"It is impossible to imagine Goethe or Beethoven being good at billiards or golf." - H. L. Mencken

Random Playlist Song: Trevor Pinnock - The English Concert and Choir: Handel - Messiah - Worthy Is The Lamb That Was Slain - Amen (chorus)

Worthy is the lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to god by his blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. Blessing and honour, glory and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the lamb, for ever and ever. Amen.

Thus ends my Messiah run. I may or may not have other christmas songs in this space, depending on my mood.


Random Trivia bit: Goya, a painter known for his paintings of the Spanish court in the late 18th century and early 19th century, suddenly went deaf, which spurred the creation of engravings of the underside and mysteries of court life, 'Los Caprichos'. (Art History Challenge)

***

A friend sent me a paper he had written for a conference, and I suggested a new, more refreshing aspect and (naturally) more controversial aspect of the topic to explore.

His reply?

1. there is utterly no information on it
2. won't have sources.
3. won't have sources, means u get fucked in conference

cos if u are breaking in with a new idea ar
u need lots of evidence. u mean like a long period of investigation

remember most academic conference are scientifically based, not rhetorically based.

Indeed, from my scattered readings of academic works, I find that they're littered with footnotes and attributions, like little homages by the authors to friends and mentors in the academic world.

Just why is it so important to have dozens, if not hundreds of footnotes? Are new ideas really so weak if they do not have the weight of previous ideas behind them?

I am reminded of 2 apt quotes on this issue:

"If you want someone to believe something you said, tell them Benjamin Franklin said it"

"The average Ph.D. thesis is nothing but a transference of bones from one graveyard to another." - J. Frank Dobie

I do not see how heavy overreliance on old bones is going to help anyone advance the cause of knowledge and truth. As time goes by, lists of citations will just grow ever longer and advancement ever more difficult.

u have to remember in the academic world, stature is impt. no one is going to accept ur ideas if u have no stature

u got to build on others, b4 u can venture out to say ur own

if u read early works by social scientists, many of them did not create something out of nothing. but once they have some stature, their works are seen and respected or watever

but truth is, if u have no credentials at the start, it's not worth looking at lor
it's not like the economic market where the strongest and most creative can win

Ah well.

***

Hooker Barbie by Alexander Renault: A list of Barbie dolls with newly added realistic twists

I especially like:

#4) African Genital Mutilation Barbie: She has a perpetual frown but everyone in her village respects her now even more.

#6) Multiple Personality Barbie (AKA Dissociative Integration Disorder Barbie): She has difficulty recalling her own name and comes with nine different complete outfits. She usually prefers to be called Lilli, although no one seems to know why.

#9) Gang Bang Barbie: One of our most controversial Barbie dolls ever created, this Sagittarian free sexual spirit enjoys group sex even though Procensorship Feminist Barbie has forbidden her to talk about it or write her memoirs. Gang Bang Barbie is not available in Canada, Russia, or Utah.

#13) Gestapo Barbie: This little number is nobody's pushover. She comes complete with a black Nazi SS outfit and matching riding crop, all accented by her lovely all-American blonde hair and blue eyes. Pull her string and hear her shout, "SCHNELL!!! SCHNELL!!! SCHNELL!!!"

#14) Dr. Laura Barbie: Last, but certainly not least, we have this astute little social critic. She comes with a Ph.D. in physiology but tells everyone she is a psychologist. Dr. Laura Barbie tells everyone how to live in the glorious rays of God's light and espouses the importance of traditional family values. She is absolutely furious with Ken right now since he squealed about how she is actually divorced, has never procreated, and that no one in her family of origin speaks to her anymore.


Ah, but this page is intensely disrespectful so many different groups. That's the price of humour, I guess.

***

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me
Black as the Pit from pole to pole
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud
Under the bludgeoninigs off chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed

Beyong this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade
And yet the menance of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid

It matters not how strait the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul

- William Earnest Henley

Not all poetry is irritating and incomprehensible. But then, this is 19th century poetry, so I guess modern poetry has been impelled to reach new depths of incomprehensibility in order to be "refreshing", "relevant" and "ground-breaking", instead of actually being good.

