women. These are, first, gold ornaments and, second, clothing made of pure silk. `Ali reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took some silk in his right hand and some gold in his left, declaring, "These two are haram for the males among my followers." (Reported by Ahmad, Abu Dawud, an-Nasa'i, Ibn Hayyan, and Ibn Majah, who reports the additional phrase, "but halal for the females.") `Umar reported that he heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say, "Do not wear silk, for those who wear it in this life shall not wear it in the Hereafter." (Reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim) On another occasion, referring to a silken garment, he said, "This is the dress of a man who has no character.'' (Reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim)"

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On the management of race in Singapore:


The entire 'race is a sensitive issue! if we do not have strict social controls, regular propaganda exercises and an authoritarian PAP government which has no need to use a racial platform, we will have civil war and rioting in the streets! then you will all die! die! die!!!!!!!!!!!!! remember the racial riots from the 60s? remember the maria hertogh riots from the 50s? they are still relevant even though they occured decades ago and in the context of a much less developed society -- because we your propaganda masters say so!! they show that there are deep underlying racial tensions!!! that is why when you see a malay person on the street you may *think* you feel nothing but in fact your true, non-PAP-controlled self is consumed by a deep irrational desire to stuff pork down his throat!! so remember, racial harmony is very very important!' discourse is like shit and blatantly untrue.

Racism exists EVERYWHERE. It is merely a primitive response to the Other, but since many ppl are primitive then sad to say that racism is here to stay. All non-homogenous societies will encounter *some* measure of racism. To say that racist attitudes mean that in the absence of strict political controls the entire state edifice will collapse is to go against common sense. It is merely the ol' scare-mongering... since it acts as a convenient justification for authoritarianism. In fact we have a clear example here -- ppl arguing for censorship and a political monopolisation because if not racial tensions will explode.

To give an empirical example -- look at Malaysia. Ppl in Malaysia are really quite racist. And Malaysia enjoys much greater freedom of the press/speech (In their recent ranking of countries according to how much freedom of the press they enjoy, Reporters Sans Frontieres gave Singapore a dismal rating, close to Iran or some other ghastly regime, I forget, but Malaysia was middle-ranking). They also have a more viable opposition in the form of PAS -- not that PAS stands much of a chance in capturing the federal govt but at least it has been able to capture some state govts without suddenly being sued for defamation. And pls remember that PAS has an explicitly religious (Islamist) platform. YET, when one goes to JB or KL or wherever, does one see the country descending into civil war between Malays and Chinese? Do we see riots breaking out every so often? Hmmm... the last time I checked, NO.

Just because races are not well integrated -- they are not in M'sia, but neither are they even in the US or Australia or France -- does not mean that ppl of different races will be unable to treat each other in a civil manner at least.

Regions which suffer endemic racial/religious strife are usually those in which some form of separatist nationalism has also crept in. And that would be unlikely, to say the least, in modern Singapore.

NE is detested by schoolchildren/NSFs/anyone with a brain because it is a preachy monologue of half-baked thoughts. It has merely culled 1 million wrong lessons from history and foisted them on the school/NS population.

Oh and the govt is merely being hypocritical wrt 'racial harmony' since it has promoted a policy of institutionalised racism in the SAF. So much for 'regardless of race, language or religion'. It should be amended to 'regardless of race, language and religion, just as long as you don't happen to be Malay/Muslim of course'.


Me:

We are often told that Singapore has no natural resources, so it is most amazing and wondrous (and, no doubt, thanks to our strong and unchallenged government) that we have prospered. However, having natural resources is not an unequivocal blessing, as some would seem to have it:

The Resource Curse Revisited

"There is a curious phenomenon that economists call the resource curse - so named because, on average, countries with large endowments of natural resources perform worse than countries that are less well endowed. Yet some countries with abundant natural resources do perform better than others, and some have done well. Why is the spell of the resource curse cast so unequally?"

(Young Republic)

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Arguing with my favourite 2 apologists about metaphysics, epistemology and related issues really gives me such a headache. One cannot use reason to attack reason, for that begs the question; to question reason itself assumes that reason is useful and valid in the first place. If we do not start with reason, everything collapses and argument becomes meaningless. If reality and reason are not assumed a priori, even apologist arguments collapse; assuming that gods provide reality and reason already uses the concepts of reality and reason themselves, since working from assumptions is itself a function and subset of reason, so this line of argument is recursive and circular.

My favourite observation on this business is this:

"I have read all about the economic trinity versus the ontological trinity but besides giving me a migraine I did not come away with much except that man is capable of some extremely abstract thought."

I think the way philosophical apologetics (as opposed to material apologetics) works is by confusing everyone (including the apologist) in ever more complex arguments and tautologies, hoping to make them wring their hands in dismay and give up. Either that or undermining the other's case somewhat and offering the apologist's alternative, even though it might be less plausible. You don't go through 2 millennia without developing some very sophisticated and abstract arguments. In any case, as Arthur Conan Doyle said: "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."

I am acutely aware, once more, of why I did not want to major in Philosophy.

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An amusing comment on Ritz Carlton bathrooms: "I took quite a few pictures in the bathroom. Don't ask me why. But they had these incredibly comfy couches. Here women already have a problem with time spent in bathrooms, and there they go putting in big, plushy couches for you to sit on. I don't get it."

