Australia 2011 - Day 10, Part 2 - Nitmiluk National Park: Butterfly Gorge

Australia 2011
Day 10 - 7th August - Nitmiluk National Park: Butterfly Gorge (Part 2)

Getting off the cruise, we paused a while before the next part of the day.


I can't tell the difference between the male and female bags.


There's no word for 'disabled' in the local aboriginal tongue. Surely this reflects equity and an ideal pre-European past (rather than the disabled being left to the spiders)


Chocolate Chip bars vs Forest Fruits flavour bars. Hurr.


The Olympic torch was here

We then set off on a hike.




"Heavy vehicles will be using the Baruwei Loop Track from the 11th July"


Metalled road. Which naturally was painful to walk on


Windolf Walk sign. "River water is not treated". Well done.

Given the time we had, we were on the Butterfly Gorge walk.






Sign for Butterfly Gorge. I was suspicious that the gorge was 'butterfly inhabited' rather than butterfly inhabited.


Another painful path


Descent into Butterfly Gorge


I suspected that what looked like a metaled path was actually a river in the wet season




Gorge wall



The main difficulty with the "hard" walk was not its length but the heat and steepness. The small and medium-sized rocks were also hard to walk on especially while trying to avoid a sprained ankle.




Stagnant water in forest







MR commented that he saw more dragonflies than butterflies in Butterfly Gorge. One of my pictures with rocks has a butterfly in it, but it's telling that I can't spot which one it is now. Me, I was looking at the rocks at the level of my foot to avoid spraining my ankle.


Painful-looking plant






Gorge walls



At last, we came within sight of the river:


Of course, there was still the return journey - we were only half-done.


River view


The river was very inviting


A German-speaking family was swimming inside. An older woman from the group said there was a turtle and that one had to blamber over rocks. I tried, but didn't see it.


Panorama from side of Katherine River Gorge


Adventure climb to look for the turtle


Katherine River

It was tempting to swim in the river, but I didn't have a towel. While swimming was tempting, what would've been even better would've been a boat ride back.


More evidence of my death-defying feats



After resting and partaking of some refreshments, we made the return journey.




Finally, good butterfly shots


Spider


Non-light sensitive spider


Rotting log


Rotting log

We reached the car at 3, which had more or less been our target, and set off.


Summary of the trails, again with the disclaimer that "river water is not treated". Apparently we hadn't been through "rough terrain"; I didn't want to attempt the "difficult" trails. It wasn't actually worth doing the Butterfly Gorge, since we'd seen it during the cruise.


"Welcome to Katherine. enjoy your stay, please respect our ways"
Court-enforced sobriety

We stopped in Red Rooster for a late lunch.


Celebrating Australia Day 1998


"Big Deal". A quarter chicken (with stuffing!), chips, crispy strips (reshaped meat and flour, with a fishball texture), regular mashed potatoes and gravy. They had roasted vegetables on the menu: potato, carrot, pumpkin (choose 6). They also sold the gravy on its own - at the same price. Uhh.


Sign for a chiropractor. Err.


What sounded like 80s music by the road. Was it to stop kids loitering?

We then strolled in a supermarket.


"Juicing carrots". Is carrot juice that popular?!
Do they have carrot cake carrots?


Victim of a shark attack


"Milk additives". Uhh.


Somehow drinking this Frantelle Natural Spring water saves lives.


"Mexican foods" vs "Asian food"
Evidently Asian food is conceptualised as a homogenised whole, in a blatant display of Racist Orientalism, while Mexican foods are put in separate cognitive categories. Or maybe Australians just have bad English.


"mens deodorant"


"hair colour"


No candy at the checkout.

I then walked into a store selling stationery and reading materials.


Directly under the "Adult" sign, 60% of the magazines had to do with tattoos and 40% with motorcyles (the label to the left reads "motorcycles"). Of the bona fide adult magazines, a lot were from the UK (I couldn't tell for Extreme Razzle but research reveals that it is). This was an intriguing example of Neo-Colonialism.

