«我国互联网形态有特殊性。相对于国外的各种限制，中国的互联网是全世界最开放的。» - 周锡生

("Our country's Internet situation is unique. Compared to all kinds of restrictions in foreign countries, China has the most open Internet in the world." - Zhou Xisheng, Deputy Chief of Xinhua News Agency, Director-General of Xinhua News Net)

***

We are born to believe in God - ""Children have a natural, intuitive way of reasoning that leads them to all kinds of supernatural beliefs about how the world works. As they grow up they overlay these beliefs with more rational approaches but the tendency to illogical supernatural beliefs remains as religion"... even ardent atheists may balk at the idea of accepting an organ transplant from a murderer, because of a superstitious belief that an individual’s personality could be stored in their organs"

Is Google Censoring Islam Suggestions? - "Confused about what Islam is? Join the party — it seems Google can’t figure it out either. Or, at least its search suggestion program can’t"

Singaporeans Seek Asylum Elsewhere - "Despite the prosperity, the decent health and education systems and the lack of crime, a steady trickle of Singaporeans have felt the urge to abandon their homeland and seek asylum in nations such as Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada over the last few years. (That of course doesn't count the thousands of Singaporeans who leave every year to settle elsewhere. By one estimate, the number who put the Lion City behind them is as high as 15 percent of annual births)... With genuine refugees from strife-ridden nations such as Afghanistan... most asylum seekers from Singapore are turned back... Meanwhile, the Singapore government continues to stick to its long-standing policy of refusing to accept refugees. It is one of the few countries that have chosen not to sign up to the UN Refugee Convention and has a long history of turning away even those in desperate need... Lee Kuan Yew... vetoed a 1979 proposal by Margaret Thatcher to buy a vacant Indonesian or Philippine island to house Vietnamese boat people. His concern was that this would create a "rival entrepreneurial city""

German cop faces firing after having noisy sex in church

He Lied, She Lied - ""Men tend to lie to gain career or professional status... Women tend to lie to gain social status." So while a man is busy underestimating operating costs or bloating sales figures, Reina says their female colleagues are more likely to be spreading office gossip that may not be true, or making up excuses not to attend a co-worker's dinner party... Women are also more likely to express exaggerated appreciation. Office hallways rebound with women complimenting each other on their outfits, hairstyles and work; men tend to keep it to a simple, "Good job, man"... women are more likely to be self-deprecating and express falsely negative evaluations of themselves in order to either fish for a compliment or seem less threatening... A man, no surprise, is more likely to aggrandize his achievement"

YouTube - 12 Days of Ris-Mas - "On the 12th day of Ris-Mas my true love gave to me: 12 months probation, 11 day safari, 10 ads from sponsorers, 9 English lessons, 8 khaki jins, 7 credit cards from 6 different people, 5 leopard preens, 4-giveness, 3-piece bigini, 2 polar disorder and a diploma in hospitallality"

Man beaten to death for using mobile phone in pub

Chimpanzees exchange meat for sex - "[She] studied chimps in the Tai Forest reserve in Ivory Coast... Dr Gomes thinks that her findings could even provide clues about human evolution. She suggests this study could lay the foundations for human studies exploring the link between "good hunting skills and reproductive success". "This has got me really interested in humans," she said. "I'm thinking of moving on to working with hunter-gatherers.""
Patriarchy has infected Macaques in Indonesia, Penguins in Antarctica, Shrikes (presumably in Eastern Europe) and now Chimpanzees in Côte d'Ivoire (insect mating might be too simple to describe as prostitution)

We’re Wired from Brain to Toe, So Why Aren’t We Illiterate Yet? - "When once we dined on Tolstoy, now we munch on Tweets. So goes the argument. Turns out, it’s wrong. Actually it’s been wrong for a few millennia, starting when Socrates predicted that we were all screwed when the oral tradition gave way to the written word... Enjoyment of literature has always been a moving target — hence, the Canon’s very center of gravity–Shakespeare–wrote plays for the barely literate rabble. Terrific irony... research on whether TV is detrimental to the intelligence of children depends almost entirely on where they live, in a socioeconomic sense... 'for children of impoverished parents... The more TV they watch, the better their grades'"
Theory is useless - you must look at empirical data. Which is why when the humanities try to talk about social science, you often get ridiculous results

