Seguing into a momentary interlude:
- Evolutionary psychology quiz - done
- Killer macroeconomics midterm - done (for - but hopefully the curve will pull me up)
- Microeconomics assignment - done
On the horizon:
- 7th October: one more midterm (though "there's nothing new" there, we only have a 2-sided cheat sheet to rely on since it's not an open book exam. Time to buy a magnifying glass.)
- 10th October: Evolutionary Psychology Term Paper
1. How might knowledge of natural selection change how we think about society? Outline an imaginary discussion of this question, between an evolutionary psychologist and any one of
a. An economist
b. A religious leader (faith of your choice)
c. A historian
d. A sociologist
e. A philosopher
f. A novelist
2. To what extent and in what direction might we still be evolving?
3. Write a critical review of any one of the following books:
Richard Dawkins – The Selfish Gene (2nd Ed)
Steven Pinker – The Blank Slate
Robert Wright – The Moral Animal
- 18th October: Religion Term Paper
1. Discuss the main principles of one of the theories of religion discussed in the
module. How relevant or applicable is this theory in understanding the major religions in the world? Discuss your answer in relation to one of the major faiths (e.g. Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism).
2. Reflect upon the distinction between “being religious” and “studying religion” as
discussed in class. Does one’s own faith (or lack thereof) affect one’s scholarly
understanding of religion? How so? Discuss this issue by making specific reference to
one of the theorists in the module, making sure to outline the main principles of this theory.
Hypothetical chronology of a term paper (not necessarily one I follow, of course):
2 weeks from deadline - You start thinking about what question to do. They all look horribly unappealing (especially when you think of writing them).
1 week from deadline - You start thinking about what to write and doing research and reading
5 days from deadline - You ask for an extension (Personally I don't: it just prolongs the suffering and eats into the time available for the next term paper)
3 days from deadline - You've finished the outline; you start panicking because you haven't fleshed it out yet
On D-day itself - You finish the thing a few minutes from the deadline
Your mileage may vary:
Someone: 2 weeks meh
too early lah
at 2 weeks you'll be thinking that you still have a lot of time
Argh.
L'origine de Bert
Thursday, September 29, 2005
"I detest life-insurance agents; they always argue that I shall some day die, which is not so." - Stephen Leacock
Random Playlist Song: 遠藤正明 - Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger Opening
***
Rumors of deaths greatly exaggerated: Widely reported attacks false or unsubstantiated. 6 bodies found at Dome; 4 at Convention Center
"After five days managing near-riots, medical horrors and unspeakable living conditions inside the Superdome, Louisiana National Guard Col. Thomas Beron prepared to hand over the dead to representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Following days of internationally reported killings, rapes and gang violence inside the Dome, the doctor from FEMA - Beron doesn't remember his name - came prepared for a grisly scene: He brought a refrigerated 18-wheeler and three doctors to process bodies.
"I've got a report of 200 bodies in the Dome," Beron recalls the doctor saying.
The real total was six, Beron said.
Of those, four died of natural causes, one overdosed and another jumped to his death in an apparent suicide"
And some wonder why most people pay little heed to first-hand accounts used to feed conspiracy theories. I'm sure the mass media, which is controlled by the Illuminati, is all too willing to feed the unsuspecting masses information such as this, which (oops!) shows them the extent of the conspiracy.
Oh, but I forgot: the black helicopters probably spirited away the hundreds of dead bodies, and all the thousands of eyewitnesses were intimidated (or better yet, brainwashed) into changing their stories later on.
***
Rocketboom: daily vlog with amanda congdon, tuesday, september 27, 2005
The only thing I can say about this is that it's damn screwed up.
Someone (male): is she going to strip?
Someone else (female): the girl has very nice boobs
Me: hahahahahaha
someone: is she going to strip?
Someone else: yar
i was wondering the same thing too
***
The following 3 links were sent to me by other people. So no, I haven't been searching for sex-related news while studying for my midterm - it's been sent to me.
Bull semen improved China ties - "Singapore said Tuesday that relations with the Chinese province of Shandong grew after it presented officials there with a "unique" gift: quality bull semen."
Germans open World Cup überbrothel - "Ever the pragmatic nation, Germany has decided to boost replica kit, souvenir programme and meat pie revenues at next year's World Cup by opening an enormous brothel to cater for those fans who want to score but don't have David Beckham's golden balls or shooting skills."
Sperm-free sex keeps hens happily faithful - "Possessive cockerels use fake sex to keep their hens faithful. By merely mounting females - without bothering to waste precious sperm - cocks ensure their partners will not go looking for male competitors to fertilise them, a new study suggests. The finding may explain why males of many species - from insects to mammals - engage in seemingly meaningless sperm-free sex."
Random Playlist Song: 遠藤正明 - Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger Opening
***
Rumors of deaths greatly exaggerated: Widely reported attacks false or unsubstantiated. 6 bodies found at Dome; 4 at Convention Center
"After five days managing near-riots, medical horrors and unspeakable living conditions inside the Superdome, Louisiana National Guard Col. Thomas Beron prepared to hand over the dead to representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Following days of internationally reported killings, rapes and gang violence inside the Dome, the doctor from FEMA - Beron doesn't remember his name - came prepared for a grisly scene: He brought a refrigerated 18-wheeler and three doctors to process bodies.
"I've got a report of 200 bodies in the Dome," Beron recalls the doctor saying.
The real total was six, Beron said.
Of those, four died of natural causes, one overdosed and another jumped to his death in an apparent suicide"
And some wonder why most people pay little heed to first-hand accounts used to feed conspiracy theories. I'm sure the mass media, which is controlled by the Illuminati, is all too willing to feed the unsuspecting masses information such as this, which (oops!) shows them the extent of the conspiracy.
Oh, but I forgot: the black helicopters probably spirited away the hundreds of dead bodies, and all the thousands of eyewitnesses were intimidated (or better yet, brainwashed) into changing their stories later on.
***
Rocketboom: daily vlog with amanda congdon, tuesday, september 27, 2005
The only thing I can say about this is that it's damn screwed up.
Someone (male): is she going to strip?
Someone else (female): the girl has very nice boobs
Me: hahahahahaha
someone: is she going to strip?
Someone else: yar
i was wondering the same thing too
***
The following 3 links were sent to me by other people. So no, I haven't been searching for sex-related news while studying for my midterm - it's been sent to me.
Bull semen improved China ties - "Singapore said Tuesday that relations with the Chinese province of Shandong grew after it presented officials there with a "unique" gift: quality bull semen."
Germans open World Cup überbrothel - "Ever the pragmatic nation, Germany has decided to boost replica kit, souvenir programme and meat pie revenues at next year's World Cup by opening an enormous brothel to cater for those fans who want to score but don't have David Beckham's golden balls or shooting skills."
Sperm-free sex keeps hens happily faithful - "Possessive cockerels use fake sex to keep their hens faithful. By merely mounting females - without bothering to waste precious sperm - cocks ensure their partners will not go looking for male competitors to fertilise them, a new study suggests. The finding may explain why males of many species - from insects to mammals - engage in seemingly meaningless sperm-free sex."
Post ID: 112783939217372907
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'
"Religious belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.
According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.
The study counters the view of believers that religion is necessary to provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society.
It compares the social peformance of relatively secular countries, such as Britain, with the US, where the majority believes in a creator rather than the theory of evolution. Many conservative evangelicals in the US consider Darwinism to be a social evil, believing that it inspires atheism and amorality.
Many liberal Christians and believers of other faiths hold that religious belief is socially beneficial, believing that it helps to lower rates of violent crime, murder, suicide, sexual promiscuity and abortion. The benefits of religious belief to a society have been described as its “spiritual capital”. But the study claims that the devotion of many in the US may actually contribute to its ills.
... Gregory Paul, the author of the study and a social scientist, used data from the International Social Survey Programme, Gallup and other research bodies to reach his conclusions.
He compared social indicators such as murder rates, abortion, suicide and teenage pregnancy.
The study concluded that the US was the world’s only prosperous democracy where murder rates were still high, and that the least devout nations were the least dysfunctional. Mr Paul said that rates of gonorrhoea in adolescents in the US were up to 300 times higher than in less devout democratic countries. The US also suffered from “uniquely high” adolescent and adult syphilis infection rates, and adolescent abortion rates, the study suggested."
I looked at the paper itself, and although regression analyses weren't carried out (which happily meant that rigorous statistical analysis was absent), a clear trend can be discerned which cannot be easily or immediately dismissed because there is some variance in the religiosity of the countries studied here, and a wide variety of metrics are looked at (interestingly, the youth suicide rate is the only metric which doesn't increase with religiosity).
Perhaps spurious correlation is at work for some of the results, though, since IIRC previous data has shown that religiosity declines with an increase in development/GDP, which will naturally impact the metrics this study looks at. Then again, the USA has the highest GDP among all the nations studied, so maybe distribution of income there is more unequal than in the other democracies studied, and the dysfunction comes from the poorer portion of US society (I don't have the time to verify this). Nonetheless, even excluding the US a positive correlation between religion and social dysfunction can be determined.
A most interesting and thought-provoking paper, this is.
Journal of Religion and Society: Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies - A First Look
"The absence of exceptions to the negative correlation between absolute belief in a creator and acceptance of evolution, plus the lack of a significant religious revival in any developing democracy where evolution is popular, cast doubt on the thesis that societies can combine high rates of both religiosity and agreement with evolutionary science. Such an amalgamation may not be practical. By removing the need for a creator evolutionary science made belief optional. When deciding between supernatural and natural causes is a matter of opinion large numbers are likely to opt for the latter. Western nations are likely to return to the levels of popular religiosity common prior to the 1900s only in the improbable event that naturalistic evolution is scientifically overturned in favor of some form of creationist natural theology that scientifically verifies the existence of a creator. Conversely, evolution will probably not enjoy strong majority support in the U.S. until religiosity declines markedly.
In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortion in the prosperous democracies (Figures 1-9)...
If the data showed that the U.S. enjoyed higher rates of societal health than the more secular, pro-evolution democracies, then the opinion that popular belief in a creator is strongly beneficial to national cultures would be supported. Although they are by no means utopias, the populations of secular democracies are clearly able to govern themselves and maintain societal cohesion. Indeed, the data examined in this study demonstrates that only the more secular, pro-evolution democracies have, for the first time in history, come closest to achieving practical “cultures of life” that feature low rates of lethal crime, juvenile-adult mortality, sex related dysfunction, and even abortion. The least theistic secular developing democracies such as Japan, France, and Scandinavia have been most successful in these regards. The non-religious, pro-evolution democracies contradict the dictum that a society cannot enjoy good conditions unless most citizens ardently believe in a moral creator. The widely held fear that a Godless citizenry must experience societal disaster is therefore refuted. Contradicting these conclusions requires demonstrating a positive link between theism and societal conditions in the first world with a similarly large body of data - a doubtful possibility in view of the observable trends."
"Religious belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.
According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.
The study counters the view of believers that religion is necessary to provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society.
It compares the social peformance of relatively secular countries, such as Britain, with the US, where the majority believes in a creator rather than the theory of evolution. Many conservative evangelicals in the US consider Darwinism to be a social evil, believing that it inspires atheism and amorality.
Many liberal Christians and believers of other faiths hold that religious belief is socially beneficial, believing that it helps to lower rates of violent crime, murder, suicide, sexual promiscuity and abortion. The benefits of religious belief to a society have been described as its “spiritual capital”. But the study claims that the devotion of many in the US may actually contribute to its ills.
... Gregory Paul, the author of the study and a social scientist, used data from the International Social Survey Programme, Gallup and other research bodies to reach his conclusions.
He compared social indicators such as murder rates, abortion, suicide and teenage pregnancy.
The study concluded that the US was the world’s only prosperous democracy where murder rates were still high, and that the least devout nations were the least dysfunctional. Mr Paul said that rates of gonorrhoea in adolescents in the US were up to 300 times higher than in less devout democratic countries. The US also suffered from “uniquely high” adolescent and adult syphilis infection rates, and adolescent abortion rates, the study suggested."
I looked at the paper itself, and although regression analyses weren't carried out (which happily meant that rigorous statistical analysis was absent), a clear trend can be discerned which cannot be easily or immediately dismissed because there is some variance in the religiosity of the countries studied here, and a wide variety of metrics are looked at (interestingly, the youth suicide rate is the only metric which doesn't increase with religiosity).
Perhaps spurious correlation is at work for some of the results, though, since IIRC previous data has shown that religiosity declines with an increase in development/GDP, which will naturally impact the metrics this study looks at. Then again, the USA has the highest GDP among all the nations studied, so maybe distribution of income there is more unequal than in the other democracies studied, and the dysfunction comes from the poorer portion of US society (I don't have the time to verify this). Nonetheless, even excluding the US a positive correlation between religion and social dysfunction can be determined.
A most interesting and thought-provoking paper, this is.
Journal of Religion and Society: Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies - A First Look
"The absence of exceptions to the negative correlation between absolute belief in a creator and acceptance of evolution, plus the lack of a significant religious revival in any developing democracy where evolution is popular, cast doubt on the thesis that societies can combine high rates of both religiosity and agreement with evolutionary science. Such an amalgamation may not be practical. By removing the need for a creator evolutionary science made belief optional. When deciding between supernatural and natural causes is a matter of opinion large numbers are likely to opt for the latter. Western nations are likely to return to the levels of popular religiosity common prior to the 1900s only in the improbable event that naturalistic evolution is scientifically overturned in favor of some form of creationist natural theology that scientifically verifies the existence of a creator. Conversely, evolution will probably not enjoy strong majority support in the U.S. until religiosity declines markedly.
In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortion in the prosperous democracies (Figures 1-9)...
If the data showed that the U.S. enjoyed higher rates of societal health than the more secular, pro-evolution democracies, then the opinion that popular belief in a creator is strongly beneficial to national cultures would be supported. Although they are by no means utopias, the populations of secular democracies are clearly able to govern themselves and maintain societal cohesion. Indeed, the data examined in this study demonstrates that only the more secular, pro-evolution democracies have, for the first time in history, come closest to achieving practical “cultures of life” that feature low rates of lethal crime, juvenile-adult mortality, sex related dysfunction, and even abortion. The least theistic secular developing democracies such as Japan, France, and Scandinavia have been most successful in these regards. The non-religious, pro-evolution democracies contradict the dictum that a society cannot enjoy good conditions unless most citizens ardently believe in a moral creator. The widely held fear that a Godless citizenry must experience societal disaster is therefore refuted. Contradicting these conclusions requires demonstrating a positive link between theism and societal conditions in the first world with a similarly large body of data - a doubtful possibility in view of the observable trends."
Post ID: 112790974169211714
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
One of the Chinese radio stations was blaring during my driving lesson today, and this woman called in warning that if students got away with criticising their teachers now, they would think it was okay to start criticising the government in the future.
From her breathlessness as she uttered the last bit, and her disapproving tone, she obviously thought that that was a Bad Thing (TM).
On the other hand, one man who called up said that they were just kids venting their frustrations, and that they didn't have any malicious intent, so they shouldn't be hit with a big stick.
There's hope for the Chinese-speaking community yet.
"If a ruler's words be good, is it not also good that no one oppose them? But if they are not good, and no one opposes them, may there not be expected from this one sentence the ruin of his country?" - Confucius, the Analects, Part 13
"Tsze-kung asked about government. The Master said, "The requisites of government are that there be sufficiency of food, sufficiency of military equipment, and the confidence of the people in their ruler."
Tsze-kung said, "If it cannot be helped, and one of these must be dispensed with, which of the three should be foregone first?" "The military equipment," said the Master.
Tsze-kung again asked, "If it cannot be helped, and one of the remaining two must be dispensed with, which of them should be foregone?" The Master answered, "Part with the food. From of old, death has been the lot of all men; but if the people have no faith in their rulers, there is no standing for the state."
... The Duke Ai inquired of Yu Zo, saying, "The year is one of scarcity, and the returns for expenditure are not sufficient;-what is to be done?"
Yu Zo replied to him, "Why not simply tithe the people?"
"With two tenths, said the duke, "I find it not enough;-how could I do with that system of one tenth?"
Yu Zo answered, "If the people have plenty, their prince will not be left to want alone. If the people are in want, their prince cannot enjoy plenty alone."
... Chi K'ang asked Confucius about government, saying, "What do you say to killing the unprincipled for the good of the principled?" Confucius replied, "Sir, in carrying on your government, why should you use killing at all? Let your evinced desires be for what is good, and the people will be good. The relation between superiors and inferiors is like that between the wind and the grass. The grass must bend, when the wind blows across it."" - Confucius, the Analects, Part 12
(All emphases mine)
From her breathlessness as she uttered the last bit, and her disapproving tone, she obviously thought that that was a Bad Thing (TM).
On the other hand, one man who called up said that they were just kids venting their frustrations, and that they didn't have any malicious intent, so they shouldn't be hit with a big stick.
There's hope for the Chinese-speaking community yet.
"If a ruler's words be good, is it not also good that no one oppose them? But if they are not good, and no one opposes them, may there not be expected from this one sentence the ruin of his country?" - Confucius, the Analects, Part 13
"Tsze-kung asked about government. The Master said, "The requisites of government are that there be sufficiency of food, sufficiency of military equipment, and the confidence of the people in their ruler."
