Jogjakarta trip
Day 4 - 1st May - Jogjakarta Palace (Kraton), Bird Market, Jogjakarta (Part 1)

We decided to visit the Kraton (Palace), one of less unimportant sights in Jogjakarta.


Cock money changer (notice the exchange rate for the SGD)


According to Jogjakartans, Speedy Gonzales comes from Italy.


Spongebob Squarepants loves Jogja. But not correct spelling. Or IP laws.


One of the other palaces. IIRC it's still used as a government building.


Approach to the palace

Upon entering the palace, we were pounced upon by a guide, who offered to guide us not only for the palace but also the Water Palace and Chariot Museum. It was good in that we learnt many things we wouldn't have otherwise (without a guide and with the lack of information plaques, the place would've been very boring), but he was also the most shameless Indonesian we met.

The Kraton was built in 1756 as the palace of the Sultan. Right now the 10th Sultan is in power, and he has only one wife (the 9th [the first vice-president of Indonesia] had 5).


This three-in-one pillar symbolises Hinduism (the Lotus), Islam (the green colour) and Buddhism (presumably the blue thing).


Ceremonial garb. The sleeves are worn by married people and unmarried people have no sleeves (if you think about it, this makes sense).


Depicting Indonesia's war with the Dutch. The second bit depicts the Dutch going away and the Kris being given to them


This picture is being taken from an area petitioners were summoned from by means of a clap (the ceiling echoed the claps)


The writing on the arch is Sanskrit

Girls can't inherit so the current Sultan, who has only girls, is in trouble.


Coronation area


Hindy style mosque - converted from a Hindu temple. Our guide told us he followed Hindu practices also, and drank beer (though he was officially Muslim).


Porch with symbol of the Sultan


I was wondering why they kept chickens in front of the house. They're holy chickens - one white and one black. You keep them in front of your home for protection. If they sing at 3 or 4 pm it's good luck, but it's bad luck if they do the same at 7. If they sing at 6pm, it means someone is pregnant.


Sacred cocks


Friday prayer offering - this is a Hindu-Muslim hybrid, since Friday is a Holy Day.


The 4 pillars represent the 4 elements. Now this place is used to clean weapons - the Kris during the Javanese New Year.


Another syncretic pillar. The bottom has the Hindu Lotus. The top has a Buddhist Flower. And at the very top is Muslim Calligraphy.


The 9th Sultan (IIRC). The Spock Ears are for protection - last time the Sultans had long hair, and the hair would be held back by the ears-attachments (besides them having magical power).


More murals - the Dutch gave them independence (according to the guide - either he was lying or smoking us, or they're taught rubbish in History). And then the Japanese invaded.


More ceremonial garb - this is for female circumcision. In the past they really potong-ed girls, but now they just cut their hair, give them a shower and have a party. The boys must still go through the real thing and have their genitals mutilated.


Male circumcision garb

The Sultan who founded Jogja was smart, situating it less than 7km from both the beach and mountains (i.e. in between the two). So the city was safe both from Tsunamis and volcanic eruptions).

After the Kraton, our guide brought us into a shop, but we declined to buy anything.


Asterix in Jogja. They had Tintin in Jogja as well.


Road

Next, we were brought through the Bird Market, which sold other animals as well.


Bird food - ants and mealworms


Spiders Bugs


Worms in jar (silkworms?!)


Birds


Geckos


Cocks


Rabbits


Bats


Raven


Ginger cat


Snakes


Cute Puppies. I hope they were not for the snakes.


This small bird was to be fed to an eagle.


More bunnies


Bats and cocks


Cock for fighting. It's illegal but it still happens.


I was told this was a "Bill" (whatever that was)


I had no idea why these models were shooting in an animal market.


Civet cat (?)


Cocks. The second is all-white and so good for luck.


Quotes:

Fucked up girl. Did you give fucked up girl her name as well?

Can I buy me a tudung?

The evolution of sex and marriage

"In one of his last appearances, Sir John Betjeman was asked whether there was anything in life that he regretted. The frail laureate didn’t hesitate: “I haven’t had enough sex.” Probably nobody has. Betjeman was an entirely typical British pensioner. In 2006, 1,500 of them were polled and asked what in their lives they would change if they could have their time again — 12% said they would give more time to study, 16% would start their own businesses, 21% marry a different spouse and 40% put more into savings. But 70%, granted a rerun, would have more sex. Not more children — just more sex...

Having bigger brains, we humans are uniquely able to override our instincts and practise self-restraint. But what we more commonly practise, and use our brains for, is self-aggrandisement. There is no “enough”. Even the wealthiest men need to be wealthier still. What distinguishes us from stickleback, stag or bowerbird is just a matter of sophistication...

Quite recently I went to a theatre in a Norfolk village and had to defend my trousers. They were old and comfortable, as trousers should be. They were also a pretty shade of pink. A young military type commented: “Glad to see you’re in touch with your feminine side.”

What’s the problem? My wife wears a lot of blue, and nobody thinks she’s butch. Why should pinkness be so irreversibly feminine? A rational explanation for this was proposed when neuroscientists at Newcastle University tried to track its evolution. The university’s professor of visual neuroscience, Anya Hurlbert, saw the explanation in the hunter-gathering of our earliest ancestors. Women in prehistory were the principal gatherers of fruit and would have been sensitised to the colours of ripeness — ie, deepening shades of pink. Men, on the other hand, would have looked for good hunting weather and sources of water — blue... [Ed: As usual, Cecil has the best take on the de rigueur "did pink use to be a boys' colour" retort - the study isn't very strong (where're the Papuans when you need them?!

This also doesn't explain why girls can wear blue, but I have a theory about that - which also explains why there're fewer female-male transsexuals than male-female ones]

Many critics cite cultural expectations — in other words, gender stereotyping — as the likelier cause. But this begs the question: where did the “cultural expectations” themselves come from?...

Nobody becomes poor overestimating man’s desire to please woman. We may construct feminist, socialist or anti-consumerist ideologies, but the animal within us will not lie down...

What I have been describing is “marriage” and “the family” — two institutions upon which feminists have been training their fire for more than 40 years. Some of them simply want a better deal for women. Others want to smash capitalism, of which the “patriarchal” family is the base unit. But, through all the dogma and the dialectic, one fluffy little comfort word has fallen from the lexicon. We may bestow it glibly upon anything from a sexual partner to a biscuit, but it is indispensable, cherishable and necessary. Love — 2 billion Google hits, against feminism’s 13m."

Me on girls supposedly being as good as maths as boys: how about language skill?

MFTTW: there aren't that many studies of language aptitude by gender ar there?

i just asked *** what she htought
and she said...t he girls hwo can do math are all doing econs
and the ones who can't are in engineerng making their bf do homework for them

Me: that's cos no one cares if boys are doing worse
but everyone wants to prove girls are discriminated against

hahahahaha
that is what I am told

MFTTW: oh she says she also thinks the % of girls who can do math is smaller than the % of boys who can
(i think she would know better cos she did math all her life)

Me: so she's a victim of sexist stereotypes =D

MFTTW: er
no leh

cos she kicks all teh guys asses at math

anyway she perpetuates the stereotypes also lah
(or has internalized them! argh!)
cos she also thinks women engineers are useless

shrug

it's like how in this country you can't possibly get away with setting up an organization for the advanacement of white people

the dominant demographic is stripped of the right to lobby for themself

that's the quintessential feminist argument isnt it
"oh we also long for the day that we don't have to lobby for women's rights... but we are not at that point yet"

Me: just as the Revolution will never be over for Communists, the Patriarchy will never be defeated by Feminists

MFTTW: hahaha
once it's over their existence loses meanin!


