Links - 16th October 2012

"I find righteous denunciations of the present state of the language no less dismaying than the present state of the language" - Lionel Trilling

***

Which is the world's biggest employer? - "The National Health Service (NHS) in England is at the centre of a big political row about its reform. It's often said to be the third biggest employer in the world, after the Chinese army and Indian Railways. But is that really true?"

Sewage plant plays Mozart to stimulate microbes - "The plant expects savings of as much as €1,000 a month"

Stanford Magazine - The Menace Within - July/August 2011 - "I didn't think it was ever meant to go the full two weeks. I think Zimbardo wanted to create a dramatic crescendo, and then end it as quickly as possible. I felt that throughout the experiment, he knew what he wanted and then tried to shape the experiment—by how it was constructed, and how it played out—to fit the conclusion that he had already worked out. He wanted to be able to say that college students, people from middle-class backgrounds—people will turn on each other just because they're given a role and given power."

Cain Quotes ‘Pokémon’ Movie in Final Speech - "When ending his speech Saturday, Cain once again did it his way: even with acknowledging the source for his quote, he still proudly recited it. As with so much of his campaign, it was cringe-worthy, kind of crazy, and unintentionally humorous. But it was unmistakably Herman Cain."

Standard Chartered sued in U.S. over Iran ties to Lebanon bombing - "The estates of the victims of the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut sued Standard Chartered seeking compensation over the bank's concealment of Iran-linked transactions"

On the Freedom to Offend an Imaginary God : Sam Harris - "Either our government is unwilling to address the problem at hand, or the problem is so vast and terrifying that we have decided to placate the barbarians at the gate. The contagion of moral cowardice followed its usual course, wherein liberal journalists and pundits began to reconsider our most basic freedoms in light of the sadomasochistic fury known as “religious sensitivity” among Muslims. Contributors to The New York Times and NPR spoke of the need to find a balance between free speech and freedom of religion—as though the latter could possibly be infringed by a YouTube video. As predictable as Muslim bullying has become, the moral confusion of secular liberals appears to be part of the same clockwork... Some percentage of the world’s Muslims—Five percent? Fifteen? Fifty? It’s not yet clear—is demanding that all non-Muslims conform to the strictures of Islamic law... Religion only works as a pretext for political violence because many millions of people actually believe what they say they believe: that imaginary crimes like blasphemy and apostasy are killing offenses... The freedom to think out loud on certain topics, without fear of being hounded into hiding or killed, has already been lost. And the only forces on earth that can recover it are strong, secular governments that will face down charges of blasphemy with scorn"

Pasta Boobs (picture)

What signal is Marissa Mayer giving to Yahoo employees? - "Mayer's assurance that having a child will require so little adjustment in her work schedule has led many women to worry that she is naive about the physical and emotional price she will pay for taking so little time to recuperate and bond with her new baby. Others express concern that her child will suffer for her decision... very short maternity leaves do increase the risk of insecure attachment between mother and child... But Mayer's insistence that she will get back to work so quickly sets a bad precedent for Yahoo's lower-level employees, mothers and fathers, who do not have the job flexibility and cannot afford the extensive social support and backup systems that Mayer and her husband will be able to construct."
Given that her biggest critics were other women, this speaks volumes about the usual claims by feminists about what's holding women back

David Briggs: Muslim-Majority Nations More Likely to Deny Religious Freedom - "Violent religious persecution is present in every country with a Muslim majority with a population of more than 2 million... two-thirds of movements seeking the adoption of religious law were in Muslim-majority nations. Only 4 percent of such movements were in Christian-majority nations...One irony for Muslim-majority nations, many of whom defend legal restrictions under the premise of protecting the faith, is that the harshest religious persecution is often directed at other Muslims, such as the Ahmadiyya sect in Pakistan and Indonesia, Grim and Finke note. Their study also found governments in more than seven in 10 Muslim-majority countries harass Muslims, while Muslims are harassed in only three of 10 Christian-majority nations."
Islamophobia!; the biggest oppressors of Muslims... are other Muslims

Channel 4 cancels Islam documentary screening after presenter threatened - "The investigation into the origins of the religion claimed that there is little written contemporary evidence about the prophet Mohammed. It examined claims that rather than Islam's doctrine emerging fully-formed in a single text, the religion instead developed gradually over many years with the expansion of Arabic empires. Holland, the writer of best-sellers Rubicon and Persian Fire, said that Islam is "a legitimate subject of historical inquiry". The Islamic Education and Research Academy (IERA) accused him of making "baseless assumptions" and engaging in "selective scholarship". Iranian state media suggested the broadcast was an "insult" to Islam. One message sent to Holland read: "You might be a target in the streets. You may recruit some bodyguards, for your own safety.""

Black Actors Revisit Roles Originally Played By Whites - "Denzel Washington stepped into Frank Sinatra’s shoes with 2004’s The Manchurian Candidate, and even Will Smith took a stab at it with the reboot of I Am Legend (inspired by the 1971 Charlton Heston starrer, The Omega Man)... [in] 2008 when we saw TV veteran Debbie Allen direct her Tony award-winning big sister, fellow small screen legend Phylicia Rashad, in the role of Big Mama in the first all-black production of Tennessee Williams’ classic play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof... Just last month, another one of Williams’ plays, A Streetcar Named Desire, added some color to the Broadway stage. Soul Food alum Nicole Ari Parker stepped into the role of Blanche, previously played by Vivien Leigh. She joined Blair Underwood as Stanley (formerly portrayed by Marlon Brando), with Broadway newcomer Wood Harris as Mitch and Tony nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega (Rent) as Underwood’s leading lady, Stella... the once colorless drama Steel Magnolias was getting an all-black remake"
Also, Samuel L Jackson played Nick Fury. Yet when white actors play characters that were originally non-white, this is called "whitewashing", and when black actors do whiteface this is alright

David McAlmont: Black Actor White Script? - "[He argues] it is not an 'all black' production but one set in an unspecified East Africa country decades ago... productions like this never have white cast members. Why, when Europeans have been in Africa for hundreds of years? I insist that it's tantamount to positive discrimination in the theatre - how about an all black Othello with a white moor for a change?... isn't it all a bit backward bandying words like black and white around? I contact another friend, actor and filmmaker Giles Terera, to see what he thinks. I ask if these notions are anything more than a frustrating bore to him. He confirms "I don't want to be considered a black actor- I get very bored with it!""

R-word | Spread the Word to End the Word - "The R-word is the word 'retard(ed)'. Why does it hurt? The R-word hurts because it is exclusive. It’s offensive. It’s derogatory. The R-word is hate speech... When they were originally introduced, the terms “mental retardation” or “mentally retarded” were medical terms with a specifically clinical connotation; however, the pejorative forms, “retard” and “retarded” have been used widely in today’s society to degrade and insult people with intellectual disabilities. Additionally, when “retard” and “retarded” are used as synonyms for “dumb” or “stupid” by people without disabilities, it only reinforces painful stereotypes of people with intellectual disabilities being less valued members of humanity... Why "intellectual disability" is replacing "mental retardation": The R-word, “retard,” is slang for the term mental retardation. Mental retardation was what doctors, psychologists, and other professionals used to describe people with significant intellectual impairment. Today the r-word has become a common word used by society as an insult for someone or something stupid"
Pledge to stop using "retarded". In a few years you'll pledge not to use "intellectually disabled"
Friend: "Not allowed to say 'disabled', it's now 'differently abled'... this is pointless." (i.e. the site is already outdated and offensive)

Tutor who sexually assaulted 7 boys blames ghost - "ustice Woo said the tutor's explanation about the ghost did not make him any less culpable. Even assuming the story was true, he said, the question was whether he could have resisted the instructions. The judge noted that the tutor also told psychiatrists the ghost had instructed him to do other things such as touch girls' buttocks and throw stones at people, but he managed to restrain himself. "Furthermore, there was no suggestion that the ghost told you to take photos and video of your depraved conduct, but you did," said Justice Woo"

How Apple’s Obsession with Google Is Hurting Apple | Cult of Mac - "Every once in a while, a company becomes so obsessed with a competitor that it loses focus on its own customers. They start designing and positioning their products more to hurt rivals than thrill users. And I fear that now it’s happening to Apple. Again. Everybody knows about Apple’s near-death experience in the 90s. But few appreciate why it happened. From 1985 to 1997, Apple went in a series of bizarre product directions. Yes, Apple made some cool stuff back then. But they also made a lot of weird moves that would be inconceivable by the standards of today’s Apple... they become obsessed with Microsoft, and were throwing all kinds of spaghetti against the wall to see what would stick"

The iPhone 5 (Parody): A Taller Change Than Expected - YouTube

Worldwide bacon shortage is "unavoidable"

