Saturday, July 30, 2005

"There's no secret about success. Did you ever know a successful man who didn't tell you about it?" - Kin Hubbard

***

Mr Yong is a relief teacher in Raffles Guys School, and it seems all the Raffles Guys love him and are his groupies (pity):

Exhibit A:
i never expected i'd say this, but

CALEB YONG I DON'T WANT YOU TO LEAVE!!!

the guy who did justice to my english and lit (even though i was sleeping like, 75% of his lessons). and who said much corny stuff, e.g a rhyming couplet is a couplet that rhymes, why is your house on fire? because it has flames, etc.

i will miss him terribly so. sigh. i bet you, in like 3 days i'd probably give the ceiling another heart attack.


Exhibit B:

MR YONG YOU CANNOT LEAVE US WITH ***! PLEASE COME BACK! we know we're a rather annoying giggly bunch of girls but. DON'T LEAVE!


Unfortunately Mr Yong doesn't get it: Gabriel: I think it is fairly obvious it is girls. Kimberly? Melissa? I know RI is known for its vibrant alternative scene, but surely you couldn't have thought it all that vibrant?

Hee hee.

OTOH, one of the Raffles Guys:

"y'know.

till today, we tend to get the impression that most ri guys are gay.

i think it's the white."

Gay RI guys and Raffles Guys - good combination.

[Addendum: "i agree that we rafflesians of the fairer sex are much manlier than our
counterparts. (:"]

***

My first contribution to Recovering Christians: The bounty of New Creation

My favourite [testimony], though, was the following:

I won the first prize!

Dear Pastor,

The year started with a big bang for me. My husband and I were among the selected guests invited to a Volkswagon count-down party at the roof-top of The Esplanade.

When I received the invitation card and noticed that there was going to be a lucky draw conducted that night, I was leaping with joy as if I had won the first prize.

I had no idea what the first prize was but simply went ahead to thank the Lord in advance. However, I did remember telling my husband over dinner the day before that I would like to visit Europe with him and that God would make it happen because He heard our conversation!

Just before midnight, when the emcee was about to announce the first prize, I sensed deep down in my spirit that God had thrown this party just for me to receive my prize. My heart was pounding fast and I could not believe it when my name was announced!

I went on stage to collect my return air-tickets for two to Germany with a 3D2N stay at The Ritz Carlton Hotel! The trip includes a visit to the Volkswagon factory.

Praise Jesus for the child-like faith He encourages us to have. We are receiving blessings and joy in abundance as we enter the year 2005!


***

Someone: i can tug for free
dozens of jailbait
all wanting more CIP hours

Me: wah
tug and you give them more CIP hours? hahaha

Someone: unfortunately it doesn't quite work that way
the jailbait can scream and make a lot of noise
and when one tug i give hours, the rest will be thhrowing their hair in my face
a danger to my life

Me: they normally already scream and make a lot of noise
hahaha

Someone: this whole CIP thing is crap

***

Reverse Speech [Addendum: aka Backmasking]

"A number of studies have shown that expectations play a large role in what listeners hear in backward speech. For example, Vokey and Read listened carefully to recordings of Jabberwocky and the 23rd Psalm played backward. They identified 12 areas in the tapes where strings of tones suggested spoken messages (such as "saw a girl with a weasel in her mouth). Vokey and Read them asked their listeners to try to hear one of the specific messages that they "discovered." Only half of the messages listeners were asked to listen for were actually "in" the backward recording they were hearing (the other half were from the other tape). Listeners were likely to hear the messages for which some evidence was actually present in the tape they were hearing. They did not hear the messages that had been "found" in the recording that was not played.

To test the effect of expectation, Vokey and Read then asked listeners to try to hear other messages "discovered" in the backward recording they were asked to listen to. For example, if subjects had listened for "saw a girl with a weasel in her mouth" from Jabberwocky, they now listened for another phrase that there was evidence for--"I saw Satan." Participants were first asked if they had heard this message on their previous trials with the passage. Most had not, but they could hear it once they had been told to listen for it. Changing the mental set changed what messages people "heard" in backward speech. This type of biased listening is similar to a reverse speech analyst listening to backward speech for a message that he or she "knows" is there. For example, a therapist listening to tapes from a child who has been sexually abused knows to listen for reverse speech messages relating to the abuse. Anything in the backward speech that can be heard as sexual (or that can be interpreted as a metaphor relating to sexual acts) could then be detected. Other "messages" would be ignored.

Thorne and Himelstein further demonstrate how mental set can alter what a person hears in backward recordings. They played rock-and-roll songs backward for listeners. One group was told to record their reactions to the music. A second group was told to write down any words they heard in the music. A third group was told to listen for satanic messages. For the group recording its reactions, 5% of what they thought they heard was satanic; for the group listening for words, 18% of what they thought they heard was satanic; for the group listening for satanic messages, 41% of what they thought they heard was satanic. People's task set determined whether or not they interpreted a message as satanic.

Another factor in "wishful listening" is the belief in the phenomenon itself. Benoit and Thomas showed that listeners who believed in subliminal perception were more likely to "hear" a subliminal message in a jazz composition than were nonbelievers (there was no subliminal message in the music). Moreover, believers' moods changed in the direction suggested by the experimenter as a result of listening to the music (e.g., if they expected the music to induce a positive mood, their mood became more positive). Nonbelievers' moods did not change as a result of listening to the music.

The results of these studies suggest to us that what people "hear" in backward speech is a product of their belief in the phenomenon and their expectations about the content of whatever messages they are listening for. True, something is probably there in the signal that can be interpreted by the listener based on these expectations, but there is no evidence to show that what is in the stimulus is really "in" the stimulus and not merely in the imagination of the listener."

***

Japanese develop 'female' android - "Japanese scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet devised - a "female" android called Repliee Q1. She has flexible silicone for skin rather than hard plastic, and a number of sensors and motors to allow her to turn and react in a human-like manner. She can flutter her eyelids and move her hands like a human. She even appears to breathe."
Search referrals (3-23 July):

"Daniel Radcliffe shaving"

Thaipusam royal navy ship

singapore 3sg pee

VOYEUR at mcdonalds

armpits of actresses

MUSIC ALBUM OF SAFTI DUE

"pandang"+"braless"

girls who have been labelled with the name bitch

CPR scenes from movies

funny t's bob the bonker

moral value of invictus poem

chij pinafore length blog

Indian Aunties
indian aunties pictures

sexy banging trainees

sex picture venery - I never thought to see the word "venery" in a search referral.

katie holmes braless batman - She was just cold, I tell. Damnit.

chalet blogspot changi strip

newspaper reports of singaporean youths jumping off buildings because of love(the newspaper)

lu xun yaoi fanfiction

london blasts emma watson alright - GAH GAH GAH.

singapore army kena pump

bmt and "powder bath" and picture

"electrodes" + nipples site:blogspot.com

mother teresa biodata in malay novel

how do you test a spirit claiming to be from god unknown tongues durning praying

city harvest university singapore cult

How often do girls masterbate?