MFTTW on blocking online forums: they shoudl block ST
it's bad influence

Me: haha
STOMP

MFTTW: that's even worse

actually no
for stomp you can blame most of the postings on immature youth
for asia1 and ST it's the old people...and scary to see how they think

Me: hurr hurr
and people still don't believe there're a lot of
conservative/illiberal/asian values etc singaporeans

MFTTW: actually i dont think its so much a matter of
conservative/illberal (even though they do fall into that category)
values as much as they are brainwashed
a lot of that shit is just regurgitating what the govt prints loh

Me: well. who is brainwashed

is the daughter of a feminist brainwashed?

the developmental question is kinda moot
what matters is that people believe these things here and now

MFTTW: hurr hurr

yah well
how do you expect to change people's world view if all they see and
know is the little circle around them

the problem is that people are perfectly happy thinking things are
fine the way they are
and that the gahmen is doing a great job

Me: they see and know about liberalism. they just think it's immoral
and decadent
they see and know other governments. they just think they suck

MFTTW: the conclusion is that they dont know how to think criticially


Me: lesbians do go around turning straight girls

Someone: im not tuned into lesbian culture to know whether they go
turning straight girls or not

but then in my expeirence a lot of straight girls have lesbian
experiences and then go back to men lor
it's just curiousity what

Me: yah bicurious
but some lesbians actively seek out straight girls to mess with

Someone: er i dont
hee
well

Me: yah not you lah
I think straight girls look at you they go for guys liao

pls try to hit on girls I want
kthx

Someone: ...........
.........................


PPBI on my tragedy: 大丈夫能屈能伸
so nvm

Me: wth is 大丈夫能屈能伸
a real man can do what?

PPBI: from baidu: 能弯曲也能伸直。指人在失意时能忍耐，在得志时能大干一番。
ie, able to sleep on fire wood and lick a gall when necessary

Me: hahahahaha
how about 女人

PPBI: there are none

because in ancient china
women rarely led armies and all

when dynasties fell imperial concubines either ran away or committed suicide

so
no need to 能屈能伸

Me: hurr hurr

PPBI: most chinese proverbs refer to men only
like 君子一言驷马难追

so women should feel free to lie and cheat

Me: that's why they're second class citizens in china mah

On Disney influencing little girls to like pink:

"As the father of a little girl, even I know that Belle generally wears yellow, Cinderella wears blue, as does Snow White, Ariel wears green, and Aurora likes pink, but also wears blue.

Jasimne wears .. less, due to the hot climate.

So far as I can see, little girls like pink with no outside help"


"Men try to win the argument in order to win over the group, women try to win over the group, in order to win the argument.

That’s how you know who the women are on any forum board."


A confession: "I hire people based mostly on their looks. It works: even if their skill level is barely up to par, clients respond better to them."

In this case, looks *are* skill - you wouldn't hire an ugly model (well, maybe a feminist would)


If you think it's sexist that girls must cover their torsos in public, you are also committed to not objecting when people brush against or snap picture of these uncovered tops.

Though knowing feminists they will be able to come up with some crooked logic to justify objecting to the latter.


Comment on Sanitary pads experiment 2: "...Is this the way guys try to understand girls and think they're really cool...?"

I have a friend who ate cat food before. Her cat didn't like the cheaper brand, so she tried both brands and realised why it refused to eat it.

Studying maketh an interesting man, slacking a bored man, and working a boring man.

Adhering too closely to so-called "Best Practices" is a surefire way to reduce productivity. One might imagine that there's a tradeoff between productivity and accountability, as measures meant to ensure the latter affect the former, but sometimes both are compromised.

Unthinking, uncritical and untrammeled cynicism is another form of idealism, and equally deluded. Even if you are committed to prioritising veracity over felicity, this does not mean that something which depresses you is invariably true.

The Theatre of the Absurd is alright, but I hate the Theatre of the Incomprehensible.

A Self-Made Man

A Self-Made Man

"Norah Vincent has lived as a man. She didn't undergo a sex change or radical hormone treatments. She simply went undercover. In an extraordinary feat of acting, disguise and guts, Vincent lived among men -- as a man -- for 18 months to see what life was like on the other side of the gender divide...

Vincent underwent months of training with Juilliard voice teacher Kate Maré to learn how to sound like a man. "Women have much stronger nasal resonances as a rule," Maré explained...

She found that all the cussing and good-natured ribbing is just how men often show affection for one another...

Jim said he thinks Vincent came into the experiment with some misconceptions about men. "I think she expected to find like a bunch of guys just talking about women's private parts and a bunch of racists"...

Vincent even dabbled in the art of picking up women... She was quickly reminded that in this arena, it's women who have the power, she said.

"In fact, we sit there and we just with one word, 'no,' will crush someone"...

Vincent said the dates were rarely fun and that the pressure of "Ned" having to prove himself was grueling. She was surprised that many women had no interest in a soft, vulnerable man...

She witnessed a "desperate need for male intimacy and the lack of ability to give it" at the [monastery]. It was "really painful"...

Norah began to empathize with the fear and stress men feel for having to always be the strong provider...

She continued her emotional descent, and a week later, checked in to a hospital with severe depression. Identity, she concluded, was not something to play around with.

"When you mess around with that, you really mess around with something that you need that helps you to function. And I found out that gender lives in your brain and is something much more than costume. And I really learned that the hard way," she said.

... Her views about men have changed forever.

"Men are suffering. They have different problems than women have, but they don't have it better," she said. "They need our sympathy. They need our love, and maybe they need each other more than anything else. They need to be together."

Ironically, Vincent said, it took experiencing life as a man for her to appreciate being a woman. "I really like being a woman. ... I like it more now because I think it's more of a privilege.""

"Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade of prejudices." - Laurence J. Peter

***

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA spam is getting better and better everyday:


From: bob_moon2@centrum.cz

Message:
United Nations Compensation Commission(UNCC) In Affiliation With Barrack Obama Campaign Office to Assist Scammed Individuals In The Settlement Of Disputes Through Certified International Bank Draft.

Sir,

How are you doing today? Hope all is well with you and your family?

You may not understand why this mail came to you but kindly read the following procedures for your claim.The United Nation Compensation Commission (UNCC) was created in 1991 as a subsidiary organ of the UN Security Council. Its mandate is to process claims and pay compensation for losses and damages suffered as a direct result of Internet Fraud.

The UNCC in conjunction with the Obama Campaign on the 12th of October 2008 organized a confederation meeting which ended 2 weeks later, with the Secretary General to the UNITED NATIONS. This meeting was first held on the 8th of April 2003 by the then secretary to the UN. You can view this page for your perusal (www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003/ik344.doc.htm).

This email is directed to all individuals that have been scammed in all parts of the world. In reference to the just concluded meeting, the UNCC in affiliation with Barrack Obama Campaign have agreed to compensate them with categorical payment sum of $550,000 each. In its decision 17" of 24th March 2006, the Governing Council established basic principles for the distribution of compensation payments to successful claimants. This decision was made two months before the resolution of the first installment of claims before the Commission.As stated in the Secretary-General's report of 2nd May 2006, it was anticipated that the value of approved awards would far exceed the resources available in the Compensation Fund at any given time.The Governing Council therefore devised a mechanism for the allocation of available funds to successful claimants that gave priority to the three urgent categories of claims and which, within each category,would give equal treatment to similarly situated claims. Only when each successful claimant in categories "A", "B" and "C" had been paid an initial amount up to US$2,500 would payments commence for claims in other categories.Accordingly, the first phase of payment involved an initial payment of US$2,500 to each successful individual claimant in categories "A" and "C". However, for humanitarian reasons, all category "B" claims will be paid in full of a total USD$850,000.00 A total of US$3,252,337,997.09 was made available to 1,498,119 successful individual claimants in categories "A", "B" and "C" under the first phase of payments. Claimants includes every foreign contractor that may have not received their contract sum, and people that have had an unfinished transaction or international businesses that failed due to Government problems etc.We found your name in our list and that is why you are receiving this email notification.