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Someone who wants to remain anonymous: "hmm medicine girls look much better than arts girls... but not as many buayas there"

Someone on why there are more fundies in SoC/Science than Arts: "Because the idiots memorise, memorise, memorise, and never learn to think critically.

Alternatively, because they never learned sensitivity."


Interestingly, at the theodicy talk that they held last week, they told the participants to write down their questions on pieces of paper, which would be screened by the organisers of the talk before they passed them to the speaker. No doubt they'd learned their lesson from the time I crashed one of their previous talks.

The Japanese society had a bazaar recently and it was really unusual. For one, there was lots of food, unlike most NUS bazaars which have no food at all, since you need to apply for permission from the National Environment Agency. Furthermore, only 4 1/2 of the 7 things almost all NUS bazaars have were on sale: there were no computer peripherals, no bikins, no printers and the tops were only semi-skimpy.

I got 16 lozenges for $7.50 from the University Health and Wellness Centre (UHWC). And a disclaimer on the back says that: "The clinical efficacy of an anti-bacterial agent in lozenges in reducing the severity or duration of throat infections has not been clinically established". Whee.


Quotes:

Whenever I see someone wearing the RJ uniform, I want to go up to them and ask them: 'Do you know who fought for your right to wear that uniform?'

[On Sarong Party Girl at the Blogger Brunch] Did she flash her tits?

I always like to bully econs majors in this class.

These lifts are in need of an overhow (overhaul)

It's a pee'ray'nial problem (perennial)

It's always the case, when you stand next to the board, you forget everything.

[On imposing a tax and a new supply curve] Actually the curve does not shift. But I was taught that way.

[On paying construction workers a lot] Five thousand dollars is low prestige? Who cares? (for a low prestige job)

[On Bird Flu and a Kaya Toast outlet closing] I live in Sengkang. Rivervale Mall. Everyday I walk past [it]. One day, I noticed: why is it closed? Then I thought: I can set an exam question. *palpable discomfort in audience* All of you are paranoid now.

abundant by his parents (abandoned)

I have a very weird view. How can we decide if a thing is conscious or not? [We see] whether it i able to commit suicide.

When you rare'fer to the consciousness (refer to)

Moral and ethnical (ethical)

[Me: Quote liberally from the text. That's a good way to pad the word limit] I do that a lot. (count)

[On textual evidence] We have to support our arguments? I didn't.

The order's argument (author's)

The prof says that we'll learn something important by doing these writing exerices. But what?

'Don't show them this post-modernist stuff. They're kids.' They're adults!... Strange stuff, written by strange people, with strange ideas.

I know it's quite a critical time for you to have your tutorial at this time. Nap time - you've just had your lunch. [There's an] aircon. (bad, now)

divided into foul classes (four)

The faculty runks

udder why (otherwise)

[On diving an answer] Intuitive? Don't write it in the final exam. (that)

[On Chatterbox, the student lounge] The dustbin is outside. To prevent terrorist attack (attacks)

Check that this is the right class. Is this the right class? Sometimes I go to the wrong class.

Time for some sales talk... You can still add/drop [modules] during the first week or so.

I don't think you have taken this module, because it is a very ancient modules. None of you look ancient.

[On the mid-term] Make sure you dont have any... dancing lessons, or whatever.

[On the textbook] If you find mistakes don't jump and down, very upset. If you find mistakes, that means you're reading.

[On '!@%#!'] If you understand this sentence, it means you read a lot of comics.

This is differentiation. I can't teach you [this]. I expect you to know [this].

[On paying to access government funded research] It is one of the unpleasant things that have come out of the last 10 years - copyright laws.

[On birds secreting uric acid in their faeces] You never get shit upon by a bird. You always get shit and peed upon by a bird... That isn't much consolation.

[Student on an Archaeopteryx fossil: It could be an angel] Why would an angel look like a reptile?

[On horse evolution] They're basically running on their middle finger... very insulting.

warms (worms)

Someone sat down and compiled a list of all the fossil flies known. You might think that that is very boring, but it is pretty interesting to me.

[On assuming that all dating methods are inaccurate] You can do that, but that's settling into the lunatic corner.

[On returning of e-submitted assignments] Same address: You mail it from your grandmother's account, she will get your grade.

[Me on embryo morphology: How about the intelligent designer used a template?] [Lecturer: So how do we phrase this?] Lazy.

a pee'ser'rear (pizzeria)

[On sunk costs] Some of these football players can only play football. They have no other use.

[On Singapore] Our labour unions are really trashed.

Reaches a maximum, and then it increases (minimum)

They actually produce these rubber chickens. It's awful: no skin. They swing them around [at] everybody... They have the factories in North America.

still smelting (steel)

They talk about dot con companies (com)

Close reading is not like lit. It's worse.

'Heritage' is a collection of historians and academics who have nothing better to do, so they come together to talk.

[On Das Capital] I tried to read it in my undergraduate days, when all my friends were touring Europe and America.

[On Karl Pearson] He changed the spelling of his name to K-A-R-L [from CARL] because he was so impressed by Karl Marx.

[On the Bernoulli family] Their contribution to the world is more lasting that the Italian fashion designers that some of you like

[On probability in gambling] If you're curious about this, purely for intellectual curiosity, I'll encourage you to find out about it.

[On my Wo-hen Nankan badge] If you were in a different course, you could probably do an [close reading] essay on him