"We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people." - Arthur Schopenhauer

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Red Army troops raped even Russian women as they freed them from camps - "THE Red Army's orgy of rape in the dying days of Nazi Germany was conducted on a much greater scale than previously suspected... "Having always in the past slightly pooh-poohed the idea that most men are potential rapists, I had to come to the conclusion that if there is a lack of army discipline, most men with a weapon, dehumanised by living through two or three years of war, do become potential rapists"... he was "shaken to the core" to discover that Russian and Polish women and girls liberated from concentration camps were also violated. "That completely undermined the notion that the soldiers were using rape as a form of revenge against the Germans," he said... When the Yugoslav Communist Milovan Djilas protested to Stalin, the dictator exploded: "Can't he understand it if a soldier who has crossed thousands of kilometres through blood and fire and death has fun with a woman or takes some trifle?"... The victims themselves were permanently traumatised: women of the wartime generation still refer to the Red Army war memorial in Berlin as "the Tomb of the Unknown Rapist"."

I Want to Believe - "Most people (scientists included) treat the God question separate from all these other claims. They are right to do so as long as the particular claim in question cannot — even in principle — be examined by science. But what might that include? Most religious claims are testable, such as prayer positively influencing healing. In this case, controlled experiments to date show no difference between prayed-for and not-prayed-for patients. And beyond such controlled research, why does God only seem to heal illnesses that often go away on their own? What would compel me to believe would be something unequivocal, such as if an amputee grew a new limb. Amphibians can do it. Surely an omnipotent deity could do it. Many Iraqi War vets eagerly await divine action. There is one mystery I will concede that science may not be able to answer, and that is the question of what existed before our universe began... If there is one thing that the history of science has taught us, it is that it is arrogant to think we now know enough to know that we cannot know. So for the time being, it comes down to cognitive or emotional preference: an answer with only negative evidence or no answer at all"

Ant mega-colony takes over world - "Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, the US and Japan belong to the same interrelated colony, and will refuse to fight one another. The colony may be the largest of its type ever known for any insect species, and could rival humans in the scale of its world domination. What's more, people are unwittingly helping the mega-colony stick together."

Starcraft lessons from authentic Korean (richmond / seacliff) - "I'm 100% full blooded Korean, meaning I have been gifted with unparallel talent to master any video game, particularly, Starcraft: Brood War... Things I will be teaching in Starcraft: Learn Korean lango, like "chobo" "gosu" "ww" etc, Basic Korean to communicate with Koreans on battle.net... My lessons will result in: Bragging rights, that you're as good as a Korean in Starcraft, You will be called a hacker because you're so good., Korean girls will be intrigued that you're such a good Starcraft player."

Singapore Dissident: Emigrate to America - "As a follow up to my last post, a retort to Goh Chock Tong's lament on the exodus of the talented out of Singapore, as an California lawyer specializing in immigration, these are the avenues for those wanting to move to USA... When you go abroad with your family and children, support and help the Singapore political opposition in any way you can from where you are. Do your part to topple this dictatorial one party state for a new beginning for Singapore. Please remember that by leaving, you are helping to bring down this dictatorship in a big way."

iPhone Apps - Amazing Girlfriend Manager - "With this application you can improve your relationships by applying concepts of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) on your girlfriends. Think about your girlfriend as a client!... Features of this application: Allows you to manage multiple girlfriends at the same time (not recommended for moral reasons)... Benefits that this application can bring to you: Be selective. Through the analysis of ratings and cost of dates and gifts, you can keep only the girls with the best cost-benefit"