You are advised hereby to contact Dr. Stanley Lawson of the Due Process Commission, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso as he is our representative in Burkina Faso who will be releasing your refund payment to you.

Contact him immediately for your approved funds(USD$850,000). This funds are in a Bank Draft for security purpose, so he will send it to you and you can cash it in any bank of your choice.

Therefore, you should send him your full Name, telephone number and your correct mailing address where you want him to send the Draft to you.Contact Dr. Stanley Lawson  of the Due Process Commission  immediately for your International Bank Draft:

Contact person: Dr. Stanley Lawson Email:unitednations_compensation_comission@ubbi.com

Thanks,

Hoping to hear from you as soon as you cash your Bank Draft.

Making the world a better place.

Regards

Mr. Ban Ki-Moon
(UN Secretary-General)
http://www.un.org/sg/
DECISION TO PAY YOUR DRAFT

Michael Anti on Chinese blogging

""The guy who censored my blog… we're close friends." They talk frequently. "Sorry I have to close down your blog." "I understand. How about if this weekend we go kayaking?" It's his job to shut down blogs, but inside he is very liberal...

Everything is free to talk about except politics.

He doesn't see any immediate change. China is becoming Singapore, not the US...

Q: (ethanz) What percent of Chinese people do you think are aware of the levels of restriction and censorship, and are inclined to find a way around them?
A:The personal life of Chinese is so free that the first time I came to Europe and America I found it so conservative. In China we have sex before marriage, are more tolerant of homosexuality, we have no conservative party, we have no God, it's very easy to create new companies. The Chinese government allows the people to have so much freedom about sex and business so they'll accept the political restrictions. The new generation accepts this exchange. Only very weird people care. At least 95% of people don't care about censorship. I don't see any hope to change this. In the US, the Internet is Che Guevara. In China, it's an harmonic ship.

Q: What do you mean by making China into a "big Singapore"?
A: Happy citizens without any political ideas."


Sounds like, in some ways, Singapore is more repressive than China.

"The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not." - Eric Hoffer

***

Survey shows Singaporeans would take 42% pay cut - "Very few people (5 to 7 per cent) would turn to the Government or welfare agencies for help; more (28 per cent) prefer the support of friends and family... overwhelmingly, 82 per cent of Singapore residents felt it was more important to take one’s own initiative to cope with the economic crisis — such as by cutting leisure spending and taking a pay cut — than to depend on the Government. This sentiment was especially strong among the higher-income group. Just slightly fewer respondents (77 per cent) among the lower-income agreed, with Dr Koh noting that this group has benefited more from Government help."
I can imagine bloggers have spun this as a pro-gahmen, anti-welfare thing, but having interviewed poor people before I can corroborate that this sentiment exists (at least with my sample size)

Man unwisely tries to rob Tae Kwon Do studio

6-year-old sentenced to traffic school - "Kid refused to buckle up"

Hey Brother, Can You Spare an ATM Card? - "An advocate for the homeless in San Francisco, Calif., has proposed that the city’s panhandlers be equipped to accept credit cards. The “Benevolending Box Program” would give credit card readers to street beggars to help them accept donations from passersby. The program is an “innovative plan, which empowers homeless persons to take responsible action for their lives,” said an enthusiastic Mayor Willie Brown. “It’s more than a Band-Aid solution,” says Karen Gatter, who thought up the program."

Arbuckle man's alleged midweek routine leads to arrest - "An Arbuckle man is facing criminal charges after authorities say he followed a midweek routine of exposing himself while his wife wasn't home."
Singapore isn't the only place you can't be naked in your house. Actually this is worse than the 2 Singaporean cases - in those 2 the guys were wanking.

Quorum of the Twelve Apostates - "A number of people (including the New York Times) wrote about a costly error at Brigham Young University last week that was originally reported by the Utah Valley Daily Herald. The error itself was subtle. First, it is important to realize that Brigham Young is a private university owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (i.e., the Mormon Church or LDS for short). The front of the the Daily Universe -- the BYU university newspaper --- featured a photograph of a group of men who form one of the most important governing bodies in the LDS church with the heading, "Quorum of the Twelve Apostates." The caption should have said the "Quorum of the Twelve Apostles" which is the name of the governing body in question."

Retired Officer Says Robber Held Him Up At Police Convention - ""Ten other cops came running out and we arrested probably the dumbest criminal in Pennsylvania." They arrested 19-year-old Jerome Marquis Blanchett, of Harrisburg. When a reporter asked Blanchett for comment as he was led out of court, he said, "I'm smooth.""

Jail completes Marcus Einfeld's fall - "The path to Einfeld's personal destruction began on January 8, 2006, when his car was captured by a speed camera doing 60km/h in a 50km/h zone along Macpherson Street in Sydney's Mosman. It was minor traffic offence that attracted a $77 fine and three demerit points. He would sign a statutory declaration saying he had lent his car to an old friend, Teresa Brennan - a professor from Florida who had died after returning to the US... He was then confronted by a Daily Telegraph reporter with the fact that Brennan had been dead for three years. Einfeld offered that another academic, also named Therese or Terese Brennan, had borrowed his car on the day of the offence. He said she too had died after returning to the US... He had also falsely used the "I wasn't driving excuse” on three previous occasions, blaming friends who were visiting from overseas. It would become known as the Einfeld defence and promoted a change in the law when it was discovered that hundreds of drivers had used it avoid traffic and parking fines."

Men 'out-performed at university' - "A Higher Education Policy Institute report shows that women are more likely to get places in the top universities and go on to get better grades. Women also outnumber men in high status subjects, such as law and medicine... The only exception is for Oxford and Cambridge, where men and women are now level. There are also still some subject areas, such as courses related to maths, physics and technology, where men are in the majority. But the overall picture shows a consistent trend in women substantially outnumbering men... In degree grades, women are more likely to gain "good degrees" - taking first class and upper seconds together - while men are more likely to gain lower seconds and thirds. However male students still maintain a narrow lead in firsts... the greater success of women in education is a global pattern... this could reflect differences in how boys now learn through play - with an increase in time spent on computer games and watching television, rather than physical play. But the report emphasises that this is an important issue that needs greater recognition... it concludes that the lack of response reflects a "mindset that continues to see males as advantaged and females as disadvantaged". "Whatever the truth in society at large - and that is not argued here - that is emphatically not the case in higher education," says the report."
Clearly, women are being discriminated against.

Photos that Changed the World - ""Sometimes Breathtaking. Sometimes Horrific. Each photo has the power to inspire." One new Photo added Everyweek!"

Can We Reverse Aging By Changing How We Think? - "Her point is that we are surrounded every day by subtle signals that aging is an undesirable period of decline. These signals make it difficult to age gracefully. Similar signals also lock all of us—regardless of age—into pigeonholes for disease. We are too quick to accept diagnostic categories like cancer and depression, and let them define us. Doing so preempts the possibility of a healthful future."

Amid hard times, an influx in real superheroes - "Mr. Ravenblade, Mr. Xtreme, Dark Guardian and hundreds of others. Some with elaborate costumes, others with haphazardly stitched outfits, they are appearing on city streets worldwide watching over the populace like Superman watched over Metropolis and Batman over Gotham City. As people become disillusioned from financial woes and a downtrodden economy and look to put new purpose in their lives, everyday folks are taking on new personas to perform community service, help the homeless and even fight crime."

