Links - 4th August 2012

"Every person takes the limits of their own field of vision for the limits of the world." - Arthur Schopenhauer

***

Shanghai Subway Tells Scantily Clad Women To Expect Sexual Harassment - " Two young females, each wearing a black veil over their face, stepped into a crowded subway station with signs... instead of showing the expected support, netizens turned on these two females. @王若翰Kitty complains: “We can always get rid of perverts through law or moral regulation, but you can’t ask everyone to pretend to ignore you when you wear really revealing clothes! This is an impossibly high bar.” @快乐小陶子 had a more unique take: “ I think a woman who wears revealing clothes in public is actually sexually harassing the men there. Regardless of your gender, you should not use the hot weather as an excuse to dress indecently. Public places aren’t your locker room; regardless of your gender, if you want to be respected by others, you have to learn to respect other people first.”"
Comment: "If you're going to "make a statement", you're categorically inviting people to look at you, otherwise it's not a statement. You can't have it both ways...if you're going to dress like that, people are going to look. How much looking constitutes sexual harassment... does anyone else see the irony in deliberately attracting attention to your boobs (with a silver tin-can bra over your clothes, for example) to protest people looking at women's private parts?"
"I remember an incident at a university in the 70's when a young woman in the students canteen stood in line wearing a top with stratetically placed holes in it. A professor was seen to go a little closer and peering at the blouse whereupon the student, very annoyed, asked him what he thought he was doing. His reply: "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought that was the idea""
"public space is hardly the place to show sexual organs, primary or secondary, whether it is a woman's cleavage or a man's genitalia; if men started wearing no underwear and tight or see through pants, I bet women would denounce it as sexual harassment, and demand anti-erection devices; such hipocrisy. Leave the sexual display for the bedroom, the nightclub, or the beach, for spaces where it is expected"

Cellulite: The Phantom Menace - "most men (even fat ones) never develop it, because the connective tissue under men’s skin is crisscrossed like a net, which better restrains their fatty deposits. Women’s tissue bands are organized in vertical columns instead"

Cellulite: The Women's Disease That Doesn't Exist - "Cellulite was, quite literally, invented by fashion magazines. On April 15, 1969, Vogue magazine published an article describing cellulite as an increasingly common skin disease, and advertising solutions to "cure" this imagined problem. The term "cellulite" existed within a medical context, to describe the secondary sex characteristic, beginning in the 1920s, but practitioners did not regard it as a disease or a problem"

The UnMuseum - Real Dracula: Vlad the Impaler - "In a poll taken in Romaina in 2006, Vlad was named as one of the "100 Greatest Romanians" of all time"

Celibacy, Furniture and Ecstatic Dancing- What More Can you Ask For From a Religion? - "The Shakers were best known for their wholesale rejection of sexual relations and their intense work ethic, which they channeled towards making really great furniture. You have to sublimate that id somehow…. Unsurprisingly, the Shakers eventually died out for reasons that need not be mentioned. They left some great end tables though."

delanceyplace.com 7/23/12 - please and thank you - " saying "please" and "thank you" is not a universal custom—there are societies such as the Inuit, where it is not the case... etiquette largely consists of the exchange of polite fictions (to use less polite language, lies). When you ask someone to pass the salt, you are also giving them an order; by attaching the word 'please,' you are saying that it is not an order. But, in fact, it is."

What Does Space Smell Like?

New in Singapore: iPad rentals for tourists

14 Creative Divorce Cakes

The Grand Moofti Speaks: Charity, MUIS and being a Pakistani-Malay-Indian Singaporean - "I am not Malay by ethnicity. Nor do I speak Malay. In fact, under Singapore law persons of Pakistani origin are legally classified 'Indian,' requiring monthly mandatory payments to the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA). I may voluntarily give zakat to MUIS but SINDA benefits from my legal classification. My Housing and Development Board ethnic quota is 'Others' (not Malay) but I am subject to Singapore's Islamic law (AMLA) – legislation designed to fit into Malay religious and cultural traditions. Being a cynic, I am convinced that were I ever to approach MUIS for assistance, I would politely be sent packing towards SINDA. I am not a Tamil Indian. Nor do I speak Tamil. Consequently, I will most likely face similar problems convincing SINDA to assist me, especially once SINDA realizes I am Muslim (not difficult given my name). I imagine there will be a few bouts of 'shuttle diplomacy' between SINDA and MUIS until a senior bureaucrat in some government ministry decides that being categorized Indian or Malay is not as important as being Singaporean, regardless of ethnicity."

