Your mileage may vary, but a Hummer's bad for Al Gore

"Humor is everywhere, in that there's irony in just about anything a human does." - Bill Nye

***

This rather problematic advice from Libba Bray (a writer) to a high school student is currently doing the rounds:

If I were coming up in the rigid, narrow educational model of today with its fetishizing of standardized tests, I would probably fail. I certainly would not be in the top ten percent of my class as I was then. I am absolutely hopeless at standardized tests. I cannot test for crap. I will look at those multiple choice questions and be able to give you a good argument for about three of the four. I will think, Why? Why is that the only right answer? What a bullshit system. You want me to write an essay to explain something? Fine. Done. But bubbling in answers? No can do...

I hear about the thousands of dollars spent on Kaplan tutors in order to pass the tests, to give the answers the colleges seek. This is not learning or thinking. This is regurgitation. (There is also a whole element of socioeconomic advantage at play here that should be acknowledged.) It feels so…programmed. Does it teach you to think? To feel empathy? Does it make you a better person? Can it help you weather tough times or adapt to different circumstances? Or will you stand in the changing tides and say, "But the answer is C. I took the Kaplan course. The answer is C," instead of improvising? My personal opinion is that this leads to a rigidity of thinking, a calcification of process that does not allow for adaptation, for being able to bend. Being able to bend and adapt is important. More on this later.

(Your mileage may vary)

In a very long-winded and indulgent fashion, Bray advises the high school student to pursue her dreams and go to a small school and then become an artist, instead of following her father's advice and going to an Ivy League college and becoming an English professor.

Naturally, Bray's advice (in the midst of all the rambling and the life story) is for the girl to follow her dreams. Equally naturally, I think this advice is problematic.

First though, I must say that the father's advice is quite lousy too. Does he know the job prospects in academia?! In English, no less! And also I am as pissed off with the high school counsellor (who said she should do what her father wanted) as Bray.

My response to Bray's advice can best be summed up with an extended quote; the 2009 film Fame wasn't very good, but it did have a good exchange at the end:

Teacher: I'm sorry, but I can't write you that letter [of recommendation]. Sometimes we get students who are promising, but they never progress past that early promise.
I know you want to be a ballet dancer, but I don't believe that's going to happen for you. Not on a professional level.

Kevin: I work harder than anyone else.

Teacher: I'm sorry, Kevin. You're just not a strong enough dancer. You will never, in my opinion, be able to support yourself as a dancer. It's my responsibility to tell you that.
Kevin, there are students who are going to get picked up by Ailey, City Ballet, Complexions. And there are other students who are going to have to pursue other options. Like, you might make a wonderful teacher.

This is, of course, the case even for people who are "promising". Even for those who have talent, hard work and passion may not be enough - and not all failed artists make wonderful teachers in the end. While loans to get through state college won't take as long to pay off as those for an Ivy League one, it's not clear that a starving artist would be more able to repay them than someone in a "proper" job paying off the Ivy loans.

Sure, "no one knows how your life is going to go", "there is no such thing as "a safe road"" and "you cannot program a life". But nobody knows how the lottery will turn out or whether their houses will burn down either. That doesn't mean a lottery ticket is a possible retirement plan (because hey, who knows, you just might win) or that you shouldn't buy insurance (because your house might not burn down). Sure, life cannot just be gone through with one correct answer to every question, but there are plenty of questions where there are correct answers:

"If someone is having a heart attack, should you perform CPR or the Heimlich Manoeuvre?"
"If I am receiving a client from Rwanda, should I ever use the words 'Tutsi' or 'Hutu'?"
"Have you ever had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky, as that term is defined in Deposition Exhibit 1, as modified by the Court?"

The truth is that depending on your risk profile, some choices might be wise, while others might be less so. In America, the stigma of living with your parents post-graduation is so strong that many college graduates would rather live on their own than buy medical insurance. While I'm sure many of them find this a life-changing experience which is great for personal development, many others are, in a word, screwed.

One common response to this criticism is that working towards goals that are less than likely to be achieved is still a worthwhile endeavor, even if you don't achieve the goals in the end. It is about the journey, rather than the destination. This sounds suspiciously like one of the arguments to justify prayer in the face of determinism and/or an omniscient god - even if prayer does not change what is going to happen, or if your god already knows what you are going to pray for, prayer is still good for personal development. This is assuredly not a coincidence - when you can't justify an imprudent course of action , there is nothing left but to appeal to the mystical and intangible.

Just after graduation, I read this book called The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People. It pointed out that Creative and Unconventional People do not have to work in Creative and Unconventional Jobs: you can do Creative and Unconventional things on the side, as a hobby, or use your "real" job to finance your passion.

For example, take the case of famous 20th century American composer Charles Ives. While a prolific composer, he did not make his living from music - he was an insurance agent/executive, but we don't think any less of him (or his music) for that. Just because some artists are starving does not mean that you need to be starving to be an artist.

Besides these problems, Bray's advice also suffers from the problem of Survivorship bias. If I talk to all of the people who have made a lot of money stock trading who all say good things about it, and conclude that stock trading is a good idea, this is not a wise move on my part - since I ignore the people who have been burnt by the market and leaped to their dooms. Similarly, the high school student needs to go and talk to a failed writer for some perspective.

I would also note that Bray's husband, Barry Goldblatt, is a literary agent. As in the field of stockbroking, where it's much easier to earn a living as a stock broker than as a trader (as a broker, even if your clients lose money you earn it), it is much easier to earn a living as a literary agent than as a writer - as an agent you get paid to send out rejection letters, while as a writer a rejection letter might mean you will miss your next meal. So even if Bray weren't already a successful writer, she could afford to have her husband stabilise the household income (and feed the children).

