BKK 2012 - Day 1, Part 1 - Royal Palace

BKK 2012
Day 1, Part 1 - 7th September - Royal Palace

In September I visited Bangkok for a few days.


Duty Free at Singapore's budget terminal - "中国白酒" ("Chinese Hard Liquor") and "China Cigarettes" were signed in Mandarin only. Maybe because only PRCs would buy those. But wouldn't such stuff be cheaper in China? Perhaps this targets nostalgic PRC expats who don't return home very often.


"Female toilet shaft room". There was no "male toilet shaft room". I tried to find out what a "shaft room" was, but got a lot of gay pornography, so...

Thailand's arrival card asks foreigners their incomes. Gah.

Thailand's arrival and departure cards both have a box for sex. If you tick male on arrival and female on departure, what happens?

Transit/transfer passengers going through passport control are charged a fee of 700 Baht (S$30). Heh.


"King Power Duty Free"
Maybe this is why people like Thailand so much - they can visit and feel like a King.

At Thai passport control, besides the usual sign about no caps and no sunglasses, there seemed to be a sign about people above 2m and under 1.2m in height. It was in Thai so I couldn't read it.

There was a large Iranian group - but most of them were no longer wearing their headscarves.


"Drop-box"

One immigration officer was going about his duties with both ears plugged by earphones. Tsk.

There was a sign on the penalty for insulting customs officers. It happens that frequently huh.


Travelator with point of inflection


"Feel Great Differences with China Southern Airlines' A380"
If you can see the Great Wall from the plane, the difference is presumably that they fly dangerously close to the ground.


China Southern door signs - note the lack of Thai


Strange airport prohibitions - "No balloon", "Do not make loud noise"

There was no metro to the hotel, so I had to take a ferry from another stop.


Pantene booth... playing a video?!


Colourful boat
Note all the crap in the river. The boatman repeatedly raised and lowered the propellers to cut through all the crap.


What looked like a gutted building. This was not the only example. Some had advertising banners draped on them, like this one did. A victim of the construction bust?


Classy free hotel shuttle boat


Nagas looking out on the river


Bangkok view


"Gent's amenity, 190 Baht"


Thai Wanton Mee, 30 Baht. This was like the Chinese version, but with a bit of chili in the soup and with more ingredients (char siew, fishball, minced meat). It was good but had lots of MSG.


Fish in boat

I decided to visit the Royal Palace.


Questionable food: "French Fried", "Chicken Gorden Blue with Cheese & ham". Presumably "Tonkatsu with rice" is for the Japanese.


Banner advertising tours. The "Amazing Dinner Program" was so amazing, it was only described in Thai.


Pandemonium on exiting ferry stop building - one has to run the gauntlet (some of the times I passed through, I went by the side)


Pomegranate juice - a popular drink. You need to squeeze a lot of pomegranates to get enough juice to drink. The bottles are quite small.


"Water" is advertised in English. In Mandarin we also have Coke, Sprite and Milk Tea.


In other parts of Asia, I'd call this "Colonial Architecture". Given that Siam was never colonised... I'm not quite sure what to call this.


Palace - side entrance (not for the public)

There was a hawker outside the palace selling clothes. This was for people who didn't know you could get free clothes rental inside.

Entrance was 400 Baht which was very expensive. I suppose they had to pay for the upkeep of the gold, gems and the Thai monarchy.


Palace gate


"DO NOT TRUST WILY STRANGERS"
What does it say about a country when there's a huge sign in English outside one of its primary tourist attractions warning you about scams?


Prohibited Outfits list


"Im polite clothes" list
From all 3 of the preceding photos, I conclude that it's alright to show cleavage.


The French was less broken than the English


"Don't trust strangers who offer tuk tuks, lucky Buddhas and boat trips"


I was amused this no smoking sign was in English and in Korean - but not in Thai. I protest the discrimination against Koreans!

It was very hot so I toyed with asking for a skirt. I saw schoolboys going in with shorts, though, so I was a victim of ageism.


Boulevard leading in


Golden Bell


The Hermit Doctor (the black statue)


Hor Phra Ratchakoramanuson and Phra Photihat Piman


Askan-Mara


Cloisters and Ramakien


Phra Siratana Chedi


Chinese Influence

The Temple of the Emerald Buddha was closed for chanting.








Angkor Wat model, probably placed here to piss the Cambodians off


Phra Mondop. There were a lot of bells hanging from it so it was noisy.


