"A boy can learn a lot from a dog: obedience, loyalty, and the importance of turning around three times before lying down." - Robert Benchley
***
"It is commonly thought that exploitation is unjust; some think it is part of the very meaning of the word ‘exploitation’ that it is unjust. Those who think this will suppose that the just society has to be one in which people do not exploit one another, at least on a large scale. I will argue that exploitation is not unjust by definition, and that a society (such as our own) might be fundamentally just while nevertheless being pervasively exploitative. I do think that exploitation is nearly always a bad thing... its badness does not always consist in its being unjust...
Moral and nonmoral concepts. Most philosophers of exploitation tend to follow the practice of dictionaries, distinguishing a “nonmoral” sense of ‘exploitation’ from a “moral” sense, and taking the latter sense to involve the idea of making use of someone or something unjustly or unethically. Since they suppose that it is only the latter, “pejorative” meaning of the term which interests social critics, they provide what I will call a “moralized” account of exploitation. That is, they suppose that the term ‘exploitation’ (in the “pejorative” sense) already has wrongfulness or moral badness built into its very meaning...
Innocent and noninnocent exploitation. There clearly do seem to be cases of exploitation which we regard as innocent or even admirable. Nobody thinks it is wrong or unethical for a chess player to exploit her opponent’s inattention in order to win the game. We may even compliment a lawyer for exploiting the weaknesses in her adversary’s case in order to win a just verdict, or congratulate a resourceful person for exploiting her opportunities to the full. Realizing this, philosophers think that in such cases ‘exploit’ is being used in a neutral, innocent, or positive sense, quite distinct from the pejorative sense which interests us in cases of “wrongful exploitation.”
But why should we suppose that ‘exploitation’ has a special meaning when applied to cases of injustice or wrongdoing? Terms like ‘appropriation’, ‘transaction’, ‘seizure’, or ‘agreement’ apply sometimes to acts which are wrongful and sometimes to acts which are not, but we do not suppose that the word ‘transaction’ has a different meaning in the case of wrongful or unethical transactions from the one it has in the case of rightful and proper transactions...
Wrong because exploitative. Another problem with moralized accounts of exploitation is that they make it more difficult to understand many arguments in which the concept of exploitation is used. Some people argue that commodified surrogacy is wrongful or bad because it is exploitative... The statement cannot be understood as providing a substantive argument for considering the act wrongful, which might convince someone not antecedently persuaded of its wrongfulness — just as saying that an act is “wrong because it is murder” (where ‘murder’ is understood to mean ‘wrongful homicide’) cannot provide anyone with a new reason for thinking the act is wrong, but can at most serve to categorize the wrong (as a case of ‘murder’, i.e., ‘wrongful homicide’) or rhetorically drive home its wrongfulness through the use of the vivid term of condemnation (whose appropriateness would be accepted only by someone already persuaded that the act is wrong)...
Expoitation as use... The exploiter must do something, involving a degree of planning and manipulation, to take advantage of the fortunate circumstance, bringing it into the exploiter’s control or within the purview of the exploiter’s plans or machinations. When some unpredictable event suddenly drops success into my lap, I make use of the good luck, but I do not exploit it...
Exploiting things about people: advantage-exploitation and benefit-exploitation. There are many things about human beings that can be exploited: their talents, traits, habits, capacities, activities, desires, and circumstances. We exploit people’s strengths and their weaknesses, but usually not in quite the same sense. We exploit some attribute of the person from which we derive benefit or use to achieve our end. Let us call this “benefit- exploitation” or, for short, “b-exploitation.” It is in a different sense that we exploit someone’s weakness or vulnerability, which gives us a hold or advantage over the person and puts at our disposal the attribute which we b-exploit. I shall call our exploitative relation to this weakness or vulnerability “advantage-exploitation” or “a-exploitation.” The charming spy enchants a governmental official, playing on the victim’s need for affection in order to obtain a state secret. Here the spy a-exploits the victim’s need for affection (regarded as a vulnerability) and b-exploits the victim’s official position or access to state secrets (regarded as an attribute from which the spy may reap some benefit).
As their names are meant to imply, a-exploitation and b-exploitation. constitute a complementary pair, and a-exploitation is the foundation of b-exploitation... People and their abilities, activities, and so on may be non-exploitatively at our disposal, as through generosity or a mutual exchange of services where neither side is taking advantage of the other. The use of another through generosity or exchange may also be exploitative, but only when there is some element of vulnerability...
Clearly needs and desires can sometimes constitute vulnerabilities. An addict’s need or desire for drugs, for example, is clearly a vulnerability which pushers may a-exploit. The emotional needs of lovers obviously make them vulnerable to those they love, and hence create opportunities for a-exploitation by the latter. Many human needs and desires can be viewed as vulnerabilities, and accordingly many dealings between human beings can be put in an exploitative light. As we become more sensitive to this unattractive side of human social life generally, we may very well begin to perceive a great deal more exploitation in it than we thought there was. I think that such a change in sensitivity might very well be a positive result of becoming clearer about what exploitation is and about its importance in human life...
Surely it would be implausible to the point of absurdity if someone were to suggest that any need or desire constitutes a vulnerability. To suppose this would be to make exploitation virtually ubiquitous in human social life and as much a factor in quite a number of innocent human relations as it is in many very nasty ones... if someone claimed that every market exchange is exploitative simply on the ground that in such exchanges people use the needs of others to achieve their ends, then I think that claim would have exactly as much plausibility as the claim that every need or desire motivating market behavior is a vulnerability open to exploitation...
Exploiting people themselves... If in the course of a casual conversation I ask you for a couple of small favors, slyly insinuating that if you refuse I may divulge some nasty secrets about your sexual or financial indiscretions, then I am a-exploiting your indiscretions and b-exploiting your ability to do the favors, but I do not seem to be exploiting you yourself. On the other hand, if I begin to use the same information to blackmail you out of considerable sums of money, then we might very well say that I am exploiting you; but this could depend on how regular and how large the payments turned out to be.
It seems to me there is no sharp dividing line here...
What is wrong with exploitation?
Not the distribution of benefits and harms. Many people seem to think that exploitation (at least in the “pejorative” sense) has to be unfair or unjust, and that the injustice consists in a redistribution of harms and benefits; with benefits flowing from the exploited to the exploiter...
The drift of these remarks, however, seems to me in an important sense exactly wrong. Moreover, some of the writers on this topic appear to be aware of this. Gorr is struck by the fact that an exploitative offer typically expands the offeree’s freedom of choice and that accepting it will normally net the offeree an increase in utility.
Nor involuntariness, since exploitation is often voluntary. Feinberg too... realizes that exploitation may benefit the exploited, and may occur “with the exploitee’s fully voluntary consent”; exploitation may also be mutual, with each party acting in turn as exploiter and exploited, both benefiting from the arrangement.’ Wertheimer, showing that he knows better as well, even realizes that exploited parties typically benefit more from an exploitative arrangement than exploiters do, and rightly points out that this should not surprise us. “It is precisely because the exploitee stands to gain so much from the transaction (relative to the exploiter) that his bargaining position is comparatively weak.” This also explains why exploitation should often be voluntary on the part of the exploitee, since it is only to be expected that you will voluntarily consent to an arrangement by which you benefit...
People may often be in dire need of the benefits in question, they can often be eager to be exploited... Someone who is propertyless and starving has a lot to gain by striking a deal with an employer who is willing to offer bare subsistence in exchange for long, hard labor under dangerous conditions — and a lot to lose (namely, life itself) if no such exploitative bargain is in the offing. We can make the same point with a less controversial example. A gambler who owes a large amount of money to ruthless and violent characters will be in desperate need of the loan shark who offers the needed funds at a usurious rate of interest; such a person wifi be more than wffling under these conditions. to consent to virtually any terms of payment.
Not coercion either. Perhaps it will be said that people in such desperate straits are forced or coerced into making such deals. Certainly it is often said by Marxists that exploited workers are forced or coerced. This is often true in the sense that the exploited have no acceptable alternative to the arrangement under which they are exploited. But it does not follow that the exploiters themselves are coercing the exploited. (This is true only if the exploiters themselves are the ones who put the exploited in their vulnerable situation; Marx portrays things in this light when he represents the capitalist class as a whole as dispossessing the working class as a whole.)
Yet even if an exploitee has other acceptable alternatives to a given exploitative arrangement, and thus is not forced to accept the arrangement even in that sense, these alternatives may be either equally exploitative or far less desirable...
The real reason. I suggest that the moral belief that makes exploitation objectionable is the following: Proper respect for others is violated when we treat their vulnerabiities as opportunities to advance our own interests or projects. It is degrading to have your weaknesses taken advantage of, and dishonorable to use the weaknesses of others for your ends. This moral belief, I submit, is widely shared, and it is why the term ‘exploitation’ seems to us to refer to something bad, unfair, or unethical. This has nothing to do with the meaning of the word itself, but reflects a positive moral conviction which most of us hold...
Some instances of exploitation (exploiting the weaknesses of one’s opponent in a game) can be regarded as innocent. One would not enter into the game with good sportsmanship if one did not expect (or even want) one’s opponent to use one’s weaknesses wherever possible, and competitive play remains morally innocent only as long as this sort of exploitation does not take a form which degrades the competitors. Sometimes (e.g., the lawyer exploiting weaknesses in her opponent’s case) we think people’s vulnerabiities ought to be taken advantage of (for the sake of a just outcome)...
Some disputed cases... We may think that exploitation is good (or morally acceptable, or at, least satisfying on the whole), as when a person receives poetic justice through the a-exploitation of some morally bad quality — especially, as Feinberg points out, when the exploitee is “hoist with his own petard” — that is, a-exploited on the basis of a quality associated with a propensity to be an exploiter...
Another kind of case mentioned by Feinberg is that in which someone “cashes in” on the weaknesses of others precisely by helping them — as a business does when it supplies householders with protective devices during a crime wave, or as doctors do when they treat patients. Because Feinberg holds that exploitation requires that there be some sort of wrongness, unfairness, or unethical conduct on the part of the exploiter, he thinks that we cannot speak of exploitation at all in these cases unless those who help charge unfair prices for their services or gain disproportionately in comparison to those they help. I disagree. Those who help people in a position of weakness typically exploit them as well, and they do so whether they make just profits, unjust profits, or even no profits at all, as long as they also use the vulnerabffity of the recipients to further some end of their own other than the helping itself. This they typically do, even if the end is an entirely innocent and noble one, such as developing or exercising their own moral virtues. No doubt in such a case we are disclined to dwell on the exploitative aspect of the situation, not least because the helpers’ further end may be in itself perfectly legitimate or even laudable, and because they are, after all, providing help to those who need it.
It is essential to keep in mind here, however, that when people are vulnerable and in need of help, it is not only the helping itself which they need. If one accepts the moral belief I have ascribed to most of us, then they are also beings with dignity, with whom not all is well as long as they lack the conditions under which a human being can be respected. Those who fulfifi all their “obligations to help,” or even display supererogatory virtue in helping, may (just by helping, and thereby exhibiting the terrible vulnerability of those they help) bring mercilessly to light the absence of these conditions.
Helping those in need therefore often has a profound moral ambivalence about it, making solidarity with them a far more vital achievement than any positive contribution to their welfare... For this reason, it seems to me extremely important for would- be benefactors of the weak and vulnerable to be fully (and even painfully) aware of the inevitably exploitative side of their beneficence. This is needed both to preserve the dignity of those they help and to protect the helpers themselves from a certain blind arrogance which sometimes afflicts those who have been fortunate enough to parlay the doing of good into a successful career or life-defining activity.
Exploitation and Justice
Can exploitation be just? It is often thought that exploitation is bad because the exploiter takes unfair advantage of the exploitee. But if I am right about the source of our objection to exploitation, then we have reason to consider exploitation bad even when it involves no unfairness or injustice. For if the badness of exploitation lies in the fact that it is base and dishonorable of the exploiter, and insulting and degrading to the exploited, for the former to make use of the latter’s vulnerability, then this badness seems to be present even where the exploitation involves no unfairness, injustice, or violation of rights...
[In] protecting people against exploitation. Either society could make it more difficult for the powerful to use their power to exploit the vulnerable, or it could redistribute power so that people are less vulnerable to use by others, and hence less susceptible to exploitation. Let us call the first way of protecting people “interference” and the second way “redistribution.” Exploitation is unjust, then, whenever the weakness exploited is one which society should either prevent others from taking advantage of (by means of interference) or else prevent from occurring altogether (by means of redistribution)...
Capitalist exploitation... Marx was right: capital virtually always exploits wage labor. At least this is self-evident if it is granted that those who own the means of production enjoy a decisive bargaining advantage over those who own little besides their capacity to labor, and that this fundamental vulnerability on the part of labor decisively influences the terms of wage contracts...
It is another question whether capital’s pervasive exploitation of labor is just or unjust. Using his own highly reductive account of justice (according to which the justice of a transaction is no defense of it), Marx thought that capitalist exploitation was generally just...
Surrogacy and exploitation... The economic vulnerability typical of surrogate mothers is not generally regarded as avoidable within a modern market economy, and the psychological vulnerabiities involved here do not seem preventable by any means within society’s power. But there is always a dilemma when we must consider interference alone as a remedy for exploitation. As we have noted, an exploitative arrangement may benefit both parties, and is even likely to benefit the exploitee more than it benefits the exploiter. By interfering with exploitative arrangements, we may prevent one person from taking advantage of another’s weakness, but we thereby also risk consigning the vulnerable person to an even worse fate than being exploited. If we decide that interference is too cruel to those in a position of weakness, we may decide that the exploitation, however bad it may be in various respects, violates no one’s rights and has to be considered just. Radical remedies for exploitation, where they exist, are therefore always redistributive.
Can exploitation be abolished? People are encumbered with weaknesses or vulnerabilities of many kinds—physical, psychological, emotional, economic, political. They are also mutually dependent and competitively motivated, so that they have strong incentives to exploit the weaknesses of others. Exploitation is therefore a pervasive fact of the social life of human beings, and yet (for those who share the moral belief I have ascribed to most of us) it is also a profound evil which tends to infect nearly all their relationships with one another. Those who see the extent of exploitation cannot realistically hope that it will ever be wholly abolished, yet they ought to hope (as Marx did) that the largest and most systematic forms of it can someday be abolished.
Radical remedies for exploitation are always redistributive... inevitably difficult, costly, and potentially explosive in their social effects, and they always face prospects of success which are uncertain at best. This entails that there will always be strong arguments in favor of saying that society either cannot or should not be expected to do what is necessary to protect people against exploitation...
Exploitation is something we must learn to live with... capitalism is the freest, most just, and most productive economic order the world has ever known, that it is the social order which best accords with what we know of human nature, that no one has found a better or more workable system, or that every attempt to refound society on a radically less exploitative basis has not only been unsuccessful but had an utterly disastrous outcome...
[Yet] since under capitalism there are vast differences in economic power and ample opportunity in the market system for the strong to use these differences to their advantage, capitalism is also a highly exploitative social order, perhaps the most exploitative the world has ever known...
You should be ready to acknowledge that despite capitalism’s long list of alleged virtues, we have strong grounds not to show any great loyalty to it. You should be willing to admit that even if we have yet to find a social system better than capitalism, we nevertheless have good and sufficient reasons to keep on looking for one, and reason too to put some of the cherished advantages of capitalism at risk in trying to achieve a better form of society."
--- Exploitation / Allen Wood
L'origine de Bert
Monday, March 30, 2009
"A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people." - Thomas Mann
***
A Poison Tree
I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
And I water’d it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.
And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright;
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,
And into my garden stole
When the night had veil’d the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch’d beneath the tree.