SPIN - YouTube

Fatherhood by Conscription: Nonconsensual Insemination and the Duty of Child Support by Michael Higdon - "Nathaniel was not only a new father, but was also a victim of statutory rape. Nonetheless, in a subsequent action for child support, the court held that Nathaniel was liable for the support of the child who was born as a result of his rape. According to the court, "Victims have rights. Here, the victim also has responsibilities"... the strict liability approach poses a grave injustice not only to the men who are pressed into the obligations of fatherhood but also to society, which has an interest in protecting all citizens from sexual assault"

This is the worst death scene ever committed to film

Conversations - 15th October 2012

"Here's the thing about inauthentic people: inauthentic people are obsessed with authenticity." - Jonathan Franzen

***

MFTTW: koreans in general are all cock
i conclude that their life is really played out exactly like it is in
korean drama shows

the point is if you're korean your life is filled with unnecessary and
stupid self-manufactured drama

normal girls would understand if a guy is buying them dinner that
maybe they are interested in them
and normal girls would also understand that if they go on holiday with
a single guy and they are single then the guy might construe it as her
having romantic interest in him and she might be propositioned
and not like
OH I DIN KNOW HE IS INTERESTED
pls lor
you can't have grown up in a modern society and be that guileless


Someone: should have learned from the example of LKY - being a
lawyer doesn't make you a better person or even a smarter person


MFTTW: what's hysteria

ha I thought it must be a film about women
and sure enough


Someone: [he] also told me his sis is much prettier than me
no woinder we broke up
HAHAHHAHHA

Me: -_-
cannot make such comments meh

Someone: he said no one is more beautiful than my sister to me
ya good for you

Me: yeah. moral of the story: you need to lie to women

Someone: hurhurhur

nothing wrong with putting ur sis first
just that i want someone who puts me first

Me: -_-
I thought family was the most impt


Me: "The female commuter felt someone fondling the area around her back."
sexy back

MFTTW: cock lah

Me: poor guy

MFTTW: haha why you victim blaming

Me: hello
who gropes the back
it's a he said she said
and the guy gets screwed

MFTTW: that one i think cannot prove lah
who gropes your back

Me: cannot prove = man is dead
come on men get charged for showing their middle fingers to women

MFTTW: can hire a good lawyer
haha sg sucks

Me: good lawyer cant save you

MFTTW: now i know how to exact vendetta against guys who annoy me
accuse them of molest
or sexual harassment



Temptation Chris: do most ppl plan their life by vacation?
cause my friend asks me things like
so whens ur next vacation

Me: I suspect it's one of the defining milestones of a yuppie's life
also food and travel are easy conversation topics
when people do not want to discuss the misery of the human condition

Links - 14th October 2012

"The wages of sin are death, but by the time taxes are taken out, it's just sort of a tired feeling." - Paula Poundstone

***

WhatTheFont! « MyFonts - "Seen a font in use and want to know what it is? Submit an image to WhatTheFont to find the closest matches in our database"

Eunuchs reveal clues to why women live longer than men - "They lived up to 19 years longer than uncastrated men from the same social class and even outlived members of the royal family. The researchers believe the findings show male hormones shorten life expectancy... "Castrato versus non-castrato singers are probably a better comparison, and showed no difference in lifespan. Non-castrato lived an average 65 years and both groups lived fairly cosseted lives""

Teachers cheered by call to be firm with pushy parents - "My teachers spend a lot of extra time on pupils, even on Saturdays. But some parents don't want their child to spend time on a Saturday coming to school for extra classes. So they tell the teacher not to come back to teach the rest of the class. They do not want their child's classmates to benefit"

Has Google given us a brief understanding of Singaporean men and women? on Twitpic

Why Fathers Really Matter - NYTimes.com - "Twentieth-century Darwinian genetics dismissed Lamarckism as laughable, but because of epigenetics, Lamarckism is staging a comeback... when boys ate badly during the years right before puberty, between the ages of 9 and 12, their sons, as adults, had lower than normal rates of heart disease. When boys ate all too well during that period, their grandsons had higher rates of diabetes.

Modern Love – You May Call It Cheating, but We Don’t - NYTimes.com - "In an anthology edited by Susie Bright, who blogs about sex, one woman said: “It surprises me to no end that the sexual fetish of cuckoldry, once thought of as a disability, could be shared by so many people. The cuckolding fetish has an element of surprise, along with a bittersweet emotional masochism. Another key to the fetish, from the perspective of the cuckold, is that of eroticizing as a defense mechanism”... I slept my way around Europe as a teenager, and am sometimes wistful for the ability to leave situations the second they became complicated. To me, countries and boyfriends were similar. You visited, enjoyed the view until you didn’t anymore and then left... attraction to other people isn’t necessarily a sign your marriage is bankrupt. In the course of being together forever, especially if you’re out in the world meeting new people, it happens. One of the challenges in a marriage, in addition to deciding whose job it is to do the dishes and how to balance the budget, is to figure out how to deal with lust or love for other people... “Infidelity doesn’t kill a relationship,” a therapist told me. “Indifference does.” Of course, infidelity can lead to indifference, because it distracts you from your partner"

Lolsnaps.com - Whenever My Mom Tells Me "There's Plenty Of Fish In The Sea"

Comparing The Costs Of Human Vs. Animal Health Care - "I received fantastic care during my surgery and brief stay at the hospital. I guarantee that Rover got just as good a quality of care as I did. I think service and compassion were a wash in this comparison. I know for a fact that many pet owners think veterinarians charge too much. I hear that all the time. Take a look at this side-by-side fee comparison. The same surgery, one-tenth the cost."

Kid loses tooth placed under pillow for Tooth fairy. Parent leaves this under pillow. (image)

Blogging and identity: To name or not to name? - "I have a friend who told me that at two different jobs, his bosses requested him to leave after they found out he was a political activist, even though they were satisfied with his work and he had done nothing illegal"

Rosenhan experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "Rosenhan's study was done in two parts. The first part involved the use of healthy associates or "pseudopatients" (three women and five men) who briefly simulated auditory hallucinations in an attempt to gain admission to 12 different psychiatric hospitals in five different states in various locations in the United States. All were admitted and diagnosed with psychiatric disorders. After admission, the pseudopatients acted normally and told staff that they felt fine and had not experienced any more hallucinations. All were forced to admit to having a mental illness and agree to take antipsychotic drugs as a condition of their release. The average time that the clients spent in the hospital was 19 days. All but one were diagnosed with schizophrenia "in remission" before their release. The second part of his study involved an offended hospital challenging Rosenhan to send pseudopatients to its facility, whom its staff would then detect. Rosenhan agreed and in the following weeks out of 193 new patients the staff identified 41 as potential pseudopatients, with 19 of these receiving suspicion from at least 1 psychiatrist and 1 other staff member. In fact Rosenhan had sent no-one to the hospital. The study concluded, "It is clear that we cannot distinguish the sane from the insane in psychiatric hospitals"... In 2008, the BBC's Horizon science program performed a somewhat related experiment over two episodes entitled "How Mad Are You?". The experiment involved ten subjects, five living with previously-diagnosed mental health conditions, and five with no such diagnosis. They were observed by three experts in mental health diagnoses and their challenge was to identify the five with mental health problems. The experts correctly diagnosed two of the ten patients, misdiagnosed one patient, and incorrectly identified two healthy patients as having mental health problems"

Is There Really an Epidemic of Depression? - "since 1980 psychiatry and the other mental health professions have used a definition of depression that conflates genuine depressive disorder with intense, but normal, states of sadness... Mental health advocates, for instance, liked the fact that it produced high estimates of the amount of depressive mental disorder so that it seemed as if depression was a “public health problem” of massive proportions. Clinicians could get reimbursed for conditions that might actually be non-medical problems. Perhaps most important, pharmaceutical companies found that they could portray people who suffered from widespread psychosocial problems in their advertisements while at the same time marketing their products as treatments for depressive mental disorders. And, of course, many individuals find it more acceptable to frame their problems as the result of a mental disorder and to take psychotropic drugs to attempt to relieve their distress than to see their suffering as the result of psychosocial problems... the medicalization of sadness has a number of costs. One is that calling a condition a “depressive disorder” prejudges the nature of that condition and suggests that medication is the most appropriate response to it... defining sadness as depression can tend to close off non-medical interventions including various sorts of social support, psychotherapies, changes in life circumstances or turning the sufferer’s attention to confronting their psychosocial situation—and can undermine resolve to address social problems that make people miserable by reframing that misery as a widespread individual medical disorder... it misleads our thinking in every area, from policy and research to clinical intervention and our own personal understandings"