The Grand Moofti Speaks: Singapore’s secularism – is there an opt-in clause for Muslims? - "the AMLA has several conditions which impinge on the civil rights of Muslim citizens. For example, a Muslim is unable to write a Will assigning more than 33% of his wealth to his preferred heirs. AMLA forbids it. Put another way, the law dictates that as a Muslim I cannot give 100% of my wealth to (say) my mother if I wished. I can only leave a maximum of 33% to my mother. Under Singapore law, the remaining 67% of my wealth must be distributed by MUIS (based on Islamic law). I find this odd legislation for a secular state... Choice is the bedrock of freedom within a secular society. Hindus exercise choice if they eat beef and Catholics if they use a condom. Similarly, Hindus exercise choice when not eating beef and Muslims when not drinking alcohol. Freedom of choice should prevail in all matters of personal conscience. Muslims deserve the same choices which other Singaporeans take for granted. One such (lack of) choice pertains to the law of inheritance. There are also other instances"

The Grand Moofti Speaks: Whither Singapore’s Secularism? Note to the Ministry of Law - "It should be noted that there are several main schools of law within the Sharia. In Pakistan, the orthodox school of law is different from the school to which Malays generally subscribe. Additionally, AMLA is geared towards Sunni Muslims. Shia Muslims may have their own grievances with AMLA. AMLA deals primarily with family law, including inheritance, marriage and divorce. Several provisions of AMLA contradict sections of Singapore civil law... AMLA permits polygamy and specifies guidelines for divorce. Polygamy blatantly contradicts the Singapore Women's Charter while the divorce guidelines are controversial. Feminists have issues reconciling AMLA with the Women's Charter"

Erika Christakis: Why Mass Killers Are Overwhelmingly Male - "How many of the worst mass murderers in American history were women? None... Imagine for a moment if a deadly disease disproportionately affected men. Not a disease like prostate cancer that can only affect men, but a condition prevalent in the general population that was vastly more likely to strike men. Violence is such a condition: men are nine to 10 times more likely to commit homicide and more likely to be its victims... For millennia, human society has struggled with what to do with young men’s violent tendencies. Many cultures stage elaborate initiation ceremonies, presided over by older men, which help channel youthful aggression into productive social roles... Our refusal to talk about violence as a public-health problem with known (or knowable) risk factors keeps us from helping the young men who are at most risk and, of course, their potential victims. When we view terrible events as random, we lose the ability to identify and treat potential problems, for example by finding better ways to intervene with young men during their vulnerable years"
When we refuse to acknowledge patterns in data because of a dogged refusal to 'stereotype', it is the disadvantaged groups which suffer the most

Help Keep Singapore Corruption Free. Join Us As A Graft Buster ! - "If you are infected by the zeal to fight corruption in Singapore, come and join us to pursue a challenging and rewarding career as a graft buster!"

Birth Control Matters for Women Who Want American Dream - "No one wants to suggest that certain women shouldn’t have babies. But the hard truth is that certain women shouldn’t have babies if they aspire to a middle-class life... Births to financially insecure single women who aspire to middle-class life are a hindrance to upward mobility... the more we put our heads in the sand about the comprehensive economic impact of unwed motherhood on working-class and middle-class families — including a thorough reckoning of its downstream financial costs to children’s and mothers’ physical, academic, psychological and social health — the more the void is filled by people who don’t have much intention of doing anything about it... Unfortunately, people on all sides of the political spectrum fall into the morality trap when they talk about unwed motherhood, tying themselves in knots trying to parse the “real” impact of growing up in an atypical family. On the right, these conversations often rooted in religious convictions about marriage, sex and even abortion. On the left, policymakers are so quick to embrace all family structures that they refuse to acknowledge that some models really do work better than others in the long run. On both sides, there’s an emotional quality to the discourse that detracts from the financial realities... We need to stop fighting about the ethics of out-of-wedlock births and instead focus on the economics behind them. When we do, we’ll discover that the real story isn’t that women aren’t getting married. It’s that they, and the men who impregnate them, are having children they can’t support. It may be good news that a majority of Americans (54%) think having a baby outside of marriage is morally acceptable, because for women under 30 today, the majority of births do take place outside of marriage. Whether it’s economically feasible is a whole different story"

How This Guy Lied His Way Into MSNBC, ABC News, The New York Times and More - "On Reuters, he became the poster child for “Generation Yikes.” On ABC News, he was one of a new breed of long-suffering insomniacs. At CBS, he made up an embarrassing office story, at MSNBC he pretended someone sneezed on him while working at Burger King. At Manitouboats.com, he offered helpful tips for winterizing your boat. The capstone came in the form of a New York Times piece on vinyl records — naturally, Holiday doesn’t collect vinyl records"

I want that MRT pervert punished - "As a short-term measure, she will be returning home only once a week. "For my safety, I've quit my job and got permission from my parents to move into my boyfriend's home," she said"

Comment se faire du bien?