One of the adult magazines said "men only", which marginalised women into porn. Most of the magazines were sealed - but not People and Picture, which presumably were kosher for everyone ("Unrestricted M"); as second class pornography anyone 15 and above could read them (the 'good' stuff was reserved for those 18 and above).

Of the magazines for those 18 and above, half were British (from the price, website and flag on the cover) and the other half were Australian (excepting 1-2 I couldn't identify). Playboy's Lingerie was for those aged 18 (presumably they take off their lingerie at some point).

Just as we had almost finished backed out of the parking lot, another fella's car backed out also. I horned at him, but still his car tapped ours lightly. Luckily there were no marks. He and his friends were unapologetic, saying "are we just gonna stand around" in a confrontational tone as if we had been in the wrong. Later while we were pulled over at a sidewalk checking directions they drove past us and horned. Stupid white trash.

While driving to our next destination, I noted that there was a lot more Kangaroo roadkill here than in our Alice Springs leg. This was while there were more cars but fewer potholes. I tried to reconcile this better maintenance with roadkill not being removed as quickly. Maybe the kangaroos here were just more frisky. FWIW I seemed to notice more wallabies/small kangaroos running in front of our car here than in the Alice Springs leg, but we were also driving more at night.

We passed a sign for a Gold Rush attraction: there was a Chinese man with a pole with 2 buckets on his shoulders (like a Samsui Woman). Later there was a silhouette of the same man (sans words) to refer to this attraction.

At one point there were 2 road trains travelling together, and each was 4 vehicle lengths (making for 8 vehicle lengths in all). It was impossible to overtake, so I tried to squeeze in-between them and got honked. Maybe that was almost as dangerous.

There was a guy on a bicycle on the Stuart Highway in the middle of nowhere (between Katherine and the Adelaide River), who didn't buckle his chin strap. Well done.

We sa a sign for "Daly River Scenic Route" and decided to try it. We got conned. It was 67km vs 51km on the normal route, and slower going too, due to rougher terrain; it felt a lot longer than 67km as we went up and down hills (with sudden depressions at the bottom), so it felt like a roller coaster. Maybe if we'd seen the mango farm they'd boasted of this would've been okay, but it was bitumen road all the way. At least we got to see a dodgy-looking sign for the "*something* gold cosmo/Chinese project area" along the scenic route.

At 6:45pm there was one guy who was driving a very dark limo - with his lights off. Gah.

At the end of the Scenic Route, I saw another one of those "free cup of coffee for driver" signs at the Adelaide River BP gas station, and made an enquiry. The guy offered me sachets so I could get my caffeine fix. Coincidentally the station also sold porn mags


Another brand of Orange Juice which failed to perform. Australian OJ is not just sour but also bitter - the epitome of Vile Juice.


I thought these were condoms. It's actually Wrigley's Gum.


Not proudly made in Oz. At least they don't call it Crabstick here.


"RoadKill" beef jerky


Rosella Cordial: "I will not make your kids high even though I'm red"


Sign advertising the "Scenic Route"

We finally hit Mt Bundy station, our rest stop for the night near Litchfield National Park.


Dog on tractor


Advertisement for shop in Darwin: apparently Hot Swimwear is not for men.


The Top End of the Northern Territory was very White, even in its tourist crowd.

Cruise Control is good. You get a constant speed and smooth driving (rather than the inconsistent acceleration and deceleration of normal driving).

Links - 11th May 2012

Kony 2012 Cover the Night fails to move from the internet to the streets - "The Kony 2012 Cover the Night campaign woke up to awkward questions on Saturday after activists failed to blanket cities with posters of the wanted Ugandan warlord, Joseph Kony. The movement's phenomenal success in mobilising young people online, following last month's launch of a 29-minute documentary which went viral, flopped in trying to turn that into real world actions... "What happened to all the fuss about Kony?" said one typical tweet. "Kony is so last month," said another." AWARENESS!

