Links - 10th February 2011

"In case you're worried about what's going to become of the younger generation, it's going to grow up and start worrying about the younger generation." - Roger Allen

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how to: pore strips - "You know those Biore pore strips you buy at the drugstore for about $12 a pop? Yeah, those. Today I’m going to teach you how to make your own homemade pore strips." I almost feel like trying this

Wikipedia Ponders Its Gender-Skewed Contributions - "Women are less willing to assert their opinions in public... the gender breakdown of contributors to “public thought-leadership forums,” a participation rate of roughly 85-to-15 percent, men to women, is common — whether members of Congress, or writers on The New York Times and Washington Post Op-Ed pages"
Of course, you have people claiming that Wikipedia is sexist and racist because some articles are longer than others

YouTube - USB Wine, telechargez vos vins en direct des domaines !

Chao Ah Gua (by name of Helena 94334141) cheats guys' hard-earned money - "This is a real story of an Ah Gua sex predator, by the fake name of Helena, using sex as a bait, prowling on adult males for their hard-earned money. His heinous acts date back to 2004"

Abortion Doesn't Increase Mental Health Risk, But Having A Baby Does
Interestingly, this study was funded by an organization "which supports abortion rights organizations and projects", but the usual people who complain about conflicts of interest won't here

The Straight Dope: Could early man only see three colors? - "1. All languages contain terms for white and black.
2. If a language contains three terms, then it contains a term for red.
3. If a language contains four terms, then it contains a term for either green or yellow (but not both).
4. If a language contains five terms, then it contains terms for both green and yellow.
5. If a language contains six terms, then it contains a term for blue.
6. If a language contains seven terms, then it contains a term for brown.
7. If a language contains eight or more terms, then it contains a term for purple, pink, orange, grey, or some combination of these."

The Empire of Lies by Guy Sorman - "Popular discontent simmers, especially in the countryside, where it often flares into violent confrontation with Communist Party authorities. China’s economic “miracle” is rotting from within. The Party’s primary concern is not improving the lives of the downtrodden; it seeks power more than it seeks social development... Some families found themselves stripped of everything simply for acknowledging publicly that their children had vanished at Tiananmen Square... When Bill Clinton visited Henan in 2005 to distribute AIDS medicine provided by his foundation, for example, the Party prevented him from visiting the worst-off villages... I’ve been to many Chinese villages, and everywhere I have encountered the peasantry’s feelings of helplessness and anger when dealing with the Communist authorities... Some experts think that the true figure [of incidents of unrest] is upward of 150,000 a year, and increasing... The agents kidnapped 17,000 women, forcing abortions on those who were pregnant—in some cases, immersing seven- to eight-month-old fetuses in boiling water—and sterilizing those who weren’t"

The Eloquent Peasant » Blog Archive » Statues of Tutankhamun damaged at the Egyptian Museum
Luckily Egyptian museums outside the country are safe; this is a good argument for sharing cultural heritage with the world instead of hoarding everything for political purposes

Foursquare For Sex - CollegeHumor video

CONCLUSIVE PROOF - That There Is No God and Humans Are Essentially Evil - Vice Magazine - "If a man walked near her, she would turn herself around, present herself, and start gyrating and going through the motions. She was being used as a sex slave... You could choose a human if you preferred, but it was a novelty for many of the men to have sex with an orangutan. They shaved her every other day"

Can Power Rangers stage mighty revival?

Fate of Coptic Christians in post-Mubarak Egypt worries some - "Copts complain Muslims are able to get away murdering them with impunity much like whites did in the South under Jim Crow, and the government discriminates against them by placing restrictions on the building and repair of churches while not imposing a similar rule on mosques"

Divorce judge orders crash amputee to hand over most of his £500,000 compensation to ex-wife

Man takes sex dolls on holiday - "Dave Hockey, 57, insists his wife "doesn't mind" about his £16,000 bizarre trip of a lifetime... "My wife understands it is a hobby. She isn't threatened by the dolls she knows I'm not going to run off with an 80lb piece of silicone shaped like a woman""

Low-cut dentist dresses distract patients - "A German dentist has bought low-cut dresses for herself and her nurses to distract patients as she works on their teeth... "The most important thing for us is to take away the patients' fear. The sight of cleavages gets patients narcotised and distracted from the pain rather quickly." She added: "Some patients' mouths are already wide open on entering the practice - and that is just what a dentist wants"... For Dr Klarkowski the investment paid off - she has a third more patients since the change - all of them male. She added: "It could be that the cleavage is a little distracting but in the end it's me who has to concentrate and the patient can perhaps think about something different and relax during the treatment." One of Dr Klarkowski's employees, Larisa Hrustic, said: "I much prefer working in a dirndl, I enjoy looking good at work and it's a lot more fun since we had the new outfits""