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes pronounciation - I'd like to know also.

changi village famous ah guas

katong convent+joys

mamak stall with ISO 9002

emma M.I.L.F. Money - Hardly!

FABRICATING PYRAMID MATHS

Kelvin Chan masturbation

acjc cjc pregnancy rate - Why not HCJC?

lee kuan yew and the straits times and porcelain cup

compassion + rafflesians - As I recall, the Rafflesian Principle of Honour (bah) alludes to this.

satisfy wife sexually pictures

singapore girl loses handphone sex father finds

ntu halls warning porn

datuk loanshark

SAF mottos - My site was the first hit for this at that point in time, heh.

yearbook senior gown cleavage pics

bang bang chou chou train cheerleading song

personality disorder hitler monk cookie monster

NKF singapore and indian dress

nose face school knickers panties sniff slave

ugly bcg scars

women who shave their husbands body hair

kfc muslims misleading halal

canary island singaporean topless experience

types of "fbt shorts"
pictures of singapore girls in fbt shorts

blog jiekai oxford

EMAIL ADDRESSES OF THE FAITHFULS

photoshop how to "change ethnicity"

revan sick porn rap

kurt cobain quatrain

vacancies for male actors to star in pornography in london

a picture of every single power ranger altogether - If only.

flash mob AND Singapore AND NKF

NKF verses SPH - No doubt some bored bloggers somewhere have composed a saga already.

sexy acjc girls

emma watson on desirable women list - Isn't she still jailbait?

"Campus Crusade for Christ" London bombing

shoulder pop hindu pushup

looking for free mail addresses of peoples that need someone for relationship between age of 35 and 40 in bangladesh 2005

+braless +"Singapore" +working
+braless +singapore +shopping +wear

SEE FULL HUMAN HEAD INSERTED DEEP INSIDE A WOMAN'S PUSSY

friendster,testimonial,islam

kit chan's vocal range

award winnig tits - I prefer the nice tits at the Royal Tit-Watching Society of Britain (A dream organisation to join, huh?)

Bastila Oral sex - We plumb new depths

The answers to the 2005 ACS chemistry final hack cheat - Dream on.

pearly penile pupils - Oh! Oh! It's supposed to be "pearly penile papules".

lyrics of maskman in filipino version - They bothered to dub the song?!

satire against singapore society in catherine lim's literary works

fantasy art dungeons dragons satanic satan devil dinosaurs never existed

singaporeans prefer oxbridge

"shichida method" christian

losing weight, blog, love, singapore

boys convent college in malaysia (melaka) - A boys convent?!

gandalf wizard forum depilation

spore crispy balls recipe harry potter

pictures of emma watson leaning on daniel radcliffe

Anorexia has become the new pink?

malaysia truly Asia mp3

do anime girls get raped

emma watson pedophilia - Discussed in an earlier post.

fallopian trebuchets - ???

forums about daniel radcliffe's penis

hope industries power ranger communicator watch

"chain prayer" catholic condemn

pagan meaning of garter belt

singapore+st.nicholas girls stripping+video - Google may be good, but it can't find things that (likely) do not exist, at least not online.

funny chinese song + you touch ding dong + techno - Techno knows no linguistic barriers.

Chinese State Council Ministry selling mooncake regulations

toilet maskman

what are storm drains in singapore used for? - For living in?

ADVANTAGES OF BEINING BALD HEADED

schoolboys sir school tie tying

complete "male physical exam"

homepage muscle buttock gel israel university

only girls swimming+ chicago+muslim girls

Sally Erana Martin fan films from power rangers - I'd love to make one one day

nose ord off mindef

wonton mee with ketchup

comic strips NEWater

prettislim singapore breasts - PrettiSlim doesn't affect your breasts! Unless you mean PrettiBosom.

ntu hall 1 chipmunks

clitoridectomy photo

muslim culture meaning of a cup of water next to the toilet in a relationship

wutien singapore - Funnily this leads to gay sites.

"pig urine"+"water table"

sg lian upskirt invasion

secret cam in emma watson's shower pics

students evil scgs girl

"sex on stage" pavarotti

emma watson belly beautiful

"Raffles Hall" orientation naked

singapore harry potter knight bus lee lian

The sex of power rangers

backpacks haversacks of the 18th century

Doggie Kruger yaoi - Yaoi + bestiality. Wah.

fetish wheelchair girls stuck in mud - After all this time, this has got to be the best search referral I've ever gotten.

stairwell hornby party insult high fidelity

The 21st Century COE Project Office yaodong pan

"banana phone" masturbation
"banana phone" porn video

how christians can improve their english - My homepage is the top hit for this. Wth?!

dogbert seamonkey

"rosie smith" fhm

zlad backward lyrics - Maybe it'll make you jump off a building. Oh wait, the lyrics do that to you already when listened to forward.

low cholestrol accidents homicide

if you don't have a moustache, try trimming a dog, or a cat.....or a sleeping relative

behavior of pupils by viewing a violent cartoons filipino author

Hen Night Dares, Challenges and Forfeits

lao sai stomachache school

very ugly female triathlete pictures

eyebag hk ipod

pah chiu cheng - There're scholarly articles for pah chiu cheng!

plaited hair schoolgirls

"international student" singaporean melbourne sexual blog

bastila fat

how to take off peoples underwear and bra on morrowind

oracle mark 11 turntable alexandria

photos nude female after 65 yrs

shit razon jeans are so SICK and hot omg omg

neopets secret lab probability

lumpy cutting a leg "happy tree friends"

"i am no longer a student" "weep"

Miss NUS

manual senjata m16 n/b

"crossed legs" "class photos"

celtic genital torcs

pictures of women in a fireman's lift

management of quality in food stuff according to thr teaching of islam

maloprim when to fuck - Malaria pills affect this?!

buttercup sex slave powerpuff - Hentai + paedophilia + BDSM.

Friday, July 29, 2005

"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example." - Mark Twain

Random Playlist Song: Dale Warland Singers - Ave Maria (Busto)

***

Apparently the RJC teacher who was reputed to have said "This is for all you guys out there" and then did something really did utter that clause, though not in the context that she is said to have done so.

And all this time I always thought that it was an urban legend.