Kony 2012: Invisible Children prepares Cover the Night stunt amid criticism - ""This Invisible Children campaign hurts. It's offensive," says Victor Ochen, founder and director of the African Youth Initiative Network (Ayinet) that works to rehabilitate victims of violence perpetrated by Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). "The people who have suffered at the hands of Kony don't want to promote him or make him famous. They want to rebuild their lives"... "We get the feeling that Invisible Children care more about their videos than about victims"... "This is a day when communities are trying to heal broken hearts, but Invisible Children want to plaster Kony's face everywhere," he continued. "People in the affected areas find it very difficult when an organisation encourages people to wear T-shirts bearing Kony's face. How do you think Americans would have reacted if people in another country wore Osama Bin Laden T-shirts? All of this just confirms to us that they do not care about the victims and ignore their suffering"... "They also don't seem to recognise that the more Kony feels threatened, the more he's dangerous. This campaign will only worsen their violent acts"... The implication is that the abduction rate has increased since the video was released... "Victims have appealed for Invisible Children to cancel Cover the Night, but they refused... last week at Gulu [where one person died during unrest following a screening of Kony 2012 and its sequel]. We do not want to endanger anyone""

Monogamy 'safer' than polygamy - ""Our goal was to understand why monogamous marriage has become standard in most developed nations in recent centuries, when most recorded cultures have practiced polygaymy. The emergence of monogamous marriage is also puzzling for some as the very people who most benefit from polygymy - wealthy, powerful men - were best positioned to reject it"... the study represents the most comprehensive study of polygamy and the institution of marriage. It found significantly higher levels of rape, kidnapping, murder, assault, robbery and fraud in polygymous cultures found in Asia and Africa. Prof Henrichs said that these crimes are caused primarily by pools of unmarried men, which result when other men take multiple wives... A more egalitarian distribution of women results in less male competition and social problems, he says, and by shifting male efforts from seeking wives to paternal investment, institutionalised monogamy increases long-term planning, economic productivity, savings and child investments. "

Legalize polygamy: study - "Sayd Mumtaz Ali, president of the Canadian Society of Muslims, said last year that he opposes same-sex marriage, but said if it is legalized in Canada, polygamists would be within their rights to challenge for their choice of family life to be legalized... Chief author of the report Martha Bailey told The Canadian Press that criminalizing polygamy serves no good purpose. "Why criminalize the behaviour?" she said. "We don't criminalize adultery""

Facebook photo ends up on porn, dating sites - "another friend told her that the photo had also popped up on a dating site called sgGirls.com... Ms Rahim, 32, has filed two police reports - one about the porn site and the other about the dating site"

The future of hawker food in singapore on Twitpic

Chicken Soup: The Miracle Prescription for Winter Illness - "The first modern landmark study on chicken soup was published in the medical journal Chest in 1978 and stated simply that the steam in chicken soup was more effective in clearing up congestion than plain cold or hot water... Rennard discovered that chicken soup acts as an anti-inflammatory by keeping a check on inflammatory white blood cells, called neutrophils. Neutrophils migrate to the bronchial tubes, causing inflammation. These guys hang out, wreaking havoc on one's system, forcing their victim to cough and hack their way into utter misery"

A look at the kind of thinking that determines how religious we are - "Analytical thinking can be harmful to religious faith... People who are highly intuitive tend to be more religious. Intuitive thinking helps people recognize the difference between the body and the mind, imagine life after death and discern purposes in the universe... Most people don't recognize there is a key difference between the "irrational" and the "non-rational," Kierkegaard taught. The "irrational" describes that which is illogical and unreason-able. The "non-rational," on the other hand, refers to intuition; the sphere of the imagination, emotions and the arts... [we have] low levels of religious belief in Scandinavian countries with generous social-welfare programs... people who are adept at "reading the minds of others" are more inclined to be religious. People who can psychologically intuit what another per-son might be feeling, Gervais theorizes, seem to be inclined to do the same in regard to what they consider a personal transcendent reality"

Can an Algorithm Write a Better News Story Than a Human Reporter?