Most would move to Canada, if they could: Poll - "A majority of people from around the world would move to Canada if presented with the opportunity... Eight in ten respondents (79 per cent) said they think Canadians enjoy one of the best qualities of life anywhere in the world"

Gender differences in erotic plasticity: the female sex drive as socially flexible and responsive. - "A large assortment of evidence supports 3 predictions based on the hypothesis of female erotic plasticity: (a) Individual women will exhibit more variation across time than men in sexual behavior, (b) female sexuality will exhibit larger effects than male in response to most specific sociocultural variables, and (c) sexual attitude-behavior consistency will be lower for women than men. Several possible explanations for female erotic plasticity are reviewed, including adaptation to superior male political and physical power, the centrality of female change (from no to yes) as a prerequisite for intercourse, and the idea that women have a milder sex drive than men"

United Kingdom Venn Diagram « Grey's Blog - "After many requests, I’ve made a poster version of my ‘The Difference Between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England Presentation‘"

Why ARE women's breasts getting bigger? The answers may disturb you... - "L-cup breasts weigh approximately a stone. Since Terri was a ­teenager, she has sought out specialist lingerie and suffered almost constant physical discomfort as a result of carrying such a heavy load... [Besides obesity,] ‘Girls today reach puberty earlier than ever before, and are going on to have fewer ­children and breastfeeding for less time. As a result, we have far more periods than our ancestors would have had and we are exposed to more monthly surges of oestrogen, which stimulates ovulation... Pregnancy and breastfeeding have a ­protective effect against breast cancer because they control the hormones which stimulate the growth of new cells in breasts’... about two-thirds of the milk we consume comes from pregnant cows. To ensure that a dairy cow has a steady ­supply of milk, she is almost constantly pregnant... 'Because my breasts are so large, strangers will grab and touch me when I’m out, sometimes in front of my ­children... Women are wary of me, because they see my figure as overtly, perhaps threateningly, sexual. I’m automatically ­considered a tart’"
Casting aspersions on those who don't want something (e.g. a job, life) just because others want it is like saying women who have breast reduction surgery are stupid because there are those who would kill for bigger breasts

Using Evolutionary Psychology To Breakdown Pop Music - "Throughout this song, Bieber appeals to major aspects of female psychology and it’s helping him sell millions of records. He’s exhibiting athletic prowess with his dance moves, he’s signaling commitment, and he’s demonstrating his plentiful resources to provide for her"

Without language, numbers make no sense

How Tech Tools Transformed New York's Sex Trade - "“Dating,” “massage,” “escort,” and “dancing” have replaced hustling and streetwalking. A luxury brand has been born... Streetwalkers: Keep working to support drug habits. Escorts: Keep working to pay for clothing and shoes... “You’ll make about 50 percent more with a good boob job,” one woman said. Other things that can increase a sex worker’s earning power: 1. Dying her hair blond., 3. BlackBerrys. To clients, this symbol of professional life suggests the worker is drug- and disease-free... I asked [a pimp] how pimping experience helps him in the legit economy: “You learn one thing,” he said. “For a good blow job, a man will do just about anything. What can I do with that knowledge? I have no idea”... A sex worker always carries: Extra panties. “Always bring them—men pay for souvenirs”... 83 percent have a Facebook page"

Protests across the UK expected for Save Our Libraries Day - "Councils hard-pressed by government budget cuts say the harsh reality is that difficult choices must be made, with other vital services including those for the elderly and disabled also crying out for funds. Keith Mitchell, the council leader in Oxfordshire, where Philip Pullman lives, has queried whether local authors have "thought through the impact of their messianic message about literature on the most vulnerable in our society""
Perhaps they would rather cut the NHS, welfare or foreign aid instead

Review: Liu Da Ma Charcoal BBQ Restaurant

"There are no secrets better kept than the secrets that everybody guesses." - George Bernard Shaw

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Barbecue to your heart's content
(cross-posted on HGW)

China-style lamb skewers have come to Singapore.

In Northern China you can see hole-in-the-wall places selling lamb skewers. Here you get to sit down and do it yourself (they can do it for you too if you want).

For those who normally dislike lamb, the lamb skewers here are good as they are heavily seasoned, which gets rid of most of the smell. You can then sprinkle on cumin mix, chili powder and salt to taste. The cuts of lamb aren't that good, but for 80 cents a stick at a sit-down restaurant there was already less fat and tendon than I expected; besides, the portion is bigger than your average satay stick. Although the charcoal pit in front of you is touted as being 'smokeless' (there's some suction mechanism), it doesn't always work; during my first visit we got smoke in our faces, but today managed to warm our pre-cooked skewers happily.