Ask Me About Being A Birthday Party Princess - "I have a deep voice. Like, a deep voice for a woman. Some people tell me it's sexy or sophisticated, but these people are my friends so I'd hardly expect them to tell me I sound like a dude. But it's not a princess voice, that's for sure. Go back and watch Disney movies, especially Snow White, and take in the ear-splitting high notes they hit in song. Sleeping Beauty has one of the deepest singing voices of the princesses, and she's still super femmy sounding. My singing range is right there with Megara from Hercules. Middle of the scale, maybe a few high notes if I practice. So I practice, a LOT. At home, in the shower and with a special CD on my way to every party. My boss told me once that she was initially worried at our first interview when I started talking, because she thought I couldn't do the ear-splitting "princess voice". But I switched it on before the first party and she was very relieved. It's not hard for me to adopt a high-pitched falsetto talking voice, without sounding too fake or strained. It's just the singing that's hard for me, so I try to choose songs where I can exploit the lower tones, but still hit enough high notes for it to be "princessy". My boss has very strict guidelines for our behavior. We must smile ALWAYS, every minute of the party (hard to do until you get the hang of it), we must be always entertaining, we must act as if we know the birthday girl (we're told her name and age before we arrive) and are good friends, if they tell us they 'saw us at Disneyworld', we agree and pretend to remember them. We have to be graceful, walk with good posture, always polite, and apparently always talking. I have a set number of filler comments to use if I can't think of anything to say, including *girlish giggle*, "Oh my!" and the old stand-by, "how wonderful!" (This has become an embarrassment to me lately because it carries over to my regular life...I caught myself doing the "fill the silence with adorable laughter" thing with friends once. It's kind of awful.)"

Fructose and sugar substitutes alter gut microbiota - "The combination of these processes can undoubtedly contribute to development of many metabolic disorders associated with obesity"

Samsung to bloggers: Promote our products at IFA or walk home

Meet Mr Fifty Shades: EL James's husband speaks out - "Journalists ask if fans turn up on our doorstep asking silly questions. No, but journalists do. Do we have a dungeon? Or a Red Room of Pain? Maybe, and maybe there's a helicopter pad on the roof in case Christian Grey drops in for a spanking. Fifty Shades Of Grey is a fantasy – have they forgotten what that means? Do they chase JK Rowling down the street daring her to use her Avra Kedavra spell? Do they ask Hilary Mantel how many courtiers she's beheaded?... That cynical old hack Maguire would mutter that my novel is getting this coverage because I'm Mr EL James. Well, of course it is. But, like most novelists, I'm hardly going to refuse publicity. I'm not a masochist. And that's all I'm going to say about our sex life."
Seems journalists have something in common with feminists and TV violence activists: the inability to distinguish fantasy from reality

Trying to blow up Hogwarts

Off till the 28th

Off to France for 2 weeks! My flight got delayed by 15 hours from 11pm to 2:35pm

(Yes, I am terribly behind on my travelogues. Mayhap I shall use Lean methodology to churn out posts more quickly)

Links - 12th October 2012

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself, but raptors are pretty dang scary." - Devin J. Monroe

***

Conscription: Necessary Or Outdated? - "We need to realize that the norms of international relations are vastly different today. The political situation that Venice was in at the time was highly volatile and so different than the one Singapore is in today. Today we are living in a globalized, interconnected world in which Singapore is trading heavily with many other countries. Global norms of behavior have changed, and now attitudes toward warfare are not the same as it once was in the 17th century. Economic interdependence makes warfare highly unlike for a country like Singapore. The current length of our national service is not justified at all on a comparative scale! With the second longest duration just behind Israel, do we dare say we face nearly the same kind of danger they do? (Israel has enemies that threaten to ‘wipe them off the map’... a voluntary professional force would be much more motivated, cohesive and better trained... 'This act of conscripting is just as much a deed of unjustifiable aggression — of kidnapping and possibly murder — as the alleged aggression we are trying to guard ourselves against in the first place... "Society" and "country" are in this case mythical abstractions that are being used to cloak the naked use of coercion to promote the interests of specific individuals”'... If shared experience leading to unity was our objective, shouldn’t we also extend this policy to include females too? After all, they make up almost about half our population, and we sure wouldn’t want them to miss out on the joys of the shared experience national service can bring!... let us conclude this article with a parting quote by Robert Heinlein: “Any country that has to defend itself with forced conscripts is not worth defending.”"

No More Angling for the Best Seat; More Meetings Are Stand-Up Jobs - WSJ.com - "Stand-up meetings are part of a fast-moving tech culture in which sitting has become synonymous with sloth. The object is to eliminate long-winded confabs where participants pontificate, play Angry Birds on their cellphones or tune out. Atomic Object even frowns upon tables during meetings. "They make it too easy to lean or rest laptops," explains Michael Marsiglia, vice president. At the end of the meetings, which rarely last more than five minutes, employees typically do a quick stretch and then "go on with their day," he says... standing meetings were about a third shorter than sitting meetings and the quality of decision-making was about the same... Holding meetings before lunch also speeds things up... Obie Fernandez, founder of Hashrocket, a Jacksonville, Fla., software design firm, says his team passes around a 10-pound medicine ball during stand-ups"

Open-plan offices are making workers sick, say Australian scientists - "the switch to open-plan has led to lower productivity and higher worker stress... Working in an open-plan office could contribute to higher blood pressure, Dr Oommen said, and an increased risk of illnesses as bugs such as the influenza virus were more swiftly passed around"

Nazi Titanic - DocuWiki - "During a bizarre chapter of WWII, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels decided to make a movie based on the sinking of the Titanic. This epic film was so large in scale that the Nazis were forced to divert men, material and ships from the war effort in order to complete it"

When comforting a grammar Nazi, I always say softly, “There, their, they’re.”

Women Drivers Crash More Than Men - "The statistics tell a paradoxical story. According to a controversial study by researchers at the John Hopkins Schools of Medicine and Public Health, women are more likely to be involved in car crashes than men - despite the fact that men are three times more likely to be killed when they do crash... teenage boys start recklessly, with about 20 per cent more crashes per mile driven than teenage girls. Males and females between the ages of 20 and 35 run almost identical risks. Females over the age of 35, however, are significantly more likely to crash than their male counterparts"
Keywords: men women better drivers, women drive better

Men and Women Drivers: The Gender Divide - "some research suggests that men do show more technical proficiency in driving as well as a greater tendency to declare themselves “above average drivers”... Research finds that drivers using both hand-held and hands-free cellular phones are four times more likely than non-users to get into a crash that can cause serious injury. It multiples the risk of a fatality nine-fold. Whereas some studies suggest the same use and risk for men and women, government reports find that adult women drivers were observed to be on cell phones more... Whereas women have more crashes based on slips or lapses, men’s crashes are due to driving violations that tend to be more deliberate and risky- speeding, non-seat belt use and drinking... men and women both engage in risks – it depends on the category. Overall men were found to be bigger risk takers than women but women were more likely to go white water rafting, be hypnotized and skip class than males were. Men and women equally ranked activities as roller coaster riding, quitting their jobs without one lined up, and shoplifting. Consistent with driving statistics, however, men were more likely to drive 25mph over the speed limit, ride a motorcycle or get on the roof of a moving car!"

Women are better at parking than men, study suggests - "Covert surveillance of car parks across Britain has shown that while women may take longer to park, they are more likely to leave their vehicles in the middle of a bay... The findings contradict not only popular belief but also previous research. Figures from the Driving Standards Agency last year disclosed that tens of thousands more women fail their driving test on parking errors than men"

APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT - "I refer to the recent death of the Technical Manager at your Company and hereby apply for the replacement of the deceased Manager"

Man jailed nine months for molesting policewoman - "The accused was walking by when he bumped into her and touched her buttocks. However, the accused disputed that and denied touching her. According to Assistant Public Prosecutor Raja Mohan, the accused did not apologise to the woman and was unremorseful. He added that the man's "nonchalant attitude infuriated her" and the incident caused her "deep emotional distress." APP Mohan also told the court that the victim "couldn't accept that being a policewoman in uniform, she got molested." The court also heard that the man, who has a daughter, was tipsy during the incident. In his sentencing, District Judge Low Wee Ping said that there was "a streak of arrogance" in the accused and agreed with APP Mohan that he showed no remorse. DJ Low also noted that the accused gave various versions of his accounts which resulted in inconsistencies"
If I were tipsy, I'd give inconsistent accounts too. If I didn't touch someone, apologising and showing remorse would be an admission of guilt

Most from megachurches see wealth as sign of blessing - "As many as 77.6 per cent of the respondents from megachurches believe that full-time staff, including pastors, should be paid competitive salaries. Among other conclusions, the survey also found that Protestants from megachurches tend to separate religious values from public views about politics"

