LA BÉGUEULE
CONTE MORAL. (1772)
Voltaire
Dans ses écrits un sage Italien
Dit que le mieux est l'ennemi du bien;
Non qu'on ne puisse augmenter en prudence,
En bonté d'âme, en talents, en science;
Cherchons le mieux sur ces chapitres-là;
Partout ailleurs évitons la chimère.
Dans son état heureux qui peut se plaire,
Vivre à sa place, et garder ce qu'il a!
La belle Arsène en est la preuve claire.
Elle était jeune; elle avait à Paris
Un tendre époux empressé de complaire
A son caprice, et souffrant son mépris.
L'oncle, la soeur, la tante, le beau-père,
Ne brillaient pas parmi les beaux esprits;
Mais ils étaient d'un fort bon caractère.
Dans le logis des amis fréquentaient;
Beaucoup d'aisance, une assez bonne chère;
Les passe-temps que nos gens connaissaient,
Jeu, bal, spectacle, et soupers agréables,
Rendaient ses jours à peu près tolérables:
Car vous savez que le bonheur parfait
Est inconnu; pour l'homme il n'est pas fait.
Madame Arsène était fort peu contente
De ces plaisirs. Son superbe dégoût,
Dans ses dédains, fuyait ou blâmait tout.
On l'appelait la belle impertinente.
Or admirez la faiblesse des gens:
Plus elle était distraite, indifférente,
Plus ils tâchaient, par des soins complaisants,
D'apprivoiser son humeur méprisante;
Et plus aussi notre belle abusait
De tous les pas que vers elle on faisait.
Pour ses amants encor plus intraitable,
Aise de plaire, et ne pouvant aimer,
Son coeur glacé se laissait consumer
Dans le chagrin de ne voir rien d'aimable.
D'elle à la fin chacun se retira.
De courtisans elle avait une liste;
Tout prit parti; seule elle demeura
Avec l'orgueil, compagnon dur et triste
Bouffi, mais sec, ennemi des ébats,
Il renfle l'âme, et ne la nourrit pas.
La dégoûtée avait eu pour marraine
La fée Aline. On sait que ces esprits
Sont mitoyens entre l'espèce humaine
Et la divine; et monsieur Gabalis
Mit par écrit leur histoire certaine.
La fée allait quelquefois au logis
De sa filleule, et lui disait: « Arsène,
Es-tu contente à la fleur de tes ans?
As-tu des goûts et des amusements?
Tu dois mener une assez douce vie. »
L'autre en deux mots répondait: « Je m'ennuie.
C'est un grand mal, dit la fée, et je croi
Qu'un beau secret c'est de vivre chez soi. »
Arsène enfin conjura son Aline
De la tirer de son maudit pays.
« Je veux aller à la sphère divine:
Faites-moi voir votre beau paradis;
Je ne saurais supporter ma famille,
Ni mes amis. J'aime assez ce qui brille,
Le beau, le rare; et je ne puis jamais
Me trouver bien que dans votre palais;
C'est un goût vif dont je me sens coiffée. »
Très volontiers, dit l'indulgente fée.
Tout aussitôt dans un char lumineux
Vers l'orient la belle est transportée.
Le char volait; et notre dégoûtée,
Pour être en l'air, se croyait dans les cieux.
Elle descend au séjour magnifique
De la marraine. Un immense portique,
D'or ciselé dans un goût tout nouveau,
Lui parut riche et passablement beau;
Mais ce n'est rien quand on voit le château.
Pour les jardins, c'est un miracle unique;
Marly, Versaille, et leurs petits jets d'eau,
N'ont rien auprès qui surprenne et qui pique.
La dédaigneuse, à cette oeuvre angélique,
Sentit un peu de satisfaction.
Aline dit: « Voilà votre maison;
Je vous y laisse un pouvoir despotique,
Commandez-y. Toute ma nation
Obéira sans aucune réplique.
J'ai quatre mots à dire en Amérique,
Il faut que j'aille y faire quelques tours;
Je reviendrai vers vous en peu de jours.
J'espère au moins, dans ma douce retraite,
Vous retrouver l'âme un peu satisfaite. »
Aline part. La belle en liberté
Reste et s'arrange au palais enchanté,
Commande en reine, ou plutôt en déesse,
De cent beautés une foule s'empresse
A prévenir ses moindres volontés.
A-t-elle faim? cent plats sont apportés;
De vrai nectar la cave était fournie,
Et tous les mets sont de pure ambroisie;
Les vases sont du plus fin diamant.
Le repas fait, on la mène à l'instant
Dans les jardins, sur les bords des fontaines,
Sur les gazons, respirer les haleines
Et les parfums des fleurs et des zéphyrs.
Vingt chars brillant de rubis, de saphirs,
Pour la porter se présentent d'eux-mêmes,
Comme autrefois les trépieds de Vulcain
Allaient au ciel, par un ressort divin,
Offrir leur siège aux majestés suprêmes.
De mille oiseaux les doux gazouillements,
L'eau qui s'enfuit sur l'argent des rigoles,
Ont accordé leurs murmures charmants;
Les perroquets répétaient ses paroles,
Et les échos les disaient après eux.