***

Apparently the "M" in SMU manifests itself readily. Besides people creatively getting around the ridiculous 80 hours of community service per year (that's 2 instances of the "M" technique in action), my source informs me:

"they paid freaking $300 for a compulsory orientation that they had absolutely no fun at
fuck, $300 for three days
apparently at orientation, they made them sit down and debrief every single fricking game
analysis of what they did and how they could do better
then before every game they have planning phase and execution phase

they haven't even started school and smu is pissing them off
some guy came up to my bf and my friend, saying "welcome to smu! you're special!"
and my bf looked at him straight in the eye and said, what, are you trying to say i'm retarded?
then they walked off laughing their asses off"

I remember one of SMU's ECAs went around proclaiming that "we're from SMU so we're special". They're beginning to believe their own hype (if they hadn't already), just as some NUS students are beginning to believe that we're really the 18th best university in the world.

***

surferblade tipped me off about an article in the Straits Times on evangelism of Singapore, and I finally got round to reading it. Very interesting, if unintentionally amusing. Thanks for pointing me to it!


Miss NUS: "Gabriel, you absolute *POOT* everyone is starting to call me MISS NUS

you are so going to die..."


I should charge for carrying out smear campaigns!

***

I suspect NUS's CORS system of bidding of modules is meant to teach us how to gamble. Not only is there the ridiculous system of closed bidding (you can't see how many points you need to invest to get the module), the system of having different quotas for different bidding rounds (meant to 'protect' some groups who are then allowed to bid for those modules first) can result in a module going for a high price in an early round and then going for peanuts (lit) in later rounds.

Maybe the administration knew about the casinos... integrated resorts beforehand, and decided to train us up, as befitting their role as the Premier Institution of Social Engineering.


If they want to discourage last minute bids (Read: to prevent server overload), they should just levy a 10% penalty on bid points added during what is now the Closed Bidding, and a 30% penalty on bids only made during this period.

***

How many languages can you find in your music collection? (from the Amazing Flying Cow)

Going down the line:

1) Italian
2) Animal noises (Contrappunto bestiale alla mente)
3) English
4) Latin
5) German
6) French
7) Russian (Borodin's Prince Igor)
8) Romanian (? - Iata vin colindatori)
9) Korean (Arirang)
10) Japanese
11) Chinese (Mandarin)
12) Zulu (Siyahamba)
13) Spanish
14) Norwegian (Peer Gynt)
15) Onomatopoeia (Leong Yoon Pin's Dragon Dance, Petra Haden's take on the WTC)
16) Mongolian (Ba1 Jun4 Zhan4) Oops. All 3 of my versions are in Chinese, goddamnit.
16) Itneg (Iddem Dem Mallida)
17) Tagalog (Is that awful song, Pokpok Alimpako, here?)
18) Latvian (? - Mate Saule)
19) Malay (? - Ondeh Ondeh, Naindong)
20) Welsh (All through the night)
21) Peruvian (Cachapaya) Oops. Instrumental song.
21) Bohemian (Rondellus- Flos florum-Ach du getruys blut)
22) Czech (Lidove Tance)
23) Slovak (? - Jistebnický Kancionál - Jezis, Nas Spasitel)
24) Middle English (Angelus ad Virginem- Gabriele fram evene King sent)
25) Croatian (Drmes)
26) Classical Greek (De Organographia)
27) Vietnamese (Asian Prince)
28) Singlish (Sar-vivor rap)
29) Swedish (The Swedish Chef's theme song)
30) Hindi (Shakalaka Baby)
31) Elvish (Various songs on the LOTR soundtrack)
32) Hebrew (When you believe. And I'm positive one or two others I missed)
33) Sanskrit (Duel of the fates)

Unknown: Evghenie Humulescu - Iubi-Te-Voi (I Will Love Thee, O Lord); Guillaume de Machaut - Virelai: Se je souspir; Francesco Landini - Ballata: Gram piant' agli occhi; Janoshka

I excluded humming, Burgundian (one or two words in Patapan), the Mahna Mahna man's language, Turkish (Pachalafaka) and a few others I forgot where only one or two words were used. Bah.

***

These guys are sick. I like.


Snowman: Hey kids! It's me! Frosty! Time for fun!

Kids: Yay!

Snowman: We can play games and make snow angels and--

Offscreen: vvvvvvvvvvvvv

Snowman: Hey, what's that noise?

Snowman (gets blown on by a hair dryer): Oh dear god! It burns! The pain! The agony!!!

Guy 1: You are a sick son of a bitch, y'know that?

Guy 2: C'mon man. A talking snowman? That's just fucking twisted.

Guy 1: Touche'

***

SlugBot - "The work on energy autonomy in robots is an on-going process. The initial stage looked at the problems faced by a robot predator. It is not only the energy transformation process but the necessary behavior of the robot which we wish to study. This is an important point - the two processes are tightly interlinked. In this case the robot 'hunted' slugs. The collected slugs would be fermented to produce biogas in a separate off-board digester unit. The gas would then be passed through methane fuel cell to generate electricity. The electricity would be stored in batteries and could be downloaded to a 'hungry' robot. We are currently working on the employment of a different type of 'digester' - the microbial fuel cell (MFC). In this type of cell microbes are employed in a special container with a semi-permeable membrane to extract electrons from the nutrient (such as carrot peelings) and pass them onto an electrode. In this way a form of 'biological battery' can be made."

Death by bra... - "We live in dangerous times when the threat of terrorism, war and environmental disaster is ever present. But the authors of a new book have identified far more deadly hazards lurking in everyday objects and practices... The autumn explosion of red, orange and gold is one of nature's most dazzling displays. It is also one of her most hazardous. When leaves decompose, they emit chemicals which affect our lungs, immune system and eyesight. Fallen foliage in streams also fills the water with poison. A study of rivers filled with leaves in Minnesota found levels of mercury and concentrations of methylmercury (the organic form of mercury) which were as high as those near industrial pollution sources. "

Outrageous. Beautiful. Misfit. - Male Nipples? No Thanks! - "Ive always been interested in nipples and breasts...this fascination of all things round began at the age of 10...when i realised...while lyin in bed one day...that strokin the nipple really lightly and squeezin it every other moment...you feel like ya on top of the world...flyin even...and my hands arent even in my pants yet..."
So let it be written, so let it be done.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

"The difference between a violin and a viola is that a viola burns longer." - Victor Borge

***

The August 2002 archives have been restored. Extracts:

"I put a can of A&W Root Beer in the sick bay pantry fridge, but the next morning I found, to my horror, that it'd been spirited away by the pernicious demons of the refrigerator. What I don't understand is why they ignored the can of Tiger Beer, and instead went for the ROOT Beer. Gah."