Comment se faire du bien? by bazprodtv

Another Favourite Singaporean Law

Following on from:
- Word or gesture intended to insult the modesty of a woman
- Obscene Songs and
- Act caused by inducing a person to believe that he will be rendered an object of divine displeasure, here's another delicious Singaporean Law:

Indecent Advertisements Act (CHAPTER 135)
Section 7: Advertisements as to syphilis, etc., declared indecent

7.—(1) Any advertisement relating to venereal disease, nervous debility, or other complaint or infirmity arising from or relating to sexual intercourse, and any advertisement claiming for any preparation aphrodisiac properties, shall be deemed to be printed or written matter of an indecent nature within the meaning of section 5, if such advertisement is published to the public by any means or is affixed to or inscribed on any house, building, wall, hoarding, gate, fence, pillar, post, board, tree or other thing whatsoever, so as to be visible to a person being in or passing along any public place, public road or footpath, or is affixed to or inscribed on any public urinal, or is delivered or attempted to be delivered to any person being in or passing along any public place, public road or footpath.

(2) Nothing in this section shall apply to any advertisement relating to venereal disease published by or with the authority of the Government or by any local or public authority.


In other words, if you put up a poster educating people about sexually transmitted diseases/sexually transmitted infections, it is considered indecent, sanctionable by "a fine not exceeding $100 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month or to both".

Oh, and it's a seizable offence too (you can be arrested without a warrant).

Incidentally, according to gay activists Section 377A of the Penal Code, by criminalising homosexuality, stymies AIDS and STD prevention efforts because it means you cannot talk in public about an illegal activity blah blah.

Apparently they don't know about this law, whose implications for AIDS and STD prevention are a lot more serious.

(happily, non-activists know that this law is as impotent and relevant to everyday life as 377A)


Keywords: poster, STI, STD, posters, AIDS, illegal, public education, Action for AIDS, public health, sexual education

Links - 3rd August 2012

"I never think I have finished a nude until I think I could pinch it" - Pierre-Auguste Renoir

***

Women Dominate The Global Market Place; Here Are 5 Keys To Reaching Them - "Women control 65 percent of global spending and more than 80 percent of U.S. spending... They make the final decision for buying 91 percent of home purchases, 65 percent of the new cars, 80 percent of health care choices, and 66 percent of computers"
I'm sure you can spin this as "Structural Violence"

For the Love of Bacon

Twitter / ad0lfh1pster: How the world see's the UK ... - "How the world see's the UK"

U and non-U English - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "U and non-U English usage, with "U" standing for "upper class", and "non-U" representing the aspiring middle classes, was part of the terminology of popular discourse of social dialects (sociolects) in Britain and New England in the 1950s. The debate did not concern itself with the speech of the working classes, who in many instances used the same words as the upper classes. For this reason, the different vocabularies often can appear quite counter-intuitive: the middle classes prefer "fancy" or fashionable words, even neologisms and often euphemisms, in attempts to make themselves sound more refined, while the upper classes in many cases stick to the same plain and traditional words that the working classes also use, as, conscious of their status, they have no need to make themselves sound more refined"

South Pacific tribe preparing for return of ’god’ Prince Philip

9GAG - Preparing the perfect stew.

Marylou's Coffee being investigated by police for only hiring attractive female workers - "They claim that the workers the chain hires are based on the applicant pool, most of whom tend to be younger women... Attractive employees are often seen wearing pinkT-shirts and black shorts singing and dancing in television commercials... State Sen. Robert L.Hedlund said the probe is ridiculous. 'Why, because they haven’t hired old overweight men who want to wear a pinkT-shirt and serve coffee?' he said. 'The federal government has better things to do withmy tax dollars than to harass a legitimate business'"

trust in condom - YouTube - "Maisha iko sawa na Trust"

