Ben Woodfinden: Smug liberal Canadians should realize Joe Biden is no friend of the world - "Mainstream Canadian opinion, both among ordinary Canadians and Canadian elites, is marked by a strong anti-American streak. But calling it anti-Americanism doesn’t quite do it justice. It would be better to describe this sentiment as being more about being anti-red state America... The point is not that Biden is uniquely bad and a Republican would be good. It’s that this kind of mindset needs to die if we are to protect our interests dealing with a rogue and unreliable America"
The Mystery of "Singapore" Fried Noodles and Fried Rice - " Despite its name, Singapore Fried Noodles wasn’t created in Singapore – it was actually created by chefs in Hong Kong way back in the 50s or 60s. In Hong Kong, the noodle dish consists of stir-fried bee hoon, curry powder, meat (chicken, pork, or prawns), eggs, and veggies – the name ‘Singapore’ was believed to have been used because it sounded ‘exotic’ to those in Hong Kong at the time. The use of curry powder was the key ingredient of this version of fried vermicelli – the dish has to be bright yellow. You could get Singapore Fried Noodles almost everywhere, from big Cantonese restaurants to teahouses (cha chan teng) and stalls (dai pai dong). Thanks to its popularity, the dish spread overseas – mainly to wherever the British tend to frequent, like the UK and Australia. Ironically, while it wasn’t created in Singapore, the dish did land here and became known as Xin Chow (or Sin Chew, depending on dialect) Bee Hoon (星洲炒米); Xin Chow was Singapore’s old moniker. While most of the ingredients of this fried bee hoon dish are similar, the Singapore version doesn’t use curry powder. This brings us to a dish we do have in Singapore – the Hong Kong Noodle, which as you’ve guessed, does not exist in Hong Kong! The dish we call ‘Hong Kong Noodle’ here is actually a Singaporean version of Hong Kong’s Soya Sauce Fried Noodle (豉油王炒麵), which doesn’t include meat, prawn, or egg (yep, the Hong Kong version is vegan). Much like the fried noodle dish, you’ll find that the Singapore Fried Rice dish doesn’t exist here either – it’s very popular Chinese takeaway food in the UK though, where the fried rice dish contains egg, meat and/or prawns. Like its noodle cousin, it’s also usually a bit spicy. Perhaps the idea of putting ‘Singapore’ in the dish’s name was inspired by the popular fried noodle dish. All fried rice dishes originated in China way back in the Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD), but the one that’s technically called ‘Singapore Fried Rice’ is closer to Yangzhou Fried Rice which we can get in Singapore. Except, while it does technically originate from Yangzhou, there’s no absolute ‘standard’ fried rice dish in Yangzhou itself! Our version of Yangzhou Fried Rice typically contains eggs, barbecued pork, and shrimp. In Yangzhou, the specified ingredients for their ‘specialty’ fried rice are sea cucumber, chicken, ham, scallops, shrimp, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and green peas, but it’s almost impossible to find any restaurant that serves it using these ingredients in Yangzhou. So, the idea of the Yangzhou Fried Rice is a misnomer – it’s basically just ‘fried rice’. Unlike its noodle and vermicelli cousins, the Singapore Sling is 100% Singaporean, concocted by a bartender named Ngiam Tong Boon at Raffles Hotel’s Long Bar back in 1915. But what isn’t well known is the fact that the original recipe was lost when it fell out of fashion by the 1930s. This means that all Singapore Slings today are approximations of the original, with bartenders concocting the cocktail from a loose collection of written notes... Many dishes we know today – like Mongolian BBQ or Hong Kong Noodles – don’t exist in their home country, but this naming of dishes not only helps give them an exotic feel, it also makes diners curious about their origins. Other dishes that don’t exist in their ‘home countries’ include Swiss Chicken in Hong Kong, which is a sweeter soy sauce flavoured chicken wing served at cha chaan tengs (or tea restaurants), as well as the ubiquitous General Tso’s Chicken served in Chinese restaurants across the USA, which doesn’t exist in China. Who knows, maybe Singapore Fried Noodles, Singapore Fried Rice, and Singapore Sling could be food ambassadors for our country – even if two of them weren’t ‘born local’."