Stop the Google Drive Terms of Service Bogeyman hunt - "If you didn't have the context from above, that sounds pretty scary, right?... The first bunch of verbs ("host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works") all cover the process of making your content useful. If Google can't host or store your content, it disappears, which is of no help to you. If Google can't reproduce your content, it would be impossible to have the syncing across devices that makes Google Drive, Music, or Photos useful. Modifying and derivative works covers anything from auto-correct in a document to translations or fixing the color of a photograph.  Then, the last few pieces ("communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute") covers being able to share your content, but only if the requirements are met from the Privacy Policy above. This means that Google can post your photos, videos or docs to Google+, but only if you say so (or for some odd reason a judge says so.) The same goes for e-mail, or even sharing a link.  Knowing all of that, what exactly is the problem? The problem is that people want to find fault without due cause"
Do people READ the actual TOS before spreading FUD?

Thinking can undermine religious faith, study finds - "Scientists have revealed one of the reasons why some folks are less religious than others: They think more analytically, rather than going with their gut. And thinking analytically can cause religious belief to wane — for skeptics and true believers alike."

Revealed: How Twitter’s secret offer for Instagram made Facebook pay $1B - "Zuckerberg, we’re told, lives in perpetual anxiety, preoccupied by the fear of Facebook losing its place, terrified that youngsters will get their social networking fix from other services. That fear served as the catalyst behind his decision to buy Instagram and keep it out of the hands of a cross-town competitor. This type of paranoia is relatively normal at Silicon Valley’s largest technology companies. “These huge West Coast companies, peopled mostly by kids who cannot believe their good luck, commonly turn paranoid and think everyone is out to get them,” veteran columnist and broadcaster John Dvorak told VentureBeat. “Microsoft was the worst but not the first. Apple acts this way with Android, and Google has been paranoid for a few years.”"

Woman kills man by squeezing his testicles over parking dispute

STOMP - Singapore Seen - Nude photoshoot on St John's Island may land model and photographer in trouble - "Mr Vijay added that it is possible that the photographer has committed an offence under the Penal Code. Section 292 of the Penal Code states that whoever "distributes, transmits by electronic means, publicly exhibits or in any manner puts into circulation... any obscene book, pamphlet, paper, drawing, painting, representation or figure, or any other obscene object" shall be punished with up to three months' jail and/or a fine. The lawyer said: "In Singapore, nudity is considered obscene because we are a conservative society." Another lawyer, Steven Lam, thinks nude photography is illegal under the Undesirable Publications Act."
Elizabeth Choy had a nude photoshoot. Too bad she's dead so we can't prosecute under the Undesirable Publications Act

Police investigates man for making false report - "Acting Commander of Bedok Police Division, Superintendent of Police Jarrod Pereira commended his officers' promptness and skilful interview in investigating the credibility of the report. He also warned that police would take stern actions against anyone giving false information, as these irresponsible actions utilise police resources which could be used better in crime fighting."
The definition of crime fighting in Singapore seems suspect

Diary of a Grumpy Spinster: Everybody loves Walker (not!) - "Before Frodo got drunker than drunk, he initiated a conversation about the underage sex scandal which had implicated 48 SG men so far. Frodo again boasted that these men are stupid to pay for sex when it is so easy to get one from SG girls. Frodo has never paid for sex because he could easily get it for free. He boasted that he slept with 100 women every year and was so easy to charm SG women with his looks and height"

Stress driving S’poreans to have sex with underage girls - "[Sin Chew] daily quoted psychologist Dr Yang Jia Le as saying it was not difficult for men younger than 30 to befriend and pick up underage girls at nightclubs but this is not the case with older men. “Therefore, they (the older men) need another solution to fulfil their needs.""

