"Any event, once it has occurred, can be made to appear inevitable by a competent historian." - Lee Simonson

***

"your latest picture trods on the very fine line of sensitivity and political correctness...though of course those are the last two things i expect to see in your blog"

"my god. your lecturer was a fulbright scholar. what's he doing in NUS??"


Someone: "'The camerlengo, now Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo of Spain, must then verify the death — a process which in the past was done by striking the forehead of the pope with a silver hammer." (source)

if he wasn't dead, after the hammering, he would be!'

***

Of all the rants posted on sg_ljers, this must be one of the most misguided:

"On NS issues
Since the media is watching, hopefully this will be published and be brought up to parliament soon.

A group of us think it is very unfair that the SAF reduced the NSF service liability to 2 years and increased NSF's salary and yet does nothing to compensate NS men.

We ORDed in june 2002, one month just before SAF raised the salary of all NSFs. Our final month's corporal salary was less than what a recruit enlisted in july 2002 got. As if it's not infuriating enough, we served the full 2 1/2 years (enlisted dec 1999) while NSFs now only serve 2 years.

Talking about opportunity cost, that's wasting 6 months worth of our precious TIME and taking 6 more months of shit as compared to the chalet lifestyle that NSFs these days are enjoying. In terms of monetary figures, taking a fresh graduate's pay of $2k as a gauge, that equates to $12k loss in job revenue.

My question is: With the welfare that they are giving to NSFs, shouldn't they compensate the NSmen in some way as well, in terms of reducing/eliminating our NS liability (since 2weeks of reservist every year * 13 years = 26weeks = exactly 6months) or backpay? Either that or they should increase the NS liability to 52 weeks for those enlisted from july 2002 onwards.

By the way: They only paid about $9 for a NS corporal to go take his IPPT now. WTF?"


My response (a glorified rehash of an old post):

"So what if other people suffered and are suffering less than you? Does a reduction in other people's suffering increase yours?

This is the sort of attitude - "since I had to suffer so much, other people must also suffer, or it will have been unfair to me!" that makes the human condition so miserable.

No matter when they had implemented the indenture reduction and pay raise, people who had finished their time in the not-so-gilded cage would have complained. What, then? Continue making everyone suffer more than the Powers That Be decree that they absolutely have to?

I suppose you also recommend that contemporary Chinese women bind their feet, otherwise it would have been "unfair" to the Chinese women of ages past who had theirs bound.

If, when a policy is changed, all who had previously had to suffer under the old policy had to be compensated, I wager we'd see much less change and progress in society.

'You young women are so lucky in getting to vote! In my day, we were disenfranchised. I demand that for each election we missed, we get paid remunerations!'

Bah."

Others in the thread seem to share my sentiments.

[Addendum: I like this comment:

"The NS cycle has also been revised from 9 high keys and 4 low keys training to 5 high keys, 3 low keys and 3 Basic Individual Training.

So, does that mean that you should be drawing even lesser for your ippt stint and do more high key trainings?

If one day they decided to increase to 3 years or more, do you want to compensate the difference?"]

***

Someone sent me this picture and commented that it would be a good wallpaper. Apparently he was unaware of the provenance of said picture.

My, oh my, word does spread.

***

On the appendix:

"Appendix: the appendix is part of the lymphatic system that is otherwise found in many parts of aour body (to drain liquids from tissues). Removal of the appendix usually has no effect on the performance of a person. However, lots of people have died because the blood circulation to the appendix is so poor that infections are common. If an intelligent designer wanted a larger lymphatic system this goal could easily be accomplished, but using a blind sac connected to the digestive tract with poor supply of blood vessels is probably the dumbest way I can think off. Instead, the appendix happens to be found in a part of the digestive tract where other mammals have a much larger blind sac for digestion. So, what is more likely: that the designer had a bad day or the appendix in humans is the remnant of its former glory? That's up to you to decide..."

Heh.


And a discussion on... Nipples!

A: I know im going to get a can of whoopass for this, but, man nipples = TEH SEXY? so much so they decided to put the nipples on batman armor (disclaimer: comment is NOT reflective of forumer's tastes!). That has got to count for something. Therefore nipples = sexual ornament for males?

Making this a little more fun, lets have a little poll: Are nipples on man considered sexy?

Since im not so free as o photoshop-edit out the nipples in a topless man vs the same with nipples, im using this: Attached below are the pictures of

A)NON NIPPLED-BATMAN and

B) NIPPLED BATMAN.

WHICH, IN YOUR OPINION, IS SEXIER?

Unfortunately i cant think of a control example. but still...

All ye forumers, flame me not, and cast your votes! After polls we might discover the truth to the vestigial mammary glands in males then..

B: Hmm, I would suppose so, not because of aesthetics or individual preferences, but because of the intrinsic connection between prime erogeneous zones and sexual appeal. These parts of our body contain the most nerve endings and feature prominently in sexual stimulation. Research has shown that there is also a direct connection between the response to stimulus of a particular body part and the likelihood that the subject considers this feature 'sexy' in others. For instance, if a woman gets a huge turn on from having her neck stimulated, she might consider the neck to be a sexy feature on guys. This was quite a leaky argument, I remember it being 'bombed' quite badly but it serves an uillustrative purpose here. The link to physical arousal thus leads us to characterise certain body parts as 'sexy' even though they have no absolute function during sexual reproduction.