Telle Psyché, par le plus beau des dieux
A ses parents avec art enlevée,
Au seul Amour dignement réservée,
Dans un palais des mortels ignoré,
Aux éléments commandait à son gré.
Madame Arsène est encor mieux servie
Plus d'agréments environnaient sa vie;
Plus de beautés décoraient son séjour;
Elle avait tout; mais il manquait l'Amour.
Pour égayer notre mélancolique,
On lui donna le soir une musique
Dont les accords et les accents nouveaux
Feraient pâmer soixante cardinaux.
Ces sons vainqueurs allaient au fond des âmes;
Mais elle vit, non sans émotion,
Que pour chanter on n'avait que des femmes.
« Dans ce palais point de barbe au menton!
A quoi, dit-elle, a pensé ma marraine?
Point d'homme ici! Suis-je dans un couvent?
Je trouve bon que l'on me serve en reine;
Mais sans sujets la grandeur est du vent.
J'aime à régner, sur des hommes s'entend;
Ils sont tous nés pour ramper dans ma chaîne:
C'est leur destin, c'est leur premier devoir;
Je les méprise, et je veux en avoir. »
Ainsi parlait la recluse intraitable;
Et cependant les nymphes sur le soir
Avec respect ayant servi sa table,
On l'endormit au son des instruments.
Le lendemain mêmes enchantements,
Mêmes festins, pareille sérénade;
Et le plaisir fut un peu moins piquant.
Le lendemain lui parut un peu fade;
Le lendemain fut triste et fatigant:
Le lendemain lui fut insupportable.
Je me souviens du temps trop peu durable
Où je chantais, dans mon heureux printemps,
Des lendemains plus doux et plus plaisants.
La belle enfin chaque jour festoyée
Fut tellement de sa gloire ennuyée,
Que, détestant cet excès de bonheur,
Le paradis lui faisait mal au coeur.
Se trouvant seule, elle avise une brèche
A certain mur; et, semblable à la flèche
Qu'on voit partir de la corde d'un arc,
Madame saute, et vous franchit le parc.
Au même instant palais, jardins, fontaines,
Or, diamants, émeraudes, rubis,
Tout disparut à ses yeux ébaubis;
Elle ne voit que les stériles plaines
D'un grand désert, et des rochers affreux:
La dame alors, s'arrachant les cheveux,
Demande à Dieu pardon de ses sottises.
La nuit venait, et déjà ses mains grises
Sur la nature étendaient ses rideaux.
Les cris perçants des funèbres oiseaux,
Les hurlements des ours et des panthères,
Font retentir les antres solitaires.
Quelle autre fée, hélas! prendra le soin
De secourir ma folle aventurière!
Dans sa détresse elle aperçut de loin,
A la faveur d'un reste de lumière,
Au coin d'un bois, un vilain charbonnier,
Qui s'en allait par un petit sentier,
Tout en sifflant, retrouver sa chaumière.
« Qui que tu sois, lui dit la beauté fière,
Vois en pitié le malheur qui me suit;
Car je ne sais où coucher cette nuit. »
Quand on a peur, tout orgueil s'humanise.
Le noir pataud, la voyant si bien mise,
Lui répondit: « Quel étrange démon
Vous fait aller dans cet état de crise,
Pendant la nuit, à pied, sans compagnon?
Je suis encor très loin de ma maison.
Çà, donnez-moi votre bras, ma mignonne;
On recevra ta petite personne
Comme on pourra. J'ai du lard et des oeufs.
Toute Française, à ce que j'imagine,
Sait, bien ou mal, faire un peu de cuisine.
Je n'ai qu'un lit; c'est assez pour nous deux. »
Disant ces mots, le rustre vigoureux
D'un gros baiser sur sa bouche ébahie
Ferme l'accès à toute repartie;
Et par avance il veut être payé
Du nouveau gîte à la belle octroyé.
« Hélas! hélas! dit la dame affligée,
Il faudra donc qu'ici je sois mangée
D'un charbonnier ou de la dent des loups! »
Le désespoir, la honte, le courroux,
L'ont suffoquée: elle est évanouie.
Notre galant la rendait à la vie.
La fée arrive, et peut-être un peu tard.
Présente à tout, elle était à l'écart.
« Vous voyez bien, dit-elle à sa filleule,
Que vous étiez une franche bégueule.
Ma chère enfant, rien n'est si périlleux
Que de quitter le bien pour être mieux. »
La leçon faite, on reconduit ma belle
Dans son logis. Tout y changea pour elle
En peu de temps, sitôt qu'elle changea.
Pour son profit elle se corrigea.
Sans avoir lu les beaux moyens de plaire
Du sieur Moncrif, et sans livre, elle plut.
Que fallait-il à son coeur?... qu'il voulût.
Elle fut douce, attentive, polie,
Vive et prudente; et prit même en secret
Pour charbonnier un jeune amant discret,
Et fut alors une femme accomplie.
