"Critics search for ages for the wrong word, which, to give them credit, they eventually find." - Peter Ustinov
***
On voit ici que de jeunes enfants,
Surtout de jeunes filles
Belles, bien faites, et gentilles,
Font très mal d’écouter toute sorte de gens,
Et que ce n’est pas chose étrange,
S’il en est tant que le Loup mange.
Je dis le Loup, car tous les Loups
Ne sont pas de la même sorte ;
Il en est d’une humeur accorte,
Sans bruit, sans fiel et sans courroux,
Qui privés, complaisants et doux,
Suivent les jeunes Demoiselles
Jusque dans les maisons, jusque dans les ruelles ;
Mais hélas ! qui ne sait que ces Loups doucereux,
De tous les Loups sont les plus dangereux.
And a (somewhat) more modern reimagining of Perrault:
From this short story easy we discern
What conduct all young people ought to learn.
But above all, young, growing misses fair,
Whose orient rosy blooms begin t'appear:
Who, beauties in the fragrant spring of age,
With pretty airs young hearts are apt t'engage.
Ill do they listen to all sorts of tongues,
Since some inchant and lure like Syrens' songs.
No wonder therefore 'tis, if over-power'd,
So many of them has the Wolf devour'd.
The Wolf, I say, for Wolves too sure there are
Of every sort, and every character.
Some of them mild and gentle-humour'd be,
Of noise and gall, and rancour wholly free;
Who tame, familiar, full of complaisance
Ogle and leer, languish, cajole and glance;
With luring tongues, and language wond'rous sweet,
Follow young ladies as they walk the street,
Ev'n to their very houses, nay, bedside,
And, artful, tho' their true designs they hide;
Yet ah! these simpering Wolves! Who does not see
Most dangerous of Wolves indeed they be?
L'origine de Bert
Sunday, January 31, 2010
"Partying is such sweet sorrow." - Robert Byrne
***
"Greetings!
This is an automated notification regarding the recent change(s)
made to your World of Warcraft account. Your password has recently been modified through the Password Recovery website.
*** If you made this password change, please disregard this notification. However, if you did NOT make changes to your password
we recommend you Login verify your password:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com"
I'm surprised this is the first time I've seen (or noticed, at least) this trick; the link leads to "http://www.wor1dofwnrcrzft.com/"
***
"Greetings!
This is an automated notification regarding the recent change(s)
made to your World of Warcraft account. Your password has recently been modified through the Password Recovery website.
*** If you made this password change, please disregard this notification. However, if you did NOT make changes to your password
we recommend you Login verify your password:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com"
I'm surprised this is the first time I've seen (or noticed, at least) this trick; the link leads to "http://www.wor1dofwnrcrzft.com/"
Post ID: 3309113782104757119
Saturday, January 30, 2010
"Every composer knows the anguish and despair occasioned by forgetting ideas which one had no time to write down." - Hector Berlioz
***
The Truth Wars
"Among the traditional theories, what is called ''correspondence theory,'' going back to Aristotle, encapsulates what is taken to be the common-sense understanding of truth -- that truth consists of correspondence in some form between thought or language and reality. This sounds trivially correct, but usually founders in attempts to say precisely what form such correspondence could take. It is partly as an extremist reaction to those difficulties in the idea of correspondence that postmodernist cynicism about the notion of truth has taken hold of a few intriguing, if misguided, intellectuals...
The enemies of truth, for example, often fall afoul of what the Australian wit and contrarian philosopher David Stove (who died in 1994) called ''the Ishmael effect.'' Melville's Ishmael in ''Moby-Dick'' quotes Job's ''I only am escaped alone to tell thee'' and then spins a tale of adventure nobody could have survived to tell. Just so, relativists must beware of claiming, among other things, that all beliefs are subjective, except the belief that all beliefs are subjective...
[Lynch] argues that caring about truth is necessary for happiness because of the roles in our lives of authenticity and integrity, and that valuing truth for its own sake is an essential part of democracy...
''The phrase 'it is true for me but not for you' is most often just shorthand for: 'I believe it, you don't, so let's talk about something else.' '' Saying that something is a matter of opinion, Lynch writes, may just be a way of getting out of a debate one doesn't want to be in...
Perhaps the saving grace of the sort of extreme relativism that some conservatives fear may sap our civilization is that it is so hopelessly daft as to be impossible to put into practice. Indeed, despite the apparent popularity of subjectivist and deconstructionist ideas in parts of the academy, it is hard to find a significant contemporary controversy -- political, moral or environmental -- in which either side appears infected with such notions. People never think there is no truth of the matter; rather, they think the other side is wrong."
***
The Truth Wars
"Among the traditional theories, what is called ''correspondence theory,'' going back to Aristotle, encapsulates what is taken to be the common-sense understanding of truth -- that truth consists of correspondence in some form between thought or language and reality. This sounds trivially correct, but usually founders in attempts to say precisely what form such correspondence could take. It is partly as an extremist reaction to those difficulties in the idea of correspondence that postmodernist cynicism about the notion of truth has taken hold of a few intriguing, if misguided, intellectuals...
The enemies of truth, for example, often fall afoul of what the Australian wit and contrarian philosopher David Stove (who died in 1994) called ''the Ishmael effect.'' Melville's Ishmael in ''Moby-Dick'' quotes Job's ''I only am escaped alone to tell thee'' and then spins a tale of adventure nobody could have survived to tell. Just so, relativists must beware of claiming, among other things, that all beliefs are subjective, except the belief that all beliefs are subjective...
[Lynch] argues that caring about truth is necessary for happiness because of the roles in our lives of authenticity and integrity, and that valuing truth for its own sake is an essential part of democracy...
''The phrase 'it is true for me but not for you' is most often just shorthand for: 'I believe it, you don't, so let's talk about something else.' '' Saying that something is a matter of opinion, Lynch writes, may just be a way of getting out of a debate one doesn't want to be in...
Perhaps the saving grace of the sort of extreme relativism that some conservatives fear may sap our civilization is that it is so hopelessly daft as to be impossible to put into practice. Indeed, despite the apparent popularity of subjectivist and deconstructionist ideas in parts of the academy, it is hard to find a significant contemporary controversy -- political, moral or environmental -- in which either side appears infected with such notions. People never think there is no truth of the matter; rather, they think the other side is wrong."
Post ID: 2227261213804675042
Friday, January 29, 2010
"Don't you wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence? There's one marked 'Brightness,' but it doesn't work." - Gallagher
***
The International Labour Organisation's report on Singaporeans having the world's longest hours was quite widely reported, but I was a little concerned as its sample size was just 13 countries:
Singapore, Iceland, Cyprus, Japan, South Korea, Ireland, New Zealand, Taiwan, Canada, Denmark, Spain, United Kingdom, United States
(in descending hour of work hours)
Now, a broader study reveals that when the sample size is extended to 51 countries, the same finding holds. Given that productivity has fallen drastically in "GDP per employee terms" (rather than, as I thought, "GDP per employee per hour terms"), this is even more telling of the Singapore model.
