When I went back to camp on Monday, I noticed that 3 people in HQ company were on Medical Leave for depression. Outstanding unit, really. Maybe I should have done the same last year.
Because S1 branch cannot get a vehicle to go down to CMPB, I will not be able to collect my IC on Saturday. Since I'm going to shoot Tasmanian devils on Sunday, this means that I'll only get my IC back when I return. My moment of epiphany will be spoilt! Argh.
"See what will happen if you don't stop biting your fingernails?"
--- Will Rogers (1879 - 1935), to his niece on seeing the Venus de Milo
***
Joel Schumacher took over the "Batman" films from Tim Burton and turned them into homoerotic camp. "Suddenly, 'Batman' became 'Starlight Express'".
Haha.
***
2 people bitching at me unreasonably and my evening is spoilt. Or at least 20 mins of it.
***
I believe in the Socratic method of finding truth.
But then, Socrates was sentenced to death by hemlock, so.
***
It's really distasteful and sloppy when a website "www.foo.bar" cannot be accessed when you use the url "foo.bar". Bah.
***
Wowbagger has an interesting piece on conforming to society:
"My personal tendency is to disregard what others think of me after
I die. I am reluctantly compelled to care about what others think of me when I'm alive only because it greatly expedites things to have others think positively of you or fear you, depending on the circumstances. Having to consider other people's opinions is a terrible burden. It terrified me that I'd have to behave somewhat normally in school so as not to receive negative testimonials. It was terrifying walking along the corridors watching myself every moment, regulating every eccentric urge in case I was being or would be observed. Death would be the ultimate release from public opinion. The final ticket to not caring what other people think. Years ago I was bamboozled by Feynman's irreverent memoirs detailing his supposed disregard for what others think, before real life slapped me out of the delusion that anyone short of a genius could truly do things that way.
One would regrettably be unable to enjoy this release from social pressures. One could do so during one's last days, when one is likely to be patronised and tolerated by one's caretakers. But one would probably be less sentient and less mobile by then, which would eliminate a large portion of the fun.
Yet there are no logical grounds for wanting to be remembered positively if you do not believe in the existence of an afterlife, even supposing that you like the idea (not just the consequences, as I do) of people thinking well of yourself. Only the pre-death anticipation matters. That is, you wouldn't feel any worse if people do not remember you in a good light, as long as you were convinced, when still alive, that they would remember you in a good light. I have commented on this before.
Yes, this means that I do not think going back on deathbed promises is immoral, since nobody is harmed by that."
I wouldn't say that I am/was quite that misanthropic.
I don't see the connection between believing in an afterlife and wanting to be remembered positively, for in no mythological system's afterlife that I can think of does continued joyful existence depend on people thinking favourably of you. One might make an exception for the Chinese afterlife, since you need people to burn paper houses, cars, mobile phones and chocolates for you. However, you could always set up a foundation to keep the paper goods flowing (and the environment polluted) and anyhow, suitably pious descendants would feel obliged to pollute the environment on your behalf even if they didn't like you.
The point about being convinced that people would think well of you is valid, but it raises the question of truth and self-delusion. After all, "the fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact than a drunken man is happier than a sober one".
Regarding the morality of going back on deathbed promises - in a utilitarian sense it certainly would not be moral. Nonetheless, it would be wrong.
***
Another of those all-too-rare Garfield strip that is actually funny.
PatchCRT - fix RunTime Errors on some apps - "A freeware utility, which patches some older MS-DOS EXE files, to permit them to run on fast Pentium CPUs. This speed problem applies only on CPUs which match or exceed the speed of a Pentium 200 (approx), and applies only to some older versions of a specific software module named CRT.ASM, which was part of the Turbo-Pascal offerings from Borland... The symptom is a Divide-by-Zero error message when the app is run on a fast CPU, or a Divide Overflow error message, or a Runtime Error 200 message, or similar. Unfortunately, the error message usually won't simply say that the CPU is too fast!"
For the few who still use MS-DOS applications. Beats running Moslow each time!
Snuffleupagus Murdered - Big Bird "Snuffs" out best friend: "Snuffleupagus, a popular Wooly Mammoth-like creature that inhabited Sesame Street, has been found dead. His killer, an 8 foot 2 inch giant bird, known by Sesame Street locals as 'Big Bird'. Big Bird apparently wanted to prove once and for all to local nonbelievers that Snuffleupagus did in fact exist."
Robert Tilton, The Farting Preacher - The look on his face would really quite odd if he weren't farting.
That Kind of Girl - ff slash is so rare, especially ff slash written by girls. Though the phrase "rubber hotness" still jars me.
L'origine de Bert
Thursday, June 10, 2004
"It is one of the strangest inconsistencies of the human being that he will invent reasons and struggle to maintain conditions that are detrimental to his own welfare, aye, that even enslave him." - Joseph Lewis
***
An ode someone composed to the Asian Prince:
A picture speaks a thousand words,
disgusting though it may be,
His face looks like it was his rear,
his features make us hurl.
A bag he should wear, o'er his head,
his eyes should be poked out.
Facial features now on par,
with the ex king of pop.
***
ránathalion, a butterfly dreaming he is a fifteen-year-old boy, is amused by my last batch of search referrals.
Unfortunately, the latest batch is still in the oven baking. And by quoting my odd search referrals, he has sealed her doom, for now the guy/girl/entity who keeps searching for ways to masterbate with household items will get his page too!
***
Game Over Feint
You can type as your enemy is destroying your old town something like "Ok, you won, I'll just let you destroy my town." This trick often works but not against experienced players unless you catch them on a bad game. Often once someone thinks they have won, they stop building units and begin messing around. If you are building up a force of units in secret while they have pretty much stopped production and are using what they have already to hunt you down, you can build up a large enough force to launch a surprise attack on the enemy. In some games, such a force has turned the tide of the game and allowed the defeated player to win.
Typing "has left the game" puts a message such as "Yourname: has left the game." Most people don't notice the ":" or the color of the message which gives it away and actually believe you have left the game. It works on experienced players or whoever has not heard about this ancient trick. The official response to someone who has tried this on you is "nice try."
Ooh. Sneaky.
***
Despite efforts by the school admin to shut it down, it seems the Raffles Model United Nations Conference (RMUNC) is still alive and kicking. As usual, conspiracies abound:
Wired (the usual conspiracies in nation allocation)
RedM-i-x (some other irrelevant lines about Rmun)
***
Things You Would Never Know Without Indian Movies:
A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beatings but will wince when a woman tries to cleanse his wounds.
The hero cannot fall in love with the heroine (vice versa) unless they first perform a dance number in the rain.
Once applied, make-up is permanent, in rain or in any other situation.
Two lovers can be dancing in the field and suddenly, 100 people will appear from God-knows-where and join them in the dance.
In the final scene, the hero will discover that the bad guy whom he was up against was actually his brother and the maid who looked
after him was his mother and the chief inspector was his father and the Judge was his uncle and so forth.
Key English words used in the movie (usually said out loud between sentences) are "No Problem!", "My God!", "Get Out!", "Shut-up!",
"Impossible!", "Please forgive me!"
They drop down to the ground and roll and roll while singing and leap to their feet in different clothings.
They can run around the coconut trees, singing, battling eyelids and throwing glances at each other and change clothes all at the same
time without getting out of breath.
Things You Would Never Know Without Chinese Sword-Fighting Movies:
Being the hero's parents is always unlucky and will usually be killed by enemies when the hero is young and the hero will become an
orphan.
When a man is wounded and dying, he always manages to catch his breath and speak a few sentences to reveal the killer before
dropping his head and being declared dead.
Skilled people are able to fly over roof tops, up trees and across distances without any sweat. But when travelling to towns and
villages, they still have to walk or ride horses.
The heroes need not have to work for money, but will always have gold and silver with them to pay for their food dishes.
The heroes and villains will meet each other very often no matter how big the country is and no matter where they are.
Healing internal wounds in the body is as easy as sitting down cross-legged, palms on the knees and smoke coming out from the head.
They can keep alot of stuff in their sleeves and waistbands and never drop them. Especially a lot of gold & silver ingots.
***
Communist paranoia and hyperbole is so delusional, it is as amusing as it is sad:
'Beijing Froths at the Mouth
In the latest Time magazine (Asia), offers a generally balanced critique by Hong Kong's former Chief Secretary and most popular political figure, Anson Chan, of Beijing's response to the SAR's democratic aspiriations. An excerpt:
If Chan expected mainland authorities to reflect upon her words, she must be disappointed. Beijing's response has instead been rabid.
China's Central Government Liaison Office immediately branded Chan's remarks "unfounded and irresponsible" and declared her comments a -- big surprise here -- threat to Hong Kong's "stability and prosperity."
Evil? Identical to the Gang of Four? Jesus, has someone hidden Xu's medication?
Finally, Xu suggested that, since Chan was receiving a retirement pension from the Hong Kong government, she was obligated to support
Beijing's policies and -- displaying the delightful sense of irony for which mainland official are famous -- accused her of having "no tolerance for different opinions."' (Source)
It's no wonder that the use of quotation marks is essential when quoting Communists: If I didn't know better, I'd attribute the overblown language to journalistic bias or translation errors.
This beats the time they called Annette Lu a "lunatic" and the "scum of the nation". But then, as she remarked, "It's quite an honour to be singled out in such an extensive propaganda".
***
What a girl doesn't want - "...hip-hugging jeans and skimpy tops, that's what, says one US teen who's pushing for 'modest fashion'... The US teenager doesn't want low-cut hip-huggers or skintight tops in her wardrobe. Yes, you are reading this right. Some teens DON'T want to bare it all, it seems, and Ella's taken the lead in protesting against what appears to be standard teen fashion these days. The shy, bespectacled teenager is making a stand for modest clothes instead of the saucy looks popularised by the likes of Britney Spears."
How refreshingly rare :)
Official Daniel Radcliffe Hatelisting: Young, rich, talentless and overrated - "Welcome to Talentless: the official hatelisting for Daniel Radcliffe, the most overrated talentless actor ever... Note: to all you Dan fans out there I really don't care how much you love him. So go join his fanlisting and get out. This is a listing for people who dislike him =P"
ROFL
Internet Porn Costs Irish Banker His Job: but was Mike Soden merely trying to cut stress? - "Instead of forcing executives to resign, and spending millions limiting and monitoring internet access and tightening firewalls, companies should think about allowing online access to hardcore pornography on a carefully-restricted basis: perhaps 20 minutes a day (10 in the morning, 10 in the afternoon). Employees would be able to pick their porn slots to suit their working day, and employers would be able to choose which websites were made accessible (perhaps by commissioning pornography for their company intranet). Productivity goes up, heart attacks go down, and no one gets fired for a silly indiscretion. Everyone's a winner."
I love British writing.
Top doc backs picking your nose and eating it - "Picking your nose and eating it is one of the best ways to stay healthy, according to a top Austrian doctor. Innsbruck-based lung specialist Prof Dr Friedrich Bischinger said people who pick their noses with their fingers were healthy, happier and probably better in tune with their bodies."
Wanking your way to weight loss - " A tubby 55-year-old writer named Koyamamyama, who tips the scales at 100 kilograms, had an even better idea. Deciding he might as well have some fun in the process, he headed for red-light districts around he capital... These efforts during a total of four hours of sexual activities came to 43,800 yen, consumption tax included. Did they help? Slightly. Koyamamyama's weight declined from 104.2 kilograms to 102.6. His muscle-to-fat ratio improved from 31.2 percent to 31.8; and his overall body fat ratio fell 0.8 percent."
... Manichi Daily News has really weird articles.
The Forge - Information on Medieval Arms and Armour
Costume-ConNections - Jap Cosplay sucks. Jap Cosplay all cannot make it. Singaporean Cosplay is worse - the costumes look like they are made of cardboard and tracing paper. Western Cosplay is *good*. Just look at what they've come up with (and in various categories - not just Anime characters)
Cows immune to BSE near reality
Really scary Friendster profile
Countdown to Legality - "Wanna know when you can touch them legally?"
There's a countdown timer to legality for each of the 5 people on the page. Not like anyone who tracks the page will ever be able to touch them - legally or not. As a related page remarks: "since they're so far out of your league that you'd have a better chance at getting struck by lightning while scoring the winning touchdown at the Superbowl, most of you are just hoping that they'll do some sort of spread in Playboy. ...which also, will not happen. Oh well, at least you can watch Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in New York Minute, opening this Friday. ...if you're an idiot, that is."
***
An ode someone composed to the Asian Prince:
A picture speaks a thousand words,
disgusting though it may be,
His face looks like it was his rear,
his features make us hurl.
A bag he should wear, o'er his head,
his eyes should be poked out.
Facial features now on par,
with the ex king of pop.
***
ránathalion, a butterfly dreaming he is a fifteen-year-old boy, is amused by my last batch of search referrals.
Unfortunately, the latest batch is still in the oven baking. And by quoting my odd search referrals, he has sealed her doom, for now the guy/girl/entity who keeps searching for ways to masterbate with household items will get his page too!
***
Game Over Feint
You can type as your enemy is destroying your old town something like "Ok, you won, I'll just let you destroy my town." This trick often works but not against experienced players unless you catch them on a bad game. Often once someone thinks they have won, they stop building units and begin messing around. If you are building up a force of units in secret while they have pretty much stopped production and are using what they have already to hunt you down, you can build up a large enough force to launch a surprise attack on the enemy. In some games, such a force has turned the tide of the game and allowed the defeated player to win.
Typing "has left the game" puts a message such as "Yourname: has left the game." Most people don't notice the ":" or the color of the message which gives it away and actually believe you have left the game. It works on experienced players or whoever has not heard about this ancient trick. The official response to someone who has tried this on you is "nice try."
Ooh. Sneaky.
***
Despite efforts by the school admin to shut it down, it seems the Raffles Model United Nations Conference (RMUNC) is still alive and kicking. As usual, conspiracies abound:
Wired (the usual conspiracies in nation allocation)
RedM-i-x (some other irrelevant lines about Rmun)
***
Things You Would Never Know Without Indian Movies:
A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beatings but will wince when a woman tries to cleanse his wounds.
The hero cannot fall in love with the heroine (vice versa) unless they first perform a dance number in the rain.
Once applied, make-up is permanent, in rain or in any other situation.
Two lovers can be dancing in the field and suddenly, 100 people will appear from God-knows-where and join them in the dance.
In the final scene, the hero will discover that the bad guy whom he was up against was actually his brother and the maid who looked
after him was his mother and the chief inspector was his father and the Judge was his uncle and so forth.
Key English words used in the movie (usually said out loud between sentences) are "No Problem!", "My God!", "Get Out!", "Shut-up!",
"Impossible!", "Please forgive me!"
They drop down to the ground and roll and roll while singing and leap to their feet in different clothings.
They can run around the coconut trees, singing, battling eyelids and throwing glances at each other and change clothes all at the same
time without getting out of breath.
Things You Would Never Know Without Chinese Sword-Fighting Movies:
Being the hero's parents is always unlucky and will usually be killed by enemies when the hero is young and the hero will become an
orphan.
When a man is wounded and dying, he always manages to catch his breath and speak a few sentences to reveal the killer before
dropping his head and being declared dead.
Skilled people are able to fly over roof tops, up trees and across distances without any sweat. But when travelling to towns and
villages, they still have to walk or ride horses.
The heroes need not have to work for money, but will always have gold and silver with them to pay for their food dishes.
The heroes and villains will meet each other very often no matter how big the country is and no matter where they are.
Healing internal wounds in the body is as easy as sitting down cross-legged, palms on the knees and smoke coming out from the head.
They can keep alot of stuff in their sleeves and waistbands and never drop them. Especially a lot of gold & silver ingots.