Waiter, There’s a Bug in my Frappuccino - "Vegans are feeling threatened(?) by the revelation that Starbucks Soy Frappuccinos contain insect juice. Specifically, cochineal insect extract used as a reddish food coloring... The alternative to using cochineal is mostly Red 40, which is made from coal tar... Cochineal has been used by humans for hundreds of years, and provides an important source of cash for a lot of rural Central and South American people. There is some evidence the culture and sale of cochineal leads to more independence and higher female literacy in Mexico. It's entirely consistent with Starbucks' policy to sustainably source their products to use a natural product like cochineal. There is a change.org petition condemming Starbucks for using insect dyes; I'm tempted to start one to praise them for it!... The reality is that anytime you eat processed food–including coffee and chocolate–you ARE eating insects. They may not be on the label, but parts of them are in there... I applaud Starbucks for choosing a sustainable, low-impact food-coloring source!"
"Sustainability" really means "hippie stuff I like"

Frappe

Une faute de frappe ? JE TE FRAPPE, SALOPE !!!

甲辰生日 (蓦山溪)

小窗開宴，草草杯盤具。歡喜走兒童，慶生朝、一年一度。
風光好處，恰是小春時，香泛泛，酒醺醺，一曲歌金縷。
吾今已醉，解作醒時語。千里念重親，望家山、雲天盡處。
深深發願，只願早休官，居顏巷，戲萊衣，歲歲長歡聚。

Links - 8th May 2012

"The greatest mystery is not that we have been flung at random between the profusion of matter and of the stars, but that within this prison we can draw from ourselves images powerful enough to deny our nothingness." - Andre Malraux

***

Klouchebag | The Standard for Asshattery - "I got annoyed with the fuss around Klout, the horrible social-game that assigns you a score based on how "influential" you are online. This is the result... Klouchebag uses the ARSE rating system. Anger: profanity and rage. Retweets: "please RT"s, no or constant retweeting, and old-style. Social Apps: every useless checkin on foursquare or its horrible brethren. And English Usage: if you use EXCLAMATION MARKS OMG!!! or no capitals at all, this'll be quite high."
For some reason I score very high on "English Misuse"

Feministe: In Defense of “Douchebag” - ""The douche bag is a total moron and doesn’t think before he speaks or acts,” makes the gendered meaning all too apparent — and repugnant"... Personally, I’m happy to see the douchebag demonized. Unlike a lot of other common insults — “bitch,” “cunt,” “retard,” “fag” — “douchebag” actually insults something that deserves to be insulted. Douching is terrible for women; it can lead to infection and irritation... Insulting douches doesn’t insult women — the existence of douches insults women"
Comment: "I would consider “douche” or “douchebag” a problematic insult if it was used in a way that actually linked it with the product or the idea of vaginas being unclean. If people said, “He was disgusting as a old douchebag” or “You smell like a douche,” then yeah, there’s some woman-hating implications there. But since it isn’t used that way, I don’t think it’s sexist."
In other words, for [many] feminists, sexism is fine - as long as it's against men

