Friday, March 11, 2005

"All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure." - Mark Twain

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Sheena complains that my posts are too cheem (and others that they are too long). Yet I get 400+ hits a day. There must be a helluva lotta masochists out there.

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I am a d100


Take the quiz at dicepool.com



"There's two ways to end up with this result. Either you picked the silliest possible answer to each question, or you answered honestly, and happen to be hyperactive, manic, loon. Assuming you answered honestly, your profile is as follows: You are the 100-sided dice, also known as the legendary Zocchihedron. You are the bit of data that registers so far off the chart that the average person doesn't even know you exist. You are desperate for attention and will get it any way you can. Your jokes have the lowest laugh ratio, but you go for quantity, not quality. Once you get started on a pointless tangent, it takes a group effort to bring you back to reality and make you shut up. You are a distraction who is permanently distracted. You consider yourself silly and entertaining, but everyone else complains about how lame and annoying you are. The one secret they aren't telling you, is how they sometimes actually miss the noise when you're gone."

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The Body: AIDS Survival Project: Survival News -- Cruising With Lazarus: The Fourth Annual 'Just Shut Up' Awards By David Salyer

"Every year, people all over the world say stridently stupid, misinformed or absurd things about HIV and AIDS. Here's a list of some folks who make you wonder what, if anything, they were thinking before they opened their mouths in 2004. Their comments are best met with three little words: Just shut up.

Balaji Sadasivan

The Southeast Asian country of Singapore is one of the world's most prosperous nations. Home to a little more than four million people, figures from the World Health Organization tell us that about 4,000 Singaporeans are living with HIV. Speaking publicly last November, Senior Minister of State for Health Balaji Sadasivan reported that HIV/AIDS cases were doubling every three to four years. Sadasivan blames gay men for the spread of HIV and claims nongovernmental agencies like Action for AIDS (AfA) are not doing enough to promote safer sexual practices. Naturally, he fails to acknowledge that gay sex is still illegal in many parts of Singapore (as are oral and anal sex) and that agencies like AfA are routinely prohibited from distributing brochures or condom packs that would lead to education and prevention. "We must recognize there are conservative people in Singapore and there's no need to say the only way to educate people is to try to do it in an in-your-face approach," Sadasivan protests. "To educate people, you don't have to be offensive," he rambled further until finally warning, "If we do not act, by 2010 we may have more than 15,000 HIV persons in Singapore." Does he have a plan, a strategy? Nope. His job would seem to be pointing fingers and declaring, "Sexual behavior is a private thing, it's something people don't want to talk about. It's not discussed in polite society.""

He's going to get sued, then the "AIDS Survival Project" will not be able to carry out its mission properly.

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Got sent the following:

NoMarriage.com - Rachel's "Perfect Guy" Qualities List

"Rachel is a real girl. The list was taken from her website. Rachel is a typical young American woman. Keep in mind that she expects everything on the list simply because she has vagina.

*135 mostly trivial qualities, almost all described in 5 words or under*"

This is followed by:

"Here is a typical 28yo American woman's personals ad. Interestingly, the only things she says about herself is that she is lazy, bitchy, ugly, and does not like giving blowjobs.

This is my ideal guy:

*19 less trivial qualities in full sentences with elaboration*"

Apparently the site is selling a book:

"NoMarriage.com - honest marriage and relationship advice for men.
"Order noMarriage.com book - only $9.95
- You will understand how and why American women (American woman = modern western woman from any country) always change for the worse after marriage.
- It will help you determine if your girlfriend will make a good wife.
- If you are already married, the e-book will help you decide if you should stay with your wife (the book purchase will appear on your CC statement as IIS).
- Much more to help you decide if you want to get married and have children in the near future."
http://www.nomarriage.com/"

Ho ho ho. Good stuff (assuming you intend to marry)!

There's lots of other interesting stuff on the site.

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The NUS Political Association Special Projects Committee will be organizing a forum which intends to raise issues and questions with regards to the sustainability of opposition parties in Singapore.

There is no doubt that the one party dominance system has been persistent in Singapore since independence. While Singaporeans enjoy economic success and a comfortable standard of living owing to the efficient government running the country, will there be alternative voices that could be heard? Are Singaporeans willing to raise issues that contradict current government policies for the betterment of the society?

>From the last elections, only two candidates from the opposition parties managed to secure seats in the parliament. Could that be a worrying sign that there could be no future for opposition parties in Singapore? Could the merging of opposition parties to form a larger entity work out like in the case of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA)?

