"One should absorb the colour of life, but one should never remember its details. Details are always vulgar." - Oscar Wilde

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Minimum Wage and its implications - "Gary Fields, Professor of Labour Economics and Economics at Cornell University, criticised that the textbook classical model for minimum wage is too ambiguous and it only measures one sector. He recommended that for a better analysis of the effects of a minimum wage policy, a two-sector model should be used. The first sector will have minimum wage coverage while the second sector does not have any. There is possibly mobility between the two sectors... Other possible reasons that suggest that minimum wage does not affect employment (or only minimally) are posited by Alan Blinder. He suggested that higher wages may reduce turnover (perhaps due to an effect like efficiency wages) and hence also training costs. So the cost savings can be used to hire more minimum-wage workers. There is an interesting research by David Card and Alan Krueger whose results are also published in their 1995 book Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage. In summary, they argued that the effects of minimum wage laws on unemployment are minimal or non-existent."

More theatre productions pass uncensored in S'pore - "The MDA says that since 2005, nine arts genres have been exempted from arts licensing. These include instrumental and classical music performances, operas, dances and painting exhibitions."
Seditious mischief-makers know what to do, then!

Batman: Stuck on Responsibility. Why Can So Many Women Relate to the Dark Knight - "Of the three main heroes of the DC Universe, Batman is the one busy fulfilling the role of parent and protector, the one most women in our society recognize and can understand the most... Batman is the protector, the one bound to Gotham, the one who hardly ever rests his vigilance. He's the one who keeps the nightmares away, who restores order and makes sure the children survive. And he can never, ever walk away from this responsibility... He's Sarah Connor, protecting the future in the person of her son. He's Ripley in the exoskeleton protecting Newt. He's Mrs. Weasley, confronting Bellatrix Lestrange, saying, "Get away from my daughter, you bitch.""

Oh crap! Student loses research work - "A British graduate student was left "reeling" after his university threw out a bag of lizard excrement he had spent seven years collecting in the rainforests of the Philippines, he said Friday... "To some people it might have been just a bag of lizard shit," he told Times Higher Education. "But... its loss left me reeling and altered the course of my life forever."... The University has offered him 500 pounds (730 dollars, 570 euros) in compensation and an apology... "Whether it was the largest collection of lizard shit in the world is uncertain," he said. "But it certainly contained the only dietary sample from that little-known species Varanus olivaceus, and probably the most complete dietary record of any single population of animals in South East Asia." "

Temasek takes severe hit - "The investment analyst in Singapore said Ho's resignation was planned for about a year. "I don't think it has much to do with Temasek's performance. This is Singapore, favoured people are not made to resign for performance! I think Singapore leaders are more concerned over the Sovereign Wealth Fund issue. It becomes more difficult to defend Singapore's sovereign wealth fund as a non-state actor with no political agenda if the wife of the prime minister is running it," he said."

Everybody does it - "Given the unstoppable popularity of social-networking sites, it seems that Mr Obama's zeal points the way to a future in which every indiscretion will be scrutinised by employers. Only the very blandest, most media-savvy and controlled people, who have never uttered a controversial sentence in their lives, will be deemed fit to hold public office... Yet the demand for total cleanness could, paradoxically, end up fuelling public disenchantment with politics. The real problem is not the Internet—which merely makes it easier to discover what people have been up to—but the hypocrisy of voters and the media. Mundane immoralities such as extra-marital affairs can already sink careers; dodgy jokes and youthful foolishness are not far behind. Reporters and the public complain about the bland, stage-managed image of politicians and the nefarious influence of the PR industry while demanding, in effect, that only saints be allowed to hold office.

Trashing the Fridge - "It's this sort of practical calculus that has led many who advocate sustainable living to view unplugging the fridge as a dubious practice. They point out that it is likely to result in more trips to the store (which burns more gas, for those who drive) and the purchase of food in smaller portions (thus more packaging). "It's easy to look at your bill and say, 'I'm saving energy,' " Ms. Duke said. "But you need to look at the whole supply chain."... "I realize it's not a big deal in terms of energy use," Mr. Campbell said, but "it doesn't change my mind. I don't like the hum of the thing, and I've discovered I don't need it.""
Idiocy and thinking with your heart instead of your head strike again.