We've had "Teach less, Learn more". Now we need "Work less, Do more" (or "Live more").
Instead of Cheaper, Better, Faster, we need Fairly-Paid, Smarter, Fast-Enough.
Singapore sweats away the hours - and productivity
"Clocking 2,307 work hours in 2009 - a number that apparently has stayed constant since 1992, according to The Conference Board's data - the average Singaporean surpassed the other East Asians, the most hardworking globally.
Going by The Conference Board's Total Economy Database - which carries 'annual working hours' for 51 countries dating from 1950 - the South Koreans had been the undisputed workhorse world champions for three decades, ever since they overtook the previous leaders, the Taiwanese, in 1975. The Koreans and Taiwanese were clocking well over 2,700 hours a year for years.
But - as is the trend worldwide - annual working hours have fallen over the decades, including Korea's...
Apart from the East Asians, virtually everyone else (except Greece, Chile and Mexico) put in fewer than 2,000 hours a year, with many well under.
For Singapore, the long hours - especially in a year of poor output such as 2009 - would explain its recent poor productivity figures...
With productivity 'growth' of minus 14.2 per cent in 2009 (in GDP per employee terms), Singapore has the poorest number not only in Asia but worldwide. Average productivity growth across East Asia and the Pacific in 2009 was 2.4 per cent, and minus one per cent worldwide...
Singapore's TFP growth plunged from 3.9 per cent in 2007 to minus 4.9 per cent in 2008.
Still, just on the working hours measure, Singaporeans can have some consolation. Apparently, back in 1950, people here used to clock 2,520 hours a year, when total output was far lower. Annual work hours have fallen steadily through the years, down to 2,307 by 1992"
***
The International Labour Organisation's report on Singaporeans having the world's longest hours was quite widely reported, but I was a little concerned as its sample size was just 13 countries:
Singapore, Iceland, Cyprus, Japan, South Korea, Ireland, New Zealand, Taiwan, Canada, Denmark, Spain, United Kingdom, United States
(in descending hour of work hours)
Now, a broader study reveals that when the sample size is extended to 51 countries, the same finding holds. Given that productivity has fallen drastically in "GDP per employee terms" (rather than, as I thought, "GDP per employee per hour terms"), this is even more telling of the Singapore model.
We've had "Teach less, Learn more". Now we need "Work less, Do more" (or "Live more").
Instead of Cheaper, Better, Faster, we need Fairly-Paid, Smarter, Fast-Enough.
Singapore sweats away the hours - and productivity
"Clocking 2,307 work hours in 2009 - a number that apparently has stayed constant since 1992, according to The Conference Board's data - the average Singaporean surpassed the other East Asians, the most hardworking globally.
Going by The Conference Board's Total Economy Database - which carries 'annual working hours' for 51 countries dating from 1950 - the South Koreans had been the undisputed workhorse world champions for three decades, ever since they overtook the previous leaders, the Taiwanese, in 1975. The Koreans and Taiwanese were clocking well over 2,700 hours a year for years.
But - as is the trend worldwide - annual working hours have fallen over the decades, including Korea's...
Apart from the East Asians, virtually everyone else (except Greece, Chile and Mexico) put in fewer than 2,000 hours a year, with many well under.
For Singapore, the long hours - especially in a year of poor output such as 2009 - would explain its recent poor productivity figures...
With productivity 'growth' of minus 14.2 per cent in 2009 (in GDP per employee terms), Singapore has the poorest number not only in Asia but worldwide. Average productivity growth across East Asia and the Pacific in 2009 was 2.4 per cent, and minus one per cent worldwide...
Singapore's TFP growth plunged from 3.9 per cent in 2007 to minus 4.9 per cent in 2008.
Still, just on the working hours measure, Singaporeans can have some consolation. Apparently, back in 1950, people here used to clock 2,520 hours a year, when total output was far lower. Annual work hours have fallen steadily through the years, down to 2,307 by 1992"
Post ID: 4749742282606283056
Two statisticians are out hunting when one of them sees a duck.
The first takes aim and shoots, but the bullet goes sailing past six inches too high.
The second statistician also takes aim and shoots, but this time the bullet goes sailing past six inches too low.
The two statisticians then give one another high fives and exclaim, "Got him!"
The first takes aim and shoots, but the bullet goes sailing past six inches too high.
The second statistician also takes aim and shoots, but this time the bullet goes sailing past six inches too low.
The two statisticians then give one another high fives and exclaim, "Got him!"
Post ID: 5308582697769057950
Thursday, January 28, 2010
"Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years." - Oscar Wilde
***
Flying R2-D2, you are doing it wrong - "Using these values, the mass of R2 is 0.1 kg. Yes, 100 grams... If this mass is so low, I think R2 doesn't even need thrusters. He would just float... I was originally thinking that maybe R2 was made of styrofoam - but that has a density of about 40 kg/m3. So there. Pre-emptive comment: I know someone is going to say "hey, chill man! It is just a movie. Don't ruin it by bringing in all your physics stuff." My reply, someone has already ruined the Star Wars movies, his name is George. Just kidding, I still like Star Wars."
Mary Karr on the Vocabulary of Desire - "'A twelve-year-old writing a boy’s name on her notebook over and over doesn’t want to get boffed into guacamole. She wants the boy to bring her a valentine and put it in her lunchbox... It’s as powerful as a sexual urge but it’s not so genital. It’s somewhat about being seen – what feminist critics might call a longing for the male gaze. Being looked at in this culture invents you as a woman long before you’re getting laid. It was about love more than sex – about beauty, desire' This last bit of hers was an epiphany for me, though I wonder if it won’t be controversial, considering how many feminist women I know will disclaim ever having Cared About Men, even as teenagers"
Poole — the town with a Christmas tree that you can wipe your feet on - "When is a Christmas tree not a Christmas tree? When it is a giant cone covered in what appears to be green doormats... The 33ft structure turned out to be their Christmas tree, designed according to the principles of health and safety, circa 2009. Thus it has no trunk so it won’t blow over, no branches to break off and land on someone’s head, no pine needles to poke a passer-by in the eye, no decorations for drunken teenagers to steal and no angel... Christmas trees are one of the most hazardous objects in the home, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. In 2002, the most recent year for which statistics are available, 1,000 people needed hospital treatment for injuries inflicted by trees. They ranged from being poked in the eye to back injuries caused by moving the trees around"
The PC Decrapifier - "The PC Decrapifier is a program designed to remove or uninstall a specific list of unwanted software in an unattended fashion. It can be used to clean off most of the annoying software that is typically shipped with new PCs."