"We also had a SAR21 Orientation Shoot. Being bored, I shot the target to my left, the one on my right and for good measure, shot the lane markings (those on the wooden boards above our lanes). We also had "frangible rounds" though what the
difference was I couldn't tell."

"My birthday, on day 2 of the exercise, was spent outfield. Mostly anyway, as we got to come back to the bunk to rest in between. But pushing through more than head high grass, wading through calf high mud and rolling down a slope into a puddle aren't my idea of a nice day. But now I can emphatise with Lone Wolf as he is scratched by Graveweed (damn Mimosa), is attacked by Crypt Spawn (mosquitos so thick you can kill at least one slapping anywhere), and rolling down slopes (how much EP did I lose?) all with a full backpack."

"On Thursday morning, we had a National Day Observance Ceremony. They wanted us to sing the anthem and say the pledge, but I was muttering curses."

"Learning about my confinement, the Standby Medic remarked that my CSM was very "fucked up", and that he always gave people confinements. Looking at the reasons some people got confined, I am flabbergasted. Perhaps the most outrageous so far is - "Lack of effort during Battalion Run x 1 confinement". Apparently these people were walking during the Life run, and so warrant a burnt day off."

"In the end, the whole sickbay, all 10 beds, were filled (and apparently at one point they had to open 2 stretchers to accommodate 2 extra people temporarily), so the MOs had to be told not to sent people there (presumably they sent the lucky later patients home to rest). To make it worse, 4 of them were on drips (and 1 more joined them later). So I had a full flock to tend to, and they required a lot of care - most required their parameters (Temperature, Respiratory Rate, Pulse Rate and Blood Pressure, the last of which I forgot) taken every 4 hours, and I was supposed to spoonfeed all of them (literally) - I had to supervise everyone's consumption of medicine. And of course there were all the forms required by ISO. With so much to do, even if I remembered to do some things, I had no time to do them as I was busy doing others. Most seriously, I let some people's IV packs run out, so instead of reloading their drip packs from the top, I had to unscrew the admin sets from the catheters and screw in new ones. From ~8:30 to 3:15, I had not the time to take more than 2 minutes to sit and rest, save for a 5 minute lunch. And to add insult to injury, one patient retuned the radio from 92.4 to 93.3. How wude! In the end I was so stressed I went to hide in the toilet and cry."


Restored posts are marked like so: Restored Post


Peripherally, the Malay chicken wings at Ayer Rajah Camp (AYRC) were legendary. There was one time when, IIRC, I was on detail in the area, and we - officer, driver and all - went to that camp *just* to eat the chicken wings.

Johnny Malkavian informs me that the 2 Malay food stalls there fought, so both of them got evicted. The good chicken wing stall (the other was good for Nasi Lemak apparently) is now at the 6th floor of Lucky Plaza. Unfortunately, after their move they don't serve chicken wings anymore but:

"they switched to selling chicken rice. no wings surprisingly, but the chicken+rice+soup is.. i have no words for it. ask for chicken rice. drumstick

trust me on this
i think no wing leh. you can try lor
or maybe wing all sold out in the morning"

***

jadeite on antique devices used to cure hysteria by inducing hysterical paroxysm: they look rather appalling
they look like devices for torture, really
but oh, sweet torture :DD

***

The University of Malaya is organising what the registration form calls the "Asia Pacific Student Leardership (sic) Workshop 2005". Somehow this becomes the acronym: ASPIRE '05.

Presumably the acronym breaks down to: ASia PacIfic student leaRdErship workshop 2005, so the spelling error is deliberate. Ma-laysia boleh!

(Hell, in this age which fetishises acronyms, it's no longer necessary to be able to fully form the acronym from the words it supposedly represents.)

***

Moral Panics

"According to Cohen, society is often subject to such instances and periods of moral panic; an occurrence which is characterised by ‘stylized and stereotypical’ representation by the mass media, and a tendency for those ‘in power’ (politicians, bishops, editors and so on) to man the ‘moral barricades’ and pronounce judgement... The path of the panic, however, can take one of two directions. Either it quickly dies out and for all intents and purposes is forgotten, or it has more serious and lasting implications such as incorporation into legislation and social policy, as can be seen by the introduction of the National Sex Offenders Register (Paedophile Register) in the late 1990s, in response to the growing concern and panic over child sex offences (Cohen 1972: 9)...

Furedi suggests that moral panics have a tendency to occur ‘at times when society has not been able to adapt to dramatic changes’ and when such change leads those concerned to express fear over what they see as a loss of control. The ‘modernising trends of the 1960’s (‘the sexual revolution’) for example, were seen by many as heralding a decline in moral standards, while those involved were accused of ‘undermining society’s moral foundations’ (Furedi 1994: 3). However, as Furedi points out, the events that embody the ‘panic’ or new development, may in themselves have little to do with the ‘panicky response’ that occurs as a result."

***

Feedback mail:

"I'm just carusing by... but I can't help but be amazed at the intolorance and cynicism of Asian culture, not saying that you are any of that, or what have you, but GOD, how it throws itself in the eyes, what the FUCK you have to injest and digest in your culture. Worldwide we need to let go of it all...

I couldn't just walk past without a small word... Forgive any grievence."


I wasn't sure how to respond to this for a few days, sent from a Russian domain.

***

RootkitRevealer

"What is a Rootkit?

The term rootkit is used to describe the mechanisms and techniques whereby malware, including viruses, spyware, and trojans, attempt to hide their presence from spyware blockers, antivirus, and system management utilities. There are several rootkit classifications depending on whether the malware survives reboot and whether it executes in user mode or kernel mode.

Persistent Rootkits
A persistent rootkit is one associated with malware that activates each time the system boots. Because such malware contain code that must be executed automatically each system start or when a user logs in, they must store code in a persistent store, such as the Registry or file system, and configure a method by which the code executes without user intervention.

Memory-Based Rootkits
Memory-based rootkits are malware that has no persistent code and therefore does not survive a reboot.

User-mode Rootkits
There are many methods by which rootkits attempt to evade detection. For example, a user-mode rootkit might intercept all calls to the Windows FindFirstFile/FindNextFile APIs, which are used by file system exploration utilities, including Explorer and the command prompt, to enumerate the contents of file system directories. When an application performs a directory listing that would otherwise return results that contain entries identifying the files associated with the rootkit, the rootkit intercepts and modifies the output to remove the entries.

The Windows native API serves as the interface between user-mode clients and kernel-mode services and more sophisticated user-mode rootkits intercept file system, Registry, and process enumeration functions of the Native API. This prevents their detection by scanners that compare the results of a Windows API enumeration with that returned by a native API enumeration."

