Links - 10th January 2012

"Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better." - Andre Gide

***

Count the Cost Before You Say I am an Atheist - "The viciousness of people who say they are followers of the man who said turn the other cheek and love your enemy has scarred me... Almost all (all but 2) of my Christian friends have abandoned me. I don’t blame them. I have come to see that our friendship was held together by fidelity to certain beliefs. Remove the beliefs and the friendship dissolves"
Comment: "When they say that you were never a "true Christian" do you ever tell them that they were never a "true friend"? My criteria for friendship doesn't include someone's religious status"

he/she | \/Death^kimono\/ - "Because I tell them cock jokes or talk about my sexual experiences, suddenly it’s a free for all to comment when they see my boobs at an angle or to use any chance they get to offer their dicks for me to suck, or even that it’s alright to tell me how u disrespected your marriage or your gf with random potential STD risks and expect me to give u a hi five with no gloves on? Hey. Fuck off. These are not one or two incidences , this is what I have been getting all my life"

'Pasotto': The Pasta That Is Cooked Like Risotto - "It's brilliant. No enormous pot of water that takes forever to boil; a much smaller volume of stock can intensely flavor each piece of pasta. No second pot for sauce; the sauce forms in the pan along with the pasta. Hello, pasotto!"

Not Now, Skeletor!

Priests brawl in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity as clergy fight over Christmas cleaning - "In the 1980s, monks battled each other with chains and broomsticks over who had the right to clean a particular section of wall and beams"

What does it feel like to have a trophy wife?
When I first saw this page all 4 respondents were anonymous

Brit catches fish that bites men's testicles - "Pacu fish are usually found in the Amazon, where they need their teeth to crack into the tough cases of nuts and seeds. The previously vegetarian fish were introduced to Papua New Guinea 15 years ago to increase stocks. They used their special technique to chomp meat due to a lack of suitable vegetation in the waters."

Neural repetition suppression to identity is abolished by other-race faces - "Human beings are remarkably skilled at recognizing faces, with the marked exception of other-race faces: the so-called “other-race effect.” As reported nearly a century ago... this face-recognition impairment is accompanied by the popular belief that other-race faces all look alike... sensitivity to race begins early at the perceptual level, providing, after nearly 100 y of investigations, a neurophysiological correlate of the “all look alike” perceptual experience"

The British Left Goes Anti-Semitic by Theodore Dalrymple - "Socialist and anti-Semite alike seek an all-encompassing explanation of the imperfection of the world, and for the persistence of poverty and injustice: and each thinks he has found an answer... The liberal intellectual who laments the predominance of dead white males in the college syllabus or the lack of minority representation in the judiciary uses fundamentally the same argument as the anti-Semite who objects to the prominence of Jews in the arts, sciences, professions, and in commerce. They both assume that something must be amiss—a conspiracy—if any human group is over- or under-represented in any human activity, achievement, or institution... The Middle East conflict has given respectability to old prejudices... While one can disagree strongly with the Israeli government’s policies without being anti-Semitic, the selection of Israel alone for a boycott in a world in which atrocity and suppression of freedom are routine must arouse suspicions of pre-existing animus—that is to say, of old-fashioned anti-Semitism... When Professor Mona Baker of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology dismissed two Israeli academics from the editorial board of two academic journals, The Translator and Translation Studies Abstracts, on the sole grounds that they were Israeli, not a peep of protest was heard from British academics, though if she had dismissed the academics on the grounds that they were Syrian, Rwandan Hutu, or Muslim, a great fuss would have ensued"

The Wanderer and His Shadow - "The purely Good Son is never the interesting one: audiences love a tale that ends in redemption or perdition, and the Cain archetype is certainly full of the latter... There is something deeply appealing in a curse, something that speaks to and captivates the human imagination, always sympathetic to the martyr but empathetic to the sinner"

Laser Scissors - "No, the laser can’t cut paper by itself; that’s what the scissor is for. It’s for idiots like you and me who can’t cut in a straight line if the world depended on it."