Low-slung, baggy pants often trip up thieves - "Young men and teens wearing low-slung, baggy pants fairly regularly get tripped up in their getaways, a development that has given amused police officers and law-abiding citizens a welcome edge in the fight against crime"
World's 'most expensive' ham leg on sale in London - "The leg of Iberico ham, which costs £1,800, went on sale at the food hall in the retailer's flagship store in Oxford Street, central London. The 7kg (15lb) ham leg comes with its own DNA certificate as proof of authenticity"
The ice-cream parlour with 860 different flavours - "You might imagine that the shop selling the largest number of ice-cream flavours in the world would be in Italy or perhaps the US, but in fact it is in the Venezuelan city of Merida... "What is the house special?" I ask Jose. He chuckles and says "pabellon criollo" - a traditional Venezuelan meal of beef, rice, plantain, cheese and black beans, which Coromoto has replicated in ice cream"
SHENIS - About - "It's the female answer to standing to pee for ladies!... The Shenis is gold and twelve inches long. In other words, it really is the Equalizer. It also gives us girls a chance to pee on road trips"
Chicago Economists on the Crisis - "Some come across as obtuse; others as arrogant; and some oblivious, or uninterested in evidence. Time and again I was surprised at how readily the interviews slipped from careful insight into personal ideology and dogmas"
Big hopes from little Singapore - "Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman told the Herald a pilot scheme was being proposed to lure Singaporeans wanting to work and study in New Zealand. Would-be migrants will be told of comparatively cheaper housing and car ownership, and the relaxed lifestyle. Those interested in becoming New Zealanders will be invited to register their interest online... Last year, only 114 Singaporeans became permanent residents in New Zealand"
How To Get Rid of Loan sharks and Opposition Politicians. - "This poor woman is being harassed by loan sharks. Despite numerous reports and calls to the police, nothing seems to be working as the loan sharks are still harassing the poor woman. Apparently loan sharks have some kind of magical powers that renders them immune to the police and our laws... Dr Chee seems to attract police like flies to shit. So here’s my brilliant solution to everything-
1. Make all loan sharks register as a political party...
2. Dr Chee and his political party needs to get into the loan sharking business because the police always likes to tell us they can’t do anything about loan sharks harrassment"
Teenagers hospitalised by extreme chilli sauce
The Practice of Domination in Everyday Life - "Amidst the many images of hostility, conflict, and destruction that come out of the occupied territories in Palestine, this one is truly shocking... 'In Hebron, a Jewish settler threw wine at a Palestinian woman'"
Fight the Bull - Why Business People Speak Like Idiots - "If you think you smell something at work, there's probably good reason -- Bull has become the official language of business. Every day, we get bombarded by an endless stream of filtered, jargon-filled corporate speak, all of which makes it harder to get heard, harder to be authentic, and definitely harder to have fun. But it doesn't have to be that way. The team that brought you the Clio Award-winning Bullfighter software is back with an entertaining, bare-knuckled guide to talking straight. Grab your cape and sharpen your sword. It's time to fight the bull!"
The Plain English Campaign is fun too
Homoeopathy sceptics plan mass 'overdose' - "More than 300 people who style themselves as "homoeopathy sceptics" will each swallow an entire bottle of homoeopathic pills in protest at the continued marketing of homoeopathic medicines by Boots, the high street chemist chain... In England, an estimated 470,000 people use homoeopathic remedies every year. Branches of Boots carry shelves of remedies including arnica, nux vomica, pulsatilla and rhus tox in the "complementary medicine" section. The Queen, David Beckham and Geri Halliwell are among those said to swear by them"
Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire - "Voltaire believed that through education and reason man could separate himself from the beasts while Rousseau thought that it was precisely all this which made men "unnatural" and corrupted... Like many intellectuals, Rousseau was a great lover of mankind as a collective but singularly unable to appreciate or get along with any individual persons who he encountered in his life"
The 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures - "For women, a smile isn’t strictly better: she actually gets the most messages by flirting directly into the camera... Men’s photos are most effective when they look away from the camera and don’t smile. Maybe women want a little mystery... for both genders, self-shot pictures are more successful than average... In terms of getting new messages, the MySpace Shot is the single most effective photo type for women. We at first thought this was just because, typically, you can kind of see down the girl’s shirt... For women in their late teens and early twenties, body pictures are the most popular type of shot; outdoor pictures are second. This ordering is reversed by the mid-twenties"
Pigeon: Impossible - "Pigeon: Impossible is the tale of Walter, a rookie secret agent faced with a problem seldom covered in basic training: what to do when a curious pigeon gets trapped inside your multi-million dollar, government-issued nuclear briefcase."
Our Vanishing Ultimate Resource - ""Those who fear overpopulation share a simple insight: People use resources," Harvard economist Greg Mankiw wrote in 1998, summing up the argument. "The rebuttal to this argument is equally simple: People create resources"... Increased immigration doesn't seem to be the answer... Many immigrants, it turns out, quickly adopt the fertility patterns of their new country... fertility levels among native-born white Americans also remain higher than among native-born Europeans, and the U.S.'s overall fertility outpaces that of other countries with a high percentage of foreign-born residents... fertility rates have remained stable in the U.S. even as they have plummeted in religious fundamentalist countries... some scholars are now positing the distinctive nature of the U.S. economy and its labor market as a principal reason why Americans are having so many kids... In America employers and workers have also proved far more innovative in designing work schemes that afford parents better reentry into the job market, including flex-time arrangements"
Woman tried making love to burglar
Parasite of the Day
Second pregnant man Scott Moore due to give birth to baby boy next month - "Scott Moore - thought to be only the second ‘pregnant man’ to go public - is due to give birth to a boy in February, with husband Thomas by his side. The couple were both born girls and have undergone surgery to transform their sex... "No pregnant person should be denied healthcare just because they are a man""
SPOING!
Employer told they can't advertise for 'reliable' workers... because it discriminates against 'unreliable applicants - "When she ran the ad past a job centre, she was told she couldn't ask for 'reliable' and 'hard-working' applicants because it could be offensive to unreliable people. 'In my 15 years in recruitment I haven't heard anything so ridiculous,' Mrs Mamo said yesterday... 'Even the woman at the jobcentre agreed it was ridiculous but explained it was policy because they could get sued for being dicriminatory against unreliable people. 'She told me they'd had lots of problems with people taking them to court for adverts stating something like "would suit school leaver"'... 'I had to battle to have "must speak English", which they also said was discriminatory. 'In the end, I had to write "must speak English due to health and safety reasons" because they're dealing with hazardous materials.'"