‘My husband and I share the same bathwater as our kids every day’ - "Some have argued that the practice isn’t “gross”, as it wasn't unheard of for people growing up in decades past when “heating water was expensive”. “It was a very common occurrence years ago,” one wrote. “I was born in the ‘70s, and it wasn't unusual then. No harm came to anyone from it!” another exclaimed. “Gosh, this was how bathtime worked when I was a child - and we didn't bathe every day, either!” a parent chimed in."
From Australia
How the Elderly Lose Their Rights | The New Yorker - "Guardians can sell the assets and control the lives of senior citizens without their consent—and reap a profit from it."
The liberal-left divide reshaping American politics
From 2017. Nowadays the "leftists" are just the commies, who pretend that liberals aren't also on the left
Meme - "Having dumped the bag of ashes on the table, Stew hid behind the door and waited for the X-ray technician's reaction."
Children Are Lonelier Than Ever. Can Anything Be Done? - "The researchers examined several prime suspects, including GDP, income inequality, and the number of children born per woman. No dice. But when they added access to smartphones and hours kids spent on the Internet (on weekdays) to their models, the statistical alarm bells came to life. And in case you are wondering, this was not an instance of a tiny effect showing “statistical significance” because of a huge sample size. The relationship between smartphone/Internet use and loneliness was BIG. In stats-speak, for every increase of one standard deviation of smartphone access, loneliness increased by about .3 standard deviations. The effect for Internet use was even bigger at .4 standard deviations. Even more interesting was that these results were not based on a single moment in time. Twenge and colleagues studied how changes in loneliness over time were related to changes in these other variables, so we see a dynamic dance between smartphone/Internet use and loneliness over the course of many years.. the increase in school loneliness was larger in countries that started with lower levels of smartphone access. As they put it, “loneliness appears to shift the most when smartphone access crosses a critical level, suggesting the effect is due to group dynamics rather than high levels of access per se"... once electronic communication becomes the default at the country level, teen mental health suffers... Social Media Realism (SMR). SMR refers to a person’s judgment of the degree to which a narrative reflects the real world. The negative impact of social media content seems to partially depend on the viewer’s perceived amount of SMR. Social media presents a “curated” version of our lives, and many teens seem to have trouble accurately perceiving the gap between appearances and reality... Teenage girls appear to be more at risk than teen boys due to biological differences, such as an earlier puberty onset, and social differences, such as the propensity to use relational power to hurt others... The right balance seems to be to place some limits on cell phone/Internet use, particularly for young girls. The most effective way to do so is to wait as long as you can before allowing social media accounts and to create “screen-free” times during a child’s week... Most new routers allow parents to block devices from accessing the Internet. The same can be done with iOS and Android devices. It’s a set it and forget it approach that we have found far more effective than repeatedly asking a teen to hand over a phone. Another one of our favorite parenting techniques is the so-called “when/then command,” which can be combined with the downtime approach to increase overall compliance by leveraging kids’ intense desire to be on screens. Instead of setting aside times when screens don’t function, we can link screen use to certain behaviors. An example would be a parent saying to their 13-year-old, “When you put all your clothes in the hamper and read for 30 minutes, then I will turn the router settings back on.” After initial grumbling, kids usually adjust well to this system.""
Opinion: Those perfectly coiffed kids you’re seeing on social media signal that we have a problem - "so much of the content we’re seeing isn’t just of our friends’ kids anymore — it’s coming from influencers and brands. Mainstream users are posting less of their lives publicly these days, so more of the content we’re seeing on platforms such as Instagram is highly curated by people trying to sell us things."
When Did Americans Lose Their British Accents? - "The General American accent is rhotic and speakers pronounce the r in words such as hard. The BBC-type British accent is non-rhotic, and speakers don't pronounce the r, leaving hard sounding more like hahd. Before and during the American Revolution, the English, both in England and in the colonies, mostly spoke with a rhotic accent. We don't know much more about said accent, though"
Time to stop devaluing manual work - "In his recent book, Head, Hand, Heart, David Goodhart argues that there is a growing tendency to devalue physical labour, in favour of the mental reasoning of the knowledge economy. He writes: ‘One form of human aptitude – cognitive-analytical ability, the talent that helps people to pass exams and then handle information efficiently in their professional lives – has become the gold standard of human esteem.’"