William Blake
***
A Poison Tree
I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
And I water’d it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.
And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright;
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,
And into my garden stole
When the night had veil’d the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch’d beneath the tree.
William Blake
Post ID: 5245394261375295129
Sunday, March 29, 2009
"Education... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading." - G. M. Trevelyan
***
PPBI: the tchs/acs/ri boys joke is
if a girl and a guy walk into an LT and there is only one seat left
the tchs guy will snatch the seat
the ri guy will offer the seat
the acs guy will ask her to sit on his lap
or something
Me: HAHAHAHAHA
PPBI: sorry
it should be the other way around
the ri guy will snatch the seat
the tchs guy will offer the seat
the acs guy will ask her to sit on his lap
Me: gah
Someone else: you have so many blog posts tagged "sedition"
that i won't know which one to blame
the day u disappear.
Someone: nah he's terribly bust
busy
Me: cheh I thought busty
Someone: WAHAHAAHHAAHAH
no gabriel, no one can rival you
Someone else: gabriel
i need advice
give me 3 good reasons why you don't have a religion
Me: you don't need 3, just 2
1) there's no evidence that gods exist
2) even if gods exist, there's no reason to worship them
is a girl trying to convert you? hurr hurr
Someone else: indeed, you are quite prescient
i have less problems with reason (1.), but plenty of problems with reason (2.)
but i wonder if the problem arises due to my understanding of the word "worship". perhaps it means less of "throwing yourself at the feet of someone", but rather "to adoringly respect and honour"?
sigh, gabriel. girls.
Me: "the only folly of man is women"
Someone else: haha
what do you think of my point about "worship"?
Me: well why would mere existence require respect and honour?
and worship in the divine sense includes obedience as well
Someone else: maybe it's because God's a role model?
if we use the classic Christian framing of this as a father-son relationship?
so we respect and honour our father, and obey him because he is wise
Me: that depends on the attributes of these gods
I wouldn't respect an abusive, drunkard father
whose sole contribution to my life was spawning me
Someone else: and as a splendid legerdemain, if the message we're getting is perverse, then it's not the "true" message?
Me: that's begging the question
in more ways than one:
- assuming the existence of beings
- assuming they are good
Someone else: why not hold both to be true? from a personal perspective, they can both be valid
Me: they are theoretically possible
but we do not have reasons to believe that they are the case
it's also theoretically possible that an omnipotent but totally evil god exists
(in fact that would fit the facts a lot better)
Someone else: sigh, Gabriel. i've walked into the worst possible outcome. non-Christian boy meets hardcore Christian girl.
i'm wondering, from a practical perspective, whether the church is the best bet for long term stability
it offers you a doctrine, philosophical pondering within its parameters, a social life and support within its community, fairly sensible aspects of decency, etc
Me: well communism brought stability to the USSR
except that there was stagnation as well
almost everyone would want to know if their spouse was cheating on them
even if it is not good for long term stability
"it offers you a doctrine, philosophical pondering within its parameters, a social life and support within its community, fairly sensible aspects of decency, etc"
so does Singapore :P
Someone else: and most importantly, it offers you a girl you like
Me: also I'm not sure that one can choose to believe something
without causing cognitive dissonance
and attendant schizophrenia
see
this is one big reason why religion continues on
female mate choice
if she's really worth going for, she'll be able to accept you as a non-christian
Someone else: precisely
i'm trying to reframe the problem
i think that i've come across a solution
i think i believe in God
therefore, i can posit myself as a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyy doubtful Christian
but a Christian nonetheless
ahah!
Me: err
are you framing this just to get the girl?
muslims believe in 'god' also
but it'd be a stretch to call them christians
you could say the same (disingenously) about hindus and other polytheists, in fact
Someone else: to be very honest, it is very very tempting to collapse into religion
Me: it is very tempting to get hooked on heroin or to become a drunkard too
Someone else: personally, i think islam and christianity perfectly compatible, but that is for another day
haha
Me: religions aren't even compatible with themselves
and certainly not reality
Someone else: how gabriel how
Me: well, if you think you can lie to yourself, you can try
but I don't think it's good for your mental health
and it's very dishonest. like taking from the church collection tray and justifying it as not theft by saying you need the money
Someone else: i know what you mena
religion does have a remarkable effect on its believers though
i'm talking about moderate, sensible believers
incredible amounts of faith and conviction, while maintaining a moderate (i.e. non-proselytising) outlook
Me: err
actually proselytisation is part of the christian's responsibility
as for faith
"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything."
HWMNBN: apparently they kissed and made up (ie XXX and her guy)
and going from the night before of: “i feel so stupid for loving that asshole who doesn’t care of rme”
to: “i love him so much i can give up everything except him” the next afternoon
at this we can both solemnly utter in unison: “...women”
***
PPBI: the tchs/acs/ri boys joke is
if a girl and a guy walk into an LT and there is only one seat left
the tchs guy will snatch the seat
the ri guy will offer the seat
the acs guy will ask her to sit on his lap
or something
Me: HAHAHAHAHA
PPBI: sorry
it should be the other way around
the ri guy will snatch the seat
the tchs guy will offer the seat
the acs guy will ask her to sit on his lap
Me: gah
Someone else: you have so many blog posts tagged "sedition"
that i won't know which one to blame
the day u disappear.
Someone: nah he's terribly bust
busy
Me: cheh I thought busty
Someone: WAHAHAAHHAAHAH
no gabriel, no one can rival you
Someone else: gabriel
i need advice
give me 3 good reasons why you don't have a religion
Me: you don't need 3, just 2
1) there's no evidence that gods exist
2) even if gods exist, there's no reason to worship them
is a girl trying to convert you? hurr hurr
Someone else: indeed, you are quite prescient
i have less problems with reason (1.), but plenty of problems with reason (2.)
but i wonder if the problem arises due to my understanding of the word "worship". perhaps it means less of "throwing yourself at the feet of someone", but rather "to adoringly respect and honour"?
sigh, gabriel. girls.
Me: "the only folly of man is women"
Someone else: haha
what do you think of my point about "worship"?
Me: well why would mere existence require respect and honour?
and worship in the divine sense includes obedience as well
Someone else: maybe it's because God's a role model?
if we use the classic Christian framing of this as a father-son relationship?
so we respect and honour our father, and obey him because he is wise
Me: that depends on the attributes of these gods
I wouldn't respect an abusive, drunkard father
whose sole contribution to my life was spawning me
Someone else: and as a splendid legerdemain, if the message we're getting is perverse, then it's not the "true" message?
Me: that's begging the question
in more ways than one:
- assuming the existence of beings
- assuming they are good
Someone else: why not hold both to be true? from a personal perspective, they can both be valid
Me: they are theoretically possible
but we do not have reasons to believe that they are the case
it's also theoretically possible that an omnipotent but totally evil god exists
(in fact that would fit the facts a lot better)
Someone else: sigh, Gabriel. i've walked into the worst possible outcome. non-Christian boy meets hardcore Christian girl.
i'm wondering, from a practical perspective, whether the church is the best bet for long term stability
it offers you a doctrine, philosophical pondering within its parameters, a social life and support within its community, fairly sensible aspects of decency, etc
Me: well communism brought stability to the USSR
except that there was stagnation as well
almost everyone would want to know if their spouse was cheating on them
even if it is not good for long term stability
"it offers you a doctrine, philosophical pondering within its parameters, a social life and support within its community, fairly sensible aspects of decency, etc"
so does Singapore :P
Someone else: and most importantly, it offers you a girl you like
Me: also I'm not sure that one can choose to believe something
without causing cognitive dissonance
and attendant schizophrenia
see
this is one big reason why religion continues on
female mate choice
if she's really worth going for, she'll be able to accept you as a non-christian
Someone else: precisely
i'm trying to reframe the problem
i think that i've come across a solution
i think i believe in God
therefore, i can posit myself as a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyy doubtful Christian
but a Christian nonetheless
ahah!
Me: err
are you framing this just to get the girl?
muslims believe in 'god' also
but it'd be a stretch to call them christians
you could say the same (disingenously) about hindus and other polytheists, in fact
Someone else: to be very honest, it is very very tempting to collapse into religion
Me: it is very tempting to get hooked on heroin or to become a drunkard too
Someone else: personally, i think islam and christianity perfectly compatible, but that is for another day
haha
Me: religions aren't even compatible with themselves
and certainly not reality
Someone else: how gabriel how
Me: well, if you think you can lie to yourself, you can try
but I don't think it's good for your mental health
and it's very dishonest. like taking from the church collection tray and justifying it as not theft by saying you need the money
Someone else: i know what you mena
religion does have a remarkable effect on its believers though
i'm talking about moderate, sensible believers
incredible amounts of faith and conviction, while maintaining a moderate (i.e. non-proselytising) outlook
Me: err
actually proselytisation is part of the christian's responsibility
as for faith
"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything."
HWMNBN: apparently they kissed and made up (ie XXX and her guy)
and going from the night before of: “i feel so stupid for loving that asshole who doesn’t care of rme”
to: “i love him so much i can give up everything except him” the next afternoon
at this we can both solemnly utter in unison: “...women”
Post ID: 2685770302718106607
"Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted." - Martin Luther King Jr.
***
This picture was taken at a themed costume party.
The name of this set is "The Dictators"
(faces are hidden to prevent people disappearing in the middle of the night and spirited off in black vans)
***
This picture was taken at a themed costume party.
The name of this set is "The Dictators"
(faces are hidden to prevent people disappearing in the middle of the night and spirited off in black vans)
Post ID: 2002549227442765381
"Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born." - Ronald Reagan
***
Another great update from Gothere:
Smartest Way, Fastest Route, or Cheapest Fare? You decide.
"Many of our users have been requesting for the inclusion of alternative routes in our directions. Well starting today, in addition to our original directions, you will be able to choose between the "Fastest" route or "Cheapest" options for our public transport directions!
If you are one of those who believe in the old adage - time equals to money, "Fastest" will give you a route that we think takes the least amount of time. On the other hand, if you have some time to spare and would want to try save some cents or dollars, try "Cheapest" and see if the tradeoff is worth it. We still think that our original directions make a lot of sense (because it thinks like a commuter), therefore we're keeping it as the default and naming it as "Smartest" =]."
w00t!
Though personally I'm still holding out for the best directions to one of my favourite eating spots:
Lot G 17, AEON Bukit Indah Shopping Centre,
No 8, Jalan Indah 15/2
***
Another great update from Gothere:
Smartest Way, Fastest Route, or Cheapest Fare? You decide.
"Many of our users have been requesting for the inclusion of alternative routes in our directions. Well starting today, in addition to our original directions, you will be able to choose between the "Fastest" route or "Cheapest" options for our public transport directions!
If you are one of those who believe in the old adage - time equals to money, "Fastest" will give you a route that we think takes the least amount of time. On the other hand, if you have some time to spare and would want to try save some cents or dollars, try "Cheapest" and see if the tradeoff is worth it. We still think that our original directions make a lot of sense (because it thinks like a commuter), therefore we're keeping it as the default and naming it as "Smartest" =]."
w00t!
Though personally I'm still holding out for the best directions to one of my favourite eating spots:
Lot G 17, AEON Bukit Indah Shopping Centre,
No 8, Jalan Indah 15/2
Post ID: 7034183250176320179
Links - 29th March 2009
"The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way." - Bertrand Russell
***
World prepares for big switch-off - "Millions of people worldwide are being urged to switch off lights for an hour, in what is described as the biggest climate change protest ever attempted... Critics describe the event as a symbolic and meaningless gesture."
I think it has negative value, really: crowding out. Like Sunday Morning Christians.
City spends $3,000 to shut off lights for Earth Hour - "Some of the darkened city buildings were false, not just flawed, symbols. That’s because city staffers drew the blinds on a number of windows to mask the security lighting that had to remain on... Even volunteers have to eat, drive around and otherwise make use of energy derived from fossil fuels to put on Earth Hour. If you could total up all the energy it took to put on Earth Hour, it probably exceeded the savings in power, if this area’s experience is any guide. Meaning Earth Hour hurt the Earth, not helped it."
yax-1003 Why arrested persons shouldn't have lawyers - "Singaporeans are not good at making the distinction between guilt and fair sentencing either... We seem not to care whether the sentence is excessive... If lawyers are allowed to be present, police work will be shackled, and the public will not enjoy the benefits of law and order. Oh no! That will not do. Throwing a few criminals (of course we are sure they guilty as charged, right?) into the dungeon is a small price to pay for continuing to sleep peacefully at night, courtesy of the big chief... Sometimes, the saddest thing about Singapore is not that we have an authoritarian government, but that the people think it's the best thing that's ever happened to them."
The Army's Remote-Controlled Beetle - "A giant flower beetle with implanted electrodes and a radio receiver on its back can be wirelessly controlled, according to research presented this week"
Police Priorities - "*** was pushed to the ground and pummeled by a commuter who failed to obtain a seat. But the woman police officer at the station said a report would not help to catch the assailant. Madam Tan’s husband received a telephone threat, promising to inflict bodily harm on him and his family. In this instance, a report was made at Bedok North station, but the police seemed to let the matter rest at that. Rag-and-bone man Ng Kim Ngweng... air[ed] his grouses, but ended up in court to face a battery of hostile witnesses"
Ed: Name has been redacted on request
A response to MM Lee’s private secretary on dialects - "The Chinese dialects which he refers to are rightfully languages. Spoken Chinese is distinguished by a high level of internal diversity. There are between six and twelve main regional groups of Chinese... These Chinese languages are mostly mutually unintelligible tongues. They are roughly parallel to English, Dutch, Swedish, and so on among the Germanic group of the Indo-European language family... The Beijing form of Mandarin was only chosen to be the standard form of spoken Chinese through a ballot in China in 1913, during which the Cantonese language lost only by three votes... The deliberate classification of the southern Chinese languages as dialects is a socio-political attempt to degrade them as second-class. The attempt to eradicate them is narrow-minded and short-sighted."
U.N. body adopts resolution on religious defamation - "A United Nations forum on Thursday passed a resolution condemning "defamation of religion" as a human rights violation, despite wide concerns that it could be used to justify curbs on free speech in Muslim countries. The U.N. Human Rights Council adopted the non-binding text, proposed by Pakistan on behalf of Islamic states"
Of course, the most deserving targets of this resolution... are the large number of Muslims who demonise Jews.
officially longest lived celebrity romance.
Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries - "A vast electronic spying operation has infiltrated computers and has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama... the system was being controlled from computers based almost exclusively in China, but that they could not say conclusively that the Chinese government was involved."
U2 song crashes Acer Aspire One netbook hard drives - "“We’re not entirely sure how serious to take this, but apparently Acer’s hugely popular 8.9-inch Aspire One netbook will trash the hard drive if you play music through it too loudly according to some users on HardwareCult. One of the tracks it has taken a particular dislike to is U2’s Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me, which several users have been able to replicate the problem with."
The 25 Most Disturbing Sex Toys - "Sometimes you get to the point where the standard human dong just doesn't do it for you, no matter how unrealistic the proportions. For those people, the caring deviants in the fake dong industry put their skills to work in making a dildo modeled after the junk of an orca whale... Mr. Jack With Mustache: this was designed for people who wanted a blowjob from an incognito Guy Smiley using Burt's eyebrows as a mustache without the rest of his Muppet head getting in the way."
Manhunt winner to strip for hens parties and other events.
Someone: My word how the mighty have fallen, lol
***
World prepares for big switch-off - "Millions of people worldwide are being urged to switch off lights for an hour, in what is described as the biggest climate change protest ever attempted... Critics describe the event as a symbolic and meaningless gesture."