French-speaking hobos




Phra Mondhop




Phra viharn yod


Standing with Statues


Statues


"Beware of your valuable possessions. Ignore your junk"
This is an example of victim precipitation theory: if you have valuables, you will get mugged.


Royal Pantheon


Disturbingly, there were more warnings about scams in the guidebook than for Vietnam. Luckily I didn't get cheated as much.

The guidebook said, for one attraction, that one had to wear a bra. This was quite funny.

Links - 25th February 2013

"It would prove the most ingenious and infallible ageny for defeating justice that human wisdom could contrive" - Mark Twain, on Juries

***

Police visit Chinese blogger who exposed sex scandal - "Most reports of corruption have come from online whistleblowers, such as Zhu, who post their findings on China’s Twitter-like microblogs, known as weibo. Some bloggers had hoped the anti-corruption drive would help them avoid the harsh government reprisals they have experienced in the past. But many are increasingly quoting an ancient saying once used to describe the execution of criminals and now a reference to the party’s long, unforgiving memory: “Wait to settle your scores until after the autumn harvest.” If local authorities are allowed to punish whistleblowers, experts warn, the anti-corruption campaign will lose what little momentum it has gained in the past two months."

Beijing smog: When growth trumps life in China - "The government often played down the pollution in the capital, insisting it was merely fog, despite evidence to the contrary that was plain for all to see... following public pressure, the authorities introduced new pollution readings at the beginning of this year. They were prompted by the hourly air-quality readings published by the US embassy in Beijing, which the authorities had previously denounced as "foreign interference". And so, when this smog hit, the state media - for the first time on this issue - barrelled in. The pollution story led China's main evening TV bulletin. Even the People's Daily - the mouthpiece of the Communist Party - ran a headline asking "What's wrong with our air?""
Neo-imperialism!

Gay-Pride Parade Sets Mainstream Acceptance Of Gays Back 50 Years | The Onion - America's Finest News Source - "Among the parade sights and sounds that did inestimable harm to the gay-rights cause: a group of obese women in leather biker outfits passing out clitoris-shaped lollipops to horrified onlookers; a man in military uniform leading a submissive masochist, clad in diapers and a baby bonnet, around on a dog leash; several Hispanic dancers in rainbow wigs and miniskirts performing "humping" motions on a mannequin dressed as the Pope; and a dozen gyrating drag queens in see-through dresses holding penis-shaped beer bottles that appeared to spurt ejaculation-like foam when shaken and poured onto passersby... "I have a cousin who's a gay, and he seemed like a decent enough guy to me," said Iowa City, IA, resident Russ Linder, in Los Angeles for a weekend sales seminar. "Now, thanks to this parade, I realize what a freak he's been all along. Gays are all sick, immoral perverts.""

Eric Sawyer's answer to Do gay pride parades have a positive or negative impact on the perception of the LGBTQ community? - Quora - "The younger LGBTQ folks out there don't remember that the intent of the original pride parade was to honor and commemorate Stonewall - the event that sparked the gay rights movement. It was not supposed to be a parade, but a demonstration and protest. Fast forward to today and the parades seem to be about which gay bar can sponsor the biggest float with the hottest guys wearing the least amount of clothes.
I always laugh when I hear gay people (especially the younger ones) complain about discrimination and tolerance - but it never occurs to them that in order for us to be treated equally there needs to be some level of assimilation into mainstream culture. Parading down Main Street in a thong, jockstrap or leather chaps (leading your "dog" around on a leash) will only further alienate the community from the mainstream. Not that all parade participants behave this way - in fact the majority don't Most of the people in the parades I've participated in were everyday normal people just like me. There were employee groups, church groups, bowling and softball leaguers, and gay parents. The problem is that the news cameras are not going to film the boring office workers or softball players. They're going to zoom in on the bare asses, leather clad "boys" and the lewd behavior in public and that's what gets broadcast to middle America. How can we expect to be treated equally when we insist on this type of display and call it "pride?"
Yes - there are plenty of heterosexuals who take part in what most would call "fetish" behavior but they do it behind closed doors, in private - where it belongs."

Singapore to relax, but not remove, death penalty: Deputy PM - ""We also propose to give the courts the discretion to spare a drug courier from the death penalty if he has a mental disability which substantially impairs his appreciation of the gravity of the act, and instead sentence him to life imprisonment with caning"... Not all Singaporeans were in the mood for compassion, with several arguing on websites the lighter sentences would encourage crime. "Why do we need to lower our threshold? To appease foreigners who grew up with drugs?," What Now wrote on Yahoo Singapore. "This government is selling our future.""