But then, the high school student is a girl, so she can do the same thing.

Vers Improvisés Sur Un Album

"I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean." - G. K. Chesterton

***

Le livre de la vie est le livre suprême
Qu'on ne peut ni fermer, ni rouvrir à son choix;
Le passage attachant ne s'y lit pas deux fois,
Mais le feuillet fatal se tourne de lui-même;
On voudrait revenir à la page où l'on aime,
Et la page où l'on meurt est déjà sous vos doigts

The Floodgates Have Always Been Open

"Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people from coughing." - Sir Ralph Richardson

***

No clear definition of outrage of modesty

TOUCHING someone's breasts or buttocks is clearly considered an outrage of modesty - but so can making someone touch you, even if it is on a seemingly innocent part of your body like your shoulders.

Lawyers interviewed said there is no clear definition of outrage of modesty.

But a general rule of thumb is that so long as a man makes a woman feel uncomfortable by his actions, that could qualify as outrage of modesty.

Lawyer Chia Boon Teck said a man can be convicted of molestation even if he does not touch the girl but forces her to touch him.

In most outrage of modesty cases, however, a woman's sensitive areas, such as her breasts, buttocks, inner thighs and private parts, were violated.

In 1993, former chief justice Yong Pung How noted that someone guilty of stroking a woman's thigh on impulse, or making a naughty but harmless nudge, should be fined. But if a victim's private parts or sexual organs were touched, the standard sentence should be a jail term and caning, he said.

Lawyers said the punishment would depend on the body part that was touched, and the manner in which the act was carried out. And when vulnerable children are involved, the law tends to treat the culprit more harshly.

Those convicted of outrage of modesty can be jailed for up to 10 years and caned.

The police yesterday advised parents to ensure that their young children are accompanied at all times. They also called on people to be alert and attentive to their surroundings. If they suspect they are being followed, they should remain calm and proceed to the nearest crowded area or call the police. They can also carry a shrill alarm to call for help. They should also avoid entering a lift with a stranger.

(Today's ST)

The [lack of] outcry you [will] see proves that people fight harder for their interests than other people's rights.

Female Character Flowchart

"Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

***


(from The Female Character Flowchart | Overthinking It)
"Can she carry her own story?
Is she three dimensional?
Does she represent an idea?
Does she have any flaws?
Is she killed before the third act?"

The stated intention is to focus "on the one- and two-dimensional female characters we see over and over again in modern fiction".

But then, with standards such as those in this flowchart, we can ask just how many male characters would similarly qualify as "strong male characters".

Comments:

"I do think that you think the male characters in, e.g., Christopher Nolan films are more well-developed than they are, though. Take DiCaprio’s character in Inception: emotionally closed-off, hyper-aggressive male who is secretly reliving a trauma. Or Batman: hyper-aggressive, emotionally closed off male who is secretly reliving a trauma. Or Memento: hyper-aggressive, emotionally closed off male (closed off even to himself) who is secretly reliving a trauma."

"i’ll address the chris nolan thing. he’s stated that, for him, noir films should be about addressing your biggest fears and one of his biggest fears is losing his spouse, hence that recurring theme. even still, ariadne in inception is totally non-sexualized and not really subject to much stereotyping. same with ramirez in the dark knight. rachel dawes is killed in the dark knight, but i think that was more of a subversion of the damsel-in-distress trope, underscoring that batman can’t save everyone and that his mere existence is going to have very real costs.

my point is, it’s fun and whatever to make these sorts of lighthearted j’accuse posts and shit, but there could be reasons that a writer does something that has nothing to do with “gender issues.” i could easily say that you’re just another feminist who doesn’t care about minorities, thus you must be a racist. but that wouldn’t be true. would it?"

"A character can be two dimensional and still provide plenty of substance within those two dimensions. Characters can also certainly fit into your categories and still be strong characters. You can’t dismiss a character’s merits simply for exhibiting some of these traits, many of which are actual traits that some women have"

"If Mlawski actually thinks Lady Macbeth, Zoe Washburn, Riply, and Sarah Conner and some others on the chart are somehow *not* Strong (and complex, 3D, well-developed) Female Characters, then I may have misinterpreted the term drastically."

"The constraints of what constitutes a strong character are so unbelievably narrow that I find it difficult to think of a single person getting through. All these labels your sticking onto the characters…those labels can also be thought as flaws in some chases. Flaws that make a character more believable, more human. And some of the pathways to the labels don’t make any sense. Why, just because you’re the token female in a band, must you be useless?... This chart, to me, seems to be just as sexist as what it’s railing against"

"You could have saved time with this: Does she pass the Bechdel Test? Yes, strong female character. No, everything else."
[Reply: "Mean Girls totally passes the Bechdel Test. Does that make them strong female characters? (I actually liked Mean Girls, but its strength wasn’t really in the characterization)"]

"You keep using this word “stereotype.” I do not think it means what you think it means... You have over 70 different possibilities and many characters pictured whom have gone all the way through your opening (or optimal) tree branch. That’s hardly “standardized,” “simplified” nor based on “some” prior assumptions. That’s very, very specific focusing... your argument is actually proving against your case rather than for it"

"This kind of seems like the *opposite* of what you say you’re trying to do. You say you want people to write nuanced female characters, but you reduce all these nuanced female characters into stereotypes. It’s just another way to say that female characters aren’t good enough, no matter how they’re written."

"This list PRETENDS to be feminist, but in fact tears apart tons of really fabulous female characters in order to stuff them into cliched boxes. News flash: ANY role can be torn down to a cliche. (Hamlet = emo boy. Am I wrong? No. Have I told you everything there is to understand about Hamlet? Also no.) You’re claiming to be this red-hot feminist while playing right into the sexist trap of assuming that any female role MUST be cliched or inadequate because, after all, a woman’s playing it. So why care about female characters at all? I’m embarrassed for you."