Tsze-kung said, "If it cannot be helped, and one of these must be dispensed with, which of the three should be foregone first?" "The military equipment," said the Master.
Tsze-kung again asked, "If it cannot be helped, and one of the remaining two must be dispensed with, which of them should be foregone?" The Master answered, "Part with the food. From of old, death has been the lot of all men; but if the people have no faith in their rulers, there is no standing for the state."
... The Duke Ai inquired of Yu Zo, saying, "The year is one of scarcity, and the returns for expenditure are not sufficient;-what is to be done?"
Yu Zo replied to him, "Why not simply tithe the people?"
"With two tenths, said the duke, "I find it not enough;-how could I do with that system of one tenth?"
Yu Zo answered, "If the people have plenty, their prince will not be left to want alone. If the people are in want, their prince cannot enjoy plenty alone."
... Chi K'ang asked Confucius about government, saying, "What do you say to killing the unprincipled for the good of the principled?" Confucius replied, "Sir, in carrying on your government, why should you use killing at all? Let your evinced desires be for what is good, and the people will be good. The relation between superiors and inferiors is like that between the wind and the grass. The grass must bend, when the wind blows across it."" - Confucius, the Analects, Part 12
(All emphases mine)
Post ID: 112780614798499887
"A poet more than thirty years old is simply an overgrown child." - H. L. Mencken
Random Playlist Song: Various PR sound effects/ADR lines I found on a Direct Connect hub. I wonder where the guy got them - they haven't been mixed with music or other sound effects yet
***
There's a Wikipedia article on Singapore sexual slang, with phrase lists in Cantonese, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi. Uhh.
iPod Nano: impossibly small, with implausibly delicate surfaces; Black Nanos scratch when you breathe on them - "Whoops. The hottest item on the technology shelves, Apple's new "impossibly small" iPod Nano is also cursed with an implausibly delicate surfacing in its screen and case, users are claiming on message boards."
Of course, they must have been mistreating their iPods. Apple can do no wrong.
***
PhotogenicMask
"PhotogenicMasks are created in Japan by Natori Satio, a doll creator and sculptor.
PhotogenicMasks have been created for anyone who desires to become a girl quickly and easily.
Our goal is:
* To create a "photogenic," attractive look as far as is possible
* A mask that is quick/easy/safe to put on/take off
* Anytime
* Anywhere
* For anybody who wants to be a girl
These masks are just the beginning for us. Please try our masks and give us your comments/suggestions on how we can make them better.
Yes, you can go back to being yourself quickly, and at anytime or place."
Naturally enough, this comes from the japs - only they could have thought of this kind of shit.
***
Time Commanders: Guagemela
Historian: Right. You are being given that battle of Guagemela. Now Gaugemela is in modern day Iraq, by the Iranian border. You are Alexander the Great and his army - one of the greatest armies in all of military history. Your opponents are the Persians. You've already beaten them twice: their empire is hanging there like a ripe peach. The name of the game is regime change.
Gah.
Later...
Narrator: Over on the left flank, the eye surgeon needs to put on his glasses. A unit of Nigel's cavalry, unable to move without orders, is being picked off by Persian archers.
Random Playlist Song: Various PR sound effects/ADR lines I found on a Direct Connect hub. I wonder where the guy got them - they haven't been mixed with music or other sound effects yet
***
There's a Wikipedia article on Singapore sexual slang, with phrase lists in Cantonese, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi. Uhh.
iPod Nano: impossibly small, with implausibly delicate surfaces; Black Nanos scratch when you breathe on them - "Whoops. The hottest item on the technology shelves, Apple's new "impossibly small" iPod Nano is also cursed with an implausibly delicate surfacing in its screen and case, users are claiming on message boards."
Of course, they must have been mistreating their iPods. Apple can do no wrong.
***
PhotogenicMask
"PhotogenicMasks are created in Japan by Natori Satio, a doll creator and sculptor.
PhotogenicMasks have been created for anyone who desires to become a girl quickly and easily.
Our goal is:
* To create a "photogenic," attractive look as far as is possible
* A mask that is quick/easy/safe to put on/take off
* Anytime
* Anywhere
* For anybody who wants to be a girl
These masks are just the beginning for us. Please try our masks and give us your comments/suggestions on how we can make them better.
Yes, you can go back to being yourself quickly, and at anytime or place."
Naturally enough, this comes from the japs - only they could have thought of this kind of shit.
***
Time Commanders: Guagemela
Historian: Right. You are being given that battle of Guagemela. Now Gaugemela is in modern day Iraq, by the Iranian border. You are Alexander the Great and his army - one of the greatest armies in all of military history. Your opponents are the Persians. You've already beaten them twice: their empire is hanging there like a ripe peach. The name of the game is regime change.
Gah.
Later...
Narrator: Over on the left flank, the eye surgeon needs to put on his glasses. A unit of Nigel's cavalry, unable to move without orders, is being picked off by Persian archers.
Post ID: 112772869091712697
Monday, September 26, 2005
Interesting comments on the practicality of an economics (and other) degree:
"There are a lot of degrees you can get without being smart or a quick learner, but Econ is not one of them. So this makes an Econ graduate desirable in a number of fields, including those that aren't remotely related to Economics."
"I remember my first job out of college. I was supposed to make a financial model. I asked someone what the Demand Function was for our product, and he just looked at me funny."
A: "The value of a higher education is that the student learns to think, write and speak clearly. They learn to identify the internal contradictions in an argument. I've certainly met lots of economists, undergrads and grads, who couldn't think or write beyond the narrow assumptions of neoclassical economics.
The benefits of history and english are the students often learn to write clearly, and think beyond just one conceptual framework. In my experience, undergrads in Economics are quite poor at writing. This largely reflects the nature of their training - they are not frequently asked to put together a coherent sentence."
B: "In my experience, the exact opposite is often the case. Those who study English and History frequently learn to obfuscate their meaning, as quite a few professors value essays that are complicated, convoluted, and above a minimum length, over those that are clear and to the point. Moreover, English and History are subjects that are treated (rightly or wrongly) as if they have no correct or incorrect answers. Students can get away with saying whatever they want as long as they use enough big words to say it.
By contrast, Economists won't use flowery language, but they'll generally say exactly what they mean, and it will usually be right.
The stereotypical Economist will never have read George Orwell's essay Politics and the English Language, but if he did read it, his response would be somewhere along the lines of "Well, duh." The stereotypical English major would criticize Orwell's lack of visual symbolism, try to intuit the hidden satirical meaning, or otherwise miss the point.
As for studying business, that is definitely inferior to Economics. College business courses have just as little application to the real world as Economics classes, but are much easier. So the potential employer has no reason to think a business major is smart or hard working."
A: "I'd certainly like to teach your economists instead of the ones that have ended up in my courses. They tend to unimaginative and small-minded and assume that the world is very rigid.
So you don't think economics has its own obfuscatory language? To the initiated, don't you think terms like scale economies, marginal cost, deadweight loss, Edgeworth boxes and so on are big, flowery words? What really is utility? A backward bending supply curve? Can you touch it? What is an externality? It takes a few years to grasp what all these concepts mean, and be able to operationalize them, and measure (at least the ones that are measureable). Economics operates with as many high-level abstractions as most other humanities.
And how does economics define what is "right"? Are you arguing that the version of the discipline that you've learned make normative claims about what people should do? Or do you mean right in the sense that you can calculate an imaginary value that suggests that markets clear at such a price and such a quantity?
I guess the employers I know would be shocked to find out they should be hiring economists instead of business majors."
[On being corrected] "I guess I really have picked up the snobbish tendedcy of economistst to look down their noses at other social sciences."
"it is fairly common for social science majors to move on to law school." [Ed: This is in a US context]
"There are a lot of degrees you can get without being smart or a quick learner, but Econ is not one of them. So this makes an Econ graduate desirable in a number of fields, including those that aren't remotely related to Economics."
"I remember my first job out of college. I was supposed to make a financial model. I asked someone what the Demand Function was for our product, and he just looked at me funny."
A: "The value of a higher education is that the student learns to think, write and speak clearly. They learn to identify the internal contradictions in an argument. I've certainly met lots of economists, undergrads and grads, who couldn't think or write beyond the narrow assumptions of neoclassical economics.
The benefits of history and english are the students often learn to write clearly, and think beyond just one conceptual framework. In my experience, undergrads in Economics are quite poor at writing. This largely reflects the nature of their training - they are not frequently asked to put together a coherent sentence."
B: "In my experience, the exact opposite is often the case. Those who study English and History frequently learn to obfuscate their meaning, as quite a few professors value essays that are complicated, convoluted, and above a minimum length, over those that are clear and to the point. Moreover, English and History are subjects that are treated (rightly or wrongly) as if they have no correct or incorrect answers. Students can get away with saying whatever they want as long as they use enough big words to say it.
By contrast, Economists won't use flowery language, but they'll generally say exactly what they mean, and it will usually be right.
The stereotypical Economist will never have read George Orwell's essay Politics and the English Language, but if he did read it, his response would be somewhere along the lines of "Well, duh." The stereotypical English major would criticize Orwell's lack of visual symbolism, try to intuit the hidden satirical meaning, or otherwise miss the point.
As for studying business, that is definitely inferior to Economics. College business courses have just as little application to the real world as Economics classes, but are much easier. So the potential employer has no reason to think a business major is smart or hard working."
A: "I'd certainly like to teach your economists instead of the ones that have ended up in my courses. They tend to unimaginative and small-minded and assume that the world is very rigid.
So you don't think economics has its own obfuscatory language? To the initiated, don't you think terms like scale economies, marginal cost, deadweight loss, Edgeworth boxes and so on are big, flowery words? What really is utility? A backward bending supply curve? Can you touch it? What is an externality? It takes a few years to grasp what all these concepts mean, and be able to operationalize them, and measure (at least the ones that are measureable). Economics operates with as many high-level abstractions as most other humanities.
And how does economics define what is "right"? Are you arguing that the version of the discipline that you've learned make normative claims about what people should do? Or do you mean right in the sense that you can calculate an imaginary value that suggests that markets clear at such a price and such a quantity?
I guess the employers I know would be shocked to find out they should be hiring economists instead of business majors."
[On being corrected] "I guess I really have picked up the snobbish tendedcy of economistst to look down their noses at other social sciences."
"it is fairly common for social science majors to move on to law school." [Ed: This is in a US context]
Post ID: 112773178447914855
"It is difficult to out-do the Indian traditions in arguing endlessly and elaborately." - Amartya Sen
***
Today's Life:
"ICE CREAM GIANT'S IN TOWN
You don't have to resort to foraging petrol kiosks for your Ben & Jerry's fix. The American premium ice cream brand has planted a franchise outlet in United Square. The Happy People Co has just bought the franchise rights to Singapore (an outlet in the Singapore zoo is operated by the zoo) and will open a second branch in Suntec City next month, and a third in Great World City in November. Eighteen flavours are available at any one time, at #02-K1 United Square, Tel: 6732-6198"
w00t!
***
Addendum:
The best excuse to pass on the veggies:
"Humans have evolved mechanisms to combat natural toxins... The fact that many children dislike vegetables such as broccoli and brussels sprouts is not by chance. These vegetables contain the chemical allylisothiocynate, which can be toxic, especially to children (Nesse & Williams, 1994)."
***
Today's Life:
"ICE CREAM GIANT'S IN TOWN
You don't have to resort to foraging petrol kiosks for your Ben & Jerry's fix. The American premium ice cream brand has planted a franchise outlet in United Square. The Happy People Co has just bought the franchise rights to Singapore (an outlet in the Singapore zoo is operated by the zoo) and will open a second branch in Suntec City next month, and a third in Great World City in November. Eighteen flavours are available at any one time, at #02-K1 United Square, Tel: 6732-6198"
w00t!
***
Addendum:
The best excuse to pass on the veggies:
"Humans have evolved mechanisms to combat natural toxins... The fact that many children dislike vegetables such as broccoli and brussels sprouts is not by chance. These vegetables contain the chemical allylisothiocynate, which can be toxic, especially to children (Nesse & Williams, 1994)."
Post ID: 112762607324919989
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Someone: "Guys' memory with respect to previous sexual liason brings the following benefits:
1) Knowledge of the partners' sexual preferences, so one may employ this knowledge to procure future advantages.
2) To differentiate between one's many sexual partners, so as to prevent embarassing, and potentially reputation damaging, moments.
3) So as to know who one may look for in case one needs help (reciprocal altruism).
Me: 1) I suppose this will only apply to medium/long-term mating? STM is indeed just a one shot thing, so there'll be no point I think. But then in M/LTM women go for factors other than sexual skill, so...
3) "Hi. I had sex with you last week. Can I have a favor now?". Erm.
Someone: Gabriel, may I say that you have no experience of any night life?
1) Men and women who look for casual sex in contemporary societies usually hang out in the same few areas. Even for those who do not frequent the usual pickup areas, they get their booty calls from a relatively small group of friends.Memory would definitely help.
Furthermore, as I mentioned, ancestral men lived in small communities. Memory would help them, and since we are the products of our ancestors, we would have such memory too.
Plus, if you do a little thought experiment and try to conceive yourself picking up a girl for casual sex, ask yourself if you would remember her name, or at least her face. Probably yes. Unless you have casual sex every night. Which I doubt so, for most swingers have, on average, about three sex partners per week, and these are extreme cases (most swing once per week/fortnight).
3) Why not? Most swingers have their community. Swingers introduce their friends to each other, and hence establish "sexual networks". Sounds like reciprocal altruism to me. Furthermore, it can be observed that females usually go up to guys they had sex before to solicit drinks.
Me: You learn something new everday.
1) Knowledge of the partners' sexual preferences, so one may employ this knowledge to procure future advantages.
2) To differentiate between one's many sexual partners, so as to prevent embarassing, and potentially reputation damaging, moments.
3) So as to know who one may look for in case one needs help (reciprocal altruism).
Me: 1) I suppose this will only apply to medium/long-term mating? STM is indeed just a one shot thing, so there'll be no point I think. But then in M/LTM women go for factors other than sexual skill, so...
3) "Hi. I had sex with you last week. Can I have a favor now?". Erm.
Someone: Gabriel, may I say that you have no experience of any night life?
1) Men and women who look for casual sex in contemporary societies usually hang out in the same few areas. Even for those who do not frequent the usual pickup areas, they get their booty calls from a relatively small group of friends.Memory would definitely help.
Furthermore, as I mentioned, ancestral men lived in small communities. Memory would help them, and since we are the products of our ancestors, we would have such memory too.
Plus, if you do a little thought experiment and try to conceive yourself picking up a girl for casual sex, ask yourself if you would remember her name, or at least her face. Probably yes. Unless you have casual sex every night. Which I doubt so, for most swingers have, on average, about three sex partners per week, and these are extreme cases (most swing once per week/fortnight).
3) Why not? Most swingers have their community. Swingers introduce their friends to each other, and hence establish "sexual networks". Sounds like reciprocal altruism to me. Furthermore, it can be observed that females usually go up to guys they had sex before to solicit drinks.
Me: You learn something new everday.
Post ID: 112759090842422689
Saturday, September 24, 2005
"It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power." - David Brin
***
The biggest problem I have with Delifrance - a French cafe that doesn't serve wine? The so-called authentic French cafe-bakery indeed. [Addendum: For those not in the know, they used to sell themselves as "the authentic French cafe-bakery". Unfortunately, as my favourite lawyer-in-training informs me, even if they'd still been using that tagline, they wouldn't be able to be sued for misrepresentation.]
Some time ago I saw this sign: "Do not sit on kerb. By order". Reminds me of when I issued orders in the name of "L/3SG Tan Ban Xiong", like closing the smoking point (which got him screwed upside down by a smoker specialist).
I now have 9,421 quotes on my homepage. I would like to hit 10,000 by the end of this semester, but this seems impossible. oh well.
***
The biggest problem I have with Delifrance - a French cafe that doesn't serve wine? The so-called authentic French cafe-bakery indeed. [Addendum: For those not in the know, they used to sell themselves as "the authentic French cafe-bakery". Unfortunately, as my favourite lawyer-in-training informs me, even if they'd still been using that tagline, they wouldn't be able to be sued for misrepresentation.]
Some time ago I saw this sign: "Do not sit on kerb. By order". Reminds me of when I issued orders in the name of "L/3SG Tan Ban Xiong", like closing the smoking point (which got him screwed upside down by a smoker specialist).
I now have 9,421 quotes on my homepage. I would like to hit 10,000 by the end of this semester, but this seems impossible. oh well.
Post ID: 112757056088954071
Friday, September 23, 2005
Even after sending in my laptop for repair and the service staff formatting it and supposedly replacing the wireless hardware, I suffered the same old wireless reception problems in Chatterbox.
But then Abdullah advised me to install the IBM version of the Intel drivers since they were supposedly stabler and better than the ones from Intel themselves; he'd been suffering similar problems but they were solved once he installed the IBM drivers.
And so I took a step back and downgraded my Intel 2200BG PRO/Wireless Driver drivers from 9.0.2.31 to 8.0.12.20000, and my wireless reception problems are almost totally solved! I hereby officially declare that Abdullah is a genius.