I think it has negative value, really: crowding out. Like Sunday Morning Christians.
City spends $3,000 to shut off lights for Earth Hour - "Some of the darkened city buildings were false, not just flawed, symbols. That’s because city staffers drew the blinds on a number of windows to mask the security lighting that had to remain on... Even volunteers have to eat, drive around and otherwise make use of energy derived from fossil fuels to put on Earth Hour. If you could total up all the energy it took to put on Earth Hour, it probably exceeded the savings in power, if this area’s experience is any guide. Meaning Earth Hour hurt the Earth, not helped it."
yax-1003 Why arrested persons shouldn't have lawyers - "Singaporeans are not good at making the distinction between guilt and fair sentencing either... We seem not to care whether the sentence is excessive... If lawyers are allowed to be present, police work will be shackled, and the public will not enjoy the benefits of law and order. Oh no! That will not do. Throwing a few criminals (of course we are sure they guilty as charged, right?) into the dungeon is a small price to pay for continuing to sleep peacefully at night, courtesy of the big chief... Sometimes, the saddest thing about Singapore is not that we have an authoritarian government, but that the people think it's the best thing that's ever happened to them."
The Army's Remote-Controlled Beetle - "A giant flower beetle with implanted electrodes and a radio receiver on its back can be wirelessly controlled, according to research presented this week"
Police Priorities - "*** was pushed to the ground and pummeled by a commuter who failed to obtain a seat. But the woman police officer at the station said a report would not help to catch the assailant. Madam Tan’s husband received a telephone threat, promising to inflict bodily harm on him and his family. In this instance, a report was made at Bedok North station, but the police seemed to let the matter rest at that. Rag-and-bone man Ng Kim Ngweng... air[ed] his grouses, but ended up in court to face a battery of hostile witnesses"
Ed: Name has been redacted on request
A response to MM Lee’s private secretary on dialects - "The Chinese dialects which he refers to are rightfully languages. Spoken Chinese is distinguished by a high level of internal diversity. There are between six and twelve main regional groups of Chinese... These Chinese languages are mostly mutually unintelligible tongues. They are roughly parallel to English, Dutch, Swedish, and so on among the Germanic group of the Indo-European language family... The Beijing form of Mandarin was only chosen to be the standard form of spoken Chinese through a ballot in China in 1913, during which the Cantonese language lost only by three votes... The deliberate classification of the southern Chinese languages as dialects is a socio-political attempt to degrade them as second-class. The attempt to eradicate them is narrow-minded and short-sighted."
U.N. body adopts resolution on religious defamation - "A United Nations forum on Thursday passed a resolution condemning "defamation of religion" as a human rights violation, despite wide concerns that it could be used to justify curbs on free speech in Muslim countries. The U.N. Human Rights Council adopted the non-binding text, proposed by Pakistan on behalf of Islamic states"
Of course, the most deserving targets of this resolution... are the large number of Muslims who demonise Jews.
officially longest lived celebrity romance.
Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries - "A vast electronic spying operation has infiltrated computers and has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama... the system was being controlled from computers based almost exclusively in China, but that they could not say conclusively that the Chinese government was involved."
U2 song crashes Acer Aspire One netbook hard drives - "“We’re not entirely sure how serious to take this, but apparently Acer’s hugely popular 8.9-inch Aspire One netbook will trash the hard drive if you play music through it too loudly according to some users on HardwareCult. One of the tracks it has taken a particular dislike to is U2’s Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me, which several users have been able to replicate the problem with."
The 25 Most Disturbing Sex Toys - "Sometimes you get to the point where the standard human dong just doesn't do it for you, no matter how unrealistic the proportions. For those people, the caring deviants in the fake dong industry put their skills to work in making a dildo modeled after the junk of an orca whale... Mr. Jack With Mustache: this was designed for people who wanted a blowjob from an incognito Guy Smiley using Burt's eyebrows as a mustache without the rest of his Muppet head getting in the way."
Manhunt winner to strip for hens parties and other events.
Someone: My word how the mighty have fallen, lol
Post ID: 1014694506858902748
"I don't necessarily agree with everything I say." - Marshall McLuhan
***
Channelnewsasia journalists are psychic!
S'pore observes Earth Hour, many buildings switch off lights for an hour
By Timothy Ouyang, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 28 March 2009 2047 hrs
"SINGAPORE : Thousands of people across Singapore observed Earth Hour on Saturday, as individuals at home and organisations switched off their lights for an hour.
Many parts of Singapore were plunged into darkness, as the lights went off at 8.30pm Singapore time, and remained switched off until 9.30pm."
***
Channelnewsasia journalists are psychic!
S'pore observes Earth Hour, many buildings switch off lights for an hour
By Timothy Ouyang, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 28 March 2009 2047 hrs
"SINGAPORE : Thousands of people across Singapore observed Earth Hour on Saturday, as individuals at home and organisations switched off their lights for an hour.
Many parts of Singapore were plunged into darkness, as the lights went off at 8.30pm Singapore time, and remained switched off until 9.30pm."
Post ID: 7378901581494283586
Saturday, March 28, 2009
"Nobody talks so constantly about God as those who insist that there is no God." - Heywood Broun
***
Singapore's divorce rate in 2007 lower than other countries - "According to the Department of Statistics, the divorce rate in Singapore in 2007 was 2.02 per 1,000 people. This is lower than countries such as the United States and South Korea, which had divorce rates of 3.7 and 5.0 respectively in 2007."
South Korea had a higher divorce rate than the US in 2007? Ah, Asian Values!
Nazri reveals what it takes to sit on the Bench in future - "Dr Dzulkifli Ahmad (PAS – Kuala Selangor) also pointed out that the CPC had 650 amendments. When Dr Dzulkifli commented that the judiciary system needed an overhaul and that Singapore had amended a similar law only four times, Nazri said that it showed the Government was serious in making changes while the Singapore MPs lacked creativity in improving the law."
Malaysia Boleh!
Twitter's not a Google killer. It's not a Facebook killer, either. - "Shortly after the Mumbai attacks began, I opened up one Web page to Twitter's #mumbai stream and another to live coverage from the Indian TV news network IBN Live. The TV coverage was fraught with all the problems that usually plague breaking-news reports—spotty, speculative information; contradictory witness statements; and endless repetition. But the Twitter stream was even worse. It was incoherent, telling no narrative—just a continuously updated jumble of facts, pseudo-facts, unfounded assertions, opinions, rants, condolences, and, most of all, repetition of information that I'd heard on TV minutes before. Even Google surpassed Twitter: Very quickly, the search engine began to index news stories, live blogs, and the Wikipedia page for the attack. Searching for "Mumbai" in Google gave you an in-depth, though still timely, picture of what was going on. This happens for every news event; it is simply not true, as Borthwick asserts, that there was nothing on Google about Flight 1549 on the day of the accident. Google had a coherent story within hours; Twitter had a messy story within minutes. News junkies love the messy, fast story, but lots of us aren't news junkies. Lots of us are OK waiting an hour for coherence."
Liberals and tax cheating - "With the embarrassing number of hopeful Obama appointments running into tax cheating problems (the latest being Ron Kirk), it's natural to wonder if evasion by high profile leftists is illustrative of a real world trend, or just a string of unfortunate anecdotes... Liberals do not consider cheating on taxes to be as morally problematic as conservatives do. This presents an obvious moral quandary of its own, as, putatively less surprisingly, liberals are more likely than conservatives are to favor greater amounts of taxation and wealth redistribution... as a self-described empirical paleoconservative, it is difficult not to find parodiable humor mixed with irritation in discovering that those most likely to favor increased taxation and redistributive economics are also the most likely to approve of illegally acting to avoid having to suffer on the contributive side of the equation."
Marketing to women | Hello, girls - "In America, where female consumers make more than 80% of discretionary purchases, companies have started tailoring their products and messages to appeal to women, in an effort to boost their sales... they control the vast majority of consumer spending. (They buy 90% of food, 55% of consumer electronics, and most of the new cars.)"
Men may earn more, but women spend more.
Also, I finally found some figures: "Tom Peters, the brand commentator, shared [that]... spending by US males equaled...3.8 trillion dollars... spending by US females was nearly 4.3 trillion dollars"
A Parable of Management - "Every day, a small ant arrives at work very early and starts work immediately. She produces a lot and she is happy. The Chief, a lion, was surprised to see that the ant was working without supervision. He thought if the ant can produce so much without supervision, wouldn’t she produce even more if she had a supervisor!... The ant, who had once been so productive and relaxed, hated this new plethora of paperwork and meetings which used up most of her time…!... Guess who the lion fires first? The ant , of course, because she “showed lack of motivation and had a negative attitude"."
60-foot penis painted on roof - "It was there for a year before his parents found out."
Trichophilia - Wikipedia - "Trichophilia or hair fetishism is a paraphilia in which one becomes sexually aroused by, or is extremely fond of, human hair; commonly head hair."
***
Singapore's divorce rate in 2007 lower than other countries - "According to the Department of Statistics, the divorce rate in Singapore in 2007 was 2.02 per 1,000 people. This is lower than countries such as the United States and South Korea, which had divorce rates of 3.7 and 5.0 respectively in 2007."
South Korea had a higher divorce rate than the US in 2007? Ah, Asian Values!
Nazri reveals what it takes to sit on the Bench in future - "Dr Dzulkifli Ahmad (PAS – Kuala Selangor) also pointed out that the CPC had 650 amendments. When Dr Dzulkifli commented that the judiciary system needed an overhaul and that Singapore had amended a similar law only four times, Nazri said that it showed the Government was serious in making changes while the Singapore MPs lacked creativity in improving the law."
Malaysia Boleh!
Twitter's not a Google killer. It's not a Facebook killer, either. - "Shortly after the Mumbai attacks began, I opened up one Web page to Twitter's #mumbai stream and another to live coverage from the Indian TV news network IBN Live. The TV coverage was fraught with all the problems that usually plague breaking-news reports—spotty, speculative information; contradictory witness statements; and endless repetition. But the Twitter stream was even worse. It was incoherent, telling no narrative—just a continuously updated jumble of facts, pseudo-facts, unfounded assertions, opinions, rants, condolences, and, most of all, repetition of information that I'd heard on TV minutes before. Even Google surpassed Twitter: Very quickly, the search engine began to index news stories, live blogs, and the Wikipedia page for the attack. Searching for "Mumbai" in Google gave you an in-depth, though still timely, picture of what was going on. This happens for every news event; it is simply not true, as Borthwick asserts, that there was nothing on Google about Flight 1549 on the day of the accident. Google had a coherent story within hours; Twitter had a messy story within minutes. News junkies love the messy, fast story, but lots of us aren't news junkies. Lots of us are OK waiting an hour for coherence."
Liberals and tax cheating - "With the embarrassing number of hopeful Obama appointments running into tax cheating problems (the latest being Ron Kirk), it's natural to wonder if evasion by high profile leftists is illustrative of a real world trend, or just a string of unfortunate anecdotes... Liberals do not consider cheating on taxes to be as morally problematic as conservatives do. This presents an obvious moral quandary of its own, as, putatively less surprisingly, liberals are more likely than conservatives are to favor greater amounts of taxation and wealth redistribution... as a self-described empirical paleoconservative, it is difficult not to find parodiable humor mixed with irritation in discovering that those most likely to favor increased taxation and redistributive economics are also the most likely to approve of illegally acting to avoid having to suffer on the contributive side of the equation."
Marketing to women | Hello, girls - "In America, where female consumers make more than 80% of discretionary purchases, companies have started tailoring their products and messages to appeal to women, in an effort to boost their sales... they control the vast majority of consumer spending. (They buy 90% of food, 55% of consumer electronics, and most of the new cars.)"
Men may earn more, but women spend more.
Also, I finally found some figures: "Tom Peters, the brand commentator, shared [that]... spending by US males equaled...3.8 trillion dollars... spending by US females was nearly 4.3 trillion dollars"
A Parable of Management - "Every day, a small ant arrives at work very early and starts work immediately. She produces a lot and she is happy. The Chief, a lion, was surprised to see that the ant was working without supervision. He thought if the ant can produce so much without supervision, wouldn’t she produce even more if she had a supervisor!... The ant, who had once been so productive and relaxed, hated this new plethora of paperwork and meetings which used up most of her time…!... Guess who the lion fires first? The ant , of course, because she “showed lack of motivation and had a negative attitude"."
60-foot penis painted on roof - "It was there for a year before his parents found out."
Trichophilia - Wikipedia - "Trichophilia or hair fetishism is a paraphilia in which one becomes sexually aroused by, or is extremely fond of, human hair; commonly head hair."
Post ID: 9040441596749810116
Friday, March 27, 2009
"It is not a bad idea to get in the habit of writing down one's thoughts. It saves one having to bother anyone else with them." - Isabel Colegate
***
The Straight Dope: Are Americans dumber than Europeans? - "Besides, we apparently don't really need to know much about the rest of the world. According to Baylor University polling, 55 percent of Americans believe they have an advantage that surely outweighs any intellectual deficiencies: A guardian angel."
Pilot who paused to pray in emergency gets 10 years - "A Tunisian pilot who paused to pray instead of taking emergency measures before crash-landing his plane, killing 16 people, has been sentenced to 10 years in jail by an Italian court along with his co-pilot... A fuel-gauge malfunction was partly to blame but prosecutors also said the pilot succumbed to panic, praying out loud instead of following emergency procedures and then opting to crash-land the plane instead trying to reach a nearby airport."
Unsurprisingly, this was an Italian court. Religious discrimination! Islamophobia
Porkgasm - Porktopia - "I was inspired by the famous Bacon Explosion and this cute little guy."
"Bacon strips, bacon sausage, ham sausage, ham slices, smoked pork sausage and roasted pork belly surrounded by ground sausage shaped into a pig, wrapped in bacon and roasted. Garnished with chili ears and tail."
Singlish: Building language the fun way! - "Accelerating Language & Learning Through Music, Visuals & Movement"
Both 13 started having sex with each other , they met online . - "ALTHOUGH she had actually been pregnant for seven months, an underaged girl wasn't aware that she was having a baby until her parents sent the 14-year-old for a checkup. On Tuesday, the father, also 14, was placed on one-year supervised probation by the Juvenile Court, after he pleaded guilty to two counts of carnal connection."
Strangely, the girl isn't under probation (since we lack a rolling age of consent). I doubt you'll see the feminists making noise about this.
Woman arrested after sending obscene video to friend - "Deputies say Caroline Willette videotaped herself having sex with two dogs and watching child pornography with a friend."
Headmaster: No Vampires At Our School - "Supposedly 3 students believe that they are vampires and today when a student was bitten the police were informed"
TNB gives assurance of power supply during Earth Hour - "Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has assured the public that electricity supply will not be switched off during the worldwide event, Earth Hour, this Saturday... TNB issued the statement in response to the numerous calls from concerned customers enquiring if electricity supply would be turned off for the Earth Hour from 8.30pm - 9.30pm."
Malaysia Boleh! I prefer the story about the National Phonographic Association, though.
Dear A.I.G., I Quit! - "[Not] more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P [were responsible]. Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage... I was an integral player in the pending sale of its well-regarded commodity index business to UBS. As you know, business unit sales like this are crucial to A.I.G.’s effort to repay the American taxpayer. The profitability of the businesses with which I was associated clearly supported my compensation. I never received any pay resulting from the credit default swaps that are now losing so much money. I did, however, like many others here, lose a significant portion of my life savings... I have personally suffered from this controversial activity — directly as well as indirectly with the rest of the taxpayers... you also are aware that most of the employees of your financial products unit had nothing to do with the large losses. And I am disappointed and frustrated over your lack of support for us. I and many others in the unit feel betrayed that you failed to stand up for us in the face of untrue and unfair accusations... None of us should be cheated of our payments any more than a plumber should be cheated after he has fixed the pipes but a careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house."