HTML5 port puts 'Dune II' in your browser - "Following in the footsteps of a recent Command & Conquer remake, Russian developer Aleksander Guryanov has created a full HTML5/JavaScript port of the 1992 title Dune II"

Do Men Really Love Bitches? - "Healthy, stable men will date the “bitchy” woman for a bit, either because the woman is hot or she knocks it out of the park in bed. Or both. But they won’t date them for long or marry them. That is, unless those men enjoy being bossed around, henpecked and generally enjoy being emasculated... You have to understand that the book, “Why Men Love Bitches” doesn’t really support the theory that men love bitches. That book was given a provocative title so it would sell... we didn’t really understand that we were being presented with caricatures and exaggerations. Women just heard the title to that book and assumed that being “bitchy” was okay because men “love” that.

The progressive “climate of hate:” An illustrated primer, 2000-2010 - "Activists have published an “Anti-Gay Black List” of Prop. 8 donors on the Internet. If the tables had been turned and Prop. 8 proponents created such an enemies’ list, everyone in Hollywood would be screaming “McCarthyism” faster than you can count to eight. A Los Angeles restaurant whose manager made a small donation to the Prop. 8 campaign has been besieged nightly by hordes of protesters who have disrupted the business, intimidated patrons, and brought employees there to tears. In fear for their jobs and their lives, workers at El Coyote Mexican Café pooled together $500 to pay off the bullies. Scott Eckern, a beleaguered artistic director at the California Musical Theatre, was forced to resign over his $1,000 donation to the Prop. 8 campaign... Sentiments like this one, found on the anti-Prop.8 website “JoeMyGod,” are common across the left-wing blogosphere: “Burn their f—ing churches to the ground, and then tax the charred timbers.”"

Floyd Lee Corkins charged in Family Research Council shooting - "The man authorities say was angry with the conservative stance of the Family Research Council and shot the group’s unarmed security guard in a downtown D.C. office was ordered by a judge Thursday to undergo a mental evaluation. An FBI affidavit quotes 28-year-old Floyd Lee Corkins II of Herndon telling the guard, “I don’t like your politics” as he pulled a 9mm Sig Sauer pistol from a backpack he had carried with him on Metrorail from East Falls Church... In his bag [were] 15 sandwiches from Chick-fil-A, which combined with the suspect’s statement added a political dimension to the shooting... At a news conference Thursday, the president of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, condemned what he called “reckless rhetoric” that labels his organization a “hate group,” saying it incited the shooting... agents interviewed Corkins’s parents, who said their son “has strong opinions with respect to those he believes do not treat homosexuals in a fair manner.”"
What is sauce for the homophobe is also sauce for the homophile

A new report says political conservatives have a much better sex life than Democrats - "Republicans have the highest rate of orgasm of any group in the report. Especially conservative Republicans. No wonder those tea partiers always look so happy. In fact, a majority of self-identified conservatives reported that during sex they reach orgasm just about every single time... Such a high conservative orgasm rate compares with only 40% reported success for liberal Democrats who, being liberal, talk openly forever about subjects like sex to affirm their liberality. But we now know they're over-compensating for inadequacy and self-report experiencing considerably less satisfaction in private"
The Daily Beast on other results: "men, not women, who are more willing to settle for somebody who isn’t a soul mate. Thirty-one percent of men said they’d be willing to commit to somebody who “has everything they are looking for in a partner” but with whom they weren’t in love, and 21 percent said they’d commit to somebody they were not sexually attracted to. Women, meanwhile, are more likely than men to say they “must have” someone with a similar level of education, a successful career, and a sense of humor. “Women are the picky sex,” says Fisher... more men than women—43 percent of men to 33 percent of women—say they believe it’s acceptable for a male partner to be a “stay at home dad”... a third of respondents did not believe sexual fidelity to be a “must have” in their own relationship—but 9 of 10 believe there are “no acceptable excuses” for a politician caught with his (or her) pants down"