CHRISTOPHER BIGGINS: Will they lock me up for playing Widow Twankey? - "During the dark days of Soviet oppression, there was a joke that did the rounds in Russia. ' Homosexuality is a crime and the punishment is seven years in prison locked up with other men. There is a three-year waiting list.' Don't laugh too loudly. It could soon be illegal to repeat a joke like that. I'm not kidding. In the name of challenging 'homophobia', the Government is planning to push legislation through Parliament that will make it a serious crime to use any language which could be construed as offensive to gay men and women... Supporters of this change like to pose as the protectors of the gay community, but they are nothing of the sort. The idea that we are all such enfeebled victims that we cannot take a single joke is actually an insult. Most gay men and women love self-deprecating humour and camp exaggeration of stereotypes. That is why drag artists are so popular on the gay scene... The politically correct bigots should not be allowed to have it both ways. They cannot say, on one hand, that gay lifestyles should be accepted as a perfectly normal part of life, and then, on the other, demand special treatment for gay people to shield them from everyday humour. We are more grown up than that"
***
Flying R2-D2, you are doing it wrong - "Using these values, the mass of R2 is 0.1 kg. Yes, 100 grams... If this mass is so low, I think R2 doesn't even need thrusters. He would just float... I was originally thinking that maybe R2 was made of styrofoam - but that has a density of about 40 kg/m3. So there. Pre-emptive comment: I know someone is going to say "hey, chill man! It is just a movie. Don't ruin it by bringing in all your physics stuff." My reply, someone has already ruined the Star Wars movies, his name is George. Just kidding, I still like Star Wars."
Mary Karr on the Vocabulary of Desire - "'A twelve-year-old writing a boy’s name on her notebook over and over doesn’t want to get boffed into guacamole. She wants the boy to bring her a valentine and put it in her lunchbox... It’s as powerful as a sexual urge but it’s not so genital. It’s somewhat about being seen – what feminist critics might call a longing for the male gaze. Being looked at in this culture invents you as a woman long before you’re getting laid. It was about love more than sex – about beauty, desire' This last bit of hers was an epiphany for me, though I wonder if it won’t be controversial, considering how many feminist women I know will disclaim ever having Cared About Men, even as teenagers"
Poole — the town with a Christmas tree that you can wipe your feet on - "When is a Christmas tree not a Christmas tree? When it is a giant cone covered in what appears to be green doormats... The 33ft structure turned out to be their Christmas tree, designed according to the principles of health and safety, circa 2009. Thus it has no trunk so it won’t blow over, no branches to break off and land on someone’s head, no pine needles to poke a passer-by in the eye, no decorations for drunken teenagers to steal and no angel... Christmas trees are one of the most hazardous objects in the home, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. In 2002, the most recent year for which statistics are available, 1,000 people needed hospital treatment for injuries inflicted by trees. They ranged from being poked in the eye to back injuries caused by moving the trees around"
The PC Decrapifier - "The PC Decrapifier is a program designed to remove or uninstall a specific list of unwanted software in an unattended fashion. It can be used to clean off most of the annoying software that is typically shipped with new PCs."
Low-slung, baggy pants often trip up thieves - "Young men and teens wearing low-slung, baggy pants fairly regularly get tripped up in their getaways, a development that has given amused police officers and law-abiding citizens a welcome edge in the fight against crime"
World's 'most expensive' ham leg on sale in London - "The leg of Iberico ham, which costs £1,800, went on sale at the food hall in the retailer's flagship store in Oxford Street, central London. The 7kg (15lb) ham leg comes with its own DNA certificate as proof of authenticity"
The ice-cream parlour with 860 different flavours - "You might imagine that the shop selling the largest number of ice-cream flavours in the world would be in Italy or perhaps the US, but in fact it is in the Venezuelan city of Merida... "What is the house special?" I ask Jose. He chuckles and says "pabellon criollo" - a traditional Venezuelan meal of beef, rice, plantain, cheese and black beans, which Coromoto has replicated in ice cream"
SHENIS - About - "It's the female answer to standing to pee for ladies!... The Shenis is gold and twelve inches long. In other words, it really is the Equalizer. It also gives us girls a chance to pee on road trips"
Chicago Economists on the Crisis - "Some come across as obtuse; others as arrogant; and some oblivious, or uninterested in evidence. Time and again I was surprised at how readily the interviews slipped from careful insight into personal ideology and dogmas"
Big hopes from little Singapore - "Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman told the Herald a pilot scheme was being proposed to lure Singaporeans wanting to work and study in New Zealand. Would-be migrants will be told of comparatively cheaper housing and car ownership, and the relaxed lifestyle. Those interested in becoming New Zealanders will be invited to register their interest online... Last year, only 114 Singaporeans became permanent residents in New Zealand"
How To Get Rid of Loan sharks and Opposition Politicians. - "This poor woman is being harassed by loan sharks. Despite numerous reports and calls to the police, nothing seems to be working as the loan sharks are still harassing the poor woman. Apparently loan sharks have some kind of magical powers that renders them immune to the police and our laws... Dr Chee seems to attract police like flies to shit. So here’s my brilliant solution to everything-
1. Make all loan sharks register as a political party...
2. Dr Chee and his political party needs to get into the loan sharking business because the police always likes to tell us they can’t do anything about loan sharks harrassment"
Teenagers hospitalised by extreme chilli sauce
The Practice of Domination in Everyday Life - "Amidst the many images of hostility, conflict, and destruction that come out of the occupied territories in Palestine, this one is truly shocking... 'In Hebron, a Jewish settler threw wine at a Palestinian woman'"
Fight the Bull - Why Business People Speak Like Idiots - "If you think you smell something at work, there's probably good reason -- Bull has become the official language of business. Every day, we get bombarded by an endless stream of filtered, jargon-filled corporate speak, all of which makes it harder to get heard, harder to be authentic, and definitely harder to have fun. But it doesn't have to be that way. The team that brought you the Clio Award-winning Bullfighter software is back with an entertaining, bare-knuckled guide to talking straight. Grab your cape and sharpen your sword. It's time to fight the bull!"
The Plain English Campaign is fun too
Homoeopathy sceptics plan mass 'overdose' - "More than 300 people who style themselves as "homoeopathy sceptics" will each swallow an entire bottle of homoeopathic pills in protest at the continued marketing of homoeopathic medicines by Boots, the high street chemist chain... In England, an estimated 470,000 people use homoeopathic remedies every year. Branches of Boots carry shelves of remedies including arnica, nux vomica, pulsatilla and rhus tox in the "complementary medicine" section. The Queen, David Beckham and Geri Halliwell are among those said to swear by them"
Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire - "Voltaire believed that through education and reason man could separate himself from the beasts while Rousseau thought that it was precisely all this which made men "unnatural" and corrupted... Like many intellectuals, Rousseau was a great lover of mankind as a collective but singularly unable to appreciate or get along with any individual persons who he encountered in his life"
The 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures - "For women, a smile isn’t strictly better: she actually gets the most messages by flirting directly into the camera... Men’s photos are most effective when they look away from the camera and don’t smile. Maybe women want a little mystery... for both genders, self-shot pictures are more successful than average... In terms of getting new messages, the MySpace Shot is the single most effective photo type for women. We at first thought this was just because, typically, you can kind of see down the girl’s shirt... For women in their late teens and early twenties, body pictures are the most popular type of shot; outdoor pictures are second. This ordering is reversed by the mid-twenties"
Pigeon: Impossible - "Pigeon: Impossible is the tale of Walter, a rookie secret agent faced with a problem seldom covered in basic training: what to do when a curious pigeon gets trapped inside your multi-million dollar, government-issued nuclear briefcase."