Stringing up my Gs - "G-strings are believed to contribute to the development of vaginal yeast infections, as well as infections of the urinary tract... Use daily sanitary pads or liners, and change them regularly if you wear G-strings made from synthetic material."
Malaysia Boleh!

Reform journalism school. Or torch it? - By Jack Shafer - "In the 17 years that I hired and fired, none of the J-school graduates who worked for me did better work than the many English majors I've employed. I'd rather hire somebody who wrote a brilliant senior thesis on Chaucer than a J-school M.A. who's mastered the art of computer-assisted reporting. If you can crack Chaucer, you've got a chance at decoding city hall. If you're a computer-assisted reporting wizard, maybe you can reformat my hard drive."

Unhappy Tianeptine users from Russia - "Poor fuckers. The story goes that these drug addicts from Russia took it upon themselves to shoot the anti-depressant drug, Tianeptine, into their veins. It is meant to give them a buzz, but if it does not disolve properly it starts to eat away at the flesh and muscle and you get nasty nasty crap like this. One of the worst things we’ve posted on TC in a long long time."

The Straight Dope: Does it matter if you sign a contract with a name that's not your own? - "From the earliest of times courts have held that names don't matter. As a general rule you can agree to the terms of a contract using any character, symbol, figure, or other designation you adopt as a signature and be bound. You may also use a fictitious name, a firm name, or the name of another."
Fear names. Names have power in identity. Others can use names as weapons. Names are a hook that can be used to track you across the planes. Remain nameless, and you shall be safe.

Couple caught having sex in dumpster by Saanich police

Surrey wife attacks hubby after spat about violence on news

030609 : Police Abuse In Singapore Exposed! IMH Is Singapore's Gulag! - "these policemen had in a fit of anger,handcuffed me,bundled me into a police car and thrown me into IMH.I was later certified to be NOT SUFFERING FROM ANY MENTAL ILLNESS and released... 1)If i chose to plead guilty and not go to trial,i would be considered sane to enter a plea and allowed to get off with a fine.
2)If i chose to plead not guilty and insist on a trial,i would be sent to IMH immediately where i may be certified insane by a "State Doctor".
So this is what Singapore Law is all about ...
Apparently,under Singapore Law...
If you plead guilty,you are considered sane enough to enter a plea.
If you plead not guilty,you are considered not sane enough to enter a plea and will be thrown into the IMH Gulag.
YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TRIAL."
This is getting more and more disturbing.

"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true." - James Branch Cabell

***

2 views on why it's alright to get ripped off in the Third World:


Someone else on getting ripped off in the Third World: ahah expected
that I don't really think about it

Me: this is why I hate the third world

Someone else: haiyah
not like they can earn much
and not like it's that ex

Me: it can be
and it's the principle

Someone else: >_> that would be something I disagree with

Me: so are you against poor people pickpocketing you?

Someone else: geez
that's the extreme end of things

Me: same principle

Someone else: well, we come from a position of privilege

Me: that doesn't mean we owe those who don't a living

Someone else: I see how this is
well, it's a fundamental difference in opinion anyway

Me: no, you're being inconsistent

Someone else: go third world country of course have to pay more
hmm

Me: why?

Someone else: I guess because I expect different standards
of what is the right thing to pay or not

Me: so is it okay if I am a Malay who runs a nasi lemak stall and charges Chinese more?

Someone else: in sg?

Me: yes

Someone else: the malays here don't live in abject poverty
it's not a race thing

even certain parts of china, or africa
guess I would expect

why be stingy?

Me: the Chinese in singapore are in a position of Privilege

Someone else: hahahaah well, you hadn't lived in indonesia then

Me: yes, the normal indons thought the Chinese were in a position of Privilege
which was why they felt justified in stealing from them, raping them and kidnapping them

Someone else: but they were actually pretty marginalized

Me: that doesn't justify theft

Someone else: I don't see it as the same thing, to pay more for goods/services and theft

Me: again, I point to the nasi lemak example

Someone else: not in sg

Me: this is called special pleading

Someone else: okay lor
as I said, I hold 3rd world countries when travelling there to different standards

Me: I am against discrimination


HWMNBN on getting ripped off in the Third World: don't think of it as being ripped off - think of it as helping the less fortunate. That's how i console myself:)

Me: yes
monetary transfers to undeserving recipients - that's the definition of charity

HWMNBN: *smiles* ayn rand would agree with you
that's also the definition of taxation

Me: sorry
not undeserving
what's the word I was looking for

unearned

HWMNBN: food aid is often unearned

Me: unearned does not mean unjust
I believe in giving to charity

HWMNBN: so why is it okay to give to charity, but not to get ripped off by a taxi? in both cases, the person (arguably) *needs* it more than you do

and at least in the latter, you get a service in return

Me: because in one case it's voluntary

HWMNBN: you didn't have to take the taxi
didn' tyou ask him up front?

Me: that's like saying you don't have to eat

HWMNBN: in that cse, everything is coereced then

Me: I didn't say it was coerced

HWMNBN: willing buyer willing seller

at least you had the choice not to sit in the taxi
i have to pay my fuckin tax
(although arguably i could migrate to brunei)

Me: you can move to the cayman [islands]

HWMNBN: that's like saying i don't have to work

Me: if I didn't sit in the taxi I'd have to walk to my hotel

HWMNBN: willing buyer willing seller
if it's a natural monopoly
they'll rent seek

Me: I'm sure even you can see how that's different from charity

HWMNBN: i can see hwo it's different from charity
which is why i hate both charity AND being ripped of

Me: that does not follow

HWMNBN: yes it does

one is voluntary
one is less than voluntary
but they're both about the needy taking from the haves

i reject the principle that need prevails over merit

no scratch that

i reject the principle that other needs prevail over mine
:)

Me: no
one is the haves giving to the needy
very different

HWMNBN: well in the case of the taxi driver
he's probably needy too
(unless you're saying he's a multimillinoatire battened on the largesse of tourists)

Me: I don't dispute that he needs the money more than me

when the revolution comes and you rich bankers get your mansions looted, the needy will also benefit more from your jewels than you

HWMNBN: well, put it this way, while i accept that it should be voluntary rather than coerced, i just find it amusingly dissonant that some people are okay with voluntarily giving for free, but not with overpaying the needy for some pittance service.

however i accept the moral principle that voluntary choice trumps involuntary squeezing. i just find people holding the above inconsistent and irrational, even as i accept their right to be.

Me: there's no inconsistency and irrationality here

it's like a woman who engages in acting out rape fantasies making a police report when she gets groped in the MRT

HWMNBN: bad analogy. there's a distciontion in outcomes between fantasy and groping.

in the taxi case, the outcome is the same

the only difference is that in on ecase the outcome was voluntary while in the other it wasn't

Me: then rape fantasies and getting raped, if you like

HWMNBN: even more different outcome

Me: no
in both cases there's "rape"

HWMNBN: my point is, why is it "okay" to give something for ntohing *voluntarily*, but not to be ripped off for it involuntarily? :) if the outcome - ie. transfer of wealth to the needy is the same

Me: only difference is lack of consent

why is it okay to be raped *voluntarily* but not to be raped against your will if the outcome is the same?

HWMNBN: in the first place, "raped voluntarily" is an oxymoron
so that argument doesn't really hold

Me: you know what I mean

HWMNBN: well, female mate choice prevails. in "voluntary" rape the woman probably has chosen her rapist
in being raped against her will she hasn't

Me: then like that someone who gives to charity should be happy to be pickpocketed by a poor boy

in charity I choose my recipient

HWMNBN: poor people are fungible
mate choice isn't

Me: that's irrelevant
and in charity you choose who to give to, when, how much etc

HWMNBN: it's very relevant
ie. if you're going to give to a poor person, why not this one instead of that one?
wehreas if you'r egong to fuck someone, a case can be made that mate choice applies

Me: because it's your choice
like that you can choose which taxi driver to be ripped off by

HWMNBN: *thoughtfully* i intuitively accept that autonomy/volition/agency somehow make a moral difference here
i just can't figure out *why*

anyway
especially sinec the outcomes are, to my mind, fungible

ie. the same
anyway

Me: that's why no one is a pure utilitarian

HWMNBN: *grins* i prefer my own moral system here - they're all undeserving fuckers
at least it has the benefit of consistency

Me: consistency is a minor virtue

HWMNBN: not to me

Cathos: Vous avez appris la musique ?

