"The goal of all inanimate objects is to resist man and ultimately defeat him." - Russell Baker
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Quotes:
[Me: Why don't Indians eat pork? It's impure right...] We [Hindus] believe if you eat pork, you have to be reborn 100 times. I've had it 5 times... It was worth it.
There's only one road you can go down if you take this path. [Me: What?] Destruction... The feminist lecturers: If you're pro-feminist they love you... Feminism is damn biased. It's the only discipline in academia which is allowed to be so biased. [Me: Have you seen race studies?]
[Me: What do you learn in 'Understanding Irony'?] That you cannot understand irony.
One very typical university exam question is: 'Was Marx a Marxist?'
Chinese New Year: 'Why are you such a loser'. If we can overcome that... Post-industrialist... We all hear of CEOs who become schoolteachers... They look for more meaningful things to do. We see this in lawyers too. They become restaurant owners.
People makes ants meet (make ends)
[On 'exploitation'] The reason why the US dumps tons and tons of wheat in the sea is so the price won't go down so they [the farmers] won't be exploited.
[On trade unions sustaining integral hegemony] You're a member of a trade union. They tell you: 'Hey, every year we give you a calendar and an umbrella'.
Some people say: 'Oh there's no politics in Singapore. It's so easy'... There's a struggle for consent... There are ruptures... Singapore is closer to the integral hegemony model.
[On modern Marxists] They mention revolutionary potential, but they don't mean it anymore.
I'm going to show you a clip from a film called Chicken Rice War. it's a terrible film... [Student: It has a clip with necrophilia right.] Chicken Rice War doesn't have necrophilia. It's a commercial film. That would be hard to relate to our topic for today.
[Me on a Geylang research trip: Did you meet any street walkers?] A lot. [Me: all PRC?] A lot of nations. It's like the UN.
After period 1, the world comes to an end. Is that clear?... Although it is simple, this model can give us a lot of insights. Sometimes they can be misleading... Any questions? [Me: What year is this model from?] Frenkel and Razin. 1984. Long time ago... Well, the world hasn't come to an end yet.
He has to repay his borrowing. There's no free lunch... Only then can he die happily.
Like Singapore, we're always investing our money abroad. Whether we can get our money back, we don't know.
What should B1 be? Today I'm in a good mood so I'll give you the answer.
If you anticipate an unfavourable shock in the future, you will improve your current account now. That's why the government always says: 'The future looks bleak. Let's tighten our belts now.'
How do you determine the autarky interest rate? *Silence* I asked this question last semester. Most students got it right. Very disappointing.
You can't discuss in my tutorial. There're too many arrogant people.