"From your examples, it seems the only thing a character has to do to fall off the top line is be written with tits. Harley Quinn can’t carry her own story? Mystique can’t carry her own story? Ripley (for God’s sake, Ripley???) can’t carry her own story? Are you even familiar with those characters, or did you just grab images at random to fill your bubbles? (Although they are all two-dimensional, since the first two are drawn on paper and the third is projected on a flat screen)"

"I think it is very, very telling that the makers of this chart didn’t even bother to try to find a character that fit their idea of a Strong Female Character–that makes it look even more like this chart only exists to rip female characters to shreds"

"Had Yoko Ono been any other race, she still would have the same stigma attached to her, whether or not you think that’s fair is an entirely different matter.

Should only white people be able to become symbolic of archetypes? Wouldn’t excluding people of minorities from that simply because of their race be, oh I don’t know, kind of racist? At the very least it is patronizing to people of minorities, as it excludes them from something for the absurd reason that using a person from a minority as a negative symbol might be construed as racist"

"By the way, mlawsk is the only woman listed on the overthinkingit staff. She’s the token female. I wonder if she’s the emotional core, or the useless girl?"

Miscellaneous Dalliances

It's a beautiful morning in the City of Lights.

Back on the 17th!

Debit Card Economics - "Multitude" by POSB

"The function of socialism is to raise suffering to a higher level." - Norman Mailer

***

Even the poor man's plastic - the POSB Debit Card - is being overhauled.



Its new incarnation is the "Multitude" card (now also rebranded for Youth - so maybe it won't work for Age Verification on sites with Adult Content* anymore), which comes with a seemingly attractive 0.3% cashback on all non-PIN Mastercard transactions (and a $500 credit limit, thus making it an oxymoron)

However, it didn't take me long to discover the catch - the $24 annual fee is waived for the first year only (the old card waived the fee if you made 18 signed transactions in a year).

So with 0.3% cashback, you'll only get your money's worth if you charge a whopping $8,000 in Mastercard transactions in a year to it.


* - This is an extra-Singapore definition of "Adult Content". The Singaporean definition is more restrictive (not to mention rather disappointing).

National Day in Singapore

A little slice of FAIL for the day

"What the world needs is more geniuses with humility, there are so few of us left." - Oscar Levant

***

Me: Singapore has free elections, but not fair elections.

A: What's defined as fair,or rather who defines it.What's free elections supposed to mean?I'm happy with the current state that Singapore is in,its clearly its not perfect.But the important matter is the reason for its imperfection,has it reached a stage where to alter one aspect of the nation will lead to a trade off,a reduction in quality in other areas or is it the government not doing enough or they don't have the know how to do it.

Me: http://www.commonborders.org/free_and_fair.htm
*quotes from the URL*

to alter one aspect of the nation will lead to a trade off

You have to show that there is indeed a tradeoff, rather than accept self-serving governmental rhetoric

A: I see. so your free and fair elections definition is for that website which states for election in latin america.

I thought you be quoting from some UN definition or something.But any definition is arbitrary in the sense that 'ought' can't be inferred from 'is' as suggests.

Me: ???

For one, the words of the UN are not gospel. For another there is no arbitrariness as this arises from certain principles that elections should follow to best embody both the letter and spirit of democracy. Lastly I have no idea where the naturalistic fallacy comes in as you say.

Dogbert's Reality Distortion Field

"I am a creative individual who does as he is told"

Sarcastic book reviews are even better heard than read

"If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little." - George Carlin

***

Understanding the universe: Order of creation | The Economist

(on The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow)

"“A Brief History of Time”... was renowned for being bought by everyone and understood by few. Twenty-two years later... once more we are told that we are on the brink of understanding everything.

The authors may be in this enviable state of enlightenment, but most readers will not have a clue what they are on about... The problem is not that the book is technically rigorous... but because whenever the going threatens to get tough, the authors retreat into hand-waving, and move briskly on to the next awe-inspiring notion. Anyone who can follow their closing paragraphs on the relation between negative gravitational energy and the creation of the universe probably knows it all already. This is physics by sound-bite...

The book is peppered with quips, presumably to remind the reader that he is not studying for an exam but is supposed to be having fun. These attempted jokes usually fuse the weighty with the quotidian, in the manner of Woody Allen, only without the laughs. (“While perhaps offering great tanning opportunities, any solar system with multiple suns would probably never allow life to develop”)...

Given what the authors have to say about Aristotle, one can only hope that they are more reliable about what happened billions of years ago at the birth of the universe than they are about what happened in Greece in the fourth century BC. Their account appears to be based on unreliable popularisations, and they cannot even get right the number of elements in Aristotle’s universe (it is five, not four)...

The authors rather fancy themselves as philosophers, though they would presumably balk at the description, since they confidently assert on their first page that “philosophy is dead”...

It is hard to evaluate their case against recent philosophy, because [there is] only [one] subsequent mention of it, after the announcement of its death... Professor Hawking and Mr Mlodinow regard a philosophical problem as something you knock off over a quick cup of tea after you have run out of Sudoku puzzles...

Once upon a time it was the province of philosophy to propose ambitious and outlandish theories in advance of any concrete evidence for them. Perhaps science, as Professor Hawking and Mr Mlodinow practice it in their airier moments, has indeed changed places with philosophy, though probably not quite in the way that they think."

Venice and its "lesson" for Singapore

"Blame someone else and get on with your life." - Alan Woods

***

One of the case studies students learn in Propaganda (Social Studies) classes is Venice.