Mascarille: Moi ? Point du tout.

Cathos: Et comment donc cela se peut-il ?

Mascarille: Les gens de qualité savent tout sans avoir jamais rien appris.

"深ク軫念スル所ナリ 惟フニ今後帝國ノ受クヘキ苦難ハ固ヨリ尋常ニアラス 爾臣民ノ衷情モ朕善ク之ヲ知ル 然レトモ朕ハ時運ノ趨ク所堪ヘ難キヲ堪ヘ忍ヒ難キヲ忍ヒ以テ萬世ノ爲ニ太平ヲ開カムト欲ス"

Someone: i recieved offline food

erh
brain not working

offline messages

im hungry


Me: excited about meeting MFM?

MFTTW: ...

hoorey.....?

it is like a stamp album
i collect meetings with your harem of adoring females

first frigid girl
then your FM

what next

jail bait!


Someone: korean guys fugly lah
:S

[the girls are] not bad
is so obvious they all PS
cause before 18 ugly
then suddenly all pretyt

they all single lidded
then 18 WAH
all damn chio

a bit fake


Me: she's quite ruthless and self-serving. I hear about how she treats her
boyfriends

ah well. that's one way good-looking females can turn out
another is ***. she's very sweet haha

MFTTW: wah
tsk tsk
she sounds like the worse stereotype

Me: haha
one of the bad ones

dont think she loves or even likes her boyfriend. and her ex
just using them for sex, power, intrigue, drama

MFTTW: cool

how com ei don't know any women like that
like tv show... v exciting

h wait
i prob don't know any cos of self-selection

Me: you don't meh. oh you just know the annoying ones, not the ruthless ones

MFTTW: yeah
i can tolerate annoyingness... prob not ruthlessness..out of self-interest

Me: ah well. the misery of the human condition


MFTTW: my thesis has no title
i think i need to write my own lamentations

Me: "the art of test tube washing"

MFTTW: hurr hurr but no one wuld getthe joke


Someone: on ur blog entry, lesbians do go for straight gals...my les frd go for straight gals, and prob not her first one


Me: well if the scholarship body treats it as a commercial agreement so should he
after all taxi drivers' sons cannot get scholarships if they can't find guarantors

MFTTW: you cannot be a guarantor if you are a taxi driver meh
my friend who is a taxi driver son got scholarship

Me: taxi driver son - the claim is
that meritocracy, let poor but smart kids etc etc
but no matter how deserving you are, if no one will be your guarantor...

MFTTW: hurhur
sure can find one lah

Me: that's not the pt lah
the point is this government is economically minded
and has no heart

which is not a problem if you don't expect your people to have hearts

but they want it both ways
screw the people. and expect the people to love them

MFTTW: thanks to uncle lee's years of policy mah
we are a small country blahblah
cannot afford blahblah
when they say that people are their biggest resource they mean it literally


Someone: i just came back from an MLM talk

apparently there are law students into MLM now
law must be a really horrible career

wait.. cancel last mike
law is a horrible career

it just means lawyers can be stupid

Me: why [did you go]?

Someone: uh.. cos i'm bored,

were they always as complex?

the one i went to was a conventional business that took up the MLM model
they have classes and lectures
youthcamps and self actualization camps

i was irrevocably impressed at the scale of their operations , not so much for the satisfaction of the customer , but the satisfaction of the seller

Me: sounds like... city harvest

Someone: they now sell diamonds

i come to the conclusion that MLM products only work on women products

you won't see MLM PCs or MLM cars

the products must have
1.)dubious benefits
2.)low production costs
3.)price inelastic in the luxury good sense
4.)a slight tweak of product differentiation

Me: 5) target audience are the gullible

Someone: lol are u saying women are gullible
cos really they only sell women products

Me: I notice a lot of old people also
the magic stone salesmen?
then again the people who buy magic stones tend to be female

well magnetic bracelets and beds aren't women's products

Someone: hmm ur right

but i was very impressed by the whole thing

there were lecture halls
classrooms
showrooms

and a device called icheckup, which is like the scientology machine

two iron rods which u hold
and ur feet on iron plates
it will generate this result

Me: wow
to say?

Someone: if u r healthy

if u aren't
u need the glorious products
so u can see if the products work first hand

Me: I tried scientology
http://gssq.blogspot.com/2005/07/my-us-trip-2005-day-13-new-york.html

Someone: eh we should set up an MLM

step 1.) Think of a spiffy name

Elucia-Gabe Max
Gabriel's Way
GABE elise

step 2.) Think of a strange product
i have one, it's the semen of frogs

step 3.) Establish our frogsemen factory overseas, and get numerous accreditations

step 4.)sit on top of the MLM

:)

Me: heh
so what healthful properties does frog semen have?

Someone: according to Dr.***
and Dr Seah

frog semen cures cancer
and enlarges breast

and is renowned for its natural properties

it is a well known fact that the most beautiful women of china often rub frog semen atop their perfectly formed funbags.

to stay true to this grand tradition
that is why we have relocated all our factories there

Roses are red
Violets cost more
Have you ever read
Exploding runes before?

"He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches." - George Bernard Shaw

***

On social pressure:

"How often have we heard remarks like “How can you do that can? call yourself a Christian?” or “A good Buddhist doesn’t do…….” Etc

Which was why I found inclusive, non-judgemental, non-religious groups that worked for the good of humanity, and at the same time encouraged decisions to be fact-based (rather than subjective value-based) very attractive.

However, after joining several of these groups, I find myself back to square one.

Because I’ve added many of these people to my Facebook etc, I find myself in a position where before I want to put anything on my status bar, I’ve to consider what a feminist, humanist, vegetarian, atheist, agnostic, homosexual, environmentalist etc etc etc might think. And I find myself in a position where I can no longer make a joke or even announce my craving for KFC anymore.

I feel so restricted,? l feel like I’ve to be politically correct all the time, and after a while I notice people around me doing the same."

"The future will be better tomorrow." - Dan Quayle

***

Amusing spam:



"拯救地球：。。。

SOS

全球紧急求救   地球危机迫近   生存极受威胁

。。。不知不觉的变化就如温水田鸡不觉大难将至！

联合国秘书长。。。说：世界正处于重大灾难的边缘！。。。时间不多了，希望你们做出明智的决定。

拯救地球：   十万火急   开始吃素   加入环保   一起行动"

Translation:

"Our world is in peril!

Gaia, the spirit of the earth, can no longer stand the terrible destruction plaguing our planet.

She sends spam 5 million spam emails to 5 million special people, telling them to go vegetarian"

"I believe that every human has a finite number of heart-beats. I don't intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises." - Buzz Aldri

***

On the popular myths of "multiple" and "emotional" intelligence:

"This general hierarchical model is what we might call the “orthodox” model. But there are still psychologists who believe in “many intelligences,” and continue to argue in favour of such a Binetian notion...