With the aggressive move by PAP to recruit the younger generation to pump up its parties' strength, will the opposition do likewise? What will be the opposition parties' move to keep check of the new government under the leadership of the new Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong?

With all these in mind, our guest speaker, Miss Sylvia Lim, current Chairman of the Workers' Party will first speak about these pertinent issues in her viewpoint which will then proceed on with a question and answer session between the NUS students and the guest speaker relating to these concerns.

Profile of Speaker

Miss Sylvia Lim holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) degree from the National University of Singapore and obtained a Master of Laws degree in 1989 from the University of London. She was called to the Bar in 1991.

In 1991 she joined the Singapore Police Force as a Police Inspector where she served for 3 years; she was active in investigation work (including supervision) at the Central Police Div HQ and thereafter was staff officer to the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department.

In 1994 she returned to practise law in the private sector, with M/s Lim & Lim. From 1994 to 1998, she was active in both civil and criminal litigation and handled a variety of cases in the High Court, Subordinate Courts and Juvenile Court.

She is currently a lecturer in Temasek Polytechnic and a manager at the Continuing Education & Training at the Polytechnic's Business School.

Her political life began when she was being co-opted in as a council member of the Workers' Party's Executive Council in May 2001. She has then risen to the post of Chairman during the Executive Council election in June 2003.

More about Sylvia Lim and the Workers' Party can be found at http://www.wp.org.sg

Details of Event

Title: "Towards A More Democratic Singapore – The future of opposition parties"

Date: 29th March 2005

Time: 6.00 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.

Venue: LT 18 (Located at NUS Business School)

Speaker: Miss Sylvia Lim Swee Lian (Chairman, Workers' Party)

Admission is Free.

To register for this event, please send an email to oppositionforum2005@yahoo.com

This event is strictly for NUS students only.

Please include your name, matriculation number, faculty/year of study, contact number(s) and email address, by 20th March 2005 (Sunday).

Hope to see you there!


Lai Hoe Keat
Special Projects Director
30th Management Committee
NUS Students' Political Association

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Weird blog feedback:

Subject: Are elistist Rafflesians taking over Singapore?

Message: Eh white boy, how come your white school got condo in Bishan "Directly opposite Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College" want huh? They want to take over Bishan issit? Is it their new elitist hostel for the students? I want to buy need raffles membership or not?

http://www.singaporeexpats.com/singapore-property-pictures/condo/rafflesia.htm


"Rafflesia is a distinctive twin tower landmark located directly opposite the Raffles Institution. It is only 5 minutes walk to the Junction 8 Shopping Centre, Bishan MRT and the HDB neighbourhood retail shops and clinics.

It is also near the CTE and PIE, and is considered as the central part of district 20."


I recall that they were building it when I was still in RI. Guess they overshot the deadline. You'd have guessed it would be to reconsider the project name, but noooooooo...

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Thread: are christian evolutionists closet supporters of ID?

A: Yes xxx, precisely, "what exactly do Christian Evolutionists profess?" (quote xxx) Like I mentioned before, I feel that there is no room in the Christian paradigm to fit Evolution in. Its either you subscribe to Intelligent design, or Evolution, not both. Some may say that Evolution may fit into Creationism if we don't take a literal reading of the Bible, this meaning that the 6 days that God created the Earth and all living creatures may have occured over a span of thousands or millions of years, and not the 24 hour-day we know of today. However, if this is so, then can we also say that Jesus did not rise after 3 days, but after hundreds or thousands of years? My point is that the Bible has to be taken literally at all times, thus Evolution must exist as a paradigm on its own and cannot stand with Christianity and Creationsm.

Me: But what about when the Bible contradicts facts of objective reality (eg the world being round or the earth being 4.5 billion years old) or itself?

"I’ve followed every part of the Bible! Even the parts that contradict the other parts!" - Ned Flanders

B: Which bible would like to take literal? A version in Aramaic that is thousands of years old or the greatly modified versions in today's English or maybe one from the 19th century in German...


loupgarou26 has plugged 'Christianity and its Discontents' in, all of places, the Sammyboy Forum (no, not the sex one. The conspiracy theory one where everything under the sun is blamed on the PAP).

Some of the less incoherent posts:

A: "<<Have you ever seen a monkey evolved into a man or woman???>>

No i have not despite the fact that chimps n u share 98% the same genetic DNA structure.

But i have seen lots of rational man evolved to bcome spiritual irrational idiots when the believed the most ridiculous n illogical fairy tale ...that a god can die for your sins which your ancestors is guilty off."