Secrets of the Economist's Trade: First, Purchase a Piggy Bank - "Economists are often cheapskates... economics majors were less likely to donate money to charity than students who majored in other fields... One year, Yale University economist Robert Shiller, who'd never gambled in his life, found himself at a casino there. He says that was because Wharton economist Jeremy Siegel realized that by using coupons offered to conventioneers, they could take opposing bets at the craps table with a 35 out of 36 chance of winning $12.50 each. Over two nights, Mr. Shiller netted $87.50. He hasn't gambled since."

Contra Mundum: Confessions of an Anti-Choice Fanatic - "If current media is to be believed opposition to legal abortion comes from misogynist fundamentalist fanatics who want to impose their religious mores onto others. This string of pejorative terms is amusing; however, it does not actually address the more crucial question of whether laws against feticide (the killing of a fetus) are just... Those who attempt to ground humanity in the amount of brain development an organism has undergone face a dilemma... “by any plausible measure dogs, and cats, cows and pigs, chickens and ducks are more intellectually developed than a new born infant”"

Audiences experience 'Avatar' blues - "On the fan forum site "Avatar Forums," a topic thread entitled "Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible," has received more than 1,000 posts from people experiencing depression and fans trying to help them cope... A user named Mike wrote on the fan Web site "Naviblue" that he contemplated suicide after seeing the movie... "When I woke up this morning after watching Avatar for the first time yesterday, the world seemed ... gray. It was like my whole life, everything I've done and worked for, lost its meaning""
............................

Noah's Ark was circular raft made of reeds, according to ancient tablet - "The tablet describes the Mesopotamian story, which became the account in the Old Testament of Noah's Ark in the Book of Genesis. In Mr Finkel's translation, the god speaks to Atram-Hasis, a Sumerian king who is the Noah figure in early versions of the ark story... Mr Finkel, the curator of the recent British exhibition on ancient Babylon, believes it was during the Babylonian captivity that the exiled Jews learned of the story of Noah and incorporated it into the Old Testament"

How To Wake Up Your Girlfriend (video)
This guy's not getting laid tonight

Letter From London - My American Friends - "When I finally got to America myself, I found that not only were the natives friendly and hospitable, they were also incredibly polite. No one tells you this about Americans, but once you notice it, it becomes one of their defining characteristics, especially when they’re abroad... racial intermingling in Britain is most conspicuous in the ethnically diverse makeup of the groups of yobs — Asian, black and white — who exercise their antisocial behavioral skills without any kind of discrimination as to whom they happen to be terrorizing"

"Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater." - Gail Godwin

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"SIR – I recently finished my required 45-hour “orientation class” (Orientierungskurs) and corresponding examination in Germany after a mandatory equivalent of 600 hours of German language lessons, just to stay in the country for three years. Apart from being told that the German flag contains the colour gold, “not yellow”, I had to endure rich-bashing and ridicule of the notion that anyone can become a millionaire. The result of this class has been a desire on my part to leave Germany, which was perhaps one of its goals.

Roxanna Nazari
Berlin"

Mr Miyagi:

"I've always said that no matter how bad one thinks Singapore is, there's always Malaysia to make us thankful we don't live there."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


The Post-Breakup Facebook Effect

"There's an interesting phenomenon on Facebook: as soon as a girl gets out of a relationship and makes her new "single" status known, all of her guy friends suddenly jump in to console her. From that moment on, numerous guys will continue to post sympathetic messages on her wall and status updates until the relationship status has returned to "In Relationship". Personally, I find the phenomenon to be extremely entertaining.