Norton Japanese Commercial - YouTube

Mindset change needed to help low-wage workers - "Wages at the lowest 10 per cent of the income scale have remained flat over the past decade. For some professions like cleaning, they have fallen. In 2000, the median gross wage for cleaners and labourers was $1,277. By 2010, it fell to $960. For cleaners of industrial buildings like Mr Johari, the median gross wage is even lower, at around $600 in 2010... Singaporean households in the bottom fifth of the income scale needed around $1,700 a month to cover basic costs of living like food and utilities. At the time, they earned an average of only $1,274 per month... At the other end of the scale, the number of individuals who earn at least $10,000 a month here has jumped from 48,400 to nearly 140,000 in a decade. Singapore has the highest proportion - one in six households - of millionaires in the world... Singapore needs to foster a culture which respects quality plumbers, builders and food service staff, as has already happened in so many developed countries... Higher-income Singaporeans benefit from cheap domestic service, cheap service staff and cheap meals, because wages in these sectors are so low... Will middle-class Singapore countenance wage increases that will raise their cost of a restaurant meal, a haircut or a car wash? Perhaps the question should be put the other way round. Perhaps Singaporeans should consider if they can countenance being a society where the well-off live well, on the low cost of service provided by workers who cannot make ends meet... Singapore's approach has been to focus on retraining to raise skills and productivity levels. But decades of this approach have not significantly boosted wages at the lower end... There is a clear need for a major rethink on how best to help low-wage workers"
I think many of the people who denounce income inequality also get upset when the price of char kway teow rises by 50 cents

NOS SANDWICHS | McDonald's France - "Succombez au nouveau mythe: Du poulet croustillant*, du Monterey Jack fondu, deux tranches de tomates, de la salade... Et maintenant du bacon, pour encore plus de croustillant et de gourmandise ! On est toujours plus fan !"

Africans shocked by uncivilized antics of European savages - "“I don’t want to sound racist, and some of my best friend are white, but let’s be honest: violence is hard-wired into their DNA,” said Mwanasa. “I mean, Europeans killed over 20 million other Europeans in the 1930s and 1940s. That’s barbarism on a scale unprecedented in history”... “The brochures promise sea and sun, but they’re still incredibly backward in Spain,” she recalled. “Basically they all live in mud huts called haciendas, and they sleep for two hours in the middle of the day. In Europe they call it a ‘siesta’. In Ghana we call it ‘being fucking lazy’... But, she added, this kind of “depressing inertia” was to be expected in a country with more debt than most of Africa combined”

Do more to help foreigners adjust: DPM Teo
What about telling foreigners to "Do more to adjust"?

The iPhone-carrying JoeyBra - "Dubbed the JoeyBra--as in baby kangaroo, because they have pouches, get it?--it was created by two entrepreneurial business students at the University of Washington who saw great potential for growth in the pocketed bra market. At least, that's the pitch. In reality, a pair of students in search of a way to party without having to detach from their phones or accessorize their best bar-hopping gear came up with one... The college juniors claim the pocketed bra can hold an iPhone along with ID, credit cards and even keys, regardless of bust size"

Airline accident ratings - "Aviation accidents are extremely rare, with the probability of a passenger being killed on a single flight at approximately eight million-to-one. If a passenger boarded a flight at random, once a day, everyday, it would statistically be over 21,000 years before he or she would be killed."
Contrary to popular perception, SIA/Silkair are actually more dangerous on average

When Will this Low-Innovation Internet Era End? - "Only communication has been truly transformed, but is the transformation really as profound as the advent of telegraphs, radio, and TV?... We have no colonies on Mars, we still can't get by without prehistoric fuel, the dishwasher still doesn't get all the dishes clean, and very few of us have personal jetpacks. You call this progress?"

UKBA accused of covering up airport delays - "Heathrow Airport has been ordered by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to stop handing out to passengers leaflets acknowledging the "very long delays" at immigration, which have become a serious government concern in the runup to the Olympics... The airport operator was also told to prevent passengers taking pictures in the arrivals hall"
Security is of utmost importance! If photography had been more tightly regulated, we wouldn't have had the Abu Ghraib, Tiananmen or Nguyễn Văn Lém scandals!

