"堂堂地做个完人。" - Communist Song
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EXCLUSIVE: CONSERVATIVE GROUP DENOUNCES ANN COULTER! - "The Truth About Ann, the documentary DVD currently in-production promises to "expose the extremist nature of Conservatism's preeminent diva and reigning political icon," according to a press release given to The BRAD BLOG by CPC. The film is said to examine "Coulter’s worldview, and the extremist polemics used to promote it.""
Mindfuck films; A beautiful mind(fuck): Hollywood structures of identity - "
Diners don’t chicken out at PETA’s clucking - "A human inside an injured-chicken costume, hobbling in protest on the sidewalk Wednesday in front of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, didn’t achieve the desired effect, according to many who dined there. Brad Steig called Wednesday’s protest in Grand Junction by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals good advertising for KFC."
PETA: Leave the Animals in Peace - "Following the recent bombing in Jerusalem in which a live donkey, laden with explosives, was blown up, shocking people of all nationalities around the world, PETA has written to Palestinian National Authority President Yasser Arafat asking that he urge those who listen to him to keep animals out of the conflict."
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. Who cares about humans when you can strike a fashionable pose about animal rights?
Why the Red Delicious No Longer Is - "They made it so it could be stored in hermetically sealed warehouses for 12 months. Along the way, they changed its color and hence its name -- to Red Delicious. The only problem was the American consumer, whose verdict on the made-over apple has become increasingly clear: Of the two words in the Red Delicious name, one can no longer be believed."
The Soldier and the City-State: Civil-Military Relations and the Case of Singapore - "The state of affairs in Singapore's formative years was without a doubt one of absolute civilian control. The SAF had no claim to "birthright" and lacked any sort of strong local tradition and heritage, especially in the ethnic Chinese majority. It is thus unimaginable that it would have had any kind of strong inklings of militarism or sectarian tendencies. The balance of civil-military power was thus tipped in favour of the state at the outset. The chain of political command was also kept intact through the co-option of career civil servants into the military brass. This, together with the influences of other apolitical military forces such as Britain's, the US's and Israel's, gave the military a character that made civilian control not only possible, but also the path of least resistance."
This won the 2004 CDF Essay Competition which, oddly enough, is limited to SAF officers, Warrant Officers and DSTA personnel.
Ditching plastic bags 'no real use' - "It is believed to be one of the simplest ways people can help the environment, but scrapping the plastic shopping bag might not be worth the effort... The plan is supposed to save marine wildlife and reduce litter, but the Productivity Commission argues that not only is the plastic bag not a serious threat to wildlife, but governments have not taken into account the food-safety benefits of plastic bags or their typical re-use as liners for the garbage bin."
Full article reposted here
Cryptology in the 16th and 17th Centuries - "Wayne Shumaker, a master of old Latin and German, has discussed the copious writings of Johannes Trithemius (1462-1526) who was a German monk. Trithemius' book Polographiae libri sex (1518), written in Latin, was mostly concerned with history and theology but the author has been called the first theoretician of cryptography. His Steganographia was circulated while the manuscript was still in composition and John Dee, who owned the largest private library in England copied at least half of it in 1563."
TIME.com: Edith Cresson -- Mar. 29, 1999 - "When word of these and other irregularities began leaking in the press last fall, Cresson threatened to sue for defamation, thereby fueling what might have remained a private squabble but became the public scandal that ultimately brought down the whole Commission. "She's not really dishonest," says French political commentator Alain Duhamel, "but she is incredibly maladroit. She attracts hostility and enemies everywhere she goes.""
love/fiction » I support Liverpool and I live in Bishan - jadeite lampooned it, but I found the original article funny enough already and have archived it.