***

Ooh, new strip on The Students' Sketchpad.

After satirising students from the School with the Most Indecent Uniform in Singapore Bar None (Maybe I should try Google bombing this, just as I have Raffles Guys School and The Premier Institution of Social Engineering), almost of whom took it in the spirit with which it was meant to be taken, the authors have moved on to Raffles Guys School, with their latest offering: The Feminazic RGS Girl.

Good thing they're only identifying themselves as "En" and "Hou", or they'd be lynched by a mob that'd only grow by the week (or strip, rather).


(The Feminazic Raffles Guy is bogged down with bags)

Boy scout (in a light green surgical gown): HI, I'm from the boy scouts. MIND IF I HELP? You can sign my good deed week card.

Boy scout: MA'AM?

Feminazic Raffles Guy: BOY... SCOUTS? BOYS...? BOYS...? BOYS...? INFANTILE LITTLE CHAUVINIST! I WILL NOT LET YOU SATISFY YOUR SICK FETISH OF CARRYING MY STUFF! MCP! MALE DOMINATION ENDS HERE!

***

Rachel Gets Fruity! - "Now boys, keep your eyes on me and put one hand down your trousers. But wait. I only want you to touch..."
SFW

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

"Women should be obscene and not heard." - Groucho Marx

***

A friend of mine once said that he would kill himself once he reached the age of 40, because he didn't think that his life would get any better after that age. I think that many people get more and more screwed up and stuck up as they grow older, but the sad thing is they don't realise it and deny it when it's pointed out to them. Better still: they might've resolved not to be that way when they were younger.

***

I'm in picture number four talking with Gabriel. It was electrifying to touch his rebonded hair (with permission, of course.) It's really very smooth and straight. You should try it sometime. (Jeff Yen's blog)

I should set up a charity booth or something.

I remember that the abortive Sec 4 class video that we filmed (supposedly for inclusion on a CD burnt for the whole level, but as with my SMM platoon T-shirt, we all knew where that went) had me holding this sign saying "10 cents per poke". One guy came up, gave me 10 cents and poked me once, and I went "Ow". Another guy came up, gave me 20 cents and poked me twice, and I went "Ow. Ow". Then Chris came over, opened up his wallet and fingered a $50 note, and I went "Oh shit!"

***

I was looking for Animal Farm in Bukit Merah library for my brother in law, and got so frustrated by their graphical interface that I just went to the relevant shelf to look for the book manually.

Ah, for the days of the old OPAC. I miss the friendly octopus, who would extend his tendrils as far as he could to aid us in our quest for shy books. Keying in commands was easy with the simple, no frills interface (except for the ASCII octopus), and it was possible to perform your query quickly and efficiently, especially if you had the requisite series of keystrokes memorised. Furthermore, the system efficiently displayed all the data you needed about the books called up.

In contrast, the current system is a mess. Instead of the previous monochrome interface, we now have a colourful graphical interface. Instead of quickly typing in commands, one now has to move the mouse from point to point to get anything done. Worse, the search results don't seem to be sorted, and are presented in such a way that you know nothing about the books except their title and (sometimes) date of publication.

Oddly, the web interface is much better and more informative (though it still can't beat the old OPAC). It must be a devious plot to unclog the OPAC terminals at the libraries themselves by making you locate your book before visiting the library (or making you, in frustration, pay for Internet access to search the NLB catalogue through its Internet site when you are already at the library).

***

The Bohemian Bunny is a hall inmate once again, and has encounters with SACSALs and shower outings; for once, something I've not heard of! Toilet outings we all know and love [hate], but shower outings are new:

"As I was finishing my shower, I heard distinct lian-speak coming from the cubicles nearby. It is just so painfully obvious that they are Singaporean (which in itself is not so bad) and that they were a shade too ah-lian for my taste. I don't recall having heard so many 'lehs', 'lars' and 'hors' in a sentence since, like, I dunno. Yes yes I know that I, a Malaysian, also use these terms, but certainly I do not use them in such massive doses. Worse than the 'lahs', I find, is the nasal manner in which they speak. A foreigner can master the 'lahs' but you can always tell a true-blue lian by the slightly nasal intonation. And it's only the girls. I don't hear the boys speaking like that.

And don't jump on the political correctness bandwagon and tell me that it's mean to dislike ah lians. Agagooga doesn't like them either, and I'm with him on that.

So anyway, when I exited the shower cubicle, I turned to see all 4 of the remaining cubicles occupied by said ah lians. I detest this practice of group bathing, simply because back in my first hostel, we had stupid immature secondary school girls who would hog all available cubicles and commence a 30-minute shower. Plus I just don't get it. Why MUST you all shower together? I know there are lizards and spiders in the cubicles, but I think that's as creepy as it gets. No uninvited guests from the 'other side', and anyway it's only 11.30 pm which is plenty early to hall residents. What's there to be scared of?"

***

Uhh.


Event Title: Dating Strategies that Work!
Organizer: Eugene Tan Sern Ting, Kong Jing Wen & Chung Pin Soon with collaboration Social Development Unit

Description: “Love Clinic – How to lose your bachelor’s degree” is an exciting new book on dating and relationships that is written by 3 medical students who share a passion for creating romance. It is packed with innovative ideas and proven strategies designed to help you succeed in your love life.

There will be a talk by the authors on dating strategies that work! The authors will be sharing their insights on “Finding that Special Someone”, “Preparing for the First Date” and “Secrets of a Successful Relationship”. We look forward to your support!

In our commitment to make our book more affordable for undergraduates, we are proud to bring you an unbelievable special offer – NUS students are entitled to buy the book at an incredible price of just $6, a whopping 60% off the retail price of $15.

To purchase the book, simply email sales_nus@loveclinic.sg with your name, matriculation number, faculty, email address and contact number, with the subject header “NUS Special”. We will get in touch with you on book collection dates. But hurry, because we have only reserved a limited number of books for this promotion and the offer is only valid till 10 August. So get your copy today, while stocks last!

The book and talk are supported by the Social Development Unit. For more information on our book, visit http://loveclinic.sg.

Date/Time: 5th August 2005 (Friday) 1830-2000 hrs
Venue: NUS LT 15 (Law Faculty)
Price: Free of Charge
Contact: Jingwen (jingwen@loveclinic.sg)

The book and talk are supported by the Social Development Unit.

***

The Legend of Joe: Fuck Wo-Hen Nankan (Whoever the fuck that is.)

"It's some Chinese immigrant assfuck named Wo-Hen Nankan. Apparently this assfucking shitsucker has a web following of either sycophantic goobertards or just people going along with him because he's so ridiculous that he's fucking funny as shit.