Supposedly its Golden Age was in the 15th century, and it lost its position due to "complacency". The intended moral of the story, naturally, is that Singapore cannot afford to be "complacent".

However, not only is putting Venice's decline down to "complacency" typically simplistic in the extreme and self-serving (there were many historical factors resulting in Venice losing its lucrative position), one reason Venice lost its power was that it was abusing it - leading the Spanish and the Portuguese to find alternative trade routes to the East Indies (which resulted in their colonial empires).

So ironically we have a very non-National Education moral for this case study.

Addendum: In other words, Singapore should not be arrogant and bully/look down on other countries.

Comparative gender relations

"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." - Peter Steiner

***

'In Singapore the woman of the house gives the orders and the man obeys and keeps his mouth shut' (Boeing Boeing, Singaporean adaptation)


Original play:

GLORIA: You know, people wonder why America is such a great country.

ROBERT: Yes, people do wonder.

GLORIA: Well, it’s quite simply because American men stay babies all their
lives.

ROBERT: As long as that?

GLORIA: The Kinsey report proved it.

ROBERT: Did it?

GLORIA: In my country the woman is stronger than the man because he always says yes to her. And so by demanding more everyday, she can make the man work his way to total exhaustion.

ROBERT: They don’t mind?

GLORIA: Oh, they mind. But one little mutiny and we’re off to Reno. You can get a divorce in six weeks- for me ntal cruelty. And that means alimony.

ROBERT: What happens if they don’t pay it?

GLORIA: Jail.

ROBERT: Jail?

GLORIA: So to avoid going to jail, they pay up and to pay up, they have to work. They have to produce. This ensures a stable economy. And that’s why America is such a great country.

Observations - 26th September 2010

"Being a woman is a terribly difficult task since it consists principally in dealing with men." - Joseph Conrad

My version: The worst bit about being a woman is dealing with other women

***

I was at Goodwood Park Hotel. Car A blocked the road for 3 minutes. Driver B took a picture of Car A and its driver. So driver A took a picture of Car B and its driver. They can go argue it out on STOMP.

On the SIA interview: "at her group interview, the candidate that spoke quite intelligently on the subjects they asked her to talk about didn't get called back. Don't know if it's something else though."

Interestingly, if you have pre- but not post-marital sex, your Singaporean marriage can be annuled (or at least I'm told that this has happened).

I am amused that PLMGS doesn't let its female teachers wear pants - while other schools ban skirts (to prevent the upskirt problem).

The Third Generation SAF: new technology, new systems - same fucked up attitude.


The fact that written and spoken German are identical confirms my theory about French; French is so long winded, people need to speak it as fast as possible and contract it as much as possible

If you send me an email with the subject "Goodbye", I'll think it's a suicide note.

It's not surprising that it's as easy to find a man who isn't horny as it is to find a woman who doesn't want to be pretty, as both phenomena have the same root cause.

Interesting counter-example for those who decry polyamory as unworkable: multiple children.

Facebook cons you by claiming particular friend have used Friend Finder to find their friends - and telling those particular friends the same thing about you.


I am amused that Wikipedia has a "Massacres in Turkey" category. Hope no one cites the Ottoman Empire as an example of Muslim tolerance.

American lives may be worth more than others, but the exchange rate for American sins is also heavily weighted in the other direction (for Koran burning, among other things).


RT @PeterGriffinn: Girls are magic. They can get wet without water, bleed without injury, and make boneless things hard.

RT @msvindicta Sis: "Your dress is too short." Me: "I don't care." Sis: "What if it flies up?" Me: "Then it does. I'm wearing nice underwear."

RT @julianpo "NDP poster beside an Inception poster. The former: Live Our Dreams, Fly Our Flag. The latter: Wake Up to Reality."

RT @jongolia The only As and Bs you see in JC are those on girls.

RT @vixlew [Malaysian condoms are] no good, will only get you knocked up. Proof? My sister who is 12 years younger than I.

On the perils of not knowing your philosophy

"A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight." - Robertson Davies

***

On misinterpreting Clausewitz and the Dialectical Method:

"Clausewitz used a dialectical method to construct his argument, leading to frequent misinterpretation of his ideas. British military theorist B. H. Liddell Hart contends that the enthusiastic acceptance of the Prussian military establishment – especially Moltke the Elder – of what they believed to be Clausewitz's ideas, and the subsequent widespread adoption of the Prussian military system worldwide, had a deleterious effect on military theory and practice, due to their egregious misinterpretation of his ideas:

As so often happens, Clausewitz's disciples carried his teaching to an extreme which their master had not intended. ... [Clauswitz's] theory of war was expounded in a way too abstract and involved for ordinary soldier-minds, essentially concrete, to follow the course of his argument – which often turned back from the direction in which it was apparently leading. Impressed yet befogged, they grasped at his vivid leading phrases, seeing only their surface meaning, and missing the deeper current of his thought.

As described by Christopher Bassford, professor of strategy at the National War College of the United States:

One of the main sources of confusion about Clausewitz's approach lies in his dialectical method of presentation. For example, Clausewitz's famous line that "War is a mere continuation of politics by other means," ("Der Krieg ist eine bloße Fortsetzung der Politik mit anderen Mitteln") while accurate as far as it goes, was not intended as a statement of fact. It is the antithesis in a dialectical argument whose thesis is the point – made earlier in the analysis – that "war is nothing but a duel [or wrestling match, a better translation of the German Zweikampf] on a larger scale." His synthesis, which resolves the deficiencies of these two bold statements, says that war is neither "nothing but" an act of brute force nor "merely" a rational act of politics or policy. This synthesis lies in his "fascinating trinity" [wunderliche Dreifaltigkeit]: a dynamic, inherently unstable interaction of the forces of violent emotion, chance, and rational calculation.

