"See what will happen if you don't stop biting your fingernails?" - Will Rogers, to his niece on seeing the Venus de Milo

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Friendster's novel way to solve the free-riding problem:

"Sorry! You cannot see who has viewed your profile since you are viewing profiles anonymously. If you want to start tracking who is viewing your profile, go to your settings and change your anonymous setting to "off"."

(If you want to see who has viewed your profile, you have to let people know that you've been viewing their profiles, ie It's a reciprocal thing.)

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A: hm, they're offering titanic on dvd with alternate ending. Is that the one where it floats?

B: No, the one where it turns out to be a spaceship and takes off for Mars!
It was all a coverup

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Someone on research in Singapore: the reason why sg will never succeed as a global research hub is because we are leaking top talents, theere is no impetus for anyone to stay here

tracey ho... president's scholar, lky scholar, now professor at cal tech
it's really not that sg has no smart scientists. they are all gone, that's all.

because it's stifling here. you get a start up package with strings attached. there is no productivity because labs compete instead of collaborate
can you believe this crap, NUS and NTU and ASTAR hide research from each other because they always want to scoop the other
in biopolis, their incubators are chained and padlocked beacuse they'v ebeen victims of sabotage.
it's like chaining up your fridge cos someone is stealing your oreos.

Me: doesn't that happen elsewhere?

Someone: there is competition here. but it's collaborative competition.
of cours ethere are cut-throat pple here too. but they ar edrowned out b the majority who just want to share and get more done
singapore is so fuking small, being selfish is just spiting yourself...

i think the biggest flaw is the lack of a challenging academic environment. one genius cannot do it alone...
but *** [Ed: A Singaporean research agency], they are so stupid. they pick up leftovers that no one else wants, and throw money at them and laud their greatness. these are 2nd, 3rd tier people.

1st tier people come, sure, cos o f the money and the sugar-coated promises. but they are smart enough to retain their primary appointments elsewhere.

the scientific climate gets me hot and bothered. really.
and we are losing our geniuses like a leaky boat. urgh.

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Someone: when i pissed..i suddenly could cuss non stop..lol

Me: you cussed non stop when you pissed?
erm. remind me never to use the same toilet

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Nazi Germany | They stooped to conquer

"Dictatorships are ultimately based on terror—not necessarily overt repression, but the knowledge that lurks at the back of every citizen's mind that there are lines that cannot be crossed without incurring terrible penalties. These are not necessarily conventional lines established by an easily recognised social morality. Second-guessing what National Socialism might regard as a political crime was a risky business. Silence was preferred; the averted gaze replaced the straight stare. Only a very few brave Germans tried to keep other political options alive, often earning a spell in a camp for their pains. News of how awful the camp experience was rippled out from the families who had suffered, resulting in an efficient, private compliance."


"People deserve the governments they get."