On top of the guy having absolutely no credibility as a musician, he's ugly as sin. The best way I can describe him is umm...let's see....if Michael Jackson and Prince got drunk, fucked each other in the ass, felched the sperm out of each other's asses and spit it into a test tube where it was then put into a Bangkok hooker's womb, then there would be Wo-Hen Nankan. However, I'm pretty sure that it's just a photoshopped composite of Michael Jackson and Prince put on a bunch of crossdressers wearing some pretty ridiculous clothing."

***

Most of Power Rangers SPD Episode 23 - Zapped, is great. But the interrogation sequence is particularly well done:


*Calypso music plays*

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Jack: Now, we could go easier on you if- you just tell us who else is involved.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Al: Yawn

Jack: We're betting you work with somebody else. All you gotta do is tell us who, and, we'll take 4, 5 years off your sentence. What'd you say?

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Al: *Burp*

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*Threatening chord plays*

Sky: *Slams table* You better tell us what we want to know - or else.

Al: Ooh. Did you have onions for lunch?

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Syd: *Plays with pigtails* Must've been tough for you, Al-

Al: Uhh.

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Syd: Never getting a break from anyone. *Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy plays* Me - I had it all. Great parents, a good education-

Al: Err.

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Syd: A credit card- and you *slight snort*; how can you ever amount to anything with your skin so - scaly?

Al: Scaly? I *am* a lizard... Hey, can you bring the blue guy back in?

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*Z laughs while Sky looks annoyed*

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*SPD CD player plays CD. Female voice sings: "Me, me, me, me now. Let's talk about-" while Z grooves along*

Al: Eugh, what's that racket?

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Z: It's good, huh? *arches eyebrows briefly*

Al: Euuuurgh!

Z: It's a song that Syd wrote *and* performs. It's called "Me". Because it's all about her. You like it?

Al: Seriously, can you bring the blue guy back? Please!

*Everyone turns to look at Syd*

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Syd: What does he know? He's *a lizard*.

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Bridge: But then again, why should you help us? Prison is safe. Secure. But is anything ever really truly secure? Security - can only come from one place-

Al: Get to the point, would'ja?

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Bridge: So... *Cut* False sense of, of, o- security. And what does security really give us?

Al: STOP! I can't take it anymore. I'll talk. I'll talk.

***

These people *really* don't like Macs:

Redneck: Me an' my ol' lady had gon' out and bought us one o' them pee-cee's. So I takes it home an' try an' install Deer Hunter 2.

It kept tellin' me to go to 'My Computer' like I wasn't already at mah computer... Duh.

So we exchanged it fer a Mc'intosh. I ain't had no schoolin' above third grade, but I can operate that machine real easy-like.

Tagline: Apple - Simple.

Cletus McGee
Redneck.
Simpleton.
Mac User.

Monday, July 25, 2005

"Never eat more than you can lift." - Miss Piggy

***

And so bidding has begun again. Whee.

Time to say hello once again to perennial server downtime and ridiculous closed bidding (so much for "careful consideration of your priorities as each decision has an impact on your future choices" - with imperfect information, how are we supposed to make considered decisions?!)

I still say we oursource the damn thing to eBay or Yahoo Auctions.

***

Almost everyone found the Evil SCGS girl strip featured in the last post hilarious, including Daryl, who promptly Tomorrowed it. However, someone tried the Politically Correct line on me:


Friend: tt's rather scrwed up and not even true

Me: jokes are exaggerated truths ;)

Friend: no. some jokes are fabrications

Me: No one makes smart redneck, honest lawyer or rich malay jokes. No one would laugh.

Friend: those are archetypical jokes. and archetypes, as we all know, are false in their all-encompasingness

Me: If you use that line of reasoning then: ah, what is truth?


The two most annoying schools of reasoning are the one which asserts that there is no objective truth (at all), and that reality is an illusion (ie A descent into solipcism or worse), and the one which claims that there is an overarching objective truth (ie the One Truth), but we are either unable to perceive it, we do not have enough data or we will never be able to grasp it. Both of which, of course, are impossible to assert using conventional reasoning techniques, and thus require recourse to "literary hyperbole, unsupported assertions and appeals to emotion and authority".

Someone on the above: are you referring to NKF?

***

芙蓉姐姐

"D-cup breasts, round bottom, a 50-cm slim waist and weight under 45 kilograms. Wherever I go, I soon become the focus of the crowd!

Xiaxue once popular blogger, very jealous since my pictures are so desired by many. Xiaxue is photoshop beauty, 芙蓉姐姐 is NATURAL WHOLESOME BEAUTY! Xiaxue LIE and say her blog erased! Not True! She play game try to get people look at her blog because she is scared I take her viewers away!

Look at me. I am so fine. My breasts. My back. My end. Look at Xiaxue with no photoshop, she ugly skunk! You lie Xiaxue! You not beauty! I AM BEAUTY!!"

This is damn screwed up.

***

Me: so basically you still like him

Someone: I love him. there's a difference
I dislike him immensely

Me: ... women


To live with female irrationality, it is pointless to try to understand it. Hell, even most women don't. The path of serenity lies in accepting it, not trying to fathom it.

(As proof of this: many females I sent the above extract to were boggled by it too)

***

"We have a different media model in Singapore...This model has evolved out of our special circumstances and has enabled our media to contribute to nation building." - Information Minister Lee Boon Yang

I'm quite sure he wasn't the first to refer to the Singaporean publisher of governmental press releases and the like press as "nation-building". Can anyone enlighten me?

***

Christianity Revealed - Personal Introduction by Dr M D Magee AskWhy!

"Trained as a scientist, I looked for rational answers to the questions that arose, but biblical scholars seek to confirm their religious outlook. Experts in biblical studies are usually religious people, whether Christian or Jewish. Those who have no interest in religion turn to physics, molecular biology, music or literature. Though religious people might well opt for any of these subjects too, non-religious students rarely opt for religious studies.

The result is that, whereas normal endeavours of life are practised by a cross section of society in respect of religious views, religious studies are the field of religiously inclined people almost exclusively. So, in biblical studies, a subject that professes to be scientific—nowadays at any rate—the normal checks and balances that allow science to progress do not apply. I speak generally knowing that there are some who try hard to be objective but for most it is either too difficult or they are so indoctrinated in religious belief they do not want to try.