For those into exotic foods, all manner of exotic internal organs like chicken hearts, pig's intestines and beef testicles are available on skewers, and they do a crunchy pig ear salad. Okay I made the testicles up, but you can find almost every other animal part one would want to eat (and some one wouldn't...) For the less adventurous you can also find things like shishamo, Golden Dragon sausages, sliced buns and sweat corn (sic) on stick, and if you delight in culinary sacrilege you can even get that staple of Singaporean 'barbecues': crabstick. And if you need a break from grilling stuff on a stick, you can have hot and cold side dishes which comes on plates like potato strips stir fried in a spicy sauce and 'Japanese' cucumber in a hot-sour sauce; more than 5 types of Northern Chinese dumplings can also tempt your palate (though I prefer Cantonese shui kao).

To wash everything down they have some Chinese beers, as well as a sour plum drink, and 2 fruit drinks (yellow peach and hawthorn) from China.

Those who need proper crockery to eat should beware though - you get small metal ashtrays by default (are they to put vinegar in? to throw lamb tendon on? to support your half-eaten dumplings?). For those who prefer a better ambience (and the chance to drink red wine with your meal), there's a more atas-ly furnished outlet at 26 Geylang Lorong 11. The prices seem the same.

Finally, a cautionary note from the restaurant itself, as seen on the wall: 'Contact lense user please be away from charcoal or you will never see it'

Observations - 7th February 2011

"I cannot call to mind a single instance where I have ever been irreverent, except toward the things which were sacred to other people." - Mark Twain

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If Dragon Age is the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect is the same for Knights of The Old Republic. The Old Republic doesn't count - it's an MMO.

Perhaps people like pets and kids as they're a socially sanctioned arena to regress to childish behavior (with significant others, one regresses less often, and has other benefits)

People who threaten to kill themselves just want attention. Those who are serious don't give you a chance to stop them. This is why women attempt suicide at a greater rate than men, but fewer die in the process

I'm even more lukewarm to Lieder than Opera as it has even less for me. Besides drama and emotion, Opera has story, sets, cheap tunes interaction

If nurses are the pride of Singhealth, what're the doctors?


Do people who keep talking about self-fulfilling prophecies buy insurance?

Comparatively little work seems to have been done applying postcolonial theory to Latin America, even though many of the familiar criticisms are very applicable. The most likely reason for this is that Latin American countries had white elites, which eliminates the raison d'être of postcolonialism.

With regard to Ladies Nights, if you go by the sex stated on the Identity Card, transsexuals are oppressed. Meanwhile, if you use external appearance, non-feminine women will be the ones who have structural violence inflicted upon them. What's a club to do? You can't win (even if men, recognising that Ladies Nights are in their interests, don't also protest)!

Amused that there're 97,800 results for "christianophobie" but only 37,300 for "christianophobia". Meanwhile the corresponding numbers for "islamophobie" and "islamophobia" are 318,000 and 5,210,000. Telling.


Is it more effective to vote with your feet or with your wombs?

Given that prostitution is legal and regulated in Singapore, talking about "vice" is sheer hypocrisy

I am saddened that when injustice is accepted, attempts to escape injustice are branded unjust (this originally applied to Slavery, but I can see it in other contexts as well).

I was amused to learn that the 1950 Maria Hertogh riots (always trotted out as an example of why what passes for "racial harmony" is important) were actually anti-colonial, only whites were attacked and that Chinese also joined in the fun.

Observation seems to show that in Singapore at least, expatriate families (not the same as foreign ones) have more children than locals. I theorise that this is due to high pay, low stress, mothers who don't have to work, as well as a view of children not as resources to develop and exploit, but bundles of joy. Someone points out that perhaps children offer expats the only real sense of being rooted. I don't think the claim that "wanting children could be a big reason why they want to work overseas for a high-paying job" is plausible, though.

RT @Fake_PMLee: Will U confuse TemasekHldgs w TemasekReview? IncompleteDisclosures, PatchyRecord & suspicions ard Who'sBehindIt?


We don't have real barbecues in Singapore: by the time your food's half cooked, your booking is up

Has KF Seetoh lost all credibility in endorsing KFC breakfast?

"Galettes et Palets pur beurre à la fleur de sel" de Biscuiterie Guillaume de Val André. Les joyeux mots pour ceux mangeant l'huile de palme!


@rachelpharunee: La nuit, tous les chats sont gris.
Moi: La nuit, toutes les chattes sont mouillées

RT @brainopera At a coffeeshop, an old man tosses Yu-Sheng alone, while a bottle of tiger beer stands ready for him.

RT @chiefsanjay You should understand you are getting old when people start telling you how young you look.

RT @almightygod The Odyssey mentions cities that archaeologists have discovered, therefore Poseidon and Athena are real.
(In the same vein: "Spiderman is set on in a real city (NYC). Does that prove that Peter Parker has superpowers?")

RT @JIMICRAYON To the man who got on the bus dressed as a wizard who had removed the chip from his oyster card and put it in a magic wand. I salute you
I want to try this

RT @realFASS Sorry, but I refuse to give up my MRT seat to a pushy kiasu old aunty who runs onto a train to try to grab a seat. Can run, you can stand.