Boss of controversial dating websites a PSC bond-breaker - "He then stayed on in the US to complete an MBA, which he paid for himself by working full-time for US-based logistics software firm, which sponsored his green card... Wey made his first million after he founded SeekingArrangement.com in 2006. The website matches "sugar daddies" to young women."
Moral of the story: break your bond, go on to do better things in life

Not tonight, or any other night, honey - "International Psychology Centre principal consultant psychologist Dr Edward Chan says he has counselled many clients who have experienced a decline in sexual desire after just two to three years of marriage... Although married couples argue about many issues, Chan asserts the underlying discontentment is usually linked to sex. "Only 35 per cent of couples seek therapy with the primary concern of sex. Almost 90 per cent come with different issues, but eventually realise that their problems are linked to sex as well." How often should married couples have sex? "The frequency should be at least once a week; however, there's no such thing as too much sex between partners"... researcher Rosemary Basson suggests that although a woman may be very interested in her partner, she may not initiate sex because for many women, sexual desire doesn't precede sexual arousal. Many women enter into sex feeling neutral and it's the sexual experience that stirs sexual desire. Although relational factors are important to women, researchers Karen Sims and Marta Meana, who study sexual decline in married women, say that stable and caring relationships are necessary, but not sufficient for sexual desire because women want to feel the romance... Research suggests that what too many women don't realise is that men don't need perfection. When a man is in the throes of ecstasy, he is not evaluating her legs, so why is she?"
One takeway: women don't know what they want until they want it

Australian woman sues over 'sex at work' - "A government employee, she was staying overnight at a rural hotel ahead of a meeting and has lodged a case in the Federal Court claiming she should get damages because the incident happened while she was on official business. Her lawyer, Leo Grey, told judge John Nicholas the woman was hurt in "an ordinary incident of life commonly undertaken in a motel room at night"... Comcare lawyer Andrew Berger said people on government business needed to eat, sleep and attend to their personal hygiene but "you don't need to have sex"

Korean Pop Idol Enrages Japanese Internet by Eating Instant Noodles From the Pot - "This, ladies and gentlemen, was enough to raise a furor among Japanese net users, who wasted no words in bashing Ji-yeon for her “disgusting table manners,” while others expressed a renewed appreciation of Japanese manners. One of the current top comments is supported by 15 ‘likes’ for saying that “eating straight from the pot like this is worse than beggars going to receive their food rations”... One insightful YouTube user pointed out that using the lid of the pot as a plate is a common way of eating misonikomi udon noodles in Nagoya, but then again, the lids of the earthen pots in which the dish is prepared are made to be eaten from, and Nagoyans are reputed for having bad manners in the first place"

School bans campus romance to keep students focused - "In a recent notice, Yueqing Yucai School banned youngsters of the opposite sex from talking alone in secluded areas, such as in dark corners or under trees, and from giving each other expensive gifts. Holding hands, hugging and kissing are strictly forbidden, while boys and girls are not even allowed to walk side by side on the playground... It warned that falling in love at an early age disrupts academic study, can cause physiological and psychological harm, and produces no result... Most parents with children at the school are in support of the new rules, according to Li, who added that many had been calling for measures to prevent adolescent romances. "We also asked students for suggestions before devising the rules," she said. "Some said they began their relationship after strolling with a classmate on the playground, so that's why we added it into the rules"... "Many educators believe academic study is the sole aim of education, so such rules are not uncommon. What they (educators) fail to understand is that integrity of character and a healthy psychology are far more important for the education of a child"... Students of the opposite sex were ordered to keep at least 60 centimeters from each other while talking on campus, except during classes and school gatherings, and were allowed to meet only in bright, public places"

These New Boots: Day 326: Questions & (No) Answers (The Aid Bitchslap) - "Some things I have become clear on as a result of Haiti:
1. Good intentions aren't enough.
2. Rose-colored glasses are bullshit.
3. The white savior industrial complex is real, demonstrated daily by feel good aid programs that probably don't work, or feel good causes like Kony 2012 that generate plenty of buzz but don't add up to much when people are actually supposed to do something.
4. You can't help people who don't want to help themselves.
5. True altruism is an incredibly rare thing. (See #3)
6. Little victories must be celebrated if you want to protect yourself from the crippling effects of the larger failure."