Congratulations! You Just Made Rush Limbaugh Sympathetic! - "Imagine this scenario: you are a lifelong liberal. You pretty much hate everything Rush Limbaugh stands for, and says. You are really glad that the times have finally seemed to have caught up to him, and that people are outraged by his callous, gross comments. So what do you do next? You do the one thing that will make him a sympathetic figure. You call on the FCC to remove him. Think this is just not-very-good satire? If only. Nope, I draw from this example because in an opinion piece just published on CNN.com Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem, and Robin Morgan did exactly this. In the process they seem to have played into the exact stereotype of the thin-skinned, hypocritical liberal. One who supports the First Amendment and freedom of speech … except for when they don’t... As long as liberals argue that government should protect us from upsetting opinions they are never going to win, and shouldn’t"
Related: Liberalism and Tolerance (including the survey which showed twice as many liberals as conservatives and moderates have blocked, unfriended or hidden someone on social networks because of political reasons

Wraps Are The Worst Food On Earth - "A wrap is a sad burrito made with a shitty tortilla and stuffed with a gross salad... Sometimes you can't even tell the difference between the tortilla and the paper it is wrapped in"

A Death a Day: Fatal Insomnia - "Michael Corke was a music teacher in Chicago. Shortly after he turned 40, he began to have trouble falling asleep. The insomnia grew worse and worse, until he finally could not sleep at all. Corke had Fatal Familial Insomnia, a rare genetic disorder that doesn't emerge until the person is an adult"

Food for friendship: Bonobos share with strangers in exchange for company - ""Our results show that generosity toward strangers is not unique to humans. Like chimpanzees, our species would kill strangers; like bonobos, we could also be very nice to strangers. Our results highlight the importance of studying bonobos to fully understand the origins of such human behaviors."
People only complain that you can't compare animals to humans when they don't like the results

The history of the future in 10 images

Something I forgot to do yesterday

Maidens throw oranges to fetch the apple of their eyes - Nation | The Star Online

GEORGE TOWN: Thousands of young people thronged the scenic Esplanade for the Chap Goh Mei celebration as maidens threw mandarin oranges into the sea with the aim of finding their soulmate.

The 15-day Chinese New Year ended last night with the traditional throwing of oranges for the ladies.

Friends Laureen Quah, 20, and Fiona Cheng, 30, were among the crowd.


Aiming for Mr Right: (From right:) J’vy Ng, Wendy Ng, Fiona Cheng and Laureen Quah tossing oranges into the sea at the Penang Esplanade in the hope of finding their Mr Right in conjunction with the state-level Chap Goh Mei celebration. -GARY CHEN/The Star

Quah, a mass communications student at a private college, decided to join in the fun, but not so much as to look for a suitor.

“I am still young, there is no rush,” she said.

For Cheng, being 30 and single is not a problem, though she admits to taking part in the event in the hope of meeting someone.

“I am doing this for fun but if I do meet a suitor, it is a bonus,” she said.

In PETALING JAYA, Brian Lee, 25, was among the many hopeful men who were seen fishing oranges thrown in the lake in Taman Jaya.

“I am going to give this ‘Janice’ a call,” he said as he held up an orange.

“I hope she is a cute and sweet girl. Maybe we could go out for coffee or a movie.”

Lee said it was his second time at such an event and he hoped he would not have to come back next year.

“Maybe I might go steady with Janice by then!”

Project engineer Jocelyn Lam, 25, did not harbour much hope when she threw an orange with her name and telephone number written on it into the lake.

“I wrote ‘Gong Xi Fa Cai’ on it. I won’t mind if no one picks it up. But if a nice man picks it up, then lucky me,” said Lam.

In JOHOR BARU, revellers thronged the Johor Baru Ancient Temple to pray and give offerings to the deities.


Addendum:

Chap Goh Meh singles party

"Julie Olson, 22, from the United States who threw two oranges, said it was a fun way to find a suitor.

“I don’t have a boyfriend, so why not give it a try? I’ll never know who may call or chat with me on Facebook,” she added.

Two of her friends Stephanie Loo, 23, and Kathy Houng, 22, from the United States, threw three oranges each with witty messages, date of birth and heart symbols drawn on them.

Houng said she put down her passport number on the oranges “to be different from the others.”"

Le narcissisme sur YouTube

Sur YouTube, on trouve beaucoup de vidéos de gens parlant au public.

En fait, ce qui me frappe, c'est que la plupart du temps il s'agit de filles parlant de tout et de rien.

Je constate que ce qui suit, c'est que beaucoup de gens, probablement des garçons, écrivent des commentaires qui encensent ces filles.

Voici un exemple :



La vidéo s'appelle "OOTD#2" (la tenue du jour #2), mais les stars ne sont ni ses chaussures, ni son cardigan, ni son short.