What does the Match.com 2011 survey tell us about singles and money? By Dr. Jonathan Rich « Official Match.com Blog - "Although 45% of men declare they are ready to step up to the challenges of being a “househusband,” the partner primarily taking care of home and childcare duties, only one out of three women say they are ready to accept men in that role. In spite of social and economic changes, certain male/female roles appear slow to change. The moment when the bill arrives after a first date has become an increasingly awkward moment. Thirty-seven percent of men but only 19% of women believe that it is always the man’s responsibility to pick up the check on the first date"
I wonder what a Singaporean survey would show

This Is The Most Entertaining "Lane Change" We've Ever Seen

Classical music affects heart transplants - "Mice with heart transplants survived twice as long if they listened to classical music rather than pop music after their operation"

Tree-kangaroo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - "Tree-kangaroos are macropods adapted for life in trees. They inhabit the rainforests of New Guinea, far northeastern Queensland, and nearby islands"

The Magic of Doing One Thing at a Time - "when you switch away from a primary task to do something else, you're increasing the time it takes to finish that task by an average of 25 per cent... if you're always doing something, you're relentlessly burning down your available reservoir of energy over the course of every day, so you have less available with every passing hour... Stop demanding or expecting instant responsiveness at every moment of the day. It forces your people into reactive mode, fractures their attention, and makes it difficult for them to sustain attention on their priorities. Let them turn off their email at certain times. If it's urgent, you can call them — but that won't happen very often... Encourage renewal. Create at least one time during the day when you encourage your people to stop working and take a break... Do the most important thing first in the morning, preferably without interruption, for 60 to 90 minutes, with a clear start and stop time... resist every impulse to distraction, knowing that you have a designated stopping point. The more absorbed you can get, the more productive you'll be. When you're done, take at least a few minutes to renew... Establish regular, scheduled times to think more long term, creatively, or strategically. If you don't, you'll constantly succumb to the tyranny of the urgent"

Europe on Five Wrong Turns a Day: Book Trailer: How to Pack Like a 1960s Tourist - "Arthur Frommer started modern tourism as we know it with Europe on Five Dollars a Day. Before his guidebook started the budget travel boom, opening the continent up to the masses, the general mentality was was that travel was something only rich people did. No one fit that aristocrat-on-the-road archetype more than Temple Fielding, the most prominent guidebook writer of the day until Frommer came along... Its contents included “a bottle of maraschino cherries, a bottle of Angostura bitters, a portable Philips three-speed record- player, five records (four of mood music and ‘one Sinatra always’), a leather-covered RCA transistor radio, an old half- pint Heublein bottle full of vermouth, and a large nickel thermos with a wide mouth”"

Europe's blind spot on anti-Semitism - "When the prejudice -- and even the call for murder -- is made in connection with the Palestinian cause, people look the other way and give it a pass... A couple of years ago, I was in the Netherlands when a pro-Palestinian demonstration broke into a familiar chant: "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas." The "Jews to the gas" is a common cheer at Dutch soccer games... Political leaders and government authorities often act dismissively when Jews are the target of violence, particularly from Arabs... Often, when the Palestinian link is made, the prejudice comes from the left, couched as passion for human rights. At times, human rights activists seem to have no problem with anti-Semitism -- even of the genocidal variety -- condemning it forcefully only if it is accompanied by anti-immigrant or anti-Muslim sentiment... Portraying Israelis as baby killers fits neatly into the old anti-Semitic narrative that outrageously claims Jews kill Christian children to make Passover matzos... In Hungary, Spain and Poland, anti-Semitic sentiment is "off the charts"... The sentiment is most common among European Muslims, some of whom have attended Islamic schools, whose Saudi-financed textbooks explained that Jews look like monkeys and pigs and seek "world domination""
Islamophobia!

Wut.

"Skin-tight clothes cause intimate darketing"

I don't qualify for this study, but you might

"We always felt as if every show was the most important thing in the world, but knew if we bombed, we'd live." - Raymond Joseph Teller, Fury Letter written to Brian Brushwood

***

STI/HIV/AIDS Risks Related to Heterosexual Behaviours of Singaporean Men: Survey Phase

Dear sir,

We are pleased to invite you to participate in this on-line research survey study on sexual behaviours of Singaporean men who pay for sex and/or who have casual sex with women. The Principal Investigator of the study is Associate Professor Wong Mee Lian from the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore (NUS) and Co-Investigators are Ms. Mandy Govender and Mr. Chan Lit Fai.

HIV infections are increasing in cases associated with commercial sex and casual sex. A recent study by Health Promotion Board found that 20% of men in Singapore had engaged in casual sex in the past year, a statistic that shows that casual sex is becoming more common in Singapore. The purpose of the survey is to find out the HIV and STI risk behaviors and the health-seeking practices of men who use Internet to seek sex with women. This online study will help us design better health education programmes to promote awareness of the potential epidemic and to encourage safer sex practices.

A similar survey is currently being conducted at the brothels and entertainment outlets throughout Singapore. If you have already filled up the survey before, please do not take this survey again. You must also be within the age range of 21-70 years old in order to participate in this survey.

The survey is anonymous and all information entered will be kept strictly confidential. No identifying information will be collected other than your email address, which will be deleted once it has been sent to an independent third party to process your compensation (details stated below).
If you are interested to participate in this study, please read the participation information sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1DgmdDck0D_Ie1_SlUB2LAZBPj__7e-Z-YSm6Col9szE

Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary. The survey period is from 11th June 2012 to 31st December 2012.

As compensation for your time and participation in the survey, you will receive $15 worth of credit from http://www.liveoffcoupon.com/ that you can use to purchase any items from the website.
Thank you very much.

o Yes, I agree to participate, https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Singapore_HSM
o No, I don’t wish to participate, https://www.surveymonkey.com/optout.aspx

Best Wishes
A/Prof Wong Mee Lian
Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health


I like this question, doubtless inserted at the request of IRB:

9. What is the compensation for any injury?
No injury is expected as this study involves only a survey.

Links - 10th October 2012

"All God's children are not beautiful. Most of God's children are, in fact, barely presentable." - Fran Lebowitz

***

Search is on for boyfriend for Feng Tianwei - "He must be Singaporean and someone who can speak Mandarin... The task has been entrusted to Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Chan Chun Sing, revealed Singapore Table Tennis Association president Lee Bee Wah"
FAIL!

Where the Minutes Are Longer: The Weird Science of Telling Time on Mars - "Mars actually spins a bit slower than our own planet, and as a result, its whole day is a bit longer -- 24 Earth hours and 39 Earth minutes... "Since I was a young child I've put my heart into making very precise time pieces, now I was being asked to create a watch that was slow on purpose""

Grace Dent: Take the fight to men – we'd give them a good kicking - "the irony of men anonymously slagging off woman who could hospitalise them from behind a keyboard several miles away is simply too delicious"
Comments: "in going through the article line by line, there are 12 negative references to men by the female author, of those 12, 5 advocate or fantasize physical violence against men, 1 reference only could be construed in the context of girl on girl conflict. I think both you and the author have repressed violent issues, and she in particular is using the triumph of female victory at the Games in previously male orientated sports ( weren't they at all at one point) to push her sexist and violently orientated agenda. More tea anyone?"
"Yes I'm now going to encourage the young ladies to smack the teeth out of any other girl who upsets them, kick the head of older men who leer at them, and beat the proverbial cr&p out of anyone who spills their drinks in a bar or eyeballs them wrong in the street. Clearly this is progress and just what the UK needs. "

Samantha Brick on the downsides to looking pretty: 'Why women hate me for being beautiful' - "f you’re a woman reading this, I’d hazard that you’ve already formed your own opinion about me — and it won’t be very flattering. For while many doors have been opened (literally) as a result of my looks, just as many have been metaphorically slammed in my face — and usually by my own sex. I’m not smug and I’m no flirt, yet over the years I’ve been dropped by countless friends who felt threatened if I was merely in the presence of their other halves. If their partners dared to actually talk to me, a sudden chill would descend on the room. And it is not just jealous wives who have frozen me out of their lives. Insecure female bosses have also barred me from promotions at work. And most poignantly of all, not one girlfriend has ever asked me to be her bridesmaid. You’d think we women would applaud each other for taking pride in our appearances."
Misogynist: A man who hates women as much as women hate each other

Consciousness and Cognition - Uncorking the muse: Alcohol intoxication facilitates creative problem solving - "The current experiment tested the effects of moderate alcohol intoxication on a common creative problem solving task, the Remote Associates Test (RAT). Individuals were brought to a blood alcohol content of approximately .075, and, after reaching peak intoxication, completed a battery of RAT items. Intoxicated individuals solved more RAT items, in less time, and were more likely to perceive their solutions as the result of a sudden insight"

How an 18-Year-Old Made $35K for Tweeting Parody Accounts - "In the last four months, King has earned more than $35,000 by tweeting sponsored messages on the microblogging platform. Not too shabby for an 18-year-old high school student"

9GAG - Does McDonald's put less sesame seeds on their buns?