***
Communist paranoia and hyperbole is so delusional, it is as amusing as it is sad:
'Beijing Froths at the Mouth
In the latest Time magazine (Asia), offers a generally balanced critique by Hong Kong's former Chief Secretary and most popular political figure, Anson Chan, of Beijing's response to the SAR's democratic aspiriations. An excerpt:
For the greater part of the past seven years, China's central government has largely left Hong Kong to govern itself. If we have not done a very good job of it, the blame cannot be laid at Beijing's door. Indeed, until recently, the standing and popularity of mainland leaders in the local community had steadily risen. But since the unexpectedly large turnout of demonstrators for democracy last July 1, Beijing's stance toward Hong Kong appears to have hardened. The central government has moved swiftly to lay down the law as far as the elections of the territory's Chief Executive and members of the Legislative Council are concerned. While Beijing has a constitutional right to do so, the manner in which the central government has handled this whole issue, coupled with its public rhetoric and posturing reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution, have left most Hong Kong people puzzled, hurt and frustrated.
If Chan expected mainland authorities to reflect upon her words, she must be disappointed. Beijing's response has instead been rabid.
China's Central Government Liaison Office immediately branded Chan's remarks "unfounded and irresponsible" and declared her comments a -- big surprise here -- threat to Hong Kong's "stability and prosperity."
Meanwhile, the official central government newspaper, China Daily, published a column by Xu Simin, a former standing member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which unleashed a blistering attack upon Chan, accusing her of "distorting the truth to vilify Beijing". The newspaper further accused Chan of "smearing and attacking the central government" and of being a "pet of the British", "vehemently ambitious" the invisable leader of "a campaign to topple Mr. Tung" of having a "craven desire for power."
Still not finished, Xu declared that:
Chan's attack on and vilification of the central government are in violation of the facts as well as her own conscience. She is not qualified to represent Hong Kong people whom she was trying to mislead.
Chan's total disregard of facts when she tried to discredit Beijing has once again proven that she is only trying to gain fame for herself with her self-proclaimed title of "Hong Kong's conscience". She is not worthy of this reputation and it is now necessary to remove this pretence of hers.
The deeds of this so-called "Hong Kong conscience", who disregards facts and violates conscience, are like the classic story of Hua Pi in "Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio" - full of evil tricks.
The way she attacked and smeared the central government in its handling of the SARS outbreak was similar to what was practised in the "cultural revolution". The way she attempted to seize power was identical to that of the "Gang of Four".
Evil? Identical to the Gang of Four? Jesus, has someone hidden Xu's medication?
Finally, Xu suggested that, since Chan was receiving a retirement pension from the Hong Kong government, she was obligated to support
Beijing's policies and -- displaying the delightful sense of irony for which mainland official are famous -- accused her of having "no tolerance for different opinions."' (Source)
It's no wonder that the use of quotation marks is essential when quoting Communists: If I didn't know better, I'd attribute the overblown language to journalistic bias or translation errors.
This beats the time they called Annette Lu a "lunatic" and the "scum of the nation". But then, as she remarked, "It's quite an honour to be singled out in such an extensive propaganda".
***
What a girl doesn't want - "...hip-hugging jeans and skimpy tops, that's what, says one US teen who's pushing for 'modest fashion'... The US teenager doesn't want low-cut hip-huggers or skintight tops in her wardrobe. Yes, you are reading this right. Some teens DON'T want to bare it all, it seems, and Ella's taken the lead in protesting against what appears to be standard teen fashion these days. The shy, bespectacled teenager is making a stand for modest clothes instead of the saucy looks popularised by the likes of Britney Spears."
How refreshingly rare :)
Official Daniel Radcliffe Hatelisting: Young, rich, talentless and overrated - "Welcome to Talentless: the official hatelisting for Daniel Radcliffe, the most overrated talentless actor ever... Note: to all you Dan fans out there I really don't care how much you love him. So go join his fanlisting and get out. This is a listing for people who dislike him =P"
ROFL
Internet Porn Costs Irish Banker His Job: but was Mike Soden merely trying to cut stress? - "Instead of forcing executives to resign, and spending millions limiting and monitoring internet access and tightening firewalls, companies should think about allowing online access to hardcore pornography on a carefully-restricted basis: perhaps 20 minutes a day (10 in the morning, 10 in the afternoon). Employees would be able to pick their porn slots to suit their working day, and employers would be able to choose which websites were made accessible (perhaps by commissioning pornography for their company intranet). Productivity goes up, heart attacks go down, and no one gets fired for a silly indiscretion. Everyone's a winner."
I love British writing.
Top doc backs picking your nose and eating it - "Picking your nose and eating it is one of the best ways to stay healthy, according to a top Austrian doctor. Innsbruck-based lung specialist Prof Dr Friedrich Bischinger said people who pick their noses with their fingers were healthy, happier and probably better in tune with their bodies."
Wanking your way to weight loss - " A tubby 55-year-old writer named Koyamamyama, who tips the scales at 100 kilograms, had an even better idea. Deciding he might as well have some fun in the process, he headed for red-light districts around he capital... These efforts during a total of four hours of sexual activities came to 43,800 yen, consumption tax included. Did they help? Slightly. Koyamamyama's weight declined from 104.2 kilograms to 102.6. His muscle-to-fat ratio improved from 31.2 percent to 31.8; and his overall body fat ratio fell 0.8 percent."
... Manichi Daily News has really weird articles.
The Forge - Information on Medieval Arms and Armour
Costume-ConNections - Jap Cosplay sucks. Jap Cosplay all cannot make it. Singaporean Cosplay is worse - the costumes look like they are made of cardboard and tracing paper. Western Cosplay is *good*. Just look at what they've come up with (and in various categories - not just Anime characters)
Cows immune to BSE near reality
Really scary Friendster profile
Countdown to Legality - "Wanna know when you can touch them legally?"
There's a countdown timer to legality for each of the 5 people on the page. Not like anyone who tracks the page will ever be able to touch them - legally or not. As a related page remarks: "since they're so far out of your league that you'd have a better chance at getting struck by lightning while scoring the winning touchdown at the Superbowl, most of you are just hoping that they'll do some sort of spread in Playboy. ...which also, will not happen. Oh well, at least you can watch Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in New York Minute, opening this Friday. ...if you're an idiot, that is."
Post ID: 108672486135541422
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Heavenly bodies.
***
A historian and mathematician dined together and were debating which was the more important discipline. "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it," says the historian. "But think of how mathematics has supported engineering and physics," counters the mathematician. While the historian is temporarily in the bathroom the mathematician slips the waitress a big tip [leave room for Dr. Bob comment] and says "Answer the next question I ask with ‘the natural log of x’". When the historian returns the mathematician continues, "Mathematics is so important I bet even the waitresses here need to know it." The historian accepts the bet and the mathematician summons the waitress over and asks, "Can you help my friend and I settle a bet? What is the antiderivative of the function 1/x?" The waitress replies, "The natural log of x, plus a constant."
Gah.
***
My life inside the Saudi kingdom - The expat life in a well-heeled compound has its compensations, despite the restrictions on entertainment, driving and clothes: "An Arab News article during my time in the kingdom reported that 50 per cent of the nation's road accidents were attributable to women, which, for non-drivers, is some feat and probably goes to show the level of subterfuge the male population must employ to cover its pride. A study of this phenomenon by the University of Al Ahsa concluded that women routinely argued with their husbands or demanded that they stop suddenly at the sight of a nice-looking dress in a shop window, and so caused pile-ups."
Disgusting misogyny.
Inventor's machine is a real kick in the pants - " The idea of a butt-kicking machine first brought snickers and smiles. And then the light bulb went on. And J. Reese Leavitt perceived a business opportunity. He now is seeking a patent for the "Manually Self-Operated Butt-Kicking Machine," and exploring the market potential of the device -- doing research to see who will pay to have some butts kicked."
Orange High graduation remarks plagiarized - "Orange County school board Chairman Keith Cook plagiarized much of the speech he delivered at Orange High School's 2004 graduation ceremony. The speech, which incorporated lessons from the movie "Titanic," was virtually identical to a 1998 speech given by Donna Shalala, then U.S. secretary of health and human services. Cook did not attribute his remarks"
Mammary money-spinners - Even 300 years ago, pictures of breasts sold publications. Chris Arnot reports on research into ballads and the fashion of décolleté: "Certainly, the Venetian ambassador needed no lessons in self-control when confronted by rather more than he wished to see of the elderly "Virgin Queen", Elizabeth I, towards the end of the 16th century. 'He complained of having to face 'her wrinkled dugs',' McShane-Jones says."
Can't stop the pop-ups - "In January, Paul Haigh downloaded Google's toolbar to dispel annoying pop-up ads. By March, they were back."
Spoof of Troy - "It's 1300 BC (more or less), the King of Jericho is smitten by Joshua's favorite prostitute, Rahab, spiriting her away to his walled stronghold. Never ones to be outdone by an arrogant foe, the angry Israelites assemble a gigantic invasion force and besiege one of the most heavily fortified cities in the Middle East. A familiar all-star cast complements the scenic locales, romantic love story and epic battles. Jericho is a historical docudrama inspired by, but not totally faithful to, the Biblical legend. Events are depicted as they may have transpired in reality. YHWH and the other gods are only alluded to as beliefs held by the clashing armies; never does a pivotal part of the story hinge on their actual existence. Will Jericho's mighty walls survive the assault? Will Joshua rescue the love of his life before it's too late? Will the Jerichoans fall for a devious, last-ditch trick involving a huge, wooden Ark of the Covenant? Find out the answers to all these questions, and more, at Cineplex Golgotha this summer!"
***
"Mstislav Rostropovich is internationally acclaimed and acknowledged as the world's greatest living cellist."
Hmm is this because Jacqueline du Pre is dead?
Xephyris: which fantasy author did those names come from? *runs away*
...
***
Source: Imprezzions
***
"The Vietnamese community in Southern California is the largest outside Vietnam. There are upwards of 350,000 in the Southland and over 125,000 in Northern California."
No wonder they can support a pop music industry, and even someone catering to such niche tastes as Wo-hen Nankan :0
***
One day a man is walking down the beach and comes across an old bottle. Picking it up, he pulls out the cork. Sure enough, out pops a genie. The genie says, "Thank you for freeing me from my prison. In return I will grant you three wishes."
The man says "Perfect! I always dreamed of this and I know exactly what I want.
"First, I want one billion dollars in a Swiss bank account."
Suddenly, there is a flash of light and a deposit slip with his Swiss bank account number appears in his hand.
"Next, I want a spectacular house overlooking this beach right here." There is another flash of light and a beautiful house appears on the cliff above them, attended by a full staff.
"Finally, I want to be irresistible to women." The genie disappears into final blaze of light, and the man instantly becomes gay.
(JumboJoke)
***
Interesting Passion of the Christ review I found. Choice quotes:
"Mel Gibson offers an answer, and it’s a gut-turning, child-scaring, vomit-inducing, boring theological nightmare. He works in that rare genre, the Shocking Yet Boring movie."
"Jesus’ character is shown as a somewhat questionable Messiah. It seems to cause him great pain to utter a few words, whether he’s being tortured or not. He is constantly asked perfectly reasonable questions, and he answers with silence and a somewhat drunken look - not made more divine at all by the injuries his face suffers as the movie progresses. If one wasn’t really all that familiar with the character, one would have to wonder - who is this person? Why are we supposed to feel for him? What is his goddamn problem?"
"Mary plays every single scene with the same expression on her face: worry. This is at times appropriate, but mostly, it’s downright puzzling when she’s watching her son being flogged, speared, and kicked. A tear rolls down her face and she clenches her fists, but I have to inform Mr. Gibson that this is how mothers react when their children lose a soccer match; seeing your child turned into shreds of bloody flesh would pull a scream from your throat so primal, no angelic trumpet would cover it."
"This entire stretch of the movie - heck, its last two thirds - are a sadistic tour de force, an exercise in camera angles and special effects that would make Quentin Tarantino go, 'Jeez, I think this is going too far.'"
"The Passion made me decide that if I ever honor a deity again (not that I was smart enough to make a qualified decision the first time), he or she better have something to do with thunder. I want my Savior to kick ass, not redeem by being turned into steak tartar."
Post ID: 108654675564836563
Sunday, June 06, 2004
How low can Jodie go? - "Glamour model Jodie Marsh upstaged dozens of female celebrities last night when she arrived at a star-studded event wearing a 'barely there' outfit. The wannabe star was dressed in a tiny five-inch belt, a top made from two spangley straps that criss-crossed over her chest and knee-high boots. (Warning: Revealing picture)" (Sent to me by my sister)
***
"maybe you can try being normal for once cause that would be really weird"
...
***
I am never *ever* buying Lux Super Rich Shampoo. The first ad featuring Michelle Chia was bad enough (the one of her at the masquerade), but with the newer one, in which she runs around in a room full of gears and finally cranks a lever to "reverse the effects of time" (complete with low class music and ooo-s), marks the nadir of her career.
I wonder if both the team which conceptualised the ad and the person who approved it were drunk - what the hell were they thinking?! Singaporean ads are bad, but even in such an insipid market, they have managed to set new standards for advertisement mediocrity, standards which only Dettol in Malaysia cannot meet.
***
THOR m
Usage: Norse Mythology
Pronounced: THOR
From the Old Norse Þórr meaning "thunder". Thor was the Norse god of strength, thunder and war, the son of Odin. He was armed with a hammer called Mjolnir, and wore an enchanted belt which doubled his strength.
TYR m
Usage: Norse Mythology
Pronounced: TIR
Old Norse form of the name of the Germanic god Tiwaz, related to Indo-European dyeus (see ZEUS). In Norse mythology Tyr was the god of war and justice, the son of the god Odin. He carries a spear in his left hand, since his right hand was bitten of by the wolf Fenrir. At the time of the end of the world, the Ragnarok, Tyr will slay and be slain by the giant hound Garm.
AFAIK, the only Norse god of war was Thor, and Tyr was just the brand of Xianjie's swimming trunks.
[Ed: nw.t: "no, tyr was the one-armed god of war
fenrir bit off his arm because they wanted to chain up fenrir and they built this super zhai chain which was dipped in one of the springs that flowed from yggdrasil's roots tended by the Norns.
they flattered fenrir and said they simply wanted to test the chain on him but he wouldn't believe them unless one of the gods stuck his arm in his jaws. guess who did"
Okay, so I'm not an expert in Norse mythology]
***
Most of the templates on blogskins.com are either: garish, tasteless, full of gimmicks (eg animated backgrounds) or angsty.
It is very depressing. Oh, and a good deal of the most popular/most downloaded skins on Blogskins are done by lower secondary school Singaporean girls. I do not think this is a coincidence.
***
Chinese "Journalism"
Today's headline from the New York Times:
From the Washington Post:
From the Guardian:
And from the official Chinese news agency, Xinhua:
From: The Gweilo Diaries
***
Message: 10 Ways to describe if you are haunted..
Do you EVER get an eerie feeling if you are alone at home at nightime, you just feel like you're being watched? Feel like someone is there around that dark corner? That you might have seen toys or dolls moving by themselves??
** Experts say there are some lifebeings that maybe arent alive...thats still walking on earth. Nobody knows the truth. At least..nobody thats still alive..**
The ten ways...
Point 1
If at midnight, the power's out.
Point 2
If your pet dog/cat is sleeping but they're eyes are wide open.
Point 3
If your pet dog/cat is looking at something that you cant see.
Point 4
If your pet dog/cat scratches at the air, or growls or hiss at something you cant see.
Point 5
If something you see earlier on is at one place, later on it is gone or moved someplace else.
Point 6
If theres a shadow of a figure against the wall, but there is no one there.
Point 7
If you hear someone talking or whispering, but no one is there.
Point 8
If suddenly outside the window, there is nothing but black.
Point 9
If you feel like something or someone is touching you.
Point 10
If the hair on your head and body is shooting up.
What other people say about this
~ Anelissa Kok, 16 ~
When I got this letter, I deleted it, thinking it was crap. But, later on, strange things has happened to me. My mother had sex with our dog, and my brother vanished without a single trace.
~ Shaza Reenaz, 32 ~
I deleted this letter as soon as I got it. Thinking that kids were trying to fool me. But the next week, villagers found my 5 year old daugther dead in a river, floating beside a woman with long white hair and a white dress.