Our Vanishing Ultimate Resource - ""Those who fear overpopulation share a simple insight: People use resources," Harvard economist Greg Mankiw wrote in 1998, summing up the argument. "The rebuttal to this argument is equally simple: People create resources"... Increased immigration doesn't seem to be the answer... Many immigrants, it turns out, quickly adopt the fertility patterns of their new country... fertility levels among native-born white Americans also remain higher than among native-born Europeans, and the U.S.'s overall fertility outpaces that of other countries with a high percentage of foreign-born residents... fertility rates have remained stable in the U.S. even as they have plummeted in religious fundamentalist countries... some scholars are now positing the distinctive nature of the U.S. economy and its labor market as a principal reason why Americans are having so many kids... In America employers and workers have also proved far more innovative in designing work schemes that afford parents better reentry into the job market, including flex-time arrangements"
Woman tried making love to burglar
Parasite of the Day
Second pregnant man Scott Moore due to give birth to baby boy next month - "Scott Moore - thought to be only the second ‘pregnant man’ to go public - is due to give birth to a boy in February, with husband Thomas by his side. The couple were both born girls and have undergone surgery to transform their sex... "No pregnant person should be denied healthcare just because they are a man""
SPOING!
Employer told they can't advertise for 'reliable' workers... because it discriminates against 'unreliable applicants - "When she ran the ad past a job centre, she was told she couldn't ask for 'reliable' and 'hard-working' applicants because it could be offensive to unreliable people. 'In my 15 years in recruitment I haven't heard anything so ridiculous,' Mrs Mamo said yesterday... 'Even the woman at the jobcentre agreed it was ridiculous but explained it was policy because they could get sued for being dicriminatory against unreliable people. 'She told me they'd had lots of problems with people taking them to court for adverts stating something like "would suit school leaver"'... 'I had to battle to have "must speak English", which they also said was discriminatory. 'In the end, I had to write "must speak English due to health and safety reasons" because they're dealing with hazardous materials.'"
CHRISTOPHER BIGGINS: Will they lock me up for playing Widow Twankey? - "During the dark days of Soviet oppression, there was a joke that did the rounds in Russia. ' Homosexuality is a crime and the punishment is seven years in prison locked up with other men. There is a three-year waiting list.' Don't laugh too loudly. It could soon be illegal to repeat a joke like that. I'm not kidding. In the name of challenging 'homophobia', the Government is planning to push legislation through Parliament that will make it a serious crime to use any language which could be construed as offensive to gay men and women... Supporters of this change like to pose as the protectors of the gay community, but they are nothing of the sort. The idea that we are all such enfeebled victims that we cannot take a single joke is actually an insult. Most gay men and women love self-deprecating humour and camp exaggeration of stereotypes. That is why drag artists are so popular on the gay scene... The politically correct bigots should not be allowed to have it both ways. They cannot say, on one hand, that gay lifestyles should be accepted as a perfectly normal part of life, and then, on the other, demand special treatment for gay people to shield them from everyday humour. We are more grown up than that"
Post ID: 9118451742787973244
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
"The gambling known as business looks with austere disfavor upon the business known as gambling." - Ambrose Bierce
***
msvindicta: Which position do you find yourself waking up in?
Me:
***
msvindicta: Which position do you find yourself waking up in?
Me:
Post ID: 5085944340106002551
Monday, January 25, 2010
"Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally." - Abraham Lincoln
***
Singaporeans for Haiti
"Well, if the government only wants to donate US$50,000 for Haiti, and we Singaporeans think it's too little, then how about we do something about it and donate so that we hit at least US$100,000?
Every little bit counts, so do you part, and show the MFA and government just how generous we Singaporeans can be. It's not only about us, it's about the world.
If we can donate S$7 million for Ren Ci, a fraction of that at US$100,000 isn't such a big deal no?
Remember, 100% of your donation goes towards helping, there are no hidden administration fees or telephone charges that are usually found in those television donations.
Help today!"
(HT @longadin)
Information about the organisation receiving the funds:
"Since 1948, Direct Relief International has worked to improve the quality of life for people in need. We focus on health by providing essential material resources to locally run health programs in poor areas around the world and during times of disaster.
Direct Relief International is a nonprofit, nonpolitical, and nonsectarian organization that provides assistance without regard to race, ethnicity, political or religious affiliation, gender, or ability to pay. A full 100 percent of your support goes to our programmatic work."
***
Singaporeans for Haiti
"Well, if the government only wants to donate US$50,000 for Haiti, and we Singaporeans think it's too little, then how about we do something about it and donate so that we hit at least US$100,000?
Every little bit counts, so do you part, and show the MFA and government just how generous we Singaporeans can be. It's not only about us, it's about the world.
If we can donate S$7 million for Ren Ci, a fraction of that at US$100,000 isn't such a big deal no?
Remember, 100% of your donation goes towards helping, there are no hidden administration fees or telephone charges that are usually found in those television donations.
Help today!"
(HT @longadin)
Information about the organisation receiving the funds:
"Since 1948, Direct Relief International has worked to improve the quality of life for people in need. We focus on health by providing essential material resources to locally run health programs in poor areas around the world and during times of disaster.
Direct Relief International is a nonprofit, nonpolitical, and nonsectarian organization that provides assistance without regard to race, ethnicity, political or religious affiliation, gender, or ability to pay. A full 100 percent of your support goes to our programmatic work."
Post ID: 6245126156716966344
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ...'" - Isaac Asimov
***
"The [new] game of courtly love is an elaborate blueprint for the building of desire, as opposed to the quenching of it. The higher it builds without fulfillment, the more perfect a lover the knight proves himself to be...
Consummated or not, courtly love is by definition adulterous. The knight who jousts on horseback, sword in hand, competes against other knights for a highly desirable lady. But they're not fighting for her hand in marriage, or even for the privilege of courting her. She already has a husband. Initially, at least, they're not even fighting for the privilege of sleeping with her. They're fighting for the privilege of loving her - synonymous with serving her...
In 1154, Henry, Duke of Normandy, captures the English throne as Henry I, making his wife Eleanor [of Aquitaine] a queen for the second time - and [through her] bestowing upon the English court a resident expert on the rules of the game. From there the ideal of love... will be converted into the middle-class ideal of marriage: the melding of two minds, bodies, and hearts into one... Eleanor and her kin would find it next to unimaginable that the heady quality of adultery would one day converge with the dutiful, dispassionate quality of marriage as they experience it.
Maybe that's what finally enables the convergence: Love enters marriage through the extramarital back door. As [Christian author] C.S. Lewis noted in his study of courtly doctrine, Allegory of Love, 'Any idealization of sexual love, in a society where marriage is purely utilitarian, must begin by an idealization of adultery'...