More recently Howard Gardner has taken up the Binet mantle. He has asserted that there are multiple intelligences, of which he recognizes seven. These are verbal and mathematico-logical, spatial, musi cal, personal intelligence (interpersonal skills), intrapsychic capacity, and kinesthetic ability, as shown by outstanding athletes and dancers. It is a curious list; to call physical grace an “intelligence” seems somewhat odd. It remains to be seen if “intrapsychic capacity” can be measured, and means anything other than absence of neuroticism. But of course the main question is: Are there seven intelligences actually separate and independent? Oddly enough, Gardner avoids any answer to this question. He nowhere indicates how you could measure some of these “intelligences” (such as the intrapsychic ability), and he nowhere tries to discover the actual correlations between these “intelligences.” But of course we do know that verbal ability, mathematico-logical ability, and spatial ability are quite highly correlated; to pretend that they are quite separate and independent is simply untrue.

Gardner relies on anecdotal evidence entirely... It is difficult to understand what Gardner is saying that is not covered by the orthodox hierarchical model. He is attacking an imaginary foe, namely complete dependence on just one general intelligence, but that notion died many years ago, and has not had a single proponent over the last fifty years! You can always slay imaginary dragons with equally imaginary swords. Gardner never acknowledges the true orthodoxy, and never provides any empirical evidence for his esoteric and quite unrealistic notions. No wonder he gained high academic acclaim and a strongly partisan following—you only have to attack the IQ to become famous and popular; however nonsensical the attack, and however weak the alleged evidence for your own systems!

An offspring of the Gardner tradition is of particular interest because he exemplifies more clearly than most the fundamental absurdity of the tendency to class almost any type of behaviour as an “intelligence.” David Goleman published his book on Emotional Intelligence with the rather ambitious claim that it was “the ground-breaking book that redefines intelligence and success.” He also claimed that his EQ (emotional quotient) could “matter more than IQ”—although having no actual way of measuring this EQ. What he was saying, in principle, was simply that IQ is not everything, that high IQ people are not always the most successful in everyday life, and that emotional factors could be importani What then constitutes this “emotional intelligence”? There are five main “abilities” involved. The first is knowing one’s emotions: ”self-awareness is the keystone of emotional intelligence.” Managing emotions is the second: “handling feelings so that they are appropriate is an ability that builds on self-awareness.” The third is motivating oneself: “marshalling emotions in the service of a goal.” Next comes recognizing emotions in others: “empathy is the fundamental “people skill.” And finally we have handling relationships: skill in managing emotions in others. If these five “abilities” define “emotional intelligence,” we would expect some evidence that they are highly correlated; Goleman admits that they might be quite uncorrelated, and in any case if we cannot measure them, how do we know how they are related? So the whole theory is built on quicksand; there is no sound scientific basis.

But there are even more serious objections that go to the root of the matter. As I have shown in figure 5.1, social and practical intelligence is a descriptive term that refers to our success at meeting the practical challenges of everyday life. IQ plays a part, but has never been suggested, as Goleman maintains, to act as the only actor in this play. Twelve others are suggested in my figure 5.1, which dates back many years, and expresses a general consensus among psychologists working in this field; there probably are many more. Those relevant to Goleman’s misconceived “emotional intelligence” are personality, mental disorders and coping strategies; in particular, what is usually referred to as “neuroticism” in personality description almost exactly coincides with Goleman’s concept. But neuroticism is not a cognitive ability, or lack of ability; it refers to quite another side of personality, namely the emotional. There are hundreds of investigations demonstrating the fact that emotional instability can interfere in practical matters with the proper application of our cognitive abilities, although Goleman seems unaware of this large literature. But to call this “emotional intelligence” makes the term “intelligence” scientifically meaningless; it brings together two unrelated things—neuroticism and intelligence in one ugly hybrid.

To illustrate the scientific absurdity of “emotional intelligence,” consider a physicist who argued that “length” didn’t tell you everything about the universe. Consequently, he argues, I introduced the concept of “hot lengths,” this is much more useful because it explains many things that length cannot explain, such as boiling a kettle, or burning the toast. In presenting his case, the self-same physicist would conveniently forget to mention all the work that has been done on heat, and present his contribution as “ground-breaking.” Can you imagine physicists taking such a contribution seriously? Psychology, alas, is still very far from being a science, and all this talk of “multiple intelligence” illustrates this only too well.

Is it true neuroticism lies at the heart of “social” or “practical” intelligence? Epstein and Meier, like Goleman dissatisfied with IQ measures, constructed a Constructive Thinking Inventory, correlated to IQ, which they argued would predict “success in living” better than IQ tests. It did, but correlations were derisorily small (from .19 to .39), and the Inventory correlated .59 with a measure of neuroticism. We are clearly dealing with an index of emotional reactivity, not of cognitive ability.

Perhaps the most academically acceptable exponent of intelligence as to what makes us successful in real life is Robert Sternberg... The contextualist view presented here is certainly highly inclusive in the sense that it includes within the realm of intelligence characteristics that typically might be placed in the realm of personality or motivation: “For example, motivational phenomena relevant to purposive adaptive behaviour—such as motivation to perform well in one’s career—would be considered part of intelligence, broadly defined.”

This, surely is a contradiction in terms. Science seeks to analyse complex phenomena, such as “success in life,” into simpler, better defined, independent concepts, like intelligence, personality, motivation, and so on... Surely the scientific method is to classify the various components (IQ, personality, motivation, physique, etc.) all of which contribute to worldly success, study them separately, look at their interaction, specify their relation with life success, and attempt to formulate theories for each one separately why they have the success they have in mediating worldly success.

Nor is it clear what “worldly success” means. I have become a successful psychologist earning less than an averagely competent shopkeeper. I could have become a multimillionaire had I concentrated on writing popular books on psychology—several of those I wrote in the interstices of my career were best-sellers selling in the millions. Would that have indicated greater worldly success? Money is not everything, and the satisfaction of doing scientific research was far more important to me than earning lots of money. Did I make the wrong choice? How do we define worldly success? There are problems here Sternberg does not begin to consider. Motivation to succeed does not define our private definitions of success. Is a very rich hooker successful? A dead hero? A fraudulent banker not found out by the police? A martyr? A genius like Lobachevsky, who discovered n-dimensional geometry and was considered insane and sent to the outer confines of Russia? The term “success” has no obvious scientific meaning, and requires far more research than it has received.

But what is the alternative to “multiple intelligences,” and the challenge of delving into the real world? IQ is real enough in this context: figure 6.2 shows this relation between JQ and income for a sample of veterans in the U.S. Army that covers the middle ground of intelligence. There is a direct, linear relationship—higher IQ measures higher income. This takes us from the academic field right into ordinary life, the life lived by largely nonacademic people. The same group shows that it does not pay to be high on neuroticism; when income is plotted against neuroticism, the slant shows high income to go with low neuroticism. Obviously IQ and neuroticism together predict income better than either alone—but that does not justify us in talking about “emotional intelligence.”

The final verdict on recent works on “multiple intelligences” must be that they are premature crystallization of spurious orthodoxy."

--- Intelligence: A New Look / Hans J. Eysenck

"The Internet is like alcohol in some sense. It accentuates what you would do anyway. If you want to be a loner, you can be more alone. If you want to connect, it makes it easier to connect." - Esther Dyson

***

Can shoe size predict penile length? - "OBJECTIVE: To establish if the 'myth' about whether the size of a man's penis can be estimated from his shoe size has any basis, in fact. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Two urologists measured the stretched penile length of 104 men in a prospective study and related this to their shoe size. RESULTS: The median stretched penile length for the sampled population was 13 cm and the median UK shoe size was 9 (European 43). There was no statistically significant correlation between shoe size and stretched penile length. CONCLUSION: The supposed association of penile length and shoe size has no scientific basis."