Meme - Ian Ford @ij_ford: "My dad texts like he's doing a phishing scam
Hi Ian, trust your okay and now settled in your new home. I am wanting to use your Netflix but to make life easier view it through our Sky Q rather than using Apple TV. In order to do this I need to input your email address and password. If you are ok with this would appreciate you forwarding or for security ringing me with your details.
Many thanks Dad"
Pingtjin Thum - "POFMA was originally sold to us as being for statements which are untrue; then it was used against statements which may be interpreted as untrue. But the POFMA order for this article cites the omission of "key facts" as a reason. In other words, is it possible for a PAP minister to POFMA an article even if it is completely accurate, on the basis that it doesn't include facts which the PAP government believes to be "key"? If so that would mean every single article ever written (or speech given) could be POFMA'd."
On "A spate of scandals strikes Singapore" by Ying-Kit Chan
The Indian Ascetic Holding His Arm Up for World Peace Since 1973 - "An Indian ascetic (sadhu) named Amar Bharati has been advocating for world peace for almost fifty years while holding up his right hand in the air without ever lowering it. A sadhu is a religious ascetic or holy person in Hinduism (in some cases Buddhism and Jainism) who has rejected all worldly desires... He raised his arm beginning in 1973 as a symbol of his devotion and “to militate against wars and support world peace.” By doing this, he endured excruciating pain for two years of his life, but eventually his arm lost all feeling and the muscles in his arm atrophied. Indian sadhus often engage in the most austere forms of penance, requiring extreme self-discipline in order to achieve liberation and enlightenment, or Moksha, as this state is known in India... Bharati can no longer bend his arm, as it is now merely a bony structure, and his nails have turned into spiraling claws"
Meme - Woman: "I'm not religious, I consider myself more of a Buddhist than anything"
"The country dominated by a woman is to be despised. And so to be despised is the being who becomes dominated by the power of woman." (Jataka 13)
"Women are insatiable in respect of two things: sex and motherhood; so insatiable that they cannot free themselves from these cravings before death. (Angut, 26.10)
"Seducers and astute, they destroy the noble life." (Jataka 263)
"Women are continually in the power of the senses. Saturated with an impure and inexorable burning, they resemble fire which consumes all." (Jataka 61)
"It is impossible, it cannot be, that a woman should arrive at the full enlightenment of Buddha, or become a universal sovereign. (Majjh.115, Angut. 1.20)
Fake Tom and Jerry essay goes viral, fools internet - "A student's English essay that went viral and divided the internet was found to be faked by a comedian. New York-based comedian Alexis Pereira posted an image to Twitter showing that a "student" had written an essay that wasn't on the assigned topic... The fake essay is titled "What Exactly Does Tom Want With Jerry?" and is about the two cartoon characters' relationship... The comedian later confessed that the essay was faked as a way to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Tom and Jerry."
Meme - "Me holding her halo while shes on demon time *Elmo holding letter Q while looking down*"
Meme - "In her 50s, Keri Hoskins, the actress who played Sonya Blade in the Mortal Kombat video game, dressing up as her character after 25 years."
It's Kerri Hoskins
Meme - "My wife, a Venezuelan smartass
"Jajaja "
"This is America
We use H here"
"Sorry.
Jhjhjhj""
Meme - Bomb Squad: "DO I CUT THE RED WIRE OR THE BLUE WIRE?! RED OR BLUE?!"
Man on phone: "HANG ON, HANG ON!"
"YooToob: How to Defuse a Bomb. Zero APR!!! Skip ad in 4"
Meme - Keath Kotton: "i love what you guys are doing. keep up the good work J.E.W."
Journalist Excellence Worldwide: "Thank you but please refrain from using that acronym. Our organization's name is Journalist Excellence Worldwide."
Keath Kotton: "I understand. My middle name is Kevin."
Meme - "Oh, I don't shake hands. I'm a germaphobe. How 'bout a fist-bump!"
"Dude! Was that anal-fisting-porn-star legend, Johnny Shit Knuckles?!"