The phenomenon is now part of a strange mating ritual which has evolved on Facebook... In the case of the guys who immediately post comments on the change of a female’s relationship status to “Single”, the guys are essentially displaying their lower value...

I can see it now though, a Discovery channel show on the mating rituals of humans who are connected to Facebook. (Said in an Australian accent) "The female demonstrates her ability to cook by posting images of the meal that she just made for dinner. The males collect photos which depict themselves in a position of influence and post status updates which illustrate their cleverness.""

"The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane." - Nikola Tesla

***

I'd heard of this, but I thought it was an urban legend:



"FILL MY CUPS

This one's for the ladies

Step right up to the Boobie Booth and flaunt what you've got, we don't care if they're bite-sized or swollen, droopy or perky, silicone or saline, papayas or even raisins - everyone's a winner. But trust us, big girls most definitely won't cry.

A - 1 free drink
B - 2 free drinks
C - 3 free drinks
D - 1 Bottle of Premium Vodka

DJ Dcup (Australia): The next big thing to come from Down Under, Dcup has drawn comparisons to Treasure Fingers, Miami Horro and Shazam

Belvedere Vodka $168++ per bottle

OverEasy - 1 Fullerton
Sat, 16th Jan 2010
9pm-Late"


It'd have been a cute promotion on its own, but the fact that the DJ is called Dcup makes it even cuter. Except presumably they don't think there're DD and bigger cups in Singapore.

Perhaps some girls will deliberately wear overly-big bras to get more drinks.

I'm quite sure this will be more popular than Dare 21 (which promised free entry to girls wearing 21" of clothes or less).

Some say it is offensive but really, it is a logical extension of the idea of Ladies' Nights: in both cases one gender is privileged over the other.


jemauvais:

"No I won't be there, but I'm curious to know:

1) How many women are actually going to step up to the Boobie Booth.
2) How they are going to determine the cup size (like are they going to do it arbitrarily? Or just check labels? Or have those Triumph or Wacoal sales people around to do private fittings?).
3) What size is the "bottle of vodka" for the D Cups (notice they didn't say anything about mixers).

But most importantly, I'm waiting to see if some disgruntled feminist will lodge a complaint about this, like the Muttons FHM Braless Day thing...!"

Felle amaro me potavit populus
et aceto; non illi dedi amaras aquas
in deserto, sed latices suaves.
Viri aspide surda
surdiores et saeviores,
quid a me vultis adhuc?
Jam moriar pro vobis.

Me on Tuesday: Not going to take part in pointless online arguments until the end of the week

A: i don't believe it you can control yourself.

B: You'll just find a way to start an argument by saying that its not pointless.

C: we could get the ISD to email you just so you can argue with them

D: can you?... you're leafving town this weekend?

E: what is this, austerity week?

F: i disagree with you walking away from all that

G: I bet you can't resist=p


I find their lack of faith disturbing.

In any case, I made it.

On dirt:

"“In cleaning”, writes Mindy Lewis, editor of a recent collection of essays entitled “Dirt”, “we make sense of our lives, sort our messes, restore order to our psyches, work out our anger and frustration, rediscover the beauty in our lives, and express our love for (and resentment toward) others.” Cleaning away dirt, her contributors suggest, can be healing or oppressive, comforting or obsessive, or each of these at different times.

One essayist in “Dirt” describes how her neurotic desire to keep her house spick and span led to the break-up of her marriage: “For me, the act of cleaning house came to represent my endless pursuit of control, in a life where virtually none existed.” Another contributor explains how cleaning became an expression of self-worth. “The truth is, cleaning gives me a sense of purpose at times when it doesn’t seem like I have a role in this world,” she writes. “At home, there are always things to be dusted, sucked up, disposed of.”"

Enfin, je comprends pourquoi le participe passé s'accorde en genre et en nombre avec le complément d'objet direct qui le précède.

C'est pour nous aider à distinguer les phrases:

Je l’ai sautée sur mon lit.
et
Je l’ai sauté sur mon lit.

C'est très très important!!!