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A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English - "This Dictionary contains words and phrases found in non-standard English as it is used in Singapore that do not appear in The New Shorter Oxford Dictionary, or that have meanings different from standard English words and phrases. These may be foreign words and phrases that have gained currency in Singapore English, or unique words and phrases that may or may not be based on foreign words and phrases. Mere mispronunciations of standard English words and phrases (eg., gahmen for government) are not included."
Snow Frog: Trailing This Rare Delicacy - "Hasma is variously described as frog fat, frog eggs, frog roe, or the frog’s reproductive glands. This rare food is from a particular member of the frog family, not the common frog, though it is common in Jinlin and some northern regions. It is, as this very old lady described, “A frog that they catch close to winter usually before or during the first snow because it goes into hibernation after mid-autumn. Because they do, they need lots of nutrients, especially fats, to tide them through and prepare the females to lay lots of eggs.” She went on to advise that, “These white bellied frogs mate and have their fertilized eggs ready come spring... hasma is moist, has many hormones, and a high lipid content, but really it is a combination of fat and part of the reproductive area”"
Orchid ice cream - "Ali explained that dondurma is the Turkish word for ice cream and that the essential ingredient of orchid ice cream is salep, a whitish flour milled from the dried tubers of certain wild terrestrial orchids... "Fox testicle ice cream" -- the literal translation of salepi dondurma -- didn't seem like an appropriate name for the dessert dish filled with colorful scoops of ice cream placed on the table in front of me. The cold, silky orbs held the familiar flavors of apricot, pistachio, red currant, peach and vanilla, but there was a subtle aftertaste that was entirely new -- slightly sweet with a nutty flavor similar to dried milk powder. It also had a hint of mushrooms, yak butter or goats on a rainy day -- not unpleasant, but an earthy, lanolin fragrance that added an intriguing dimension to the ice cream as it slowly melted in my mouth."
The Fifty Best Breasts in Movie History - "Did we get your attention? Good, because October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and we'd like to help raise awareness for the American Cancer Society by celebrating the best breasts to ever grace the cinema screen. So before we get to the ladies, please take some time to familiarize yourself with the American Cancer Society's mission to fight Breast Cancer and do what you can to stop Breast Cancer. Now on to The Fifty Best Breasts in Movie History..."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
We need a real debate, not more dialogue - IHT - "The latest initiative by Muslim scholars marks an attempt to move interfaith dialogue away from debates about reason and revelation towards scriptural reading. Christian-Muslim relations, so their argument goes, are best served by engaging in textual interpretations that highlight shared commandments and common beliefs. But to suggest, as the authors of "A Common Word" do, that Muslims and Christians are united by the same two commandments which are most essential to their respective faith and practice - love of God and love of the neighbor - is theologically dubious and politically dangerous. Theologically, this glosses over elementary differences between the Christian God and the Muslim God... The problem with all textual interpretations is that they are, by definition, particular and partly subjective. Without universal concepts and objective standards such as rationality, scholars differ from extremists merely in terms of their honorable intentions... The best hope for genuine peace and tolerance between Christianity and Islam is to have a proper theological engagement about the essence of God and the nature of peace and justice. Otherwise, interfaith dialogue will amount to little more than the polite platitudes of politicians and diplomats. In the name of the shared commitment to truth and wisdom, Christians and Muslims should have robust debates that are theologically informed and politically frank."
Knowledge: the record number of non-league teams in the FA Cup second round - ""Norway somehow reached second in the Fifa rankings in October 1993, before slipping down to 52nd by July 2006," writes Jostein Nygård. "Is this the greatest spread between a nation's highest and lowest position in the rankings?" Armenia comfortably eclipsed this mark, Jostein, when they nosedived from 79th in September 2000 to 159th in June 2004, but even they can't compete with Malaysia's fall from grace. Clocking in at a respectable 75th in August 1993, the Tigers have steadily tumbled down the rankings ever since. At the last count, Malaysia stood 166th, their lowest ever position, 91 places below their zenith."
Sweeping the Clouds Away - "Back then — as on the very first episode, which aired on PBS Nov. 10, 1969 — a pretty, lonely girl like Sally might find herself befriended by an older male stranger who held her hand and took her home. Granted, Gordon just wanted Sally to meet his wife and have some milk and cookies, but . . . well, he could have wanted anything. As it was, he fed her milk and cookies. The milk looks dangerously whole... The concept of the “inner city” — or “slums,” as The Times bluntly put it in its first review of “Sesame Street” — was therefore transformed into a kind of Xanadu on the show: a bright, no-clouds, clear-air place where people bopped around with monsters and didn’t worry too much about money, cleanliness or projecting false cheer. The Upper West Side, hardly a burned-out ghetto, was said to be the model."
Sexes perceive inflation figures very differently - "Manifestations of these innate differences aren't confined to the sexes' relationship with one another. Instead, they infuse perceptions and expectations in the outside world, even when it comes to something with no obvious male/female bias: inflation. "That men and women occasionally see things differently is not a remarkable observation," says Michael Bryan, economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. "But that the sexes could report vastly different perspectives on the rate at which prices are rising over a long period of time is astonishing.""
What would be more interesting: which sex predicts inflation more accurately.
Apple's new Leopard OS shows Windows envy - "While Apple continues to make fun of problems experienced by Windows users, the Cupertino company is just now catching up to some protective features Windows has had for a while... let me point out to you the security features that you already have as a user of Windows Vista or XP SP2... Enhanced smartcard capabilities. Windows has had good smartcard integration since at least Windows 2000."
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And:
Swedish Women Go Topless to Protest Swim Wear Rules
"STOCKHOLM, Sweden — A group of Swedish women is making waves by taking their tops off at public swimming pools in a protest against what they call gender-biased rules on swim wear.
About 40 women have joined the network and staged topless protests in at least three cities, said Sanna Ferm, 22, one of the founders of the group called Bara Brost, or Bare Breasts.
"The purpose of the campaign is to start a debate about why women's bodies are sexualized," Ferm said Wednesday.
She said the fact that men can be bare-chested in public swimming pools but not women is "a concrete example of how women have fewer rights than men."
Reactions from other swimmers have ranged from support and encouragement to anger and even indifference, she said.
The network was formed after two women who were swimming topless in a public swimming pool in Uppsala, north of Stockholm, were asked to cover up or leave.
Women can sunbathe topless in the summertime at beaches around Sweden, which is known for its relaxed attitude toward nudity, but they are required to wear tops at public swimming pools.
Inger Groteblad, a manager at the swimming facility in Uppsala, said it was a matter of security.
"We want to make sure that girls don't get subjected to sexual harassment," she was quoted as saying by tabloid Aftonbladet.
The women have filed a complaint against the facility to Sweden's Equal Opportunities Ombudsman."
(I found this because someone did a Google Image Search for it)