~ Kamilul Jalar, 14 ~
I didnt send this letter to other of my contacts. When at the next day, my house was empty. Pure empty. Everything was gone. And what was left was a package full of blood in my cupboard!
~ Mary Loo Mei, 13 ~
I deleted this letter as soon as I finished reading it. I thought it was pure crap. Then, strange things had happened to me lately. My boyfriend ran away from home, and he left a note to his parents that he is going to kill himself. The next week, it was all over the papers that a boy jumped of a high cliff.
If u dont wan this to happen to urself, pass it on in a new bulletin.. it is for ur own good.. dont blame me for not reminding u.. Woo..
This is priceless.
***
Gifted far from being elitist
"I'd draw a parallel with Russian Liberalism before 1917. The GEP program is like the Tsarist 'reform from above' programme that produced a small batch of social elites - the ex-nobility, urban professionals, big industrialists and landowners. These dudes got special education in Western liberal ideas and wanted to pressurize the Tsar into conceding constitutionalist reform. But because they were also the privileged ones in the Tsarist autocracy, they didn't want a violent revolution and drastic social change that would damage their own status.
The end result: the liberals, politically too weak to force the Tsar to concede changes, ended up riding on the coat-tails of the mass revolution of the grubby workers and peasants, and formed the Provisional Government of Feb 1917. But they themselves were horrified by the political demands of the unwashed masses, and apart from making the usual 'liberal' policy changes (rule of law, civil freedoms etc) their social and economic platform was hopelessly reactionary and dedicated (to all appearances) to preserving the position of the industrialists and landowners. The result: the successful Bolshevik Coup of October 1917.
Will the same happen in Singapore? Probably not. The 'disgruntled elite' is far stronger, the workers and peasants quiescent, and the leaders have read Aristotle on the fine art of preventing revolutions and preserving constitutional stability. Now, everyone is made to believe that they must buy into the system and continue supporting the elite who are the only real hope the entire country has for surviving the never-ending waves of economic crises.
Still, one might have thought the same of Brezhnev's USSR in the 1970s - to keep the masses happy with a fig-leaf of nominated 'democracy', in a situation where Marxist ideology had long since decayed into meaningless rhetoric, the government resorted to 'economic legitimation' i.e. paying off everyone proportionate to their importance to the system, and promising a slow but steady advance in economic growth and living standards. Support the Party, toe the line of 'democratic centralism', and we'll all get rich together.
This was sustained for a time via detente and trade with the West, but ultimately economic stagnation and falling growth rates (rings a bell anyone?) necessitated increasingly drastic 'reform from above' until Gorbachev had to make the appeal to the masses to support his policies against the obstructive nomenklatura elite... and guess what, we *almost* have a repeat of Feb 1917 on our hands.
Lessons for Singapore, anyone?"
For more of such, join Jiekai's brainchild: Young Republic
***
"maybe you can try being normal for once cause that would be really weird"
...
***
I am never *ever* buying Lux Super Rich Shampoo. The first ad featuring Michelle Chia was bad enough (the one of her at the masquerade), but with the newer one, in which she runs around in a room full of gears and finally cranks a lever to "reverse the effects of time" (complete with low class music and ooo-s), marks the nadir of her career.
I wonder if both the team which conceptualised the ad and the person who approved it were drunk - what the hell were they thinking?! Singaporean ads are bad, but even in such an insipid market, they have managed to set new standards for advertisement mediocrity, standards which only Dettol in Malaysia cannot meet.
***
THOR m
Usage: Norse Mythology
Pronounced: THOR
From the Old Norse Þórr meaning "thunder". Thor was the Norse god of strength, thunder and war, the son of Odin. He was armed with a hammer called Mjolnir, and wore an enchanted belt which doubled his strength.
TYR m
Usage: Norse Mythology
Pronounced: TIR
Old Norse form of the name of the Germanic god Tiwaz, related to Indo-European dyeus (see ZEUS). In Norse mythology Tyr was the god of war and justice, the son of the god Odin. He carries a spear in his left hand, since his right hand was bitten of by the wolf Fenrir. At the time of the end of the world, the Ragnarok, Tyr will slay and be slain by the giant hound Garm.
AFAIK, the only Norse god of war was Thor, and Tyr was just the brand of Xianjie's swimming trunks.
[Ed: nw.t: "no, tyr was the one-armed god of war
fenrir bit off his arm because they wanted to chain up fenrir and they built this super zhai chain which was dipped in one of the springs that flowed from yggdrasil's roots tended by the Norns.
they flattered fenrir and said they simply wanted to test the chain on him but he wouldn't believe them unless one of the gods stuck his arm in his jaws. guess who did"
Okay, so I'm not an expert in Norse mythology]
***
Most of the templates on blogskins.com are either: garish, tasteless, full of gimmicks (eg animated backgrounds) or angsty.
It is very depressing. Oh, and a good deal of the most popular/most downloaded skins on Blogskins are done by lower secondary school Singaporean girls. I do not think this is a coincidence.
***
Chinese "Journalism"
Today's headline from the New York Times:
Iran Still Making Nuclear Materials, UN Agency Says
From the Washington Post:
Watchdog Blasts Iran On Nuclear Program
From the Guardian:
Iran uranium find boosts nuclear bomb fears
And from the official Chinese news agency, Xinhua:
IAEA credits Iran for more openness with nuclear plans
From: The Gweilo Diaries
***
Message: 10 Ways to describe if you are haunted..
Do you EVER get an eerie feeling if you are alone at home at nightime, you just feel like you're being watched? Feel like someone is there around that dark corner? That you might have seen toys or dolls moving by themselves??
** Experts say there are some lifebeings that maybe arent alive...thats still walking on earth. Nobody knows the truth. At least..nobody thats still alive..**
The ten ways...
Point 1
If at midnight, the power's out.
Point 2
If your pet dog/cat is sleeping but they're eyes are wide open.
Point 3
If your pet dog/cat is looking at something that you cant see.
Point 4
If your pet dog/cat scratches at the air, or growls or hiss at something you cant see.
Point 5
If something you see earlier on is at one place, later on it is gone or moved someplace else.
Point 6
If theres a shadow of a figure against the wall, but there is no one there.
Point 7
If you hear someone talking or whispering, but no one is there.
Point 8
If suddenly outside the window, there is nothing but black.
Point 9
If you feel like something or someone is touching you.
Point 10
If the hair on your head and body is shooting up.
What other people say about this
~ Anelissa Kok, 16 ~
When I got this letter, I deleted it, thinking it was crap. But, later on, strange things has happened to me. My mother had sex with our dog, and my brother vanished without a single trace.
~ Shaza Reenaz, 32 ~
I deleted this letter as soon as I got it. Thinking that kids were trying to fool me. But the next week, villagers found my 5 year old daugther dead in a river, floating beside a woman with long white hair and a white dress.
~ Kamilul Jalar, 14 ~
I didnt send this letter to other of my contacts. When at the next day, my house was empty. Pure empty. Everything was gone. And what was left was a package full of blood in my cupboard!
~ Mary Loo Mei, 13 ~
I deleted this letter as soon as I finished reading it. I thought it was pure crap. Then, strange things had happened to me lately. My boyfriend ran away from home, and he left a note to his parents that he is going to kill himself. The next week, it was all over the papers that a boy jumped of a high cliff.
If u dont wan this to happen to urself, pass it on in a new bulletin.. it is for ur own good.. dont blame me for not reminding u.. Woo..
This is priceless.
***
Gifted far from being elitist
"I'd draw a parallel with Russian Liberalism before 1917. The GEP program is like the Tsarist 'reform from above' programme that produced a small batch of social elites - the ex-nobility, urban professionals, big industrialists and landowners. These dudes got special education in Western liberal ideas and wanted to pressurize the Tsar into conceding constitutionalist reform. But because they were also the privileged ones in the Tsarist autocracy, they didn't want a violent revolution and drastic social change that would damage their own status.
The end result: the liberals, politically too weak to force the Tsar to concede changes, ended up riding on the coat-tails of the mass revolution of the grubby workers and peasants, and formed the Provisional Government of Feb 1917. But they themselves were horrified by the political demands of the unwashed masses, and apart from making the usual 'liberal' policy changes (rule of law, civil freedoms etc) their social and economic platform was hopelessly reactionary and dedicated (to all appearances) to preserving the position of the industrialists and landowners. The result: the successful Bolshevik Coup of October 1917.
Will the same happen in Singapore? Probably not. The 'disgruntled elite' is far stronger, the workers and peasants quiescent, and the leaders have read Aristotle on the fine art of preventing revolutions and preserving constitutional stability. Now, everyone is made to believe that they must buy into the system and continue supporting the elite who are the only real hope the entire country has for surviving the never-ending waves of economic crises.
Still, one might have thought the same of Brezhnev's USSR in the 1970s - to keep the masses happy with a fig-leaf of nominated 'democracy', in a situation where Marxist ideology had long since decayed into meaningless rhetoric, the government resorted to 'economic legitimation' i.e. paying off everyone proportionate to their importance to the system, and promising a slow but steady advance in economic growth and living standards. Support the Party, toe the line of 'democratic centralism', and we'll all get rich together.
This was sustained for a time via detente and trade with the West, but ultimately economic stagnation and falling growth rates (rings a bell anyone?) necessitated increasingly drastic 'reform from above' until Gorbachev had to make the appeal to the masses to support his policies against the obstructive nomenklatura elite... and guess what, we *almost* have a repeat of Feb 1917 on our hands.
Lessons for Singapore, anyone?"
For more of such, join Jiekai's brainchild: Young Republic
Post ID: 108641462475366460
Friday, June 04, 2004
Extracts from Huntington's "Clash of Civilisations" (mostly as quoted by The Associate aka He Who Must Not be Named aka mindgame aka nw.t.):
"During the last decades of the twentieth century both Islam and Christianity significantly expanded their members in Africa and a major shift toward Christianity occurred in South Korea. In rapidly modernizing societies, if the traditional religion is unable to adapt to the requirements of modernization the potential exists for the spread of Western Christianity and Islam. In these societies, the most successful protagonists of Western culture are not neo-classical economists or crusading democrats or multinational corporation execs. They are and most likely will continue to be Christian missionaries. Neither Adam Smith nor Thomas Jefferson will meet the psychological, emotional, moral, and social needs of urban migrants and first-generation secondary school graduates. Jesus Christ may not meet them either, but He is likely to have a better chance.
In the long run, however, Mohammed wins out. Christianity spreads primarily by conversion, Islam by conversion and reproduction. The percentage of Christians in the world peaked at about 30 percent in the 1980s, leveled off, is now declining, and will probably approximate about 25 percent of the world’s population by 2025. As a result of their extremely high rates of population growth, the proportion of Muslims in the world will continue to increase dramatically, amounting to 20 percent of the world’s population about the turn of the century, surpassing the number of Christians some years later, and probably accounting for about 30 percent of the world’s population by 2025."
nw.t: Huntington claims that the islamic resurgence is a primarily urban, middle-class process and he finds parallels in marxisim in that an educated intellectual elite is at the radical forefront of fundamentalist movements.
***
"Whenever one looks along the perimeter of Islam, Muslims have problems livng peaceably with their neighbours. The question naturally arises as to whether this pattern of late twentieth-century conflict between Muslim and non-Muslim groups is equally true of relations between groups of other civilisations. In fact, it is not. Muslims make up about one-fifth of the world's population but in the 1990s they have been far more involved in intergroup violence than the people of any civilisation.
Muslims were participants in 26 of 50 ethnopolitical conflicts in 1993-1994. Twenty of these conflicts were between groups from different civilizations of which fifteen were between Muslims and non-Muslims. There conflicts within Islam also were more numerous than those in any other civilisation, including tribal conflicts in Africa. In contrast to Islam, the West was involved in only two intracivilizational and two intercivilisational conflicts.
Of the six wars in which 200,000 or more were killed, three were between Muslims and Non-Muslims (Sudan, Bosnia, East Timor), two were between Muslims (Somalia, Iraq - Kurds), and only one involved only Non-Muslims.
In the early 19990s, two thirds to three-quarters of intercivilizational war were between Muslims and non-Muslims, and Muslims were involved in more intracivilizational violence than any other group. Islam's borders are bloody, and so are its innards.
Muslim states also have had a high propensity to report to violence in international crises, employing it to resolve 76 out of 142 crises in which they were involved between 1928 and 1979. In 25 cases, violence was the primary means of dealing with the crisis, in 51 Muslim states used violence in addition to other means.
When they did use violence, Muslims used high-intensity violence, resorting to full-scale war in 41 percent of the cases where violence was used and engaging in major clashes in another 38 percent of the cases. While Muslim states resorted to violence in 53.5% of their crises, the United States only responded in 17.9%. Among the major powers only China's violence propensity exceeded that of the Muslim states; it employed violence in 76.9% of its crises. Muslim bellicosity (and Chinese too it seems) annd violence are late twentieth century facts which neither Muslims nor non-Muslims can deny."
nw.t: bwahahaahahaha listen to huntington's cop out
"It may be true that Christians in the past killed fellow Christians and other people in massive numbers but to evaluate the violence propensities of civilisations throughout history would require extensive research which is impossible here... what can be done is to identify possible causes of current Muslim group violence and distinguish between those causes which explain a greater propensity toward group conflict throughout history, and those causes relevant only to the end of the 20th century."
nw.t: off hand a casual reading of historical statistics would have shown that the western christian civilisation at one point had the highest propensity to violence in far greater quantities than any other civilization extatnt - and this propensity would stretch all the way from the renaissnace to the sunset of empire and colonialism
the question is why islam has inherited that mantle now; and i think part of it can be explained due to the monotheistic, proselytizing nature of their religions; and the fact that civilizations in ascendance (like the West was thanks to superior science, military power and economic clout at one point) and civilizations in resurgence as the West declines (Islam) tend to start looking for elbow room, particularly when the resurgent civilization is ALSO identified with a montheistic, proselytizing religion.
***
nw.t: between 1928 and 1979, the Soviets used force in 28.5% of their crises; the Chinese ratio was 76.9%
soviet vs china is proof (according to huntington) of an early manifestation of how intercivilisational faultlines were present even during the ideologically bipolar cold war period
i think it was due mainly to a chinese need to be superior even under the guise of ideological similarity if chinese had been a fascist state, they'd have complained that the nazies weren't killing jews fast enough and that they (after wiping out their tiny jew enclaves along the northeastern coast) were the true inheritors of judenrein and lebensraum concepts:)
"During the last decades of the twentieth century both Islam and Christianity significantly expanded their members in Africa and a major shift toward Christianity occurred in South Korea. In rapidly modernizing societies, if the traditional religion is unable to adapt to the requirements of modernization the potential exists for the spread of Western Christianity and Islam. In these societies, the most successful protagonists of Western culture are not neo-classical economists or crusading democrats or multinational corporation execs. They are and most likely will continue to be Christian missionaries. Neither Adam Smith nor Thomas Jefferson will meet the psychological, emotional, moral, and social needs of urban migrants and first-generation secondary school graduates. Jesus Christ may not meet them either, but He is likely to have a better chance.
In the long run, however, Mohammed wins out. Christianity spreads primarily by conversion, Islam by conversion and reproduction. The percentage of Christians in the world peaked at about 30 percent in the 1980s, leveled off, is now declining, and will probably approximate about 25 percent of the world’s population by 2025. As a result of their extremely high rates of population growth, the proportion of Muslims in the world will continue to increase dramatically, amounting to 20 percent of the world’s population about the turn of the century, surpassing the number of Christians some years later, and probably accounting for about 30 percent of the world’s population by 2025."
nw.t: Huntington claims that the islamic resurgence is a primarily urban, middle-class process and he finds parallels in marxisim in that an educated intellectual elite is at the radical forefront of fundamentalist movements.