Thursday, November 07, 2013
Tuesday, November 05, 2013
On 377D of the Penal Code: when only being psychic is enough to avoid criminal liability
Someone: nope. I remember reading the bad law in a printed judgement and thinking that it was really screwy. I think the judge also subtly hinted at how his powers were restricted by it as well
Re solving it... Hmmm, I havent thought that much into how it can be reworded fairly
According to my ex-police boss, he joked that even if ask for ID, you still get screwed. Seems like the law is the one that is flawed.
Me: yep
as the law society article pointed out
oh well
Someone: Maybe 2 matching ID's or something.
Me: if you ask for ID and get fake ID and she's 17... at least fine
Someone: A lousy solution yeah.
Me: wondering how many will show ID
Someone: Odds are, probably none. Those men just got bloody unlucky.
Or rather, I reword.
Those men were doomed regardless of what they did in mitigation
Me: looks like asking her age saves you 1 week at least
I think the first underaged one showed her sister's IC right
well seeing IC = even better mitigation than just asking age
Someone: That Buegin guy? Yep. Sister's ID
Me: so how come he still got hit with such a heavy penalty
Someone: I'm not sure. Also, the fradulent use of the ID - we have history of charging people for the false use of ID to enter casinos... not on basis of evading the $100 fee, but with regards to the mens rea of using the ID to cheat others into thinking you are another person
So by rights, there is precedent available to charge the girl with misuse of ID
If i remember right. Operating off memory here rather than google and/or my achived legal material
Me: if you're underaged and use fake ID to enter a club are you liable?
we must look at the underaged part here
I think fake ID to buy cigarettes, you're liable
Someone: ". This is in stark contrast to the law relating to minors’ purchase of cigarettes. Any person under 18 years of age who purchases, uses or has in his possession a tobacco product is guilty of an offence and liable upon conviction to a fine of up to $300"
Re entering the club - not aware of any cases of that nature. I suppose though, that the consequence is small in the eyes of the state
Me: it's sexist lah
and moralistic
Someone: Yes it is
I think that the law is full of outdated stuff. This is one of them.
Me: hard to call it outdated
it was enacted a few years ago
Someone: changing laws takes 1-2 years, and sometimes, even if in process of changing it, even if it turns out fucked up, you have to wait for the next window to change it again
as folks upstairs will inevitably ask 'why the hell wasnt this spotted before!!! You expect me to get embarassed before Parliament?"'
Has happened before
Me: hurr hurr
I doubt they'll change it they made it fucked up for a reason la
it's politically hard to support the rights of prostitutes or johns
Someone: Well, I wont say they made it fucked up out of malice - moreso because overworked policy officers were just too burned out to game out the possibilities
I was one before, and yes, i kicked myself for not spotting some stuff before it went to Parliament
Generally, a law that has been passed wont be fixed, unless it becomes an embarrassment.
On the global stage. e.g the oral sex law.
At least in this govt. There are too many high salaries at stake, to be the dickhead who keeps giving the Minister more work.
Ne: not malice but it's strategic ambiguity
the compromise between:
- recognising that you cant stamp it out
- difficulty of ousting existing brothels even if they wanted to
- 'conservative' moral views
it was a *deliberate* insertion to remove the fact of honest mistakes from possible defences la. it was inserted on purpose
yeah legal inertia
Someone: Generally, if its an insertion (e.g. 377D), i try to trace down the parliamentary report for the change
Oh the removal of defence thing. Gimme a sec to correctly name it
Yep 377D. The one that shafted the angmo dude. The one that says that reasonable mistake of age its not a defence.
Well tracing legislative history. For example, lemme trace back 377D and show you the process
You got the Penal Code on Statutes online open?
Me: oh I didnt know it was 377D
it shafted a lot of people la
51/2007
not long ago
they put it in to screw people
Someone: Yep. im doing the trace... gimme a sec
[I'm] Tracing back legislative history, so that i can see when 377D was inserted, and so trace back the Hansard (parliamentary debate minutes) where the Bill was first debated
You can do the same by clicking legislative history at the top of the page. See it>?
After clicking on it, scroll down to the bottom.
Basically, legis history, scroll down, ignore the consequential changes -e.g. criminal procedure code etc, as those are just changing of terminology caused by other acts changing
If you are lucky, you get links to the old Acts, before they changed
In this case, we got lucky.
Its the same change that inserted 377A, which is no wonder 377D got overlooked in all that debate
Me: 377A got inserted? it was just retained right
Someone: Nope the old 377 got wiped. 377A was inserted together with 377D and a few others
Ok, its the famous Hansard of 23 Oct 2007 thereabouts - the 2nd and 3rd reading where Thio went on about drinking thru a straw and all that nonsense
Me: oh well
sigh
and now ~50 men are screwed
Someone: Next I go here
Publications - Singapore Parliament Reports | Parliament Of Singapore
Me: wonder who mischievously inserted the line about an honest mistake
Someone: Found the Hansard - yep, no debate on 377D at all. It got overlooked by Parliament in the midst of the 377A debate.
Singapore Parliament Reports - Full Report: PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES SINGAPORE. OFFICIAL REPORT. ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT
Me: sigh
Thanks, gay activists.