Jonathan Clements Says the Bonus Tax Creates a Disincentive to Work - "Like Bernie Madoff, I've got the government coming after my money. Unlike Madoff, I didn't do anything wrong... The House bill is akin to, say, penalizing the earnings of today's politicians because their predecessors failed to save us from the current economic debacle... by mid-October, I will hit $250,000 in total income -- and have no incentive to earn any more income in 2009. At that point, I plan to ask Citi for an unpaid sabbatical. Forget earning more income. There's no point. Instead, you will find me hunkered down at home, desperately trying not to spend money. This will make entire financial sense for the Clements household. What about the struggling economy? Not so much."
***
The Straight Dope: Are Americans dumber than Europeans? - "Besides, we apparently don't really need to know much about the rest of the world. According to Baylor University polling, 55 percent of Americans believe they have an advantage that surely outweighs any intellectual deficiencies: A guardian angel."
Pilot who paused to pray in emergency gets 10 years - "A Tunisian pilot who paused to pray instead of taking emergency measures before crash-landing his plane, killing 16 people, has been sentenced to 10 years in jail by an Italian court along with his co-pilot... A fuel-gauge malfunction was partly to blame but prosecutors also said the pilot succumbed to panic, praying out loud instead of following emergency procedures and then opting to crash-land the plane instead trying to reach a nearby airport."
Unsurprisingly, this was an Italian court. Religious discrimination! Islamophobia
Porkgasm - Porktopia - "I was inspired by the famous Bacon Explosion and this cute little guy."
"Bacon strips, bacon sausage, ham sausage, ham slices, smoked pork sausage and roasted pork belly surrounded by ground sausage shaped into a pig, wrapped in bacon and roasted. Garnished with chili ears and tail."
Singlish: Building language the fun way! - "Accelerating Language & Learning Through Music, Visuals & Movement"
Both 13 started having sex with each other , they met online . - "ALTHOUGH she had actually been pregnant for seven months, an underaged girl wasn't aware that she was having a baby until her parents sent the 14-year-old for a checkup. On Tuesday, the father, also 14, was placed on one-year supervised probation by the Juvenile Court, after he pleaded guilty to two counts of carnal connection."
Strangely, the girl isn't under probation (since we lack a rolling age of consent). I doubt you'll see the feminists making noise about this.
Woman arrested after sending obscene video to friend - "Deputies say Caroline Willette videotaped herself having sex with two dogs and watching child pornography with a friend."
Headmaster: No Vampires At Our School - "Supposedly 3 students believe that they are vampires and today when a student was bitten the police were informed"
TNB gives assurance of power supply during Earth Hour - "Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has assured the public that electricity supply will not be switched off during the worldwide event, Earth Hour, this Saturday... TNB issued the statement in response to the numerous calls from concerned customers enquiring if electricity supply would be turned off for the Earth Hour from 8.30pm - 9.30pm."
Malaysia Boleh! I prefer the story about the National Phonographic Association, though.
Dear A.I.G., I Quit! - "[Not] more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P [were responsible]. Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage... I was an integral player in the pending sale of its well-regarded commodity index business to UBS. As you know, business unit sales like this are crucial to A.I.G.’s effort to repay the American taxpayer. The profitability of the businesses with which I was associated clearly supported my compensation. I never received any pay resulting from the credit default swaps that are now losing so much money. I did, however, like many others here, lose a significant portion of my life savings... I have personally suffered from this controversial activity — directly as well as indirectly with the rest of the taxpayers... you also are aware that most of the employees of your financial products unit had nothing to do with the large losses. And I am disappointed and frustrated over your lack of support for us. I and many others in the unit feel betrayed that you failed to stand up for us in the face of untrue and unfair accusations... None of us should be cheated of our payments any more than a plumber should be cheated after he has fixed the pipes but a careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house."
Jonathan Clements Says the Bonus Tax Creates a Disincentive to Work - "Like Bernie Madoff, I've got the government coming after my money. Unlike Madoff, I didn't do anything wrong... The House bill is akin to, say, penalizing the earnings of today's politicians because their predecessors failed to save us from the current economic debacle... by mid-October, I will hit $250,000 in total income -- and have no incentive to earn any more income in 2009. At that point, I plan to ask Citi for an unpaid sabbatical. Forget earning more income. There's no point. Instead, you will find me hunkered down at home, desperately trying not to spend money. This will make entire financial sense for the Clements household. What about the struggling economy? Not so much."
Post ID: 8224132024619639602
"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." - Mark Twain
***
Who's afraid of Catherine Lim? The State in Patriarchal Singapore
Kenneth Paul Tan
"Through [the Internal Security Act, Sedition Act, Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act and Societies' Act] and other coercive instruments, the state has effectively castrated political opposition and alternatives in civil society, preventing them from mounting effective political challenges to the state—challenges that established liberal democracies would regard as necessary for democratic accountability, responsibility and responsiveness (Tan, 2001).
A spectacular example of political emasculation happened in 1987—two years after a serious economic recession—when the state accused 22 people of a Marxist conspiracy and detained them under the Internal Security Act...
The politically emasculating state assumes the superior status and controlling position of the patriarch—originating, elaborating and defending the "law of the Father" that has taken the form of an official national discourse that defines the conditions of possibility for what can be legitimately thought, expressed and communicated in Singapore...
The founding Father—who engenders and animates the state—writes himself as the sole protagonist in the national narrative, casts his allies in supporting roles and his enemies as antagonists, and interpellates Singaporean readers/citizens into infantile subjects paranoid about threats of race riots, Marxist conspiracies, hostile neighbouring countries, terrorism, disease, economic crisis, and the ceaseless challenges of striving to be number one in the world. Society, in all its lack, is the "negative mirror" that makes possible the state's heroic self-definitions. In contrast to a "masculine" state that possesses universal vision, the people are presented as selfish, ignorant, deficient, dangerous and "feminine", and thus cannot be trusted with matters of public significance unless tightly supervised by state-approved committees (Woo and Goh, 2007). Society, in this "monosexual imaginary", is the "negative elaboration" of the state which, in fact, actively subdues any rebellious ground energies by providing the people with "playgrounds" that simulate democratic participation. Widely publicised national consultation exercises such as the National Agenda in the late 1980s, Singapore 21 and Remaking Singapore at the turn of the millennium are highly controlled spaces for citizen committees to discuss questions scheduled by the state.
Singapore's official history and model of development record the nation's "paternal genealogy", but erase the "maternal genealogy" that could narrate society's organic, hidden or potential roles in the life of the nation. The Singapore state's refusal to acknowledge a national debt to civil society's "maternity" perpetuates the phantasie of a primal (pre-modern) mass that threatens to madden, kill and devour the modern and prosperous Singapore that rational and disciplined policy-makers have constructed, and that the founding Father literally promised/threatened to watch over even from the afterlife. This phantasie of a dangerous civil society is continually constructed and circulated using the vivid imagery of racial riots, radical movements, Marxist conspiracies, and political instability in modern Singapore's recent past and Third-World Asia's present—the more extreme this vision, the more able is the paternal state to define and justify its powers...
[Goh Chok Tong's inauguration and George Yeo's Banyan Tree] speeches marked a shift in emphasis from emasculation and infantilisation of civil society to its feminisation. In this seemingly new partnership, the state—in a "masculine" and "husbandly" voice of reason and control—began to urge civil society to be more active, but this would be limited to the "feminine" roles of providing care (through voluntary welfare organisations), producing consensus through communication (in national-level consultation exercises), and being delightfully, but not antagonistically, expressive (to enable the industrialisation of culture and the arts in a global city [Tan, 2008a). The jealous state's husbandly voice also forbade civil society to forge partnerships with foreign organisations, insisting that foreign interests should never meddle with domestic politics. In this still patriarchal partnership, civil society actors who exceed the limits of their usefulness to the state or challenge its authority---as a wife might challenge her husband's authority---will still be derogatorily described as hysterical, and treated with condescension, ridicule, reproach or even punishment.
Civil society is defined in terms of what the state is not: its lack, other, and extended phallus that commands obedience. In Singapore, "civic society" is the term used by the state to differentiate it from the more antagonistic caricature of "civil society" envisioned in liberal thought. Civic society---conceived as a depoliticised civil society---is encouraged by the state as a "free space": not free in the sense of maximal liberty, but in terms of the unpaid labour extracted from voluntarism to help the state shoulder the welfare burden in an ageing society facing a widening income gap and higher living costs. Like the mass mediated image of Lim Hwee Hua, civil society is legitimised as civic society when it can demonstrate some of the qualities of the state---controlled, rational and technically proficient---but not to the extent that it presents a competitive threat to state dominance. Otherwise, it will have to endure the state's emasculating violence...
Domestic workers help to restore the castrated egos of basically working-class Singapore men and provide an outlet for many Singapore women to deal with their frustrations in the workplace by physically and psychologically abusing their maids..
Lim began her article by stroking the state's ego - specifying in a markedly feminine voice the phallogocentric qualities that were vital to the state's self-definition... Lim then deliberately held up a negative mirror---constructed out of feminine lack and otherness---to the government's narcissistic male ego, as she described the PAP leaders' "pet aversion [to] noisy, protracted debate that leads nowhere, emotional indulgence, frothy promises, theatrics and polemics in place of pragmatics". In this seductive move, her feminine words came, in a Lacanian sense, to be the government's extended phallus... Lim deliberately allowed herself to play up her role as "admiring wife" to the manly state; and then, in this role, articulated claims that the state would not appreciate but needed to hear, constructing a skilful argument that would make any assertions about hysterical women seem quite ridiculous...
[Khoo Tsai Kee] pointed proudly to the party's consistent ability to win more than 60 per cent of the popular vote -"the only test that counts". He then accused Lim, a prominent socialite, of basing her analysis on the chatter of "people [who] gather in coffeehouses and cocktail parties to relax, joke and have fun, not to pass judgment on serious issues"... [Lim] wrote a seemingly unrelated piece for The Straits Times...
Suspicious of Lim's feminine ability to charm and perhaps even to castrate, the government ungraciously refused her cup of coffee...
On the question of critics fearing to speak out in Singapore, Lim pointed to a general impression that the "risks are too great". In an ironic and prescient gesture, she identified as a source of this impression the "discomfiture of seeing a formidable PAP juggernaut ranged against a lone, helpless individual who then excites sympathy as the pitiable underdog". The interview concluded with a self-deprecating Lim wondering to herself if she was "an ingrate to suggest to this very competent Government that, on top of all the good things they are providing for the people, would they behave nicely to the people, please?"...
Lim observed how
The prime minister's press secretary, Chan Heng Wing (4 December 1994), wrote a letter to The Straits Times the following week. His tone, in stark contrast to Lim's, was defensive, mocking, harsh and foreboding. His ad hominem arguments belittled her analysis by suggesting that the novelist could not tell the difference between "real life" and "fiction" and that she demonstrated a "poor understanding of what leaders in government have to do". Remarkably, Chan dismissed "public consultation" as useless for making the entire range of public policies and decisions; but he maintained that the prime minister welcomed "alternative viewpoints" only if they were correct ones: "mistaken views" and "fallacious propositions" would be refuted "sharply" and "robustly" so as not to "take hold and confuse Singaporeans, leading to unfortunate results". Chan assumed that tough prime ministerial action against unacceptable viewpoints would earn him the respect of the people. This position completely misunderstood the significance of consultation as a means of pooling a broad range of resources for a more rounded and multi-perspectived practice of collective decision-making, particularly important as more complex societies enter into uncertain times. Instead, Chan assumed that there were already correct arguments and that the government knew what they were; thus, public consultation was not meant to serve as a process of decision-making, but as a propaganda tool for getting people to buy into what had already been decided by the state. Remarkable also was Chan's assertion that Lim—and in fact "journalists, novelists, short-story writers or theatre groups"- should not "set the political agenda from outside the political arena", but should join a political party and run for election if they had strong political views...
[After 1991's loss of 4 seats to the Opposition] Lim's masculine arguments conveyed in an overtly feminine voice evoked the prime minister's primal instinct to fear and resist the vagina dentata. In fact, 1994 was a particularly repressive year, in which two other academics were reprimanded (one actually fled the country) and two art forms -"performance art" and "forum theatre"- were proscribed. The new administration needed to remasculate itself to replace its "softer" image with a strongman quality that it assumed the people felt more comfortable with...
The prime minister's press secretary then added new levels of hyperbole to this "western decadence vs Asian values" approach, describing Lim's commentaries as "destroy[ing] the respect accorded to the Prime Minister by denigration and contempt…[leading not] to more freedom but confusion, conflict and decline" (quoted in The Straits Times, 29 December 1994). In the same letter, he cited homosexuality, single motherhood, and the "rampant and overbearing hubris" of the media as examples of western practices that "would be disastrous for Singapore" (quoted in The Business Times Singapore, 29 December 1994). In this bizarre sleight of hand, Lim, the writer of English-language love stories, was transformed—through a phallogocentric postcolonial ideology that disparages feminine qualities as degenerate and a threat to national discipline and control—into an uncouth, insolent, insubordinate, immoral, traitorous and dangerous woman who dared to overstep her boundaries in traditional Asian (read patriarchal) society. Unable to deal with Lim's suspicious offer of a cup of coffee, the state resorted to a crude, hyperbolic and even monstrous characterisation of Lim that was much easier to discipline and control. This is a Freudian disavowal of the maternal-feminine that "perpetuates the most atrocious and primitive phantasies—woman as devouring monster threatening madness and death" (Whitford, 1991b, pp. 25-26), just as a vocal Catherine Lim was presented as a westernised monster threatening to devour the values of Asian civilisation...
When critics who are genuinely interested in Singapore's well-being are demolished by an intolerant state or forced to live overseas, should "foul play" be suspected? But the piece also seemed to suggest that the state had missed the point of Lim's two political commentaries entirely, choosing to be obsessed about her "grammar", as it were, instead of her message. The state, perhaps, did not want to have to deal with Lim's inconvenient message, or it chose to focus not on a woman's substance but on her manner and tone...
A few days later, the structural violence referred to in Lim's "foul play" commentary exploded into a remarkably brutal display of phallic physicality and strength through the use of violent metaphors. In parliament, the prime minister described Lim's political commentaries and criticism from other Singaporeans as an "attack" that the government would have to reciprocate: "If you land a blow on our jaw, you must expect a counter-blow on your solar plexus" (quoted in The Straits Times, 24 January 1995)... Soon after, Lee—the castrating Father—expressed his approval of Goh's tough action in an interview with local tabloid The New Paper. Outdoing his successor yet again, the "formidable PAP juggernaut" raged against Lim, employing a battery of metaphoric weapons to reinforce his point:
In a bizarre manoeuvre to humanise the man after conveying his litany of terrifying metaphors, The Straits Times described how
Some years later, in an interview with reporters from The Straits Times who were compiling a book on the man and his ideas, Lee continued to display this violent streak:
... Writing about Lee's eternal/paternal dominance over the nation's history and contemporary self-understandings, Souchou Yao argues that the Father's refusal to die - in his promise to rise from the grave - will stunt the growth of an already immature citizenry...
These almost hysterical pronouncements - monumentally ironic - put the state in an embarrassingly negative light: the gender stereotypes were reversed!... [there is a potential to] proactively criticis[e] the state in a gently "spousal" way to make a strongly argued point without incurring the state's full-blown violence...