Par contre, ce sont ses seins.

Effectivement, elle sait bien qu'ils sont visibles ; c'est pourquoi elle a mis des boîtes sur la vidéo, mais on peut enlever facilement ces boîtes (étant donné qu'elle est sur YouTube depuis 2007, elle devrait le savoir).

(On ne peut pas laisser les commentaires sur la vidéo, probablement à cause des gens laissant les commentaires comme << courbe-toi ! >>)

Bien sûr, ce n'est pas le seul exemple que j'ai vu.

Je soupçonne que ce phénomène consiste en des filles qui portent des tenues sexy pour que les garçons les complimentent. Le but, c'est de nourrir leur narcissisme.

Feminist Advertising: SDN Postcard

"Pain is real when you get other people to believe in it. If no one believes in it but you, your pain is madness or hysteria." ― Naomi Wolf

***

Recently, I came across feminist rage over the following SDN postcard:


"Evolution. Gotta love it!"

The reverse (not fisked) reads:


"Follow your heart, not your checklist. Sharp dressing and good looks don't solve arguments - beauty is in someone who understands and evolves with you.

Love happens anywhere, everywhere. Give love a chance."

The list of charges:

potato-skins: This ad postcard by the Social Development Network (SDN aka a government-run dating agency here in Singapore) makes me so angry that I actually feel physically unwell.

I am going to have to do this in point form because I’m so angry and I will try to be coherent. These are my problems with it, and I’m no expert:

1) It imposes this ‘natural’ progression of an individual’s life. This view of what you should be doing but the nuclear family unit is a relatively modern phenomenon. Moreover this vision of heteronormality is one that has been determined by the government, not the individual.

2) This is not science, so don’t you dare use the word “evolution”. This is social engineering, not factual objective science.

3) What about the people who are not cis, straight or otherwise don’t fit into the male/female dichotomy of ‘mainstream’ society? Are my gay, trans, asexual (and so on) friends somehow less evolved than their cis and straight counterparts?

4) By being of majority age but single, I am somehow less evolved than my friends who are in relationships. This enrages me beyond words. My relationship status DOES NOTdetermine the value of my life. I will pay my taxes, I will contribute to society, I will make someone’s life a bit more interesting, I will stimulate the economy, I will be filial to my parents. But just because of one thing — I am not in a relationship with a member of the opposite sex, either by choice or circumstance — I am worth less in the eyes of the government. I am less evolved. I am not a human being who is worth much.

5) Women are not gachapon machines. You do not put money into them and out pops a baby. So many factors determine whether couples choose to have a child/ren that aren’t just financial. It is demeaning and sexist and patriarchal and assumes that the couple’s natural place — the woman’s natural place — is to have children.

6) You do not determine what I do with my body. Not just as a woman, but as a human being. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT.

7) Because SDN is a government agency, these are being printed with taxpayer money. This vision of hetero-normality is being imposed on us, against our will, with our money.

That’s all I can think about and articulate right now, because I am just so angry. Shame on you, SDN. Shame on you, government.

#made by me #feminism #power and justice #social justice #singapore

mizhallelujah: When I first saw this, I actually thought it was some homophobic claptrap being circulated by Singapore’s equivalent of the religious right. You’re telling me this was printed and paid for by state money?

“Rage” doesn’t even being to articulate what I am feeling now. Good thing Viki managed to express my thoughts above because I want to do is to throw my keyboard into the screen. REPEATEDLY.

Nevermind that the SDN had hugely, disgustingly classist and frankly eugenic roots as an organisation that was started specifically to “encourage” university graduates to hook up with each other because oh noes we need our smart people to breed with other smart people and make smart babies BARF

# power and society; lgbtq; sexism; singapore; fuck you omg; seriously just fuck you


A few points they missed out:

- This postcard is ageist because it claims that older people are more evolved than younger
- The postcard is sexist because it shows that only men can evolve (notice the woman exists only to be a partner for the male)
- It is religiously insensitive, because not everybody believes in Evolution
- It's insensitive to left handers, because it privileges the rightward direction and associates it with progress (did you know left handed people used to be openly discriminated against within living memory? Or that they are more prone to post traumatic stress disorder [undoubtedly due to social discrimination]? Shocking!)
- It reinforces gender stereotypes with the male having short hair all his life and the female having longish hair (and wearing a skirt) Oh, my soul - how it hurts to be unable to see itself reflected even in such a simple postcard?! I am going to feel physically sick very soon.