Someone: Well to my experience, prolly an overworked policy officer drafted it shitty. And a manager overlooked it or edited it
Me: well as I said someone *actively* inserted the honest mistake clause
Someone: Generally, the Bill wil have gone thru several cuts
Me: the irony is lots more men have been prosecuted under 377D than 377A since this whole farce started in 2007
Someone: So fault can lie on Min, Dir, Mngr, legal advisor, or down to the officer who made that line.
You'll be quite shocked that its usually policy officers with utterly no legal experience makign the first cut of the wording of the law. If the lawyers in AGC dont spot it... and the Mngr, Dir, PS, Min, Parl all miss it...
Me: not surprised
legal training is an expensive skill
I thought bureaucracy is supposed to weed out this sort of problem
Someone: it can be self learnt to a certain extent. And sometimes, officers are driven by responsibility and guilt to learn how to draft shit better
Me: I hope whoever drafted this feels bad.
Someone: Doesnt work well on paper. Problem with many layers of clearing, is that subtle naunces of the wordings in the law get missed
Me: depends on the clearers
Someone: There is an old joke that what you drafted as a policy officer becomes completely different by the time it reaches the Min, and you get all the blame.
See, your bosses summarise your stuff.
So the explanations get dropped first
Once you lose the footnotes, the next layer thinks it ok to change stuff
And yes, you can see it change... But if your PS or Min changes your draft, sometimes you arent privy to the changes when it happens because it is far above your level... and sometimes you know it is career suicide to debate with a busy Min when his clearance comes in at 2am at night and you gotta prep to send it to Parliament
A lot of folks don't understand why the system fails us... not without having either been on the inside. And the govt dont help by not making the process more transparent.
Me: Your bosses change everything also
Yeah people just blame "gahmen"
Re solving it... Hmmm, I havent thought that much into how it can be reworded fairly
According to my ex-police boss, he joked that even if ask for ID, you still get screwed. Seems like the law is the one that is flawed.
Me: yep
as the law society article pointed out
oh well
Someone: Maybe 2 matching ID's or something.
Me: if you ask for ID and get fake ID and she's 17... at least fine
Someone: A lousy solution yeah.
Me: wondering how many will show ID
Someone: Odds are, probably none. Those men just got bloody unlucky.
Or rather, I reword.
Those men were doomed regardless of what they did in mitigation
Me: looks like asking her age saves you 1 week at least
I think the first underaged one showed her sister's IC right
well seeing IC = even better mitigation than just asking age
Someone: That Buegin guy? Yep. Sister's ID
Me: so how come he still got hit with such a heavy penalty
Someone: I'm not sure. Also, the fradulent use of the ID - we have history of charging people for the false use of ID to enter casinos... not on basis of evading the $100 fee, but with regards to the mens rea of using the ID to cheat others into thinking you are another person
So by rights, there is precedent available to charge the girl with misuse of ID
If i remember right. Operating off memory here rather than google and/or my achived legal material
Me: if you're underaged and use fake ID to enter a club are you liable?
we must look at the underaged part here
I think fake ID to buy cigarettes, you're liable
Someone: ". This is in stark contrast to the law relating to minors’ purchase of cigarettes. Any person under 18 years of age who purchases, uses or has in his possession a tobacco product is guilty of an offence and liable upon conviction to a fine of up to $300"
Re entering the club - not aware of any cases of that nature. I suppose though, that the consequence is small in the eyes of the state
Me: it's sexist lah
and moralistic
Someone: Yes it is
I think that the law is full of outdated stuff. This is one of them.
Me: hard to call it outdated
it was enacted a few years ago
Someone: changing laws takes 1-2 years, and sometimes, even if in process of changing it, even if it turns out fucked up, you have to wait for the next window to change it again
as folks upstairs will inevitably ask 'why the hell wasnt this spotted before!!! You expect me to get embarassed before Parliament?"'
Has happened before
Me: hurr hurr
I doubt they'll change it they made it fucked up for a reason la
it's politically hard to support the rights of prostitutes or johns
Someone: Well, I wont say they made it fucked up out of malice - moreso because overworked policy officers were just too burned out to game out the possibilities
I was one before, and yes, i kicked myself for not spotting some stuff before it went to Parliament
Generally, a law that has been passed wont be fixed, unless it becomes an embarrassment.
On the global stage. e.g the oral sex law.
At least in this govt. There are too many high salaries at stake, to be the dickhead who keeps giving the Minister more work.
Ne: not malice but it's strategic ambiguity
the compromise between:
- recognising that you cant stamp it out
- difficulty of ousting existing brothels even if they wanted to
- 'conservative' moral views
it was a *deliberate* insertion to remove the fact of honest mistakes from possible defences la. it was inserted on purpose
yeah legal inertia
Someone: Generally, if its an insertion (e.g. 377D), i try to trace down the parliamentary report for the change
Oh the removal of defence thing. Gimme a sec to correctly name it
Yep 377D. The one that shafted the angmo dude. The one that says that reasonable mistake of age its not a defence.
