"Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory." - John Kenneth Galbraith


Random Trivia bit: The word envelope was borrowed into English from French during the early 18th century, and the first syllable acquired the pronunciation (ŏn) as an approximation to the nasalized French pronunciation. Gradually the word has become anglicized further and is now most commonly pronounced (ĕn'və-lōp). The earlier pronunciation is still considered acceptable, however. A recent survey reveals that the (ŏn'-) pronunciation for the word envelope is used by 30 percent of the Usage Panel and is recognized as an acceptable variant by about 20 percent of those Panelists who normally use the (ĕn'-) pronunciation. Other similar words borrowed from French in the modern period include envoy (17th century), encore, ennui, ensemble, entree (18th century), entourage, and entrepreneur (19th century). Most retain their pseudo-French pronunciations, with the exception of envoy, which, like envelope, is mainly pronounced with (ĕn) now.

An effective argument against favouring certain pronunciations merely by virtue of etymology

***

It seems someone has received a warning letter from Starhub, dated 11th January, for alleged violation of copyright.

Worse, it says that they, in turn, have received a letter from the infamous law firm Lee & Lee

[Update: Another letter from SCV courtesy of Lee & Lee]

***

I just screwed up my sleep schedule again.

I'm going to be so dead tomorrow.

***

Dilbert strip:

Carol: I just fired off a scathing letter to a columnist for misusing the word "dongle". I'm intoxicated with the feeling of verbal superiority. My sad life has meaning. I feel alive!


Sounds like my sister and, to a lesser extent, me. Heh.

***

A friend of mine, using Trillian 3.0, was unable to connect to M$N (though my Miranda was successful), so we were chatting on ICQ.

It transpired that the reason why he didn't like Miranda was because of its horrible UI.

I then went away for a while and he kept messaging me, not noticing my "Away" status, since Trillian didn't show it in the chat window.

Ah well. I prize functionality over UI. What's the point of a beautiful application that doesn't work?

***

"Using a "setup" program to *UN*install software might seem strange... but it makes perfect sense when you remember that Office is from Microsoft, the company that makes you use the "Start" menu to stop your PC."

Heh.

***

Women accused of 'hot dog' prostitution - "Two Long Island women who sold hot dogs and sodas from a truck were arrested on charges that their menu also featured sexual acts in exchange for money."

Murder prank goes awry; pair arrested - "A pair of pranksters who staged a murder scene inside their home Wednesday landed in jail after a friend who police say was high on methamphetamine phoned authorities, believing one of his pals had killed the other"

The singing toddler - "A nursery song by a four-year-old girl has soared into the pop music charts in Germany, zooming ahead of Kylie Minogue to land at third place, according to music industry sources. Little Joy Gruttmann from Cologne is the youngest recording artist in German history to make it to the Top 10 - with good prospects for making it all the way to the top of the pops during the holiday season. Her tinny-voiced rendition of Schnappi - Das Kleine Krokodil (Snappy - The Cute Crocodile) has put Joy ahead of Minogue's I Believe In You on its way to the top."

Distraught elderly woman tries to rob Pocatello bank (only in Idaho!) - "An elderly woman with a walker, but no weapon, was taken into mental protective custody Tuesday afternoon after she told tellers at Citizen's Community Bank on Flandro Drive she was there to rob the place. The woman said she was poor, and her gun was in hock at a pawn shop, but she was intent on committing a heist."

Lawyer Jokes No Laughing Matter - "Did you hear the one about the two guys arrested for telling lawyer jokes? It happened this week to the founders of a group called Americans for Legal Reform, who were waiting in line to get into a Long Island courthouse. "

Violent sex 'is killing the Tasmanian devil' - "A disease that has devastated the Tasmanian devil population is probably being spread by the animal's boisterous sex life, Australian scientists believe."


In two minds about therapy - "A new play which suggests therapy may increase dependency has reignited the debate about whether it makes people more needy."

The President of Good and Evil by Peter Singer - "Singer examines Bush's ethics from a number of points of view – Utilitarianism, a Judeo-Christian value system, and a Libertarian perspective – and in every case fails to find a consistent framework that would make sense of Bush's moral reasoning. Turning to psychology Singer speculates that Bush's sometimes-rigid adherence to the ‘letter of the law' (but not its spirit) indicates that the president is stuck at what Harvard psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg termed the Conventional Stage of morality, which he describes as, “an orientation toward authority, fixed rules, and the maintenance of social order.” Kohlberg describes this as the level of moral development most often associated with 13 year olds."

***

Beloved Cartoon Character Comes Out of Retirement - "A spokesman for Focus on the Family responded that the organization was happy to see the return of Mighty Mouse, “While Mr. Mouse has had his share of troubles over the years, he is still one of our finest entertainers. His unique style of merriment combined violence and romance without a hint of sexual ambiguity. In short, just what our children need today.”"

Sale of spanking tool points up larger issue - "On a spring day, Susan Lawrence was flipping through a magazine, Home School Digest, when she came across an advertisement that took her breath away. In it, ''The Rod," a $5 flexible whipping stick, was described as the ''ideal tool for child training." ''Spoons are for cooking, belts are for holding up pants, hands are for loving, and rods are for chastening," read the advertisement she saw nearly two years ago for the 22-inch nylon rod. It also cited a biblical passage, which instructs parents not to spare the ''rod of correction.""

