Random Playlist Song: Florence Foster Jenkins - Aria - Queen of the Night
Finally, someone who sings worse than my brother in law!
***
I think I'm suffering from blogger fatigue. Reading, more than writing.
And, no, RSS doesn't help. It's not the layouts that bog me down anyway.
***
The new colour the house is painted in looks like the old colour. Makes you wonder what the point of repainting was.
Above is the fragile glass dish (on which to put soap) that my mother got and which now lies in my sister's toilet.
Note how the dish rests lightly and loosely in the metal socket, being held in place merely by dint of gravity. Note also how a gentle nudge from one edge of the dish might disupt the dish's fragile equilibrium and send it hurtling over the edge of the bracket to a most unpleasant fate below.
I bothered to use Macro focus for this one, so it's much sharper.
Above is what remains of the glass dish that was placed in my toilet, and which lasted for about half a week. I was quite sure I'd eventually shatter the dish, but I didn't think it'd be quite so soon.
Needless to say, my mother was livid, though she did not shout in my face. Perhaps she recalled my urging her not to upgrade my toilet.
I am ever more sure now of my decision not to have children in the future.
***
More stuff that makes you go "what the hell?!":
'profanity', in a blog comment -
"I am intrigued by bloggers who like putting up narcissistic webcam photos of themselves leaning their boobs/moobs into the screen. They rule!!!"
More hatemail (of a sort - calmone, be jealous! Meanwhile I shall swoon over the many comments you draw from females):
"little presumptuous piggies like you exist...dude, just get your head out from the well ok? but oh dear god, please, don't stop enlightening and enlivening us with your little baseless essays and manifestos. i LOVE smart little piggies like you."
- from Lissa on the waiting room
It is curious how people love to make broad proclamations about supposed problems with other people's ideas, and then switch to ad hominem insults and attacks instead of addressing the putative problems.
Some time earlier, "z." on Livejournal commented that:
"we should always refrain from criticising things that we barely understand - you provided a very subjective and insensitive interpretation of what makes something halal, the processes and all."
No ad hominem insults and attacks here, at least, but till today, despite my requesting for such, I have not gotten an elaboration about how my interpretation was "subjective", or how I "barely [understood]" the Halal concept.
***
Parody of Jack Chick tracts: CthulhuMirror - Who will be eaten first?
Panel 1) One day, while sitting in a cafe...
A: George, it's vital that you make the right decision before you die.
2) George: You're gonna say I have to choose between God and the devil, right?
A: WRONG!
3) A: The stars are right! The Elder Gods are going to rise and eat us all!
"In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming." - HP Lovecraft
4) A: Soon the evil spawn, who had slept for eons... will awaken to clear the earth of man!
That is not dead which can eternal lie... And with strange aeons even death may die - H.P.l
5) A: NO ONE will be saved! EVERYONE will die and mankind itself will come to a horrible end!
... I shall never sleep calmly again when I think of the horrors that lurk ceaselessly behind life in time and in space, and of those unhallowed blasphemies from elder stars that dream beneath the sea... HPl.
6) A: Soon the seas will turn red with the blood of the human race, as the unspeakable terrors come from beyond the gate, which is Yog Sothoth, to devour all in their path! IaI Shub Niggurath! Ia! Ia!
7) George: So if were (sic) all gonna die, what difference does it make? Who cares? Nothing I can do about it... or is there?!
8) A: You're right George... It's hopeless. But there is one thing we can hope for... TO BE EATEN FIRST!
9) George: BE EATEN FIRST?! What the fuck kind of advantage is that?! Give me one good reason why I would WANT to be eaten first! ONE GOOD REASON!!!
10) A: Do you really want to stick around and watch the entire world be destroyed by evil creatures from beyond Hell?
George: Not really...
11) George: Oh God... your (sic) right... I don't want to see it all end! I want to be eaten quickly! What do I have to do to make my death a swift one?
The thing cannot be described - there is no language for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy... H.P.l..
12) A: You must worship and sacrifice at the altar to appease the appetites of the Elder Gods! Then may you hope for a fast death!
Cultist: Ph'ngful mghw'nath Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl lhtagnl
Cultist 2 (thinking): Gasp... This can't be!
Cultists: CTHULHU FHTAGN!
Sacrifice (presumably): WAAAHH
13) A: Chant invocations from the NECRONOMICON, the book of dead names written by the Mad Monk, Abdul Alhazred!
14) A: Only then... on the dreaded day when they rise... Will you be eaten first!
15) (Some other stuff I couldn't bother to transcribe - Full parody)
***
"Such babies usually grow up to be extremely attractive and very feminine girls"
- The now un-free ST on babies with genital anomalies
Something to think about the next time you pick girls up at clubs.