As such, I have done a feminist re-imagining of this postcard:


(I was going to put "Gotta exist!" at the bottom, but that would be insensitive for people who want to commit suicide/the memory of people who have committed suicide as it would be coercing them into living)

Doesn't this make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and want to go out and get together with someone, and then make babies (or adopt them, for couples not consisting of a man and a woman, both fertile; or do absolutely nothing at all, for those who are happy being single)?

Of course, I'm not sure if this inclusive design would fit on a postcard. Perhaps it would, but the aspect ratio would be really off and the silhouettes would be so small one wouldn't know what the hell the postcard was about.

Assuming we worked through all the logistical issues, can you imagine the reception such a postcard would enjoy? I bet AWARE and feminists would be really happy, and would encourage the rest of the population to celebrate this inclusive work.

Unfortunately I was unable to be truly inclusive and include trans-gendered portrayals. Among other reasons, due to cis gender privilege, I was unable to think of a way to portray transsexuals in silhouette form. As such I regretfully announce that my feminist re-imagining is still trans-phobic.

Also, I was unable to find a silhouette of a little girl where she doesn't have long hair and is not wearing a skirt. As such I am reinforcing gender stereotypes. Think of all the little girls who don't wear skirts and/or don't have long hair who will see this reimagined postcard and get it in their mind that they are not real girls. Ditto for the silhouette of the woman. Oh, dear me!

Worse, to save space and avoid repeating myself, I didn't replicate every single progression series of silhouettes. There are now 2 series showing the life of a male who forms a couple but only one showing the life of a female who forms a couple (and she is lesbian). Quelle horreur ! And also, because I had to go and eat dinner, I was unable to do a series representing a female who gets into a heterosexual relationship, or a male single (since it is important to keep statistical equality so neither gender feels oppressed because of having one fewer series for them). Male privilege strikes again, privileging the male story (or history), and sidelining the female version (herstory).

I am also really ashamed that I was unable to find a usable silhouette of a proper lesbian couple, and was thus reduced to using two generic female figures. This dehumanises lesbians by reducing them to an abstract representation of their gender, instead of representing them as proper living human beings like the rest of the silhouettes.

I think I still failed in my mission and have been an agent of Bigotry. Ah well.

It thus falls to greater sorts (hopefully a lesbian who won't suffer from Straight Privilege and Male Privilege) to design an even more inclusive postcard and spend taxpayers' money promoting absolutely no cause at all, since we cannot oppress people by even encouraging them to do anything.

While I'm on my high horse, let me give a big FUCK YOU to the government of Singapore for determining what I do with my body. The Human Organ Transplant Act is a gross violation of my right to bodily integrity, because even though it's opt-out you're trying to coerce me into doing something with my body. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT.

At the same time, I condemn the National Healthy Lifestyle Programme for privileging a state-sanctioned conception of health and imposing it upon us with taxpayers' money, against our will.

Shame on you! Shame, shame, shame.

An Apple Product Cheaply

Chinese Business Ethics

赚
zuàn
to cheat / to swindle

赚
zhuàn
to earn / to make a profit

Links - 24th February 2013

The best country in the world? There's no such thing - "For some people, travelling far from home makes them increasingly proud of that place they left behind. It sends them misty-eyed about gum trees and koalas, about beaches and bars, about what it means to be from that land. They've never felt more Australian than when they're away from the country... the more I travel the more I become convinced that the whole concept of nationality and nationhood is irrelevant. Where do you come from? It shouldn't matter... what are we really so proud of? The dumb luck of having been born on a certain piece of land that then becomes "yours"? And what makes your country so much better than everyone else's – other than your familiarity with it? I dislike the whole concept of nationhood, the way people support their country like it's a football team playing in a grand final. Like we have to choose sides. How much better would it be if we'd all stop taking pride in the little slices of the globe we happened to pop out in and starting just being citizens of the world?"

'Beef' burger is one third horse ... so what? - "African animals, while beautiful to look at, are also deceptively tasty. If you can accept that it's OK to view animals for their beauty by day, and then consume animals for their deliciousness by night, then make sure you take warthog for spin. It's like pork, only better. And then there's springbok, which makes the tastiest biltong around. Oh, and ostrich, which is barbecued meaty perfection. And kudu. And zebra."