Singapore Seen: 'Girl in provocative loose shorts distracts my hubby while he's driving' - ""My husband could not concentrate on his driving when we were at the junction of Tampines Street. "This young girl was dressed so scantily, and carried a fake LV bag. "As the wind blew, her shorts 'opened' and showed her butt in bright daylight, about 12 noon. "My husband felt so sick."
STOMP never ceases to amaze me.

New Twitter Research: Men Follow Men and Nobody Tweets - "We found that an average man is almost twice more likely to follow another man than a woman... These results are stunning given what previous research has found in the context of online social networks. On a typical online social network, most of the activity is focused around women - men follow content produced by women they do and do not know, and women follow content produced by women they know. Generally, men receive comparatively little attention from other men or from women. We wonder to what extent this pattern of results arises because men and women find the content produced by other men on Twitter more compelling than on a typical social network, and men find the content produced by women less compelling (because of a lack of photo sharing, detailed biographies, etc.)."

Armstrong's 'poetic' slip on Moon - "Riley and Olsson also concluded that Commander Armstrong and his family members do pronounce the word "a" in a discernible way...There is a rising pitch in the word "man" and a falling pitch when he says "mankind"... "When you look at the pictures, you see that he's moving as he is speaking. He says his first word 'that's' at the moment he puts his foot on the ground. When he says 'one giant leap for mankind', he moves his body," he said."
This is worse than angels dancing on the heads of pins

Breast Cancer at Age 10 - Hannah's Story - "Along with chemo came the painful realization that her hair would eventually fall out. "I might be just a little afraid 'cause I love my hair. I worked so had to grow it," she said... “I feel sad, sad,” Hannah said. “My hair is gone.”"

Bitterness touted as sanctioned mental disorder - "Bitterness should be classified an official brain illness, according to psychiatrists who say people who experience prolonged bitterness over a breakup or conflict at work are "ill" and need treatment... other possible new contenders for inclusion include Internet addiction disorder, apathy disorder, compulsive buying disorder, compulsive pathological overeating, hoarding, “premenstrual dysphoric disorder” and “partner relational problem”... As the number of diagnoses grows, so too does the chorus from critics that the book pathologizes behaviour that’s within the normal spectrum... some critics question just how doctors could distinguish between irrational and reasonable bitterness... premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or PMDD. The guidebook says a woman may be experiencing PMDD if she has five out of 11 symptoms that include anxiety, feeling “keyed up” or “on edge.” Some experts are now advocating PMDD be formally classified a mental disorder."
Meanwhile gender identity disorder is not something wrong with the person, but with society.

Princess Amerah's Blog - "Did you know that *Princess Amerah* Does *Princess Parties in Utah*? Contact me to Make Your Little Dream a BIG Dream Come True! Watch this fun-filled Video that shows pictures, and videos of Princess Amerah and All of her Princess Friends doing *Princess Parties* and *Children's Events* in *Utah!"

Police: Phoenix mom coached youthful armed robbers - "A 51-year-old woman guilted her young sons and their friends into helping her pay bills by committing at least 20 armed robberies in the Phoenix area... One 13-year-old was beaten and forced to empty his pockets - which contained only an orange lollipop."

Cleavage Control Clip® - The Perfect Solution to Bra Strap Problems - Why not just use a paperclip? US$10 for 3 6 of what are essentially paperclips is daylight robbery.

On MPs' expenses, Iranian dissidents, Chrysler, Nordic countries, genetic information, the Supreme Court - "The World Economic Forum ranks the Nordics at the top for economic competitiveness; Transparency International ranks them towards the bottom on corruption; and the World Bank places them ahead of other countries when measuring the “knowledge factor”. On almost all measures of social trust and social capital, the Nordic countries come out ahead. Moreover, they have outperformed most of their neoliberal Anglo-Saxon counterparts as well as France and Germany in economic growth during the past 15 years. Simply put, and contrary to what most economists take for granted, the Nordic countries have shown that social solidarity, high levels of taxation and economic competitiveness are not mutually exclusive. Public investment in human capital creates a sense of equality in opportunity among large segments of the population, which in turn has a positive effect on social capital. Together these factors increase economic prosperity."

FriendOrFollow.com - Who's not following you back? Who aren't you following? (on Twitter)

"You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance." - Ray Bradbury, advice to writers

***

On politeness and graciousness:

A: You walk into the bus and head straight for the back. You remain standing for the rest of the journey. You pass by two bus stops uneventfully, until an elderly woman, carrying a bag of something get on the bus. She wants to sit down, but a lady who is close to you is sitting on the outer part of a double-seat. The elderly woman tries hard to get her attention, during which the lady, who was apparently dozing, briefly opens her eyes and seemingly feigns deafness. You hope fervently to yourself no tourists are on board. The elderly woman tries for a little bit more to get the attention of the woman who refuses to budge. She now her eyes stubbornly closed. The elderly woman gives up, but gets a seat anyway owing to a decent human being who happens to be close by, a mother with a small children. She lets her child sit on her lap and the lady slips in gratefully on the seat.

"My feet really hurt," She says somewhat awkwardly. Her eyes dart back to the apparently dozing woman again, as though she was not quite sure the atrocity really happened.

"No manners at all." She declared.

Me: Politeness is given, not demanded. I actually think the elderly woman was not exactly in the right either.

I hope someone does the same to me, then I will go: "So do mine" (I have extra bones in my feet so it hurts to stand for too long)

A: I agree that politeness is not something that should be automatically expected of others. It's a bonus, but it's also only right.

Especially since the elderly lady wasn't being rude about it - she wasn't asking the lady to give up her seat, but to shift a little so she could sit down next to her, inside.

:)

B: to every man his own; i refuse to take the high moral stand.
no matter what 'humanity' tells you, that old woman had no right whatsoever to disturb a fellow citizen who has done no wrong, much less demand a seat.
if the old woman was constitutionally unable to withstand standing through the bus ride, and there were no seats available, and none ... Read Morewillingly offered, what i would suggest is that she simple find a nice corner in the bus and SIT ON THE FLOOR.
i have done that too many times when weak from surgery or illness. if someone asks me to get up because i ain't supposed to be sitting on the floor, i either vomit the blood i've been holding back for the past hour, or show them the bag of 200 pills that i'm still on, and i get my seat on the floor. i have done that more than once before, to staff members as well, and it often gets me a seat.

C: we all pay fare, and some old people think we owe them a living for their being old. I've had 2 old people wedge themselves beside me when there was only one seat beside me, i was forced to give it up with a tight smile. i've had taitais in their 50s armed with shopping bags (a tell-tale sign that they're able-bodied enough to go on sprees) glare ... Read Moreat my mother (also in her 50s, but looking a fair bit younger than her age) & me just because we were seated first. I would definitely give up my seat, not out of courtesy, but the fact that i'm not petty enough to calculate the next puny 5 mins that i will spend standing & not magnanimous enough to let others think i am unkind.

B: i'm worse off i guess... there are no seats 'reserved' for me as i am neither old, nor pregnant nor visibly injured -.-

C: i bet there were people on board who've had a rough day, who are old, whose feet hurt too... would she have thought about that if she had been seated? what is so different?
and all that supposedly subtle hassling, is a harassment.

did she say 'no manners at all'? well yes, she doesn't have manners at all...

A: I don't know, of course, if the lady would have been thoughtful to the other people had she been in a more fortunate position in the start and met someone who needed a seat. :)

C: well darling, what do you think? ;)

D: if its an old elderly or some preg woman who looks like he/she is gonna faint or fall or drop dead any second soon, even if im tired, i will give my seat to him/her. but it like a 40+ yr old person, forget it man. you may be older than me, but i've worked like effing 10hrs straight man. HAHAHAHAH i dont owe u that seat so quit staring at me you wrinkly saggy old worm.


My overall comment:

Politeness is given, not demanded.

The moment you demand it you become rude.

