New study links race and DNA material - "A recent study conducted at the Stanford Medical School challenges the widely held belief that race is only a social construct and provides evidence that race has genetic implications... Only four clearly distinguishable clusters appeared. In all but five cases, individuals within each cluster were of the same race, Risch said. “Socially defined categories of race-ethnicity correspond extremely closely to genetically defined categories,” he added."
The differences within a 'sex' - women, say - can be just as great as those between 'sexes' - women versus men, for instance... Thus when people talk about sex, they think they know what they mean because they think they can see it with their own eyes. Yet, did you know that the lovely lady Kumar is supposed to be a man? I did not, until last year, because he looks female. So what you see may not be what you think you are getting... There are no non-reproductive differences that are only to be found in all people of one sex but not people of other sexes. In fact, the differences tend to be distributed in a continuous, overlapping fashion across geographically separated populations... Using the same criteria that are applied to human races, humans simply do not possess genders.

Negotiating with the Chinese: Or How Not to Kowtow - "The Chinese ultimately approach trade talks as if they were a political rather than an intellectual debate, the aim being to win the audience, not the argument. Thus the U.S. negotiating team was composed of trade experts, lawyers and economists, while the Chinese side was made up of politicians and historians. The Americans were there to solve problems; the Chinese to state at every turn that their point of view was correct and justified because of China's historical circumstances or current conditions. And because China is drenched in history, at least one historical point could be found to bolster any argument. In the end, the Chinese goal was to blur the political and philosophical distinctions between the U.S. trading system, which is largely open with some flaws, and the Chinese system, which is essentially a collection of flaws with one or two openings (Some U.S. negotiators saw parallels with the Soviet Union's approach to human rights. The Soviets would routinely find some transgression in the West, particularly in the United States, and advance the moral equivalency argument that all countries have human rights problems. Finally, the Soviets would turn on their previous statement and deny that they had any problem at all)? Talks sometimes took on the air of theater in which the Chinese lines were all scripted. The Chinese were not actually negotiating anything, at least not as Americans understand the term."

Lee Kuan Yew and his Use of Spatial-orientational Metaphors - "The following speech, delivered on the eve of the National Day in 1966, is representative of Lee's rhetorical skills, which is marked with an idealism sponsored by industry and strategy. He presents the case at hand in vivid terms, strategising ways to overcome difficult storms and implementing the course of action that will propel Singapore's relative productivity, worker attitudes and technical skills among the highest in the world. As we will see, Lee uses spatial orientational metaphors to the fullest advantage."

How I got rid of my 'moobs' - "Farcical, saucy, and somewhat tragic, man-breasts make ideal fodder for the British tabloid media. And as someone who sported a spectacular pair for most of his life, I can confirm that people do find them vividly intriguing. During my ample-chested days I lost count of the (unwanted) pleas of others, both male and female, to give them an exploratory mash... Humble in defeat, the two little piles of orangey-pink offcuts resembled Nigella Lawson’s mango salsa. I felt a very masculine rush of man’s mastery over nature. Then the nurses tipped my man breasts into the bin, which dashed any hopes of having them preserved in formaldehyde... I could accept them as part of me, but it was still pretty unpleasant to cast my gaze down, during sex for instance, and see two white chocolate walnut whips dripping down from my chest."

YouTube - The Dawkins Delusion - "Does Richard Dawkins exist? Many people would say yes. Terry Tommyrot thinks otherwise. In a revealing interview on "The Big Questions", Dr. Tommyrot explains how belief in Richard Dawkins is, in fact, a harmful delusion, and how it can be explained scientifically."
Hahahahahahahaha

Asean News Network: A Chronology of Authoritarian Rule in Singapore - "Aug 1997 : The Internal Security Department, Singapore's secret police, was alleged to have burglarised the home of an American academic helping political exile Tang Liang Hong take up a six-month fellowship at an American university. The break-in, which seemed intended to find computer files and other records listing people interested in Singapore affairs, was investigated by local police and the FBI."
Wah, they have lovingly chronicled every event that I can recall since late 1994 to early 2006, as well as some I didn't know about. Looks like my friend is almost right - little has changed.

Eternal Sunset - "Eternal Sunset endeavours to ensure you can enjoy the sunset live from any location, at any time. As the sunset moves westward, Eternal Sunset continuously tunes into different webcams, chasing the sunset around the globe. This service is currently provided through the use of 245 west-facing webcams across 41 countries."

The Straight Dope: What does Queen Elizabeth carry in that purse? - "1 person said she carried nothing at all; it was like a security blanket. I hope you can help."