***
"Whenever one looks along the perimeter of Islam, Muslims have problems livng peaceably with their neighbours. The question naturally arises as to whether this pattern of late twentieth-century conflict between Muslim and non-Muslim groups is equally true of relations between groups of other civilisations. In fact, it is not. Muslims make up about one-fifth of the world's population but in the 1990s they have been far more involved in intergroup violence than the people of any civilisation.
Muslims were participants in 26 of 50 ethnopolitical conflicts in 1993-1994. Twenty of these conflicts were between groups from different civilizations of which fifteen were between Muslims and non-Muslims. There conflicts within Islam also were more numerous than those in any other civilisation, including tribal conflicts in Africa. In contrast to Islam, the West was involved in only two intracivilizational and two intercivilisational conflicts.
Of the six wars in which 200,000 or more were killed, three were between Muslims and Non-Muslims (Sudan, Bosnia, East Timor), two were between Muslims (Somalia, Iraq - Kurds), and only one involved only Non-Muslims.
In the early 19990s, two thirds to three-quarters of intercivilizational war were between Muslims and non-Muslims, and Muslims were involved in more intracivilizational violence than any other group. Islam's borders are bloody, and so are its innards.
Muslim states also have had a high propensity to report to violence in international crises, employing it to resolve 76 out of 142 crises in which they were involved between 1928 and 1979. In 25 cases, violence was the primary means of dealing with the crisis, in 51 Muslim states used violence in addition to other means.
When they did use violence, Muslims used high-intensity violence, resorting to full-scale war in 41 percent of the cases where violence was used and engaging in major clashes in another 38 percent of the cases. While Muslim states resorted to violence in 53.5% of their crises, the United States only responded in 17.9%. Among the major powers only China's violence propensity exceeded that of the Muslim states; it employed violence in 76.9% of its crises. Muslim bellicosity (and Chinese too it seems) annd violence are late twentieth century facts which neither Muslims nor non-Muslims can deny."
nw.t: bwahahaahahaha listen to huntington's cop out
"It may be true that Christians in the past killed fellow Christians and other people in massive numbers but to evaluate the violence propensities of civilisations throughout history would require extensive research which is impossible here... what can be done is to identify possible causes of current Muslim group violence and distinguish between those causes which explain a greater propensity toward group conflict throughout history, and those causes relevant only to the end of the 20th century."
nw.t: off hand a casual reading of historical statistics would have shown that the western christian civilisation at one point had the highest propensity to violence in far greater quantities than any other civilization extatnt - and this propensity would stretch all the way from the renaissnace to the sunset of empire and colonialism
the question is why islam has inherited that mantle now; and i think part of it can be explained due to the monotheistic, proselytizing nature of their religions; and the fact that civilizations in ascendance (like the West was thanks to superior science, military power and economic clout at one point) and civilizations in resurgence as the West declines (Islam) tend to start looking for elbow room, particularly when the resurgent civilization is ALSO identified with a montheistic, proselytizing religion.
***
nw.t: between 1928 and 1979, the Soviets used force in 28.5% of their crises; the Chinese ratio was 76.9%
soviet vs china is proof (according to huntington) of an early manifestation of how intercivilisational faultlines were present even during the ideologically bipolar cold war period
i think it was due mainly to a chinese need to be superior even under the guise of ideological similarity if chinese had been a fascist state, they'd have complained that the nazies weren't killing jews fast enough and that they (after wiping out their tiny jew enclaves along the northeastern coast) were the true inheritors of judenrein and lebensraum concepts:)
Post ID: 142273262449403380
"Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the LORD have spoken it." - Ezekiel 21:32
Ironically, the very inclusion of this prophecy in Ezekiel has conspired to negate it. (As pointed out by the excellent though interminable An Introduction to Biblical Nonsense which I am taking forever to wade through.
***
Disturbingly, sometimes the smell of Vanilla Coke reminds me of insecticide.
***
A contributor has provided the 100th entry of How Girls Waste Time:
"An unending preoccupation with marriage/fantasising about marriage/ adopting the last name of each new boyfriend that comes along and writing it all over notebooks and folders in nothing other than sparkle pens and girly fonts etc..."
***
Suit: TV show demeans voodoo
An advocacy group for African religions contends that the Sci Fi Channel series degrades the religion.
A Philadelphia-based advocacy group for African religions yesterday sued Universal Studios and producers for cable's Sci Fi Channel, contending that a forthcoming "reality series" demeans and misrepresents the voodoo religion.
The federal lawsuit filed by the National African Religion Congress Inc. against Universal Studios Inc., USA Cable Entertainment, and House of Eleven Productions seeks a court order requiring the producers of Mad Mad House to change their advertising and programming.
"People already have negative feelings about this religion without a program like this exacerbating things," said George Ware, president of the five-year-old congress. The congress claims 4,500 members representing such religions as Akan, the Orisa Tradition of Trinidad and Tobago, Ifa, Santeria-Yoruba, voodoo, Candomble and Lucumi, including 500 in the tristate Philadelphia area.
In promotions in print and on cable, Sci Fi describes Mad Mad House, premiering March 4, as a reality series in which "10 everyday people" move into a house run by "five genuine practitioners of alternative lifestyles."
The "Alts" - a vampire, Wiccan, naturist, voodoo priestess and modern primitive - put their 10 guests through "tolerance testing activities," one promotion says, and then vote weekly to decide who is banished and who ultimately wins a $100,000 prize.
The lawsuit contends that the program's voodoo priestess, Iya Ta'Shia Asanti, is actually a priestess of "Yemoja in the Ifa tradition," a faith of the Yoruba people of Africa.
Asanti does not dress as a voodoo priestess, the lawsuit continues, and a commercial showing participants being placed into a pit and covered with animal parts and entrails does not represent voodoo or Ifa.
A spokesman for producers Arthur Smith and Kent Weed in Los Angeles referred questions to Universal's offices for the Sci Fi Channel in New York. Kat Stein, a senior vice president for communications, said she could not comment on the suit before consulting with the channel's lawyers.
The lawsuit contends that producers reached an agreement with Asanti only after Gro Mambo Angela Novanyon, a recognized Haitian voodoo high priestess in Philadelphia who founded the congress, refused to participate in Mad Mad House.
The lawsuit asks for a federal judge to require the producers of Mad Mad House to properly identify Asanti as an Ifa, not a voodoo, priestess and prohibit them from "airing any episode... that falsely portrays any practice of African-based religions."
Ironically, the very inclusion of this prophecy in Ezekiel has conspired to negate it. (As pointed out by the excellent though interminable An Introduction to Biblical Nonsense which I am taking forever to wade through.
***
Disturbingly, sometimes the smell of Vanilla Coke reminds me of insecticide.
***
A contributor has provided the 100th entry of How Girls Waste Time:
"An unending preoccupation with marriage/fantasising about marriage/ adopting the last name of each new boyfriend that comes along and writing it all over notebooks and folders in nothing other than sparkle pens and girly fonts etc..."
***
Suit: TV show demeans voodoo
An advocacy group for African religions contends that the Sci Fi Channel series degrades the religion.
A Philadelphia-based advocacy group for African religions yesterday sued Universal Studios and producers for cable's Sci Fi Channel, contending that a forthcoming "reality series" demeans and misrepresents the voodoo religion.
The federal lawsuit filed by the National African Religion Congress Inc. against Universal Studios Inc., USA Cable Entertainment, and House of Eleven Productions seeks a court order requiring the producers of Mad Mad House to change their advertising and programming.
"People already have negative feelings about this religion without a program like this exacerbating things," said George Ware, president of the five-year-old congress. The congress claims 4,500 members representing such religions as Akan, the Orisa Tradition of Trinidad and Tobago, Ifa, Santeria-Yoruba, voodoo, Candomble and Lucumi, including 500 in the tristate Philadelphia area.
In promotions in print and on cable, Sci Fi describes Mad Mad House, premiering March 4, as a reality series in which "10 everyday people" move into a house run by "five genuine practitioners of alternative lifestyles."
The "Alts" - a vampire, Wiccan, naturist, voodoo priestess and modern primitive - put their 10 guests through "tolerance testing activities," one promotion says, and then vote weekly to decide who is banished and who ultimately wins a $100,000 prize.
The lawsuit contends that the program's voodoo priestess, Iya Ta'Shia Asanti, is actually a priestess of "Yemoja in the Ifa tradition," a faith of the Yoruba people of Africa.
Asanti does not dress as a voodoo priestess, the lawsuit continues, and a commercial showing participants being placed into a pit and covered with animal parts and entrails does not represent voodoo or Ifa.
A spokesman for producers Arthur Smith and Kent Weed in Los Angeles referred questions to Universal's offices for the Sci Fi Channel in New York. Kat Stein, a senior vice president for communications, said she could not comment on the suit before consulting with the channel's lawyers.
The lawsuit contends that producers reached an agreement with Asanti only after Gro Mambo Angela Novanyon, a recognized Haitian voodoo high priestess in Philadelphia who founded the congress, refused to participate in Mad Mad House.
The lawsuit asks for a federal judge to require the producers of Mad Mad House to properly identify Asanti as an Ifa, not a voodoo, priestess and prohibit them from "airing any episode... that falsely portrays any practice of African-based religions."
Post ID: 108634950026935909
Search referrals:
cosplay windy skirt - What does that have to do with cosplay?
"once armour always suffer" - Someone else has heard of Junxiong's motto, I see.
epididymis omelette
umno ringtone note - Umno has a ringtone?
"daniel radcliffe" "chest hair" - Maybe in the next movie, instead of seeing Emma Watson's bare back, we can see Daniel Radcliffe's bare chest.
"Elitist Mindset" AND "Singapore" AND "teenagers"
PEARLY PENILE PUPILS PICS - Pearly Penile Pupils? PPP?!
scgs havoc
Tourism, scgs, singapore - So now tourists are coming to see them. Their infamy precedes them.
desktoppers nude
"National Cadet Corps" stupid - Our modern day Hitler Jugend
lowest-skirt - That's a new direction for hemlines to go.
metaphors for Hep B
Nutella Pigs blood
safety slogans - "Be safe, don't train"
Malay wedding speaches
schoolgirl wearing sanitary pad got fucked - How can you wear one and be screwed at the same time?
did jamie yeo get a boob job - Ask her.
"he shaved his legs"
power ranger font - There is one?
What round object did Gollum refer to as "My Precious" - I must have seen this at least 5 times before, phrased exactly the same way and from the same search engine. Someone's quite slow on the uptake.
"gaia theory" catholicism
air stewardess zao geng - Just fly SIA.
vaginal maximum object insertion size photo gallery - Erm. That would depend on your elasticity.
"nam wah pai" melbourne - They're taking over the world!
rjc untucked uniform
saf depression downgrade pes
caning experiences
sicheng nice guy
genting island-gay spa ;bar;disco
Omnia Slimming machine
Aragorn's Xanga Site - Now fictional people have blogs? Wow.
singapore sucks reservist migrate
photos longest beard ever
Mr Ms Mrs "Ong Chiau Jin"
ISD agent Chua Lee Hoong
singapore pimples statistic
sword+fighting+techniques
"use mayonnaise" to clean cd
gargamel bigmouth underwear
minoan sacrifice barbie dolls - "Minoan Priestess Barbie": comes with traditional breast-baring top!
Bare-breasted women readers, I assume, most would agree is odd.) - Some people don't know how to use search engines.
cicadas torturing -iraqi -prisoner
switching bodies with a hot babe - That might be fun.
"Brad Pitt" "naked at home"
How to catch Singapore girls zao geng - If someone wrote a book on this, he would earn lots of money.
Singaporean politician compromising position - Steve Chia!
nude saf girls - *Screams* I've just lost my appetite.
abortion in klcc toilet
"who killed Grace Kelly"
"Movie Torture Scenes" - Just watch Passion of the Christ.
"How can I get fat" - Most ask the reverse.
photo of bcg scar
kermit stoned wavs
"blanket party" bmt
lesbian "nanyang girls"
starhub green prepaid secret code for sms
christians yaoi
What is the best household item for a woman to masterbate with?
woman masterbate using what food? - I see the question has been refined to specify the masterbater's gender. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be increasing the accuracy of their search results. In the off chance that the person who keeps searching for this reads this - try cucumbers, advocados and baguettes.
did achilles cut off hector's tongue in the movie troy? - He didn't do a lot of things.
POCM SAF medic - Interestingly, the SMM website offers restricted information on POCM under their "health facts" section. How odd.
dildo tudung
cosplay windy skirt - What does that have to do with cosplay?
"once armour always suffer" - Someone else has heard of Junxiong's motto, I see.
epididymis omelette
umno ringtone note - Umno has a ringtone?
"daniel radcliffe" "chest hair" - Maybe in the next movie, instead of seeing Emma Watson's bare back, we can see Daniel Radcliffe's bare chest.
"Elitist Mindset" AND "Singapore" AND "teenagers"
PEARLY PENILE PUPILS PICS - Pearly Penile Pupils? PPP?!
scgs havoc
Tourism, scgs, singapore - So now tourists are coming to see them. Their infamy precedes them.
desktoppers nude
"National Cadet Corps" stupid - Our modern day Hitler Jugend
lowest-skirt - That's a new direction for hemlines to go.
metaphors for Hep B
Nutella Pigs blood
safety slogans - "Be safe, don't train"
Malay wedding speaches
schoolgirl wearing sanitary pad got fucked - How can you wear one and be screwed at the same time?
did jamie yeo get a boob job - Ask her.
"he shaved his legs"
power ranger font - There is one?
What round object did Gollum refer to as "My Precious" - I must have seen this at least 5 times before, phrased exactly the same way and from the same search engine. Someone's quite slow on the uptake.
"gaia theory" catholicism
air stewardess zao geng - Just fly SIA.
vaginal maximum object insertion size photo gallery - Erm. That would depend on your elasticity.
"nam wah pai" melbourne - They're taking over the world!
rjc untucked uniform
saf depression downgrade pes
caning experiences
sicheng nice guy
genting island-gay spa ;bar;disco
Omnia Slimming machine
Aragorn's Xanga Site - Now fictional people have blogs? Wow.
singapore sucks reservist migrate
photos longest beard ever
Mr Ms Mrs "Ong Chiau Jin"
ISD agent Chua Lee Hoong
singapore pimples statistic
sword+fighting+techniques
"use mayonnaise" to clean cd
gargamel bigmouth underwear
minoan sacrifice barbie dolls - "Minoan Priestess Barbie": comes with traditional breast-baring top!
Bare-breasted women readers, I assume, most would agree is odd.) - Some people don't know how to use search engines.
cicadas torturing -iraqi -prisoner
switching bodies with a hot babe - That might be fun.
"Brad Pitt" "naked at home"
How to catch Singapore girls zao geng - If someone wrote a book on this, he would earn lots of money.
Singaporean politician compromising position - Steve Chia!
nude saf girls - *Screams* I've just lost my appetite.
abortion in klcc toilet
"who killed Grace Kelly"
"Movie Torture Scenes" - Just watch Passion of the Christ.
"How can I get fat" - Most ask the reverse.
photo of bcg scar
kermit stoned wavs
"blanket party" bmt
lesbian "nanyang girls"
starhub green prepaid secret code for sms
christians yaoi
What is the best household item for a woman to masterbate with?
woman masterbate using what food? - I see the question has been refined to specify the masterbater's gender. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be increasing the accuracy of their search results. In the off chance that the person who keeps searching for this reads this - try cucumbers, advocados and baguettes.
did achilles cut off hector's tongue in the movie troy? - He didn't do a lot of things.
POCM SAF medic - Interestingly, the SMM website offers restricted information on POCM under their "health facts" section. How odd.
dildo tudung
Post ID: 1256978522826897846
Thursday, June 03, 2004
As the Harry Potter books get longer and the movies stay roughly the same length, they're cutting more and more bits away. The latest movie feels very rushed. Few of the characters spend enough time onscreen being developed. Perhaps this is because it weighs in at only 142 mins compared to 161 mins and 152 mins for the second and first film, respectively, while having much more to cover (though somehow managing to keep countless shots of Emma Watson's naked lower back). I can't imagine what GoF will be like. [Ed: This was the post which started all the Emma Watson search referrals.]
