"Unless I am convinced... by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other." - Martin Luther

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One essay down, one essay and one project to go.

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Someone: there's no key for atonal music
for 12-tones, there isn't a distinction between semitones
so you have no such thing as "major" or "minor". just "equality" everywhere, which is why schoenberg sounds like random sound effects

normally, for a fixed key, certain intervals are "favoured"
they just refuse to deliberately choose harmonious chords.
it's like political correctness applied to music

Me: so basically atonal music is purposely bad sounding


Finally, an intelligible explanation of atonal music.

***

Someone went to paste quotes from IMDB into Amazon.com:

Santa's Elf: The Christmas Spirit isn't something you can taste, touch, or even play with. It's something you feel inside. And it's the best feeling there is.
Rito Revolto: Sounds like the flu to me.

Lord Zedd: I detect a sudden weakness in the Morphing Grid.
Goldar: Our armies have been getting stronger, my Lord. I knew if we kept-...
Lord Zedd: Silence, you fool! It is more than that! The Morphing Grid's balance is maintained by the constant struggle between Zordon and myself.
Goldar: Maybe Zordon finally gave up.

***

Subject: A Heartfelt Story


To All American Voters,

I am a senior citizen. During the Clinton Administration I had an extremely good and well paying job.

I took numerous vacations and had several vacation homes.

Since President Bush took office, I have watched my entire life change for the worse.

I lost my job.
I lost my two sons in that terrible Iraqi War.
I lost my homes.
I lost my health insurance.

As a matter of fact I lost virtually everything and became homeless.

Adding insult to injury, when the authorities found me living like an animal, instead of helping me, they arrested me.

I will do anything that Senator Kerry wants to insure that a Democrat is back in the White House come next year.

Bush has to go.

I just thought you would like to know how one senior citizen views the Bush Administration.

Thank you for taking time to read my letter.


Sincerely,

Saddam Hussein

***

In the mid-90s, Disney issued a set of 5 CDs which they billed as "Classic Disney".

In Volume I were such classics as "A Whole New World" from Aladdin and "Chim Chim Cher-ee" from Mary Poppins. However, the presence of such tracks as "A Whale Of A Tale" (from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and "Let's Get Together" (from 1961's The Parent Trap, not 1998's The Parent Trap featuring the pre-bust enhancement Lindsay Lohan) aroused suspicion.

This pattern continued in Volume II, which had songs like "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" (The Lion King) as well as "Best Of Friends" (The Fox and the Hound) - hardly classic, for most purchasers of the CD probably didn't even know of the existence of this song. Volume III had even fewer real classics, and even more sludge dredged up from the vaults like "I'm Professor Ludwig Von Drake" (The Wonderful World Of Color).

By the time you hit Volume IV, you were staring open-jawed at the inclusion of such famous classics as "On The Open Road" (A Goofy Movie) and "Although I Dropped $100,000 (I Found A Million Dollars In Your Smile)" (Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color). And let me not even mention Volume V.

"Classic" Disney, my foot. I'm so glad I didn't buy the boxed set.

***

Someone: juz like y u vent been updating as regularly as ever

Me: haha
I see I have a fan :)
well among other reasons - I've been watching PRiS episodes
haha

Someone: actually
alot of pple from law read ur blog
coz it was v heavily linked to mrbrown
in fact.. almost all the guys in my class read ur blog!

Me: wah lao
eh I can sign autographs. haha


Someone: u shud belong to law
but oh yea... we ve sth against pple who are not frm law within law

Me: how about medicine? :P
I should go sit in law more often for fun. hahahah

Someone: well.. medicine is different i guess
there is a reason why they put the 2 faculties at the opposite ends of the campus

Me: so you won't beat each other up?

Someone: i believe it is to prevent law students from corrupting those angels

yeah
u shud go to sit in law more often
got q a number of pretty girls to look at

Me: haha yeah right
I bet the medicine students think the same thing

are they shrill, anorexic, english speaking bimbos?

Someone: erh.. yeah

Me: if they are I don't want... almost as bad as shrill, anorexic chinese speaking ah lians

***

This week's This is True:

THIS WEEK'S HONORARY UNSUBSCRIBE goes to Richard M. Schmidt Jr. An attorney, during law school Schmidt worked as a radio DJ, and upon graduation chose to specialize in communication law. He eventually ended up as the general counsel to the American Society of Newspaper Editors. In his most important case, he represented the Miami Herald. Florida law required newspapers to print responses from politicians who were criticized by newspapers, a so-called "right of reply". In a case that wound up in the Supreme Court in 1974, Schmidt argued that the law violated a key element of the First Amendment to the Constitution: freedom of the press. In a unanimous decision the Supreme Court struck down the Florida law, firmly establishing that no branch of government has a right to dictate what a newspaper prints. He died October 17 at his home in Washington, D.C., from congestive heart failure. He was 80.
-- Honorary Unsubscribe archive: http://www.HonoraryUnsubscribe.com

Interesting judgment, this.