Catherine Lim was able to expose the unconscionable violence of a patriarchal state without being destroyed by it, raise sympathy for the underdog, and mobilise forces of resistance against an authoritarianism through which such high-handed threats of violence were possible. Her potentially castrating actions also set the stage for a state that defined itself in the hyper-masculine terms of rationality and self-control to behave—ironically—in a melodramatic, overly-emotional and even hysterical fashion that would have readily been associated with a debased femininity...
Catherine Lim's affair with the state in 1994 was a "three-steps forward, two-steps-back dance"- but the net movement was still forward."
***
Who's afraid of Catherine Lim? The State in Patriarchal Singapore
Kenneth Paul Tan
"Through [the Internal Security Act, Sedition Act, Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act and Societies' Act] and other coercive instruments, the state has effectively castrated political opposition and alternatives in civil society, preventing them from mounting effective political challenges to the state—challenges that established liberal democracies would regard as necessary for democratic accountability, responsibility and responsiveness (Tan, 2001).
A spectacular example of political emasculation happened in 1987—two years after a serious economic recession—when the state accused 22 people of a Marxist conspiracy and detained them under the Internal Security Act...
The politically emasculating state assumes the superior status and controlling position of the patriarch—originating, elaborating and defending the "law of the Father" that has taken the form of an official national discourse that defines the conditions of possibility for what can be legitimately thought, expressed and communicated in Singapore...
The founding Father—who engenders and animates the state—writes himself as the sole protagonist in the national narrative, casts his allies in supporting roles and his enemies as antagonists, and interpellates Singaporean readers/citizens into infantile subjects paranoid about threats of race riots, Marxist conspiracies, hostile neighbouring countries, terrorism, disease, economic crisis, and the ceaseless challenges of striving to be number one in the world. Society, in all its lack, is the "negative mirror" that makes possible the state's heroic self-definitions. In contrast to a "masculine" state that possesses universal vision, the people are presented as selfish, ignorant, deficient, dangerous and "feminine", and thus cannot be trusted with matters of public significance unless tightly supervised by state-approved committees (Woo and Goh, 2007). Society, in this "monosexual imaginary", is the "negative elaboration" of the state which, in fact, actively subdues any rebellious ground energies by providing the people with "playgrounds" that simulate democratic participation. Widely publicised national consultation exercises such as the National Agenda in the late 1980s, Singapore 21 and Remaking Singapore at the turn of the millennium are highly controlled spaces for citizen committees to discuss questions scheduled by the state.
Singapore's official history and model of development record the nation's "paternal genealogy", but erase the "maternal genealogy" that could narrate society's organic, hidden or potential roles in the life of the nation. The Singapore state's refusal to acknowledge a national debt to civil society's "maternity" perpetuates the phantasie of a primal (pre-modern) mass that threatens to madden, kill and devour the modern and prosperous Singapore that rational and disciplined policy-makers have constructed, and that the founding Father literally promised/threatened to watch over even from the afterlife. This phantasie of a dangerous civil society is continually constructed and circulated using the vivid imagery of racial riots, radical movements, Marxist conspiracies, and political instability in modern Singapore's recent past and Third-World Asia's present—the more extreme this vision, the more able is the paternal state to define and justify its powers...
[Goh Chok Tong's inauguration and George Yeo's Banyan Tree] speeches marked a shift in emphasis from emasculation and infantilisation of civil society to its feminisation. In this seemingly new partnership, the state—in a "masculine" and "husbandly" voice of reason and control—began to urge civil society to be more active, but this would be limited to the "feminine" roles of providing care (through voluntary welfare organisations), producing consensus through communication (in national-level consultation exercises), and being delightfully, but not antagonistically, expressive (to enable the industrialisation of culture and the arts in a global city [Tan, 2008a). The jealous state's husbandly voice also forbade civil society to forge partnerships with foreign organisations, insisting that foreign interests should never meddle with domestic politics. In this still patriarchal partnership, civil society actors who exceed the limits of their usefulness to the state or challenge its authority---as a wife might challenge her husband's authority---will still be derogatorily described as hysterical, and treated with condescension, ridicule, reproach or even punishment.
Civil society is defined in terms of what the state is not: its lack, other, and extended phallus that commands obedience. In Singapore, "civic society" is the term used by the state to differentiate it from the more antagonistic caricature of "civil society" envisioned in liberal thought. Civic society---conceived as a depoliticised civil society---is encouraged by the state as a "free space": not free in the sense of maximal liberty, but in terms of the unpaid labour extracted from voluntarism to help the state shoulder the welfare burden in an ageing society facing a widening income gap and higher living costs. Like the mass mediated image of Lim Hwee Hua, civil society is legitimised as civic society when it can demonstrate some of the qualities of the state---controlled, rational and technically proficient---but not to the extent that it presents a competitive threat to state dominance. Otherwise, it will have to endure the state's emasculating violence...
Domestic workers help to restore the castrated egos of basically working-class Singapore men and provide an outlet for many Singapore women to deal with their frustrations in the workplace by physically and psychologically abusing their maids..
Lim began her article by stroking the state's ego - specifying in a markedly feminine voice the phallogocentric qualities that were vital to the state's self-definition... Lim then deliberately held up a negative mirror---constructed out of feminine lack and otherness---to the government's narcissistic male ego, as she described the PAP leaders' "pet aversion [to] noisy, protracted debate that leads nowhere, emotional indulgence, frothy promises, theatrics and polemics in place of pragmatics". In this seductive move, her feminine words came, in a Lacanian sense, to be the government's extended phallus... Lim deliberately allowed herself to play up her role as "admiring wife" to the manly state; and then, in this role, articulated claims that the state would not appreciate but needed to hear, constructing a skilful argument that would make any assertions about hysterical women seem quite ridiculous...
[Khoo Tsai Kee] pointed proudly to the party's consistent ability to win more than 60 per cent of the popular vote -"the only test that counts". He then accused Lim, a prominent socialite, of basing her analysis on the chatter of "people [who] gather in coffeehouses and cocktail parties to relax, joke and have fun, not to pass judgment on serious issues"... [Lim] wrote a seemingly unrelated piece for The Straits Times...
At some deep subconscious level, males fear females most when they receive that nice cup of coffee from those delicate hands. / For a proffered drink, as history has shown, has always been woman's deadliest weapon against man. /… She can put into it some secret potion… that is guaranteed to put her husband or lover under her spell forever. / Or she can administer a strong drug that will make him fall into a deep sleep, so that like Delilah or Lorena Bobbitt, she can denude him of his manhood forever.
Suspicious of Lim's feminine ability to charm and perhaps even to castrate, the government ungraciously refused her cup of coffee...
On the question of critics fearing to speak out in Singapore, Lim pointed to a general impression that the "risks are too great". In an ironic and prescient gesture, she identified as a source of this impression the "discomfiture of seeing a formidable PAP juggernaut ranged against a lone, helpless individual who then excites sympathy as the pitiable underdog". The interview concluded with a self-deprecating Lim wondering to herself if she was "an ingrate to suggest to this very competent Government that, on top of all the good things they are providing for the people, would they behave nicely to the people, please?"...
Lim observed how
Given his fierce commitment to the nation he built up, shaped and protected over three decades (who can forget that touching promise he once made about springing up from his coffin, if necessary, to intervene on Singapore's behalf?)
Lim, in a deliberately naive (even cheeky) gesture, described the horror (and high camp) of Lee's grave promise as "touching"; yet her words did not fail to affirm the leader's great stature. But in refusing "death", this eternal Father—consciously or unconsciously—made it difficult for Goh, his successor, to self-actualize as the nation's leader. This infantilisation has, in fact, been palpable...The prime minister's press secretary, Chan Heng Wing (4 December 1994), wrote a letter to The Straits Times the following week. His tone, in stark contrast to Lim's, was defensive, mocking, harsh and foreboding. His ad hominem arguments belittled her analysis by suggesting that the novelist could not tell the difference between "real life" and "fiction" and that she demonstrated a "poor understanding of what leaders in government have to do". Remarkably, Chan dismissed "public consultation" as useless for making the entire range of public policies and decisions; but he maintained that the prime minister welcomed "alternative viewpoints" only if they were correct ones: "mistaken views" and "fallacious propositions" would be refuted "sharply" and "robustly" so as not to "take hold and confuse Singaporeans, leading to unfortunate results". Chan assumed that tough prime ministerial action against unacceptable viewpoints would earn him the respect of the people. This position completely misunderstood the significance of consultation as a means of pooling a broad range of resources for a more rounded and multi-perspectived practice of collective decision-making, particularly important as more complex societies enter into uncertain times. Instead, Chan assumed that there were already correct arguments and that the government knew what they were; thus, public consultation was not meant to serve as a process of decision-making, but as a propaganda tool for getting people to buy into what had already been decided by the state. Remarkable also was Chan's assertion that Lim—and in fact "journalists, novelists, short-story writers or theatre groups"- should not "set the political agenda from outside the political arena", but should join a political party and run for election if they had strong political views...
[After 1991's loss of 4 seats to the Opposition] Lim's masculine arguments conveyed in an overtly feminine voice evoked the prime minister's primal instinct to fear and resist the vagina dentata. In fact, 1994 was a particularly repressive year, in which two other academics were reprimanded (one actually fled the country) and two art forms -"performance art" and "forum theatre"- were proscribed. The new administration needed to remasculate itself to replace its "softer" image with a strongman quality that it assumed the people felt more comfortable with...
The prime minister's press secretary then added new levels of hyperbole to this "western decadence vs Asian values" approach, describing Lim's commentaries as "destroy[ing] the respect accorded to the Prime Minister by denigration and contempt…[leading not] to more freedom but confusion, conflict and decline" (quoted in The Straits Times, 29 December 1994). In the same letter, he cited homosexuality, single motherhood, and the "rampant and overbearing hubris" of the media as examples of western practices that "would be disastrous for Singapore" (quoted in The Business Times Singapore, 29 December 1994). In this bizarre sleight of hand, Lim, the writer of English-language love stories, was transformed—through a phallogocentric postcolonial ideology that disparages feminine qualities as degenerate and a threat to national discipline and control—into an uncouth, insolent, insubordinate, immoral, traitorous and dangerous woman who dared to overstep her boundaries in traditional Asian (read patriarchal) society. Unable to deal with Lim's suspicious offer of a cup of coffee, the state resorted to a crude, hyperbolic and even monstrous characterisation of Lim that was much easier to discipline and control. This is a Freudian disavowal of the maternal-feminine that "perpetuates the most atrocious and primitive phantasies—woman as devouring monster threatening madness and death" (Whitford, 1991b, pp. 25-26), just as a vocal Catherine Lim was presented as a westernised monster threatening to devour the values of Asian civilisation...
When critics who are genuinely interested in Singapore's well-being are demolished by an intolerant state or forced to live overseas, should "foul play" be suspected? But the piece also seemed to suggest that the state had missed the point of Lim's two political commentaries entirely, choosing to be obsessed about her "grammar", as it were, instead of her message. The state, perhaps, did not want to have to deal with Lim's inconvenient message, or it chose to focus not on a woman's substance but on her manner and tone...
A few days later, the structural violence referred to in Lim's "foul play" commentary exploded into a remarkably brutal display of phallic physicality and strength through the use of violent metaphors. In parliament, the prime minister described Lim's political commentaries and criticism from other Singaporeans as an "attack" that the government would have to reciprocate: "If you land a blow on our jaw, you must expect a counter-blow on your solar plexus" (quoted in The Straits Times, 24 January 1995)... Soon after, Lee—the castrating Father—expressed his approval of Goh's tough action in an interview with local tabloid The New Paper. Outdoing his successor yet again, the "formidable PAP juggernaut" raged against Lim, employing a battery of metaphoric weapons to reinforce his point:
Everybody now knows that if you take on the PM, he will have to take you on… If he didn't, then more people will throw darts, put a little poison on the tip and throw them at him. And he'll have darts sticking all over him.
[...]
everybody knows if I say that we are going in a certain direction and that we're going to achieve this objective, if you set out to block me, I will take a bulldozer and clear the obstruction.
[...]
The PM has to carry his own big stick, or have someone carry it, because now it's his policy and his responsibility to see his policy through (quoted in Ng, 3 February 1995).
I would isolate the leaders, the troublemakers, get them exposed, cut them down to size, ridicule them, so that everybody understands that it's not such a clever thing to do. Governing does not mean just being pleasant.
[...]
You will not write an article—and that's it. One-to-one on TV. You make your point and I'll refute you… Or if you like, take a sharp knife, metaphorically, and I'll take a sharp knife of similar size; let's meet. Once this is understood, it's amazing how reasonable the argument can become (quoted in Wrage, 22 December 1995).
In a bizarre manoeuvre to humanise the man after conveying his litany of terrifying metaphors, The Straits Times described how
[w]hen he spoke about his roles as father and grandfather, he adopted an avuncular air, and often flashed a warm smile and a kindly eye. / But when he dwelt on Dr Lim's article and issues on governing, he showed the force of his personality, the strength of his intellect and the wealth of his 41-year political experience (Ng, 3 February 1995).
Some years later, in an interview with reporters from The Straits Times who were compiling a book on the man and his ideas, Lee continued to display this violent streak:
Supposing Catherine Lim was writing about me and not the prime minister… she would not dare, right? Because my posture, my response has been such that nobody doubts that if you take me on, I will put on knuckle-dusters and catch you in a cul de sac… Anybody who decides to take me on needs to put on knuckle-dusters. If you think you can hurt me more than I can hurt you, try. There is no other way you can govern a Chinese society (Han, Fernandez and Tan, 1998, p. 126).
... Writing about Lee's eternal/paternal dominance over the nation's history and contemporary self-understandings, Souchou Yao argues that the Father's refusal to die - in his promise to rise from the grave - will stunt the growth of an already immature citizenry...
These almost hysterical pronouncements - monumentally ironic - put the state in an embarrassingly negative light: the gender stereotypes were reversed!... [there is a potential to] proactively criticis[e] the state in a gently "spousal" way to make a strongly argued point without incurring the state's full-blown violence...
Catherine Lim was able to expose the unconscionable violence of a patriarchal state without being destroyed by it, raise sympathy for the underdog, and mobilise forces of resistance against an authoritarianism through which such high-handed threats of violence were possible. Her potentially castrating actions also set the stage for a state that defined itself in the hyper-masculine terms of rationality and self-control to behave—ironically—in a melodramatic, overly-emotional and even hysterical fashion that would have readily been associated with a debased femininity...
Catherine Lim's affair with the state in 1994 was a "three-steps forward, two-steps-back dance"- but the net movement was still forward."
Post ID: 7408949118757305471
"The greatest mistake is trying to be more agreeable than you can be." - Walter Bagehot
***
The Winter's Tale was interesting (even if "Exit, pursued by a bear" got changed to "Get creeped up on by a bear and disappear in a flash of lightning"), but even more interesting was observing the Ang Mohs (Caucasians) and comparing them to those at Les Contes d'Hoffman.
Given the nature of the performance/performers, it was no surprise that I only heard American/British accents from them at the former and the French language during the latter (with the proportion of the former dwarfing the latter), but more interesting was that they thronged Circle 3 (i.e. the cheap seats) on both days. Indeed, tonight I saw more blonde and brunette hair in Circle 3 than the Stalls (or at least the part of the Stalls visible from my lofty vantage point).
Yet, during the intermission, whereas the Circle 3 Bar was closed during the Opera (supposedly because of technical issues; in fact I can't remember the last time it was open - probably during King Lear), it was doing brisk business tonight (with some people even bringing their wine in):
I also saw 3 long-haired guys sitting together - perhaps they were a support group (maybe the Québécois are more bohemian than Les Français).