The power of three - "Polyamorists even believe jealousy can be transmuted into a feeling of joy, experienced when you see your partner enjoying the love of someone else - a feeling so uncommon, polyamorists had to make up a word for it: "compersion". (It's not in the Oxford Dictionary)... Janet Hardy explains polyamory as "ways of structuring a relationship that are not about ownership... Darren Ramsey says he doesn't "play the compromise game. Compromise is a game of lose-lose ... it means both people have to give something up in order to get very little," he explains. "I firmly believe everybody can have everything they want"... The same-sex rights movement has a tentative relationship with polyamory. Polyamorists were refused their own official float in Sydney's Mardi Gras last year, but were allowed to participate as "supporters" of the gay and lesbian festival. And Darren Ramsey says the defeat of the gay marriage bill has cruelled any prospect of having polyamorous relationships similarly recognised: "If you look at the whole [gay marriage] campaign, as it got closer to the vote they were throwing polyamory under the bus. 'Oh no, no, we have nothing to do with those group marriages and that polyamorous open stuff!' We were the sacrificial lamb"... Ramsey tells a long story about a previous poly relationship, in which his female partner told him she wanted to take up again with her ex-boyfriend. When she went out at night to meet him, Ramsey endured agonies. Which sounds like straight-up jealousy, I insist. "Well, on the surface, yes," he concedes. "Did I get through it? Yes. Am I okay about it? Yes. Awesome!""
Perhaps it is telling that all the successful polyamory arrangements I know of/have heard about seem to be a man with multiple women

Women-only food sites open in Haiti - "Relief workers began handing out women-only food coupons in Haiti on Sunday in an effort to ensure earthquake relief supplies reach the neediest families... The WFP said the coupons will go to women because they tend to be responsible for the household food supply"
I think this is called "male privilege"

Disney Princes Make For Abusive Boyfriends - "Falling for Aladdin is the equivalent of falling for one of those internet sweetheart scams. He’s not who he says he is, he’s a compulsive liar, and he’s a con man. Stay away... Maybe it all boils down to the fact that the princes are largely non-entities. I suspect this is why so many of them either don’t have names or have names that no one can actually remember– they’re ideas, not people"
One could look at this as objectification of the princes (and men, as an extension), while the women are the protagonists.

China's Hottest New Politician: Former Hong Kong Softcore Porn Star Diana Pang - China Real Time Report - WSJ

In malpractice case, Catholic hospital argues fetuses aren’t people

Police report filed against pastor - "A POLICE report has been filed against the pastor of Cornerstone Community Church, Mr Yang Tuck Yoong, over comments he made about the gay community last week. Researcher Scott Teng, 29, lodged the report last night over a post Mr Yang made last Saturday on his church's website, saying it was "an incitement of violence". Originally titled Firing The First Salvo, Mr Yang asked church members to prepare for a "war" on the issue of homosexuality. He also urged the church to be "battle ready"... He clarified earlier this week that he had been using "spiritual terms" that some misconstrued. Mr Teng said yesterday that he was "appalled and worried that there might be followers who would take his words literally and get physically violent with the LGBT". He added that Mr Yang's post is "something that I see as an incitement of violence towards another community, and hence I filed the police report"."
It's great to see that everyone is capable of infantalising discourse. You might as well say that Lee Kuan Yew was threatening to beat Catherine Lim up with his knuckle-dusters, or that Campus Crusade for Christ wants to exterminate Muslims.

I want to stop my lesbian neighbours from showing off their sex life - "Two young ladies recently moved into a flat there, and they have no window coverings. The bed is in full view of their window (which is floor-to-ceiling height) and they are in the habit of showing their love to one another, in the bed, quite often"
Comment: "Imagine that, instead of two lesbians, the scene is of a bloke pleasuring himself, "apparently unaware" that he is being observed. How long do you think he will remain unarrested, unprosecuted, and off the sex offenders' register?"

Standard Hotel: Shock as visitors using toilet with glass walls at swanky Manhattan hotel are visible from the street - "In 2009 people walking along the High Line park were treated to free peep shows from guests - including couples having sex and porn films being recorded - in the rooms above. One shopworker in the area said she saw 'a naked girl jumping up and down on a trampoline right in front of the window', while others were shocked to see men pleasuring themselves. In 2008, the hotel won an award from the Municipal Arts Society of New York for best new building erected that year."