Well tracing legislative history. For example, lemme trace back 377D and show you the process
You got the Penal Code on Statutes online open?
Me: oh I didnt know it was 377D
it shafted a lot of people la
51/2007
not long ago
they put it in to screw people
Someone: Yep. im doing the trace... gimme a sec
[I'm] Tracing back legislative history, so that i can see when 377D was inserted, and so trace back the Hansard (parliamentary debate minutes) where the Bill was first debated
You can do the same by clicking legislative history at the top of the page. See it>?
After clicking on it, scroll down to the bottom.
Basically, legis history, scroll down, ignore the consequential changes -e.g. criminal procedure code etc, as those are just changing of terminology caused by other acts changing
If you are lucky, you get links to the old Acts, before they changed
In this case, we got lucky.
Its the same change that inserted 377A, which is no wonder 377D got overlooked in all that debate
Me: 377A got inserted? it was just retained right
Someone: Nope the old 377 got wiped. 377A was inserted together with 377D and a few others
Ok, its the famous Hansard of 23 Oct 2007 thereabouts - the 2nd and 3rd reading where Thio went on about drinking thru a straw and all that nonsense
Me: oh well
sigh
and now ~50 men are screwed
Someone: Next I go here
Publications - Singapore Parliament Reports | Parliament Of Singapore
Me: wonder who mischievously inserted the line about an honest mistake
Someone: Found the Hansard - yep, no debate on 377D at all. It got overlooked by Parliament in the midst of the 377A debate.
Singapore Parliament Reports - Full Report: PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES SINGAPORE. OFFICIAL REPORT. ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT
Me: sigh
Thanks, gay activists.
Someone: Well to my experience, prolly an overworked policy officer drafted it shitty. And a manager overlooked it or edited it
Me: well as I said someone *actively* inserted the honest mistake clause
Someone: Generally, the Bill wil have gone thru several cuts
Me: the irony is lots more men have been prosecuted under 377D than 377A since this whole farce started in 2007
Someone: So fault can lie on Min, Dir, Mngr, legal advisor, or down to the officer who made that line.
You'll be quite shocked that its usually policy officers with utterly no legal experience makign the first cut of the wording of the law. If the lawyers in AGC dont spot it... and the Mngr, Dir, PS, Min, Parl all miss it...
Me: not surprised
legal training is an expensive skill
I thought bureaucracy is supposed to weed out this sort of problem
Someone: it can be self learnt to a certain extent. And sometimes, officers are driven by responsibility and guilt to learn how to draft shit better
Me: I hope whoever drafted this feels bad.
Someone: Doesnt work well on paper. Problem with many layers of clearing, is that subtle naunces of the wordings in the law get missed
Me: depends on the clearers
Someone: There is an old joke that what you drafted as a policy officer becomes completely different by the time it reaches the Min, and you get all the blame.
See, your bosses summarise your stuff.
So the explanations get dropped first
Once you lose the footnotes, the next layer thinks it ok to change stuff
And yes, you can see it change... But if your PS or Min changes your draft, sometimes you arent privy to the changes when it happens because it is far above your level... and sometimes you know it is career suicide to debate with a busy Min when his clearance comes in at 2am at night and you gotta prep to send it to Parliament
A lot of folks don't understand why the system fails us... not without having either been on the inside. And the govt dont help by not making the process more transparent.
Me: Your bosses change everything also
Yeah people just blame "gahmen"
Links - 5th November 2013
Review: 'Blue Is the Warmest Color': How Much Sex Is Too Much Sex? - "Kechiche is not the only French director to be accused of criminal badgering. Jean-Claude Brisseau received a one-year suspended prison sentence and fines of nearly 25,000 euros for sexually harassing two actresses while preparing his 2002 film Choses secrètes (Secret Things). His response was to make another movie, Les anges exterminateurs (Exterminating Angels), portraying himself as the victim of his victims... Instead of wondering why there is so much whoopee in Blue Is the Warmest Color — and it’s actually not that much: about nine minutes in the nearly three-hour film — one might ask why there is so little in most other movies. Considering that sex is an activity almost everyone participates in and thinks about even more, it’s startling and depressing to think about how few movies connect their characters’ lives with their erotic drives. The practical answer to this question it that people no longer pay to see sex in movie theaters, as they did in the ’70s for art-house dramas (Last Tango in Paris) and porno chic (Deep Throat); they get it on their home computers for free. But directors can still find much to explore, and Kechiche is one of them. Unlike the slick, deodorized sexcapades in late-night Cinemax movies, the graphic scenes in Blue express the personalities of Emma, who’s in charge, and Adèle, who’s truly, madly, deeply in love. Amour fou was rarely so fou, so fevered, so lovable."
Pot growers celebrate as Uruguay legalizes cultivation and consumption of marijuana - "What the government of President José “Pepe” Mujica is advocating — which will surely become law because of his movement’s comfortable majority in the Senate — will make this country of just 3.4 million people a trailblazer. Under Mujica, a 78-year-old former guerrilla, Uruguay has adopted a raft of liberal policies on issues from same-sex marriage to abortion."