Meanwhile, I was speechless after finding out that Day After Tomorrow - the movie which violates most of the laws of nature - had a "scientific advisor" with a pHD. I'm not sure if he'll ever be able to show his face anywhere again.
***
Information on my foremost Idol is terribly hard to find. If only I understood Vietnamese... Then I would also be able to go down to Vietnam to track him down!
there are some things money CAN'T buy. the commercial is right!!!
"We walked past a very familiar looking person. 'Gramma!!' I hissed 'Look in there!! It's HIM!!!' She looked around 'Where? WHO?' 'IN THE RESTAURANT!!!' 'IT'S THE GUY FROM THE POSTER!!!' 'Ohhh, you're RIGHT! And he's EATING!!... we did get to watch this guy stuffing noodles into his mouth:
Don't even PRETEND you aren't jealous. YOU ARE. Seeing this guy is BETTER than winning money. Way better.
If you'd like to meet me in person to hear the fabulous re-telling of the story, you just let me know."
Wo-Hen!!!!
Xephyris: "it's UNPOSSIBLE!!! HE DOES NOT EXIST!! IT"S A CONSPIRACY!!!!!111111oneone"
Power-Ballad-N-Vote! by Vu Nguyen
"There were more than 180 performers on hand, but the zenith of the show arrived with Tuan Anh, Little Saigon’s most famous cross-dressing balladeer. Anh’s vibe is best described as Little Richard meets Perry Como. He crooned for a short set while potential voters cheered in unison. It was a defining moment: Anh is the darling of the community’s older generation; younger Vietnamese-American voters are just as likely as their non-Vietnamese peers to listen to KROQ."
ROFL. Does Wo-hen lives in Orange County in California??? That would explain how the US college student found out about him.
Wo-hen's latest CD. From his Asian Avenue page.
Finally, the tour de force:
>>08.17.02
"the second installment of my vacation - LA. we`re at the mall, shopping at Macy`s in the shoe department. i`m trying on these really cute Max Azria stilletos that are on sale for only $50. i glance up and see a vietnamese man with long hair. he looks strangely familiar. i lean over towards my mom -
"hey look, that man looks like that man," i whisper surruptitiously.
"what?" my mom replies, puzzled.
"that SINGER? tuan anh or something?"i hiss, nodding in the long-haired man`s direction. he is looking at women`s shoes.
"OH," my mom acknowledges. "that`s him," my mom shrugs, unimpressed.
well I`M impressed. it`s my first celebrity citing, even if it IS a transsexual looking vietnamese singer from the 80`s. i tried to take a picture of him, but my mom wouldn`t let me."
Xephyris: "i used to think his face was a photoshopped composite w"
FAT HOPE. Wo-hen is *REAL*!~! (I don't have the hang of sounding ditzy with the tilde sign. Sorry.)
[Ed: For those who have no idea what I'm talking about - Asian Prince]
Meanwhile, I was speechless after finding out that Day After Tomorrow - the movie which violates most of the laws of nature - had a "scientific advisor" with a pHD. I'm not sure if he'll ever be able to show his face anywhere again.
***
Information on my foremost Idol is terribly hard to find. If only I understood Vietnamese... Then I would also be able to go down to Vietnam to track him down!
there are some things money CAN'T buy. the commercial is right!!!
"We walked past a very familiar looking person. 'Gramma!!' I hissed 'Look in there!! It's HIM!!!' She looked around 'Where? WHO?' 'IN THE RESTAURANT!!!' 'IT'S THE GUY FROM THE POSTER!!!' 'Ohhh, you're RIGHT! And he's EATING!!... we did get to watch this guy stuffing noodles into his mouth:
Don't even PRETEND you aren't jealous. YOU ARE. Seeing this guy is BETTER than winning money. Way better.
If you'd like to meet me in person to hear the fabulous re-telling of the story, you just let me know."
Wo-Hen!!!!
Xephyris: "it's UNPOSSIBLE!!! HE DOES NOT EXIST!! IT"S A CONSPIRACY!!!!!111111oneone"
Power-Ballad-N-Vote! by Vu Nguyen
"There were more than 180 performers on hand, but the zenith of the show arrived with Tuan Anh, Little Saigon’s most famous cross-dressing balladeer. Anh’s vibe is best described as Little Richard meets Perry Como. He crooned for a short set while potential voters cheered in unison. It was a defining moment: Anh is the darling of the community’s older generation; younger Vietnamese-American voters are just as likely as their non-Vietnamese peers to listen to KROQ."
ROFL. Does Wo-hen lives in Orange County in California??? That would explain how the US college student found out about him.
Wo-hen's latest CD. From his Asian Avenue page.
Finally, the tour de force:
>>08.17.02
"the second installment of my vacation - LA. we`re at the mall, shopping at Macy`s in the shoe department. i`m trying on these really cute Max Azria stilletos that are on sale for only $50. i glance up and see a vietnamese man with long hair. he looks strangely familiar. i lean over towards my mom -
"hey look, that man looks like that man," i whisper surruptitiously.
"what?" my mom replies, puzzled.
"that SINGER? tuan anh or something?"i hiss, nodding in the long-haired man`s direction. he is looking at women`s shoes.
"OH," my mom acknowledges. "that`s him," my mom shrugs, unimpressed.
well I`M impressed. it`s my first celebrity citing, even if it IS a transsexual looking vietnamese singer from the 80`s. i tried to take a picture of him, but my mom wouldn`t let me."
Xephyris: "i used to think his face was a photoshopped composite w"
FAT HOPE. Wo-hen is *REAL*!~! (I don't have the hang of sounding ditzy with the tilde sign. Sorry.)
[Ed: For those who have no idea what I'm talking about - Asian Prince]
Post ID: 108625010446525419
"Steve Chia is enrolled in a nude photography class at the Photographic Society of Singapore. Lol."
It's depressing. No one knows who Steve Chia is. I do, and I don't even read the Straits Times.
***
Muslim veil could cut cancer risk: doctor - "Veiled women are protecting more than their modesty - they are also less prone to nose and throat cancers because their veils screen out viruses, a Canadian doctor was quoted on Friday as saying."
Here, Have Some Plot (Return of the Revenge of the Geek Chorus) - "the different mediums of comic-book, film, and animated serial allow, and even require, different narrative styles and character development. When a movie or ‘toon disappoints, it’s usually because of a failure to effectively transition the key elements of a world from medium to medium."
something positive on why nice guys never get the girls - "They flock to assholes! And the worse, the better! They love guys who'll mistreat them, talk down to them, cheat on them and completely neglect their feelings"
From Texas to Abu Ghraib: The Bush Legacy of Prisoner Abuse - "In George Bush’s America, denial about inmate mistreatment runs similarly rampant. As Texas governor, Bush oversaw the executions of 152 prisoners and thus became the most-killing governor in the history of the United States. Ethnic minorities, many of whom did not have access to proper legal representation, comprised a large percentage [Ed: 92% in 1988] of those Bush put to death, and in one particularly egregious example, Bush executed an immigrant who hadn’t even seen a consular official from his own country (as is required by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, to which the US was a signatory). Bush’s explanation: "Texas did not sign the Vienna Convention, so why should we be subject to it?" Governor Bush also flouted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child by choosing to execute juvenile offenders, a practice shared by only Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen... In September 1996, for example, a videotaped raid on inmates at a county jail in Texas showed guards using stun guns and an attack dog on prisoners, who were later dragged face-down back to their cells."
It's depressing. No one knows who Steve Chia is. I do, and I don't even read the Straits Times.
***
Muslim veil could cut cancer risk: doctor - "Veiled women are protecting more than their modesty - they are also less prone to nose and throat cancers because their veils screen out viruses, a Canadian doctor was quoted on Friday as saying."
Here, Have Some Plot (Return of the Revenge of the Geek Chorus) - "the different mediums of comic-book, film, and animated serial allow, and even require, different narrative styles and character development. When a movie or ‘toon disappoints, it’s usually because of a failure to effectively transition the key elements of a world from medium to medium."
something positive on why nice guys never get the girls - "They flock to assholes! And the worse, the better! They love guys who'll mistreat them, talk down to them, cheat on them and completely neglect their feelings"
From Texas to Abu Ghraib: The Bush Legacy of Prisoner Abuse - "In George Bush’s America, denial about inmate mistreatment runs similarly rampant. As Texas governor, Bush oversaw the executions of 152 prisoners and thus became the most-killing governor in the history of the United States. Ethnic minorities, many of whom did not have access to proper legal representation, comprised a large percentage [Ed: 92% in 1988] of those Bush put to death, and in one particularly egregious example, Bush executed an immigrant who hadn’t even seen a consular official from his own country (as is required by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, to which the US was a signatory). Bush’s explanation: "Texas did not sign the Vienna Convention, so why should we be subject to it?" Governor Bush also flouted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child by choosing to execute juvenile offenders, a practice shared by only Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen... In September 1996, for example, a videotaped raid on inmates at a county jail in Texas showed guards using stun guns and an attack dog on prisoners, who were later dragged face-down back to their cells."
Post ID: 6586470341787498590
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Picture time
BJ - the reflexology studio. "Why go to JB when you can relax at BJ?" What a great name for a massage parlour! (Benjy first told me about it, and a few weeks later I happened to see it while I was in Geylang)
Someone's dress has caught a spot of measles. How dreadful.
Evil Torture Device offered as a free gift with a one year SPH subscription at the World Book Fair.
***
It seems that my banana rant has gotten a response of sorts, though instead of addressing my original points, he has gone off on a tangent.
In any case, my original points still stand. If one wants to learn a language to understand one's "roots" (however possible that is with mere linguistics), your ethnic group's dialect, and not Putonghua, is *the* tongue to learn.
The bottom line: We didn't choose to be born into our ethnic group, so it should dictate our choice of language and lifestyle as much as it should dictate our religious beliefs or attitudes towards women/foreigners/ethnic minorities or what not.
***
Hot news on the Darkness Demo!
"Response to the Darkness Demo has been encouraging. So I hope that you'll be pleased to hear that production of level 2 has started. Here are some questions that I thought people might ask... but they didn't so I ask them myself =P
Q: Why is there a red fish sticker on the handheld torch?
A: Because the handheld torch is a... wait for it... RED HERRING! It doesn't work and is there to mislead you. Red herring! Geddit? Geddit? *crowd boos*
Q: Is there a nude cheat?
A: Try typing "i am a pervert" as password. LOL!
Some interesting comments from various people.
ChinX asks "Can you include the St. Nicks Girls School (SNGS) school uniform next? I like the blue."
Yes, will do. For all your fetish needs. Ahahaha. Expect nurses in the next level too. Lazyeye (or is it Teo?) finds nurses' unform sexy because he likes the zip that goes down all the way in front. Haha. Whatever rows your boat and flys your kite. LOL!"
***
"Cynicism, after all, springs not from cruelty or viciousness, but from precisely the opposite: a fatal love of virtue. If we were mere realists, we'd have no need for cynicism; the world would never disappoint us because we'd expect so little of it. But the best cynics are still idealists under their scarred hides. We wanted the world to be a better place, and we can't shrug off the disappointment when it lets us down. Our cynicism gives us the painful power to behold life shorn of its sustaining illusions"
The Cynic's Sanctuary
***
From Bush, Unprecedented Negativity
"Scholars and political strategists say the ferocious Bush assault on Kerry this spring has been extraordinary, both for the volume of attacks and for the liberties the president and his campaign have taken with the facts. Though stretching the truth is hardly new in a political campaign, they say the volume of negative charges is unprecedented -- both in speeches and in advertising."
***
"Warning Signs of an Abusive Relationship:
Controlling behavior.
Jealousy and possessiveness.
Misogyny.
Mood swings and short temper.
Threats, intimidation, and physical violence.
Emotional abuse and putdowns.
Blaming the victim.
Hypercritical nature/Unrealistic expectations.
The causes of Stockholm syndrome are actually quite simple: when victims see themselves as helpless, unable to escape, they begin to believe that their only chance for survival is the good will of their captor. Even small kindnesses shown to them become, in their minds, evidence that the captor is "not so bad", and for their own sake they begin to make an effort to keep the captor happy and fulfill his desires. Over time, this can grow into an actual emotional bond that ultimately leads to the captive taking their captor's side. Stockholm syndrome frequently appears among prisoners of war, members of cults, and other, similar situations - but most significantly, it is very common in abusive relationships.
How can this insidious condition be cured? The most important thing to keep in mind is that getting angry at the victim of an abusive relationship, demanding that they recognize the wrongs being done to them and "snap out of it", does no good. As maddening as it may seem to watch a fellow human being live in thrall to an abuser, even to turn against people who try to help, it must be remembered that it is not their fault; they are only doing what they believe they must do to survive. Even if it would be for their own good, concerned outsiders are simply not capable of "saving" them against their will, and to try would only drive the person deeper into the abuser's clutches. As in so many things, the initial decision to walk away must be the victim's; only once they have made this choice for themselves can others help, by providing safe harbor and a place for them to go where they will be accepted."
Source: Is the Christian "Relationship with God" Healthy?
"Ask this atheist why he spends the time on pursuits such as this website, and my answer is simple - because I want to help."
Truly.
BJ - the reflexology studio. "Why go to JB when you can relax at BJ?" What a great name for a massage parlour! (Benjy first told me about it, and a few weeks later I happened to see it while I was in Geylang)
Someone's dress has caught a spot of measles. How dreadful.
Evil Torture Device offered as a free gift with a one year SPH subscription at the World Book Fair.
***
It seems that my banana rant has gotten a response of sorts, though instead of addressing my original points, he has gone off on a tangent.
In any case, my original points still stand. If one wants to learn a language to understand one's "roots" (however possible that is with mere linguistics), your ethnic group's dialect, and not Putonghua, is *the* tongue to learn.
The bottom line: We didn't choose to be born into our ethnic group, so it should dictate our choice of language and lifestyle as much as it should dictate our religious beliefs or attitudes towards women/foreigners/ethnic minorities or what not.
***
Hot news on the Darkness Demo!
"Response to the Darkness Demo has been encouraging. So I hope that you'll be pleased to hear that production of level 2 has started. Here are some questions that I thought people might ask... but they didn't so I ask them myself =P
Q: Why is there a red fish sticker on the handheld torch?
A: Because the handheld torch is a... wait for it... RED HERRING! It doesn't work and is there to mislead you. Red herring! Geddit? Geddit? *crowd boos*
Q: Is there a nude cheat?
A: Try typing "i am a pervert" as password. LOL!
Some interesting comments from various people.
ChinX asks "Can you include the St. Nicks Girls School (SNGS) school uniform next? I like the blue."
Yes, will do. For all your fetish needs. Ahahaha. Expect nurses in the next level too. Lazyeye (or is it Teo?) finds nurses' unform sexy because he likes the zip that goes down all the way in front. Haha. Whatever rows your boat and flys your kite. LOL!"
***
"Cynicism, after all, springs not from cruelty or viciousness, but from precisely the opposite: a fatal love of virtue. If we were mere realists, we'd have no need for cynicism; the world would never disappoint us because we'd expect so little of it. But the best cynics are still idealists under their scarred hides. We wanted the world to be a better place, and we can't shrug off the disappointment when it lets us down. Our cynicism gives us the painful power to behold life shorn of its sustaining illusions"
The Cynic's Sanctuary
***
From Bush, Unprecedented Negativity
"Scholars and political strategists say the ferocious Bush assault on Kerry this spring has been extraordinary, both for the volume of attacks and for the liberties the president and his campaign have taken with the facts. Though stretching the truth is hardly new in a political campaign, they say the volume of negative charges is unprecedented -- both in speeches and in advertising."
***
"Warning Signs of an Abusive Relationship:
Controlling behavior.
Jealousy and possessiveness.
Misogyny.
Mood swings and short temper.
Threats, intimidation, and physical violence.
Emotional abuse and putdowns.
