"Everyone has a right to a university degree in America, even if it's in Hamburger Technology." - Clive James
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Lesbians raped to "correct" their sexuality - "Sky News approached a group of men about attitudes towards gay women, with one man claiming lesbians should be "whipped, as there is no mention of lesbians in the Bible." The men all agreed women should behave like women and this was a way of teaching them that."
MP3 vs. CD Audio Quality Tests - "2006-05-19: I've found the High Quality settings (-V 2 --vbr-new) - ~190kbps - to provide sufficent quality that I find CD's burned from the output to be sonically indistinguishable from the originals"
Do Higher MP3 Bit Rates Pay Off? - "With the possible exception of the USB Key that survived a washing and drying cycle, no other Maximum PC Challenge has ever surprised us as much as this one. It’s downright humiliating, in fact, that in many cases, we were unable to tell the difference between an uncompressed track and one encoded at 160Kb/s, the bit rate most of us considered the absolute minimum acceptable for even portable players. Some follow-up testing confirmed our suspicions: variable bit rate encoding makes a tremendous difference in the audio quality results, certainly enough to justify—many times over—the slight file size increase. Capping the bit rate at 160Kb/s in MP3 files can be pretty harsh on a track, but allowing the bit rate to wander upwards during more complex passages—as variable bit rate encoding does—and throttle down during quieter sections captures an astonishing amount of complexity while keeping file sizes down to an impressive minimum."
"Audiophile: A person who believes they can detect minor flaws in any audio system that cause them to enjoy music and other audio much less than the average person in 99% of normal situations"
Bizarre HR: Bankers indulge their cheating hearts - "More bankers have been turning to adultery since the collapse of the financial markets in October last year... most bankers said they embarked on extra-marital affairs because of a public revulsion for bankers, combined with a lack of affection in private. This was followed closely by the excitement of doing something risky, escaping boredom, feeding their ego and giving in to the peer pressure of having a mistress for the sake of status"
SPCA STERILISATION CAMPAIGN “DESEX IN THE CITY” DECEMBER 2009 - "Unsterilised cats and dogs often suffer from cancer of the reproductive organs, testicular tumours, peri-anal tumours, prostate tumours, ovarian tumours, mammary tumours and chronic uterine infections such as pyometra and metritis. Sterilised animal have reduced chances of getting these ailments."
Wow, I almost want to get sterilised too.
Japanese noodle bath. [VIDEO] - Literally. Damn Japs.
Guide to Singapore Work Culture for Newcomers - "If you have just found a job in Singapore, a good way to conform to hierarchical relationships is to follow these guidelines:
* Treat employers and superiors with utmost respect.
* Refrain from calling their employers by first names – preferring instead to call them “Mr/Mrs/Miss” and followed with their surname/personal name or simply “Sir/Madam/Boss”.
* Practise the “arrive before the boss, leave after the boss” working hours... Majority of Singaporeans and local firms practise group-centredness, that is, the traditional value of cooperation amongst group members to maintain group harmony. In a workplace, teamwork and group efforts (cooperation) are seen as the main means of achieving company goals (group harmony). Anti-group-centredness behaviors such as disagreeing with the group’s decisions, putting individual wants above the group’s needs and boasting about individual efforts are frowned upon as these behaviours jeopardize group harmony. This Collectivist culture has a preference to work together and share rewards more than to strive for individual recognition; sharing responsibilities, helping each other and learning from each other"
Sounds like Singapore 20 years ago - or China now
Dah Sing Bank, Limited - Wealth Management - VIP Banking - Hello Kitty VIP Banking Services Information - "Women nowadays are well-versed in business and competent in many different roles in society, with a better position to achieve wealth accumulation. Dah Sing Bank understands the great emphasis modern women place on the quality of life. To accommodate you to pursue a quality and sparkling lifestyle, Dah Sing Bank is launching the Hello Kitty VIP Banking to provide you with professional and personalized financial srvices, allowing you to manage your wealth conveniently and flexibly"
Uhh...
Geist: Record industry faces liability over `infringement' - "The infringer has effectively already admitted owing at least $50 million and the full claim could exceed $60 billion. If the dollars don't shock, the target of the lawsuit undoubtedly will: The defendants in the case are Warner Music Canada, Sony BMG Music Canada, EMI Music Canada, and Universal Music Canada, the four primary members of the Canadian Recording Industry Association... After years of claiming Canadian consumers disrespect copyright, the irony of having the recording industry face a massive lawsuit will not be lost on anyone, least of all the artists still waiting to be paid. Indeed, they are also seeking punitive damages, arguing "the conduct of the defendant record companies is aggravated by their strict and unremitting approach to the enforcement of their copyright interests against consumers.""