***
David Close Reads the word "Rational" - "‘Rational’ is derived from its near twin ‘ration.’ A rational individual is a rationed individual, who measures his emotions, words, and deeds for maximum impact. Nothing is wasted, all is measured, calculated, focused, tabulated."
!@#$%^&*() ... lit students
YDE Ads Sport Gender Discrimination in These Poster Photos? Well Spank Their Behinds! - "To call attention to its new Fall line, the Young Designers Emporium of South Africa has a new poster ad campaign in its shop windows. The "Brand Spanking New Fashions" posters feature models in their underwear sporting red marks on their thighs to imply they've been spanked with a paddle."
Sex crime prosecutor fired over note to girl - "The Marion County deputy prosecutor who was assistant chief of the sex crimes division was fired this week for sending a romantic e-mail to a 16-year-old girl."
Llanfairpwll - How to Say the Name Llanfairpwllgwyngyll
Lyrebird - "A Lyrebird is either of two large ground-dwelling Australian birds, most notable for their extraordinary ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment. A lyrebird's call is a rich mixture of its own song and any number of other sounds it has heard. Lyrebirds commonly mimic other species of bird or animal, and not uncommonly include sounds as diverse as chainsaws, car engines, rifle-shots, camera shutters, and crying babies."
Sleep survey wake-up call to Asia - "People in Asia burn the midnight oil, sleeping later than most Americans and Europeans and then waking up earlier, a global survey on sleep habits has found."
The Failure of the War on Drugs-BECKER - "A 200% tax on the legal use of drugs by all adults-consumption by say persons under age 18 would still be illegal. That would reduce consumption in the same way as the present war, and would also increase total spending on drugs, as in the current system. But the similarities end at that point. The tax revenue from drugs would accrue to state and federal authorities..."
***
I was walking along the road in school when a pickup truck drove past me. Not all that unusual, except that a huge cage totally enclosed the back of the pickup.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw 2 moving shapes at the back of the pickup. At first I thought they were circus animals, but the use of animals is been banned in local circuses. Then I considered that maybe they were from Cirque du Soleil, but then I didn't hear any bad pseudo-Jazz music blaring from the pickup's sound systems, nor did I see garish colours and outlandish designs out of some French guy's acid trip. Perhaps it was a travelling freak show? But then the Elephant Man has been dead for over a century.
And so I turned around, and saw 2 girls at the back of the pickup which, as you might recall, had a cage enclosing its entire rear portion. Otherwise, there was nothing spectacular. Though I did see one of the butt cracks that my sister and Ban Xiong keep complaining about seeing.
"We are still looking into the matter. We will get back to you as soon as possible." - I think the FCINUS has been PELUed (Public Entertainment Licensing Unit-ed), perhaps due in part to a faux pas on our part. I suppose we will wait for next semester and see if they've sorted everything out by then.
I saw a sign in the toilet announcing that a PDA lost in October last year had been found. These people are really slow. Or maybe the PDA fell through a time warp, or something.
After listening to many of Ban Xiong's extensive speeches on the difference between Science girls and Arts girls, looking around my economics lecture I almost thought I was in Science. Well, in the most Science-like Arts lecture group, at any rate.
Quotes:
Poly'boose (Polybius)
vision'near cipher (cigenere)
[On fast food discount coupons] One whole page of discount coupons. So mind-boggling. But who has the time to pick them out one by one? [Student: What's so hard about that?]... There are people who really use these coupons. [Me: She doesn't ah?] [Student: She's rich enough]
When Texas Instruments first came up with the handheld calculator... 4 functions: add, divide. Add, subtract, multiply, divide. So bulky, [costing a] hundred dollars. I should have kept it, because I would be able to sell it on eBay.
You look very confused, this girl sitting there. Come and see me. [Student: We're all very confused]
Have you been to Disneyland? I'm sure you have... I haven't been there, don't bring me... The fee to enter Disneyland is very high, but all the rides are free. Actually the rides are not free. As economists you know that you pay a cost, in time. Queueing... Actually the queue is not very long.
Getting Gertie's Gartle (Garter)
[On a class video] This is like, pirated. Stop piracy.
It's pretty amazing what birds will do to impress their mates. *displays notice of assignment deadline* Here's what you have to do to impress me.
[On sensory exploitation] This sounds like a theory thought up after a drunken night.
Fashion - yes, fashion is a social construct. I've used the 's' word, in a positive sense.
It's not a social construct. Some of you say it takes the romance out of love. You don't take the romance out of it. The romance is still in there. You just know how it comes about.
[Student on love being genetically advantageous: How do you explain courtly love?] [Me: 'Social construct']... Victorian era... Queen Victoria did not like her huband.
If you were a hermaphrodite, what would you do? [Student: Find another hermaphrodite and decide who's the male and who's the female] That would be a dumb thing to do.
Just a rule of tum (thumb)