The history of the Spadina Expressway debacle in Toronto - "When I strolled recently through Cedarvale Park, it was hard for me to imagine that the leafy ravine was once destined to become polluted and congested with high-volume traffic. But, despite how hard it is to picture today, this would have been reality if 1950s urban planners with a short-term vision for the city got their way... Many decades later, the Spadina Expressway controversy is a reminder of the post-war clash between the interests of inner-city dwellers and the values of suburbanites and of a redevelopment philosophy that could be summarized as "to hell with the old...bring on the new.""
Why western countries cannot progress
Meme - "When I I was in high school 38 year old Jerry Seinfeld was dating a girl in my year and he picked her up from class during 4th period and she got to skip Mr Solinski's calculus exam (I got a 93/100)"
On Shoshanna Lonstein
Train driver kills himself over delay - "The train was only 50 seconds late, but for its driver the shame was too much to bear. The 44-year-old hanged himself after being ordered to attend retraining classes for a month following the delay, which was not even his fault. The train's Automatic Train Stop signal had been activated as he was about to drive out of the station in Kyoto, and he had to wait for a brief inspection."
Meme - The Met: Egyptian Art @met_egyptia...: "Model cucumber, ca. 1850-1700 B.C. #egyptianart #themet"
Mrs. Detective Pikajew, Esq. @clapifyoulikeme: "Is it though. Is it a model cucumber. Is that the most logical thing for it to be."
GubbWerks Misericordia @GubbWerks: "Nothing has shocked me more than looking into this and discovering that yes, this is almost certainly a model cucumber, apparently part of a ritual food offering set? (Apparently the ancient Egyptians used camel dung coated in resin for sex toys, which...okay...)"
Historians always get mocked by liberals who insist on inserting sex and queerness everywhere in history, even if there's no evidence for it
Meme - "If your kids have contraceptives, do NOT take it from them.
I am mother to a 17 year old, he graduates this year, college in the fall. He's been dating a girl for 2 years. I found condoms in his room. We're an Iranian American family. Sex at a young age is frowned upon. I've always felt if you can't wait til marriage, at least wait til out of your teens (20) I took his condoms, took his card so he couldn't buy more, and took his car thinking that would stop them from having sex........ He will be a daddy in 8 months and I will be a grandmother at 42. Lesson learned, although lesson learned too late. Parents aren't perfect, especially those of us from such traditional backgrounds"
Bride's sister twerks on groom in 'loyalty test'– if he gets aroused wedding's off - "This is the moment two women twerked on top of a man who was engaged to their sister - to see if he would 'cheat'. The clip of the wild 'loyalty test', which has begun circulating on social media, shows a man lying on the ground as one woman is seen squatting over him and twerking over his crotch. Another woman was seen standing over his face, repeatedly lifting her skirt to flash him. Apparently, the aim of the custom is to test whether the man would get an erection for another woman. If his member stands to attention, the wedding will apparently be cancelled... some argue that it is not a tradition at all and that the video was actually recorded at a music festival. A user wrote: "The video was shot at the traditional stage at Nyege Nyege on a Saturday morning of the festival of 2019 in Jinja city, Uganda. "It has nothing to do with Namibia. The dancers are Singeli dancers from Dar es salaam, Tanzania. This is a traditional band from the Zaramo tribe.""
Meme - "It's 1993 and all you want to do is mighty morph with the Pink Ranger."
Except the images aren't from 1993...