Another example of this confusion is the idea that Clausewitz was a proponent of total war as used in the Third Reich's propaganda in the 1940s. He did not coin the phrase as an ideological ideal – indeed, Clausewitz did not use the term "total war" at all. Rather, he discussed "absolute war" or "ideal war" as the purely logical result of the forces underlying a "pure," Platonic "ideal" of war. In what Clausewitz called a "logical fantasy," war cannot be waged in a limited way: the rules of competition will force participants to use all means at their disposal to achieve victory. But in the real world, such rigid logic is unrealistic and dangerous. As a practical matter, the military objectives in real war that support one's political objectives generally fall into two broad types: "war to achieve limited aims" and war to "disarm" the enemy, that is, "to render [him] politically helpless or militarily impotent." Thus the complete defeat of one's enemies may be neither necessary, desirable, nor even possible."


And the reasons for this:

"It's hardly surprising that so much controversy is thrown up by "On War" when one considers that many who oppose its thoughts and ideas, and indeed those who accede to them have never read the whole work.

That the original German version is inherently difficult in itself to understand.

That there have been countless translations over the years - and many of these probably fail to interpret certain terms and ideas accurately from the original.

That at his death Clausewitz himself had yet to finish "On War".

That the unfinished pages were still in draft form when he died and compiled and published by his wife"

--- The History Network: Clausewitz

Links - 23rd September 2010

"My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I'm happy. I can't figure it out. What am I doing right?" - Charles M. Schulz

***

Toilet Seat Deities! > APOLOGIA - "We are two women. Two women who make these toilet seats, lovingly, with our own hands, in our own home... We feel that it is important to put strong female images out there in the universe to attempt to counteract the negativity that is and has been directed at woman throughout the millennia."
Somehow putting images of famous female figures on toilet seats is empowering. A more plausible alternative feminist interpretation would be that it is insulting by associating women with night soil and imprisoning them in the bathroom

Terry Pratchett creates a sword with meteorites

Why is it America's job to save the world from asteroids?
If it was China and the asteroid was headed for a country they didn't like, they'd let it hit

Why Minimum Wage Should be Increased - "In a monopsonistic market, a minimum wage brings the supply and demand equilibrium closer to its most efficient levels. Therefore, minimum wage can actually reduce unemployment under this theory. Whether the labor market is actually monopsonistic has been debated, but the argument is a better explanation of labor markets than the supply and demand model"

Why do costs over-run? (on the 2012 London Olympics) - "2003: Consultants Arup put total cost of building and staging the Games at £1.796bn
2003: Tessa Jowell launches bid in May telling MPs it will cost £2.375bn - including a 50% contingency
2005: Bid succeeds in July with "prudent" estimate of preparing for games of £2.4bn
2006: Tessa Jowell says Olympic Park costs up to £3.3bn
2007: Olympic Park budget now at £5.3bn - including regeneration and infrastructure
2007: Total budget, including contingency, security and tax, reaches £9.35bn"
Those who think YOG cost overruns are out of this world need to get some perspective; also see: Olympic Games Cost Overruns over time: Montreal 1976 hit 11.9x the original budget

The shocking effects of being single. - 1 - Sex & Relationships on xinmsn Lifestyle
I'd love being a columnist. You can pull 'facts' out of your ass and no one will call you out

Is This the Saddest IMDB Profile Ever? - "The profile, being called "The Saddest Entry on IMDB," lists Sellors as the uncredited "Woman who urinates herself." Since 2005, she has skyrocketed from being the 1.2 millionth most popular actor on IMDB to 1,442nd thanks to her many fans"

29 Images Define The Hard To Describe Concept Of Irony.
The one with the swastika is a great demonstration of American ignorance

Johann Hari: We need to stop being such cowards about Islam - "How did Christianity lose its ability to terrorise people with phantasms of sin and Hell?... critics pored over the religion's stories and found gaping holes of logic or morality in them... Ask enough tough questions and faith is inevitably pushed farther and farther back into the misty realm of metaphor – where it is less likely to inspire people to kill and die for it... The greatest censorship is internal: it is in all the books that will never be written and all the films that will never be shot, because we are afraid. We need to acknowledge the double-standard – and that it will cost Muslims in the end. Insulating a religion from criticism – surrounding it with an electric fence called "respect" – keeps it stunted at its most infantile and fundamentalist stage... Among Vikings, it was more normal than today to have your arm chopped off, but that didn't mean it wasn't agony... You cannot say that Mohamed's decision to marry a young girl has to be judged by the standards of his time, and then demand that we follow his moral standards to the letter... It is condescending to treat Muslims like excitable children who cannot cope with the probing, mocking treatment we hand out to Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism... There is now a pincer movement trying to silence critical discussion of Islam. To one side, fanatics threaten to kill you; to the other, critics call you "Islamophobic""

The argument against ladies nights - "Clubs promote drink discounts to attract more women -- because that means more men will show up. I believe the technical term for this is: Sex sells. So, dudes end up paying full price for cover and drinks and, in many scenarios, they are essentially helping to pay the way of the female patrons. They are paying for lady-tainment, whether it's explicit or not. It's a lot like allowing a man to buy you a drink -- he is paying for your attention and time. A lot of women are perfectly comfortable with that and others, like myself, not so much -- but I'd argue there should at least be some consistency there... If the roles were reversed, we would be in full-on protest mode"
People fight harder for their interests than other people's rights