(Being gey kiang and trying to upgrade my IBM-branded Intel drivers from 8.0.12.20000 to 9.0.2.31 today to get rid of the last few problems I had, I screwed my system up and had to spend 2 hours fixing it because I installed the 2100 drivers instead of the 2200BG ones, but that is another story.)
***
Short Guys Finish Last
"Is there, then, no good news for short men? No: there is none. And if, having read this far, you do not believe that height discrimination is serious, you are no doubt a tall person in the late stages of denial. Or, perhaps, you cringe at the thought of yet another victim group lining up to demand redress. Surely the notion of SHRIMPs (Severely Height-Restricted Individuals of the Male Persuasion) as an oppressed social group is silly, and the idea of special protections or compensatory benefits for short men preposterous? Actually, no--unless all such group benefits are equally dubious."
***
Public Speaking Project Petition
"To: Ms Kuang Ser Yee
Dear Ms. Kuang
Due to time constraints, and the fact that there are many projects are due on the same time, and with the upcoming Common Tests, we are sad to say that all the groups in our class are not able to finish on our Public Speaking component for our CA. As such we hope that you can give us an extension or push this to CA2."
Someone:
i think this is really retarded
sec 2 students.. but they're gep
gep students should know better right
can imagine the express students laughing their pants off
But then Abdullah advised me to install the IBM version of the Intel drivers since they were supposedly stabler and better than the ones from Intel themselves; he'd been suffering similar problems but they were solved once he installed the IBM drivers.
And so I took a step back and downgraded my Intel 2200BG PRO/Wireless Driver drivers from 9.0.2.31 to 8.0.12.20000, and my wireless reception problems are almost totally solved! I hereby officially declare that Abdullah is a genius.
(Being gey kiang and trying to upgrade my IBM-branded Intel drivers from 8.0.12.20000 to 9.0.2.31 today to get rid of the last few problems I had, I screwed my system up and had to spend 2 hours fixing it because I installed the 2100 drivers instead of the 2200BG ones, but that is another story.)
***
Short Guys Finish Last
"Is there, then, no good news for short men? No: there is none. And if, having read this far, you do not believe that height discrimination is serious, you are no doubt a tall person in the late stages of denial. Or, perhaps, you cringe at the thought of yet another victim group lining up to demand redress. Surely the notion of SHRIMPs (Severely Height-Restricted Individuals of the Male Persuasion) as an oppressed social group is silly, and the idea of special protections or compensatory benefits for short men preposterous? Actually, no--unless all such group benefits are equally dubious."
***
Public Speaking Project Petition
"To: Ms Kuang Ser Yee
Dear Ms. Kuang
Due to time constraints, and the fact that there are many projects are due on the same time, and with the upcoming Common Tests, we are sad to say that all the groups in our class are not able to finish on our Public Speaking component for our CA. As such we hope that you can give us an extension or push this to CA2."
Someone:
i think this is really retarded
sec 2 students.. but they're gep
gep students should know better right
can imagine the express students laughing their pants off
Post ID: 112744639760157541
"It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours." - Harry S Truman
Random Playlist Song: Michael Hoenig - Night In Cloakwood
***
"even though this is a rather condescending thing to say, a large number of GEP-ers now, don't well, live up to their uh title?
they can't spell. tHeY tYPe lyK dIs. they play annoying 'SUPERCOOL WANNABE PUNK ROCK' on their blogs. heck, they have really really annoying pop-ups that are TEH CLICHE, with lines like "i will nvr 4get u" & "u shattered my heart into a million pieces" & sith like that.
& they say you can't judge a person by his/her blog? my middle foot, plz.
basically, THE BENGS & LIANS ARE INFILTRATING THE GEP."
Uhh. I don't think it used to be so bad in my time. We were just the weirdos down the corridor.
***
NUS CentennialBar
"The NUS CentennialBar is just a simple toolbar like that of the Bookmarks Toolbar (BT) which ships with Firefox.
The idea came when after using the BT for some time, I realised it was unsightly and inefficient to keep too many bookmarks on the BT.
So with the NUS CentennialBar, the bookmarks are arranged in a drop-down menu, so you'll never run out of horizontal space! The toolbar includes predefined links common to NUS students and you get to input the rest for your own faculty or whatever needs.
Last but not least there is also a search box that directs all searches to nus domain via google. With time to come hopefully I would be able to add in more features to improve this beta version."
Uhh.
Now there's a Firefox extension for NUS students. And it celebrates our centennial too!
Random Playlist Song: Michael Hoenig - Night In Cloakwood
***
"even though this is a rather condescending thing to say, a large number of GEP-ers now, don't well, live up to their uh title?
they can't spell. tHeY tYPe lyK dIs. they play annoying 'SUPERCOOL WANNABE PUNK ROCK' on their blogs. heck, they have really really annoying pop-ups that are TEH CLICHE, with lines like "i will nvr 4get u" & "u shattered my heart into a million pieces" & sith like that.
& they say you can't judge a person by his/her blog? my middle foot, plz.
basically, THE BENGS & LIANS ARE INFILTRATING THE GEP."
Uhh. I don't think it used to be so bad in my time. We were just the weirdos down the corridor.
***
NUS CentennialBar
"The NUS CentennialBar is just a simple toolbar like that of the Bookmarks Toolbar (BT) which ships with Firefox.
The idea came when after using the BT for some time, I realised it was unsightly and inefficient to keep too many bookmarks on the BT.
So with the NUS CentennialBar, the bookmarks are arranged in a drop-down menu, so you'll never run out of horizontal space! The toolbar includes predefined links common to NUS students and you get to input the rest for your own faculty or whatever needs.
Last but not least there is also a search box that directs all searches to nus domain via google. With time to come hopefully I would be able to add in more features to improve this beta version."
Uhh.
Now there's a Firefox extension for NUS students. And it celebrates our centennial too!
Post ID: 112739752939085138
Thursday, September 22, 2005
There're lots of interesting bits in my Evolutionary Psychology textbook, but I'd rather spend my leisure time killing berks in Sigil, watching my Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger subs and viewing the webcast for a makeup lecture where nothing was new, so what the hell, I'll just skip to the chapter on Short Term Mating and transcribe all the juicy bits.
After all, that's what everyone loves - casual, mindless sex!
"Imagine an attractive person of the opposite sex walking up to you on a college campus and saying "Hi, I've been noticing you around town lately, and I find you very attractive. Would you have sex with me?" How would you respond? If you were like 100 percent of the women in one study, you would give an emphatic no. You would be offended, insulted or just plain puzzled by the request. But if you were like the men in that study, the odds are good that you would say yes - as did 75 percent of those men (Clarke & Hatfield, 1989). As a man you would most likely be flattered by the request. Many of the 25 percent of the men who declined the sexual offer were apologetic, citing previous commitments. The idea that men and women react differently when it comes to casual sex may not be surprising. Theories in evolutionary psychology, however, provide a principled basis for predicting this difference and for explaining its magnitude." (pp. 163)
"Men's testes size, relative to their body weight, is far greater than that of gorillas and orangutans. Male testes account for .018 percent of body weight in gorillas and .048 percent in orangutans (Short, 1979; Smith, 1984). In contrast, human male testes account for .079 percent of men's body weight, or 60 percent more than that of orangutans and more than four times that of gorillas, corrected for body size. Men's relatively large testes provide one solid piece of evidence that women in human evolutionary history sometimes had sex with more than one man within a time span of a few days... Human testicular volume is substantially smaller than that of the highly promiscuous chimpanzee, whose testes account for .269 percent of its body weight, more than three times than the percentage for men." (pp. 168)
"Men's sperm count went up dramatically with the increasing amount of time the couple had been apart since their last sexual encounter... When the couples spent 100 percent of their time together, men inseminated 389 million sperm per ejaculate, on average. But when the couples spent only 5 percent of their time together, men inseminated 712 million sperm per ejaculate, almost double the amount... It is important to note that this increase in sperm insemination upon being reunited did not depend on the time since the man's last ejaculation. Even when the man had masturbated to orgasm while away from his wife, he still inseminated more sperm on being reunited if he had been away from her a long time." (Baker & Bellis, 1995) (pp. 168)
"Another study analyzed forty-eight "private wishes" ranging from "to be with God when I die" to "to make a lasting contribution through creative work" (Ehrlichman & Eichenstein, 1992). The largest sex difference by far was found for one wish: "to have sex with anyone I choose."" (pp. 169)
"Evolutionary psychologist Martie Haselton recently found evidence for a possibly adaptation in men to facilitate the success of a short-term mating strategy: an emotional shift right after sexual intercourse (Haselton & Buss, 2001). Men with more sex partners experienced a sharp decline in how sexually attractive they found their partner immediately following intercourse, whereas neither women nor men with less sexual experience showed this decline. If further work verifies the attraction-reduction effect, it might support the hypothesis that men have yet another psychological adaptation designed to promote the success of a casual sexual strategy, one that motivates either a hasty postcopulatory departure to minimize investment in any one women or, alternatively, a roving eye within the context on an existing long-term mateship." (pp. 172)
"Forty-three percent of women but only 12 percent of men report that they never substitute or switch sexual partners during a fantasy episode. Thirty-two percent of men but only 8 percent of women report having imagined sexual encounters with more than 1,000 different partners in their lifetime. A sample male fantasy is "being the mayor of a small town filled with nude girls from 20 to 24. I like to take walks, and pick out the best-looking one that day, and she engages in intercourse with me. All the women have sex with me any time I want" (Barclay, 1973, p. 209). Numbers and novelty are key ingredients of men's fantasy lives.
Men focus on body parts and sexual positions stripped of emotional context. Male sexual fantasies are heavily visual, focusing on smooth skin and moving body parts. During sexual fantasy, 81 percent of men but only 43 percent of women focus on visual images rather than feelings. Attractive women with lots of exposed skin who show signs of easy access and no commitment are the frequent contents of men's fantasies. As evolutionary psychologists Bruce Ellis and Donald Symons observed, "The most striking feature of [male fantasy] is that sex is sheer lust and physical gratification, devoid of encumbering relationships, emotional elaboration, complicated plot lines, flirtation, courtship, and extended foreplay (Ellis & Symons, 1990, p. 544)... Women emphasize tenderness, romance and personal involvement in their sexual fantasies. Women pay more attention to the way their partner responds to them rather than to visual images of their partner (Ellis & Symons, 1990)"
"Anthropologist Thomas Gregor described the sexual feelings of Amazonian Mehinaku men in this way: "Women's sexual attractiveness varies from 'flavorless' (mana) to the 'delicious' (awirintya)..." (1985, p. 84). Furthermore, Gregor notes that "sad to say, sex with spouses is said to be mana, in contrast to sex with lovers, which is nearly always awirintyapa" (Gregor, 1985, p. 72)." (pp. 175)
"The number of sperm a woman retains is also linked with whether she is having an affair. Women time their adulterous liaisons in a way that is reproductively detrimental to their husbands. In a nationwide sex survey of 3,679 women in Britain, all women recorded their menstrual cycles as well as the timing of their copulations with their husbands and, if they were having affairs, with their loves. It turned out that women having affairs appeared to time their copulations, most likely unconsciously, to coincide with the point in their menstrual cycle when they were most likely to be ovulating and hence were most likely to conceive (Baker & Bellis, 1995). Furthermore, women who are having affairs are more likely to be orgasmic with their affair partner than with their regular partner. (see Buss, 2003)." (pp. 177)
"The absence of a father while growing up has been reliably linked with the pursuit of a short-term mating strategy. Among the Mayan of Belize and the Ache of Paraguay, for example... Other studies of both women and men have found that those growing in father-absent homes are more likely to reach puberty sooner, to engage in sexual intercourse earlier, and to pursue a short-term mating strategy (e.g., Ellis, McFadyen-Ketchum, Dodge, Pettis, & Bates, 1999; Surbey, 1998). Intriguingly, one study found that stepfather presence, even more than biological father absence, may be the critical factor promoting early sexual maturation in girls - a likely precursor to the pursuit of a short-term mating strategy (Ellis & Garber, 2000)... Finally, poor attachment to one's parents was linked to a higher likelihood of reading pornography among women, and predicted sexual promiscuity for both sexes (Walsh, 1995, 1999)." (pp. 183-184)
"The fact that premarital adolescent sexual experimentation is tolerated and even encouraged in some cultures, such as the Mehinaku of Amazonia (Gregor, 1985), provides a clue that short-term mating is related to one's stage in life." (pp. 184)
"For women, however, self-esteem proved to be a highly significant predictor of short-term mating. Women scoring low on self-esteem, relative to their high self-esteem counterparts, tended to have a greater number of sex partners since puberty, a greater number of sex partners over the past year, a greater number of one-night stands, a preference for short-term sexual relationships, and scores on the SOI indicating the pursuit of a short-term mating strategy." (pp. 185)
(All quotes from David M. Buss, Evolutionary Psychology - the New Science of the Mind, Second Edition, 2004)
After all, that's what everyone loves - casual, mindless sex!
"Imagine an attractive person of the opposite sex walking up to you on a college campus and saying "Hi, I've been noticing you around town lately, and I find you very attractive. Would you have sex with me?" How would you respond? If you were like 100 percent of the women in one study, you would give an emphatic no. You would be offended, insulted or just plain puzzled by the request. But if you were like the men in that study, the odds are good that you would say yes - as did 75 percent of those men (Clarke & Hatfield, 1989). As a man you would most likely be flattered by the request. Many of the 25 percent of the men who declined the sexual offer were apologetic, citing previous commitments. The idea that men and women react differently when it comes to casual sex may not be surprising. Theories in evolutionary psychology, however, provide a principled basis for predicting this difference and for explaining its magnitude." (pp. 163)
"Men's testes size, relative to their body weight, is far greater than that of gorillas and orangutans. Male testes account for .018 percent of body weight in gorillas and .048 percent in orangutans (Short, 1979; Smith, 1984). In contrast, human male testes account for .079 percent of men's body weight, or 60 percent more than that of orangutans and more than four times that of gorillas, corrected for body size. Men's relatively large testes provide one solid piece of evidence that women in human evolutionary history sometimes had sex with more than one man within a time span of a few days... Human testicular volume is substantially smaller than that of the highly promiscuous chimpanzee, whose testes account for .269 percent of its body weight, more than three times than the percentage for men." (pp. 168)
"Men's sperm count went up dramatically with the increasing amount of time the couple had been apart since their last sexual encounter... When the couples spent 100 percent of their time together, men inseminated 389 million sperm per ejaculate, on average. But when the couples spent only 5 percent of their time together, men inseminated 712 million sperm per ejaculate, almost double the amount... It is important to note that this increase in sperm insemination upon being reunited did not depend on the time since the man's last ejaculation. Even when the man had masturbated to orgasm while away from his wife, he still inseminated more sperm on being reunited if he had been away from her a long time." (Baker & Bellis, 1995) (pp. 168)
"Another study analyzed forty-eight "private wishes" ranging from "to be with God when I die" to "to make a lasting contribution through creative work" (Ehrlichman & Eichenstein, 1992). The largest sex difference by far was found for one wish: "to have sex with anyone I choose."" (pp. 169)
"Evolutionary psychologist Martie Haselton recently found evidence for a possibly adaptation in men to facilitate the success of a short-term mating strategy: an emotional shift right after sexual intercourse (Haselton & Buss, 2001). Men with more sex partners experienced a sharp decline in how sexually attractive they found their partner immediately following intercourse, whereas neither women nor men with less sexual experience showed this decline. If further work verifies the attraction-reduction effect, it might support the hypothesis that men have yet another psychological adaptation designed to promote the success of a casual sexual strategy, one that motivates either a hasty postcopulatory departure to minimize investment in any one women or, alternatively, a roving eye within the context on an existing long-term mateship." (pp. 172)
"Forty-three percent of women but only 12 percent of men report that they never substitute or switch sexual partners during a fantasy episode. Thirty-two percent of men but only 8 percent of women report having imagined sexual encounters with more than 1,000 different partners in their lifetime. A sample male fantasy is "being the mayor of a small town filled with nude girls from 20 to 24. I like to take walks, and pick out the best-looking one that day, and she engages in intercourse with me. All the women have sex with me any time I want" (Barclay, 1973, p. 209). Numbers and novelty are key ingredients of men's fantasy lives.