What troubadors bring about is the reinvention of love. They make its pursuit desirable, even admirable. Previously, epic tales of sexual desire ended in mutually assured destruction for all concerned... [Now], to gamble all you have, even your life, on romantic rapture becomes the route to transcendence. The most memorable romantic lovers of courtly literature - Tristan and Isolde, Lancelot and Guinevere, Troilus and Cressida - meet tragic ends, but noble ones. They martyr themselves for the glory of the faith. The new religion of love is a wedge to the future"
--- I Don't: A Contrarian History of Marriage / Susan Squire
And from Daniel Goleman's Social Intelligence:
"Neuroscientist Jaak Pansepp... finds a neural corollary between the dynamics of opiate addiction and the dependence on the people for whom we feel our strongest attachments. All positive interactions with people, he proposes, owe [at least] part of their pleasure to the opioid system, the very circuitry that links with heroin and other addictive substances... Even animals, he finds, prefer to spend time with those in whose presence they have secreted oxytocin and natural opioids, which induce a relaxed serenity - suggesting that these brain chemicals cement our family ties and friendships as well as our love relationships."
***
"The [new] game of courtly love is an elaborate blueprint for the building of desire, as opposed to the quenching of it. The higher it builds without fulfillment, the more perfect a lover the knight proves himself to be...
Consummated or not, courtly love is by definition adulterous. The knight who jousts on horseback, sword in hand, competes against other knights for a highly desirable lady. But they're not fighting for her hand in marriage, or even for the privilege of courting her. She already has a husband. Initially, at least, they're not even fighting for the privilege of sleeping with her. They're fighting for the privilege of loving her - synonymous with serving her...
In 1154, Henry, Duke of Normandy, captures the English throne as Henry I, making his wife Eleanor [of Aquitaine] a queen for the second time - and [through her] bestowing upon the English court a resident expert on the rules of the game. From there the ideal of love... will be converted into the middle-class ideal of marriage: the melding of two minds, bodies, and hearts into one... Eleanor and her kin would find it next to unimaginable that the heady quality of adultery would one day converge with the dutiful, dispassionate quality of marriage as they experience it.
Maybe that's what finally enables the convergence: Love enters marriage through the extramarital back door. As [Christian author] C.S. Lewis noted in his study of courtly doctrine, Allegory of Love, 'Any idealization of sexual love, in a society where marriage is purely utilitarian, must begin by an idealization of adultery'...
What troubadors bring about is the reinvention of love. They make its pursuit desirable, even admirable. Previously, epic tales of sexual desire ended in mutually assured destruction for all concerned... [Now], to gamble all you have, even your life, on romantic rapture becomes the route to transcendence. The most memorable romantic lovers of courtly literature - Tristan and Isolde, Lancelot and Guinevere, Troilus and Cressida - meet tragic ends, but noble ones. They martyr themselves for the glory of the faith. The new religion of love is a wedge to the future"
--- I Don't: A Contrarian History of Marriage / Susan Squire
And from Daniel Goleman's Social Intelligence:
"Neuroscientist Jaak Pansepp... finds a neural corollary between the dynamics of opiate addiction and the dependence on the people for whom we feel our strongest attachments. All positive interactions with people, he proposes, owe [at least] part of their pleasure to the opioid system, the very circuitry that links with heroin and other addictive substances... Even animals, he finds, prefer to spend time with those in whose presence they have secreted oxytocin and natural opioids, which induce a relaxed serenity - suggesting that these brain chemicals cement our family ties and friendships as well as our love relationships."
Post ID: 1672298421542327679
"Reality continues to ruin my life." - Bill Watterson
***
I came across an ad for this site called EliteMeeting:
"Rich Women South Africa: Meet & Date Real Wealthy Women. Exclusive Elite Photo Personals!"
I was intrigued because:
i) Usually it's rich men who're advertised
ii) How would they ensure that the women were really wealthy?
So I logged on to the website and created an account.
Presumably for better matching, the website makes you specify your State/Province and Closest Major City. However, someone neglected to fill in the values for all the countries in the world (or at least for Singapore):
Strangely enough, though, Provinces and Cities for Somalia were available:
Piracy must be even more profitable than I had thought (on the up side, they let transsexuals onto their site).
Then, I was asked to fill in my occupation, educational level, income and net worth. The upper bound on options for the latter two were quite amazing:
Once I created an account, I found out that they actually verify your details, allowing you to fax in your photo id, income tax return, bank statements and professional certifications.
There're lots of complaints about fake profiles, though.
***
I came across an ad for this site called EliteMeeting:
"Rich Women South Africa: Meet & Date Real Wealthy Women. Exclusive Elite Photo Personals!"
I was intrigued because:
i) Usually it's rich men who're advertised
ii) How would they ensure that the women were really wealthy?
So I logged on to the website and created an account.
Presumably for better matching, the website makes you specify your State/Province and Closest Major City. However, someone neglected to fill in the values for all the countries in the world (or at least for Singapore):
Strangely enough, though, Provinces and Cities for Somalia were available:
Piracy must be even more profitable than I had thought (on the up side, they let transsexuals onto their site).
Then, I was asked to fill in my occupation, educational level, income and net worth. The upper bound on options for the latter two were quite amazing:
Once I created an account, I found out that they actually verify your details, allowing you to fax in your photo id, income tax return, bank statements and professional certifications.
There're lots of complaints about fake profiles, though.
Post ID: 9114368442881822924
"The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work." - Harry Golden
***
Someone claimed that Alliance Française was full of SPGs, but given that the students in this Confucius Institute advertisement are all - to a fault - female, I think I'll just ascribe it to women's natural affinity to languages.
Then again, this could be a carefully posed picture to lure men into signing up (the same reason why we have Ladies Nights)
I shall follow Viadero, who is described as saying that "Girls predominate in advanced English courses and in foreign-language and arts classes"
***
Someone claimed that Alliance Française was full of SPGs, but given that the students in this Confucius Institute advertisement are all - to a fault - female, I think I'll just ascribe it to women's natural affinity to languages.
Then again, this could be a carefully posed picture to lure men into signing up (the same reason why we have Ladies Nights)
I shall follow Viadero, who is described as saying that "Girls predominate in advanced English courses and in foreign-language and arts classes"
Post ID: 1084955774551749745
Sunday, January 24, 2010
A Feminist Analysis of Salsa
"The reason there are so few female politicians is that it is too much trouble to put makeup on two faces." - Maureen Murphy
***
Sunday entertainment; a hilariously problematic piece:
"The unequal relationship between the male and female dancers in the salsa coupling incarnates gender dynamics that stand apart from the wider social context. Since the Quiet Revolution in Quebec, which lasted from 1960 to 1966, the province has sought, in both legislation and practice, equality between men and women. Women may “submissively” follow the male dancer’s lead in salsa, but they also direct the production and distribution of the dance in the city... many instructors promote salsa as a dance privileging masculine authority...