The creeping criminalisation of everyday life - "The ASBO appears restrained compared to what has come since. Ever since the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, people who used to get ASBOs now generally get a Community Protection Notice (CPN), which comes with almost no procedural safeguards. Whereas the ASBO had to be obtained from a court – and the defendant had a right to legal aid – the CPN can be issued on the spot by police officers and a range of local-authority officers, including county-park guardians, street-scene officers, community-wellbeing service officers and neighbourhood-pride managers. People have received CPNs ordering them to close their front doors more quietly, not to wear a bikini in their front garden or not to look at their neighbours. As outlined in a new report by the charity JUSTICE (to which I contributed as a member of its working party) last week, there are over 30 types of these behaviour-control orders. They have resulted in a worrying fall in legal standards and a ‘criminalisation creep’. Orders include dispersal orders (which give police officers powers to bar you from a particular public space); closure orders (which give police and council officers powers to ‘close’ residential or business premises); knife-crime prevention orders (the power to issue instructions to a person who has carried a ‘bladed article’ in a public place); public-spaces protection orders (allowing councils to ban particular activities in public spaces); and a range of orders covering sexual harassment and stalking, as well as new protest-related serious-disruption prevention orders, from the Public Order Act 2023. Over time, these orders have become broader and the standard for issuing them has become lower... Orders are being used to direct individuals’ behaviour towards what officials think is a ‘good’ course of conduct. And so it becomes an offence for a particular person not to seek employment in the painting and decorating trade, or to fail to attend a series of awareness courses. Whereas behaviour-control orders used to be monitored and assessed – both ASBOs and dispersal orders were subject to regular data collection and government assessment – now officials often don’t bother with basic data collection"
Veterans of Forum Wars on X - "One of my favorite tropes. White people's racism manifests itself through a simple social courtesy"
They just hate white people
Ethan Liming: Deshawn Stafford and Tyler Stafford - "Jurors on Monday handed up their verdicts in the involuntary manslaughter trial of two brothers for a fight that ended in the death of 17-year-old Ethan Liming. Deshawn and Tyler Stafford were acquitted of involuntary manslaughter charges. Deshawn was found guilty of felony aggravated assault as well as a misdemeanor count of assault. Tyler was also found guilty on a misdemeanor count of assault. A third, first-degree felony count of involuntary manslaughter against Deshawn was dismissed as jurors failed to reach a verdict... the brothers were playing basketball with friends when Liming and three of his friends drove up and started firing gel guns at them as a prank. During a fight that ensued, Deshawn admitted during police interrogation that he hit Liming and knocked him out. Liming died from his head hitting the pavement."
I find it interesting that the same people who think it's justified self-defence to shoot and kill anyone who enters your home illegally think that if you shoot a gel gun at someone and that person attacks you and you die, it's murder
Pro-PAP blogger critical spectator accuses pro-PAP blogger Calvin Cheng of banning him for criticizing China - "Critical Spectator, another prominent pro-establishment blogger questioned the validity of Calvin’s argument. He added that a large segment of the population have no trust in the Chinese government, what it says, reports, or promises. Critical Spectator’s comments mysteriously disappeared, leading him to question if Calvin Cheng had banned him from his page under some “CCP-style censorship”."
From 2020
Shoppers share hilarious advice found on product tags - "The gems include info on a Top Gear shirt that reads: “These T-shirts were tested on animals. They didn’t fit.” Another label on the back of a bleach bottle said: “You are reading this because you forgot your smartphone, didn’t you?” One pet owner shared a label which read: “Lather your pet thoroughly but remember to eliminate all escape routes well in advance... One label which gave washing instructions suddenly added: “Lawyer up, delete Facebook and hit the gym.” It also claimed to be made from 100% unicorn feathers... It simply says: “If overweight, lose weight.” A lotion tube advised the product should be applied to “skin that evokes warm scaly memories of the pet iguana your cousin Danny had in seventh grade”. A clothes label warned: “Don’t slap pandas.” And a coat hanger cover advised: “Caution: Do not swallow.”"
Guy asks woman if she'll 'put kids up for adoption' as he doesn't like children - "Not everyone likes kids – but one man has caused outrage by asking a woman on a dating site if she'll 'put her kids up for adoption' to date him... "Hi Lauren, looking good in your pics. "Would you be willing to put your children up for adoption? "I want to date someone without kids, so looking for someone who is willing to free themselves of their current kids. xx""
Body of ballooning Brazilian priest found at sea - "The body of a Brazilian priest who floated out over the ocean suspended by hundreds of helium-filled party balloons, has been found off the coast of southeastern Brazil, police have confirmed. The corpse of Father Adelir Antonio de Carli was spotted by a tugboat at sea near the city of Macae, three months after he disappeared while flying a contraption buoyed by balloons over the Atlantic Ocean in a fund-raising stunt... The priest disappeared on April 20 after he called friends from his mobile phone to say he was about to crash into the ocean. He staged the stunt to help raise money for a chapel for truckers in his highway parish."