C: nipples may be 'sexy' in the sense that *** said, that they contain a large concentration of nerve endings. but i disagree male nipples play any role in sexual selection in modern times. they're not at all visible in most social situations, yet people still get attracted to each other in spite of this. whatever meaning they have in men is probably insignificant compared to other modes of sexual selection (broad shoulders, deep voice, pecs etc.)

ps. i vote yes

D: I guess they do have their direct functions in sexual reproduction, by having many nerve endings on the nipples (just my speculation, pls correct if needed) the brain will receive the information that sex is on the way and then will order the appropriate organ to release certain hormones. Thus the feeling and calling of something such as nipples as sexy.

E: Am not too sure I find Batman--whether with or sans nipples sexy, so I'll absatin from voting. But I do think nipples on a man are sexy. And you should poll the guys--they will tell you that they are also one of the chief erogenous zones on the body (for men more so than for women). So.. you draw your own conclusions about them being redundant =)

F: how do u know nipples are more impt erogeneous zones for men than for women? cuz women have more?

G: Well i guess they put nipples on the batman armour to make it look more like a man, to make the character more realistic and less cartoonish more than to make him look sexier. However, this vestigial mammary gland of men probably had some significant use in the past? Men with nipples indeed appear sexier but don't all men have nipples? hmm..

H: Wait, wait, I'm confused now-- are you trying to say that male nipples have a purpose in that they increase the sexual attractiveness of a man?

Because, Batman aside, I've yet to see a man who doesn't have nipples, so I'm not sure if this counts as a sexual selection trait?


(But I vote for the nipples anyway.)

I: maybe nipples arent really sexual displays, as someone pointed out; if you found your date had no nipples, you wouldnt be thinking "hmm, not so sexy after all", you'd probably be thinking "FREAK." Like someone with no nose. More of defect than anything else. And so comes this question: IS the male nipple really useless after all (other than sexual stimulus)? Or, im thinking, does it serve some obscure endocrine purpose, even if diminished somewhat?

J: Nipples Nipples Nipples...I think men look better with nipples, but definitely not on the armor! So I would have to go for A cos the pic of Batman with nipples on his armor looks like a total freak..He probably uses them to distract his enemies....That's my thought.

***

The Encounter - a priest encounters some not-so-gullible townsfolk.

"Townsman 1: We had a brutal murder here a few years ago . . . a man threatened to kill his own daughter if she left the house that night. She left the house to go be with her friends, and when she came back he killed her. I would not call that a loving parent, even if the child did disobey. No all-loving creature would do that, or permit that. Never.

Priest: It's you who chooses whether or not to go to hell; God only complies with your wishes!

T1: That's the excuse the killer tried to use, believe it or not. He said that he gave his daughter a clear choice, informed her of the consequences of her actions, and simply complied with her wishes. Needless to say, the jury didn't accept it.

Townsman 2: Besides, none of us believed that this guy existed before you came, and none of us were infinitely tortured.

P: No; you go to hell after you die.

Townsman 3: After you die? How can you feel any pain after you die? Your tactile senses are physical, just like your other senses.

P: Your soul feels the pain of--

T2: But souls are immaterial, so how can they feel anything without physical sense organs?"

***

Enhanced searching with Firefox - "Now Google's faster than ever on Firefox and Mozilla browsers. When you do a search on these browsers, we instruct them to download your top search result in advance, so if you click on it, you'll get to that page even more quickly."
Finally, a major site uses pre-fetching!

Mammon was not originally a demon but simply the Syrian term for 'money' or 'riches'... By biblical exegesis and popular misunderstanding he developed a variety of corrupt names which flourished in a number of demonologies, and eventually he emerged in popular consciousness as the demon of money, riches and covetousness; or (more precisely) the demon of love of money.

Cold hands, warm heart - "A lovestruck American who tried to walk from North Dakota to Winnipeg is recovering from severe frostbite in a hospital in Manitoba... The 41-year-old self-employed mechanic has a robbery conviction that means he can't legally enter Canada."

Lawyer: Pair tried to save Mr. Kibbles - "Police reports, however, say Cortes was upset that the cat used his new pickup truck as a litter box, and that Zukerman lured Mr. Kibbles to Cortes by baiting him with a bowl of cat food and drawing him from his home in the Victoria Isles town house complex. Cortes then snatched the cat up, drove it 15 miles west on Lox Road out to the Everglades and dumped it, according to police reports."

No getting stoned in new Bible - "For centuries scholars have argued over the most delicate nuances of biblical texts, passionately debating whether key words should be tweaked to reflect cultural changes. But, despite the fervent exchange of such learned views, there has been no fretting about whether the Bible endorses dope-smoking. Until now. A 15-strong panel of eminent theologians and linguists was so concerned that young people reading the Bible today are confusing the phrase 'stoned' not with Old Testament executions but with drugs, that it has suggested a radical clarification to a forthcoming edition of the sacred text."

Malaysia car thieves steal finger - "Police in Malaysia are hunting for members of a violent gang who chopped off a car owner's finger to get round the vehicle's hi-tech security system."
The darker side of fingerprint recognition systems.

Google Gulp - "At Google our mission is to organize the world's information and make it useful and accessible to our users. But any piece of information's usefulness derives, to a depressing degree, from the cognitive ability of the user who's using it. That's why we're pleased to announce Google Gulp (BETA)™ with Auto-Drink™ (LIMITED RELEASE), a line of "smart drinks" designed to maximize your surfing efficiency by making you more intelligent, and less thirsty."

Koran scholar: US will cease to exist in 2007 - "A thorough analysis of the Koran reveals that the US will cease to exist in the year 2007, according to research published by Palestinian scholar Ziad Silwadi."

The top search result on Google for "the truth shall set you free" is an anti-religious site. Eheh.