"The point of quotations is that one can use another's words to be insulting." - Amanda Cross

***

ST: SDU’s role as Cupid comes to an end - "So its new focus will be on giving its stamp of approval to dating agencies and professional matchmakers, and on funding private-sector agencies and projects which promote dating."
At first I thought NUS Orientation Camps were doomed, cut off from an important source of funds. Then I read this sentence. Will graduates of the Premier Institution of Social Engineering still get free dating services for 2 years then, I wonder?

Facebook | The Worthless Facebook Group - "This group is completely worthless. Unlike purposeful groups such as "The Ultimate Facebook Project" or "for every 1000 people who join I will slam my penis in a door," This group has no meaningful goal. If you are invited to or just come across this group and join, it will simply be a worthless group you are part of."

Mercury in Seafood - "Commercial fishermen capture tuna and swordfish at sea, far from any source of industrial pollution. The mercury in their system must come from natural sources. For years, we have probably eaten tuna and swordfish with mercury levels above FDA's limit without harmful effects. Analysis of museum specimens of tuna caught from 1879 to 1909 reveal that they contain levels of mercury as high as those in fish being caught today. Scientists therefore conclude that mercury levels in tuna, and probably swordfish, have not changed in the past 100 years."

YouTube - seatbelt - "alwayz wear your seatbelts. 'Heaven can wait'"

From a search referral "acjc reputation" (sans quotes): One, Two, Three: Update - "Like ACJC, Stanford has a reputation for being a "fun school."... How are the Asian Stanford girls compared to ACJC girls? Well, I personally think that in ACJC, the degree of inequality is greater-- you have a few cliques of extremely pretty girls who are rich, witty, articulate, sporty, and intelligent, versus a majority of girls who are poor, plain, introverted, and silent. In contrast, the Stanford girls seem to be more equal. Although some girls are prettier than others, the majority of the girls are reasonably attractive. Everyone seems to be relatively articulate, confident, and intelligent, and everyone seems to have significant talents in at least one respect."

Michelle, "The Pass Around Girl" - "Feminists bother me. They decide what is good and bad for women in the same way men do. I will do what I please, when I please, and that is feminism. I will or will not get whatever tattoo I like."

The lab that helps Jews to observe rules dating back 3,500 years - "With its disappearing ink and cunning electronic gadgets it could be straight out of a James Bond story. But this laboratory, where grey-bearded engineers invent fiendish devices and test machinery, grapples with altogether trickier problems than keeping secret agents ahead of the game. The 40-year-old institute, in a scruffy block on the fringes of Jerusalem, conjures up solutions that allow observant Jews to meet the challenges of modern life without violating the Sabbath laws... A Sabbath telephone was developed that allows the numbers to be keyed without completing the electrical circuit. How could doctors who must attend their duties on the Sabbath keep records, classed as working by the Torah? The institute’s answer was an ink that disappeared after 72 hours, enabling photocopying the following day, but not proscribed by the Torah because it is not permanent."
This is as bad as Islamic Banking.

Fury over Halal Christmas dinner - "Parents expressed outrage last night over a school’s plans to serve pupils a Muslim Christmas dinner. The headteacher announced that she intended to replace the children’s traditional turkey meal with halal chicken. She explained that eating poultry which had been slaughtered in the Muslim way would create an “integrated Christmas”... “We bend over backwards at Eid (an Islamic festival) to eat traditional Muslim food so why should we have to change our Christmas tradition?” Mrs Johnson added: “I feel my culture is being stolen away from me. I have no objections to halal meat being on the menu so long as there is a choice of traditional Christian Christmas fare.”"

They're on death row, but at least they get a private pool - "Waitrose, the supermarket chain, is leading a rights-for-ducks movement on behalf of the 19 million birds that are eaten in Britain each year. It is not quite asking them to choose a resort from a glossy holiday brochure, but it is offering them a swimming pool with the water changed every day, and even a few poolside luxuries such as gravel to keep their feet clean, ramps for easy access to the deep end and the equivalent of beach umbrellas to shade them from the sun."