Mr.Smith: Event Blogging Template 101 - "Today I was invited to XXX event by YYY company.
[insert picture of event entrance]
I am so excited about the event! The event was so awesome it's a blast!
[insert camwhore1.jpg]
[insert camwhore2.jpg]
[insert camwhore3.jpg]
Look who i bumped into! The Famous [insert another half pass 6 self proclaimed popular blogger with unique click of around 100 per day] "

Artur Davis: Biden "in chains" comment "insulting to African-Americans" - "Artur Davis, a Democrat-turned-Republican former congressman from Alabama, on Wednesday accused Vice President Joe Biden of using racially divisive rhetoric that is "insulting" to African-Americans. "I know what Joe Biden was doing yesterday," Davis said in an appearance on CNN. "Every black person in that room knew who the 'y'all' was. They knew what the chains were. They knew what the metaphor was about." In remarks at a campaign event in Virginia Tuesday with a number of African-American audience members, the vice president lambasted Romney for allegedly wanting to repeal financial regulations enacted after the Wall Street crash of 2008. "He's going to let the big banks once again write their own rules - unchain Wall Street!" Biden said. He added: "They're going to put you all back in chains." Republicans pounced on the remarks. Biden later clarified his comment, stating that he had meant to say "unshackle" in reference to Republican claims that regulations "shackle" the economy"
Everyone can play the Offence Game!

"Your Mother Would Like Me": Self-Presentation in the Personals Ads of Heterosexual and Homosexual Men and Women - "(a) gay men emphasized physical characteristics most and lesbians least; (b) heterosexual women mentioned attractiveness more than lesbians did; (c) women solicited more expressive traits and offered more instrumental traits than men; (d) gay men mentioned sexuality more than other advertisers; and (e) heterosexuals were more likely than homosexuals to pursue long-term relationships and to mention sincerity and financial security. The advantages of using personals ads as a source of data about self-presentation, societal definitions of attractiveness, and changing social forces are discussed"
No wonder lesbians are ugly

Ira Weissman: 7 Reasons Why Diamonds Are a Waste of Your Money - "1) The most common misconception about engagement rings is that they're some kind of ancient tradition that's deeply embedded in human history in societies around the world. This is completely false
2) Diamonds are not an investment -- they are a retail product like any other
3) The diamond jewelry market is a shark tank
4) Spending a month's (or two!) salary on something so impractical -- at the exact same time you are beginning your new life together as a budding family -- is a very poor financial decision
5) Men, you don't need to waste a ton of money to prove your manhood
6) Women, you don't need your man to waste a ton of money to prove that he loves you.
7) If your man buys you a diamond as a means to keep you quiet for another year about marriage, he probably should be dumped anyway...
Ira Weissman is a diamond industry veteran with a decade of experience at one of the world's largest diamond polishers"

Comment sauver sa vie grâce à un tampon! - "Vous pouvez également l’utiliser comme filtre à eau si vous l’insérez dans le goulot d’une bouteille. L’applicateur peut quant à lui servir de paille pour boire. Si vous laissez le tampon dans son applicateur, vous ferez alors d’une pierre deux coups, en filtrant l’eau que vous buvez!"

Vers une suppression des bordels animaliers en Allemagne ? - "Les bordels animaliers ont le vent en poupe en Allemagne, et cela a le mérite d’en irriter certains. En effet, les services de protection de nos amis les bêtes souhaitent que la zoophilie soit reconnue comme un crime (il convient de noter que si la pornographie à caractère zoophile est prohibée, l’acte lui-même ne l’est pas dans ce pays). Selon les autorités allemandes, avoir des relations sexuelles avec des animaux est de plus en plus perçu comme un choix de vie alternatif, et est relativement mieux toléré qu’auparavant"

WikiWeapons: 3D printed guns for everyone - Boing Boing

Mass. couple dies trying to rescue dog from lake - "A Massachusetts couple boating on a lake drowned after jumping into the water to rescue their dog, who survived. Police say the small dog named Sadie jumped into Hampton Ponds in Westfield on Monday night, prompting 64-year-old Donald Cyr to follow his pet into the lake. Police told The Westfield News that he became distressed and his wife, 61-year-old Patricia Cyr, tried to rescue him. Their daughter, Miranda Landry, told The Boston Globe that her mother jumped into the water despite not being able to swim."

Singapore tau huay too low class for French upscale event Diner en Blanc?! | The Moonberry Blog - "Diner en Blanc will be taking place next Thursday at a secret location and even though there has been a lot of positive buzz and general excitement, I am somewhat disturbed upon finding out that fellow blogger Daniel from DanielFoodDiary.com has been asked to modify remove his blog post in which he has suggested some local food (which are white, to suit the all-white theme of this event) to bring. Specifically, his suggestion of soybean pudding aka tau huay is deemed by Diner en Blanc organizers to be “not up to par” with the event’s upscale nature. Whoa. Are they implying that tau huay is too low class to bring to and be eaten at Diner en Blanc?!... the organizers have decided to uninvite all bloggers from the event. From what I heard, the Diner en Blanc organizers feel that there is little value in inviting bloggers because they do not regard social media influencers to be that influential anyway. Everyone on the social media invitation list, specifically bloggers, has been nixed"

Does roux-en-Y gastric bypass cure diabetes?

Top 5 reasons Icebreaker underwear are my favorite pieces of travel gear - "I so enjoyed Icebreaker's boxer briefs that they have become my favorite piece of travel gear. With each passing day of the trip, as temperatures approached 90°F and humidity constantly hovered at around 98%, I was increasingly more thankful that the most intimate parts of my body were enrobed in Icebreaker"

Desk Rage: The Tell-Tale Signs of an Overworked Employee (graphic)

Americans Abroad Renounce U.S. Citizenship Due to Tax and Reporting Reasons

Renouncing citizenship: Did Eduardo Saverin do anything wrong? | The Economist - "Half a billion dollars! That is not scot-free. Did the marauding aliens in "Independence Day" leave behind a half billion American dollars after having successfully invested in Earth? They did not! One wonders how many pounds of flesh Mr Manjoo and Ms Hogue think Mr Saverin owes for the privilege of having Uncle Sam's hooks out once and for all"

Twitter / si_vault: This may be the most entertaining golf photo I've come across

This is what happens when a gamer couple wants to cuddle. We seriously played like this for a good hour 8D (image)

Clairvoyance

On Slavery being more Moral than Capitalism

"We can have facts without thinking but we cannot have thinking without facts." - John Dewey

***

"There is slavery – there are maybe 30 million slaves in the world. But we no longer approve it, regard it as the natural order, or make up stories about how it's better for the slaves. Yet the arguments that were given for slavery – which were not insubstantial – were never answered; they were just rejected as being morally intolerable through a period of growth of moral consciousness. I haven’t heard a sensible answer to the main argument offered by slaveholders in the United States – it was a perfectly sensible argument, and has implications. The basic argument was that slaveholders are more moral than people who live in a market society. To take an anachronistic analogy, if you buy a car and I rent the same car, and we look at those two cars two years from now, yours is going to be in better shape than mine, because you’re going to take care of it; I’m not going to take care of mine. Well, the same is true if you rent people or you buy them. If you buy them, you’re going to take care of them: it’s a capital investment. If you rent people, they’re just tools; you throw them out when you’re done with them — if they can’t survive, who cares, you can throw them out on the dump yard. That’s the difference between a slave society and a market society. In a market society, you rent people; in a slave society, you buy them. So therefore slave societies are more moral than market societies. Well, I’ve never heard an answer to that, and I don’t think that there is an answer. But it’s rejected as morally repugnant — correctly — without following out the implications, that renting people is an atrocity. 1f you follow out that thought, slave owners are right: renting people is indeed a moral atrocity. It’s interesting that 150 years ago, when there was an independent, free, labor-based press, it was just taken for granted — so fully taken for granted, that it was even a slogan for the Republican Party, that wage labor is fundamentally no diffèrent from chattel slavery except that it’s temporary, and has to be overcome."

--- The Science of Language: Interviews with James McGilvray / Noam Chomsky

Observations - 9th October 2012

"I never get my hopes up so I never get let down." – Eeyore

***

Is there a factory which makes blogshop models?

Amused at a DSLR I used with a laser sight for focusing. One could hide a gun in there.

Isn't 22 too young to be using SK II?