I remember this time I was on a bus in San Francisco and happened to be sitting in the priority seat on the bus. An old lady (or some old ladies) boarded the bus and said quite loudly, "Seniors! Seniors!" (or the same word without the s; a reference to the sign saying one should give up one's seat to seniors), and gestured wildly at me

A lot of people around me (mostly old) then shouted "Seniors! Seniors!" very loudly and I quickly evacuated the seat.

I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd just been hustled out of my seat by a mob.

"Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy." - Isaac Newton

***

From a promo in the print edition for an interview in the online edition:

"A Martian turning up on Earth for the first time might be surprised by the central roles that works plays in most people's loves, according to Alain de Botton. A glance at the reams of new fiction published every year would give the impression that humans fall in love, occasionally murder people and squabble with their families but do not spend time in the factory or office. He puts this down to the 'romantic rejection of labour': work is regarded as an economic drama not a human one. Real life is equated to private life, upon which work is an intrusion". He also reckons there is a prejudice against urban life and the city - real life is assumed to take place only in the countryside where nature and the individual are sharply defined.

This has two regrettable effects: people's lives are not reflected accurately in fiction and plenty of fascinating material for writers goes to waste. But Mr de Botton is enthralled with the details of where people work and what they do. And these details, from obscure barcodes to complex manufacturing techniques, provide a fascinating window on modern life."

Hair

(Tips to Bunny Boy for introducing me to this Musical)

男人不坏，女人不愛。

女人不笨，男人就恨。

"'Whom are you?' he asked, for he had attended business college." - George Ade

***

This is hilarious:

Petros the Pelican

"Petros the pelican was a White Pelican, who was the official mascot of the Greek island of Mykonos.

In 1958 a wounded pelican was found off the coast of Paranga shore by a local fisherman. The pelican was nursed to health and remained on the island supported by locals. It soon adopted the name "Petros" after the Greek word petras or "semen" resulting from a crude joke by local fishermen. To great disappointment by locals and tourists alike, Petros was hit by a car on 2 December 1985 and failed to recover.

Subsequently, three new pelicans reside around the main town of Mykonos. One, honorifically, was given the name Petros."

"You cannot slander human nature; it is worse than words can paint it." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

***

On the Street and On Facebook: The Homeless Stay Wired - "Mr. Pitts Lacks a Mailing Address But He's Got a Computer and a Web Forum"

DailyLit: Read books online by daily email and RSS feed - "DailyLit brings books right into your inbox in convenient small messages that take less than 5 minutes to read. This works incredibly well not just on your computer but also on a Treo, Blackberry, Sidekick or whatever the PDA of your choice. In the words of Dr. Seuss: Try it, you might like it! (Oops -- it would appear that the actual quote from Green Eggs and Ham is "You do not like them. So you say. Try them! Try them! And you may.") "
I'm finally starting on War and Peace. At the rate of one block a day, I'm going to take... 1 year 10 months to finish it.

Watch The Most Talked-About Moment: Bruno Dropping In On Eminem - "Suspended high above the audience, Brüno flew towards the stage, only to get tangled in wires and dropped squarely in the lap of Marshall Mathers himself, Eminem."

Figures of Speech - Teach a Kid to Argue - "I’ve worked hard at making my kids good at arguing. Absolutely... Our culture has lost the ability to usefully disagree. Most Americans seem to avoid argument. But this has produced passive aggression and groupthink in the office, red and blue states, and families unable to discuss things as simple as what to watch on television. Rhetoric doesn’t turn kids into back-sassers; it makes them think about other points of view. I had long equated arguing with fighting, but in rhetoric they are very different things. An argument is good; a fight is not."

Cakeshop in Serangoon North fined for drying noodles in the sun - You can't dry food in the sun? No wonder Singaporean food sucks

Regarding My Recent Trip To Kuala Lumpur - "Krispy Kreme has opened an outlet at Berjaya Times Square (another nightmare parking area). It’s RM19.90 for a dozen doughnuts. They don’t taste the same as the Hong Kong Krispy Kreme (ie. they don’t taste good at all) and there are crazy people eating doughnuts with forks and knives inside - I shite you not!"
Malaysia Boleh!

The Lord Justice Hath Ruled: Pringles Are Potato Chips - "Conservatives like to insist that their judges are strict constructionists, giving the Constitution and statutes their precise meaning and no more, while judges like Ms. Sotomayor are activists. But there is no magic right way to interpret terms like “free speech” or “due process” — or potato chip. Nor is either ideological camp wholly strict or wholly activist. Liberal judges tend to be expansive about things like equal protection, while conservatives read more into ones like “the right to bear arms.” In the end, as Lord Justice Jacob noted, a judge can only look at the relevant factors and draw an overall impression. His common-sense approach was a rebuke not only to Procter & Gamble, but to everyone out there who insists that the only way to read laws correctly is to read them strictly."

The last word on anger - "Anger, bitter and implacable when the only response it gets is anger returned, feeds on its reflection until it becomes insanity... For the Stoics it was an emotion of weakness, to be quelled as part of building self-mastery and detachment. In a sequence of three carefully considered "Moral Essays", Seneca analysed anger, "the most hideous and frenzied of all the emotions", and urged the classic Stoic remedy: the restraint of the heroic mind... Rabidly angry men want only to fight; they want to inflict anguish on their enemies, and then obliterate them. It is hard to imagine, even if great-souled people stood up on both sides and agreed peace and a modus vivendi, how such hurt could be assuaged."

China’s Forgotten Revolution - "Two facts have become more apparent. The first is that the Tiananmen pro-democracy protests amounted to a one-time release of the Chinese people’s political passions, later replaced by a zeal for making money. The second is that after the summer of 1989 the incident vanished from the Chinese news media. As a result, few young Chinese know anything about it. But most important of all, I realize now that the spring of 1989 was the only time I fully understood the words “the people.” Those words have little meaning in China today... In 1989, my 30th year, those words were not just an empty phrase... [In 1989, the students'] audience — whether wizened old men or mothers with babies in their arms — nodded repeatedly and applauded warmly, however immature the students’ faces or naïve their views."

Exclusive: 50cm eel removed from man's rectum - ""On further questioning," says the paper, "the patient admitted an eel was inserted into the rectum in an attempt to relieve constipation. "Emergency laparotomy found a 50cm eel biting the splenic flexure of the colon, and a 3cm perforation was found over the anterior wall of the rectum. "Insertion of a live animal into the rectum causing rectal perforation has never been previously reported. "This may be related to a bizarre healthcare belief, inadvertent sexual behaviour, or criminal assault. However, the true reason may never be known.""

Alignments Made Easy

LAWFUL GOOD: "We're gonna bust this thing wide open, and then do the necessary paperwork" (Nicholas Angel & Danny Butterman from Hot Fuzz)
NEUTRAL GOOD: "It's easy to forget what a sin is in the middle of a battle field" (Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid)
CHAOTIC GOOD: "Governments should be afraid of their people" (V from V for Vendetta)

LAWFUL NEUTRAL: "I used to study people... but I think I got bored." (Gil Grissom from CSI)
TRUE NEUTRAL: "Whatever works." (Machiavelli from The Prince)
CHAOTIC NEUTRAL: "Might save your life, might steal your car." (Matt from Death Note)

LAWFUL EVIL: "Bringing order to the universe...even if we have to choke the shit out of it." (Darth Vader from Star Wars)
NEUTRAL EVIL: "I will cease to exist as I am now...only to be reborn as a god to rule over every soul." (Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII)
CHAOTIC EVIL: "Real horrorshow." (Alex from A Clockwork Orange)

[Addendum: Missing descriptions courtesy of HWMNBN]

This is quite bizarre.

What do you write on the Facebook wall of someone who's committed suicide?