Although the fact that men lead in salsa remains an unchanging characteristic of this dance, how salsa produces male and female identities does not correspond to fixed essences. Consequently, the subversive potential of salsa dancing in Montreal lies in how different modes of masculinity and femininity are both produced and promoted by teachers in order to sell the dance. Most teachers do not consciously try to subvert cultural constructions of gender by demonstrating how identity is artificially fashioned. Nonetheless, through their teaching and promotion of gender identity as a performance, salsa dancers in Montreal inadvertently show that sexual identities are cultural constructions... The teaching of male and female identities in salsa dance classes shows how gender identities are contrived, but unlike the intellectual focus of postmodern dance, most salsa instructors are not interested in objections to stereotyped gender fabrications in their classes. My concern with uncovering and analyzing asymmetrical relationships between men and women in salsa did nor seem to be of primary interest to most salsa club goers...
Most people view the leading and following in salsa as simply part of the rules of the dance. They are dispassionate about the male domination and female submissiveness that they recreate as they perform steps and turns. Nonetheless, salsa dance provides a concrete example of how gender identities can be formed and fashioned and how, through repeated performance, they can pass for “natural” differences between men and women. The footwork, stylized figures, and bodily gestures in Montreal salsa classes are taught as those of a man or a woman. These gendered patterns are reiterated and practiced to such an extent that they become automatic and may ultimately be experienced by the dancers themselves and those observing their movements as natural corporeal expressions. This exploration of the production of the gendered body in salsa dancing draws on a feminist postmodern perspective that posits embodiment not as a fixed and natural given but as a construction that is continuously open to flux and therefore a site of possibility...
Adapting Michel Foucault’s theory, Judith Butler claims that the performance of masculinity and femininity, which is considered natural, conforms to the dictates of heterosexual hegemony or compulsory heterosexuality, a term first coined by Adrienne Rich. The system of compulsory heterosexuality is both produced and kept hidden through the creation of bodies as distinct sexes with “natural” demeanors and “natural” heterosexual habits and temperaments...
Power is at work in the creation of distinct gender identities. Butler’s understanding of the construction of gender as a stylized repetition of acts is vividly demonstrated by the fact that salsa’s male and female movements are learned through the repeated practice of contrived dance moves. Gender is brought into being through the stylisation of the body and consequently must be comprehended as the manner in which varied corporeal gestures, movements, and performances institute the deceptive appearance of a conforming gendered identity (Butler, 1988: 270). Gender is not a fact that refers either to an actual essence or to an ideal. Rather, the repeated corporealities that constitute gender itself create the notion of gender; without these performances there would not he gender (273). As Judith Butler states, “Gender is, thus, a construction that regularly conceals its genesis” (273)... When men and women perform their sex according to heterosexual criteria of natural and ideal sexual behavior and through adherence to gender norms, each individual is participating in the production of sexual stereotypes...
Both the man and the woman can find fulfillment on the dance floor by moving together as one, which mediates the predominant position of the male dancer, or they can jointly yield to masculine dominance, sharing in the enjoyment of this power dynamic. The two models of heterosexuality that Richard Dyer identifies in the coup1e dances of the musical are analogous to the two prevailing ways that Montreal dance teachers interpret gender differences in salsa. He cites the “Jane Ausen model,” in which male and female partners achieve equality and joy in dance through the blend of their opposite roles. On the other hand, the pleasure that dancers experience in what Dyer refers to as the “Barbara Cartland model” lies in the performance of inequality. The woman revels in her relinquishment of power to the male dancer, who in turn luxuriates in his mastery over her...
Vermay argues that competitive Latin American dance embodies a contrived and extreme image of heterosexuality. In training to compete in the Latin American dance competitions, female dancers are taught to be sexy and feminine. Male dancers emulate a macho, masculine, and butch demeanor. The dancers forge these stereotyped gender distinctions through overstated choreographed gestures, excessive facial expressions, and over done costumes (Vermay, 1994: 5S). Performances stress images such as a “dynamic sex kitten,”“a high-class prostitute,”“a sophisticated romantic,”“an animalistic undulating look,” and “a gypsy look”...
The pantomimic and potentially racist performance of Latin American dance also becomes apparent in how dancers cover their faces with makeup to appear darker. Juliet McMains argues that the “darkening” of Latin dancers evokes the racist performance of blackface minstrelsy...
Another heterosexual narrative that conveys inequality between the sexes is a visual display of the female body being manipulated by the male dancer. This demonstration of feminine passivity through spectacle is found in competitive Latin American dance and at some dance schools in Montreal. Seeking more equality between men and women in Latin dance, Ruud Vermay decries the objectification of the female form: To some, indeed many people, the portrayal of women as mere objects of sexual desire, thrown around by men, treated as men’s pleasure is wholly distasteful today. It still strikes me as incredible that during the final heat of a competition the ‘announcer’ can ask the audience to show its appreciation of a female competitor’s look (never a male’s) by applauding accordingly when [her] number is called” (Vermay, 1994: 99).
Various Montreal dance teachers promote a dance style that focuses on the male dancer using turns to display the woman, thereby transforming her into an object of spectacle. The male concentrates on maneuvring the female and consequently dances less; his body is not exhibited to the same extent as the woman’s. The man’s leading facilitates displaying the woman’s body... Marcus views the exhibition of the female dancer as an element of the dance that balances out the male leadership, as women derive pleasure from being led through steps and spins that transform the female form into an object of beauty to be flaunted and exhibited. He says, "There always has to be someone who follows. That is not sexist... if we look at it from another angle, we see that the woman is the spectacle of the dance. It is the man who displays the woman. The man makes the woman move. Then it’s the woman who is displayed. And it’s the woman who always follows” (my translation).
There is a certain degree of truth in what Marcus says. Many female salsa dancers luxuriate in being observed and admired as the male dancers display their bodies. Many women revel in how their dancing enables them to be appreciated and desired. The overt objectification of the female form is one element that draws both women and men to salsa clubs and schools. Both in clubs and in dance classes, some women actively participate in the metamorphosis of their bodies into objects of spectacle. They dress in alluring and revealing clothes that draw attention to their legs, breasts, and navels. In contrast, men’s bodies are usually completely covered...
Proponents of the politics of pleasure may argue that female salsa dancers are not simply at the mercy of the male gaze when their bodies are exhibited, but also able to obtain power as the gesticulations of the dance and their enticing attire mold them into objects of male desire. Nonetheless, the power that women might attain in salsa never transgresses the male leadership in the dance. Jane Cowan illustrates that any supremacy that women attain in the dance is always circumscribed by masculine control... “Any sexual or gender complementarity—like women’s powers generally—that may be observed in particular sites and moments must always be seen in the context of a broader asymmetry of male dominance and of the androcentric and patriarchal institutions through which it is manifested”...