Women end up less happy than men - "Less able to achieve their life goals, women end up unhappier than men later in life – even though they start out happier... after the age of 48, men's overall happiness exceeds women's happiness. These gender patterns of overall happiness correlate to patterns in two significant aspects of life satisfaction: family and finances. As Plagnol explains: In later life it is "men [who] come closer to fulfilling their aspirations, are more satisfied with their family lives and financial situations, and are the happier of the two." Women and men have fairly similar life goals when it comes to love... The saddest period of the average man's life – his 20s – is also the period when he is most likely to be single. Young men are also more dissatisfied than young women with their financial situations, not because they are worse off, but because they want more... After 34, men are more likely to be married than women, and the gap only widens with age"
One commenter pointed out that the unhappy men will off themselves as time goes by, which could account for rising happiness

Disinfecting hand gels don't help stop swine flu spread

Fat men enjoy longer lasting sex scientific research show - "Men with high fat levels were found to have higher levels of the female sex hormone oestradiol, which disrupts the chemical balance in their body, making them last longer during sex... "We found that premature ejaculators were leaner""
One comment: "Of coarse they take longer , they grind slower and have to stop to get their breath back every minute"

Six dead after US breakfast killing spree in Kentucky
Clearly the US needs more guns to deter crime

O citizens and permanent residents, where art thou? « Standing Sushi Bar - "I am unable to open because I simply can not find local service staff... Singapore dictates a new company must hire only citizens and permanent residents for the first 3 months... I had 95 people respond to that job ad – 95 people that wanted a service crew position. Guess how many were Singapore citizens? ZERO. ZERO OUT OF NINETY-FIVE. Two out of the ninety-five applicants were Singapore permanent residents. Only one showed up for an interview."

Public Consultation on the proposed Women's Charter Amendments
Naturally, they don't let men claim maintenance from ex-wives zzz

African Manufacturing: Bono’s Naivety Continues… | Kenyanentrepreneur.com - "I just saw an article in the Wall Street Journal that mentions Bono’s fashion line, which was supposed to help African manufacturer’s. The clothes are now being manufactured in China... I think [Bono's] goal of eliminating poverty in Africa is hinged with a level of ignorance, arrogance and extreme naivety... The problem with Africa is culture. We do not have a culture of production. We make nothing and we produce nothing... 'Shipments from Africa arrived late, and retailers complained about the clothes’ design and fit, leading to poor sales'... 'If you want to argue with the Chinese, you better have the same standards for the governments in Africa'"

YouTube - Bach Panther - "Fugue n°XXIV extraite des 60 "Préludes & Fugues dans les Trente Tonalités" de Stéphane Delplace.
D'après le thème de la Panthère Rose d'Henri Mancini."

Four reasons why high-fructose corn syrup is probably not the Devil - "Most of the high-fructose corn syrup you'll run into is only 55% fructose. Other natural sweeteners, like honey and apple sugar, are also in the range of around 50% fructose. There's no solid evidence that shows this fructose to be any different than the fructose in high-fructose corn syrup. If you're really concerned about fructose (And I'm not sure you should be yet. Most of those studies are dealing with pure fructose in test tube or animal research, not real-life mixtures of sugar in human bodies.) your best bet may be maple syrup, which is only 1% fructose."

How Can Beer Make Your Girlfriend's Boobs Bigger? | SPIKE - "Since I've been drinking [beer] competitively, my boobs are a lot bigger. At least a full cup size"
I'm surprised they actually got people with credentials to testify. But apparently it doesn't work

Truthful words are not beautiful, beautiful words are not truthful

"No one goes there nowadays, it's too crowded." - Yogi Berra

***

八十一章

信言不美，美言不信。
善者不辩，辩者不善。
知者不博，博者不知。
圣人不积，既以为人，己愈有；既以与人，已愈多。
天之道，利而不害；圣人之道，为而不争。

No BJ in BJ

"The deepest definition of youth is life as yet untouched by tragedy." - Alfred North Whitehead

***


"Outcall massage service
Service will be done at you hotel/apartment
Early booking is suggested
NO SEX!"

Firenze Sunrise (Hi-Res)

"What's on your mind, if you will allow the overstatement?" - Fred Allen

***


(via Sangyu)

Links - 19th September 2010

"Americans are benevolently ignorant about Canada, while Canadians are malevolently well informed about the United States." - J. Bartlett Brebner

***

Johann Hari: Catholics, it's you this Pope has abused - "Hans Küng, a former friend of Ratzinger's, says: "No one in the whole of the Catholic Church knew as much about abuse cases as this Pope"... There are people who will tell you that these criticisms of Ratzinger are "anti-Catholic". What could be more anti-Catholic than to cheer the man who facilitated the rape of your children? What could be more pro-Catholic than to try to bring him to justice? This is only one of Ratzinger's crimes. When he visited Africa in March 2009, he said that condoms "increase the problem" of HIV/Aids"

Lingua::Romana::Perligata -- Perl for the XXIimum Century - "This paper describes a Perl module -- Lingua::Romana::Perligata -- that makes it possible to write Perl programs in Latin. A plausible rationale for wanting to do such a thing is provided, along with a comprehensive overview of the syntax and semantics of Latinized Perl"

Fewer men for women in Singapore - "Will Singaporean women have less of a choice when it comes to their life partner now?"