In Technology Wars, Using the Patent as a Sword - NYTimes.com - "When the first lawsuit went to trial last year, Mr. Phillips won. In the companies’ only courtroom face-off, a jury ruled that Mr. Phillips had not infringed on a broad voice recognition patent owned by Mr. Ricci’s company. But it was too late. The suit had cost $3 million, and the financial damage was done. In December, Mr. Phillips agreed to sell his company to Mr. Ricci. “We were on the brink of changing the world before we got stuck in this legal muck,” Mr. Phillips said... In the smartphone industry alone, according to a Stanford University analysis, as much as $20 billion was spent on patent litigation and patent purchases in the last two years — an amount equal to eight Mars rover missions. Last year, for the first time, spending by Apple and Google on patent lawsuits and unusually big-dollar patent purchases exceeded spending on research and development of new products, according to public filings... In March 2010, Apple sued HTC, a Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer that had partnered with Google. Apple did not talk to HTC before suing. Negotiations were not part of the strategy... Patents for software and some kinds of electronics, particularly smartphones, are now so problematic that they contribute to a so-called patent tax that adds as much as 20 percent to companies’ research and development costs... “When patent lawyers become rock stars, it’s a bad sign for where an industry is heading”... patents are sometimes granted for ideas that already exist. In 1999, for instance, two men received a patent for a crustless, sealed peanut butter and jelly sandwich

Ex-Straits Times editor reveals gov’t meddling in tell-all book - "this is the first time a Singapore editor has gone to print with an insider's take on how the republic's first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew systematically controlled the press with draconian laws and protected it with anti-competition barriers... "I will break your neck," Cheong describes Lee as telling him when the rookie reporter tried to make a case for not imposing an embargo on a speech the Prime Minister had made... One of the bravest episodes was when Peter Lim, Cheong's predecessor, resisted Lee's pressure to print the full O level results of Opposition politician Chiam See Tong during the 1984 election. Lee wanted to show to voters that Chiam did not have the academic credentials to be a capable MP. Lim resisted because he felt it would backfire on the ruling party and the newspaper. The author is a smart survivor, too. He had a ring-side view of how his boss, Peter Lim, tried to run the newsroom with some form of independence and paid the price for it by having to resign. "The board told me my deputy was ready to take over'' -- that was the loaded answer Lim gave when historian Mary Turnbull asked him about his 1987 departure in another book on The Straits Times... The Singapore government's intervention in media is legendary. Cheong describes many episodes -- from appointments of editors to shaping coverage of political and foreign events and even to minor stories like stamp-collecting, carpet-buying and MSG - with the pen of a master story teller."

Why Doesn't Evolution Get Rid of Ugly People? - "genes that are good for males are bad for females and, perhaps, vice versa... you might imagine that a particular shape of the nose or turn of the chin would look drop-dead hunky on a male, but horsey on a woman"
I thought it's because beauty is a relative, not absolute, concept

Liz Lemon Vs. the Manic Pixie Dream Girl - "Despite not having any substance to their actual characters, these MPDGs are just quirky enough to captivate hot leading men. This is known to laypeople as sorcery... On occasion, I almost wish I could be an MPDG. I find myself having the sudden urge to drop out of Cornell to pursue a life of wandering through towns on a motorcycle, searching for some lonely guy to teach a monumental life lesson to. But then reality strikes back. Will spontaneously riding a motorcycle through towns as a teenage girl get me kidnapped? Survey says “yes.” Will agreeing to everything in life just like Deschanel in Yes Man result in imminent death or marriage to a mail-order groom? I’m going to go with yes on that one, too. And beyond those concerns, I don’t think I even know any monumental life lessons."

The Combined Stimulation of Caffeine and Tannin in Tea - "Tannin, found in tea leaves, impedes the absorption of caffeine into the body. If you are a frequent drinker of strong tea, the caffeine content can have a stimulating effect over a 12 hour period. A weaker tea brewed quickly, gives a shorter term, but stronger caffeine boost. A longer brewing time will therefore prevent you from being over-stimulated by a strong dose of caffeine."

Eat more insects, scientists say - "The bugs are rich in protein and some minerals and are lower in cholesterol than beef or pork... Eating insects also keep puts less strain on the environment because cultivating insects requires forest to be preserved rather than felled"

What is AutoKMS.exe? - Microsoft Community - "Thats funny. You asked Microsoft if its safe to remove an app you used to crack microsoft office 2010."

Finnish silence can be golden, says American expert - "Finnish silence is often misinterpreted when compared to cultures where people speak profusely. ”A Finn often demonstrates interest by listening, while an American asks and interrupts”