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Get it right! Jamie Whyte describes himself as "Outraged of Highbury" - someone who endlessly sends furious letters to newspapers complaining about sloppy thinking, logical errors, fallacies and muddles. He does the same at parties - and even on trains. Fortunately he's a professional philosopher or he might have attracted the attention of the authorities long ago.

How widespread is this tendency to seek unnecessary explanations?

It is well known that when gamblers go wrong they find an excuse and as soon things go right they immediately assign it to their own brilliance and insight rather than finding an accidental reason. It's rather similar in the financial industry. Even the bosses buy into this kind of reasoning. They will say "of course I understand why that one went wrong" when they lose millions, and then when it goes well they will say "well done". Everybody systematically overestimates their skill in games of chance. From what research I have seen, financial trading is not much more than a game of chance. There are funds that simply track the market according to a set of simple rules, and others that are very actively managed. But the actively managed ones do not perform better on average. Some will do well in any year but that's what you expect by chance.

But there are star fund managers who do well year after year. So is the advice I read to follow the best managers right?

You have fallen into the error of reading meaning into data where it is not required. Stock traders are quite young; normally you would be quite an old trader at 35. You are probably in the spotlight for four or five years, maximum. There are thousands of traders, so some of them are sure to have five good years in a row. It is purely random. There is nothing you would not expect if it were chance alone.

***

Excerpts from a cat's daily dairy:

Day 183 of My Captivity: My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get in ruining the occasional piece of furniture. Tomorrow I may eat another house plant. Today my attempt to kill by captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking - almost succeeded; Must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair. Must try this on their bed. Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body, in an attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear into their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was. Hmmm , not working according to plan. There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary confinement throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell the food. More importantly, I overheard that my confinement was due to my power of allergies. Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage. I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches. The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit. The bird, on the other hand, has got to be an informant; he speaks with them regularly. I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the high metal room his safety is assured. But I can only wait,; it is only a matter of time.....

***

More insights:

Girls all look the same because:
1) They love observing how other girls whom they think look better than them dress. Then they try to follow suit, thus they all end up looking the same.

2) Because most guys claim that they love girls with long hair, thus almost all girls want to keep long hair.

3) It's very hard to style long hair differently, thus the only way is to dye it. But the prob is everyone also tries that method.

***

Did Jesus Christ Really Live? - Not the most elegant of summaries, but it is a relatively short and compact encapsulation of the most pertinent points.

A Surfeit of Jesuses! – But No "Jesus of Nazareth" - "Josephus, the first century Jewish historian mentions no fewer than nineteen different Yeshuas/Jesii, about half of them contemporaries of the supposed Christ!"


Dark Dungeons

Dungeon Master (sultry girl with dark long hair and black leather outfit): Debbie, your cleric has been raised to the 8th level. I think it's time that you learn how to really cast spells.

2-pigtailed girl: You mean you're going to teach me how to have the real power?

Dungeon Master: Yes, you have the personality for it now.

THE INTENSE OCCULT TRAINING THROUGH D&D PREPARED DEBBIE TO ACCEPT THE INVITATION TO ENTER A WITCHES COVEN

Dungeon Master: I've brought Elfstar to become a priestess and witch.

Coven member: Welcome, Elfstar. You're now a priestess of the craft, and of the Temple of Diana.


It gets better - this girl whose character died hangs herself. Really, these Jack Chick publications are getting more and more hilarious. Next they're going to claim that Pokemon is satanic. Oh, wait, they've already done that.