Blaming the victim.
Hypercritical nature/Unrealistic expectations.
The causes of Stockholm syndrome are actually quite simple: when victims see themselves as helpless, unable to escape, they begin to believe that their only chance for survival is the good will of their captor. Even small kindnesses shown to them become, in their minds, evidence that the captor is "not so bad", and for their own sake they begin to make an effort to keep the captor happy and fulfill his desires. Over time, this can grow into an actual emotional bond that ultimately leads to the captive taking their captor's side. Stockholm syndrome frequently appears among prisoners of war, members of cults, and other, similar situations - but most significantly, it is very common in abusive relationships.
How can this insidious condition be cured? The most important thing to keep in mind is that getting angry at the victim of an abusive relationship, demanding that they recognize the wrongs being done to them and "snap out of it", does no good. As maddening as it may seem to watch a fellow human being live in thrall to an abuser, even to turn against people who try to help, it must be remembered that it is not their fault; they are only doing what they believe they must do to survive. Even if it would be for their own good, concerned outsiders are simply not capable of "saving" them against their will, and to try would only drive the person deeper into the abuser's clutches. As in so many things, the initial decision to walk away must be the victim's; only once they have made this choice for themselves can others help, by providing safe harbor and a place for them to go where they will be accepted."
Source: Is the Christian "Relationship with God" Healthy?
"Ask this atheist why he spends the time on pursuits such as this website, and my answer is simple - because I want to help."
Truly.
Post ID: 108616631278123888
Everybody wants to be a macho macho man
To have the kind of body that's always in demand
Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey!
Macho, macho man (macho man)
I've got to be, a macho man
Macho, macho man
I've got to be a macho! Woo!
--- Extract from the Muppets' take on the Village People's Macho Macho Man
Too bad I only have the MP3. I suspect the video would be hilarious. I suspect it's making fun of the song, because a bird squawks: "you're a bunch of sissies!"
***
Unable to hide "Sarah" (his sggirls "girlfriend") from inquisitive eyes anymore, Quanteng is now claiming that they broke up.
Right.
***
I download an MP3 of The Music's Always There With You from a Hong Kong choir's page, and the piano introduction sounds exceedingly familiar. Then, a familiar sinister operatic voice starts singing.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
"The songs below are sung by other choirs or singers, for you all to listen and improve your singing, enjoy!" - (...)
On the bright side, I found 阿拉木汗 (Alamuhan) on another Hong Kong Choir's page (The Chinese University of Hong Kong Student Chorus). I wasn't as enthused by the titles of some of the communist songs they have (eg "運動員進行曲" and "兵車行"), but when I downloaded the former, I found that it was the tune that my Communist Primary School (Nanyang Primary School) played to mark the end of recess!!!
The shock almost sent me into a state of apoplexy. The official name of the song in English, by the way, is "Athletes March - The Composition Group of the Military Band of the People’s Liberation Army of China, arranged by Ma Ge-shun", so Tim tells me.
"Under the initiative of Mao Tse-tung, the Military Band of the People’s Liberation Army of China, affiliated to the General Politics Department of the People’s Liberation Army, was established in 1952. Since its establishment, the Composition Group of the Band composed and arranged numerous works for symphonic band. The Athletes March is a famous one among them. The Composition Group wrote three versions of Athletes March, the second version, which will be performed tonight, was premiered in November 1971 at the Asia- Africa- Latin America Table Tennis Friendship Tournament. Since then, this March is widely used for various athletic activities in Mainland China. It is also widely used as the opening, closing and entr’acte music in ceremonies. This four-part a cappella arrangement performed tonight is made by Professor Ma Ge-shun, a famous choral conductor and music educator."
Makes you wonder how Nanyang survived the communist purge in the 50s.
Incidentally, their version of the Rutter piece is torturously slow, by the way, but I can't hear any Honkie accents. Amazing!
Further searching uncovered a CD with a Korean version. I listened to the AU preview and was speechless.
***
"Eliminate your bills the christian way"
Whee. Now I get Christian debt relief spam. Back, you demons!
***
PhotoRescue - Salvation if you format your CF card by mistake
Tony's Spud Gun Page - As suggested by Michelle, a commenter
To have the kind of body that's always in demand
Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey!
Macho, macho man (macho man)
I've got to be, a macho man
Macho, macho man
I've got to be a macho! Woo!
--- Extract from the Muppets' take on the Village People's Macho Macho Man
Too bad I only have the MP3. I suspect the video would be hilarious. I suspect it's making fun of the song, because a bird squawks: "you're a bunch of sissies!"
***
Unable to hide "Sarah" (his sggirls "girlfriend") from inquisitive eyes anymore, Quanteng is now claiming that they broke up.
Right.
***
I download an MP3 of The Music's Always There With You from a Hong Kong choir's page, and the piano introduction sounds exceedingly familiar. Then, a familiar sinister operatic voice starts singing.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
"The songs below are sung by other choirs or singers, for you all to listen and improve your singing, enjoy!" - (...)
On the bright side, I found 阿拉木汗 (Alamuhan) on another Hong Kong Choir's page (The Chinese University of Hong Kong Student Chorus). I wasn't as enthused by the titles of some of the communist songs they have (eg "運動員進行曲" and "兵車行"), but when I downloaded the former, I found that it was the tune that my Communist Primary School (Nanyang Primary School) played to mark the end of recess!!!
The shock almost sent me into a state of apoplexy. The official name of the song in English, by the way, is "Athletes March - The Composition Group of the Military Band of the People’s Liberation Army of China, arranged by Ma Ge-shun", so Tim tells me.
"Under the initiative of Mao Tse-tung, the Military Band of the People’s Liberation Army of China, affiliated to the General Politics Department of the People’s Liberation Army, was established in 1952. Since its establishment, the Composition Group of the Band composed and arranged numerous works for symphonic band. The Athletes March is a famous one among them. The Composition Group wrote three versions of Athletes March, the second version, which will be performed tonight, was premiered in November 1971 at the Asia- Africa- Latin America Table Tennis Friendship Tournament. Since then, this March is widely used for various athletic activities in Mainland China. It is also widely used as the opening, closing and entr’acte music in ceremonies. This four-part a cappella arrangement performed tonight is made by Professor Ma Ge-shun, a famous choral conductor and music educator."
Makes you wonder how Nanyang survived the communist purge in the 50s.
Incidentally, their version of the Rutter piece is torturously slow, by the way, but I can't hear any Honkie accents. Amazing!
Further searching uncovered a CD with a Korean version. I listened to the AU preview and was speechless.
***
"Eliminate your bills the christian way"
Whee. Now I get Christian debt relief spam. Back, you demons!
***
PhotoRescue - Salvation if you format your CF card by mistake
Tony's Spud Gun Page - As suggested by Michelle, a commenter
Post ID: 108610279983646470
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
An Evening With Friends 2004
I am a philistine and a plebian, because I want my songs to actually sound good and have a tune (it doesn't even have to be catchy). Consequently, I did not really enjoy the ACJC choir concert last night, replete as it was with avant garde songs.
Perhaps such songs are a good way to show off the ability of a choir, for it isn't easy to keep to an untuneful melody, or attempt to replicate the mating calls of the cicada, given the limitations of human vocal cords. Nonetheless, though in moderation avant garde pieces might just possibly be refreshing, if they are performed all the time, it quickly gets boring, for though they are all different, they are essentially the same in the ways they try to pain the ear.
What made the concert more of a pain to sit through was the gross overuse of gimmicks. For example: the performers turning around, clapping, jumping, stamping or repeatedly turning around to face other performers as if they were talking to each other (while continuing to sing), the use of bird whistles, getting the sopranos to scream and making comical or funny noises (like "nyah nyah nyah"). The art of using gimmicks is that you must use them sparingly, so they stay novel and are able to stop the audience from falling asleep, especially when you are treating them to the darkest fantasies of post-modernistic composers made flesh.
Individually, both of the stickling points above would not matter that much, but the concert was both full of gimmicks and avant garde rubbish. The former are usually overused by below-par choirs seeking more to provide popular entertainment than to uplift artistic spirits. Thus, it was especially painful to see the two in horrific juxtaposition.
Worse still, there were no MCs at the concert, and no one communicated verbally with the audience. I am informed that this is standard AC practice. Probably they expect everyone to buy the program, but the many who didn't were flummoxed. Maybe they wanted to save all the words the MCs would waste speaking for use in their songs!
Various sources informed me that ACJC's standard had slipped, especially since this isn't a SYF year, but not having heard them perform before, I had nothing to compare last night's performance to. Suffice to say that they weren't as impressive as I'd been led to believe, especially in their rendition of Barber's Agnus Dei (see below). Perhaps this is partly due to their frequent changing of conductors.
I found the song selection of the Alumni Choir more tolerable than that of the main choir, as it had fewer avant garde pieces, even including songs by composers I had heard of (Busto and Palestrina) and one I hadn't (Morten Lauridsen) which actually were pleasing to the ear (how novel!). Though they were less technically proficient, they sounded more natural. Perhaps best of all - they did not resort to gimmicks.
The song that took the prize for "worst song that everyone had ever heard" was performed by the combined choir. During the song, wind chimes sounded from time to time, chants were murmured indistinctly, the choristers moaned and wailed like forlorn ghosts every now and then, and random notes were sounded out from time to time. The sum was a good approximation of a Balinese demon-summoning ritual. As one of my companions (who is hardly a dilettante like me), remarked: "this sort of songs should be banned from concerts". A reading of the program revealed that it was a song about "moonlight", and the performers were chanting the word "moonlight" in different languages. A source informs me that they won at SYF last year with this very piece. It just goes to show - de gustibus non est disputandum!
Barber's Agnus Dei was performed after that. I was looking forward to something melodious for a change but their rendition was disappointing (even if I hadn't been familiar with the Cambridge Singers'). I then had a moment of epiphany about why some good choirs like to perform the most atrocious pieces - people have nothing to benchmark them with since no one knows, likes or listens to said pieces. Better yet: since said pieces are almost always avant garde, they are *meant* to sound bad, so even if you go out of tune, off rhythm, miss your entrance or cough suddenly during the song, people will assume that you were meant to do that.
To end off the horrible concert, the traditional encore piece was performed, but with poor production values. At the end of the formal program, there was a lack of the usual subtle signals to let the audience know when to shout "encore" and continue clapping. Therefore, even after the conductor walked back out (after an immodestly short time interval) and the choir performed its encore piece (all done without communication with the audience to inform them that *that* was the encore piece), many people were confused and continued clapping even after the hall lights had been turned up - the universal and not-so-subtle signal telling people to scram.
The ushers in the Esplanade were very vigilant in their search for people who tried to take photographs. If this had been a commercial production, I would understand, but this was a school concert! Now, some poor choristers will not have pictures of themselves on stage, thanks to a fascist concert hall policy.
It can be quite hard to tell when avant garde pieces are finished, but people don't seem to grasp the idea that you can tell by looking at the conductor's hand.
The concept of "supporting" your friends or school mates by attending their performances has always puzzled me. It *is* a nice gesture to show up, but if you end up befuddled throughout the performance and thoroughly hating it, is it not pointless to have gone? Worse - people who actually appreciate such things will be robbed of the opportunity to attend. Furthermore, the performers and organisers then get a false picture of their popularity, and can claim (unjustly) that their concert was a "sellout", when 3/4 of the seats were filled by people who would have gone even if John Cage's 4'33 was being performed. Thus, it is a lose-lose situation which just makes everyone miserable.
"15 Aug (Sun): Nanyang Talent Night
by Nanyang Alumni & Choir, Nanyang Girls' High School Choir, Nanyang Primary School Choir, Nanyang Kindergarten Dancers
A concert featuring the talented alumni of Nanyang Schools, including violinist Tang Tee Khoon and pianist Lim Yan. Other programmes include a ballet dance choreographed by Nanyang Girls' High School teacher Chen Lili; a string ensemble by Nanyang Primary School students; choral singing by Alumni Choir, Nanyang Girls' High School Choir and Nanyang Primary School Choir; and a piano duet by Nanyang Girls' High School students. All music composed by Nanyang Primary School Head of Music *Chiew Keng Hoon* [Ed: Emphasis added]. This concert celebrates the Nanyang Schools' 87th Anniversary.
Concert Hall
7:30pm (150mins with intermission)
$15, $25, $35, $50
Brought to you by Nanyang Schools Alumni Association"
I can't stop my strong, though indeterminate and vague, emotional outburst!
"All music composed by Nanyang Primary School Head of Music Chiew Keng Hoon" - WAH. I would go just to listen to this.
I am a philistine and a plebian, because I want my songs to actually sound good and have a tune (it doesn't even have to be catchy). Consequently, I did not really enjoy the ACJC choir concert last night, replete as it was with avant garde songs.
Perhaps such songs are a good way to show off the ability of a choir, for it isn't easy to keep to an untuneful melody, or attempt to replicate the mating calls of the cicada, given the limitations of human vocal cords. Nonetheless, though in moderation avant garde pieces might just possibly be refreshing, if they are performed all the time, it quickly gets boring, for though they are all different, they are essentially the same in the ways they try to pain the ear.
What made the concert more of a pain to sit through was the gross overuse of gimmicks. For example: the performers turning around, clapping, jumping, stamping or repeatedly turning around to face other performers as if they were talking to each other (while continuing to sing), the use of bird whistles, getting the sopranos to scream and making comical or funny noises (like "nyah nyah nyah"). The art of using gimmicks is that you must use them sparingly, so they stay novel and are able to stop the audience from falling asleep, especially when you are treating them to the darkest fantasies of post-modernistic composers made flesh.
Individually, both of the stickling points above would not matter that much, but the concert was both full of gimmicks and avant garde rubbish. The former are usually overused by below-par choirs seeking more to provide popular entertainment than to uplift artistic spirits. Thus, it was especially painful to see the two in horrific juxtaposition.
Worse still, there were no MCs at the concert, and no one communicated verbally with the audience. I am informed that this is standard AC practice. Probably they expect everyone to buy the program, but the many who didn't were flummoxed. Maybe they wanted to save all the words the MCs would waste speaking for use in their songs!
Various sources informed me that ACJC's standard had slipped, especially since this isn't a SYF year, but not having heard them perform before, I had nothing to compare last night's performance to. Suffice to say that they weren't as impressive as I'd been led to believe, especially in their rendition of Barber's Agnus Dei (see below). Perhaps this is partly due to their frequent changing of conductors.
I found the song selection of the Alumni Choir more tolerable than that of the main choir, as it had fewer avant garde pieces, even including songs by composers I had heard of (Busto and Palestrina) and one I hadn't (Morten Lauridsen) which actually were pleasing to the ear (how novel!). Though they were less technically proficient, they sounded more natural. Perhaps best of all - they did not resort to gimmicks.
The song that took the prize for "worst song that everyone had ever heard" was performed by the combined choir. During the song, wind chimes sounded from time to time, chants were murmured indistinctly, the choristers moaned and wailed like forlorn ghosts every now and then, and random notes were sounded out from time to time. The sum was a good approximation of a Balinese demon-summoning ritual. As one of my companions (who is hardly a dilettante like me), remarked: "this sort of songs should be banned from concerts". A reading of the program revealed that it was a song about "moonlight", and the performers were chanting the word "moonlight" in different languages. A source informs me that they won at SYF last year with this very piece. It just goes to show - de gustibus non est disputandum!
Barber's Agnus Dei was performed after that. I was looking forward to something melodious for a change but their rendition was disappointing (even if I hadn't been familiar with the Cambridge Singers'). I then had a moment of epiphany about why some good choirs like to perform the most atrocious pieces - people have nothing to benchmark them with since no one knows, likes or listens to said pieces. Better yet: since said pieces are almost always avant garde, they are *meant* to sound bad, so even if you go out of tune, off rhythm, miss your entrance or cough suddenly during the song, people will assume that you were meant to do that.