The worst thing about being a girl... is interacting with other girls

Tout le monde aime une jolie jeune fille


Does it offend Hindus to talk about slaughtering sacred cows?


In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King. But he still has only one eye

A good sign you are no longer a young adult: getting excited about furniture

Me: "I'll pull it out real fast"
Her: "no, I don't trust you"
#letstakethisoutofcontext (we were talking about my sparkler & her lantern)

RT @kellyoxford As kids we want to be adults who 'can do whatever they want' and as adults we wish we were kids who 'can do whatever they want.'


"Many airline pilots feel horrendously overpaid as they're mostly glorified bus drivers"

RT: @rev_revolver: once a woman in the mall said "isn't everything cuter with babies?!" and jeff replied "not coffins" and just stared at her until she cried

RT @_underjoyed: Sudden realization: the year tt Changi Airport privatised was the year it stopped winning Best Airport (2009). Used to be under CAAS (govt)

RT @Xiaxue Really, there is nothing worse than holier-than-thou mothers. I've been warned by friends, but I didn't know they were THIS bad.

"Aujourd'hui, mon ex que j'aime encore m'a appelée après deux mois de silence radio pour demander à passer chez moi. Il voulait venir "s'entraîner" à dégrafer mon soutien-gorge d'une main pour ne pas paraître incompétent devant sa nouvelle copine. VDM"

RT @mrbrown: Losers gonna lose too. @occupysg: Haters are gonna hate.
That's why we delete them.


RT: @JorgeBaker: “L'ARGENT NE FAIT PAS LE BONHEUR” 1 minute ago via iPhone 5, from London, via Ferrari with Megan Fox.

RT: @9GAG: There is no “u” in awesome... But there is a "me".

RT @astyrred When you use positive self-talk openly it exposes your innermost insecurities. FACT.


RT: @DefineThat: Whore: A woman that sleeps with everyone but you.

MT @food_blogger: "猴不吃蕉，按不得猴头低。"; Cecilia: I felt 'fear' and was 'unwilling'

RT: @CauseWereGuys: Teacher: What's the opposite of laughing? Student: F*cking! Teacher: How's that? Student: Laughing is ha..ha..ha & F*cking is ah.. ah.. ah..

"I don't understand the point of lap-dancing clubs. If I wanted a woman to take all my money and sexually frustrate me, I'd stay at home with the wife"

"allow the lies to stand unchallenged and the public to believe that the defamations are true"

"The council must issue an edict. Any man heard speaking of incest or calling Joff a bastard should lose his tongue for it."

"A prudent measure," said Grand Maester Pycelle, his chain of office clinking as he nodded.

"A folly," sighed Tyrion. "When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say."

"So what would you have us do?" his sister demanded.

"Very little. Let them whisper, they'll grow bored with the tale soon enough. Any man with a thimble of sense will see it for a clumsy attempt to justify usurping the crown. Does Stannis offer proof? How could he, when it never happened?" Tyrion gave his sister his sweetest smile.

"That's so," she had to say. "Still..."

"Your Grace, your brother has the right of this." Petyr Baelish steepled his fingers. "If we attempt to silence this talk, we only lend it credence. Better to treat it with contempt, like the pathetic lie it is."

--- A Song of Sex and Blood

Links - 8th October 2012

"You have to love what you do. If you want to make money, sell weapons
or become a mafia boss." - Amir Kassaei

***

Gender Differences in Personality Traits Across Cultures: Robust and Surprising Findings - "Secondary analyses of Revised NEO Personality Inventory data from 26 cultures (N = 23,031) suggest that gender differences are small relative to individual variation within genders; differences are replicated across cultures for both college-age and adult samples, and differences are broadly consistent with gender stereotypes: Women reported themselves to be higher in Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Warmth, and Openness to Feelings, whereas men were higher in Assertiveness and Openness to Ideas. Contrary to predictions from evolutionary theory, the magnitude of gender differences varied across cultures. Contrary to predictions from the social role model, gender differences were most pronounced in European and American cultures in which traditional sex roles are minimized. Possible explanations for this surprising finding are discussed, including the attribution of masculine and feminine behaviors to roles rather than traits in traditional cultures... self-reported gender differences are more pronounced in Western, individualistic countries. These countries tend to have more progressive sex role ideologies, endorsing such items as "A women should have exactly the same freedom of action as a man" and "Swearing by a woman is no more objectionable than swearing by a man"... Williams and Best (1990) also found that gender stereotypes were most differentiated in Western, individualistic culture"
This extension to the Five Factor model shows that besides being crazy, women are emotional and closed-minded; contrary to feminist theory, gender stereotypes are not responsible for all gender differences
Keywords: five factor model gender, psychological disparities societies greater gender equality, larger equity society

Lawyer: Is it right to jail Shaw for 'honest' mistake? - "He said the underage prostitute was neither trafficked nor coerced into prostitution and worked hand-in-glove with the agency to actively misrepresent herself as above 18... "Is it right to send anyone to jail who makes an honest and reasonable mistake as a result of a fraud or deceit perpetrated upon him? Is it even right to convict such a person in the first place?" He added: "It is no exaggeration to describe this case as falling at or very near the extreme outer edge ofculpability. "It is so very far removed from the type of predatory, conscious and exploitative conduct which this offence is really aimed at. "In my respectful submission, it would be an 'absurdly draconian result' and abhorrent on these facts to send Mr Shaw (and others in like position) to jail, let alone convict him.""

24 testimonials couldn't save Howard Shaw - "the common law has long recognised that a person who commits an act under an honest and reasonable mistaken belief is treated, in the eyes of the law, as morally blameless because he lacks criminal intent. "The question to be asked in this case is: What possible public policy objective is served in sending to jail someone who has no criminal intent, who makes an honest and reasonable mistake and genuinely believes he is engaging in perfectly lawful conduct? Why won't a fine do?" he added. Mr Singh said it was the underage prostitute who had engaged in predatory conduct, entrapping men who were entirely unaware of her deception. But Judge See said the fact that Shaw did not ask the girl about her age or make any effort to verify her age, showed it was not an "honest and reasonable mistake". "It may have been a genuine mistake, but not an honest and reasonable one. He made no enquiries about her age and went ahead to have sex with her. He could have been guarded against an offence, but he took the risk," the judge added. "Perception is subjective and prone to errors and lies. Our senses are not always reliable and prone to mistakes." Shaw must have realised the risk that he was putting himself into, should she not be 18, added Judge See""
Perhaps the silver lining in this case is that more men will be aware that they need to ask for ages (and preferably ID too) if they are not psychic (though that won't save them if the ID is fake). I don't think many people realise that this also applies to non-commercial sex with girls under the age of 16 - a "reasonable mistake" is no defence their either.

Man hailed as hero for saving wife over mother - "Xiao Guo told reporters he had heard of people asking married couples the question, "If your mother and your wife were drowning, who would you save?" But he never imagined it would happen to him."

Goodbye Hotmail, hello Outlook.com - "Microsoft tells me its new email header contains 60 per cent fewer pixels and 30 per cent more messages are viewable in a user’s inbox"

Star Wars: The Old MMO Problem - "there's a problem with what we've come to accept as conventional MMO design. It's that that design rests on ideas which are explicitly manipulative of players, having been cynically created to trap them in a system that will never reward them enough to make them feel they can stop playing. This is the dirty little secret of most MMOs. They are not designed to be fun, interesting or even social experiences. They are designed purely so that you keep playing. They are not entertainment; they are traps. "

F2P vs subs - "F2P players never end up paying $60 for a game they then find they dislike, as happens in the packaged goods world. In packaged goods, there are a lot of marketing practices designed to make you pick up and pay for something you do not want, often in large lump sums. (In grocery stores, it’s making you move more slowly on the expensive aisles, by doing things like having smaller, bumpy tiles on the floor; in games, it is things like touched-up screenshots). As a consequence, free to play is more democratic... people playing for free are subsidized by those who pay — often quite a lot... Whales exist independently of the business model, and what free-to-play does is allow them to spend more on their hobby. Thus the free to play business model ends up monetizing core fans better while actually giving access to more players at the free-to-cheap end... If you’re freaked out by seeing business practices nakedly, realize that what’s changed is that you can see them. And to my mind, that’s actually better for you than blissful ignorance"

Email Attachments in Body instead of in Attachment Line - McCombs Wiki - "When I attach a file to my email, why does it sometimes go in the body instead of the header? Usually this has to do with the format of the email. When you send new email messages through Outlook, by default they are set to be HTML emails. However, some mail programs use Rich Text or Plain Text messaging. If you are replying to a Rich Text email, you’ll notice that the attachment goes in the body of the email. If you are replying to an HTML or Plain Text email, it will go in the Attachment line."