Men focus on body parts and sexual positions stripped of emotional context. Male sexual fantasies are heavily visual, focusing on smooth skin and moving body parts. During sexual fantasy, 81 percent of men but only 43 percent of women focus on visual images rather than feelings. Attractive women with lots of exposed skin who show signs of easy access and no commitment are the frequent contents of men's fantasies. As evolutionary psychologists Bruce Ellis and Donald Symons observed, "The most striking feature of [male fantasy] is that sex is sheer lust and physical gratification, devoid of encumbering relationships, emotional elaboration, complicated plot lines, flirtation, courtship, and extended foreplay (Ellis & Symons, 1990, p. 544)... Women emphasize tenderness, romance and personal involvement in their sexual fantasies. Women pay more attention to the way their partner responds to them rather than to visual images of their partner (Ellis & Symons, 1990)"
"Anthropologist Thomas Gregor described the sexual feelings of Amazonian Mehinaku men in this way: "Women's sexual attractiveness varies from 'flavorless' (mana) to the 'delicious' (awirintya)..." (1985, p. 84). Furthermore, Gregor notes that "sad to say, sex with spouses is said to be mana, in contrast to sex with lovers, which is nearly always awirintyapa" (Gregor, 1985, p. 72)." (pp. 175)
"The number of sperm a woman retains is also linked with whether she is having an affair. Women time their adulterous liaisons in a way that is reproductively detrimental to their husbands. In a nationwide sex survey of 3,679 women in Britain, all women recorded their menstrual cycles as well as the timing of their copulations with their husbands and, if they were having affairs, with their loves. It turned out that women having affairs appeared to time their copulations, most likely unconsciously, to coincide with the point in their menstrual cycle when they were most likely to be ovulating and hence were most likely to conceive (Baker & Bellis, 1995). Furthermore, women who are having affairs are more likely to be orgasmic with their affair partner than with their regular partner. (see Buss, 2003)." (pp. 177)
"The absence of a father while growing up has been reliably linked with the pursuit of a short-term mating strategy. Among the Mayan of Belize and the Ache of Paraguay, for example... Other studies of both women and men have found that those growing in father-absent homes are more likely to reach puberty sooner, to engage in sexual intercourse earlier, and to pursue a short-term mating strategy (e.g., Ellis, McFadyen-Ketchum, Dodge, Pettis, & Bates, 1999; Surbey, 1998). Intriguingly, one study found that stepfather presence, even more than biological father absence, may be the critical factor promoting early sexual maturation in girls - a likely precursor to the pursuit of a short-term mating strategy (Ellis & Garber, 2000)... Finally, poor attachment to one's parents was linked to a higher likelihood of reading pornography among women, and predicted sexual promiscuity for both sexes (Walsh, 1995, 1999)." (pp. 183-184)
"The fact that premarital adolescent sexual experimentation is tolerated and even encouraged in some cultures, such as the Mehinaku of Amazonia (Gregor, 1985), provides a clue that short-term mating is related to one's stage in life." (pp. 184)
"For women, however, self-esteem proved to be a highly significant predictor of short-term mating. Women scoring low on self-esteem, relative to their high self-esteem counterparts, tended to have a greater number of sex partners since puberty, a greater number of sex partners over the past year, a greater number of one-night stands, a preference for short-term sexual relationships, and scores on the SOI indicating the pursuit of a short-term mating strategy." (pp. 185)
(All quotes from David M. Buss, Evolutionary Psychology - the New Science of the Mind, Second Edition, 2004)
Post ID: 112738213992853352
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Seen around: "Women might be able to fake orgasms. But men can fake a whole relationship."
***
I'm not sure what to make of this:
the blog of daniel, the paedophile on bus 156, junction 8...
"to RI boys
hello RI boys
in case you didn't know, i'm uncle daniel, the one you refer to as the bishan gay or whatever. i'm not gay, i'm a paedophile. firstly an intro about me. i'm a sick shit who likes to sit at kfc or delifrance or once in a while macdonalds. i pretend to write assessment books, but what i'm actually doing is hanging around to stare at you guys. if i'm free i also like to tail some of you home. i used to teach geog in your school till i got jailed for molestation. but i don't regret it because it was worth it. now i have grown old and i am content just to sit around and smile. i am instantly recognisable through my spectacle bands, suitcase, discman and of course my trademark smile. hope to see you soon once school reopens after your ilearning."
Uhh.
[Addendum: Since they don't make RI boys like they used to, let me state:
1) I am not the Bishan gay
2) The above quoted bit is from a spoof blog, most certainly set up by an RI boy, in the name of the Bishn gay.
3) I have never seen the Bishan gay in real life and don't know anything beyond what I read and what people tell me.
- Sunday, 11th May, 2008]
***
I'm not sure what to make of this:
the blog of daniel, the paedophile on bus 156, junction 8...
"to RI boys
hello RI boys
in case you didn't know, i'm uncle daniel, the one you refer to as the bishan gay or whatever. i'm not gay, i'm a paedophile. firstly an intro about me. i'm a sick shit who likes to sit at kfc or delifrance or once in a while macdonalds. i pretend to write assessment books, but what i'm actually doing is hanging around to stare at you guys. if i'm free i also like to tail some of you home. i used to teach geog in your school till i got jailed for molestation. but i don't regret it because it was worth it. now i have grown old and i am content just to sit around and smile. i am instantly recognisable through my spectacle bands, suitcase, discman and of course my trademark smile. hope to see you soon once school reopens after your ilearning."
Uhh.
[Addendum: Since they don't make RI boys like they used to, let me state:
1) I am not the Bishan gay
2) The above quoted bit is from a spoof blog, most certainly set up by an RI boy, in the name of the Bishn gay.
3) I have never seen the Bishan gay in real life and don't know anything beyond what I read and what people tell me.
- Sunday, 11th May, 2008]
Post ID: 112731230404701083
A report from a representative I sent down to the VCF talk last Wednesday: "Is it true...? Debunking the myths of Christianity" (the title actually makes it sound like an anti-Christian talk):
Representative: Not as well as I had hoped, the guy that I was with thought that the speaker wanted to beat me up or something
I was terribly frustrated towards the end and I think it showed
Not much, standard arguments...very standard apologetics. Gosh, with the amount of interpretation that he did, the bible could prove anything you wanted
yeah...you should have been there. Would have been more useful. I just realise that I could make a fantastic fundamentalist =P The highlight of the entire thing was when I used Hebrew to demonstrate why the creation myth of Genesis 1 was meant to be read literally
why the 6 days of genesis is a literal 6 days.
Me: but were these the "the earth is <10,000 years old" type?
R: Oh no...which is really good. They belong firmly in the metaphor and apologetics camp
Apparently the word yom in genesis wasn't just that. It was followed by 3 other hebrew words which clearly meant night and day. Hence night and day, god created this etc. This is especially so when Hebrew has like 3 different characters for epoch.
Me: ah I dimly recall this
tell me more
R: But I don't think my conduct was entirely examplery...nor too convincing unfortunately
I've decided that attending suchs talks as those held by VCF are a necessary evil
Someone needs to keep them honest. I mean the crowd there was docile and eating up everything the speaker was saying
Me: hahahaha
were you the only one?
ok we shall notify each other of upcoming ones
R: yeah
small crowd with the president of VCF nodding away at everything...
Me: wah
when I went last year there were 2-3 other skeptics
R: Lunch time talk....the rational and logical person would be having lunch
Since skeptics = rational and logical, egro they wouold be having lunch. THUS they would not have been there
Me: hahahahhahahaha
wth
eh last year it was lunch time too
R: Then maybe they left it up to me...=P
*Shrugg*...either that or they were turned away at the door
I wonder if I can attend any of these talks anymore =P
Me: haha
let's find out next time :)
Representative: Not as well as I had hoped, the guy that I was with thought that the speaker wanted to beat me up or something
I was terribly frustrated towards the end and I think it showed
Not much, standard arguments...very standard apologetics. Gosh, with the amount of interpretation that he did, the bible could prove anything you wanted
yeah...you should have been there. Would have been more useful. I just realise that I could make a fantastic fundamentalist =P The highlight of the entire thing was when I used Hebrew to demonstrate why the creation myth of Genesis 1 was meant to be read literally
why the 6 days of genesis is a literal 6 days.
Me: but were these the "the earth is <10,000 years old" type?
R: Oh no...which is really good. They belong firmly in the metaphor and apologetics camp
Apparently the word yom in genesis wasn't just that. It was followed by 3 other hebrew words which clearly meant night and day. Hence night and day, god created this etc. This is especially so when Hebrew has like 3 different characters for epoch.
Me: ah I dimly recall this
tell me more
R: But I don't think my conduct was entirely examplery...nor too convincing unfortunately
I've decided that attending suchs talks as those held by VCF are a necessary evil
Someone needs to keep them honest. I mean the crowd there was docile and eating up everything the speaker was saying
Me: hahahaha
were you the only one?
ok we shall notify each other of upcoming ones
R: yeah
small crowd with the president of VCF nodding away at everything...
Me: wah
when I went last year there were 2-3 other skeptics
R: Lunch time talk....the rational and logical person would be having lunch
Since skeptics = rational and logical, egro they wouold be having lunch. THUS they would not have been there
Me: hahahahhahahaha
wth
eh last year it was lunch time too
R: Then maybe they left it up to me...=P
*Shrugg*...either that or they were turned away at the door
I wonder if I can attend any of these talks anymore =P
Me: haha
let's find out next time :)
Post ID: 112723277721592748
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
"I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it." - Edith Sitwell
Random playlist song: 大海啊故乡 (中国军魂军歌试听中心 www.junhun.cn)
小时候妈妈对我讲
大海就是我故乡
海边出生海里成长
大海啊大海
是我生长的地方
海风吹海浪涌
随我飘流四方
大海啊大海
就像妈妈一样
走遍天涯海角
总在我的身旁
大海啊故乡
大海啊故乡
我的故乡我故乡
When I was young, my mother told me,
That the sea was my home
Being born by the sea, growing up in the sea
The ocean, the ocean
Is where I grew up
The sea breeze blows, and the waves lap
With me, it flows in every directions
The ocean, the ocean
Is just like mother
No matter where in the world I travel
She's always by my side
Ocean, oh hometown
Ocean, oh hometown
My hometown, my hometown
Inevitably, something is lost in translation, but this isn't too bad, I think, especially since I had help from Xephyris, the expert in translating songs from East Asian languages to English.
Another of Wu Yi's pieces. What can I say, folk songs can be soothing to listen to.
The recording's a bit muffled, and I'm quite sure I heard them pronounce it as "The ocean is the place where I grew longer".
I found this on mp3.baidu.com, which has just improved. Last time it searched the whole search string as a phrase, and even doing a +"foo" +"bar" didn't help. Now I think it works like a normal search engine, and interprets each term in the search string as separate.
***
Dashing young priests turn heads at Youth Day - "Father Jonathan Meyer, wearing sunglasses and a sleek black cassock and clutching a crucifix, replicates Keanu Reeves' pose in the film "The Matrix" for a recruitment poster. "It has been a complete success...It is a striking image which meets young people were they are at," said 28-year-old Meyer, who manages youth work in the diocese of Indianapolis. "I know I am hanging in a few girls' bedrooms too, but that's fine -- we need their prayers for more priests," he said."
Stripper stabs man who refused lap dance - "An angry San Diego topless dancer pulled out a knife and stabbed a customer after he refused a lap dance, police said on Thursday. Lawanda Dixon, 24, was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon shortly after the altercation with 33-year-old Melik Jordan at the Dream Girls Cabaret early on Wednesday, San Diego police Det. Gary Hassen said."
God Hates Shrimp - "Shrimp, crab, lobster, clams, mussels, all these are an abomination before the Lord, just as gays are an abomination. Why stop at protesting gay marriage? Bring all of God's law unto the heathens and the sodomites. We call upon all Christians to join the crusade against Long John Silver's and Red Lobster. Yea, even Popeye's shall be cleansed. The name of Bubba shall be anathema. We must stop the unbelievers from destroying the sanctity of our restaurants."
Sri Lanka Cabinet reduces the age of consent for sexual encounters to 13 years - "Cabinet spokesperson Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said the action has been taken due to rising numbers of men arrested for sexual relations with girls below the age of 16."
Uhh.
Random playlist song: 大海啊故乡 (中国军魂军歌试听中心 www.junhun.cn)
小时候妈妈对我讲
大海就是我故乡
海边出生海里成长
大海啊大海
是我生长的地方
海风吹海浪涌
随我飘流四方
大海啊大海
就像妈妈一样
走遍天涯海角
总在我的身旁
大海啊故乡
大海啊故乡
我的故乡我故乡
When I was young, my mother told me,
That the sea was my home
Being born by the sea, growing up in the sea
The ocean, the ocean
Is where I grew up
The sea breeze blows, and the waves lap
With me, it flows in every directions
The ocean, the ocean
Is just like mother
No matter where in the world I travel
She's always by my side
Ocean, oh hometown
Ocean, oh hometown
My hometown, my hometown
Inevitably, something is lost in translation, but this isn't too bad, I think, especially since I had help from Xephyris, the expert in translating songs from East Asian languages to English.
Another of Wu Yi's pieces. What can I say, folk songs can be soothing to listen to.
The recording's a bit muffled, and I'm quite sure I heard them pronounce it as "The ocean is the place where I grew longer".
I found this on mp3.baidu.com, which has just improved. Last time it searched the whole search string as a phrase, and even doing a +"foo" +"bar" didn't help. Now I think it works like a normal search engine, and interprets each term in the search string as separate.
***
Dashing young priests turn heads at Youth Day - "Father Jonathan Meyer, wearing sunglasses and a sleek black cassock and clutching a crucifix, replicates Keanu Reeves' pose in the film "The Matrix" for a recruitment poster. "It has been a complete success...It is a striking image which meets young people were they are at," said 28-year-old Meyer, who manages youth work in the diocese of Indianapolis. "I know I am hanging in a few girls' bedrooms too, but that's fine -- we need their prayers for more priests," he said."
Stripper stabs man who refused lap dance - "An angry San Diego topless dancer pulled out a knife and stabbed a customer after he refused a lap dance, police said on Thursday. Lawanda Dixon, 24, was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon shortly after the altercation with 33-year-old Melik Jordan at the Dream Girls Cabaret early on Wednesday, San Diego police Det. Gary Hassen said."
God Hates Shrimp - "Shrimp, crab, lobster, clams, mussels, all these are an abomination before the Lord, just as gays are an abomination. Why stop at protesting gay marriage? Bring all of God's law unto the heathens and the sodomites. We call upon all Christians to join the crusade against Long John Silver's and Red Lobster. Yea, even Popeye's shall be cleansed. The name of Bubba shall be anathema. We must stop the unbelievers from destroying the sanctity of our restaurants."
Sri Lanka Cabinet reduces the age of consent for sexual encounters to 13 years - "Cabinet spokesperson Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said the action has been taken due to rising numbers of men arrested for sexual relations with girls below the age of 16."
Uhh.
Post ID: 112722782231664370
60 signs of a True-Blue Singaporean
1. Thanks to SMS, you have an extra large thumb.
2. Tks 2 SMS, u oso dun no how 2 spel n e mor.
3. You pat MRT and bus seats to cool them before you sit down.
4. At lunch, you start discussing what to eat for dinner.
5. Your wedding photos include shots of you dressed up like Louis XIV, Michael Jackson, or Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in Titanic.
6. When speaking to foreigners, you somehow feel a need to adopt an accent. (If you're a DJ, this happens even when you’re not speaking to foreigners.)
7. You won't raise your voice to protest policies, but you’ll raise your fists to whack someone over Hello Kitty.
8. You're forever talking about businesses you want to set up but will probably never get around to starting.
9. You don't know 3/4 of the people attending your wedding.
10. You separate food into 2 basic groups: 'heaty' and 'cooling'.
11. You're never completely sure how many times you’ve sung the second verse of the National Anthem.
12. You think that what makes you 'married' is not the legal registration but whether you’ve thrown a 12 course dinner.
13. You marry for the real estate breaks.
14. You have kids for the tax advantages.
15. You move to where you want your child to go to school.
16. You feel you can't walk around naked in your own flat.
17. You force your children to take Speech & Drama classes, but pray they won't wind up in Arts later on.
18. You suddenly realize you're very interested in biotech - just like you suddenly realized three years ago that you were very interested in e-commerce, and before that, engineering, and before that, medicine and law.
19. You think being an entrepreneur is setting up a bubble tea/Portuguese egg tart/gao luck/porridge shop right next to an existing bubble tea/Portuguese egg tart/gao luck/porridge shop.
20. You think people are inconsiderate when they don't leave their table immediately after eating at the food court but think you have every right to take 25 bites to finish the last red bean in your ice kachang.
21. You find it impossible to make suggestions without drawing a fishbone chart first.
22. If you're a guy, whenever you get together with your guy friends, you invariably trade army stories.
23. If you're a girl, whenever you get together with your girl friends, you invariably trade stories about how your stupid guy friends are forever trading army stories.
24. You think the most important sporting event in Singapore this year was David Beckham switching from Manchester United to Real Madrid.
25. You somehow feel that food tastes better when eaten by a longkang.
26. It actually makes a difference to you being called an 'NSMan' rather than a 'Reservist'.
27. You've eaten more times at the Esplanade than you've actually seen shows there.
28. You need campaigns to tell you how to be courteous, to flush toilets, have sex, etc.
29. When you visit the Zoo, you wonder what the animals taste like.
30. You feel the urge to add the suffix '-polis' to everything, viz. Biopolis, Airtropolis, Fusionopolis, Entrepolis, etc.
31. You always feel oddly hungry at 11 pm, and are willing to drive to far away places for supper.
32. You meet in hotels a lot.
33. Your children have a rudimentary knowledge of Tagalog or Bahasa Indonesia.
34. You work at McDonald's when you’re old rather than young.
35. You'll gladly spend $50,000 on a car, but will go to great lengths to save a few bucks on
ERP charges or even a few cents on a parking coupon.