Commentary on Invictus:

"The poem represents secular humanism, the spirit of the Victorian age, you could say, the rise of Darwin and the sciences as a challenge to traditional thought and creationism. Really Matthew Arnold, a contemporary of Henley's, wrote of the same spirit.

Henley's other poems wouldn't be recognized. Henley can't compete with his contemporaries, such as Tennyson, Arnold, Browning, and Thomas Hardy -- the real luminaries of this period.

"Invictus" was his 15 minutes of fame."

***

Dec 17, 2004
Police did right in rejecting gay party

THE decision of the police not to give a licence for the Christmas 'gay party' planned by Fridae.com ('It's no go for planned Christmas 'gay party' '; ST, Dec 9), as this undermines the public interest, is to be strongly commended.

Given the alarming Aids epidemic Singapore is facing, any event which would threaten to aggravate this problem and endanger the public health cannot be allowed.

The police noted in their press statement that they had noticed same-sex couples 'openly kissing and intimately touching each other' during other Fridae.com-organised events. Furthermore, they noted that the use by patrons of toilets meant for the opposite sex suggested most patrons were 'probably gays or lesbians and that the event was almost exclusively for them'.

As Straits Times Senior Writer Andy Ho noted recently: 'It is homosexuals who engaged in condomless anopenetrative sex that are culpable of spreading HIV in Singapore', causing the 'second wave of HIV here and worldwide'.

To facilitate or allow such activities to carry on unchecked would constitute a gross breach of the public trust and be highly irresponsible. The Aids problem cannot be ignored.

Blatant flaunting of homosexual activities is offensive to the conservative mainstream which wants to see enduring standards of public decency and morality upheld - it would be regressive to allow this to degenerate.

It is heartening to read that the police authorities will be scrutinising applications for similar future events with an eye to protecting the health of our nation and our social well-being. Such vigilance warrants the nation's gratitude and thanks.

Thio Su Mien (Dr)

The Moral Majority strikes again. This is just begging for parody.


July 17, 1964
Police did right in rejecting religious procession

THE decision of the police not to give a license for the religious 'procession to commemorate the Prophet Mohammad's birthday' planned by the Muslim society ('It's no go for planned religious 'procession'; ST, Jul 9), as this undermines the public interest, is to be strongly commended.

Given the alarming religious and racial tension Singapore is facing, any event which would threaten to aggravate this problem and endanger public safety cannot be allowed.

The police noted in their press statement that they had noticed Muslim men 'touching their foreheads to mosque floors' during other events organised by the Muslim community. Furthermore, they noted that the use of mosques exclusively by men suggested that women were 'discriminated against by Islam and that the event was almost exclusively for them [men]'.

As Straits Times Senior Writer Bob Tan noted recently: 'It is Muslims who engage in global Jihad, suicide bombings and running amok with parangs, that are culpable of wrecking the fragile peace we have in our fait city', causing 'the populace to live in fear'.

To facilitate or allow such activities to carry on unchecked would constitute a gross breach of the public trust and be highly irresponsible. The religious problem cannot be ignored.

Blatant flaunting of muslim activities is offensive to the conservative mainstream which is intolerant of other races and religions, and uses this secret intolerance as an excuse to uphold 'public standards of decency and morality' - it would be regressive to allow this to degenerate.

It is heartening to read that the police authorities will be scrutinising applications for similar future events with an eye to protecting the health of our nation and our social well-being. Such vigilance warrants the nation's gratitude and thanks.

George Lim


I trust all right-minded people will find the above parody offensive, bigoted, wrong-headed, intolerant and inflammatory.

They may then proceed to consider just how homophobia is different from religiophobia, or otherwise, as the case might be.


Someone commented that she would never have seen a thread of similarity between religiophobia & homophobia other than that they both are phobias.

The similarity is that they both basically come from the line of thinking: "They are different. I don't like what's different. What's different is wrong and immoral. Therefore we should stamp out those who deviate"

***

110 China women held in Geylang raid

The last sentence is instructive: "During the eight-hour operation, police also booked 57 vehicles for illegal parking in Geylang and towed away four motorcycles parked illegally near Lorong 15."

It's like how all the CCTV cameras they installed for "security" reasons to "deter terrorists" will eventually be used for much more mundane purposes, to enforce pre-existing laws. The rationale? "Since they're already there we might as well use them". And so a measure ostensibly for security will in fact be used for normal law enforcement.

