"If man does find the solution for world peace it will be the most revolutionary reversal of his record we have ever known." - George C. Marshall

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Pride and shame displays "universal" - "Blind ath­letes who have nev­er seen a vic­to­ry celebra­t­ion raise their arms in tri­umph when they win and slump their shoul­ders when they lose, much like sight­ed ath­letes, re­search­ers have found. The dis­cov­ery, they add, sug­gests both pride and shame and their ex­pres­sions are bi­o­log­ic­ally hard-wired “u­ni­ver­sals.” “Both are as­so­ci­at­ed with dis­tinct, cross-cul­tur­ally rec­og­nized non­ver­bal ex­pres­sions, which re­sem­ble the dom­i­nance and sub­mis­sion dis­plays shown by non­hu­man pri­mates,” the sci­en­tists wrote in re­port­ing their find­ings."
I'm sure they were somehow subconsciously socialised. 'Oh look, that athlete who just won the Gold raised his arms in triumph! Remember to do that if you ever win a medal too, dear!'

YouTube - Chemical Party - "Very funny clip explaining why noble gases do not bond ;-) and why Potassium and Water lead to explosive reactions."
The best part is the it's an ad by the European Commission. I want to go and work for them already (but have no science degree, boo)

[Dining] Tips and Pitfalls - ""Please Pass the Salt". The proper response to this very simple sounding request is to pick up both the salt and the pepper and to place them on the table within reach of the person next to you, who will do the same, and so on, until they reach the person who asked for them. They are not passed hand-to-hand, nor should anyone other than the original requester sprinkle her food
when she has the shakers in her possession. The reason for this, as Judith Martin points out more than once, is that American etiquette is not about efficiency. Often, the most refined action is that which requires the greatest number of steps to carry it out"

Jim Webb: Women Can't Fight - "It was harsh and cruel. It was designed to produce a man who would be able to be an effective leader in combat, to endure prisoner-of-war camps, to fight this country's wars with skill and tenacity. And it is all but gone. "I like women at the Academy,'' one of my classmates who is still on active duty told me recently. "They've brought a measure of . . . refinement to the place." If there was one thing that was irrelevant to preparation for combat it was refinement... When I watched 51 of my men become casualties over seven weeks in Vietnam, and when I sat down next to number 51and cried like a baby, I'd been there before. It was a lot easier to pick up and keep going... The men are essentially the same; it is the institution that has changed. It has changed primarily because of female midshipmen, for the same reasons women would adulterate the performance of combat units themselves. Externally looking in, the system has been objectified and neutered to the point it can no longer develop or measure leadership. Internally, sexual attractions and simple differences in treatment based on sex have created resentments and taken away much of the institution's sense of mission... Burlingham is aware of the many inequities that relate to a double standard discipline. "A male and female were convicted of the same honor offense at the same time. The man was thrown out. The woman was put on probation. That sort of thing has happened several times. It's almost impossible for a woman to be thrown out of here."

YouTube - Extras: Ricky Gervais "Racist" (HBO) - "'What if I am, and I don't know it?... Subconsciously am a little bit racist.' 'Well, there's that test I can give you... Question 2. It's about racial awareness. Cos often you can catch out a real racist because they don't know or care about any black issues. Erm. Who's the Prime Minister of Great Britain?... Who's the Prime Minister of Namibia?... Who is the Queen of England?... Who is the President of Djibouti?... Who would you rather have waiting for you when you got home tonight: Johnny Depp or OJ Simpson?... Mr OJ Simpson was acquitted. But in your eyes, because he's black he's still guilty... You have a hate rating of 9.8. One more than Hitler'"

Burning incense linked to respiratory cancers

Hong Kong abortion rate highest in the developed world, 29% of all pregnancies - And abortion is illegal there. Hah.

hopei: wah lan eh, this kind of thing also do - "In addition to the rather scathing evaluation of Wong's musical, Mr Lui also made the error that "Botak Boys" was essentially a "romantic musical about the loneliness of a boy kept far away from his girl". If Mr Lui had been a little more scrupulous about getting his facts right, he would have been obviously aware that the protagonist of the musical had been pining for his boyfriend, while simultaneously struggling with masked mechanisms of homophobia. When the Straits Times was queried about these inconsistencies, it became clear that Mr Lui had left the show ten minutes into the musical."
Time for another redesign to distract people from the Shitty Times' Shitty Content!

YouTube - Japanese Infomercial Gets Out of Hand - "A Japanese infomercial for an erotic massager gets out of hand - with sexy results."
As one helpful commenter noted, this is from "SDDM-442". Hurr hurr.
Another: "It has to be a late night show. The products name is "Dekamara-kun" Mr. Big Dick" (HAH! He's wrong!)
Also, it's amusing how much Jap porn there is on YouTube (see related videos). HAH.

Hilarious Signs

How Big of a Deal Is Income Inequality? - "If individuals cannot keep enough of what they earn then they will not produce. If, on the other hand, the most productive do keep what they earn, significant inequalities inevitably result... Extreme income and wealth inequality alone may hinder growth. After all “respect for property rights” is really, in most cases, shorthand for “respect by the have-nots for the property rights of the haves.” If those on the bottom rungs do not feel that they are getting a fair shake, the very bedrock of our prosperity crumbles into social and economic apartheid as millions of Americans flee to gated communities, millions more are required to staff the burgeoning private security industry, and yet more millions fill our prisons. This is likely the reason why supply-side economics fails in the real world. Cross national comparisons in developed nations, for example, show no correlation between tax rates and economic growth. Further, the “golden period” of growth in the years before 1973 occurred in an environment of higher tax rates than in the lower-growth 1980’s and 1990’s."

Land Diving Bungee Jumping With Vines - "Land Divers of Pentecost Island dive from towers with a vine attached to an ankle. When done correctly, the divers head will just touch the freshly dug ground below."
After this, bungee jumping (inspired by this, in fact) is nothing!

Daiso Boobs + Swan (NOTCOT) - "ended up wandering around the Daiso (like a japanese 99 cent store) and found some really weird stuff… amongst that stuff were these bizarre squeeze and inflate stick on boob balloons and a swan phallus?"

Supermart staff made me delete my photos and called me a troublemaker - "I was at Sheng Shion supermarket... the frozen foodstuffs sold there were packed over the storage line in the freezers, and as a result, the food at the top had already started to thaw, and some of the burger patties already had signs of being squashed by consumers. I took a picture secretly... When I went to the biscuits section, I came across this Skyflakes biscuits which were sold in white tubs marked with big words 'For sales in Phillipines only'... a worker in Sheng Shiong uniform... came up to me and talked at the top of his voice saying that he had seen me taking photos at the frozen goods section. He labelled me a 'trouble maker' very loudly, and warned me to delete all the pictures I had taken earlier, if not he would all in the security and the police."
See why photography is banned in so many places? Depressingly but expectedly, most of the idiots on STOMP slammed him. Duh.
The Supermarket's lame reply: "For sale in Philippines only' does not mean this is not allowed for sale in Singapore"