36. Pork floss and mayonnaise on bread is a completely natural combination to you.
37. If you're pregnant, you have the strange ability to make people on the MRT fall asleep instantly.
38. You ask for the bill by miming a signing movement.
39. You've started referring to foreign employees as 'talent' instead of 'expatriates'.
40. At the dinner table, you're always discussing which other food places serve better versions of what you’re eating.
41. You copy down licence plate numbers of cars involved in accidents.
42. You think your boyfriend doesn't really love you unless he gives you part of his liver.
43. During sales, you book hotel rooms near malls to enable you to shop more efficiently.
44. You pronounce the letter 'R' as 'ah-rer' and the letter 'H' as 'haytch'.
45. No matter how old you are, you keep associating people with their secondary schools. (alternative: No matter how old you are, you secretly need to know what other people got for their PSLE, O levels and A levels.)
46. You’re always on a quest for the definitive version of your favourite local dish.
47. When you explain things to people, you keep (a) using alphabets, and (b) speaking in point form.
48. You believe that you can generate 'creativity' through rules and committees.
49. You 'chope' a seat by placing a packet of tissues on the chair.
50. You’re very forthright with your criticisms of the Gahmen, unless there’s a chance they might actually hear you.
51. You diligently track the whereabouts of your favourite hawkers, i.e..you know that the famous Tiong Bahru Bao is now in Jurong, the famous Outram Char Kuay Teow is now in Hong Lim Centre and the famous Lau Hock Kien Hokkien mee from the old Lau Pa Sat is now at Beach Road.
52. Your mother probably can’t speak your 'mother tongue'.
53. You’d rather drink your own pee than pay someone more for water.
54. You secretly find that the best part of the Speak Good English Movement is hearing the Singlish bits in their ads.
55. You have an automatic sensor in your head which categorizes people you meet into stayer/ quitter, cosmopolitan/heartlander, normal/ express/ gifted, etc.
56. You think we’re living in a modern, sophisticated country even when our leaders still insist on wearing their school uniforms.
57. You wish your constituency is in a walkover, because otherwise it’s damn 'leceh'.
58. During elections, you decide that there is no credible opposition even though you don’t know the name of the opposition candidate in your constituency.
59. You think having a constitution is like the condition you get when you don’t eat enough fibre.
60. You can never quite remember what “the core values” of Singaporeans are
1. Thanks to SMS, you have an extra large thumb.
2. Tks 2 SMS, u oso dun no how 2 spel n e mor.
3. You pat MRT and bus seats to cool them before you sit down.
4. At lunch, you start discussing what to eat for dinner.
5. Your wedding photos include shots of you dressed up like Louis XIV, Michael Jackson, or Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in Titanic.
6. When speaking to foreigners, you somehow feel a need to adopt an accent. (If you're a DJ, this happens even when you’re not speaking to foreigners.)
7. You won't raise your voice to protest policies, but you’ll raise your fists to whack someone over Hello Kitty.
8. You're forever talking about businesses you want to set up but will probably never get around to starting.
9. You don't know 3/4 of the people attending your wedding.
10. You separate food into 2 basic groups: 'heaty' and 'cooling'.
11. You're never completely sure how many times you’ve sung the second verse of the National Anthem.
12. You think that what makes you 'married' is not the legal registration but whether you’ve thrown a 12 course dinner.
13. You marry for the real estate breaks.
14. You have kids for the tax advantages.
15. You move to where you want your child to go to school.
16. You feel you can't walk around naked in your own flat.
17. You force your children to take Speech & Drama classes, but pray they won't wind up in Arts later on.
18. You suddenly realize you're very interested in biotech - just like you suddenly realized three years ago that you were very interested in e-commerce, and before that, engineering, and before that, medicine and law.
19. You think being an entrepreneur is setting up a bubble tea/Portuguese egg tart/gao luck/porridge shop right next to an existing bubble tea/Portuguese egg tart/gao luck/porridge shop.
20. You think people are inconsiderate when they don't leave their table immediately after eating at the food court but think you have every right to take 25 bites to finish the last red bean in your ice kachang.
21. You find it impossible to make suggestions without drawing a fishbone chart first.
22. If you're a guy, whenever you get together with your guy friends, you invariably trade army stories.
23. If you're a girl, whenever you get together with your girl friends, you invariably trade stories about how your stupid guy friends are forever trading army stories.
24. You think the most important sporting event in Singapore this year was David Beckham switching from Manchester United to Real Madrid.
25. You somehow feel that food tastes better when eaten by a longkang.
26. It actually makes a difference to you being called an 'NSMan' rather than a 'Reservist'.
27. You've eaten more times at the Esplanade than you've actually seen shows there.
28. You need campaigns to tell you how to be courteous, to flush toilets, have sex, etc.
29. When you visit the Zoo, you wonder what the animals taste like.
30. You feel the urge to add the suffix '-polis' to everything, viz. Biopolis, Airtropolis, Fusionopolis, Entrepolis, etc.
31. You always feel oddly hungry at 11 pm, and are willing to drive to far away places for supper.
32. You meet in hotels a lot.
33. Your children have a rudimentary knowledge of Tagalog or Bahasa Indonesia.
34. You work at McDonald's when you’re old rather than young.
35. You'll gladly spend $50,000 on a car, but will go to great lengths to save a few bucks on
ERP charges or even a few cents on a parking coupon.
36. Pork floss and mayonnaise on bread is a completely natural combination to you.
37. If you're pregnant, you have the strange ability to make people on the MRT fall asleep instantly.
38. You ask for the bill by miming a signing movement.
39. You've started referring to foreign employees as 'talent' instead of 'expatriates'.
40. At the dinner table, you're always discussing which other food places serve better versions of what you’re eating.
41. You copy down licence plate numbers of cars involved in accidents.
42. You think your boyfriend doesn't really love you unless he gives you part of his liver.
43. During sales, you book hotel rooms near malls to enable you to shop more efficiently.
44. You pronounce the letter 'R' as 'ah-rer' and the letter 'H' as 'haytch'.
45. No matter how old you are, you keep associating people with their secondary schools. (alternative: No matter how old you are, you secretly need to know what other people got for their PSLE, O levels and A levels.)
46. You’re always on a quest for the definitive version of your favourite local dish.
47. When you explain things to people, you keep (a) using alphabets, and (b) speaking in point form.
48. You believe that you can generate 'creativity' through rules and committees.
49. You 'chope' a seat by placing a packet of tissues on the chair.
50. You’re very forthright with your criticisms of the Gahmen, unless there’s a chance they might actually hear you.
51. You diligently track the whereabouts of your favourite hawkers, i.e..you know that the famous Tiong Bahru Bao is now in Jurong, the famous Outram Char Kuay Teow is now in Hong Lim Centre and the famous Lau Hock Kien Hokkien mee from the old Lau Pa Sat is now at Beach Road.
52. Your mother probably can’t speak your 'mother tongue'.
53. You’d rather drink your own pee than pay someone more for water.
54. You secretly find that the best part of the Speak Good English Movement is hearing the Singlish bits in their ads.
55. You have an automatic sensor in your head which categorizes people you meet into stayer/ quitter, cosmopolitan/heartlander, normal/ express/ gifted, etc.
56. You think we’re living in a modern, sophisticated country even when our leaders still insist on wearing their school uniforms.
57. You wish your constituency is in a walkover, because otherwise it’s damn 'leceh'.
58. During elections, you decide that there is no credible opposition even though you don’t know the name of the opposition candidate in your constituency.
59. You think having a constitution is like the condition you get when you don’t eat enough fibre.
60. You can never quite remember what “the core values” of Singaporeans are
Post ID: 112722185564083838
bouncing off walls informs me that I'm mentioned on Radio Singapore International (RSI):
Student Blogs
"Does John have any blogs on his list of must-reads?
JA: I like Gabriel Seah, or gssq.blogspot.com. He's kind of a resident cynic of sorts. I enjoy reading his posts because they are all anti-establishment. I enjoy all the controversial points of view, going through all the sites, in black and white, and the gray parts in between."
Verily, I am amused.
***
Leung Kwok-hung - "Leung Kwok-hung..., also known as Long Hair... is best known for his long, shoulder length hair and nearly always wearing a T-shirt with the image of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara. Leung said he will not cut his hair until the government of People's Republic of China apologizes about the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989."
Another of the mysteries of life is solved.
Student Blogs
"Does John have any blogs on his list of must-reads?
JA: I like Gabriel Seah, or gssq.blogspot.com. He's kind of a resident cynic of sorts. I enjoy reading his posts because they are all anti-establishment. I enjoy all the controversial points of view, going through all the sites, in black and white, and the gray parts in between."
Verily, I am amused.
***
Leung Kwok-hung - "Leung Kwok-hung..., also known as Long Hair... is best known for his long, shoulder length hair and nearly always wearing a T-shirt with the image of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara. Leung said he will not cut his hair until the government of People's Republic of China apologizes about the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989."
Another of the mysteries of life is solved.
Post ID: 112721613844655390
More Quotes:
[On a lecturer] He shouldn't teach at all. His English is so bad. He should go back and learn English before teaching.
Re-riding problem (freeriding)
kidney problem (TV program)
*Pulls my hair* Don't be angry. Later I'll let you pull my ponytail.
This cannot be choo (true)
the mungle utility (marginal)
only and only if (if)
in j / jair (agent j)
Glues Clarks (Groves-Clarke)
Goose Clark (Groves-Clarke)
Marsh equilibrium (Nash)
To tell you the truce (truth)
jack (J)
seeker ma (sigma)
Why do we need to observe flies mating to study sexual selection? Just go to the Arts Canteen.
farm (firm)
labour market and good market (goods)
[On a lecturer] He shouldn't teach at all. His English is so bad. He should go back and learn English before teaching.
Re-riding problem (freeriding)
kidney problem (TV program)
*Pulls my hair* Don't be angry. Later I'll let you pull my ponytail.
This cannot be choo (true)
the mungle utility (marginal)
only and only if (if)
in j / jair (agent j)
Glues Clarks (Groves-Clarke)
Goose Clark (Groves-Clarke)
Marsh equilibrium (Nash)
To tell you the truce (truth)
jack (J)
seeker ma (sigma)
Why do we need to observe flies mating to study sexual selection? Just go to the Arts Canteen.
farm (firm)
labour market and good market (goods)
Post ID: 112719319534865248
Quotes:
No school ever had the slogan 'The Worst is Yet to Be', yet it is as true and as unfalsifiable as 'The Best is Yet to Be'... 'The Best is Yet to Be' is a triumph of optimism over pessimism. It has no rational basis.
[On a confused enquiry] I'm concerned. I'm paid to be concerned... Students are not meant to graduate confused.
In doing questionnaire studies, you always need to make allowances for those who either wilfully, or because they were half asleep, or drunk, or tired, or gave it to their maid to fill in... There's always noise in the data.
[On abuse] Their boss is always picking on them, so they whack the wife, the wife whacks the kid, the kid kicks the cat. Something like that.
[On infanticide resulting from post-natal depression] I don't know, but I would like to know if it makes the mother feel worse. As a biologist I think it will make her feel better. As a social scientist I think it will make the mother feel worse.
[On the mid-semester break] Next week is your break so-called 'week'
[On mass consciousness] The revolution never happened. Some say that, in some places, it did. I wouldn't want to live in Cuba or North Korea though.
In Singapore, power is concentrated. Can I say [this]? I'm a foreigner. What can they do to me?
What does Marx think about political emancipation? It's like a quiz show. 'Contestant! What does Marx think of political emancipation?'
[On Marx] Even though he goes in a huge round, talking crap and confusing all of his readers...
Bring out your readings. So even if you didn't do your reading you can pretend to underline.
[On Marx] For crap like this... 20% of the material matters. 80% is crap. Just read the first paragraph, the last paragraph... read the first sentence, the last sentence.
In the Philippines, they have these prayer rallies. These are not attended by the middle class. The pastor will ask: 'Who doesn't have a job?' A thousand people will raise their hands. The pastor will say: 'Tomorrow you will get a job'. The next day 2 of them get a job, and they go 'Hallelujah!' Two out of a thousand.
For Durkheim, the Totemic Principle underlied the distinction between Sacred and Profane (underlay)
[On the end of lecture buzzer] Oh goodness. That's so harsh. It's like I've done something wrong, isn't it?
[On linear regression] Our task is to find the green line. If you don't know what you are doing, then I don't know what to say.
At the end of the task book (textbook)
point five t (two)
the colour that corresponds to (column)
in other whirl (words)
[On the meaninglessness of the slope coefficient when regressing onto a binary variable] D equals to 1 for a male and D equals to 0 for a female... You talk about changing the feminits, the masculinits... It has no meaning. (gender)
[On taking my non-hair tie rubber bands every week] You are my rubber band commander.
I want to use this new miracle example (numerical)
Today is an exceptionally hot day. The girls' skirts are getting higher and higher. [Other student: Maybe it's because the skirts are high] It's mating season.
It's very simple. I expect you to know it. It's not simple. It's simple because I expect you to know it.
[On the mid-semester break] I don't know why, but some chap decided to put a week from Sunday to Thursday. You get a break, but you don't get a break from me.
[Flashes slide on 'How to Study'] First, you ask yourself how you learn best. Don't copy please! I'm not going to test you on this! [Ed: NUS students...]
[On reading the textbook/notes before the lecture] Or do you prefer the excitement, not finding out beforehand? *laughs from audience* It's not a joke! I'm like that.
[To the end of lecture buzzer] Shut up.
loin x (ln)
If we don't server'sify (specify)
That's why copyright is very important (property rights are)
the street line (straight)
any vinegar (villager)
No school ever had the slogan 'The Worst is Yet to Be', yet it is as true and as unfalsifiable as 'The Best is Yet to Be'... 'The Best is Yet to Be' is a triumph of optimism over pessimism. It has no rational basis.
[On a confused enquiry] I'm concerned. I'm paid to be concerned... Students are not meant to graduate confused.
In doing questionnaire studies, you always need to make allowances for those who either wilfully, or because they were half asleep, or drunk, or tired, or gave it to their maid to fill in... There's always noise in the data.
[On abuse] Their boss is always picking on them, so they whack the wife, the wife whacks the kid, the kid kicks the cat. Something like that.
[On infanticide resulting from post-natal depression] I don't know, but I would like to know if it makes the mother feel worse. As a biologist I think it will make her feel better. As a social scientist I think it will make the mother feel worse.
[On the mid-semester break] Next week is your break so-called 'week'
[On mass consciousness] The revolution never happened. Some say that, in some places, it did. I wouldn't want to live in Cuba or North Korea though.
In Singapore, power is concentrated. Can I say [this]? I'm a foreigner. What can they do to me?
What does Marx think about political emancipation? It's like a quiz show. 'Contestant! What does Marx think of political emancipation?'
[On Marx] Even though he goes in a huge round, talking crap and confusing all of his readers...
Bring out your readings. So even if you didn't do your reading you can pretend to underline.
[On Marx] For crap like this... 20% of the material matters. 80% is crap. Just read the first paragraph, the last paragraph... read the first sentence, the last sentence.
In the Philippines, they have these prayer rallies. These are not attended by the middle class. The pastor will ask: 'Who doesn't have a job?' A thousand people will raise their hands. The pastor will say: 'Tomorrow you will get a job'. The next day 2 of them get a job, and they go 'Hallelujah!' Two out of a thousand.
For Durkheim, the Totemic Principle underlied the distinction between Sacred and Profane (underlay)
[On the end of lecture buzzer] Oh goodness. That's so harsh. It's like I've done something wrong, isn't it?
[On linear regression] Our task is to find the green line. If you don't know what you are doing, then I don't know what to say.
At the end of the task book (textbook)
point five t (two)
the colour that corresponds to (column)
in other whirl (words)
[On the meaninglessness of the slope coefficient when regressing onto a binary variable] D equals to 1 for a male and D equals to 0 for a female... You talk about changing the feminits, the masculinits... It has no meaning. (gender)
[On taking my non-hair tie rubber bands every week] You are my rubber band commander.
I want to use this new miracle example (numerical)
Today is an exceptionally hot day. The girls' skirts are getting higher and higher. [Other student: Maybe it's because the skirts are high] It's mating season.
It's very simple. I expect you to know it. It's not simple. It's simple because I expect you to know it.
[On the mid-semester break] I don't know why, but some chap decided to put a week from Sunday to Thursday. You get a break, but you don't get a break from me.
[Flashes slide on 'How to Study'] First, you ask yourself how you learn best. Don't copy please! I'm not going to test you on this! [Ed: NUS students...]
[On reading the textbook/notes before the lecture] Or do you prefer the excitement, not finding out beforehand? *laughs from audience* It's not a joke! I'm like that.
[To the end of lecture buzzer] Shut up.
loin x (ln)
If we don't server'sify (specify)
That's why copyright is very important (property rights are)
the street line (straight)
any vinegar (villager)
Post ID: 112715456433065316
Previously quoted:
"Where questions of religion are concerned, people are guilty of every possible sort of dishonesty and intellectual misdemeanour. Philosophers stretch the meaning of words until they retain scarcely anything of their original sense. They give the name of ‘God’ to some vague abstraction which they have created for themselves; having done so they can pose before all the world as deists, as believers in God, and they can even boast that they have recognized a higher, purer concept of God, notwithstanding that their God is now nothing more than an insubstantial shadow and no longer the mighty personality of religious doctrines. Critics persist in describing as ‘deeply religious’ anyone who admits to a sense of man’s insignificance or impotence in the face of the universe, although what constitutes the essence of the religious attitude is not this feeling but only the next step after it, the reaction to it which seeks a remedy for it. The man who goes no further, but humbly acquiesces in the small part which human beings play in the great world -- such a man is, on the contrary, irreligious in the truest sense of the word."
- Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion.
There are 2 schools of thought in dealing with cases when religion conflicts with logic, rationality, science and reality. One is to pretend that said conflicts do not exist and to either paper over or ignore them, or to undertake contortionist feats that even an escapologist would be proud of and proclaim that 1 + 1 = 3. My contentions with such approaches have previously been explored at length.
The other school of thought is to abstractify religion, treat it as figurative, metaphorical or symbolic, or to segue into a modern, politically-correct variant of the "all religions are the same" spiel. The above extract crystallises the problems with such an approach, and I will add that this perverts the original meaning of religion.
***
Natures and Cultures of Cuteness
"The biologist Stephen Jay Gould has argued that Mickey's progressive juvenilization - what is known as neoteny - moved toward the features of his young nephew Morty. This was accomplished by an increase in eye size, head length and cranial vault size; Mickey's arms and legs and snout were thickened, his legs jointed, and his ears were moved back. This growth toward childhood, Gould contends, represents the "unconscious discovery" by Disney and his artists of the biological principles outlined by Austrian ethologist Konrad Lorenz [Ed: Infant/baby schema; Kindchenschema]. The attributes of cuteness described by Lorenz and other ethologists are the very features of infancy acquired by Mickey. These attributes are said to trigger "innate releasing mechanisms" of caring and the related affective responses of adults to children. A cute Mickey is more affectively involving, and more saleable, than a jealous, wisecracking rodent with a pointy snout. For this reason, Gould thinks, "the magic kingdom trades on a biological illusion - our ability to abstract and our propensity to transfer inappropriately to other animals the fitting response we make to changing form in the growth of our own bodies.
... Ultimately, I want to consider the representations of animals used by National Geographic Magazine [henceforth NGM] to elicit reader involvement in the National Geographic Society's [henceforth NGS] work. I am arguing that popular participatory science of the kind found in NGM cultivates cuteness in order to encourage specific kinds of involvement with the animals reproduced in its pages."
***
The Panopticon - "The Panopticon ("all-seeing") functioned as a round-the-clock surveillance machine. Its design ensured that no prisoner could ever see the 'inspector' who conducted surveillance from the privileged central location within the radial configuration. The prisoner could never know when he was being surveilled -- mental uncertainty that in itself would prove to be a crucial instrument of discipline."
I feel distinctly cheated. All my life, Singaporean secondary school mathematics teachers had led me to believe that this symbol:
was pronounced as "teeter". Now I discover that it's the Greek letter Theta, and "teeter" is the Singaporean mispronunciation of the British variant pronunciation.
"Where questions of religion are concerned, people are guilty of every possible sort of dishonesty and intellectual misdemeanour. Philosophers stretch the meaning of words until they retain scarcely anything of their original sense. They give the name of ‘God’ to some vague abstraction which they have created for themselves; having done so they can pose before all the world as deists, as believers in God, and they can even boast that they have recognized a higher, purer concept of God, notwithstanding that their God is now nothing more than an insubstantial shadow and no longer the mighty personality of religious doctrines. Critics persist in describing as ‘deeply religious’ anyone who admits to a sense of man’s insignificance or impotence in the face of the universe, although what constitutes the essence of the religious attitude is not this feeling but only the next step after it, the reaction to it which seeks a remedy for it. The man who goes no further, but humbly acquiesces in the small part which human beings play in the great world -- such a man is, on the contrary, irreligious in the truest sense of the word."
- Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion.
There are 2 schools of thought in dealing with cases when religion conflicts with logic, rationality, science and reality. One is to pretend that said conflicts do not exist and to either paper over or ignore them, or to undertake contortionist feats that even an escapologist would be proud of and proclaim that 1 + 1 = 3. My contentions with such approaches have previously been explored at length.
The other school of thought is to abstractify religion, treat it as figurative, metaphorical or symbolic, or to segue into a modern, politically-correct variant of the "all religions are the same" spiel. The above extract crystallises the problems with such an approach, and I will add that this perverts the original meaning of religion.
***
Natures and Cultures of Cuteness
"The biologist Stephen Jay Gould has argued that Mickey's progressive juvenilization - what is known as neoteny - moved toward the features of his young nephew Morty. This was accomplished by an increase in eye size, head length and cranial vault size; Mickey's arms and legs and snout were thickened, his legs jointed, and his ears were moved back. This growth toward childhood, Gould contends, represents the "unconscious discovery" by Disney and his artists of the biological principles outlined by Austrian ethologist Konrad Lorenz [Ed: Infant/baby schema; Kindchenschema]. The attributes of cuteness described by Lorenz and other ethologists are the very features of infancy acquired by Mickey. These attributes are said to trigger "innate releasing mechanisms" of caring and the related affective responses of adults to children. A cute Mickey is more affectively involving, and more saleable, than a jealous, wisecracking rodent with a pointy snout. For this reason, Gould thinks, "the magic kingdom trades on a biological illusion - our ability to abstract and our propensity to transfer inappropriately to other animals the fitting response we make to changing form in the growth of our own bodies.
... Ultimately, I want to consider the representations of animals used by National Geographic Magazine [henceforth NGM] to elicit reader involvement in the National Geographic Society's [henceforth NGS] work. I am arguing that popular participatory science of the kind found in NGM cultivates cuteness in order to encourage specific kinds of involvement with the animals reproduced in its pages."
***
The Panopticon - "The Panopticon ("all-seeing") functioned as a round-the-clock surveillance machine. Its design ensured that no prisoner could ever see the 'inspector' who conducted surveillance from the privileged central location within the radial configuration. The prisoner could never know when he was being surveilled -- mental uncertainty that in itself would prove to be a crucial instrument of discipline."
I feel distinctly cheated. All my life, Singaporean secondary school mathematics teachers had led me to believe that this symbol:
was pronounced as "teeter". Now I discover that it's the Greek letter Theta, and "teeter" is the Singaporean mispronunciation of the British variant pronunciation.
Post ID: 112715186070752017
Monday, September 19, 2005
"The biological irony of the double standard is that males could not have been selected for promiscuity if historically females had always denied them opportunity for expression of the trait." - Robert Smith
***
Adolescents' age preferences for dating partners: support for an evolutionary model of life-history strategies.
"The tendency for women to prefer older partners, and for men to prefer younger partners, has frequently been explained in terms of socialization to American sex-role norms specifying that men must be older and more powerful than their female partners. However, recent cross-cultural data reveal this same pattern in all societies studied, a finding more in line with an evolutionary life-history model. The evolutionary model assumes that what is attractive to males is not youth, per se, but features related to fertility. This perspective leads to a hypothesis concerning the development of age preferences among adolescents: teenage males should violate the normative pattern shown in adult males and express interest in females older than themselves. 209 teenagers (103 males, 106 females) ranging in age from 12 to 19 were surveyed regarding the age limits they would find acceptable in a dating partner, as well as the age of a dating partner they would find ideally attractive. Although teenage males were willing to date girls slightly younger than themselves, they indicated a much wider range of acceptability above their own ages, and also reported that their ideally attractive partners would be several years older than themselves. Preferences of teenage females were similar in pattern to those of adult females, ranging, on average, from their own age to several years older. When combined with the consistent adult data obtained from numerous cultures, these data suggest the utility of viewing the development of sex differences in mate preference from the perspective of an evolutionary life-history model."
This also looks fun: Does women's hair signal reproductive potential?
"This study explores the possibility that women's hair signals their reproductive potential. Evolutionary psychology and related approaches are considered as rationales for the belief that women's hair is a signal for mate selection and attraction. A sample of women were approached in public places and surveyed as to their age, hair quality, marital status, hair length, children, and overall health. A Significant correlation between hair length and age indicated that younger women tend to have longer hair than older women. Hair quality was correlated with women's health. Consistent with the principle of intersexual selection, the results of this study indicate that hair length and quality can act as a cue to a woman's youth and health and, as such, signify reproductive potential. Future directions for research on women's hair are discussed."
***
Adolescents' age preferences for dating partners: support for an evolutionary model of life-history strategies.
"The tendency for women to prefer older partners, and for men to prefer younger partners, has frequently been explained in terms of socialization to American sex-role norms specifying that men must be older and more powerful than their female partners. However, recent cross-cultural data reveal this same pattern in all societies studied, a finding more in line with an evolutionary life-history model. The evolutionary model assumes that what is attractive to males is not youth, per se, but features related to fertility. This perspective leads to a hypothesis concerning the development of age preferences among adolescents: teenage males should violate the normative pattern shown in adult males and express interest in females older than themselves. 209 teenagers (103 males, 106 females) ranging in age from 12 to 19 were surveyed regarding the age limits they would find acceptable in a dating partner, as well as the age of a dating partner they would find ideally attractive. Although teenage males were willing to date girls slightly younger than themselves, they indicated a much wider range of acceptability above their own ages, and also reported that their ideally attractive partners would be several years older than themselves. Preferences of teenage females were similar in pattern to those of adult females, ranging, on average, from their own age to several years older. When combined with the consistent adult data obtained from numerous cultures, these data suggest the utility of viewing the development of sex differences in mate preference from the perspective of an evolutionary life-history model."
This also looks fun: Does women's hair signal reproductive potential?
"This study explores the possibility that women's hair signals their reproductive potential. Evolutionary psychology and related approaches are considered as rationales for the belief that women's hair is a signal for mate selection and attraction. A sample of women were approached in public places and surveyed as to their age, hair quality, marital status, hair length, children, and overall health. A Significant correlation between hair length and age indicated that younger women tend to have longer hair than older women. Hair quality was correlated with women's health. Consistent with the principle of intersexual selection, the results of this study indicate that hair length and quality can act as a cue to a woman's youth and health and, as such, signify reproductive potential. Future directions for research on women's hair are discussed."
Post ID: 112714544461047243
More saddening feats of intellectual suicide:
A: we do have to acknowledge that not all the writings in the ancient scriptures are conducive / friendly towards religious harmony. Maybe religion itself is anti-religious harmony. One big problem for religions harmony is that intolerence itself is deeply institutionalised, so the only thing for practicers of faith to do in our day and age is to decide for themselves what and what not to believe.
So I think you can pick and choose which part of the bible to believe in and still be a good Christian.
B: Let me put it this way: to be a good Christian, one has to believe in the whole Bible, not just part of it.
Me: Do you believe that slavery is acceptable?
B: The Bible does not explicitly condone or condemn slavery. Remember, slavery as practised within the Mosaic Covenant and slavery in the modern world are quite different.
Read Deuteronomy 15:12-15. Being a slave does not mean slave for life.
"If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you must let him go free. And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. Supply him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today." (Deuteronomy 15:12-15)
Me: That's for Hebrew slaves. Taking slaves from other races/peoples was condoned, and in many situations instructed by Jehovah:
Joshua 9:21-27
2 Samuel 8:2-4
Psalm 2:8-9
Psalm 149:5-8
Jeremiah 21:9-13
Zechariah 14:1-2
B: Joshua 9:21-27
"... woodcutters and water carriers for the entire community."
- When is the profession of woodcutters and water carriers the equivalent of being slaves?
2 Samuel 8:2-4
"Moabites became subject to David and brought tribute."
- Becoming subjects of King David is not the same as becoming slaves.
Psalm 2:8-9
"Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession."
- Please read the verse in context. This verse is a reference to the Covenant of Redemption, the covenant between God the Father and God the Son.
Psalm 149:5-8
"to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron."
- This is a psalm, which speaks of punishment for the evil nations. No where in this psalm did it imply that the kings and nobles would be the prisoners or slaves of Israel. Please refer to Deuteronomy 9:4-6 to get a better picture.
Jeremiah 21:9-13
"Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians who are besieging you will live; he will escape with his life."
- I do not see any relevance to slavery at all. The city is a reference to the southern kingdom of Judah which was under attack by the Babylonians. This is in fulfillment of the Isaiah prophecy that the people of Israel will be exiled (refer to Isaiah 40).
Zechariah 14:1-2
"I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city."
- Again, this is a prophecy concerning the southern kingdom of Judah. The people of Israel would be taken into exile.
Me: Actually if you want to play the context game biblical literalism falls to bits. For example, Isaiah doesn't talk about a virgin birth for the Messiah, but for some woman living in that time period. Besides which, it translates as "a young woman will conceive" rather than "a virgin will conceive".
Even if you don't want to use KJV (as I do):
Joshua 9:21-27
"... woodcutters and water carriers for the entire community."
- When is the profession of woodcutters and water carriers the equivalent of being slaves?
When you are woodcutters and water carriers for eternity:
Joshua 9:23 - You are now under a curse: You will never cease to serve as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God."
2 Samuel 8:2-4
"Moabites became subject to David and brought tribute."
- Becoming subjects of King David is not the same as becoming slaves.
No, but considering the context of the verse, when you put 2/3 of a populace to death you're going to enslave the rest, so the translation is disingenuous.
Psalm 2:8-9
"Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession."
- Please read the verse in context. This verse is a reference to the Covenant of Redemption, the covenant between God the Father and God the Son.
Context? What does ruling with an iron scepter and dashing pottery have to do with this then?
Psalm 149:5-8
"to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron."
- This is a psalm, which speaks of punishment for the evil nations. No where in this psalm did it imply that the kings and nobles would be the prisoners or slaves of Israel. Please refer to Deuteronomy 9:4-6 to get a better picture.
You bind people in fetters and shackles and they're not slaves? Okay, whatever floats your boat.
Jeremiah 21:9-13
"Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians who are besieging you will live; he will escape with his life."
- I do not see any relevance to slavery at all. The city is a reference to the southern kingdom of Judah which was under attack by the Babylonians. This is in fulfillment of the Isaiah prophecy that the people of Israel will be exiled (refer to Isaiah 40).
In a historical context, surrendering would mean becoming a slave.
B:
If you study the Bible, you would know that many Old Testament prophecies has double fulfillment; one that would take place in the present and one that would take place in the future. As for Isaiah 7:14, this article "Did Isaiah Prophesy the Virgin Birth of Christ?" provides an excellent explanation.
Actually, I use many Bible translations. When I use the KJV, I occasionally refer to the Strong's Hebrew and Greek dictionary, Thayer's Greek Definitions and Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Definitions for greater clarity. However, for the sake of communicating effectively with others here, I refrain from KJV usage and resort to the NIV translation.
Being cursed does not necessarily makes one a slave. Take for instance, Cain. "Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand." (Genesis 4:11) Joshua 9:23 is like saying, "You are cursed to be a software engineer for Microsoft for eternity."
Nowhere does the verse say "enslave the rest." The verse says "brought tribute." If you know your history, there were many nations surrounding China that brought tribute to the Emperor of China. Bringing tribute does not make these nations slaves. They were simply recognizing the Emperor's power.
Read Psalm 2:7. "I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, 'You are my Son; today I have become your Father.'" Psalm 2:8-9 is God the Father speaking to God the Son.
According to the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary, "His enemies shall be subject to His terrible power (Job 2:9, 2 Thessalonians 2:8), as His people to His grace (Psalm 110:2-3)." The iron scepter denotes severity (Revelations 2:27), while "dashing pottery" describe utter destruction.
"Fetters and shackles" does not necessarily mean slaves. In the context of the psalm, it likely mean prisoners of war.
Do you know who was surrendering to who? The verse speaks of the Israelites surrendering to the Babylonians. The Israelites were once slaves in Egypt. This does not mean God endorses slavery. If you study the Bible, you would know that God delivered them out of Egypt. In the same way, the Israelites were not in exile forever. They did came back to their land after 70 years of exile.
Me: I could roll up my sleeves and descend into this morass, but this is getting nowhere and more importantly, frankly I'm getting bored.
Just as an example, let me raise this point:
Come, now. In historical times victorious armies did not take POWs. If people were not massacred and were in fetters and shackles, they were slaves. This was long before the Geneva Convention.
Furthermore, even if I were to humour you and assume they were POWs, that does not mean they were not slaves. The Japs used POWs to build the Burma Railroad and other things - is this not slavery?
If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck - then it must be the god of apologetics.
A: we do have to acknowledge that not all the writings in the ancient scriptures are conducive / friendly towards religious harmony. Maybe religion itself is anti-religious harmony. One big problem for religions harmony is that intolerence itself is deeply institutionalised, so the only thing for practicers of faith to do in our day and age is to decide for themselves what and what not to believe.
So I think you can pick and choose which part of the bible to believe in and still be a good Christian.
B: Let me put it this way: to be a good Christian, one has to believe in the whole Bible, not just part of it.
Me: Do you believe that slavery is acceptable?
B: The Bible does not explicitly condone or condemn slavery. Remember, slavery as practised within the Mosaic Covenant and slavery in the modern world are quite different.
Read Deuteronomy 15:12-15. Being a slave does not mean slave for life.
"If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you must let him go free. And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. Supply him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today." (Deuteronomy 15:12-15)
Me: That's for Hebrew slaves. Taking slaves from other races/peoples was condoned, and in many situations instructed by Jehovah:
Joshua 9:21-27
2 Samuel 8:2-4
Psalm 2:8-9
Psalm 149:5-8
Jeremiah 21:9-13
Zechariah 14:1-2
B: Joshua 9:21-27
"... woodcutters and water carriers for the entire community."