B: "LMAO! Wahahahah! Aiyah..you shouldnt reveal such secrets mah..else less fools on this planet, more competitive leh.

But I can bet he doesnt know what the hell you are talking about. Mostly, they will use the 'But you also cannot see the radio waves leh, how come you can listen to radios ah? argument.' So Don't worry."

C [to person lambasting Evolution]: "going by your logic...aliens exists cos nobody has seen an alien before."

D: "<<Peace of God is what Jesus is offering to all who are burdened needing rest.>>

Yet the slave race 'God' owns is the cause of my burdens. Sounds like COE + ERP right? One creates the market, the other controls the market."

Heh heh.

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Dead: Man at foot of block
Dead: Wife, 2 kids in flat - March 8, 2005
- "He said he 'played shares' and owed a loan company a lot of money and that the interest was due, but he had no money to pay it.'"
Clear evidence, if any was needed, of the social ills that the stock market causes. We should therefore form an organisation to lobby for the closure of the Stock Exchange of Singapore. We call call it FASMT - Families Against the Stock Market Threat.

Forget university and get a trade, says PM - "John Howard has urged young people to consider quitting school in Year 10 to pursue careers in traditional trades in response to the nation's growing shortage of skilled workers... The Prime Minister said yesterday school leavers who learnt a trade often ended up much better off than if they had continued on with a university education."

29+ Evidences for Macroevolution - Prediction 5.3: Functional change - "Bacteria have also evolved the ability to synthesize new amino acids and DNA bases (Futuyma 1998, p. 274). Unicellular organisms have evolved the ability to use nylon and pentachlorophenol (which are both unnatural manmade chemicals) as their sole carbon sources (Okada et al. 1983; Orser and Lange 1994). The acquisition of this latter ability entailed the evolution of an entirely novel multienzyme metabolic pathway (Lee et al. 1998). Bacteria have evolved to grow at previously unviable temperatures (Bennett et al. 1992). In E. coli, we have seen the evolution (by artificial selection) of an entirely novel metabolic system including the ability to metabolize a new carbon source, the regulation of this ability by new regulatory genes, and the evolution of the ability to transport this new carbon source across the cell membrane (Hall 1982)."

The Rise of Illiberal Democracy - "Around the world, democratically elected regimes are routinely ignoring limits on their power and depriving citizens of basic freedoms. From Peru to the Philippines, we see the rise of a disturbing phenomenon: illiberal democracy. It has been difficult to recognize because for the last century in the West, democracy -- free and fair elections -- has gone hand in hand with constitutional liberalism -- the rule of law and basic human rights. But in the rest of the world, these two concepts are coming apart. Democracy without constitutional liberalism is producing centralized regimes, the erosion of liberty, ethnic competition, conflict, and war. The international community and the United States must end their obsession with balloting and promote the gradual liberalization of societies."

Reto Schneider :: Verrückte Experimente - "1928 The living dog’s head: In the photographs it looks like a circus side show. In the middle sits a bowl containing a severed dog’s head and two tubes leading to a stand holding a pump, a bottle, and a basin filled to the brim with blood. A group of onlookers clusters tightly round about, witnesses to a scientific miracle: the dog’s head lives."

ScienceDirect - Journal of Voice : Effect of Hydration and Vocal Rest on the Vocal Fatigue in Amateur Karaoke Singers - "Karaoke singing is a very popular entertainment among young people in Asia. It is a leisure singing activity with the singer's voice amplified with special acoustic effects in the backdrop of music. Music video and song captions are shown on television screen to remind the singers during singing. It is not uncommon to find participants singing continuously for four to five hours each time. As most of the karaoke singers have no formal training in singing, these amateur singers are more vulnerable to developing voice problems under these intensive singing activities. This study reports the performance of 20 young amateur singers (10 males and 10 females, aged between 20–25 years) on a series of phonatory function tasks carried out during continuous karaoke singing"

ThinkGeek :: Albert Einstein Action Figure - "Dressed for intense classroom action, this Albert Einstein Action Figure stands with a piece of chalk in his hand, poised to explain relativity or do battle with the forces of entropy. Fits in nicely with any office, cube or dorm decor and features realistic disheveled hair! Very few people on this planet have ever had the ability to go as far as Einstein has in comprehending the fundamental principles of the Universe. So we here at ThinkGeek think of that as sort of a super power worthy of the title 'Superhero Action Figure'. Sure he might not have been able to fly, breathe underwater or emit spider webs from his wrist - but he could melt your mind in a heartbeat with just a single attempt at explaining the Universe to you. Now that's power!"
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