More fun quotes:

"Why should we take advice on sex from the pope? If he knows anything about it, he shouldn't!" - George Bernard Shaw

"The Christian view that all intercourse outside marriage is immoral was, as we see in the... passages from St. Paul, based upon the view that all sexual intercourse, even within marriage, is regrettable. A view of this sort, which goes against biological facts, can only be regarded by sane people as a morbid aberration. The fact that it is embedded in Christian ethics has made Christianity throughout its whole history a force tending towards mental disorders and unwholesome views of life." - Bertrand Russell

"If God kills, lies, cheats, discriminates, and otherwise behaves in a manner that puts the Mafia to shame, that's okay, he's God. He can do whatever he wants. Anyone who adheres to this philosophy has had his sense of morality, decency, justice and humaneness warped beyond recognition by the very book that is supposedly preaching the opposite." - Dennis McKinsey


Someone: "another anecdote my X'tian fren shared with me on God's powers:

his "sister" (i think u know what i mean) accidentaly stained her h/phone with (greasy) food and went to the toilet to get it washed with water (!)...so as a result the h/p didn't work...and then all the x'tian frens at that study area prayed for the phone and i guess i don't need to tell you that lo and behold, the phone worked again not long after!"

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A Xeno Boy in Sg

"I Xeno Boy will go where no one has ever gone before. I hereby announce the birth of Singapore's first Political Blog. I will give my awesome rants on Singapore politics. I will give the truth as I see it. Before I begin, I am studying political science, of course, in the UK. Yes, I have fucking spoken at Hyde Park before ... I am Xeno Boy. I am the Political Savant. This is Singapore's First Political Blog."

Xeno Boy proclaims that he has set up Singapore's first political blog, but 5 days after starting it, he abandoned it, and hasn't updated for more than a month. Ah well.

***

And finally, the rest of the backlog:


Posting and You - How to post on Internet Forums

Singaporean claims 'burger king' title - "Don Ezra Nicholas stuffed more than three McDonald's hamburgers into his mouth -- without swallowing... Jeffery Koh, 50, became the world's fastest eater of dry biscuits by swallowing three cream crackers in 14.45 seconds, smashing the previous mark of 49.15 seconds set by Ambrose Mendy of Britain in 2002. But other attempts failed. They ranged from the fastest to drink a 14-ounce (400-gram) bottle of ketchup through a straw, to the longest paper airplane flight."
To think that I once laughed at Ma-laysia for having the man who walked backwards and the woman who lived in the room with snakes for a few days

Yale conference examines life, work of Michael Jackson - "Megan Burns, who is pursing a master's degree in fine art, said she looks at Jackson as "a self-created piece of art". "He's contributed to the national discussion of race and gender, and that is an invaluable topic for all of us to discuss," she said."

Navy turns red over blue picture - "More than 250 sailors and civilians attending an annual sexual harassment prevention class at Pearl Harbor got an eyeful when a nude photograph of a woman popped up on the theater screen."

Rabbit invasion puts Roman forts under siege - "Archaeologists say burrows have undermined about 60 defensive sites in Scotland, and some structures are in danger of collapse."

Introduction to Antiprocess [Ed: aka Cognitive Dissonance] - "The Formal Explanation: Antiprocess is the preemptive recognition and marginalization of undesired information by the synergistic interplay of high-priority acquired mental defense mechanisms. An Informal Explanation: People can very cleverly defend their beliefs without having to fully understand the arguments against them. A Very Informal Explanation: They're not being annoying on purpose."

Quick Bust - I find it disturbing that they have testimonials from a 16 year old, and even a 14 year old: "I felt tingling in my breasts so I could tell something was definitely working. I'm ordering my second bottle. Thanks!" -M. Jarvis Age 14

The Meritocracy Myth - "The myth of meritocracy is itself harmful because by discounting the most important causes of inequality, it leads to unwarranted exaltation of the rich and unwarranted condemnation of the poor. We may always have the rich and poor among us, but we need neither exalt the former nor condemn the latter... If meritocracy is a myth, how can the system be made to operate more closely according to meritocratic principles? First, current forms of discrimination could be reduced or eliminated. Second, the wealthy could be encouraged to redistribute greater amounts of their accumulated wealth through philanthropy in ways that would provide greater opportunity for the less privileged. Third, the tax system could be redesigned to be genuinely progressive in ways that would close the distance between those at the top and the bottom of the system. Fourth, more government resources could be allocated to provide more equal access to critical services such as education and health care."
Meritocracy is flawed, like most things, but it is probably the best system we have. People just need to be conscious of its flaws and limitations and stop bandying the concept around as a be all and end all and a solution to all problems.

Caffeine withdrawal recognized as a disorder - "When people don't get their usual dose they can suffer a range of withdrawal symptoms, including headache, fatigue, difficulty concentrating. They may even feel like they have the flu with nausea and muscle pain."
Time to ban coffee and execute those who traffic in it...

time vs space - A maths major getting one semester's worth of credits for cycling through Malaysia, Thailand, through to the Middle East and finally ending in Europe? I never knew NUS was so flexible.