- When is the profession of woodcutters and water carriers the equivalent of being slaves?
2 Samuel 8:2-4
"Moabites became subject to David and brought tribute."
- Becoming subjects of King David is not the same as becoming slaves.
Psalm 2:8-9
"Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession."
- Please read the verse in context. This verse is a reference to the Covenant of Redemption, the covenant between God the Father and God the Son.
Psalm 149:5-8
"to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron."
- This is a psalm, which speaks of punishment for the evil nations. No where in this psalm did it imply that the kings and nobles would be the prisoners or slaves of Israel. Please refer to Deuteronomy 9:4-6 to get a better picture.
Jeremiah 21:9-13
"Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians who are besieging you will live; he will escape with his life."
- I do not see any relevance to slavery at all. The city is a reference to the southern kingdom of Judah which was under attack by the Babylonians. This is in fulfillment of the Isaiah prophecy that the people of Israel will be exiled (refer to Isaiah 40).
Zechariah 14:1-2
"I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city."
- Again, this is a prophecy concerning the southern kingdom of Judah. The people of Israel would be taken into exile.
Me: Actually if you want to play the context game biblical literalism falls to bits. For example, Isaiah doesn't talk about a virgin birth for the Messiah, but for some woman living in that time period. Besides which, it translates as "a young woman will conceive" rather than "a virgin will conceive".
Even if you don't want to use KJV (as I do):
Joshua 9:21-27
"... woodcutters and water carriers for the entire community."
- When is the profession of woodcutters and water carriers the equivalent of being slaves?
When you are woodcutters and water carriers for eternity:
Joshua 9:23 - You are now under a curse: You will never cease to serve as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God."
2 Samuel 8:2-4
"Moabites became subject to David and brought tribute."
- Becoming subjects of King David is not the same as becoming slaves.
No, but considering the context of the verse, when you put 2/3 of a populace to death you're going to enslave the rest, so the translation is disingenuous.
Psalm 2:8-9
"Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession."
- Please read the verse in context. This verse is a reference to the Covenant of Redemption, the covenant between God the Father and God the Son.
Context? What does ruling with an iron scepter and dashing pottery have to do with this then?
Psalm 149:5-8
"to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron."
- This is a psalm, which speaks of punishment for the evil nations. No where in this psalm did it imply that the kings and nobles would be the prisoners or slaves of Israel. Please refer to Deuteronomy 9:4-6 to get a better picture.
You bind people in fetters and shackles and they're not slaves? Okay, whatever floats your boat.
Jeremiah 21:9-13
"Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians who are besieging you will live; he will escape with his life."
- I do not see any relevance to slavery at all. The city is a reference to the southern kingdom of Judah which was under attack by the Babylonians. This is in fulfillment of the Isaiah prophecy that the people of Israel will be exiled (refer to Isaiah 40).
In a historical context, surrendering would mean becoming a slave.
B:
Actually if you want to play the context game biblical literalism falls to bits. For example, Isaiah doesn't talk about a virgin birth for the Messiah, but for some woman living in that time period. Besides which, it translates as "a young woman will conceive" rather than "a virgin will conceive".
If you study the Bible, you would know that many Old Testament prophecies has double fulfillment; one that would take place in the present and one that would take place in the future. As for Isaiah 7:14, this article "Did Isaiah Prophesy the Virgin Birth of Christ?" provides an excellent explanation.
Even if you don't want to use KJV (as I do)
Actually, I use many Bible translations. When I use the KJV, I occasionally refer to the Strong's Hebrew and Greek dictionary, Thayer's Greek Definitions and Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Definitions for greater clarity. However, for the sake of communicating effectively with others here, I refrain from KJV usage and resort to the NIV translation.
When you are woodcutters and water carriers for eternity:
Joshua 9:23 - You are now under a curse: You will never cease to serve as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God."
Being cursed does not necessarily makes one a slave. Take for instance, Cain. "Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand." (Genesis 4:11) Joshua 9:23 is like saying, "You are cursed to be a software engineer for Microsoft for eternity."
No, but considering the context of the verse, when you put 2/3 of a populace to death you're going to enslave the rest, so the translation is disingenuous.
Nowhere does the verse say "enslave the rest." The verse says "brought tribute." If you know your history, there were many nations surrounding China that brought tribute to the Emperor of China. Bringing tribute does not make these nations slaves. They were simply recognizing the Emperor's power.
Context? What does ruling with an iron scepter and dashing pottery have to do with this then?
Read Psalm 2:7. "I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, 'You are my Son; today I have become your Father.'" Psalm 2:8-9 is God the Father speaking to God the Son.
According to the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary, "His enemies shall be subject to His terrible power (Job 2:9, 2 Thessalonians 2:8), as His people to His grace (Psalm 110:2-3)." The iron scepter denotes severity (Revelations 2:27), while "dashing pottery" describe utter destruction.
You bind people in fetters and shackles and they're not slaves? Okay, whatever floats your boat.
"Fetters and shackles" does not necessarily mean slaves. In the context of the psalm, it likely mean prisoners of war.
In a historical context, surrendering would mean becoming a slave.
Do you know who was surrendering to who? The verse speaks of the Israelites surrendering to the Babylonians. The Israelites were once slaves in Egypt. This does not mean God endorses slavery. If you study the Bible, you would know that God delivered them out of Egypt. In the same way, the Israelites were not in exile forever. They did came back to their land after 70 years of exile.
Me: I could roll up my sleeves and descend into this morass, but this is getting nowhere and more importantly, frankly I'm getting bored.
Just as an example, let me raise this point:
You bind people in fetters and shackles and they're not slaves? Okay, whatever floats your boat.
"Fetters and shackles" does not necessarily mean slaves. In the context of the psalm, it likely mean prisoners of war.
Come, now. In historical times victorious armies did not take POWs. If people were not massacred and were in fetters and shackles, they were slaves. This was long before the Geneva Convention.
Furthermore, even if I were to humour you and assume they were POWs, that does not mean they were not slaves. The Japs used POWs to build the Burma Railroad and other things - is this not slavery?
If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck - then it must be the god of apologetics.
Post ID: 112713876983840495
"Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children and no theories." - John Wilmot
***
Some people seem to think that laughing at a joke degrades, debases or otherwise defiles the subject of the joke. I think it is more true to say that when we laugh at jokes, we recognise that they aren't always true.
I contend that almost all jokes have both an element of truth and an element of falsehood. The contradiction inherent and the tension between these 2 conflicting yet codependent elements generates the humour of a joke.
Puns and corny jokes are, of course, exceptions to this rule, but then they all suck, so they're not counted.
***
Maim That Tune - Detune your head - "Are you plagued by Stuck Tune Syndrome? Do you have a tune stuck in your head you just can't get out? Take heart friend, for your suffering is over. The Maimograph Machine, through complex analysis and calculation, will find an even catchier tune to counter-act the one you already have."
***
"Scientists in Japan, long on the cutting edge of shiny, beepy, useless things, are working furiously to evolve our more complicated robots take on such human tasks as the fabulous fan dancing, walking in a circle and of course playing trumpet."
- The Daily Show
***
Some people seem to think that laughing at a joke degrades, debases or otherwise defiles the subject of the joke. I think it is more true to say that when we laugh at jokes, we recognise that they aren't always true.
I contend that almost all jokes have both an element of truth and an element of falsehood. The contradiction inherent and the tension between these 2 conflicting yet codependent elements generates the humour of a joke.
Puns and corny jokes are, of course, exceptions to this rule, but then they all suck, so they're not counted.
***
Maim That Tune - Detune your head - "Are you plagued by Stuck Tune Syndrome? Do you have a tune stuck in your head you just can't get out? Take heart friend, for your suffering is over. The Maimograph Machine, through complex analysis and calculation, will find an even catchier tune to counter-act the one you already have."
***
"Scientists in Japan, long on the cutting edge of shiny, beepy, useless things, are working furiously to evolve our more complicated robots take on such human tasks as the fabulous fan dancing, walking in a circle and of course playing trumpet."
- The Daily Show
Post ID: 112706042085824479
Sunday, September 18, 2005
I am the guy who kills memes (and this one for more than one reason).
Addendum: I'm That Salesman: "I'm the salesman you said I wasn't listening to your needs. I'm the salesman you neglected, and added that my company's profit margin is unbelivably high, and I'm making a huge sum out of you when I'm only earning $20 per set. I'm the salesman you referred to as not paying attention to your needs because you didn't know that I was busy with my other customers."
(For those who catch no ball: We're that blogger)
Addendum: I'm That Salesman: "I'm the salesman you said I wasn't listening to your needs. I'm the salesman you neglected, and added that my company's profit margin is unbelivably high, and I'm making a huge sum out of you when I'm only earning $20 per set. I'm the salesman you referred to as not paying attention to your needs because you didn't know that I was busy with my other customers."
(For those who catch no ball: We're that blogger)
Post ID: 112704070161338720
Friend on it raining cats and dogs on the morning of the DBS NUS Heritage Run (ie now): "Damn.Even god doesn't want heritage run to be held"
***
It seems the Digital Life article featuring me has been archived on NUS's Media Coverage page. Given that unlike the rest of the stories there, that particular one had nothing to do with NUS except for mentioning that I study there, why this is so is puzzling.
Interestingly, only Straits/Sunday Times articles are archived there, so maybe they have an agreement with them to archive articles mentioning NUS on their site. Either that or no one subscribes to Lianhe Zaobao.
***
It seems the Digital Life article featuring me has been archived on NUS's Media Coverage page. Given that unlike the rest of the stories there, that particular one had nothing to do with NUS except for mentioning that I study there, why this is so is puzzling.
Interestingly, only Straits/Sunday Times articles are archived there, so maybe they have an agreement with them to archive articles mentioning NUS on their site. Either that or no one subscribes to Lianhe Zaobao.
Post ID: 112699868398135262
"With Epcot Center the Disney corporation has accomplished something I didn't think possible in today's world. They have created a land of make-believe that's worse than regular life." - P. J. O'Rourke
Random Playlist Song: Bach - Concerto for 3 harpsichords D minor BWV.1063 - 02 - Allegro
***
Someone: anyway, take this the suffering [core economics modules] u have to go thru to do the good stuff.
Me: what good stuff
more maths ah
...
Someone: macro is actuallyvery fun
maybe your lecturer got carried away with her phd education
econs phds are very mathematical
***
The new Friendster layout displays very clearly what the relationship status of the person whose profile you're viewing is.
Tsk tsk, as if it wasn't obvious enough.
Why do people always choose black and white photographs for their funeral pictures, looking so sombre and formal in them?
For my putative funeral, I want to have a colour photo of me doing something wacky.
It's how I wish to be remembered.
(Then again, someone informs me that she's never seen black and white photos at funerals, and sometimes the people are smiling. Hmm.)
Since truffles are located/dug up by pigs or dogs, does that make them haram?
***
Catholic Church recruits more student exorcists
"Applications are invited for exorcism training at the Vatican's Rome university, the Athenaeum Pontificium Regina Apostolorum. The 10-week course includes sessions in exorcism rites, how to talk to the Devil, the tricks he uses to fight back and signs of the occult hidden in rock music and video games.
Students also attend classes in psychology so that priests can distinguish between "real cases" of satanic possession and illnesses such as schizophrenia."
Random Playlist Song: Bach - Concerto for 3 harpsichords D minor BWV.1063 - 02 - Allegro
***
Someone: anyway, take this the suffering [core economics modules] u have to go thru to do the good stuff.
Me: what good stuff
more maths ah
...
Someone: macro is actuallyvery fun
maybe your lecturer got carried away with her phd education
econs phds are very mathematical
***
The new Friendster layout displays very clearly what the relationship status of the person whose profile you're viewing is.
Tsk tsk, as if it wasn't obvious enough.
Why do people always choose black and white photographs for their funeral pictures, looking so sombre and formal in them?
For my putative funeral, I want to have a colour photo of me doing something wacky.
It's how I wish to be remembered.
(Then again, someone informs me that she's never seen black and white photos at funerals, and sometimes the people are smiling. Hmm.)
Since truffles are located/dug up by pigs or dogs, does that make them haram?
***
Catholic Church recruits more student exorcists
"Applications are invited for exorcism training at the Vatican's Rome university, the Athenaeum Pontificium Regina Apostolorum. The 10-week course includes sessions in exorcism rites, how to talk to the Devil, the tricks he uses to fight back and signs of the occult hidden in rock music and video games.
Students also attend classes in psychology so that priests can distinguish between "real cases" of satanic possession and illnesses such as schizophrenia."
Post ID: 112697552195903822
Saturday, September 17, 2005
A message from my Head Honcho:
"The FCINUS would like to hear from all current or past ACJC students who are freethinkers, to solicit their views of the allegedly compulsory attendance of sermons on certain days of the week. A recording of one such service would also be greatly appreciated.
willing contributers may wish to be anonymous if they so desire. willing parties please email u0200722@nus.edu.sg"
***
Third person charged with sedition for racist remarks on blog site
"A third person has been charged under the Sedition Act with promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races of Singapore.
Gan Huai Shi, 17, faces seven charges of posting racist remarks on his blog site."
They're not even sparing minors. Sigh.
"The FCINUS would like to hear from all current or past ACJC students who are freethinkers, to solicit their views of the allegedly compulsory attendance of sermons on certain days of the week. A recording of one such service would also be greatly appreciated.
willing contributers may wish to be anonymous if they so desire. willing parties please email u0200722@nus.edu.sg"
***
Third person charged with sedition for racist remarks on blog site
"A third person has been charged under the Sedition Act with promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races of Singapore.
Gan Huai Shi, 17, faces seven charges of posting racist remarks on his blog site."
They're not even sparing minors. Sigh.
Post ID: 112688742579607759
Friday, September 16, 2005
I would have a nice rambling post here about, among other things:
1) The parallels between suppressing racist sentiments and suppressing the political aspirations of the Arab street, and how the latter has led to Islamic terrorism
2) How Singapore is uniquely easy to manage/engineer, so it should be taken as an exception rather than proving a rule
3) The difference and relationship between thought, words and action
4) How just as infant industries never grow up, infant populaces don't either and no one can be blamed but those protecting them
5) Thoughtcrime and why we should not fear evidently erroneous ideas
6) How and why the police and judiciary seem to be too free, and why they should ignore frivolous complaints
7) The fallacy of conflating the entire governmental edifice into a single-minded entity
However, I have been, am and anticipate that I will still be, struggling with among other things:
1) Robinson Crusoe, coconuts and a schizophrenic producer/consumer
2) The microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic models
3) Multiple variables flying all over the place (Yes, kids, you've been conned. Economics in University is full of maths. Run away while you still can!)
4) Rescuing my sister from her folly (again)
5) A spot of Planescape: Torment
As such, I shall just dump my scribbled notes here for perusal. As a bonus, this may give readers an insight into my thought processes as I come up with my polemics: no, they do not spring fully-formed from my mind, contrary to what some seem to believe.
I also draw on Tym's encyclopedic knowledge of US Prime Time shows to bring this tidbit from The West Wing, in response to a gay teenager being beaten to death in a hate crime:
C.J.
They made him say “Hail Mary’s” as they beat him to death. This was a crime of entertainment.
LEO
C.J....
C.J.
Beyond the crime itself is a manifestation of racism, or sexism, or anti Semitism or
homophobia that are only a tip of the iceberg of the pathology troubling this country.
LEO
I’m aware of all that. I’m just not sure it’s right to legislate against how someone thinks.
And later: C.J.
Don’t you think imposing additional penalties for hate-motivated crimes is a powerful
statement by society against tolerance?
DANNY
No. A crime is a crime. One murder isn’t any better or worse than another.
C.J.
Boy, was that the wrong answer.
DANNY
Punishing people for their beliefs is, the beginning of the end. Once more you agree
with me.
Scribbled notes:
Suppress dangerous thoughts and ideas never work
in mid east, political discussion considered sensitive, suppressed. In end, what we have - islamic terrorism
political vs racist? Though some see former as legitimate expression of political hunger, latter abhorrent. Both expression of sincerely held opinions. Both opposed to existing paradigm (idealised in latter case). Both continue even if suppressed.
spore unique - small, fully urbanised. Easy project power on complaisant populace. In this sense dream country to rule. Like simcity, all care about city. No hinterland to care about w/diff, varying concerns. No pesky local governments work countervailing direction
uk strict anti racism law. Check since when, how vigorous prosecute. Yet still - racism, riots. Most britons believe racism wrong. So not because not vigilant.
thoughts lead to words lead to actions. [Addendum: But what we really fear - actions] Since not (yet) possible to control/monitor thoughts, target words. So which words lead to undesirable actions? Fiery rhetoric, cursing & swearing, irrationality.
One guy allegedly criticise islamic law? what's wrong with that (check details of 2 buggers' offences). Islamic scholars also analyse islamic law and look at it critically.
unless the quicksand that is our OB markers is drained, many will be running around like headless chickens
What's happening now - any mention race religion, savages take out parangs hack each other to bits. 40 years of education and development, bringing us from a Third World Country to First, has not changed anything. Except the pol correct, govt approved line.