Man assaults two others over request to borrow pen - "A man asked two others at a coffee shop for a pen and punched them when they replied they did not have one"
This is why I always carry a pen with me

Information for Bankrupts - "Why should I avoid bankruptcy? You should avoid bankruptcy for these reasons: Social stigma on being declared a bankrupt"

The Information War in the Pacific, 1945 - "The Japanese text on the reverse side of the leaflet carried the following warning: “Read this carefully as it may save your life or the life of a relative or friend. In the next few days, some or all of the cities named on the reverse side will be destroyed by American bombs. These cities contain military installations and workshops or factories which produce military goods. We are determined to destroy all of the tools of the military clique which they are using to prolong this useless war. But, unfortunately, bombs have no eyes. So, in accordance with America's humanitarian policies, the American Air Force, which does not wish to injure innocent people, now gives you warning to evacuate the cities named and save your lives. America is not fighting the Japanese people but is fighting the military clique which has enslaved the Japanese people”"
This won't stop those who just want to blame America for everything

Chile exploding churros recipe case resolved - "Chilean newspaper La Tercera has been ordered to compensate 13 readers who suffered injuries when they followed a recipe it published."

Why Do Jews Love Chinese Food? - "The two groups have neither linguistic nor religious nor geographic commonalities. They aren’t known for intermarrying or for intermingling. Both groups are famously insular, and tend to regard themselves as chosen peoples. And yet, there’s a connection. There are lots of jokes about it. There’s even a restaurant in Los Angeles called Genghis Cohen. But the inroad made by Chinese food has been so profound that even sacred dietary laws are routinely broken for this cuisine. A Jewish household that wouldn’t countenance a single bacon bit at home will consume industrial quantities of spare ribs, roast-pork fried rice and shrimp dumplings... Jewish food is the blandest, most boring in the entire world"

Freakonomics: What Went Wrong? - "Examination of a very popular popular-statistics series reveals avoidable errors"

周杰倫公主病《杰威爾官方》Jay Chou "Princess Syndrome" Official MV - YouTube

And the Award for Best Booth Babe Costume at PAX Goes To ...

Level 5 Vegan (Lisa the tree hugger) - YouTube - "I’m a level 5 vegan—I won’t eat anything that casts a shadow"

NTUC FairPrice to pull shark's fin off shelves - "Singapore's largest supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice announced today that it will cease selling shark's fin starting April... One of NTUC FairPrice's shark's fin suppliers, Thern Da Seafood, posted a comment on Facebook that drew much criticism earlier this week. The post, which announced the launch of a shark's fin product at the supermarket chain, also said 'Screw the divers', causing netizens to react strongly... [NTUC] will also be withdrawing all products from Thern Da Seafood"
FAIL!

Dr. Irene cure ED/premature ejaculation by Tuina/prostate massage/juagen 81479948/93928688 - Singapore - Health - Beauty - Fitness - "She then proceeds with prostate massage next to help remove body toxins. Slipping her gloved finger with lubrication gently into my arse, it was not in any way painful as what I would have presumed initially. There was a comfortable tingling sensation as her finger went deeper. (I hate it the last time a doc put her finger in to verify my diarrhoea… ouch!). I feel warmth building up inside as she rubbed with her fingertip to “milk” the toxins. The whole process was a soothing and relaxing one. In fact I see the effects when I remove my bowels back home. It feels different and refreshing. I will definitely return to her again for treatment. She's really an authentic TCM specialist with the desire to help and heal"
???

Misrepresented, Misquoted, Misunderstooded. - "Teenagers, goths and emos should just step aside. People’s Action Party (PAP) members are by far the most misunderstood group of people in the world. It appears as if they can’t say or do a thing without being misunderstood. If they went to a MacDonald’s to buy a Big Mac with extra lettuce and no pickles they’d probably get Fillet o’ Fish."
Politics in Singapore means never having to say you're sorry

Orchard Road ranked the most attractive avenue in the world - "The Champs Elysées came 16th in this study with an overall score of 71/100. "Strolling down the Champs is pleasant. Passers-by approached are friendly and do their utmost to inform the customer. On the other hand, welcome and service in the stores are less friendly. In 40% of cases, the sales assistant showed a sign of annoyance with the mystery shopper. The customer remembers the lack of smiles and sympathy towards him”"

English and Chinese dictionary of the Amoy dialect : Macgowan, J. (John), d. 1922 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
English-Hokkien Dictionary!

Lenovo ThinkPad X220 review - "The 720p webcam served up crisp images of our mug in Skype – so crisp, in fact, that our caller was quick to point out our lack of makeup"

Unreasonable Atheists - "Will the nominee be biased by his or her personal beliefs? Which is really another way of asking Does he or she believe in the same things I do?"

File-Sharing Recognized as Official Religion in Sweden - "Although the formal status of the Church doesn’t mean that copyright infringement is now permitted, the Church’s founder hopes that their beliefs will be considered in future lawmaking"