Tokyo ramen restaurant lets customers decide price

In Singapore, Vitriol Against Newcomers From Mainland China - NYTimes.com - "“Mainlanders may look like us, but they aren’t like us,” said Mr. Tan, who is of mixed Malay-Chinese descent and does not speak Mandarin. “Singaporeans look down on mainlanders as country bumpkins, and they look down on us because we can’t speak proper Chinese”... Wang Quancheng, the chairman of the Hua Yuan Association, the largest organization representing mainlanders, said the government was not doing enough to help integrate new arrivals, but he also blamed Singaporeans for their intolerance and said many were simply jealous that so many Chinese immigrate here with money in their pockets. “Of course, the new arrivals are rich or else the government would have to feed them,” he said. “Some locals are very lazy and live off the government”... [An ex-PRC] finds locals somewhat aloof, more likely to work late and less likely to spend the night commiserating over stiff drinks. Unlike Singaporeans, people from China, he said, would never split a dinner tab"
Living off the governmen? Sounds like a Singapore I wouldn't mind living in

'Brinicle' ice finger of death filmed in Antarctic

Their emotional bond turns sexual - "SHE was his firstborn and he had always been close to her. When she grew older, the teenager even accompanied her father to drinking sessions with his friends at coffee shops. Their relationship soon took an intimate turn when father and daughter began hugging and kissing in 2006, when the girl was only 18. Over time, they progressed to touching and fondling each other's private parts when they were alone in the family flat. Two years later, father and daughter ended up having sex in the master bedroom. The 47-year old plumber was yesterday jailed three years for committing incest. It is believed to be the first court case of consensual sex between father and daughter here... Mr Tan pointed out that no violence was used in the incestuous act. In sentencing him to three years' jail, District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim noted that although the daughter was "not very young", she was still below 21 at that time... A consultant psychiatrist in private practice, Dr Brian Yeo, told The New Paper that whatever the reasons, the father should take the bulk of the responsibility as he is more mature... the fact that the girl was 18 when she started getting intimate with her father shows that she was also aware and culpable, said Dr Yeo. "However, the father must still take the bulk of the responsibility. Being the father, if he commands his daughter to follow him, she may feel a sense of obligation, maybe even some fear that if she doesn't, she could break up the family," he added"
I'd forgotten to follow up on this case. The girl only got a year's probation despite there being consent, and she wasn't even "depressed". Of course AWARE is silent on this despite the insult to female agency (and equality) implied (and the questions raised about what the age of consent really means). The NUS law professor scandal will probably end up the same way, even though she was the one who proposed it

Slide Show | Do You Know These Regional Pizza Styles? | Serious Eats
30 types of pizzas (loosely defined); Mmm Roman Pizza al Taglio

Shit Asian Girls Say - YouTube

The Real Reason Gay Men Don't Get Fat - "Many gay men spend their adolescence as outcasts or misfits, and when they finally get to a place where they can join the gay culture at large, they react to their years of social solitude by conforming with the sort of fervor usually reserved for packs of teenage girls. That means looking the part, which, of course, means joining the gym and becoming a regular"

Why Is Everyone on the Internet So Angry? - "A perfect storm of factors come together to engender the rudeness and aggression seen in the comments' sections of Web pages... because comment-section discourses don't happen in real time, commenters can write lengthy monologues, which tend to entrench them in their extreme viewpoint. "When you're having a conversation in person, who actually gets to deliver a monologue except people in the movies? Even if you get angry, people are talking back and forth and so eventually you have to calm down and listen so you can have a conversation"... Chiming in on comment threads may even give one a feeling of accomplishment, albeit a false one. "There is so much going on in our lives that it is hard to find time to get out and physically help a cause, which makes 'armchair activism' an enticing [proposition]"... "Even someone who is making a legitimate point but with an angry tone is hurting the nature of the argument, because they are promoting people to respond in kind"... we should make a point of including a few people in our social circles who think differently from us. "You'll develop a healthy respect for people whose opinions differ from your own""

Experts: Some fracking critics use bad science - WSJ.com - " In the debate over natural gas drilling, the companies are often the ones accused of twisting the facts. But scientists say opponents sometimes mislead the public, too."

Nearly Two Dozen Injured at Tony Robbins Seminar - NYTimes.com - "Ms. Kaderi was one of nearly two dozen who were injured on Thursday, the first night of Mr. Robbins’s “Unleash the Power Within” seminar, which included a fire walk as a signature experience. She said she did not seek medical attention, but many of those hurt reported second- or third-degree burns... Inside a cavernous room at the convention center on Sunday, several thousand people listened to Joseph McClendon III, Mr. Robbins’s top coach, tell the crowd that pharmaceutical companies “do not have your best interests at heart. The reality is 80 percent of prescription drugs do nothing to change the disease itself.” In the hallways, participants were invited to further their self-improvement with CDs and DVDs, including “Total Commitment Package” for $647 and “Love & Passion: The Ultimate Relationship Program” for $249"