Humanists, Atheists Look to Higher Global Profile - "Humanist and atheist groups around the world are looking to boost their profile in 2005 to counter religious fundamentalism and efforts by some Western leaders to relaunch faith as a keystone of national life. Under pressure from the rise of militant Islam, Vatican activism in the European Union and the re-election of a "born-again" Christian to the White House, they feel they must resist to ensure the ideas of secularism survive and spread."

Islamophobia myth - "Does Islamophobia exist? The trouble with the idea is that it confuses hatred of, and discrimination against, Muslims on the one hand with criticism of Islam on the other. The charge of "Islamophobia" is all too often used not to highlight racism but to silence critics of Islam, or even Muslims fighting for reform of their communities."

At long last, Dr Jason Long has managed to get his book BIBLICAL NONSENSE - A Review of the Bible for Doubting Christians published. Good for him! (100% of the text is available at the website for preview)


Debunk'd - The CFI's campus crusade for common sense

"Believers know: Get them while they're young. And they've sent their Christian soldiers onward to America's campuses to convert, cajole, and corral as many more troops as possible. These groups, with names such as the Campus Crusade for Christ, with thousands of campus ministries around the country, are well funded and omnipresent. New York University alone has more than 30 official religious groups on campus. Arrayed against this holy horde are a few stoic nonbelievers, skeptics, atheists, humanists, and agnostics, organized mainly under the banner of the SUNY Buffalo-based Center for Inquiry.

"They [Noebel and LaHaye] seek to advance the Christian biblical worldview and have it replace philosophy, law, history, psychology, and literature as they are now taught in the schools," says Grothe. "It sounds like I'm making it up—it's too ludicrous to believe." Nevertheless, it's the opinion underlying the Left Behind books, which have sold more than 62 million copies.

Grothe makes no bones about the social component of these secularist gatherings, considering that for many attendees, church-as-pickup-spot is out of the question. "Nonreligious people want community also," he says. "When you find someone that you like and who is attractive and shares your basic worldview—how rare is that when your worldview itself is rare?""

***

I have found out just why we have so many damn bazaars in NUS. It seems that the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) mandates that all ECAs hold one bazaar a year to 'inculcate the entrepreneurial spirit'. Once again, social engineering takes its toll on us.

Expectedly, the ENS bazaar had all 7 of the things that all NUS bazaars sell. I also have come up with a list of things that most NUS bazaars have, though these are not as mind-numbingly common as the 7 things almost all NUS bazaars have:

- boxer shorts
- sundresses
- a new age/easy listening music stall which half the time is playing a variant of Pachelbel's Canon
- backpacks/haversacks

I tried to sell an Evenstar to one girl, but she'd bought one in New Zealand already. Gah. Mr Brown did buy one Evenstar and 2 pendants off me though!

One of my blog fans, one of Chara's friends, came down to say hello.

The day after our bazaar ended, one organised by another society popped up in the same spot, with at least 2 stalls (poser shirts and boxer shorts, new age/easy listening music) selling exactly the same stuff and manned by exactly the same people as during ours. And I'm positive I've seen some of the vendors who man the booths many times before. Maybe their business revolves around providing merchandise for NUS bazaars.


For the very low price of $3.90, I got custom-made for me a badge with Wo-hen Nankan's face on it (the picture in question being the first one you see on visiting his site). This most unique and hopefully studily constructed artefact is now pinned onto my bag, so that his hauntingly penetrative eyes will bore into people's souls as I walk down the corridors of the Premier Institution of Social Engineering. (If anyone wants to have a badge custom made, contact me for details)

I'm going to customise one or two more badges. I briefly contemplated getting the "breast rash larvae" pic onto one, but dismissed the idea, no least because I would not be able to look at it myself.


I went to a vending machine to get a snack. Now, this vending machine was of the screw variant - the snacks were wedged in between the coils of a screw, and when the screw turned, it freed one packet which then fell to the bottom of the machine to be collected.

While pondering what to buy, I noticed that by freak chance, one packet of Peanut M&Ms was almost out of the screw. So I selected that particular screw, it turned and I ended up getting two packets for the price of one!


Quotes

[On seeing my custom made Wo-hen Nankan badge] Who is that girl on your bag? [Me: It's a guy.] Who is he? [Me: His name is Wo-hen Nankan... W-O-dash-H-E-N N-A-N-K-A-N] Who is he? A singer? [Me: Yah] What nationality is he? [Me: Vietnamese] I need to know what young people are into. Is he your idol? [Me: Yah]

Actually you all are quite good. You don't ask me for so much. Some people even ask me to upload my scribblings [of working on OHTs].

You need a care'feign fix (caffeine)

The racial of the marginal utilities (ratio)

pair'r'el shift of the budget line (parallel)

Dee cart (Descartes)

[On an irrelevant quote] The student just stuck a quote in there. It could be from a pop song or the Declaration of Independece

This is less than meaningless, this essay. It's about an argument that doesn't even exist.

[On a really bad essay on close reading] Have you learned anything from reading this essay? [Student: That if I don't understand the essay, it's not my fault]

There will

There will be a day, I haven't planned the day yet: I'll come in with a gag. All of you will be doing the talking

export demand for w'air't (wheat)

in this kay (case)

Envelope the extended brain size (Envelop)

[On the holes in the skull below the eyes for nerves to run through] Is this why we have eyebag? (eyebags)