Religious experts are consequently far from a fair sample of society. They are biased towards the beliefs they have grown up with and unlikely to question their basic tenets. Quite the reverse, though they profess to be scientific, they are really apologists for their religious view. When astonishing hypotheses are published which cast doubt on the accepted views of the religious experts they will be ignored. This allows biblical scholars to continue in well-paid careers raking over the same muddy spoil and coming to false conclusions forever. Sometimes the same happens in science but there, new discoveries cannot be ignored for long. Science is too big and scientists too diverse for an important discovery to be ignored. What some group would prefer to go away, another group find is just the link or breakthrough they have been waiting for. Essentially biblical research is monolithic. Everyone wants to confirm God’s plan. No one wants to have their lifelong beliefs destroyed.

Strong pressures have always existed for biblical scholars to maintain the status quo—their peers who value the sinecures they have, their own careers within this orthodoxy, their belief that Christians are saintly people and do not tell lies except to glory God and their conviction that they could not have been wrong all their lives and the church wrong for two thousand years.

The key to it all is honesty. Sincere Christians are honest people but Christians since the beginning of their religion have not thought it dishonest to tell a lie—when Christianity benefits!

... Biblical scholars equally build themselves reputations by writing fantasies called doctoral dissertations about a few sentences of some ancient epistle, the significance of the prophet Elijah at the Transfiguration or whether Jesus ascended to heaven after a few days or forty days. Such contributions to knowledge are no different from discussing how many angels can dance on the head of a needle, the example always quoted of how enlightened we now are compared with the middle ages."

***

The Troublesome Toilet Seat: Up or down?

"Is leaving the toilet seat down after use an obligation or an act of kindness on the part of men? To most reasonable people, it isn't at all obvious why men might be obligated to leave the toilet seat down for women. For my part, I would be inclined to see it as an act of kindness more than anything else. I fail to see a single reason why it should be construed as an obligation unless maybe one could somehow prove that the sight of a raised toilet seat upsets the aesthetic equilibrium around it. But I'm sure one could come up with convincing arguments against this justification. Besides, I strongly suspect that this is not the reasoning behind most women's insistence that seats be left down. Let me even hazard a guess and say that the motivation has more to do with convenience than with aesthetics...

I ran a computer simulation of the situation for a million toilet visits, with the sex of the visitor chosen randomly each time. I found that with Scheme 1, the total work done by the system was 999,386 units, while the total work done with Scheme 2 was only 499,270 units, which is less than half the work done under Scheme 1."

***

If World War II Was an RTS

"If World War Two had been an online Real Ttime Strategy game, the chat room traffic would have gone something like this.

Roosevelt: im gonna attack the axis k?
benny-tow: with what? ur wheelchair?
benny-tow: lol did u mess up ur legs AND ur head?
Hitler[AoE]: ROFLMAO
T0J0: lol o no america im comin 4 u
Roosevelt: wtf! thats bullsh1t u fags im gunna kick ur asses
T0JO: not without ur harbors u wont! lol
Roosevelt: u little biotch ill get u
Hitler[AoE]: wtf
Hitler[AoE]: america hax, u had depression and now u got a huge fockin army
Hitler[AoE]: thats bullsh1t u hacker
Churchill: lol no more france for u hitler
Hitler[AoE]: tojo help me!
T0J0: wtf u want me to do, im on the other side of the world retard"

Sunday, July 24, 2005

"He wrapped himself in quotations- as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors." - Rudyard Kipling

***

Windows Vista - Viruses, Infections, Spyware, Trojans and Adware

Heh heh.

***

Anbu kurnthupayanigal gavanikavum unggalin pa thu ga ppu munniddu manjal kodduk.

WOMBUDUH WOMBUDUH WOMBUDUH!

***

Some people think that economics is a purely positive (ie devoid of value-judgments) discipline, while ignoring the normative aspect of it:

A: Economics is descriptive, not normative. All it can do is help you determine the results of different decisions. It can't tell you whether those decisions are good or bad.

Me: Isn't there both positive and normative economics?

Economists make normative decisions all the time.

A: Economists make normative decisions all the time, economists are people first and people make normative decisions, but they are not part of their economic analysis any more than a physicists lunch decision is part of their study of physics.

Me: I'm not talking about lunch decisions.

When central bankers decide whether to lower interest rates for greater growth at the expense of higher inflation, although this is a normative decision, it's still under the domain of economics.

A: Only to the point where they have determined that if they do it X will happen and if they don't Y will happen. There is no economic analysis that can tell you whether X is better than Y. For that you need to rely on either politics of philosophy.

Me: Which independent central banks use politics or philosophy to determine interest rates?!

Economics is a Social Science, despite some people's efforts to cut the Social part of it.

A: Which independent central banks use politics or philosophy to determine interest rates?!
All of them. They may have someone with a degree in economics answering the question and the person answering the question might not be thinking about the philosophy behind it too hard, instead defaulting to the philosophical position that "more growth is always good," but neither of those factors take the question out of the realms of philosophy and politics and put it into the realm of economics.

Economics is a Social Science, despite some people's efforts to cut the Social part of it.
Economics is a social science in that it is the study of human actions. That doesn't mean that it can make normative decisions.

Me: With such reductionism, all Social Sciences are positive.

A: What do you mean by "positive?"

If you mean normative, then you are wrong. The only Social Science (if you can call it that) that is really normative is philosophy. All of the rest just give you the information necessary to make well informed normative decisions.

Out of curiosity, could you give me an example (even a very simple one) of economics showing you how to actually pick between various options?

Me: The Keynesians believe that governmental spending should be boosted during the downswings of business cycles for a counter-cyclical effect.

A: No, the Keynesians believe that governmental spending can be boosted to create a counter-cyclical effect. I don't recall Keynes ever arguing that it was an ethical imperitive that government should do this, though.

And even if he did argue that, he would have done so as a philosopher and not an economist.

Me: "In the long run we're all dead"

In the long run the Classical economists asserted that the economy would move back to equilibrium. This was Keynes's report.

Anyway we have different world views, so it's no point arguing.

***

The Students' Sketchpad

"Express cartooning by two students, En & Hou reflecting the realities of the Singapore education system and its schools. Everything on Singapore Schools you need to know!"

So far this webcomic has only one issue, but it's damn funny!


The Evil SCGS Girl

ACS boy: I spent all my money on GUCCI, IPODS & LV, & you still say I am not your type.

SCGS Girl: I'm HURT...

SCGS Girl: Ever since I was a child... I had my material needs not met... THEY OUTCASTED ME, AND MADE FUN OF ME WHEN I DIDN'T HAVE A... BARBIE DOLL. NOW, ALL I WANT IS YOU TO DO EVERYTHING I SAY!

ACS Boy: I'm sorry... I can't afford you... we will have to part... I DUMP U.