SK-II MEN: Measure of a Man with Godfrey Gao | Fash-Eccentric! - "It’s true. The ladies are naturally attracted to men with good skin complexion. Today, your man doesn’t need to steal your skincare. Why? SK-II introduces a new skincare range for men which includes the SK-II MEN Facial Treatment Essence"
Looking at this blog post, the sort of women you attract... the guy's a lot cuter than them

Le spam nigérian le plus poétique (et drôle) - "un membre de l’équipe de Rue89 a été submergé d’émotion : « C’est un des plus beaux que j’aie jamais lu. » Il est tellement poétique, imaginatif et tragi-comique que nous ne résistons pas au plaisir de le publier (en le conservant dans son jus : syntaxe, orthographe et ponctuation originales)"

BREAKING: City Harvest Church founder Kong Hee arrested by Commercial Affairs Department - Page 248 - www.hardwarezone.com.sg - "This banner, placed outside the court, was removed by security guards earlier this morning. (Photo credit: Tan Qiuyi)"
"Condolences. Eternal Death. Deepest Sympathy. Repent! Woe to you Anti-Christ Leaders Pastors Pharisees Hypocrites! (mirror)"

Viewpoint: The spectre of plagiarism haunting Europe - "more than a third of a new book for law students on how to write papers properly was plagiarised, including liberal smatterings from Wikipedia. Fittingly, even the chapter on plagiarism was plagiarised. And just to show how contagious the disease is, the authors also cite zu Guttenberg's dissertation - albeit incorrectly"

There Is a 10% Chance You're Dreaming Right Now

Europe CNY 2012 - Day 2, Part 5 - Tate Britain

Europe CNY 2012
Day 2 - 20th January - Tate Britain (Part 5)

When they hear of the Tate, most people think of the Tate Modern. I had no interest in that, so I went to Tate Britain, the most comprehensive collection of British Art in the world.

The Rough Guide said it was South of Parliament. They should've said it was at the Pimlico tube stop, as that'd have been nearer. Grr.

I was surprised to find that the Tate Britain had modern stuff as well. I thought that's what the Tate Modern was for.


The Lady of Shalott
One of the annoying thing about museum photography is the reflections, which necessitates these angles


Past and Present, No 1


The Golden Stairs


An Iron Forge


Woman and her Melons
Cookmaid with Still Life of Vegetables

Chainsaw Wielding Nun: "i admire the deft painting of light and dark on the cabbage
very contrasty cabbage. seriously."


The Cholmondeley Ladies
This was quite ugh-y. Quite wooden, and the babies look dead. Strangely this was one of the highlights of the historic collection; no wonder British art is not so famous, and cannot compete with the Holy Trinity of the Low Countries, Italy and France.


O The Roast Beef of Old England ('The Gates of Calais')
This was cute


Wonderful typo
I thought "Coming Soon" was part of the exhibition title (hey, you never know!) because I was looking at the dates (hey, an exhibition lasting 1.5 years!)


The Derby Day


Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth
She looks ghastly, but then I think that's the point


Ecstasy


La Mitrailleuse (The Machine Gun)


General Grievous
Torso in Metal from 'The Rock Drill'


La Hollandaise
Dutch women are not that unattractive!


An Athlete wrestling with a python


Peter Paul Rubens: A Study for the Glorification of the Duke of Buckingham: Minerva and Mercury Conduct the Duke to the Temple of Virtue

Midway through the Rubens/Post-Restoration gallery, I noticed there was a no photos sign, but it was not clearly marked and the staff also didn't care.


Landscape with St George


The Surrender of Barcelona
I've never been to Barcelona, but I doubt Gaudi was allowed to go this crazy


Stalin I
(Is there Stalin II?!)


Theseus and the Minotaur
????????????????????????


Portrait of Mrs Gill
She had wrinkles, which was rare in portraiture


Cleombrotus ordered into banishment by Leonidas II, King of Sparta


The Phoenix or the Resurrection of Freedom
This was a print supporting the American Revolution


Plucking the Turkey
Another American Revolution era painting, possibly with an opposite meaning. It was a very dark painting.


Legend for Photos


Homeless Irishman (it doesn't matter if it's the first or the second one)


Standing Asleep


I don't know why I took this


Consett, Country Durham


Legend for the above


The Last Resort 23


Chiara and Chair

Of all modern art, I hate installation the most as it actively works to annoy me.


Contemporary Displays: Has the film already started?
Curated by Lizzie Carey-Thomas, Helen Delaney, Leyla Fakhr, Carmen Julia, Katharine Stout, Clarrie Wallis and Andrew Wilson


Contemporary Displays: Has the film already started?


Contemporary Displays: Has the film already started? 2