After the play, I found that there was a "Lotus Limousine" stretch limo parked outside:
There was also a huge clusterfuck of taxis, virtuall all of them on call.
Meanwhile I saw about 5 ang mohs at the bus stop tonight, whereas after Hoffman there must've been 30 there.
I thus conclude that French expatriates are much harder hit by the recession than British/American ones.
***
The Winter's Tale was interesting (even if "Exit, pursued by a bear" got changed to "Get creeped up on by a bear and disappear in a flash of lightning"), but even more interesting was observing the Ang Mohs (Caucasians) and comparing them to those at Les Contes d'Hoffman.
Given the nature of the performance/performers, it was no surprise that I only heard American/British accents from them at the former and the French language during the latter (with the proportion of the former dwarfing the latter), but more interesting was that they thronged Circle 3 (i.e. the cheap seats) on both days. Indeed, tonight I saw more blonde and brunette hair in Circle 3 than the Stalls (or at least the part of the Stalls visible from my lofty vantage point).
Yet, during the intermission, whereas the Circle 3 Bar was closed during the Opera (supposedly because of technical issues; in fact I can't remember the last time it was open - probably during King Lear), it was doing brisk business tonight (with some people even bringing their wine in):
I also saw 3 long-haired guys sitting together - perhaps they were a support group (maybe the Québécois are more bohemian than Les Français).
After the play, I found that there was a "Lotus Limousine" stretch limo parked outside:
There was also a huge clusterfuck of taxis, virtuall all of them on call.
Meanwhile I saw about 5 ang mohs at the bus stop tonight, whereas after Hoffman there must've been 30 there.
I thus conclude that French expatriates are much harder hit by the recession than British/American ones.
Post ID: 8072808839435566957
Thursday, March 26, 2009
"Cynics regarded everybody as equally corrupt... Idealists regarded everybody as equally corrupt, except themselves." - Robert Anton Wilson
***
CNA's account of Blair's lecture:
"In a speech to some 600 people from around Asia, his key message is the importance of interfaith dialogue... To promote interfaith dialogue, the Tony Blair Faith Foundation is working to link students from different parts in the world in discussions."
Eisen's (interspersed with my comments):
"Why is the décor so cheap?
Dude, you've aged. Visibly
four minutes into his speech, he finally quotes from the bible. I predicted five. Damn
he finally quotes from Samuel Huntington... "clash of civilizations". I knew he can't resist that, heheheh
tsk tsk, unlike Obama, he does not mention atheists in the roll call of religions. Tsk tsk tsk
I wished he had shared more with us about his work as envoy in the middle east, rather than pad his speech with vague rhetoric
"religion sometimes comes under attack from a very aggressive secularism..." hello, look who's talking
[Me: The moment you criticise religion, you're 'aggressive'; http://gssq.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-i-think-of-whenever-people.html (What I think of whenever people complain about militant/aggressive atheists/secularists)]
"I am for freedom of speech... But only if it doesn't affect interfaith harmony" ah, hence the sedition act
[Me: If you stare at a gang member on the bus,he'll beat you and your friends up. Therefore, I am for jailing those who stare at gangsters]
tan cheng han is beaming as Blair talks about jesus... Confirm he is a Christian too
[Me: Most pple in our socio-demographic group are Xtian, and I always see pple reading Xtian stuff. Move to a more secular society lah :)]
Q and A - "you said 'love thy neighbour', sir, but only for people of the same faith?" GOOD QUESTION
[Me: He and Karen Armstrong would have a great time talking politically-correct feel-good rubbish to each other]
[Eisen: HAHAHA Blair just recommended we read Karen's book]
blair effectively replied that you should ignore scripture or choose selectively from it so as not to kill each other
[Me: i.e. Use religion when it suits your needs and ignore it when it doesn't. Bah, humbug.]
ah, Blair finally does the right thing and attacks those who are devout outside but have no faith inside... Good tactic
Q and A - "how do you involve atheists?" don't force them into group prayer la"
***
CNA's account of Blair's lecture:
"In a speech to some 600 people from around Asia, his key message is the importance of interfaith dialogue... To promote interfaith dialogue, the Tony Blair Faith Foundation is working to link students from different parts in the world in discussions."
Eisen's (interspersed with my comments):
"Why is the décor so cheap?
Dude, you've aged. Visibly
four minutes into his speech, he finally quotes from the bible. I predicted five. Damn
he finally quotes from Samuel Huntington... "clash of civilizations". I knew he can't resist that, heheheh
tsk tsk, unlike Obama, he does not mention atheists in the roll call of religions. Tsk tsk tsk
I wished he had shared more with us about his work as envoy in the middle east, rather than pad his speech with vague rhetoric
"religion sometimes comes under attack from a very aggressive secularism..." hello, look who's talking
[Me: The moment you criticise religion, you're 'aggressive'; http://gssq.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-i-think-of-whenever-people.html (What I think of whenever people complain about militant/aggressive atheists/secularists)]
"I am for freedom of speech... But only if it doesn't affect interfaith harmony" ah, hence the sedition act
[Me: If you stare at a gang member on the bus,he'll beat you and your friends up. Therefore, I am for jailing those who stare at gangsters]
tan cheng han is beaming as Blair talks about jesus... Confirm he is a Christian too
[Me: Most pple in our socio-demographic group are Xtian, and I always see pple reading Xtian stuff. Move to a more secular society lah :)]
Q and A - "you said 'love thy neighbour', sir, but only for people of the same faith?" GOOD QUESTION
[Me: He and Karen Armstrong would have a great time talking politically-correct feel-good rubbish to each other]
[Eisen: HAHAHA Blair just recommended we read Karen's book]
blair effectively replied that you should ignore scripture or choose selectively from it so as not to kill each other
[Me: i.e. Use religion when it suits your needs and ignore it when it doesn't. Bah, humbug.]
ah, Blair finally does the right thing and attacks those who are devout outside but have no faith inside... Good tactic
Q and A - "how do you involve atheists?" don't force them into group prayer la"
Post ID: 308576306650502065
Bottle mishap leads to old man's death
[Addendum: I infer that he was in Malaysia when this happened - when Singaporeans go to Malaysia they become cock, like the country]
MFTTW: i thought he tried to anal sex with it
and then it broke
hello wtf
whose penis is small enough to fit into the neck of a bottle?!?!?!
Me: old men
MFTTW:wtf????
SKINNY enough?
and like.
aiyoh
i'm sure there are other... sufficiently narrow openings.
Me: hurr hurr
women must be too loose for him
MFTTW: even their anuses?
i read in this book that if a woman has had a lot of kids
and she got raped
there won't necessarily be enough bruising
suh that you can say definitively it was a rape
Me: anyway male g-spot notwithstanding men don't masturbate by stuffing stuff up their ass
A SINGAPOREAN died of heart failure after his penis became stuck in a soft drink bottle, reported Sin Chew Daily and China Press.
The incident happened when the 77-year-old man used the bottle to masturbate.
China Press reported that the senior citizen got his private part into the bottle and only sought help after his penis could not be dislodged from the bottle despite trying various ways such as applying soap water.
Doctors tried to alleviate the man's suffering by cutting the bottle below the neck but to no avail because by that time, the skin around the penis had started to become inflamed, causing him to be unable to urinate.
His misadventure later led to other medical complications causing his death.
[Addendum: I infer that he was in Malaysia when this happened - when Singaporeans go to Malaysia they become cock, like the country]
MFTTW: i thought he tried to anal sex with it
and then it broke
hello wtf
whose penis is small enough to fit into the neck of a bottle?!?!?!
Me: old men
MFTTW:wtf????
SKINNY enough?
and like.
aiyoh
i'm sure there are other... sufficiently narrow openings.
Me: hurr hurr
women must be too loose for him
MFTTW: even their anuses?
i read in this book that if a woman has had a lot of kids
and she got raped
there won't necessarily be enough bruising
suh that you can say definitively it was a rape
Me: anyway male g-spot notwithstanding men don't masturbate by stuffing stuff up their ass
Post ID: 654491686975453555
"It is possible to be below flattery as well as above it." - Thomas Babington Macaulay
***
Someone: hahaha
me just looking for fun
it's fun to just date
no obligations
Me: when you say "looking for fun" people think ONS
Someone: erhm
ok
fine..i shall not say looking for fun
MFTTW: "NUS grads all look v free
the girls esp seem to do nothing but doll themselves up
they're super overdressed for students lor
like more dressed than the working people
I think cos they have nothing else to do in life
the working people don't have that much time to primp"
one of my friends who was complaining about law students who wear 5''
heels when it's totally impractical
Someone: i don't think i wanna weigh anymore
Me: Ignorance is bliss but knowledge is power
Someone: i heard guys like ignorant girls, and girls like powerful guys
Me: Not many people understand "Je veux une petite fille publique"
Someone else: I see a little girl in public?!! haha
Someone on the argument that most people don't mind part-time slavery (aka Reservist) after a few cycles: Does that same logic not defeat the very purpose of NS since after a few years of occupation by a foreign power, Singaporeans would like their new governors?
That argument is flawed and unacceptable. It is a crime to the intellect that [it should be used]
There are many facets of NS that are unacceptable and indefensible, but all these years of maturation have led the SAF to develop really tricky persuasion for it. I bet that is what many officers learn in military school. Silly arguments that have been polished intensively.
Me: why do women like cars
Someone else: why do men like sex
Me: do you?
Someone else: orgasms are the best thing in the world. they make u happy. best of all, they're free.
aiya, women dont need men anymore to get their orgasms la
Someone: my friend told me he was gonna get married
estiamte at 80k cost
30k can subsidise
so u n future spouse have to pay out 50k
so get married
or lifetime geylang membership lor
Me: I think lifetime geylang membership cheaper
Someone: ok la
one time 100 dollar
u can fuck for at least 500 weeks
that's slightly less than 10 yrs
Me: 500 times
depends how often you go :P
Someone: wife sometimes won't even give u
n u gotta take more shit
Me: then 1/4 of the time menses
Someone: yea lor
hahaha
HWMNBN: do you agree that all women are whores?
just direct or indirect?
Me: about as much as all men are rapists
just direct or indirect
HWMNBN: hahahahahahahahahaahahah
TMM: the UK is a lot like Malaysia
in terms of architecture and infrastructure
but th key difference is that its not rotting and decaying
and there's little litter
if at all
and the weather is nice too
Someone who has nicer hair than me: haha
good
i am also irritated when girls ask me 'so when are you cutting your hair'
i say 'cannot leave long ah – you jealous that i have nicer hair than you right'
Me: haha
what do they say
girls get very pissed off at guys with long hair. I think jealous
Someone: yeah, or it's some sexist rule that guys must keep short hair
rubbish
they try to laugh it off, but i bet they're cursing me inside hahahaha
Me: they dont like it when people are sexist about them
but they can be sexist themselves
***
Someone: hahaha
me just looking for fun
it's fun to just date
no obligations
Me: when you say "looking for fun" people think ONS
Someone: erhm
ok
fine..i shall not say looking for fun
MFTTW: "NUS grads all look v free
the girls esp seem to do nothing but doll themselves up
they're super overdressed for students lor
like more dressed than the working people
I think cos they have nothing else to do in life
the working people don't have that much time to primp"
one of my friends who was complaining about law students who wear 5''
heels when it's totally impractical
Someone: i don't think i wanna weigh anymore
Me: Ignorance is bliss but knowledge is power
Someone: i heard guys like ignorant girls, and girls like powerful guys
Me: Not many people understand "Je veux une petite fille publique"
Someone else: I see a little girl in public?!! haha
Someone on the argument that most people don't mind part-time slavery (aka Reservist) after a few cycles: Does that same logic not defeat the very purpose of NS since after a few years of occupation by a foreign power, Singaporeans would like their new governors?
That argument is flawed and unacceptable. It is a crime to the intellect that [it should be used]
There are many facets of NS that are unacceptable and indefensible, but all these years of maturation have led the SAF to develop really tricky persuasion for it. I bet that is what many officers learn in military school. Silly arguments that have been polished intensively.
Me: why do women like cars
Someone else: why do men like sex
Me: do you?
Someone else: orgasms are the best thing in the world. they make u happy. best of all, they're free.
aiya, women dont need men anymore to get their orgasms la
Someone: my friend told me he was gonna get married
estiamte at 80k cost
30k can subsidise
so u n future spouse have to pay out 50k
so get married
or lifetime geylang membership lor
Me: I think lifetime geylang membership cheaper
Someone: ok la
one time 100 dollar
u can fuck for at least 500 weeks
that's slightly less than 10 yrs
Me: 500 times
depends how often you go :P
Someone: wife sometimes won't even give u
n u gotta take more shit
Me: then 1/4 of the time menses
Someone: yea lor
hahaha
HWMNBN: do you agree that all women are whores?
just direct or indirect?
Me: about as much as all men are rapists
just direct or indirect
HWMNBN: hahahahahahahahahaahahah
TMM: the UK is a lot like Malaysia
in terms of architecture and infrastructure
but th key difference is that its not rotting and decaying
and there's little litter
if at all
and the weather is nice too
Someone who has nicer hair than me: haha
good
i am also irritated when girls ask me 'so when are you cutting your hair'
i say 'cannot leave long ah – you jealous that i have nicer hair than you right'
Me: haha
what do they say
girls get very pissed off at guys with long hair. I think jealous
Someone: yeah, or it's some sexist rule that guys must keep short hair
rubbish
they try to laugh it off, but i bet they're cursing me inside hahahaha
Me: they dont like it when people are sexist about them
but they can be sexist themselves
Post ID: 280450309330717861
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
"I don't care what is written about me so long as it isn't true." - Dorothy Parker
***
A good reminder to linguistic purists (i.e. the ignorant):
Merriam-Webster Online: The Word of the Day for March 24, 2009
"negotiate
For the first 250 years of its life, "negotiate" had meanings that hewed pretty close to its Latin root, "negotiari," meaning "to carry on business." Around the middle of the 19th century, though, it developed the meaning "to successfully travel along or over." Although this sense was criticized in the New York Sun in 1906 as a "barbarism creeping into the language," and Fowler's 1926 A Dictionary of Modern English Usage declared that any writer who used it was "literally a barbarian," it has thrived. The Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage claimed in both its 1975 and 1985 editions that it is "considered inappropriate in formal speech and writing," but our evidence does not show that there is anything particularly informal about its use."
***
A good reminder to linguistic purists (i.e. the ignorant):
Merriam-Webster Online: The Word of the Day for March 24, 2009
"negotiate
For the first 250 years of its life, "negotiate" had meanings that hewed pretty close to its Latin root, "negotiari," meaning "to carry on business." Around the middle of the 19th century, though, it developed the meaning "to successfully travel along or over." Although this sense was criticized in the New York Sun in 1906 as a "barbarism creeping into the language," and Fowler's 1926 A Dictionary of Modern English Usage declared that any writer who used it was "literally a barbarian," it has thrived. The Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage claimed in both its 1975 and 1985 editions that it is "considered inappropriate in formal speech and writing," but our evidence does not show that there is anything particularly informal about its use."
Post ID: 1136687795664042763
"Few people can see genius in someone who has offended them." - Robertson Davies
***
JB nursing homes - MOH clarifies
(bizarrely, there isn't a permalink to this on the MOH's main page - which means it can't be linked to and it will fall off in a few months)
"Minister Khaw was only sharing an observation about the different cost structures in JB and Singapore, and in fact this option is something that those who want to stretch their budget are already doing... In fact, some readers shared the view that the availability of lower nursing homes in JB gives many Singaporeans more options."