Changing British attitudes: press and politicians out, royal family in - "The UK is still a long way off its 1980s levels of royal support, when 65% said it was "very important" for Britain to continue to have a monarchy. But there has been a fascinating turn-around in opinion – from 27% thinking this in 2006 to 45% expressing strong support for the royal family in this year's latest survey."
Gabriel Seah's answer to Sex: How many times would you need to have unprotected sex with someone who's HIV positive to get HIV? - Quora - "the man has a 99.92% of not getting HIV and the woman 99.96% in the first sexual encounter.
While this is very small, the chance that you will stay uninfected rises the more often you have sex. Using logarithms, we find that:
- To have a 99% chance of remaining safe, a woman can only have unprotected sex 12 times and a man 25
- To have a 95% chance, a woman can do it 64 times and a man 128
- 90%: 131 (female), 263 (male)"
Dear Prudence: My boyfriend is a 30-year-old virgin. - "“I don’t have a condom” is “The dog ate my homework” of the lifetime virgin"
Why I Don’t Swear: An Argument for Decent Language - "Aristotle made a distinction between voice and language. A voice is merely sound indicating pleasure or pain, but language has political and ethical dimensions. Language is a means by which human beings make distinctions between good and evil, just and unjust. “Language”, as my professor Dr. Robert E. Wood likes to say, “is reason laying down its tracks in a system of signs.” Reason cannot fully articulate itself in the sound of a voice. It needs the more refined mode of signs, in the form of letters that form words which can be strung together in meaningful patterns or sentences, which can be multiplied endlessly to create discourse. The problem with swearing is that it is more voice than language, more animal than human. Swear words are not chosen for the meaning they convey, but rather for their impact. Swearing is used to punctuate and emphasize discourse in the same way that exclamation marks function. Swearing is a base form of communication that indicates “perception of pleasure and pain.” It is akin to the barking of a dog, the howling of a wolf, or the crowing of a rooster. Swearing isn’t meant to mean anything. It is simply meant to make an impression. The swearing that passes for language in modern social discourse is essentially a counterfeit language that heralds a de-volution of the human subject to a more animal state... “hate speech” functions to create unsafe environments for “outsiders” and cultivates animosity towards them in those who employ this type of speech. Swearing is similar. Using swear words to communicate in sound what cannot be articulated in language can lead to behavior that is fueled by passion rather than reason. One need only consider how often unethical behavior is preceded by “F- it!”, or something similar, which serves to cut-off the psychic disturbances of fear, anxiety or guilt... To bark expletives rather than searching for the most appropriate word to express what one is thinking is an exercise in intellectual laziness that is the first symptom of the fall of man"
When one argues one advances points to persuade other people of the truth of one's position. However, when one swears one is short-circuiting the logical pathways to exploit emotional ones. When one has conceded the field of reason to one's opponent, one has thus lost the argument. In short: if you swear/insult your opponent, you have lost the argument
I'm an animal in bed - Imgur
Singapore Seen | Woman's revealing top -- is really over the top - "STOMPer Chen was appalled by how revealing this woman's top was, especially when she bent over to try out a mop during a product demonstration at Jurong Point. According to the STOMPer, the woman had attracted a lot of attention from bystanders... "She was looking at a mop demonstration while others were looking at her 'asset demonstration'!"
If STOMP publishes this, I guess it's okay for men to take photos of women in public (even if they're in revealing outfits) without getting charged
Grumpy massage “uncle” in video ad back to sell swimwear - "“Uncle” Toh is at it again. Well, at least his online alter ego is. A sound engineer at a dance club, 53-year-old Toh Kia Hing once again assumes his role as an infamous massage therapist “uncle” who is not happy being hassled by sexy women at work... The video is the third of a series of videos by Jobiness, a startup online platform that offers branding for businesses and a research database for jobseekers."
The first video was a ripoff of the Brazilian one (dreamjob.com.br) but they followed up with two others so good for them!
One man’s dream job is another man’s nightmare - "They include having to sniff the armpits of strangers when deodorant companies want to test their products, burning human waste in sea vessels... Ever tasted pet food? Someone does that for a living, too. The Daily Mail reported that Mr Simon Allison, a senior food technologist for Marks & Spencer in the UK, have to taste the canned food before they go on the shop shelves. And unlike the grumpy “uncle” in the video, he enjoys his work. Mr Allison said: “Sniffing the product is a bit like a professional wine taster. It has the taste and aroma of chicken and some of what you call the red flavours - things like heart and liver; gutsy, savoury notes. Then you get a mealy, green pea, pulse aroma and occasionally a sweeter note from the carrot. "You have to chew it a bit. I have trained my palate to look for materials that we will not allow in the recipe, such as tripe - pet owners react badly to the smell of tripe.”"
How To Be A Girly Girl - YouTube
How facelifts make us look younger by just 3 years - "Overall, the number of years ‘saved’ by having a full facelift or other procedures such as eyelid surgery is around three. The more work that’s done, the younger the look, according to US and Canadian specialists. But they failed to find any significant change in attractiveness ratings afterwards - and in Britain the cost of a clutch of cosmetic surgery procedures could top £10,000."