Refusal to discuss issues means that we will always NOT be ready to discuss these issues. infant industries never grow up - look at Proton. If Singaporeans are not allowed to think and care for themselves, they will never be able to, and no one to blame except those "protecting" us.
some groups and some topics more sensitive than others. Good for those with thicker skin
at the end of the day, Han observes: "the irony of this whole situation is that there will probably be more singaporeans who are racist... I know of many racists who openly condemn racism but possess subtle prejudices"
punishing people for their beliefs is controlling thought; create concept of thoughtcrime.
some say speech is an action. incitement to violence, unpleasant matters. but if speech is action, then "grumbling" on the populace's part instead of entering the political arena is acceptable
if you disagree with someone, you refute him, not silence him. if nothing else, it's intellectually dishonest, and drives the objectionable idea out of the public arena and public consciousness. why fear something that is obviously bad and false?
only because someone filed a police report. too free. just like person who complained MHA about the racist blog on tomorrow. complain, have to do something about it. we police ourselves.
you think the authorities don't monitor the net? if sporeans have nothing better to do but complain about everything it's no wonder the police look so free (investigating white elephants).
why not ignore all this rubbish
spore being as big as it is, there'll always be one idiot who'll complain. pander to them all?
is a clear signal is being sent out
The gahmen is not a cohesive, monolithic entity. Not everything takes place with the knowledge and consent of everyone in the cabinet. What this case qualifies as is left as an exercise for the reader, since I have no answer
though from outside appear to act as one entity
1) The parallels between suppressing racist sentiments and suppressing the political aspirations of the Arab street, and how the latter has led to Islamic terrorism
2) How Singapore is uniquely easy to manage/engineer, so it should be taken as an exception rather than proving a rule
3) The difference and relationship between thought, words and action
4) How just as infant industries never grow up, infant populaces don't either and no one can be blamed but those protecting them
5) Thoughtcrime and why we should not fear evidently erroneous ideas
6) How and why the police and judiciary seem to be too free, and why they should ignore frivolous complaints
7) The fallacy of conflating the entire governmental edifice into a single-minded entity
However, I have been, am and anticipate that I will still be, struggling with among other things:
1) Robinson Crusoe, coconuts and a schizophrenic producer/consumer
2) The microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic models
3) Multiple variables flying all over the place (Yes, kids, you've been conned. Economics in University is full of maths. Run away while you still can!)
4) Rescuing my sister from her folly (again)
5) A spot of Planescape: Torment
As such, I shall just dump my scribbled notes here for perusal. As a bonus, this may give readers an insight into my thought processes as I come up with my polemics: no, they do not spring fully-formed from my mind, contrary to what some seem to believe.
I also draw on Tym's encyclopedic knowledge of US Prime Time shows to bring this tidbit from The West Wing, in response to a gay teenager being beaten to death in a hate crime:
C.J.
They made him say “Hail Mary’s” as they beat him to death. This was a crime of entertainment.
LEO
C.J....
C.J.
Beyond the crime itself is a manifestation of racism, or sexism, or anti Semitism or
homophobia that are only a tip of the iceberg of the pathology troubling this country.
LEO
I’m aware of all that. I’m just not sure it’s right to legislate against how someone thinks.
And later: C.J.
Don’t you think imposing additional penalties for hate-motivated crimes is a powerful
statement by society against tolerance?
DANNY
No. A crime is a crime. One murder isn’t any better or worse than another.
C.J.
Boy, was that the wrong answer.
DANNY
Punishing people for their beliefs is, the beginning of the end. Once more you agree
with me.
Scribbled notes:
Suppress dangerous thoughts and ideas never work
in mid east, political discussion considered sensitive, suppressed. In end, what we have - islamic terrorism
political vs racist? Though some see former as legitimate expression of political hunger, latter abhorrent. Both expression of sincerely held opinions. Both opposed to existing paradigm (idealised in latter case). Both continue even if suppressed.
spore unique - small, fully urbanised. Easy project power on complaisant populace. In this sense dream country to rule. Like simcity, all care about city. No hinterland to care about w/diff, varying concerns. No pesky local governments work countervailing direction
uk strict anti racism law. Check since when, how vigorous prosecute. Yet still - racism, riots. Most britons believe racism wrong. So not because not vigilant.
thoughts lead to words lead to actions. [Addendum: But what we really fear - actions] Since not (yet) possible to control/monitor thoughts, target words. So which words lead to undesirable actions? Fiery rhetoric, cursing & swearing, irrationality.
One guy allegedly criticise islamic law? what's wrong with that (check details of 2 buggers' offences). Islamic scholars also analyse islamic law and look at it critically.
unless the quicksand that is our OB markers is drained, many will be running around like headless chickens
What's happening now - any mention race religion, savages take out parangs hack each other to bits. 40 years of education and development, bringing us from a Third World Country to First, has not changed anything. Except the pol correct, govt approved line.
Refusal to discuss issues means that we will always NOT be ready to discuss these issues. infant industries never grow up - look at Proton. If Singaporeans are not allowed to think and care for themselves, they will never be able to, and no one to blame except those "protecting" us.
some groups and some topics more sensitive than others. Good for those with thicker skin
at the end of the day, Han observes: "the irony of this whole situation is that there will probably be more singaporeans who are racist... I know of many racists who openly condemn racism but possess subtle prejudices"
punishing people for their beliefs is controlling thought; create concept of thoughtcrime.
some say speech is an action. incitement to violence, unpleasant matters. but if speech is action, then "grumbling" on the populace's part instead of entering the political arena is acceptable
if you disagree with someone, you refute him, not silence him. if nothing else, it's intellectually dishonest, and drives the objectionable idea out of the public arena and public consciousness. why fear something that is obviously bad and false?
only because someone filed a police report. too free. just like person who complained MHA about the racist blog on tomorrow. complain, have to do something about it. we police ourselves.
you think the authorities don't monitor the net? if sporeans have nothing better to do but complain about everything it's no wonder the police look so free (investigating white elephants).
why not ignore all this rubbish
spore being as big as it is, there'll always be one idiot who'll complain. pander to them all?
is a clear signal is being sent out
The gahmen is not a cohesive, monolithic entity. Not everything takes place with the knowledge and consent of everyone in the cabinet. What this case qualifies as is left as an exercise for the reader, since I have no answer
though from outside appear to act as one entity
Post ID: 112680321714799834
Thursday, September 15, 2005
"After twelve years of therapy my psychiatrist said something that brought tears to my eyes. He said, 'No hablo ingles.'" - Ronnie Shakes
***
How Girls Waste Time
38. a) Playing games involving slapping/biting with each other
126. Living life by the adage: 'If you have it, flaunt it. If you don't, bitch about those who do.'
And of course, there're the usual addenda to existing entries.
***
I hate using toilets where, as you reach under to clean up, you feel a sudden wet sensation and, if you are unlucky, some floating particles. MRT station toilets are particularly guilty of this.
Apparently the reason modern animation looks so sloppy is because of a cut in budgets: they have less detail so each cell is easier to draw.
***
At one Swedish library, you can borrow books—and a lesbian - "A Swedish library, realizing that books are not the only things being judged by their covers, will give visitors a different opportunity this weekend—to borrow a Muslim, a lesbian, or a Dane."
***
Quotes:
In Singapore you can buy canes in the market... Little curly plastic handles. I'm sure you remember. I'm sure you're very familiar with this.
People might say caning was unacceptable when confronted with a member of the Singapore Children's Society, but think in private that it was okay.
In Hong Kong... a woman was prosecuted, and there was prosecution by the social services, for making the child study excessively.
[On facial features of children inhibiting parental anger] It's difficult to be angry and aggressive to something that is cute
[On a piece of concept tissue with the word 'Reserved' on it] A science person would not be fascinated by that. [Other student: Science people do not question. They just except.] ... [only] in Physics. You should come to the Evolutionary Biology lab. The people there...
***
How Girls Waste Time
38. a) Playing games involving slapping/biting with each other
126. Living life by the adage: 'If you have it, flaunt it. If you don't, bitch about those who do.'
And of course, there're the usual addenda to existing entries.
***
I hate using toilets where, as you reach under to clean up, you feel a sudden wet sensation and, if you are unlucky, some floating particles. MRT station toilets are particularly guilty of this.
Apparently the reason modern animation looks so sloppy is because of a cut in budgets: they have less detail so each cell is easier to draw.
***
At one Swedish library, you can borrow books—and a lesbian - "A Swedish library, realizing that books are not the only things being judged by their covers, will give visitors a different opportunity this weekend—to borrow a Muslim, a lesbian, or a Dane."
***
Quotes:
In Singapore you can buy canes in the market... Little curly plastic handles. I'm sure you remember. I'm sure you're very familiar with this.
People might say caning was unacceptable when confronted with a member of the Singapore Children's Society, but think in private that it was okay.
In Hong Kong... a woman was prosecuted, and there was prosecution by the social services, for making the child study excessively.
[On facial features of children inhibiting parental anger] It's difficult to be angry and aggressive to something that is cute
[On a piece of concept tissue with the word 'Reserved' on it] A science person would not be fascinated by that. [Other student: Science people do not question. They just except.] ... [only] in Physics. You should come to the Evolutionary Biology lab. The people there...
Post ID: 112663036496649806
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
"An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations." - Charles de Montesquieu
***
Conditioned Fear of a Face: A Prelude to Ethnic Enmity?
"Brain imaging studies show that both fear conditioning and implicit negative attitudes to outgroup faces correlate with activity in the amygdala even when the faces are masked from conscious recognition. Thus, negative emotional responses to members of a different race are independent of conscious mentation, which may make such responses relatively immune to rational persuasion."
Unfortunately the studies do not rule out socialisation, so ambiguity still exists in this area.
***
"No more has any estate the breadth of soul that identifies itself, even for a moment, with the soul of the nation, the geniality that inspires material might to political violence, or that revolutionary daring which flings at the adversary the defiant words: I am nothing but I must be everything. The main stem of German morals and honesty, of the classes as well as of individuals, is rather that modest egoism which asserts its limitedness and allows it to be asserted against itself. The relation of the various sections of German society is therefore not dramatic but epic. Each of them begins to be aware of itself and begins to camp beside the others with all its particular claims not as soon as it is oppressed, but as soon as the circumstances of the time, without the section’s own participation, creates a social substratum on which it can in turn exert pressure. Even the moral self-feeling of the German middle class rests only on the consciousness that it is the common representative of the philistine mediocrity of all the other classes. It is therefore not only the German kings who accede to the throne mal à propos, it is every section of civil society which goes through a defeat before it celebrates victory and develops its own limitations before it overcomes the limitations facing it, asserts its narrow-hearted essence before it has been able to assert its magnanimous essence; thus the very opportunity of a great role has passed away before it is to hand, and every class, once it begins the struggle against the class opposed to it, is involved in the struggle against the class below it."
- Karl Marx, Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right
I understand the words, but have no idea what the sentences mean. Now I know what my lecturer was talking about when he observed:
"When I was an undergrad like you I used to spend my holidays reading Karl Marx... Marx is very difficult to read. Most people read Karl Marx in jail... no one spends their holidays reading Karl Marx."
***
I have been linked from The (Unofficial) Singapore Apple Blog. Irony, thou art dead. Heh heh.
Seattle UFO / Paranormal Group and Seattle Museum of the Mysteries: Mystery of Orbs Solved! - "Museum member Maryann Synder's claim that orbs are simply cellulose particles of a very small size or small water droplets reflecting back the flash from digital cameras appears to be confirmed by tests. The museum believes orb testing can be confirmed by photographers and other paranormal investigators and encourages independant testing."
***
Someone: if you're in an AC school, you'll be subjected to two kinds of brainwashing
the first kind instils in you a crazed loyalty to the mutant hybrid genetic mistake on the crest
the second kind makes you think there is a God
where I'm concerened, the first one took, but the second one was ignored completely
I've lost Atheist Allies (tm) that way [brainwashing].
they starts out Atheists
then they go Agnostic
and the next thing you know they're bloody Methodists.
Me: ah. I will observe a minute of silence for their souls
Someone: there's this thing we used to do to piss off the Christians
I mean they all know we're non-believers who'll burn in hell, yaddayadda
we make sure they know
and then during Chapel service we'd sing the songs especially loudly, with as much gusto as we could muster
while at the same time making it sound like something a drunk would sing.
objection through extreme participation, we called it.
nowadays we just stand and stone.
Me: why consent to go to where you're forced to participate
no one objects to this religious coercion?
Someone: no one dares
well, actually most of them are part of the religious coercion
the rest of us grin and bear it
here's the best bit-in ACSi, if you skip Chapel, you get a demerit
because apparently it's the same as skipping class.
Me: I believe religious coercion is unconstitutional
oh well
who cares
Someone: in ACJC they let the muslims and other religions go to LT2 while everyone else prepares themselves for worship
freethinkers and atheist or agnostics have to stay though
because "our souls can still be saved"
oh joy.
Me: ???
that's even worse!!!
Someone: I know!
imagine how much more I can accomplish by taking that time to do more fulfilling stuff
Me: so why not profess a religion
pastafarian
Someone: the atheists and non-believers in ACJC satisfy ourselves with discreetly mocking the christians
also. Chapel sermons are always good for GP. analysing and tearing apart the arguments.
***
Conditioned Fear of a Face: A Prelude to Ethnic Enmity?
"Brain imaging studies show that both fear conditioning and implicit negative attitudes to outgroup faces correlate with activity in the amygdala even when the faces are masked from conscious recognition. Thus, negative emotional responses to members of a different race are independent of conscious mentation, which may make such responses relatively immune to rational persuasion."
Unfortunately the studies do not rule out socialisation, so ambiguity still exists in this area.
***
"No more has any estate the breadth of soul that identifies itself, even for a moment, with the soul of the nation, the geniality that inspires material might to political violence, or that revolutionary daring which flings at the adversary the defiant words: I am nothing but I must be everything. The main stem of German morals and honesty, of the classes as well as of individuals, is rather that modest egoism which asserts its limitedness and allows it to be asserted against itself. The relation of the various sections of German society is therefore not dramatic but epic. Each of them begins to be aware of itself and begins to camp beside the others with all its particular claims not as soon as it is oppressed, but as soon as the circumstances of the time, without the section’s own participation, creates a social substratum on which it can in turn exert pressure. Even the moral self-feeling of the German middle class rests only on the consciousness that it is the common representative of the philistine mediocrity of all the other classes. It is therefore not only the German kings who accede to the throne mal à propos, it is every section of civil society which goes through a defeat before it celebrates victory and develops its own limitations before it overcomes the limitations facing it, asserts its narrow-hearted essence before it has been able to assert its magnanimous essence; thus the very opportunity of a great role has passed away before it is to hand, and every class, once it begins the struggle against the class opposed to it, is involved in the struggle against the class below it."
- Karl Marx, Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right
I understand the words, but have no idea what the sentences mean. Now I know what my lecturer was talking about when he observed:
"When I was an undergrad like you I used to spend my holidays reading Karl Marx... Marx is very difficult to read. Most people read Karl Marx in jail... no one spends their holidays reading Karl Marx."
***
I have been linked from The (Unofficial) Singapore Apple Blog. Irony, thou art dead. Heh heh.
Seattle UFO / Paranormal Group and Seattle Museum of the Mysteries: Mystery of Orbs Solved! - "Museum member Maryann Synder's claim that orbs are simply cellulose particles of a very small size or small water droplets reflecting back the flash from digital cameras appears to be confirmed by tests. The museum believes orb testing can be confirmed by photographers and other paranormal investigators and encourages independant testing."
***
Someone: if you're in an AC school, you'll be subjected to two kinds of brainwashing
the first kind instils in you a crazed loyalty to the mutant hybrid genetic mistake on the crest
the second kind makes you think there is a God
where I'm concerened, the first one took, but the second one was ignored completely
I've lost Atheist Allies (tm) that way [brainwashing].
they starts out Atheists
then they go Agnostic
and the next thing you know they're bloody Methodists.
Me: ah. I will observe a minute of silence for their souls
Someone: there's this thing we used to do to piss off the Christians
I mean they all know we're non-believers who'll burn in hell, yaddayadda
we make sure they know
and then during Chapel service we'd sing the songs especially loudly, with as much gusto as we could muster
while at the same time making it sound like something a drunk would sing.
objection through extreme participation, we called it.
nowadays we just stand and stone.
Me: why consent to go to where you're forced to participate
no one objects to this religious coercion?
Someone: no one dares
well, actually most of them are part of the religious coercion
the rest of us grin and bear it
here's the best bit-in ACSi, if you skip Chapel, you get a demerit
because apparently it's the same as skipping class.
Me: I believe religious coercion is unconstitutional
oh well
who cares
Someone: in ACJC they let the muslims and other religions go to LT2 while everyone else prepares themselves for worship
freethinkers and atheist or agnostics have to stay though
because "our souls can still be saved"
oh joy.
Me: ???
that's even worse!!!
Someone: I know!
imagine how much more I can accomplish by taking that time to do more fulfilling stuff
Me: so why not profess a religion
pastafarian
Someone: the atheists and non-believers in ACJC satisfy ourselves with discreetly mocking the christians
also. Chapel sermons are always good for GP. analysing and tearing apart the arguments.
Post ID: 112660892099045561
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