I was pleasantly surprised to read this. It seems that, contrary to official policy, online opinion expressed in fora beyond REACH is being responded to. Simply put, it's part of good Public Relations - there's no point in letting matters blow up if they don't have to (even if the response is slower than it should be, but then a journalist friend shares that PR people are always overworked).
Meanwhile, the content of the release is also interesting.
The uproar about the Powers That Be forcing us to ship our parents to JB always struck me as ridiculous. Offering Singaporeans more affordable retirement options was portrayed by many commentators as heartlessness and endorsing the shipping of our elderly off to foreign gulags.
Presumably the idea was that there was a sort of substitution effect where, instead of maintaining their parents in Singapore, Singaporeans would kick them to JB or Bintan. This effect would become even stronger with government endorsement (actual or perceived).
Yet, just because the elderly are domiciled in Singapore does not mean that they live good lives. They may be holed up in one-room flats and/or have to work to help maintain themselves. A walk around Singapore during lunchtime reveals many suffering what seems to be the fate of many elderly in Singapore - collecting soft drink cans at food centres and picking up corrugated cardboard for sale. Many surely find living in a retirement home in JB or Bintan preferable to that.
Many elderly also finance their own retirement (e.g. those with no surviving children, or those who prefer not to rely on them), and would definitely appreciate more options; the same logic is seen in people who retire to New Zealand, Malaysia or the countryside.
Of course, a better option would be the implementation of some sort of retirement scheme which involves risk-pooling and some measure of cross-subsidisation, but that will happen as soon as the government changes, so we shall limit ourselves to the art of the possible.
Most people do not understand that giving people more options is not the same as "coercing" them or "exploiting" them. Indeed, even if you used a broad definition of exploitation, as Allen Wood points out in his excellent essay on Exploitation (which will be excerpted here some day), "by interfering with exploitative arrangements... [we] risk consigning the vulnerable person to an even worse fate than being exploited".
You see a similar fuss kicked up about the legalisation of paid organ donation. Yet, assuming there is no coercion involved, why people should get so upset is a mystery.
An alternative argument is to conjure up vague notions about the "dignity of life" which, not coincidentally, has also been used in arguments against general stem cell research and in-vitro fertilisation (test tube babies).
In the end, what people who oppose paid organ donation are essentially saying to putative paid organ donors is: "I want to have more say about what you can do with your body than you".
Similarly, what people who oppose there being retirement homes in JB or Bintan are saying is: "I want you to retire in Singapore, whether you like it or not".
***
JB nursing homes - MOH clarifies
(bizarrely, there isn't a permalink to this on the MOH's main page - which means it can't be linked to and it will fall off in a few months)
"Minister Khaw was only sharing an observation about the different cost structures in JB and Singapore, and in fact this option is something that those who want to stretch their budget are already doing... In fact, some readers shared the view that the availability of lower nursing homes in JB gives many Singaporeans more options."
I was pleasantly surprised to read this. It seems that, contrary to official policy, online opinion expressed in fora beyond REACH is being responded to. Simply put, it's part of good Public Relations - there's no point in letting matters blow up if they don't have to (even if the response is slower than it should be, but then a journalist friend shares that PR people are always overworked).
Meanwhile, the content of the release is also interesting.
The uproar about the Powers That Be forcing us to ship our parents to JB always struck me as ridiculous. Offering Singaporeans more affordable retirement options was portrayed by many commentators as heartlessness and endorsing the shipping of our elderly off to foreign gulags.
Presumably the idea was that there was a sort of substitution effect where, instead of maintaining their parents in Singapore, Singaporeans would kick them to JB or Bintan. This effect would become even stronger with government endorsement (actual or perceived).
Yet, just because the elderly are domiciled in Singapore does not mean that they live good lives. They may be holed up in one-room flats and/or have to work to help maintain themselves. A walk around Singapore during lunchtime reveals many suffering what seems to be the fate of many elderly in Singapore - collecting soft drink cans at food centres and picking up corrugated cardboard for sale. Many surely find living in a retirement home in JB or Bintan preferable to that.
Many elderly also finance their own retirement (e.g. those with no surviving children, or those who prefer not to rely on them), and would definitely appreciate more options; the same logic is seen in people who retire to New Zealand, Malaysia or the countryside.
Of course, a better option would be the implementation of some sort of retirement scheme which involves risk-pooling and some measure of cross-subsidisation, but that will happen as soon as the government changes, so we shall limit ourselves to the art of the possible.
Most people do not understand that giving people more options is not the same as "coercing" them or "exploiting" them. Indeed, even if you used a broad definition of exploitation, as Allen Wood points out in his excellent essay on Exploitation (which will be excerpted here some day), "by interfering with exploitative arrangements... [we] risk consigning the vulnerable person to an even worse fate than being exploited".
You see a similar fuss kicked up about the legalisation of paid organ donation. Yet, assuming there is no coercion involved, why people should get so upset is a mystery.
An alternative argument is to conjure up vague notions about the "dignity of life" which, not coincidentally, has also been used in arguments against general stem cell research and in-vitro fertilisation (test tube babies).
In the end, what people who oppose paid organ donation are essentially saying to putative paid organ donors is: "I want to have more say about what you can do with your body than you".
Similarly, what people who oppose there being retirement homes in JB or Bintan are saying is: "I want you to retire in Singapore, whether you like it or not".
Post ID: 7166507740457567253
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Govt announces relaxation to Internet election advertising rules:
"If our democracy is reduced to slick commercials, clever editing, sharp sound bites and political spin, then I think our democracy is being debased. So I would say that when we craft this, we are very much aware that even as we liberalise, that we continue to make sure that the debate is serious, robust and rational." (emphasis mine)
When I read this, I thought: "What, like someone crying on TV?"
On the up-side:
"MPs shared some views expressed by netizens and in other forums.
"If our democracy is reduced to slick commercials, clever editing, sharp sound bites and political spin, then I think our democracy is being debased. So I would say that when we craft this, we are very much aware that even as we liberalise, that we continue to make sure that the debate is serious, robust and rational." (emphasis mine)
When I read this, I thought: "What, like someone crying on TV?"
On the up-side:
"MPs shared some views expressed by netizens and in other forums.
MP for Pasir Ris—Punggol GRC, Penny Low, who also chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for the Information, Communications and the Arts, said: "The Internet is rife with different opinions questioning the intent of the amendment.
"Is this really a step forward towards liberalisation or is this a step backwards to contain certain political parties? Even worse — is this to introduce a catch—all clause to contain even the film producer, the videographer and free speech."
Zaqy Mohamed, MP for Hong Kah GRC, said: "The proliferation of the new media and the ease of means to get films to be produced and distributed outside of Singapore signals that local regulations are becoming less and less effective.""
Post ID: 2453805621249790106
"You are not superior just because you see the world in an odious light." - Vicomte de Chateaubriand
***
Locks repaired at Gage County jail - "Gustafson said the inmate threw his meal tray against his cell, causing a large mess on the wall adjacent to the cell doors. Pam Vanlaningham, corrections officer on duty, left the area to find something to clean up the mess, but when she returned, the mess had been cleaned up, and not by herself nor anyone else on duty. The inmates would not reveal how the mess was cleaned up. While trying to figure out how it happened, Jim Franzen, a corrections officer on the Saturday night shift, noticed that if the key hole on the outside of the cell door was turned just enough, the door could be popped open and inmates could leave the cell."
Ryanair toilet charge plan: Spend a pound to spend a penny - "LOW-fare airline Ryanair is considering charging passengers to use the toilets on its planes, it was revealed today."
YouTube - What News Anchors Do During Commercial Breaks w/sound - "WGN News anchors Robert Jordan and Jackie Bange have been together for many years. This whole thing started out really small and simple. And then along came the internet, and a video camera, and you tube, and here we are with the funniest dance routine since that scene in Big. It's the original, What News Anchors Do During Commercial Breaks. This one has the nat sound, not cheesy music."
Tourist faux pas - be culturally sensitive while travelling - "I've been told in all seriousness that wearing purple is illegal in Japan - and that women with erect nipples are routinely hauled off by the police in Singapore. Not so. I've been with purple-wearers on Tokyo streets and don't recall locals giving them a second glance. Fashion-conscious Singapore women have told me the worst that would happen to anyone with erect nipples would be to be leered at. Others myths are laws but not enforced - for instance, Singapore's insistence toilets be flushed... Dubai can be particularly misleading because it gives an initial impression of being a liberal anything-goes society."
New anthem strikes a chord in SEAsia - "The European Union has Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" and socialists of the world have long risen up to the strains of "The Internationale." Now the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has its own anthem: the not quite so rousing "The ASEAN Way" written by two Thai composers. Given its official premiere at the regional bloc's annual summit in the Thai beach resort of Hua Hin at the weekend, the hymn reaches its climax with the lyrics, "We dare to dream, we care to share. Together for ASEAN.""
I know someone who composed a less insipid version, but what do you expect?
Why we do what we do - "There are those who still don't understand the SDP's strategy and approach to politics. Why do Singapore Democrats insist of defying the law and ending up in court instead of doing the ground work necessary to win elections? The answer is simple: Because the PAP has absolutely no intention of allowing the opposition to win power through elections. The ruling party will continue to introduce new laws and amend existing ones to block any meaningful inroads the opposition makes in elections. The introduction of the GRC system, the increase of election deposit, the restriction of the use of the Internet by opposition parties, etc are done to ensure that opposition parties remain crippled."
Day 18: Wantan mee and me - Bohemia Bunny - "The plate of wantan mee I ate for lunch, however, is merely passable. I detected a hint of chilli, whether due to contamination from chilli sauce or because it picked up capsaicin from the green chilli, I’ll never know. But KL wantan mee HAS NO CHILLI, okay. Well maybe the green ones, but definitely not chilli sauce. *fumes*"
Malaysian urban legend debunked!
A U.N. resolution seeks to criminalize opinions that differ with the Islamic faith. - "In the same weeks that this resolution comes up for its annual renewal at the United Nations, its chief sponsor-government (Pakistan) makes an agreement with the local Taliban to close girls' schools in the Swat Valley region (a mere 100 miles or so from the capital in Islamabad) and subject the inhabitants to Sharia law. This capitulation comes in direct response to a campaign of horrific violence and intimidation, including public beheadings. Yet the religion of those who carry out this campaign is not to be mentioned, lest it "associate" the faith with human rights violations or terrorism."
***
Locks repaired at Gage County jail - "Gustafson said the inmate threw his meal tray against his cell, causing a large mess on the wall adjacent to the cell doors. Pam Vanlaningham, corrections officer on duty, left the area to find something to clean up the mess, but when she returned, the mess had been cleaned up, and not by herself nor anyone else on duty. The inmates would not reveal how the mess was cleaned up. While trying to figure out how it happened, Jim Franzen, a corrections officer on the Saturday night shift, noticed that if the key hole on the outside of the cell door was turned just enough, the door could be popped open and inmates could leave the cell."
Ryanair toilet charge plan: Spend a pound to spend a penny - "LOW-fare airline Ryanair is considering charging passengers to use the toilets on its planes, it was revealed today."
YouTube - What News Anchors Do During Commercial Breaks w/sound - "WGN News anchors Robert Jordan and Jackie Bange have been together for many years. This whole thing started out really small and simple. And then along came the internet, and a video camera, and you tube, and here we are with the funniest dance routine since that scene in Big. It's the original, What News Anchors Do During Commercial Breaks. This one has the nat sound, not cheesy music."
Tourist faux pas - be culturally sensitive while travelling - "I've been told in all seriousness that wearing purple is illegal in Japan - and that women with erect nipples are routinely hauled off by the police in Singapore. Not so. I've been with purple-wearers on Tokyo streets and don't recall locals giving them a second glance. Fashion-conscious Singapore women have told me the worst that would happen to anyone with erect nipples would be to be leered at. Others myths are laws but not enforced - for instance, Singapore's insistence toilets be flushed... Dubai can be particularly misleading because it gives an initial impression of being a liberal anything-goes society."
New anthem strikes a chord in SEAsia - "The European Union has Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" and socialists of the world have long risen up to the strains of "The Internationale." Now the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has its own anthem: the not quite so rousing "The ASEAN Way" written by two Thai composers. Given its official premiere at the regional bloc's annual summit in the Thai beach resort of Hua Hin at the weekend, the hymn reaches its climax with the lyrics, "We dare to dream, we care to share. Together for ASEAN.""
I know someone who composed a less insipid version, but what do you expect?
Why we do what we do - "There are those who still don't understand the SDP's strategy and approach to politics. Why do Singapore Democrats insist of defying the law and ending up in court instead of doing the ground work necessary to win elections? The answer is simple: Because the PAP has absolutely no intention of allowing the opposition to win power through elections. The ruling party will continue to introduce new laws and amend existing ones to block any meaningful inroads the opposition makes in elections. The introduction of the GRC system, the increase of election deposit, the restriction of the use of the Internet by opposition parties, etc are done to ensure that opposition parties remain crippled."
Day 18: Wantan mee and me - Bohemia Bunny - "The plate of wantan mee I ate for lunch, however, is merely passable. I detected a hint of chilli, whether due to contamination from chilli sauce or because it picked up capsaicin from the green chilli, I’ll never know. But KL wantan mee HAS NO CHILLI, okay. Well maybe the green ones, but definitely not chilli sauce. *fumes*"
Malaysian urban legend debunked!
A U.N. resolution seeks to criminalize opinions that differ with the Islamic faith. - "In the same weeks that this resolution comes up for its annual renewal at the United Nations, its chief sponsor-government (Pakistan) makes an agreement with the local Taliban to close girls' schools in the Swat Valley region (a mere 100 miles or so from the capital in Islamabad) and subject the inhabitants to Sharia law. This capitulation comes in direct response to a campaign of horrific violence and intimidation, including public beheadings. Yet the religion of those who carry out this campaign is not to be mentioned, lest it "associate" the faith with human rights violations or terrorism."
Post ID: 511406308635603276
Monday, March 23, 2009
"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." - Harry S Truman
[Someone: It's even more amazing what you can accomplish when you do not have to care about who gets the blame.]
***
Someone: One of the reasons why the budget keeps going up - and this is something that applies to the civil service in general (and it's something I'm very sore about, because it's a friggin' waste of taxpayers' money) - is because of this mentality:
1. X Unit in Ministry of Y gets, say, $100 (for ease of explanation) to spend for the financial year.
2. Come Februrary or March, X Unit has only spent $70, and may probably only spend $80 by the end of the financial year.
3. Person in charge of finances balks at realisation, and starts spending money mercilessly, so that X Unit's expenditure becomes $90, $95, $99 - anything, as long as it's very close to $100.
4. The next year, X Unit requests for $110 or is given $110 anyway by their higher-ups, in light of their expenditure for the previous year.
Which is really stupid, because the expenditure has been artificially inflated, so this 'budgeting' shit is a farce. Alternatively,
1. X Unit in Ministry of Y gets, say, $100 (for ease of explanation) to spend for the financial year.
2. Come Februrary or March, X Unit has already spent the $100 because of irreverent and irrelevant spending.
3. X Unit requests for $120 the next year in light of expenditure from previous year.
Supposedly they get audited and stuff. But seriously... you think it works?
It really gets my goat because I have heard so many times the phrase in its various permutations of "Got money, just spend" or "Must spend if not next year they give us less money". W.r.t. to the latter phrase, if you can only spend $70 or $80 a year, then you want so much money for what? I know this is to have some kind of 'buffer' but still... there should be another way around this. Anyway, the burden merely gets transferred to everybody in the long run, because we're paying taxes for this kind of stupidity that has been engendered in the civil service after years and years of 'tradition'.
Me: So what do you expect them to do?