Are Butterflies Two Different Animals in One? The Death And Resurrection Theory

In Olympics weightlifting, you need every drop of power to win. on Twitpic

mashapotato: littleyoshiie: the fuck is going... - Tell what? - "Choi was checking why the sensor reacted even though the foil touched his butt(in fleuret, only upper body is valid target area), by POKING HIS BUTT WITH THE OPPONENT’S FOIL."

Is India ready for ‘Jism 2′? - "It stars a hard-core adult film actress and has a title that would appear to leave little to the imagination. But it’s not a porn movie — Bollywood is certainly not ready for that. Jism 2— the word means “body” in Hindi language — will be released across India on Friday, promising to be one of the most graphic films in Bollywood history... ”Pretending to police the moral values of a society is the easiest way for politicians to earn brownie points”"

What Pericles would say about Obamacare - "The mess in and around Obamacare is a good illustration of what’s wrong with democracy in the United States. Notice I do not say “what’s wrong with democracy”... Pericles’ democracy was designed to reduce the power of wealth to a minimum and it did so. We know that, because for the almost two hundred years of democracy in Greece, the rich often tried to bring it down and replace it with oligarchy. A second cause Pericles would point out is our dependence on elections. “Elections!” you exclaim. “But aren’t they the essence of democracy?” Not at all. Pericles’ democracy cut way back on the use of elections for two reasons: elections give money an opportunity to exercise power, and elections make cliquish infighting the norm in politics. What ought to be the norm (Pericles would say) is serious discussion of what is best for the people... powerful representative bodies in Athens, such as the Council (like our senate), the courts, and the lawmakers, were composed of representatives selected by a lottery to represent equally the divisions of the city, somewhat like an American jury. These representatives didn’t have to run for election, so they didn’t need to listen to special interests, build up a war chest, or do stupid things to embarrass a political party"

Why Most Manufactured Pet Foods Should Not Be Fed To DOGS & CATS - "Scientifically formulated, manufactured pet foods are packed with chemical supplements used to ‘fortify’, i.e. make up for deficiencies in the basic ingredients that are slaughter house and food and beverage industry waste byproducts, and other chemical additives to flavor/taste-enhance, stabilize, preserve, color and ‘texturize’ ( appear like meat and gravy rather than a grey mush)"

India’s first Playboy bunny, under siege - "Hefner is a sexist pig that lives off the objectification of women’s bodies and posits nudity as faux-empowerment... I am now forced into an awkward position where I have to defend Chopra’s decision to pose nude for Playboy in the face of misogynist ideas about women’s purity and modesty as it relates to Indian nationalism. Critique the retrograde and sexist ideas about sexuality that give a magazine like Playboy so much capital, fine. But not the women that choose to do it. Conflating a woman’s sexual expression with the purity or modesty of her culture is one of the roots of sexism and patriarchy."
Translation: like children, women have no moral agency and can do no wrong. Vive le féminisme !

Fighting Fantasy is back! Try your skill in Blood of the Zombies - "I shall satisfy my nostalgic yearnings with this, one of the best things you will see all week. It's a collection of "you chose wrong" endings from the Fighting Fantasy and Choose Your Own Adventure books, and it couldn't be more brilliant. Here's a couple to whet your appetite. From Fighting Fantasy #12: "When you offer the fruit to the chief he takes a piece, bites it and promptly falls over dead. The rest of the aliens are appalled, and leap at you with needle-sharp spears; the ferocity of the attack breaches your armour. You collapse under the wave of bodies, never to rise. You have failed." Disaster! And from Fighting Fantasy #11: "She strikes you down, before helping you to your feet. You walk together into the Valley of Death, where your spirit will wander alone until the end of time." Bleak for a children's book, no?"

YOU CHOSE WRONG - "Your adventure ends here. Badly"

"When did Singapore become more expensive than Hong Kong?"

"Reading out the figures in a shrill, rapid voice, he proved to them in detail that they had more oats, more hay, more turnips than they had had in Jones's day, that they worked shorter hours, that their drinking water was of better quality, that they lived longer, that a larger proportion of their young ones survived infancy, and that they had more straw in their stalls and suffered less from fleas." - George Orwell

***

A (who left in 2007): When did Singapore become more expensive than Hong Kong?

B: yes A. decent low level entry car 100k, decent small condo 1 mill. property prices have effectively tripled from 7 yrs ago with salaries inching up by 2-3% per year

C: Singapore is more expensive than the rest of the world, period. I am finding it more expensive than the US!

A: I've always found the US to be quite affordable although that is quite a generalisation given the scale of the US. Exceptions are property in some major cities and healthcare, but from what I hear, Singapore is fast catching up.

D: Tau Huay 1.50 油条 80-90 cts..used to be selling with my late grandpa at 10 cents a piece...

C: Well, I think with the exception of NY, none of the other major metropolises are as expensive as Singapore. Not forgetting that in US, a great equalizer in any non-location specific goods is Amazon. And so called branded goods in Singapore are lowest denominators in US - Crocs shoes that cost US$20 goes for SGD75. And let's not even start on the electronics. The only things which are cheaper are labor intensive stuff like barbers and hawker center food.

A: It's the same in the UK in that amazon, eBay and freecycle mean things are at least half the price in Singapore. And even barbers can be same price if one knows where to look, ie Brick Lane, Finsbury Park.

E: Interestingly, that could call the top of a bubble. When cities get really expensive, it's often just before it blows. What does the Economist say about Singapore property prices?

Another point of view of the Ping Pong Show

"Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same." - George Bernard Shaw

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The vagina monologue: About those Bangkok ping-pong shows | GlobalPost
There's nothing sexy about Bangkok's most popular "sex show." Here's why.

"Before I came to Bangkok, I couldn’t decide whether I could stomach witnessing a real ping-pong show, the so-called “staple of the local sex industry.”

I thought I would either feel disgusted by the humiliating displays of female genitalia, or would just plain feel sorry for the women whose best chance to make a living is to use their pelvic muscles for entertaining the masses.

Enough has been written about the sexual exploitation of women in Thailand that I had to think twice (or more like hundred and twice) about whether I should contribute to Thailand’s sex trafficking by venturing to one of these venues.

But like many people visiting Bangkok, I couldn’t resist seeing it with my own eyes.

Most of all, I was dying to see the super-women who were able to use their privates in ways unimaginable to most women west of Bangkok.

Here is where my thinking on this subject was completely off.

A ping-pong show may be many things — comedic performance, a type of synchronized swimming routine using genitals, if you will — but it is certainly NOT a sex show.

Yes, women do insert and pop out various (and often quite impressive) objects out of there — namely ping pong balls, bananas, razor blades and ribbons, among other things — but that makes it about as much of a sex show as birthing of a baby.

Not unlike childbirth, the ping pong show is a graphic — and equally visually disturbing — testament that the vagina is capable of incredible feats.

In between the various performances — or as they put it: ping pong shoots, banana shoots, candle blowing, cigarette lighting, vulva writing, etc. — I chatted to the women who perform these kinds of “vagina monologues” for a living.

“How long did it take you to be able to blow out a candle this way?” I asked one of them.

“Oh, many, many years,” said a woman who came to Bangkok from northern Thailand. She looked proud.

“Who did you learn it from?” I wanted to know.

“My friends,” she said. “I can teach you if you want.”

“Oh, okay. Maybe next time,” I said.

As appealing as it sounded to one day be able to insert a marker in my nether regions and write “Welcome to Thailand," I couldn’t see taking actual lessons while I am here.

By the end of the night, I not only developed a new found respect for the vagina, I also came to the conclusion that the most disturbing thing about the whole experience was the inflated price of the drinks. And the girls always demanding you buy them some too, so they make some extra money.

Why don’t they charge a hefty entrance fee instead and make the performance sort of like a genital Cirque du Soleil?

Let’s be honest here, until the Canadians made a high-brow entertainment out of it, working in a circus had always been frowned upon. My point is that a Thai ping-pong show is nothing more than a cheesy circus show.

Take the guys who perform in “Puppetry of the Penis.”

They have been able to make a pretty good living making comedic shows with their male genitals.

And last time I checked, nobody was accusing them of being sexually exploited.

Maybe it’s time we trusted women enough to make their own choices how they want to make a living."

Some people deserve to be trolled

"If you shoot at mimes, should you use a silencer?" - Steven Wright

***

From:


ieatishootipost: Best Xiao Long Bao in Singapore at Shanghai Renjia. Eat plain without vinegar and ginger. Absolutely delicious and the skin is thin yet resilient. http://instagr.am/p/QbjOxgmszX/

Me: Shanghai Xiao Long Bao at Lau Pa Sat


Shanghai Xiao Long Bao – Singaporean Hawker Centre in Raffles Place Singapore

"Wet to lau pa sat for dinner food trail with friend and in the mean while celebrating my friends belated birthday. We ordered quite a lots of food, including this xiao long bao. The stall is in the centre of this famous food court, but the quality is so bad. The dumplings are not tasty, with the skin a bit hard and chewy, the pork inside is very not fresh, has the bad meaty smell. Moreover, the dumpling is so expensive, $4.50 for 5small pc, which is $0.90 each. I will never try the food from this stall again."