***

for casino:

"As someone who has had a relative gamble away a fortune, I am for a casino. The serious addicts will gamble whether or not there is a casino. There are underground dens and plenty of people to entice you if you know where to look. And trust me, those who are predisposed to getting addicted will find a way to lose their pants through gambling.

If we do have a casino, the difference is that the huge sums of money lost to illegal gambling dens will go to our coffers. And we will definitely get more tourist revenue. Did you know there are plenty of Chinese tourists who go to nearby countries with briefcases full of US dollars to gamble? They can afford to lose hundreds of thousands just for the kick. These are the ones whose money the singapore casino would target.

It seems to me that this is an instance of the S'pore government changing its stance to suit the times ( ie, status as a hub is being threatened by malaysia, hk, china, korea so an alternative revenue source is needed), and some people aren't appreciating it, eh? If you don't have a gambling streak in you, even if there were ten casinos in the vicinity, you wouldn't be tempted."

***

Anime Ethics and Legality FAQ 2.01

Basically, all this means is that you should avoid getting people at the related companies ticked at you. If you do something that annoys them, and itís barely legal (or even completely legal), they can STILL sue you. Sure, they might lose the suit, but in the meantime youíre out a lot of money for your lawyer, not to mention time and stress involved.

Corporate misuse of the law is most unnerving

I call this the "Fushigi Yuugi" effect. While it's impossible to -prove- that this series would have never come out in the US without the extensive fansubbing efforts of Karen Duffy, I don't know anybody that believes otherwise.

Lax copyright rules can actually help companies.

***

Where Have All the Intellectuals Gone? - "Furedi argues that the expansion of higher education in the UK has occurred side by side with a widespread erosion of educational standards and a steady rise in cultural illiteracy. The explanation for this paradoxical state of affairs lies, according to Furedi, in the rise of an instrumentalist ethos that treats knowledge and culture as means for achieving economic and political objectives rather than as ends in themselves. The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake is now regarded by the political elite as a bit dodgy (to quote Charles Clarke, the secretary of state for education); instead, education must now justify itself in terms of the economic benefits it provides to stakeholders."

Cleopatra: Scientist, Not Seductress? - "Medieval Arabic texts suggest that Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII was a brilliant early mathematician, chemist and philosopher who wrote science books and met weekly with a team of scientific experts, according to a forthcoming book. If historians can verify the medieval accounts, then the real Cleopatra likely bore little resemblance to the sexy seductress described by Greek and Roman scholars."
'It was not just a lighthouse to guide ships, it was a magnificent telescope and it had a huge lens that could burn the oncoming ships of enemies that were going to attack Egypt.' - I think this Arab scholar has had too much coffee.

Conversational Terrorism: How NOT to Talk! - "FILIBUSTER: To take an extraordinary amount of time or go to great technical depth to wear out the other person and get time on your side. The other person is pushed to give up and agree with you rather than endure the torture of hearing you go through another sincere, long-winded answer."

Call to legalise live organtrade - Commentary: "The likelihood of such a problem cropping up would be for such transplants such as kidneys and livers amongst others. And while it is probably very likely that such transplants would go to the rich, we have to face the fact that already money is important in the kind, type, quality and extend of medical treatment that can be gotten. Even if one wants to consider equity, at least this frees up dialysis machines and beds and waiting lists so why not? The trade apparently is flourishing so regulation would be useful to minimise the harm and prevent abuses already occuring today."

Weird Thunderbird extension - "The idea behind Quitomzilla is the one of positive reinforcement. It has been proven to be a good method to help people quitting cigarettes. In Spain (where the extension comes from), the Windows app. "Quitómetro" (brother of Quitomzilla) has been supported by two big societies helping people to quit cigarettes."

matching tracksuits: Polish Christmas Carols - "Christmas in Poland is not the commercialized ugliness that it is in America (though it is changing). Since Poland is around 95% Catholic, Christmas has an enormous religious significance, second only to Easter. It stands to reason, then, that there are numerous Polish Christmas carols. So, as a gift to anyone who’s interested, here are six Polish Christmas carols."

The History of the Paperclip