Frankly I can't think of a better solution. Even if you assure departments that they will not have their budgets cut if they don't spend all of it, they will still want larger budgets.
Presumably department spending is audited properly to make sure it is not anyhow spent. Other than that I can't think of anything.
Someone: Roll-over leftover budgets into 'reserves'? I.e. departments with left-over budgets from the previous FY will have the surplus rolled-over to a 'reserve' that department can tap into the next FY? Sort of to allay the fears of departments that there won't be enough money to spend and to prevent overall government expenditure from artificial inflation?
NB: I think this applies to more contexts than the Civil Service; many of the gripes people have about it could be and are voiced about big companies in general.
[Someone: It's even more amazing what you can accomplish when you do not have to care about who gets the blame.]
***
Someone: One of the reasons why the budget keeps going up - and this is something that applies to the civil service in general (and it's something I'm very sore about, because it's a friggin' waste of taxpayers' money) - is because of this mentality:
1. X Unit in Ministry of Y gets, say, $100 (for ease of explanation) to spend for the financial year.
2. Come Februrary or March, X Unit has only spent $70, and may probably only spend $80 by the end of the financial year.
3. Person in charge of finances balks at realisation, and starts spending money mercilessly, so that X Unit's expenditure becomes $90, $95, $99 - anything, as long as it's very close to $100.
4. The next year, X Unit requests for $110 or is given $110 anyway by their higher-ups, in light of their expenditure for the previous year.
Which is really stupid, because the expenditure has been artificially inflated, so this 'budgeting' shit is a farce. Alternatively,
1. X Unit in Ministry of Y gets, say, $100 (for ease of explanation) to spend for the financial year.
2. Come Februrary or March, X Unit has already spent the $100 because of irreverent and irrelevant spending.
3. X Unit requests for $120 the next year in light of expenditure from previous year.
Supposedly they get audited and stuff. But seriously... you think it works?
It really gets my goat because I have heard so many times the phrase in its various permutations of "Got money, just spend" or "Must spend if not next year they give us less money". W.r.t. to the latter phrase, if you can only spend $70 or $80 a year, then you want so much money for what? I know this is to have some kind of 'buffer' but still... there should be another way around this. Anyway, the burden merely gets transferred to everybody in the long run, because we're paying taxes for this kind of stupidity that has been engendered in the civil service after years and years of 'tradition'.
Me: So what do you expect them to do?
Frankly I can't think of a better solution. Even if you assure departments that they will not have their budgets cut if they don't spend all of it, they will still want larger budgets.
Presumably department spending is audited properly to make sure it is not anyhow spent. Other than that I can't think of anything.
Someone: Roll-over leftover budgets into 'reserves'? I.e. departments with left-over budgets from the previous FY will have the surplus rolled-over to a 'reserve' that department can tap into the next FY? Sort of to allay the fears of departments that there won't be enough money to spend and to prevent overall government expenditure from artificial inflation?
NB: I think this applies to more contexts than the Civil Service; many of the gripes people have about it could be and are voiced about big companies in general.
Post ID: 361747305342158589
Sunday, March 22, 2009
"Painting: The art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather and exposing them to the critic." - Ambrose Bierce
***
And now for something totally different.. - "So I looked at the competition on W4M and thought, "What the hell, let's give 'em something different..."
Me:
Neurotic
Socially inept
No career or career goals to speak of
Slightly below average intelligence
No interest at all in art, sports, or anything that would make me remotely interesting
Absolutely no sense of humour
Great cleavage
Low standards
You:
Emotionally unstable
Problems with commitment
Devious
Extensive record of infidelity
Arrogant
Extremely skilled in emotional manipulation
Morally bankrupt"
HWMNBN: the girl's description actually sounds a lot like you
i hope yo uarne't moon lighting
"An Insult to Every Black Man in America" - "Slave owners beat their slaves, says attorney Randall Vogt. Therefore, it's "justified" for black men to beat their sons. Vogt is defending Isaac Cortez Bynum, who beat his 2-year-old son to death, and says he'll use a "post traumatic slave syndrome" defense "in a general way" in Bynum's Beaverton, Ore., murder trial. "If you are African American and you are living in America, you have been impacted," says Joy DeGruy-Leary, assistant professor at Portland State University's Graduate School of Social Work, who originated the slave syndrome theory. The boy's autopsy showed he had been abused over a lengthy period and had suffered brain injury, a broken neck, broken ribs, and scores of whip marks all over his body. When shown the boy's autopsy photos, DeGruy-Leary said the injury pattern "falls in the rubric" of "normal" for descendants of slaves."
Scots BA pilot sues after colleagues tell him: 'Scotland's a welfare state paid for by the English middle classes' - "A Scottish pilot is suing British Airways over claims he was racially abused by his English middle-class colleagues. Captain Douglas Maughan alleges he was sent offensive letters and called a 'Jock' who should go back to Scotland."
Is Accessibility Killing PC Gaming? - "PC games tend to be more about choice and cluster in a good number of complex mechanics. Console games meanwhile aren’t actually dumber as many PC gamers allege, but they do tend to offer more linear and action-based gameplay... The renewed focus on creating deep but accessible game experiences is to my mind the real reason that games are changing and that PC games are often being said to be getting consolified – but there’s a real difference between a poor console port and a game which has been designed to make the best of both worlds... PC games aren’t dying and I hope they never do, though I did admittedly say the same thing back when the word went around that the adventure game genre was being put in its coffin."
What The Hell Is Wrong With Japanese Games? - "Scanning over the usual top RPGs of the western world indicates to me that developers and audiences favour a game where at least some form of cinematic realism is forever in the foreground. Western audiences can accept magic-wielding Dungeoneers it seems, but lose faith when NPCs carry swords bigger than a schoolbus. That 'I-swear-I'm-not-compensating-for-anything-honest' look may work for Sephiroth, but not for Minsc. The opposite seems to be more or less true with Japanese games, where it's fine to have players fighting epic sword battles while crashing motorbikes into each other – that's far above just cinematic realism and well into pure cinema"
True Barbecue - The Great American Cooking Tradition - "Moving forward to nail down what true barbecue is, it's time to look at the regional variations. In Texas we have beef, particularly brisket. In the Carolinas we find pork, either whole hogs or pork shoulder. As you start moving towards Kansas City you find ribs, generally pork ribs but beef isn't unheard of. Out in western Kentucky you find Mutton. The thing all these traditions have in common is low cooking temperatures over a long time with the introduction of smoke to flavor and tenderize. They all start out with tough and unruly cuts of meat and end up with tender, pull apart delicacies."
Octopus survives 5 days on the run - "Five days later, he was spotted by a staff member making a dash for the door... Another octopus named Harry - after Harry Houdini - escaped from the same tank. He was found halfway up a staircase."
Woman batters man with bagel; Mom turns kid's Xbox off, gets taco thrown in face
Why is throwing food at people a criminal offence?!
***
And now for something totally different.. - "So I looked at the competition on W4M and thought, "What the hell, let's give 'em something different..."
Me:
Neurotic
Socially inept
No career or career goals to speak of
Slightly below average intelligence
No interest at all in art, sports, or anything that would make me remotely interesting
Absolutely no sense of humour
Great cleavage
Low standards
You:
Emotionally unstable
Problems with commitment
Devious
Extensive record of infidelity
Arrogant
Extremely skilled in emotional manipulation
Morally bankrupt"
HWMNBN: the girl's description actually sounds a lot like you
i hope yo uarne't moon lighting
"An Insult to Every Black Man in America" - "Slave owners beat their slaves, says attorney Randall Vogt. Therefore, it's "justified" for black men to beat their sons. Vogt is defending Isaac Cortez Bynum, who beat his 2-year-old son to death, and says he'll use a "post traumatic slave syndrome" defense "in a general way" in Bynum's Beaverton, Ore., murder trial. "If you are African American and you are living in America, you have been impacted," says Joy DeGruy-Leary, assistant professor at Portland State University's Graduate School of Social Work, who originated the slave syndrome theory. The boy's autopsy showed he had been abused over a lengthy period and had suffered brain injury, a broken neck, broken ribs, and scores of whip marks all over his body. When shown the boy's autopsy photos, DeGruy-Leary said the injury pattern "falls in the rubric" of "normal" for descendants of slaves."
Scots BA pilot sues after colleagues tell him: 'Scotland's a welfare state paid for by the English middle classes' - "A Scottish pilot is suing British Airways over claims he was racially abused by his English middle-class colleagues. Captain Douglas Maughan alleges he was sent offensive letters and called a 'Jock' who should go back to Scotland."
Is Accessibility Killing PC Gaming? - "PC games tend to be more about choice and cluster in a good number of complex mechanics. Console games meanwhile aren’t actually dumber as many PC gamers allege, but they do tend to offer more linear and action-based gameplay... The renewed focus on creating deep but accessible game experiences is to my mind the real reason that games are changing and that PC games are often being said to be getting consolified – but there’s a real difference between a poor console port and a game which has been designed to make the best of both worlds... PC games aren’t dying and I hope they never do, though I did admittedly say the same thing back when the word went around that the adventure game genre was being put in its coffin."
What The Hell Is Wrong With Japanese Games? - "Scanning over the usual top RPGs of the western world indicates to me that developers and audiences favour a game where at least some form of cinematic realism is forever in the foreground. Western audiences can accept magic-wielding Dungeoneers it seems, but lose faith when NPCs carry swords bigger than a schoolbus. That 'I-swear-I'm-not-compensating-for-anything-honest' look may work for Sephiroth, but not for Minsc. The opposite seems to be more or less true with Japanese games, where it's fine to have players fighting epic sword battles while crashing motorbikes into each other – that's far above just cinematic realism and well into pure cinema"
True Barbecue - The Great American Cooking Tradition - "Moving forward to nail down what true barbecue is, it's time to look at the regional variations. In Texas we have beef, particularly brisket. In the Carolinas we find pork, either whole hogs or pork shoulder. As you start moving towards Kansas City you find ribs, generally pork ribs but beef isn't unheard of. Out in western Kentucky you find Mutton. The thing all these traditions have in common is low cooking temperatures over a long time with the introduction of smoke to flavor and tenderize. They all start out with tough and unruly cuts of meat and end up with tender, pull apart delicacies."
Octopus survives 5 days on the run - "Five days later, he was spotted by a staff member making a dash for the door... Another octopus named Harry - after Harry Houdini - escaped from the same tank. He was found halfway up a staircase."
Woman batters man with bagel; Mom turns kid's Xbox off, gets taco thrown in face
Why is throwing food at people a criminal offence?!
Post ID: 9210436707688205604
"Learning to dislike children at an early age saves a lot of expense and aggravation later in life." - Robert Byrne
***
HWMNBN: As I have often said, libertarians expect too much of humans, communism expects too little.
Someone: *** was sharing with me how he cut his cock during his army days to get 2 weeks of mc
Me: OMG
I'm not the only one with that idea
I didn't know anyone would do that
Someone else: 2 days ago i mislabeled my folder as 2008 instead of 2009 and had a major freak out after i could not find it
and only realized 1 hr later it was 2008
i wrote 03-10-08 instead of 03-10-09
Me: do it 2009-03-10 lah
easier to find some more
tsk
Someone else: then i'll have like 20 folders starting with 2009
Me: then your eye will move on to the next bit
and see the month
Someone else: heh heh
hiyah my life is not THAT complicated lah
i may date a girl
but she doesn't train me up for such things
Me: if complication in your life is measured by file structure, you have it good
Someone else: bwahahhaha
but i'm a grad student. our lives are dictated by file structures.
your self-worth is only as much as the number of data backups you have
UD #6 on my moobs: -_-
okayyy
hahahas, but man
it looks huge
do you drink soya?
Me: hee hee
I've heard various theories about getting big boobs
bigger than yours isit
the theories range from milk to chicken breast (when young)
[Ed: Later I added that it cannot be Soya, since in Japan they consume soya products everyday]
Someone on sexual harassment: hahaha not that i think that SH is not a problem, but seriously, i think some girls are just too oversensitive
rubbing against you or exposing yourself or making lewd jokes openly is wrong, yes
but checking a girl out, especially if she's wearing a tight t-shirt with sexual innuendo isn't
i was gonna comment something about how some girls like to wear t-shirts with interesting slogans
then when all you're trying to do is read what the slogan is, they think you're staring at their breasts
and is that sexual harassment?
plus i think they're not being all that sincere when they say they are not trying to instigate a crackdown
i think what they want is to drum up publicity so they can have a witchhunt
plus all these girls think they have been harassed before, so that will inadvertently colour their perception of men on public transport from then on
that liane girl herself said it "we really have personal stakes in the issue"
Someone else: The army experience has left such a bitter taste in my mouth that I find the idea of staying in the land of my birth unappealing
Now this may not be the humble thing to say
But by most any objective measure I think you and I are highly educated people who should be welcome in any country
And the fact that there the army turns us against the land of our birth should say something about the tremendous cost to it
It's not as though we're an isolated case either
Me: I think the sad thing is that most people aren't rational
so they go "I've already served my 2 years. I might as well stay here"
that's like a rape victim going: "I've already lost my virtue. I might as well marry my rapist"
***
HWMNBN: As I have often said, libertarians expect too much of humans, communism expects too little.
Someone: *** was sharing with me how he cut his cock during his army days to get 2 weeks of mc
Me: OMG
I'm not the only one with that idea
I didn't know anyone would do that
Someone else: 2 days ago i mislabeled my folder as 2008 instead of 2009 and had a major freak out after i could not find it
and only realized 1 hr later it was 2008
i wrote 03-10-08 instead of 03-10-09
Me: do it 2009-03-10 lah
easier to find some more
tsk
Someone else: then i'll have like 20 folders starting with 2009
Me: then your eye will move on to the next bit
and see the month
Someone else: heh heh
hiyah my life is not THAT complicated lah
i may date a girl
but she doesn't train me up for such things
Me: if complication in your life is measured by file structure, you have it good
Someone else: bwahahhaha
but i'm a grad student. our lives are dictated by file structures.
your self-worth is only as much as the number of data backups you have
UD #6 on my moobs: -_-
okayyy
hahahas, but man
it looks huge
do you drink soya?
Me: hee hee
I've heard various theories about getting big boobs
bigger than yours isit
the theories range from milk to chicken breast (when young)
[Ed: Later I added that it cannot be Soya, since in Japan they consume soya products everyday]
Someone on sexual harassment: hahaha not that i think that SH is not a problem, but seriously, i think some girls are just too oversensitive
rubbing against you or exposing yourself or making lewd jokes openly is wrong, yes
but checking a girl out, especially if she's wearing a tight t-shirt with sexual innuendo isn't
i was gonna comment something about how some girls like to wear t-shirts with interesting slogans
then when all you're trying to do is read what the slogan is, they think you're staring at their breasts
and is that sexual harassment?
plus i think they're not being all that sincere when they say they are not trying to instigate a crackdown
i think what they want is to drum up publicity so they can have a witchhunt
plus all these girls think they have been harassed before, so that will inadvertently colour their perception of men on public transport from then on
that liane girl herself said it "we really have personal stakes in the issue"
Someone else: The army experience has left such a bitter taste in my mouth that I find the idea of staying in the land of my birth unappealing
Now this may not be the humble thing to say
But by most any objective measure I think you and I are highly educated people who should be welcome in any country
And the fact that there the army turns us against the land of our birth should say something about the tremendous cost to it
It's not as though we're an isolated case either
Me: I think the sad thing is that most people aren't rational
so they go "I've already served my 2 years. I might as well stay here"
that's like a rape victim going: "I've already lost my virtue. I might as well marry my rapist"
Post ID: 5287396109726225383
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