Suicides, depression cost Japan $32 billion – gov’t - "Prime Minister Naoto Kan, a former grassroots activist, has pointed to the suicide numbers as proof of what he believes is wrong with the country, with too many people suffering economically and emotionally"

Why are Beautiful Women Crazy ? - "What makes beautiful women more likely to be crazy? The simple answer is, that they are given more opportunity to be crazy, and crazy behavior seems to be more readily accepted from them... It is appropriate to note that men can be crazy too. However, because of societal pressures on men, they don't seem to be crazy (or neurotic) quite as frequently as women. In general crazy behavior is not tolerated as readily in men as in women... it's sad but true; you'll never have sex like the sex you get with crazy women. Why? It seems that acting crazy automatically reduces or eliminates concern for the views of others... Actions speak louder than words - it really doesn't matter what she says. In fact, unless you're well versed in translating "Womenese" into English, focus 90 to 95% of your attention on her actions... Can you change her? Well, if you're a clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, or other health care professional - maybe. The next question is, should you? Probably not... Many men, having originally gone for the "10's" are settling for the "7's", "8's" and "9's" in order to get away from all the drama"
I don't know if this has any support, but it sure is hilarious

China goes organic after scandal of cooking oil from sewers - "The Chinese now consume more than twice as much organic food as health-conscious Japan... Interest has been promoted by a series of scares including toxic beans, contaminated milk and pork, pesticide-laced dumplings, chemically-tainted chicken, and the growing presence of what is known as “sewage oil”... there are no laws against skimming oil from drains"
China: poisoning their own people, and the world

Man replaces ex-girlfriend with custom-made sex doll - ""I want it just like her but with bigger boobs"... "She was a smiling blonde girl but he wanted bigger boobs and a curvier backside"... "She is now the perfect girlfriend as far as I can see," Mr Bortolin said."
Interestingly it was the Sex Doll maker who made the "perfect girlfriend" remark

The 17 Weirdest Things Schools Have Banned (PHOTOS)
I especially like the ban on Father's Day cards - since it's insensitive to children without fathers (Mother's Day cards are okay)

Here's A Guy Sealed In A Vacuum Bag Playing Mario Kart
Damn Japs

Our conflicted relationship with animals - "Very few people are vegetarians; even most vegetarians eat meat... They asked people one day: Describe your diet. And 5 percent said they were vegetarians. Well, then they called the same people back a couple of days later and asked them about what they ate in the last 24 hours. And over 60 percent of these vegetarians had eaten meat... the passage of the chicken welfare proposition in California [Proposition 2]; that passed, while the gay marriage proposition on the same ballot was defeated. The chicken amendment -- it was chickens and pigs -- there was no party affiliation. Both liberals and conservatives voted for that. So I think in some ways we are more concerned about animal welfare than ever before. So it's actually a great paradox... two-thirds of vegetarians eventually resume eating meat... I uncovered a piece in the New York Times from 1877... they rounded up 750 stray dogs [, put them] in this metal, iron cage, and lower it into the East River with a crane... cockfighters take good care of them, as opposed to the chicken we eat, which usually live very short, very miserable lives... What would be worse if you were a dog? Being thrown into a river and drowned, or living a life of an animal in a hoarding situation, where you're slowly starving to death? So the cruelty of hoarding is in a way greater than the cruelty of these instances. And two-thirds of hoarders are women... [There is belief] that there is a strong link... between childhood animal abuse and growing up to be a sociopathic adult... a slew of studies have now shown that the rates of [animal] abuse by college students is about the same in terms of rate of abuse by prisoners... we basically have drawn that moral circle [around pets] so that we think of them more like us than like them"

YouTube - 【Mario】paper stop motion / 【マリオ】付箋でストップモーション

The father who never gave up - "Melinda was accusing him of molesting their son... The psychologist praised both of them, saying they clearly loved their little boy. He didn't think that Andrew had been abused by Ken or by anybody else. The NSW police didn't think so either. The psychologist also said that Melinda might have had an underlying psychiatric disorder that enabled her to sincerely hold false beliefs without any evidence... He has put up with a lot online, where he is often labelled a child abuser... "The irony in all this is the Family Court bent over backwards not to back me but to believe Melinda," he says. "When she made her allegations, they restricted me to supervised visits. "It was all about keeping Andrew safe from me. Nothing was done to keep him safe from Melinda, who is actually the one who abducted him""

German party mistakenly hands out porn pens to kids - "To sweeten their first day at primary school German children are normally given a cardboard cone filled with sweets, but schoolchildren in Essen this year opened their cones to find pens which project erotic images."

A Taste of Home in Foil Packets and Powder - "Troops from nearly 50 lands dine on combat meals in Afghanistan — each reminding them of where they’d rather be"

How to Make Vodka Liquor Gummy Bears

Don’t Be a Dick, Part 1: the video | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine - "How many people were "converted" to skepticism by having a skeptic yelling at them and insulting them... given what we know about the way people argue and change their views on issues, the vast majority of people will become further entrenched when confronted in that way. In other words, being a dick not only usually doesn’t work, it almost always works against the bigger goal of swaying the most people we can... "What a dick"... I think that way when the person belittles their opponent, uses obviously inflammatory language, or overly aggressively gets in their face."

Religious Outlier - "Gallup surveyed people in more than 100 countries in 2009 and found that religiosity was highly correlated to poverty. Richer countries in general are less religious. But that doesn’t hold true for the United States."

Antidumping protection hurts exporters: firm-level evidence from France - "Firms protected by antidumping measures do not unequivocally benefit from them. Antidumping protection benefits non-exporters active on the protected market by raising their domestic sales, but hurts exporters of similar products as the protected ones. Export sales of protected firms fall by almost 8% compared to a relevant control group of unprotected firms. This effect more than doubles for firms that are global, i.e. firms with foreign affiliates. Measured at the product-level, extra-EU exports of goods protected by antidumping fall by 36% while exports to target countries fall by as much as 66% following protection. Protection also has an effect on the extensive margin, by raising the probability to start exporting for firms that were initially non-exporters. Existing exporters face a higher probability to stop exporting during protection. Finally, we find that the productivity of exporters falls while that of non-exporters rises during antidumping protection"