Sausages affected by draconian trade laws - "A spicy sausage known as the Welsh Dragon will have to be renamed after trading standards’ officers warned the manufacturers that they could face prosecution because it does not contain dragon."

Straight eye for the queer gals - "Why do men love lesbian scenes?... In her Village Voice review of the new movie "Thirteen," Laura Singara says the scenes of the two female teenage protagonists kissing will make it a "male-gaze DVD must have." Try to imagine anyone (particularly in the Village Voice) writing so disapprovingly about the straight women who enjoy gay porn. Oh no, they're subverting the sexist/male-gaze/phallocentric/military-industrialist (add patriarchal modifier of your choice here) complex. But any man who might be turned on by the sight of two girls kissing is inherently some grubby Humbert masturbating into his grimy Burberry."

Thank You, William H. Meckling. We owe a debt of gratitude to the man who killed the draft. - "He had been drafted into the army in World War II and witnessed the government's incredibly wasteful use of manpower when it could pay below-market wages... In his testimony before the commission, Mr. Westmoreland said he did not want to command an army of mercenaries. Mr. Friedman interrupted, "General, would you rather command an army of slaves?" Mr. Westmoreland replied, "I don't like to hear our patriotic draftees referred to as slaves." Mr. Friedman then retorted, "I don't like to hear our patriotic volunteers referred to as mercenaries. If they are mercenaries, then I, sir, am a mercenary professor, and you, sir, are a mercenary general; we are served by mercenary physicians, we use a mercenary lawyer, and we get our meat from a mercenary butcher."... People often wonder why today's 20-somethings have such entrepreneurial spirit. One reason, I believe, is that a whole generation has grown up without the draft looming over its head."

pierce your belly button - "Within a couple of years, our young friend fits right in. He wears the right clothes. He cancels his dinner dates for Oh-so-important client meetings. He knows the conventional wisdom, and can self-censor his wacko ideas in the bud. He spends his time working, attending industry conventions, and absorbing the Status Quo. He’s a success. And he’s quite unlikely to be an agent of innovation, creativity, or newness. Mission accomplished!"

Voodoo practitioner tries to jinx Bush - "A renowned black magic practitioner performed a voodoo ritual Thursday to jinx President George W. Bush and his entourage while he was on a brief visit to Indonesia... He said the jinx would send spirits to possess
Secret Service personnel guarding Bush and put them in a trance, leading them into falsely thinking the president was under attack, thus eventually causing chaos in Bogor Presidential Palace"
Obviously he didn't have enough faith.

Copyright Duration and the Supply of Creative Work by Ivan Png, Qiu-Hong Wang - "At various dates between 1991-2002, nineteen OECD countries extended the duration of copyright, typically from the author's life plus 50 years to author's life plus 70 years. We study the impact of the extensions on the production of movies. We find that the extensions were associated with an increase in movie production ranging between 8.51% (±4.60%) and 10.4% (±4.89%). The increase was higher in countries where piracy was lower."
Of course, the quality of the movies made, or the impact on society in other ways was not measured.

The new cultural revolution: How Little Fatty made it big - "An overweight teenage boy who found that his image had been superimposed onto movie stars and politicians by web users has become a cult figure in China."

Man fined for saying four-letter-word on flight - "A 65-year-old Australian man was fined S$10,000 ($6,423) by a Singapore court for uttering the word "bomb" on a flight to Indonesia, The Straits Times reported on Wednesday."

While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry - ""Malaysia boleh!" is Malaysia's national catch cry. It translates to "Malaysia can!" and Malaysia certainly can. Few countries are as good at wasting money. It is richly endowed with natural resources and the national obsession seems to be to extract these, sell them off and then collectively spray the proceeds up against the wall... like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, the Malaysian Government is more interested in stunts like sending a Malaysian into space when Malaysia's inadequate schools could have done with the cash, and arguing about wealth distribution using transparently ridiculous statistics."