To end off the horrible concert, the traditional encore piece was performed, but with poor production values. At the end of the formal program, there was a lack of the usual subtle signals to let the audience know when to shout "encore" and continue clapping. Therefore, even after the conductor walked back out (after an immodestly short time interval) and the choir performed its encore piece (all done without communication with the audience to inform them that *that* was the encore piece), many people were confused and continued clapping even after the hall lights had been turned up - the universal and not-so-subtle signal telling people to scram.
The ushers in the Esplanade were very vigilant in their search for people who tried to take photographs. If this had been a commercial production, I would understand, but this was a school concert! Now, some poor choristers will not have pictures of themselves on stage, thanks to a fascist concert hall policy.
It can be quite hard to tell when avant garde pieces are finished, but people don't seem to grasp the idea that you can tell by looking at the conductor's hand.
The concept of "supporting" your friends or school mates by attending their performances has always puzzled me. It *is* a nice gesture to show up, but if you end up befuddled throughout the performance and thoroughly hating it, is it not pointless to have gone? Worse - people who actually appreciate such things will be robbed of the opportunity to attend. Furthermore, the performers and organisers then get a false picture of their popularity, and can claim (unjustly) that their concert was a "sellout", when 3/4 of the seats were filled by people who would have gone even if John Cage's 4'33 was being performed. Thus, it is a lose-lose situation which just makes everyone miserable.
"15 Aug (Sun): Nanyang Talent Night
by Nanyang Alumni & Choir, Nanyang Girls' High School Choir, Nanyang Primary School Choir, Nanyang Kindergarten Dancers
A concert featuring the talented alumni of Nanyang Schools, including violinist Tang Tee Khoon and pianist Lim Yan. Other programmes include a ballet dance choreographed by Nanyang Girls' High School teacher Chen Lili; a string ensemble by Nanyang Primary School students; choral singing by Alumni Choir, Nanyang Girls' High School Choir and Nanyang Primary School Choir; and a piano duet by Nanyang Girls' High School students. All music composed by Nanyang Primary School Head of Music *Chiew Keng Hoon* [Ed: Emphasis added]. This concert celebrates the Nanyang Schools' 87th Anniversary.
Concert Hall
7:30pm (150mins with intermission)
$15, $25, $35, $50
Brought to you by Nanyang Schools Alumni Association"
I can't stop my strong, though indeterminate and vague, emotional outburst!
"All music composed by Nanyang Primary School Head of Music Chiew Keng Hoon" - WAH. I would go just to listen to this.
Post ID: 108609083831140227
Tipoff: "Oh my God they're playing the Ding Dong Song on WKRZ 91.3... Oh... you touch my tralala..."
Gunther has come to Singapore!
***
Web helps dad, daughter
Hong Kong - A father in southern China assumed an internet persona to put his wayward daughter back on the straight and narrow, a news report said on Wednesday.
Xiao Li, 15, had no idea she was really communicating with her father Zhong when a character called Big Cabbage began sending her messages through the popular ICQ chat rooms.
Zhong used the ploy when he was unable to stop his daughter's truancy, fighting, hanging out in internet bars and getting drawn into drugs, according to the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily.
The father, from Liuzhou, in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, built up a rapport with her under his Big Cabbage persona and began passing on pieces of wisdom to make his daughter mend her ways.
When Xiao discovered it had been her father chatting to her all along, she was touched and promised to change her ways by starting out with a clean slate, the newspaper said. - Sapa-dpa
***
Finding the Speed of Light with Marshmallows - "This works in my physics class, often with less than 5% error. Then the students can eat the marshmallows."
OMG. Why couldn't we have done this in Physics class?
Nurse charged with trying to kill wife - "Trained to take care of the sick and injured, a Rusk County registered nurse stands accused of trying to murder his wife with a romantic bubble-bath electrocution... Wolfe tried to kill his wife Teresa by knocking an electrical appliance into the bathtub in which she was bathing."
Man Allegedly Puts Xanax In Co-Worker's Coffee - "The co-worker dropped the Xanax into her coffee as a practical joke to 'calm her down' because she was 'too hyper'"
Student wins prize with window strip - "A dance student has won an arts prize by undressing in a charity shop window. Iona Dudley-Ward spent 90 minutes trying on outfits in the window of the Oxfam shop in Brighton town centre."
Feed the Worms Who Write Worms to the Worms: The economic logic of executing computer hackers - Ouch.
Classical music's contemporary crossover
Inspired by The Day After Tomorrow - "An unholy alliance between greedy but smart (and subsidized) big chemical manufacturers and utterly doltish but ideologically fevered environmentalists cajoles Uncle Sam into banning all research on genetically modifying crops in ways that make them naturally resistant to pests. With this research halted by government, pesticides produced by the heavily subsidized chemical companies (who are also protected from foreign competition) pour into the water supply, poisoning millions. Frightened out of their minds, young mothers take to the streets en masse, rioting so violently that the Peachtree Plaza Hotel, the Grand Old Opry, the Superdome, and the Seattle Space Needle all crash violently to the ground, killing tens of thousands, including a brilliant young researcher who was just hours away from discovering the cures for cancer, AIDS, and acne."
***
"Hi, my name's Michelle, would you like a blowjob?"
Shawn, quoting himself on a "bizarre impersonation of CJC's Orientation".
Don't ask me, it's pretty bizzare to me too.
Gunther has come to Singapore!
***
Web helps dad, daughter
Hong Kong - A father in southern China assumed an internet persona to put his wayward daughter back on the straight and narrow, a news report said on Wednesday.
Xiao Li, 15, had no idea she was really communicating with her father Zhong when a character called Big Cabbage began sending her messages through the popular ICQ chat rooms.
Zhong used the ploy when he was unable to stop his daughter's truancy, fighting, hanging out in internet bars and getting drawn into drugs, according to the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily.
The father, from Liuzhou, in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, built up a rapport with her under his Big Cabbage persona and began passing on pieces of wisdom to make his daughter mend her ways.
When Xiao discovered it had been her father chatting to her all along, she was touched and promised to change her ways by starting out with a clean slate, the newspaper said. - Sapa-dpa
***
Finding the Speed of Light with Marshmallows - "This works in my physics class, often with less than 5% error. Then the students can eat the marshmallows."
OMG. Why couldn't we have done this in Physics class?
Nurse charged with trying to kill wife - "Trained to take care of the sick and injured, a Rusk County registered nurse stands accused of trying to murder his wife with a romantic bubble-bath electrocution... Wolfe tried to kill his wife Teresa by knocking an electrical appliance into the bathtub in which she was bathing."
Man Allegedly Puts Xanax In Co-Worker's Coffee - "The co-worker dropped the Xanax into her coffee as a practical joke to 'calm her down' because she was 'too hyper'"
Student wins prize with window strip - "A dance student has won an arts prize by undressing in a charity shop window. Iona Dudley-Ward spent 90 minutes trying on outfits in the window of the Oxfam shop in Brighton town centre."
Feed the Worms Who Write Worms to the Worms: The economic logic of executing computer hackers - Ouch.
Classical music's contemporary crossover
Inspired by The Day After Tomorrow - "An unholy alliance between greedy but smart (and subsidized) big chemical manufacturers and utterly doltish but ideologically fevered environmentalists cajoles Uncle Sam into banning all research on genetically modifying crops in ways that make them naturally resistant to pests. With this research halted by government, pesticides produced by the heavily subsidized chemical companies (who are also protected from foreign competition) pour into the water supply, poisoning millions. Frightened out of their minds, young mothers take to the streets en masse, rioting so violently that the Peachtree Plaza Hotel, the Grand Old Opry, the Superdome, and the Seattle Space Needle all crash violently to the ground, killing tens of thousands, including a brilliant young researcher who was just hours away from discovering the cures for cancer, AIDS, and acne."
***
"Hi, my name's Michelle, would you like a blowjob?"
Shawn, quoting himself on a "bizarre impersonation of CJC's Orientation".
Don't ask me, it's pretty bizzare to me too.
Post ID: 108607097954709955
Whenever I think that I have plumbed the depths of human depravity, I am exposed to new horrors to chill my soul.
On Monday, I visited the former Poor Suffering Substantive Third Sergeant, shortly before that a Poor Suffering Local Third Sergeant, the Self-Proclaimed 'Master of Office', Top Bio Student in NJ in His Year, the Master of the Chair, He Who Cackles Evilly, the Hawker of Evil Torture Devices (more on that later) - (name removed by request).
Since his glorious ORD day, he has been deprived of his lucrative slave penance, and due to his various extravagances (among them a $50 Nike lycra shirt which he never wears in front of me anymore since I kept making fun of his fondness for it), he has found himself in a state of penury and thus been reduced to finagling innocent visitors to the World Book Fair on behalf of a company that shall remain unnamed. Of course, but for the odd commitment (eg Monday's "An Evening With Friends" - the ACJC choir concert, and incidentally an all too common name for various products/events), a general preference for bumming and my not having gotten my IC back yet, I might be joining him in foisting unwanted products onto fair visitors.
Ironically enough, Ban Xiong has not seen the fair, and likely will not, since he is stationed outside the exhibition hall. He thus asked me to serve as his eyes and ears, and in an act of beneficence, I assented to his not unreasonable request.
The World Book Fair is grossly misnamed. I was entertaining vague notions of reading Skaldic poetry, but they were mercilessly crushed upon my entrance into the halls, for it soon became apparent, from the preponderance of Chinese signs, products and displays (just possibly outnumbering those in English), that this was a Chinese Book Fair (now, to be fair I did see a "Malay/Muslim" Book Section, but it was tiny), with mainly Chinese companies from China, Taiwan and Singapore setting up shop. This is what happens when naming is left up to people with a Sino-Centric world view who take China (the middle of the world, after all) and the Chinese diaspora to represent the world. We see something similar happening across the Atlantic with the "World Series" (Baseball).
There was also a surprising number of publishers of religious books that put in an appearance: Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, Bethesda Book Centre, Ch'an Yun Buddhist Handicrafts & Trading, Deva Crown Trading Pte Ltd, Fo Guang Shan (Singapore), Guangxi Publications Imp & Exp Co, Jen Chen Buddist Book Publisher, Popstar Media, Shalom Christian Media, Shun Da DIY Handicrafts & Trading, Singapore Soka Association, Still Thoughts Cultural Services, Supreme Master Ching Hai Asso, True Buddha Publications, Vaidurya Media House, Xi-An Bookstore, Yuen Jue Zheng (Singapore) c/o Kang Bao Lek Vegetarian and Zen Buddist Culture Services Center (from the official website). As could be predicted from the Chinese character of the fair, most of the religious content was Buddhist in nature. I would stop here, but I saw at one booth something that I never thought I would have the misfortune so see in Singapore - a banner advertising the book, Answers In Genesis.
Now, matters of religion are debatable, but Answers In Genesis holds that the bible is literally true down to the last word and infallible. It affirms the obviously suspect traditional authorship of the Pentateuch. If that isn't ridiculous enough, it asserts that the earth is only a few thousand years old. To its credit, it pooh poohs some of the more ludicrous Creationist arguments, but retains many more, so it remains a collection of fudges, false information, disingenuous arguments and rhetoric disguised as evidence (eg: We know that the earth is less than 10,000 years old because the bible says so!). I would have bought the book, if for nothing else, then to laugh uproariously and work myself into a stage of righteous moral and intellectual outrage, but my slave penance will be cut in less than 2 weeks, so I cannot afford (too many) frivolous purchases.
Thus, with my hopes dashed, spirit distraught and head down from the double blow, I then trekked across the length and breadth of the exhibition halls to seek out the Useful, the Interesting, the Educational and the Grotesque, and was struck dumb by the abundance of the last.
For a Book fair, there was a surprising amount of non-book items: music CDs, educational CD-ROMs, toys, videos, handicrafts, herbal supplements, exercise equipment and assorted accessories. In one corner was a stall extolling the benefits of the "Shichida method" of mucking with your children's minds. At another side was a booth selling transparent rattles containing luminous, rotating neon strips (I kid you not) - the perfect party toys for Ah Bengs. A prominent sign at another area preached the benefits of their "Musk Hemorrhoid Suppository".
And near an exit was sold "body slimming wear" using "the special lycra spandex", which the banner claimed was widely used by doctors. A closer look at this dubious sounding claim revealed that the "special lycra spandex" is used by doctors to cover post-surgery wounds so no scar will form on the wounds' healing. What that had to do with slimming, I could not figure out. Perhaps the most amusing thing was the "no bra" feature that was touted as enhancing the bustline. Presumably, if your body shrinks after being clad in lycra shrink wrap, but your breasts stay the same size, your bustline will appear relatively larger.
At another part of the hall was a booth with 5-in-1 air processors, the 5 functions being:
1) "Ice cooling effect" (the air coming out of the contraption didn't feel very cold to me)
2) Air purification
3) Humidification (local air is already dreadfully humid, and if you use it in an air-conditioned room, the air will already be cool and pure)
4) Essential oil diffusion
5) Ionisation, releasing 10,000 ions (or thereabouts) into the air for a "waterfall fresh air environment" (wth?! More likely you'll get zapped by the ions)
Dazed by the sheer perversity of all that I had witnessed, I stumbled back in a daze to where Ban Xiong was happily conning innocent souls and related some of the horrible sights that I had witnessed. I then noticed that there were some suspicious looking items in a glass case beside Ban Xiong's counter. Inside were 2 evil torture devices, which he informed me would be mine with a one year subscription to a SPH newspaper. The more sadistic looking of the two was the "Owell eye massager model OW-700". The display claimed that the massager brought a panoply of health benefits, but I noticed the proliferation of qualifiers like "can" and "may", eg: "The OW-700 can help stimulate eye acupoints" (emphasis added). The only claim to which no qualifier was tacked was about benefits which could be due to the placebo effect; among others, reduced eye fatigue. Sneaky, the way they pre-empt disputes about the device's claims. Intrigued, yet simultaneously disgusted, I took a closer look.
From the outside, the device looks like a pair of futuristic, if bulky-looking, glasses, reminiscent of the visor worn by Georgi LaForge in Star Trek and possibly worth wearing for a stroll down Orchard Road. The device is strapped to the head with velcro straps that attach to moulded plastic, which forms the frame of the device. Above where the eyes would be, holes have been drilled in the plastic, to be covered by thin black perforated sheets. A control unit with 2 slide switches (yes, I actually went to check out what they are called) to control the device is mounted above the bridge of the glasses. So far, it seems an innocent, if odd looking contraption. However, turning it over so you can see what the plastic frame conceals, you divine the true purpose of the device! Protruding from the reverse side of the devices' frame are numerous white appendages - when the device is turned on, they vibrate and drill incessantly into acupoints on the face, turning your brains into mush and making you susceptible to the dubious claims Owell makes about its products.
In a moment of folly, I tried the damn thing on, and felt my brains pulverising, but luckily I retained sufficient presence of mind to wrench the device off my head before it was too late. After that I considered having my nails painted at the counter beside the Evil Torture Device's (NB: The two events may not be entirely unrelated). However, Ban Xiong sadly revealed to me that this required a year's/month's subscription to some crummy magazine, so I sadly walked off to meet David for the ACJC Choir Concert (more on that in a later post).
On Monday, I visited the former Poor Suffering Substantive Third Sergeant, shortly before that a Poor Suffering Local Third Sergeant, the Self-Proclaimed 'Master of Office', Top Bio Student in NJ in His Year, the Master of the Chair, He Who Cackles Evilly, the Hawker of Evil Torture Devices (more on that later) - (name removed by request).
Since his glorious ORD day, he has been deprived of his lucrative slave penance, and due to his various extravagances (among them a $50 Nike lycra shirt which he never wears in front of me anymore since I kept making fun of his fondness for it), he has found himself in a state of penury and thus been reduced to finagling innocent visitors to the World Book Fair on behalf of a company that shall remain unnamed. Of course, but for the odd commitment (eg Monday's "An Evening With Friends" - the ACJC choir concert, and incidentally an all too common name for various products/events), a general preference for bumming and my not having gotten my IC back yet, I might be joining him in foisting unwanted products onto fair visitors.