Someone: ... well i don't approve of such young girls already attracting such giant amounts of attention, so.
perhaps it's part of what my boyfriend calls "4s" - single-sex school syndrome
the girls are particularly bitchy
"If you never encounter anything in your community that offends you, you are not living in a free society." - Kim Campbell

***

(A graphical version of the following advertisement can be found here)


The University of Chicago & University of Pennsylvania present...

ABSOLUTE: REALITY

Witness American reality TV brought to life. Join the search for absolute hunk & babe!

Are you ready?

Sat 6 Aug 05 8pm@Zouk
Entry for 18 & above only
$16 for pre-order, $18 at the door
with 2 free drinks

Entry before 1030pm only. Management reserves the right to refuse entry.
for more information, contact Andrew Tan: patch@uchicago.edu, for tickets, contact Yihan: chrisfyh@uchicago.edu


Extra-poster information: There will be a competition adapted from various reality TV shows, and the winners will get to take home attractive prizes

My spin: Join all the Singaporean students studying in overseas universities, scholars or otherwise. A good opportunity to meet old JC and Secondary School friends you haven't seen in a while. Which is the only reason why I'm considering going, though I might be damn bored since I don't drink, dance, listen to modern music, smoke, pick people up, get picked up (Given that everyone knows everyone else, I doubt this will happen) etc

***

Jon Ronson meets hacker Gary McKinnon

"What Gary was hunting for, as he snooped around Nasa, and the Pentagon's network, was evidence of a UFO cover-up...

"What was the most exciting thing you saw?" I ask.

"I found a list of officers' names," he claims, "under the heading 'Non-Terrestrial Officers'."

"Non-Terrestrial Officers?" I say.

"Yeah, I looked it up," says Gary, "and it's nowhere. It doesn't mean little green men. What I think it means is not earth-based. I found a list of 'fleet-to-fleet transfers', and a list of ship names. I looked them up. They weren't US navy ships. What I saw made me believe they have some kind of spaceship, off-planet."

"The Americans have a secret spaceship?" I ask.

"That's what this trickle of evidence has led me to believe."

"Some kind of other Mir that nobody knows about?"

"I guess so," says Gary.

"What were the ship names?"

"I can't remember," says Gary. "I was smoking a lot of dope at the time. Not good for the intellect."

... Yes, he was hacking in the immediate aftermath of September 11, but only because he wanted to see if there was a conspiracy afoot. "Why did the building fall like a controlled series of explosions? " he says. "I hate conspiracy theories, so I thought I'd find out for myself."

"And did you find a conspiracy?" I ask.

"No," he says."


This just shows you how powerful and iniquitous the conspiracy is! Even though thousands of people must be involved in them, they've somehow gotten all of them to keep mum, even though the British royals can't even silence a single nanny. And heading the New World Order will be the King himself - Elvis Presley! (No, he's not dead. He made a secret pact with Xenu to extend his life unnaturally to 616 years!)
With the number of people dancing in unison in this year's National Day Song Music Video, I am reminded of a Bollywood movie dance sequence. As my Council of Advisors opines, it has "the most insipid lyrics ever" (what's new?), "bad dance moves", "looks suspiciously like a version of the great singapore workout" and "Taufik spoils it. Rui en is quite pretty though" (uhh).

Apart from the synchronised dancing, though, it's pretty much the same as previous years'. Saccharine music, "The last 5 year plan failed, but come comrades, let us celebrate our achievements and work towards a better tomorrow" lyrics, dance sequences presenting an idealised version of "racial harmony" and the like. Then again, the lyrics seem even more repetitive than ever, so maybe they're running out of ideas.

Oh, and is that a Garuda I see flying across the screen at the start and end of the video? Damnit, this is a Singaporean music video, not an Indonesian one!

Luckily, since I don't watch TV or listen to the radio, I've not been bombarded with this ten times a day.

(JoBeth: they could show this video to hardened criminals. within a minute they'd have the men on their knees begging for forgiveness.

the people in the music video look as if they had to be promised tax rebates to get them to dance such an appallingly unsophisticated, banal dance. "here people, all of you in the warehouse get up and do this! if not, no lunch break tomorrow. and no overtime pay."

they dance in a warehouse. in the mrt station. in a basketball court. we flash through locations faster than a bollywood dance sequence.

i need to go lie down and rest.)

***

PETA President Denounces Dumping, Defends Accused Workers

"Dumping the bodies of dead dogs and cats in the garbage is wrong, but the president of Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said Friday that animal cruelty charges against two employees won't stick... Veterinarians and animal control officers said the PETA workers had promised to find homes for the animals rather than euthanize them, according to police. "PETA has never made a secret of the fact that most of the animals picked up in North Carolina are euthanized," Newkirk said."

"A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy." — Ingrid Newkirk, President, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)


PETA Kills Animals | PetaKillsAnimals.com

"PETA's Dirty Secret

Hypocrisy is the mother of all credibility problems, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has it in spades. While loudly complaining about the "unethical" treatment of animals by restaurant owners, grocers, farmers, scientists, anglers, and countless other Americans, the group has its own dirty little secret.

PETA kills animals. By the thousands.

PETA kills animals. Because it has other financial priorities.

PETA raked in nearly $29 million last year in income, much of it raised from pet owners who think their donations actually help animals. Instead, the group spends huge sums on programs equating people who eat chicken with Nazis, scaring young children away from drinking milk, recruiting children into the radical animal-rights lifestyle, and intimidating businessmen and their families in their own neighborhoods. PETA has also spent tens of thousands of dollars defending arsonists and other violent extremists...

Other animal protection agencies near PETA's Virginia headquarters "put down" a much smaller percentage of the animals entrusted to them. In 2003 the Norfolk SPCA found adoptive homes for 73 percent of its animals. The Virginia Beach SPCA adopted out 66 percent. PETA could only manage 14 percent."

***

Weblog Ethics Survey Results - "This study seeks to explore ethical principles in blogging through a quantitative survey of bloggers from around the world. It is our honors thesis as undergraduates at the School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University (SCI/NTU)."

Great Weapons of the Ancient World Number 47: the Sling - "The power of slings is famous. When iron plate-armoured Spaniards went into South America against the Aztecs, only the slings of the Aztecs were feared. The stone-tipped arrows would glance off or shatter against the armour, but the sling stones would damage the Spaniards by sheer smashing force... To conclude, the sling is a potent weapon which deserves greater respect from wargamers. It might be used in games other than ancient battles. Perhaps in a post-holocaust setting, soldiers might meet some apparently unarmed people, who later attack with slings in the woods, and then dodge away into the trees, while the soldiers waste their precious ammunition in gun-fire retaliation. Slings are spiffy."