Links - 6th October 2012

"Life is pain, anyone who says differently is selling something." - William Goldman

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The Conversion of a Climate-Change Skeptic - NYTimes.com - "CALL me a converted skeptic. Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I’m now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause"

School Assessment Tests: An Imperfect but Vital Measure - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com - "Critics point out that V.A.M. incorporates measurement error. Thus, it is certain that some teachers will receive scores that are either higher or lower than they deserve. The critics are correct. But perfection is too high a standard. The relevant question is whether there is information in V.A.M. estimates that improve a school system's ability to distinguish between effective and ineffective teachers. There undoubtedly is. Improving upon the current evaluation system is a remarkably low bar. Research has discovered wide variation in teacher quality. Yet nearly all teachers receive satisfactory ratings under the current system. Further, research shows that the characteristics used to identify effective teachers — for instance, obtainment of a master's degree — are unrelated to classroom effectiveness. In contrast, V.A.M. can be used to predict a teacher's future performance in the classroom. For instance, research by Dan Goldhaber and Michael Hansen shows that a teacher's performance as measured by V.A.M. in her first two years in the classroom is a far better predictor of student learning than are conventional measures like a master's degree"

A Singaporean In Australia: What Minister Yacoob Really Want - " What Minister Yacoob does not realise is that there is already a code of conduct in the internet. Do you know what it meant to TYPE IN CAPS? If you received an email you are reasonably expected to reply if you are the main recipient under "to:" and recipients under "cc:" and "bcc:" can reply but are not expected to. There are some form of syntax in communication, be in it business emails, flaming wars on a random forum or gaming with your guild mates. The list goes on. Thus, Minister Yacoob's vision was both perplexing and unnecessary... What Minister Yacoob really want was not developing an internet code of conduct but to create a self-censorship culture for Singapore internet users... As long as our government remains incorruptible, why be afraid of the unregulated, irrational virtual milky way? Somebody is afraid here. This is just my opinion."

9GAG - Olympics Opening Ceremony = Lord of the Rings

Staying dry in rain: run or walk? - "A physicist has put forth new ideas in the long-running question of how best to keep dry when moving in the rain. If you run, you are out in the rain for less time, yet you run into more drops - so what is the optimal speed? Franco Bocci, reporting in the European Journal of Physics, now asserts that both wind direction and a person's stature figure into the answer. In most cases, the general answer is to run as fast as possible; but the answer changes in a tailwind, or for the thin"

The Pompous Ass Words Web Site - "Hello and welcome! This is the Pompous Ass Words site, a place dedicated to identifying words that shouldn't be used on the grounds that doing so makes you sound like a pompous ass. It was partly inspired by the American Heritage College Dictionary's list of "100 Words Every High School Graduate and Their Parents Should Know." When I first saw it I thought, there have to be at least 100 words everyone should know about and never use. So I figured hey, let's start putting that list together... A Pompous Ass Word (PAW) is an uncommonly understood word that is synonymous with a commonly understood one. For example, tendentious is a PAW because it could be substituted with biased with no loss of meaning. On the other hand, ersatz isn't because it isn't synonymous with imitation - it implies a lesser quality as well"

cul pompeux - "Reading your page, I was pleased to see that many of your PAW are ordinary French words. So to be a pompous ass (cul pompeux in French), you just insert in your conversation a few French words that nobody knows the signification and you'll give the illusion of being an educated person. In my country (French part of Switzerland), we get polluted by English words everywhere: big ads in English (specially from telephone companies), sale written on show-windows (sale means dirty in French) and there is a special word in French for clearance sales (soldes). And pompous people often add English words in their conversation to be "in", c'est-à-dire "à la page". 50 or 100 years ago, in French to give the illusion of a "good education", you had to insert Latin expression in your conversation, now, to be "modern", its English. So its a pleasure to see that the pompousass use the same technique on both sides of the ocean"

Learn the definition already! - "I was in the middle of a Ph.D. in linguistics at Cornell then dropped out about ten years ago. We were taught to scientifically and non-judgmentally describe how people actually use words (even if it's "wrong") rather than how they ought to use them. This went against my grammar nazi soul. That's not why I dropped out, but now that I am no longer officially a linguist I've gone back to unashamedly labeling things "WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!""

Howard Shaw sentenced to 12 weeks' jail - "Senior District Judge See Kee Oon said the fact that Shaw, a prominent green activist and third-generation descendent of Shaw Organization founder Runme Shaw, did not ask the girl about her age showed it was not a 'honest and reasonable mistake'."
Moral of the story: always ask a girl her age! (this includes those you think are 16 or above if you don't pay them)

17-year-old girl pleads guilty to extortion in Internet love scam - "Blinded by love, she acted in a moment of folly. That was the explanation given by the lawyer of 17-year-old Yap Siew Ting, for her involvement in an Internet love scam, which saw one victim cheated of S$97,350... In a long and detailed mitigation, Yap's lawyer Aloysius Tan highlighted her youthful age, describing Yap as "just an unfortunate and impressionable teenager". Mr Tan added that Yap, whose parents divorced last year, "let her emotions and love for a boy rule over her usual rational and thoughtful self." The court also heard that Yap was working part-time at that time and was assured by Soh that his scam was "alright". Mr Tan emphasised that Yap's role was a more passive one compared to Soh's, and that she ended up being misled by him. Yap, who later requested to speak, told the court that she was remorseful and begged for leniency."
Right.

In romance, the hotties stick together - ""Beautiful people marry beautiful people and less beautiful people marry less beautiful people"... more attractive people placed more importance on physical attractiveness above other features in selecting their dates. Less attractive people placed more weight on other qualities, such as sense of humor."

ObscenityLawyer: Porn Trial: This Time it's Extreme - " Today the Crown Prosecution Service will attempt to persuade a jury that images of fisting should be classified as “extreme pornography” with the risk to the defendant of three years in custody, inclusion on the sex offenders' register and damage to his personal and professional standing. All for a type of image which is commonly viewed, of an activity which is itself is legal to perform and is even discussed in the book Fifty Shades of Grey... After being charged, Simon lost both professional and political positions, despite the fact that no pornography was found on any of his work computers. In fact, no pornography was found on Simon's home computers either. Instead, the police had to “interrogate” Simon's personal email account (server) in order to discover a few images they deemed questionable"

Teenage pregnancy: Setting aside childish things | The Economist - "MTV may have been a good influence. In 2010 the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, a non-partisan advocacy group, assigned dozens of teenagers to watch several episodes of “16 and Pregnant”, a reality series that followed a handful of the girls in question. Almost all the young viewers agreed that teenage parenthood was harder than they had imagined... By other measures, curiously, teenagers are still feckless. In 2011 the CDC also reported that they are no more likely to eat a vegetable every day, or to drink milk, than they were in 1991"

This Is How Olympic Divers Really Look While Diving

If Only Singaporeans Stopped to Think: To Singapore... from an expat returning home - "Singapore's impact on most expatriates and other visitors, no matter how long they reside on this island, is often forever. It's the palpable feeling that somehow Singapore gets more things right than most other countries, and that day-to-day life here is on the whole better than in many other places. Not perfect, of course, but better."
If Singapore is so good, why are they leaving?; funny, in other contexts, 'complacency' is supposed to be a bad thing

Why Yes, Those Claw Machines Are Rigged, Says Arcade Operator - "those goddamn claw machines do deliberately have a tissue-thin grip, even when you think you have it lined up directly over that plush toy and can't possibly miss picking it up. The machines have variable PSI strength settings for the claws, wrote TheDJTec. It's designed so that they "pay out" (give you a toy) only as often as state regulations require. I had no idea that there were state regulations concerning this kind of an amusement, but there are"

An Olympic Fencer Refuses To Leave The Floor After Getting Screwed
"It's just a game. Why not put the same energy into helping people rather than train every minute of your life to use an archaic weapon with a blunted point."

Root Beer Float Pops

Japanese engineers have built a giant mech named Kuratas - "The robot can move its torso, arms and hands, and is able to fire 6,000 BB pellets in a minute via its two Gatling guns. It's also controllable via a 3G touch-screen phone if sitting inside the cockpit isn't something you're fond of (you're kidding, right?). There's even a missile launcher that fires plastic bottles at your enemies."