Ironically enough, Ban Xiong has not seen the fair, and likely will not, since he is stationed outside the exhibition hall. He thus asked me to serve as his eyes and ears, and in an act of beneficence, I assented to his not unreasonable request.
The World Book Fair is grossly misnamed. I was entertaining vague notions of reading Skaldic poetry, but they were mercilessly crushed upon my entrance into the halls, for it soon became apparent, from the preponderance of Chinese signs, products and displays (just possibly outnumbering those in English), that this was a Chinese Book Fair (now, to be fair I did see a "Malay/Muslim" Book Section, but it was tiny), with mainly Chinese companies from China, Taiwan and Singapore setting up shop. This is what happens when naming is left up to people with a Sino-Centric world view who take China (the middle of the world, after all) and the Chinese diaspora to represent the world. We see something similar happening across the Atlantic with the "World Series" (Baseball).
There was also a surprising number of publishers of religious books that put in an appearance: Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, Bethesda Book Centre, Ch'an Yun Buddhist Handicrafts & Trading, Deva Crown Trading Pte Ltd, Fo Guang Shan (Singapore), Guangxi Publications Imp & Exp Co, Jen Chen Buddist Book Publisher, Popstar Media, Shalom Christian Media, Shun Da DIY Handicrafts & Trading, Singapore Soka Association, Still Thoughts Cultural Services, Supreme Master Ching Hai Asso, True Buddha Publications, Vaidurya Media House, Xi-An Bookstore, Yuen Jue Zheng (Singapore) c/o Kang Bao Lek Vegetarian and Zen Buddist Culture Services Center (from the official website). As could be predicted from the Chinese character of the fair, most of the religious content was Buddhist in nature. I would stop here, but I saw at one booth something that I never thought I would have the misfortune so see in Singapore - a banner advertising the book, Answers In Genesis.
Now, matters of religion are debatable, but Answers In Genesis holds that the bible is literally true down to the last word and infallible. It affirms the obviously suspect traditional authorship of the Pentateuch. If that isn't ridiculous enough, it asserts that the earth is only a few thousand years old. To its credit, it pooh poohs some of the more ludicrous Creationist arguments, but retains many more, so it remains a collection of fudges, false information, disingenuous arguments and rhetoric disguised as evidence (eg: We know that the earth is less than 10,000 years old because the bible says so!). I would have bought the book, if for nothing else, then to laugh uproariously and work myself into a stage of righteous moral and intellectual outrage, but my slave penance will be cut in less than 2 weeks, so I cannot afford (too many) frivolous purchases.
Thus, with my hopes dashed, spirit distraught and head down from the double blow, I then trekked across the length and breadth of the exhibition halls to seek out the Useful, the Interesting, the Educational and the Grotesque, and was struck dumb by the abundance of the last.
For a Book fair, there was a surprising amount of non-book items: music CDs, educational CD-ROMs, toys, videos, handicrafts, herbal supplements, exercise equipment and assorted accessories. In one corner was a stall extolling the benefits of the "Shichida method" of mucking with your children's minds. At another side was a booth selling transparent rattles containing luminous, rotating neon strips (I kid you not) - the perfect party toys for Ah Bengs. A prominent sign at another area preached the benefits of their "Musk Hemorrhoid Suppository".
And near an exit was sold "body slimming wear" using "the special lycra spandex", which the banner claimed was widely used by doctors. A closer look at this dubious sounding claim revealed that the "special lycra spandex" is used by doctors to cover post-surgery wounds so no scar will form on the wounds' healing. What that had to do with slimming, I could not figure out. Perhaps the most amusing thing was the "no bra" feature that was touted as enhancing the bustline. Presumably, if your body shrinks after being clad in lycra shrink wrap, but your breasts stay the same size, your bustline will appear relatively larger.
At another part of the hall was a booth with 5-in-1 air processors, the 5 functions being:
1) "Ice cooling effect" (the air coming out of the contraption didn't feel very cold to me)
2) Air purification
3) Humidification (local air is already dreadfully humid, and if you use it in an air-conditioned room, the air will already be cool and pure)
4) Essential oil diffusion
5) Ionisation, releasing 10,000 ions (or thereabouts) into the air for a "waterfall fresh air environment" (wth?! More likely you'll get zapped by the ions)
Dazed by the sheer perversity of all that I had witnessed, I stumbled back in a daze to where Ban Xiong was happily conning innocent souls and related some of the horrible sights that I had witnessed. I then noticed that there were some suspicious looking items in a glass case beside Ban Xiong's counter. Inside were 2 evil torture devices, which he informed me would be mine with a one year subscription to a SPH newspaper. The more sadistic looking of the two was the "Owell eye massager model OW-700". The display claimed that the massager brought a panoply of health benefits, but I noticed the proliferation of qualifiers like "can" and "may", eg: "The OW-700 can help stimulate eye acupoints" (emphasis added). The only claim to which no qualifier was tacked was about benefits which could be due to the placebo effect; among others, reduced eye fatigue. Sneaky, the way they pre-empt disputes about the device's claims. Intrigued, yet simultaneously disgusted, I took a closer look.
From the outside, the device looks like a pair of futuristic, if bulky-looking, glasses, reminiscent of the visor worn by Georgi LaForge in Star Trek and possibly worth wearing for a stroll down Orchard Road. The device is strapped to the head with velcro straps that attach to moulded plastic, which forms the frame of the device. Above where the eyes would be, holes have been drilled in the plastic, to be covered by thin black perforated sheets. A control unit with 2 slide switches (yes, I actually went to check out what they are called) to control the device is mounted above the bridge of the glasses. So far, it seems an innocent, if odd looking contraption. However, turning it over so you can see what the plastic frame conceals, you divine the true purpose of the device! Protruding from the reverse side of the devices' frame are numerous white appendages - when the device is turned on, they vibrate and drill incessantly into acupoints on the face, turning your brains into mush and making you susceptible to the dubious claims Owell makes about its products.
In a moment of folly, I tried the damn thing on, and felt my brains pulverising, but luckily I retained sufficient presence of mind to wrench the device off my head before it was too late. After that I considered having my nails painted at the counter beside the Evil Torture Device's (NB: The two events may not be entirely unrelated). However, Ban Xiong sadly revealed to me that this required a year's/month's subscription to some crummy magazine, so I sadly walked off to meet David for the ACJC Choir Concert (more on that in a later post).
Post ID: 108602682281295104
Monday, May 31, 2004
Swans sing before they die - 'twere no bad thing
Did certain persons die before they sing.
--- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
***
For thee the fates, severely kind, ordain
A cool suspense from pleasure and from pain;
Thy life a long, dead calm of fix'd repose;
No pulse that riots, and no blood that glows.
--- Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard
***
Interesting commentary on grown women lusting after the teenage boys in Harry Potter.
For once, it's the other way around :)
***
After the rather insipid Empires: Dawn of the Modern World (the lack of a sequel tells you how well received it was), I am now on to Reign of Chaos.
Yes, it's 2 years old. So I'm slow.
Did certain persons die before they sing.
--- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
***
For thee the fates, severely kind, ordain
A cool suspense from pleasure and from pain;
Thy life a long, dead calm of fix'd repose;
No pulse that riots, and no blood that glows.
--- Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard
***
Interesting commentary on grown women lusting after the teenage boys in Harry Potter.
For once, it's the other way around :)
***
After the rather insipid Empires: Dawn of the Modern World (the lack of a sequel tells you how well received it was), I am now on to Reign of Chaos.
Yes, it's 2 years old. So I'm slow.
Post ID: 108584759707909476
Saturday, May 29, 2004
I am told that during the recent company proficiency tests back at 42, as a vote of protest, one company "chose" to fail by somehow moving off without their OC, letting him get killed by the enermy. Seemingly even the prospect of RT did not deter them from registering their protest.
They spend $170,000 to renovate the medical centre when it is not totally necessary, but meanwhile the whole place is down to 1 toner catridge, which has to be shared by everyone, and rubber stamps which are needed for daily work go unmade. So much for intelligent budgeting.
Apparently there are no PRs in Armour - only Singapore citizens. Bah.
Quotes:
They say Taiwan is cheap. You can have one girl for 5 dollars. (?!)
[Written] CPL Denise (Denise)
The self-proclaimed Master of Office was giving his rationale for skipping all the NUS camps. According to him, they are just a chance for desperate NUS (male) seniors to ogle at girls in wet clothes. Besides, he has plenty of unspecified friends already.
***
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
"Five years after the events from the award winning Knights of the Old Republic, the Sith Lords have hunted the Jedi to the edge of extinction and are on the verge of crushing the Old Republic. With the Jedi Order in ruin, the Republic’s only hope is a Jedi Knight struggling to reconnect with the Force and is faced with the galaxies most dire decision: To follow the light or succumb to the dark side…"
I can't wait :) I must say, KOTOR was one of the best games I've ever played.
***
***
"Augustus came from a miraculous conception by the divine and human conjunction of [the God] Apollo and [his mother] Atia. How does the historian respond to that story? Are there any who take it literally?... That divergence raises an ethical problem for me. Either all such divine conceptions, from Alexander to Augusts and from the Christ to the Buddha, should be accepted literally and miraculously or al of them should be accepted metaphorically and theologically. It is not morally acceptable to say directly and openly that our story is truth but yours is myth; ours is history but yours is a lie. It is even less morally acceptable to say that indirectly and covertly by manufacturing defensive or protective strategies that apply only to one's own story."
--- John Crosssan, The Birth of Christianity, 1998, pg 28 - 29, as quoted by Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth
***
"All critical thought is by nature adversarial. A "positive" role belongs instead to creative thought. While the role of creative thought is to create ideas and possibilities, the role of critical thought is to debunk them, and it is only by these two processes working together that we arrive at knowledge and truth. Critical thought can be viewed in much the same way as natural selection: it does in a sense 'create' by eliminating the 'weak' and leaving the 'strong'. Thus, critical thought's role as a debunking device is essential and indispensable, and it must play a part in every act of knowing. But it does not eliminate ideas and possibilities until none are left. Nihilism is as irrational as blind faith, and as self limiting as naivety. Rather, critical thought eliminates until all that remains is the consistent, the probable, the tenable, the reliable, the useful--in other words, knowledge."
"'Holders of firm religious beliefs do not merely resist attempts at critique, they are often impervious to them'. This kind of behavior, which seems inexplicably irrational, is revealed to be quite explicable (though perhaps still irrational) when we recognize that the religiously devout are often interested in things more important to them than the truth (such as an ultimate meaning to life). Since the personal, emotional benefits provided by spiritual beliefs do not depend on those beliefs being true, their truth becomes (in practice) irrelevant. Thus, while Buddhism and Christianity each provide a supernatural explanation for our ills, and an equally supernatural solution, within all this lies a purely practical belief system which not only provides an ultimate meaning to life, but attempts to produce a greater balance of peace and happiness by providing both a moral standard and a reason to live up to it. But all of these benefits are gained merely by the claims being believed, and not by their actually being true, which is quite unlike scientific claims or technological inventions, where benefits are usually gained only when we believe in theories which are true (and definite hazards are often created by believing in false ones)."
"'Religion seems founded,' he writes, 'on a need for an ultimate meaning to life'. Recognizing this, it becomes more obvious how people can become so emotionally attached to their religion, and why criticizing their religion can so quickly be regarded as a personal or blasphemous attack, or be pathologically ignored or avoided altogether."
"Many may be surprised to read the following words of Carl Sagan: 'Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual' (from Carl Sagan, 'Does Truth Matter? Science, Pseudoscience, and Civilization.' Skeptical Inquirer, 20:6. 1996. p. 29.)"
--- From a review of Do Religious Life and Critical Thought Need Each Other?
***
'Buffy' conference takes show seriously - "It's tough for scholars to be taken seriously when their subject is a TV show about a California blonde fighting evil in a high school built on a gateway to hell."
They spend $170,000 to renovate the medical centre when it is not totally necessary, but meanwhile the whole place is down to 1 toner catridge, which has to be shared by everyone, and rubber stamps which are needed for daily work go unmade. So much for intelligent budgeting.
Apparently there are no PRs in Armour - only Singapore citizens. Bah.
Quotes:
They say Taiwan is cheap. You can have one girl for 5 dollars. (?!)
[Written] CPL Denise (Denise)
The self-proclaimed Master of Office was giving his rationale for skipping all the NUS camps. According to him, they are just a chance for desperate NUS (male) seniors to ogle at girls in wet clothes. Besides, he has plenty of unspecified friends already.
***
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
"Five years after the events from the award winning Knights of the Old Republic, the Sith Lords have hunted the Jedi to the edge of extinction and are on the verge of crushing the Old Republic. With the Jedi Order in ruin, the Republic’s only hope is a Jedi Knight struggling to reconnect with the Force and is faced with the galaxies most dire decision: To follow the light or succumb to the dark side…"
I can't wait :) I must say, KOTOR was one of the best games I've ever played.
***
I took the What Mythological Creature Are you? test by
***
"Augustus came from a miraculous conception by the divine and human conjunction of [the God] Apollo and [his mother] Atia. How does the historian respond to that story? Are there any who take it literally?... That divergence raises an ethical problem for me. Either all such divine conceptions, from Alexander to Augusts and from the Christ to the Buddha, should be accepted literally and miraculously or al of them should be accepted metaphorically and theologically. It is not morally acceptable to say directly and openly that our story is truth but yours is myth; ours is history but yours is a lie. It is even less morally acceptable to say that indirectly and covertly by manufacturing defensive or protective strategies that apply only to one's own story."
--- John Crosssan, The Birth of Christianity, 1998, pg 28 - 29, as quoted by Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth
***
"All critical thought is by nature adversarial. A "positive" role belongs instead to creative thought. While the role of creative thought is to create ideas and possibilities, the role of critical thought is to debunk them, and it is only by these two processes working together that we arrive at knowledge and truth. Critical thought can be viewed in much the same way as natural selection: it does in a sense 'create' by eliminating the 'weak' and leaving the 'strong'. Thus, critical thought's role as a debunking device is essential and indispensable, and it must play a part in every act of knowing. But it does not eliminate ideas and possibilities until none are left. Nihilism is as irrational as blind faith, and as self limiting as naivety. Rather, critical thought eliminates until all that remains is the consistent, the probable, the tenable, the reliable, the useful--in other words, knowledge."
"'Holders of firm religious beliefs do not merely resist attempts at critique, they are often impervious to them'. This kind of behavior, which seems inexplicably irrational, is revealed to be quite explicable (though perhaps still irrational) when we recognize that the religiously devout are often interested in things more important to them than the truth (such as an ultimate meaning to life). Since the personal, emotional benefits provided by spiritual beliefs do not depend on those beliefs being true, their truth becomes (in practice) irrelevant. Thus, while Buddhism and Christianity each provide a supernatural explanation for our ills, and an equally supernatural solution, within all this lies a purely practical belief system which not only provides an ultimate meaning to life, but attempts to produce a greater balance of peace and happiness by providing both a moral standard and a reason to live up to it. But all of these benefits are gained merely by the claims being believed, and not by their actually being true, which is quite unlike scientific claims or technological inventions, where benefits are usually gained only when we believe in theories which are true (and definite hazards are often created by believing in false ones)."
"'Religion seems founded,' he writes, 'on a need for an ultimate meaning to life'. Recognizing this, it becomes more obvious how people can become so emotionally attached to their religion, and why criticizing their religion can so quickly be regarded as a personal or blasphemous attack, or be pathologically ignored or avoided altogether."
"Many may be surprised to read the following words of Carl Sagan: 'Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual' (from Carl Sagan, 'Does Truth Matter? Science, Pseudoscience, and Civilization.' Skeptical Inquirer, 20:6. 1996. p. 29.)"
--- From a review of Do Religious Life and Critical Thought Need Each Other?
***
'Buffy' conference takes show seriously - "It's tough for scholars to be taken seriously when their subject is a TV show about a California blonde fighting evil in a high school built on a gateway to hell."
Post ID: 108575730191083478
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