Interdisciplinarity - "The reality is that everyone likes breadth and interdisciplinarity in theory, but the resistance in practice is considerable"
"I went to USC as an undergrad and came out 6 years ago thinking that breadth of research was useful, important and necessary for healthy scholarship.
Then I went to grad school…"
Survey: 1 in 5 Singapore workers claim ‘ghostly’ workplace encounters - "Women are more likely than men to 'encounter' or hear about someone encountering 'something'... One respondent quips: “My colleague encountered a ‘ghost’ lurking in the washroom at my shop level. I encountered only the tap that turns on by itself at times, due to a faulty sensor. Ha-ha.” Another puts it bluntly: “Customers and colleagues are scarier than the 'supernatural' because they either make a din or take your stationeries without informing you.”"
Man's body found hanging after eight years in flat near Paris
Love really is like a drug - "Intense spells of passion are as effective at blocking pain as cocaine and other illicit drugs... Younger's team recruited students in the first nine months of a relationship, when feelings of passion are at their most intense. "We intentionally focused on this early phase of passionate love. We specifically were not looking for longer-lasting, more mature phases of the relationship. We wanted subjects who were feeling euphoric, energetic, obsessively thinking about their beloved, craving their presence," Sean Mackey, a co-author on the paper, said. "When passionate love is described like this, it in some ways sounds like an addiction. We thought, maybe this does involve similar brain systems as those involved in addictions.""
'Romantic Love Is an Addiction,' Researchers Say - "The researchers found that, for heartbroken men and women, looking at photographs of former partners activated regions in the brain associated with rewards, addiction cravings, control of emotions, feelings of attachment and physical pain and distress. The results provide insight into why it might be hard for some people to get over a break up, and why, in some cases, people are driven to commit extreme behaviors, such as stalking and homicide, after losing love"
Crazy in love: What happens in your brain when you really do have chemistry - "The frontal cortex, vital to judgment, shuts down when we fall in love. MRI scans show this de-activation occurs only when someone is shown a photo of the person they adore, causing them to suspend all criticism or doubt... Brain scans have also shown the area of the brain that controls fear, and another region involved in negative emotions, close down, explaining why people feel so happy with the world – and unafraid of what might go wrong – when they fall head over heels... Tests show that taking opioid drugs such as cocaine have a similar effect on dopamine as love.
Pot growers celebrate as Uruguay legalizes cultivation and consumption of marijuana - "What the government of President José “Pepe” Mujica is advocating — which will surely become law because of his movement’s comfortable majority in the Senate — will make this country of just 3.4 million people a trailblazer. Under Mujica, a 78-year-old former guerrilla, Uruguay has adopted a raft of liberal policies on issues from same-sex marriage to abortion."
Changing British attitudes: press and politicians out, royal family in - "The UK is still a long way off its 1980s levels of royal support, when 65% said it was "very important" for Britain to continue to have a monarchy. But there has been a fascinating turn-around in opinion – from 27% thinking this in 2006 to 45% expressing strong support for the royal family in this year's latest survey."
Gabriel Seah's answer to Sex: How many times would you need to have unprotected sex with someone who's HIV positive to get HIV? - Quora - "the man has a 99.92% of not getting HIV and the woman 99.96% in the first sexual encounter.
While this is very small, the chance that you will stay uninfected rises the more often you have sex. Using logarithms, we find that:
- To have a 99% chance of remaining safe, a woman can only have unprotected sex 12 times and a man 25
- To have a 95% chance, a woman can do it 64 times and a man 128
- 90%: 131 (female), 263 (male)"
Dear Prudence: My boyfriend is a 30-year-old virgin. - "“I don’t have a condom” is “The dog ate my homework” of the lifetime virgin"
Why I Don’t Swear: An Argument for Decent Language - "Aristotle made a distinction between voice and language. A voice is merely sound indicating pleasure or pain, but language has political and ethical dimensions. Language is a means by which human beings make distinctions between good and evil, just and unjust. “Language”, as my professor Dr. Robert E. Wood likes to say, “is reason laying down its tracks in a system of signs.” Reason cannot fully articulate itself in the sound of a voice. It needs the more refined mode of signs, in the form of letters that form words which can be strung together in meaningful patterns or sentences, which can be multiplied endlessly to create discourse. The problem with swearing is that it is more voice than language, more animal than human. Swear words are not chosen for the meaning they convey, but rather for their impact. Swearing is used to punctuate and emphasize discourse in the same way that exclamation marks function. Swearing is a base form of communication that indicates “perception of pleasure and pain.” It is akin to the barking of a dog, the howling of a wolf, or the crowing of a rooster. Swearing isn’t meant to mean anything. It is simply meant to make an impression. The swearing that passes for language in modern social discourse is essentially a counterfeit language that heralds a de-volution of the human subject to a more animal state... “hate speech” functions to create unsafe environments for “outsiders” and cultivates animosity towards them in those who employ this type of speech. Swearing is similar. Using swear words to communicate in sound what cannot be articulated in language can lead to behavior that is fueled by passion rather than reason. One need only consider how often unethical behavior is preceded by “F- it!”, or something similar, which serves to cut-off the psychic disturbances of fear, anxiety or guilt... To bark expletives rather than searching for the most appropriate word to express what one is thinking is an exercise in intellectual laziness that is the first symptom of the fall of man"
When one argues one advances points to persuade other people of the truth of one's position. However, when one swears one is short-circuiting the logical pathways to exploit emotional ones. When one has conceded the field of reason to one's opponent, one has thus lost the argument. In short: if you swear/insult your opponent, you have lost the argument
I'm an animal in bed - Imgur
Singapore Seen | Woman's revealing top -- is really over the top - "STOMPer Chen was appalled by how revealing this woman's top was, especially when she bent over to try out a mop during a product demonstration at Jurong Point. According to the STOMPer, the woman had attracted a lot of attention from bystanders... "She was looking at a mop demonstration while others were looking at her 'asset demonstration'!"