About Hossan Leong Show’s “censorship” - "Some­one had taken offense and com­plained about the words, “Halal Veg­e­tar­ian Babi Pongteh”, which was a dish to be con­cocted by “Bibik Lim”, a recur­ring char­ac­ter in the show... I there­fore apol­o­gize unre­servedly to the gen­tle­man who spot­ted the offend­ing copy on the flier, who was upset enough to write to the local Malay-language paper. The pro­duc­tion com­pany has, on the direc­tion of the MDA, recalled every poster and flier from every dis­tri­b­u­tion point in Singapore."
I knew someone would complain about Halal Vegetarian Babi Pongteh zzz. Vegetarians should now picket mock meat

U.S. takes a tougher tone with China - "Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Cui Tiankai told two senior U.S. officials that China now views its claims to the 1.3 million-square-mile [South China] sea on par with its claims to Tibet and Taiwan... Clinton... said: "Legitimate claims to maritime space in the South China Sea should be derived solely from legitimate claims to land features"... Foreign Minister Yang reacted by leaving the meeting for an hour. When he returned, he gave a rambling 30-minute response in which he accused the United States of plotting against China on this issue, seemed to poke fun at Vietnam's socialist credentials and apparently threatened Singapore, according to U.S. and Asian officials in the room... Yang issued a statement on the Foreign Ministry's Web site saying that there was no need to internationalize the issue, that China was still intent on solving all of the disputes bilaterally and that China's view represented the interests of "fellow Asians""
A Pax Sinica will only come about if every other country is subjugated

YouTube - Groland - Pas facile de s'intégrer

Chemistry Ph.D. thesis explained via dance routine

In Professor-Dominatrix Scandal, U. of New Mexico Feels the Pain - "Life has become extremely complex in the University of New Mexico's English department in the three years since Lisa D. Chávez, a tenured associate professor, was discovered moonlighting as the phone-sex dominatrix "Mistress Jade," and posing in promotional pictures sexually dominating one of her own graduate students... Several members of the English department accuse Ms. Chávez of abusing her power over students, and allege that the administration retaliated against professors who complained about her extracurricular activities... For her part, Ms. Chávez has accused her accusers, in complaints to the university and the state, of discriminating against her because she is bisexual and Hispanic... When students brought up phone-sex work in her classes, Ms. Chávez, who describes herself as "a pro-sex feminist," spoke approvingly of how empowering such jobs were, of how the students had found a great way to gain outside income and life experience they could draw upon as writers"
This *had* to happen in an English department

Falling in love costs you friends - "Oxford University researchers asked people about their inner core of friendships and how this number changed when romance entered the equation. They found the core, which numbers about five people, dropped by two as a new lover came to dominate daily life... He has previously shown that the maximum number of friends it is realistically possible to engage is about 150"

Seeing a special offer while shopping 'is just like watching porn' - "A coupon or free gift with a jar of Marmite or a loaf of bread gives them just as much excitement as pornography"

Titty Titty Bang Bang - "From: 1000 Ways to Die"

Burglar Anthony Gawthrop leaves phone at victim's house then texts police

Britain goes halal (...but nobody tells public)

Une demande de remboursement

"I only know two pieces; one is 'Clair de Lune' and the other one isn't." - Victor Borge

***

La publicité:

*Professeur ATAN*

Le célèbre voyant
Médium connu dans le monde entier
Puissants dons de magie héréditaires

Passé, présent et avenir n'ont pas de secrets pour lui. Tous vos problèmes peuvent être résolus, même les cas les plus désespérés. Retrouver l'affection d'un être cher, amour durable ou fidélité entre époux : si ton ami(e) est parti(e), il/elle reviendra vite, comme le chien derrière son maître. Problèmes familiaux, désenvoûtement, puissance sexuelle, perte de poids, guérison des maladies, protection contre les dangers, réussite aux examens, attraction de clientèle pour le commerce, chance aux jeux, apaisement des conflits : rien n'est impossible !

Avec la bague magique du Professeur Atan, voyez vos espoirs les plus fous se réaliser !

Résultats garantis à 99 %. Satisfait ou remboursé.

Pour seulement 200 € (+frais de port) cette bague est à vous !

Bon de commande à renvoyer à Professeur Charles ATAN
9, rue des Renards. MONACO

***

Ma demande de remboursement:

Professeur Atan,

Le mois dernier, j'ai acheté une de vos 'bagues magiques', après avoir vu votre publicité. Malgré mes plusieurs problèmes, j'étais ravi, puisque j'ai imaginé qu'ils iraient résolus.

Alors. Vous êtes bien nommé. Vraiment, vous êtes un charlatan. Putain !

Avant d'acheter votre bague, j'avais une petite amie. Elle était laide, mais je l'ai aimée quand même. Après avoir acheté votre bague, je me suis réveillé, un jour, et j'ai arrivé de découvrir qu'elle était partie. Elle m'a laissé ; j'avais le cœur brisé ! Un jour plus tard, les gais me batifoleront. C'est un cauchemar ! Maintenant, il faut me cacher tous les jours.

Bien. Selon votre publicité, en achetant votre bague, je n'aurais plus de problèmes sexuels. Hélas, aujourd'hui, je ne ressens rien. En effet, j'ai diminué, je le jure ! Palsambleu !

Votre bague ne m'a aidé pas du tout. Par contre, j'ai encore plus de problèmes.

Mes amis ont acheté vos bagues aussi, comme moi. Ils me disent que les bagues sont les arnaques. Non, ils me disent qu'elles sont comme les blagues.

J'exige que vous m'envoyerez mon remboursement tout de suite ! N'oublierez pas d'envoyer le frais de port. Ne me trompez pas encore ! Au fait, je vous propose de fermer votre bordel.

Je vous prie d'agréer, Professeur Atan, l'expression de mes salutations distinguées.

PS: Je sais que votre vrai nom est 'François Lecoq'.