If STOMP publishes this, I guess it's okay for men to take photos of women in public (even if they're in revealing outfits) without getting charged
Grumpy massage “uncle” in video ad back to sell swimwear - "“Uncle” Toh is at it again. Well, at least his online alter ego is. A sound engineer at a dance club, 53-year-old Toh Kia Hing once again assumes his role as an infamous massage therapist “uncle” who is not happy being hassled by sexy women at work... The video is the third of a series of videos by Jobiness, a startup online platform that offers branding for businesses and a research database for jobseekers."
The first video was a ripoff of the Brazilian one (dreamjob.com.br) but they followed up with two others so good for them!
One man’s dream job is another man’s nightmare - "They include having to sniff the armpits of strangers when deodorant companies want to test their products, burning human waste in sea vessels... Ever tasted pet food? Someone does that for a living, too. The Daily Mail reported that Mr Simon Allison, a senior food technologist for Marks & Spencer in the UK, have to taste the canned food before they go on the shop shelves. And unlike the grumpy “uncle” in the video, he enjoys his work. Mr Allison said: “Sniffing the product is a bit like a professional wine taster. It has the taste and aroma of chicken and some of what you call the red flavours - things like heart and liver; gutsy, savoury notes. Then you get a mealy, green pea, pulse aroma and occasionally a sweeter note from the carrot. "You have to chew it a bit. I have trained my palate to look for materials that we will not allow in the recipe, such as tripe - pet owners react badly to the smell of tripe.”"
How To Be A Girly Girl - YouTube
How facelifts make us look younger by just 3 years - "Overall, the number of years ‘saved’ by having a full facelift or other procedures such as eyelid surgery is around three. The more work that’s done, the younger the look, according to US and Canadian specialists. But they failed to find any significant change in attractiveness ratings afterwards - and in Britain the cost of a clutch of cosmetic surgery procedures could top £10,000."
Interdisciplinarity - "The reality is that everyone likes breadth and interdisciplinarity in theory, but the resistance in practice is considerable"
"I went to USC as an undergrad and came out 6 years ago thinking that breadth of research was useful, important and necessary for healthy scholarship.
Then I went to grad school…"
Survey: 1 in 5 Singapore workers claim ‘ghostly’ workplace encounters - "Women are more likely than men to 'encounter' or hear about someone encountering 'something'... One respondent quips: “My colleague encountered a ‘ghost’ lurking in the washroom at my shop level. I encountered only the tap that turns on by itself at times, due to a faulty sensor. Ha-ha.” Another puts it bluntly: “Customers and colleagues are scarier than the 'supernatural' because they either make a din or take your stationeries without informing you.”"
Man's body found hanging after eight years in flat near Paris
Love really is like a drug - "Intense spells of passion are as effective at blocking pain as cocaine and other illicit drugs... Younger's team recruited students in the first nine months of a relationship, when feelings of passion are at their most intense. "We intentionally focused on this early phase of passionate love. We specifically were not looking for longer-lasting, more mature phases of the relationship. We wanted subjects who were feeling euphoric, energetic, obsessively thinking about their beloved, craving their presence," Sean Mackey, a co-author on the paper, said. "When passionate love is described like this, it in some ways sounds like an addiction. We thought, maybe this does involve similar brain systems as those involved in addictions.""
'Romantic Love Is an Addiction,' Researchers Say - "The researchers found that, for heartbroken men and women, looking at photographs of former partners activated regions in the brain associated with rewards, addiction cravings, control of emotions, feelings of attachment and physical pain and distress. The results provide insight into why it might be hard for some people to get over a break up, and why, in some cases, people are driven to commit extreme behaviors, such as stalking and homicide, after losing love"
Crazy in love: What happens in your brain when you really do have chemistry - "The frontal cortex, vital to judgment, shuts down when we fall in love. MRI scans show this de-activation occurs only when someone is shown a photo of the person they adore, causing them to suspend all criticism or doubt... Brain scans have also shown the area of the brain that controls fear, and another region involved in negative emotions, close down, explaining why people feel so happy with the world – and unafraid of what might go wrong – when they fall head over heels... Tests show that taking opioid drugs such as cocaine have a similar effect on dopamine as love.