[Ballet] transforms the female body into an obcct of pleasure for the male gaze. The dancer, rendered ethereal and frail by her pointe shoes and her lithe frame, is supported and lifted by the male dancer. This dynamic of female subordination and male dominance transforms the ballerina into something to be looked at, or an object of the male gaze... Stephanie Jordan and Helen Thomas... refigure, for instance, Daly’s interpretation of the “drag step,” in which she claims “the man literally carries the ballerina on his back” (Jordan and Thomas, 1998: 247; Daly, 1987: 9). Jordan and Thomas propose this step as a means by which the female dancer increases the movement of the male by “clinging aggressively to his back”...
Ruud Vermay writes, “In Latin dance, despite the emphasis on the notion of the ‘male lead,’ successful partnering is the result of the equal flow of energy between two people, two people dancing with each other. If the energy flow is unequal, manipulation results. The manipulator dances at the partner, the manipulated dances for the partner”... Viewed from the perspective of body dynamics, accomplished male leading does not apply strength and force kit concedes to gravity and the woman’s energy"
--- Salsa and its transnational moves / Sheenagh Pietrobruno
From elsewhere:
"I am very happy if a man knows how to lead and lead well. I am a feminist, but somethings just work better when you don't try to lead. I don't want to lead--I don't know what I'm doing. And the rules of hand-to-hand (contact??) dancing are that the man leads. Some feminists will argue that the rules of dancing need to be changed, but I am not one of these. I don't want to change the Bible so that God is referred to as a woman. I don't care. It doesn't matter to me. What matters to me in terms of feminism is gender equality before the law and in society. Domestic abuse (although either gender can be abused), prostitution (ditto), equal legal rights, equal working rights, freedom from sexual harassment etc are far the more serious issues that feminism should deal with. Not dancing.
It's dancing for God's sake, not war."
***
Sunday entertainment; a hilariously problematic piece:
"The unequal relationship between the male and female dancers in the salsa coupling incarnates gender dynamics that stand apart from the wider social context. Since the Quiet Revolution in Quebec, which lasted from 1960 to 1966, the province has sought, in both legislation and practice, equality between men and women. Women may “submissively” follow the male dancer’s lead in salsa, but they also direct the production and distribution of the dance in the city... many instructors promote salsa as a dance privileging masculine authority...
Although the fact that men lead in salsa remains an unchanging characteristic of this dance, how salsa produces male and female identities does not correspond to fixed essences. Consequently, the subversive potential of salsa dancing in Montreal lies in how different modes of masculinity and femininity are both produced and promoted by teachers in order to sell the dance. Most teachers do not consciously try to subvert cultural constructions of gender by demonstrating how identity is artificially fashioned. Nonetheless, through their teaching and promotion of gender identity as a performance, salsa dancers in Montreal inadvertently show that sexual identities are cultural constructions... The teaching of male and female identities in salsa dance classes shows how gender identities are contrived, but unlike the intellectual focus of postmodern dance, most salsa instructors are not interested in objections to stereotyped gender fabrications in their classes. My concern with uncovering and analyzing asymmetrical relationships between men and women in salsa did nor seem to be of primary interest to most salsa club goers...
Most people view the leading and following in salsa as simply part of the rules of the dance. They are dispassionate about the male domination and female submissiveness that they recreate as they perform steps and turns. Nonetheless, salsa dance provides a concrete example of how gender identities can be formed and fashioned and how, through repeated performance, they can pass for “natural” differences between men and women. The footwork, stylized figures, and bodily gestures in Montreal salsa classes are taught as those of a man or a woman. These gendered patterns are reiterated and practiced to such an extent that they become automatic and may ultimately be experienced by the dancers themselves and those observing their movements as natural corporeal expressions. This exploration of the production of the gendered body in salsa dancing draws on a feminist postmodern perspective that posits embodiment not as a fixed and natural given but as a construction that is continuously open to flux and therefore a site of possibility...
Adapting Michel Foucault’s theory, Judith Butler claims that the performance of masculinity and femininity, which is considered natural, conforms to the dictates of heterosexual hegemony or compulsory heterosexuality, a term first coined by Adrienne Rich. The system of compulsory heterosexuality is both produced and kept hidden through the creation of bodies as distinct sexes with “natural” demeanors and “natural” heterosexual habits and temperaments...
Power is at work in the creation of distinct gender identities. Butler’s understanding of the construction of gender as a stylized repetition of acts is vividly demonstrated by the fact that salsa’s male and female movements are learned through the repeated practice of contrived dance moves. Gender is brought into being through the stylisation of the body and consequently must be comprehended as the manner in which varied corporeal gestures, movements, and performances institute the deceptive appearance of a conforming gendered identity (Butler, 1988: 270). Gender is not a fact that refers either to an actual essence or to an ideal. Rather, the repeated corporealities that constitute gender itself create the notion of gender; without these performances there would not he gender (273). As Judith Butler states, “Gender is, thus, a construction that regularly conceals its genesis” (273)... When men and women perform their sex according to heterosexual criteria of natural and ideal sexual behavior and through adherence to gender norms, each individual is participating in the production of sexual stereotypes...
Both the man and the woman can find fulfillment on the dance floor by moving together as one, which mediates the predominant position of the male dancer, or they can jointly yield to masculine dominance, sharing in the enjoyment of this power dynamic. The two models of heterosexuality that Richard Dyer identifies in the coup1e dances of the musical are analogous to the two prevailing ways that Montreal dance teachers interpret gender differences in salsa. He cites the “Jane Ausen model,” in which male and female partners achieve equality and joy in dance through the blend of their opposite roles. On the other hand, the pleasure that dancers experience in what Dyer refers to as the “Barbara Cartland model” lies in the performance of inequality. The woman revels in her relinquishment of power to the male dancer, who in turn luxuriates in his mastery over her...
Vermay argues that competitive Latin American dance embodies a contrived and extreme image of heterosexuality. In training to compete in the Latin American dance competitions, female dancers are taught to be sexy and feminine. Male dancers emulate a macho, masculine, and butch demeanor. The dancers forge these stereotyped gender distinctions through overstated choreographed gestures, excessive facial expressions, and over done costumes (Vermay, 1994: 5S). Performances stress images such as a “dynamic sex kitten,”“a high-class prostitute,”“a sophisticated romantic,”“an animalistic undulating look,” and “a gypsy look”...
The pantomimic and potentially racist performance of Latin American dance also becomes apparent in how dancers cover their faces with makeup to appear darker. Juliet McMains argues that the “darkening” of Latin dancers evokes the racist performance of blackface minstrelsy...
Another heterosexual narrative that conveys inequality between the sexes is a visual display of the female body being manipulated by the male dancer. This demonstration of feminine passivity through spectacle is found in competitive Latin American dance and at some dance schools in Montreal. Seeking more equality between men and women in Latin dance, Ruud Vermay decries the objectification of the female form: To some, indeed many people, the portrayal of women as mere objects of sexual desire, thrown around by men, treated as men’s pleasure is wholly distasteful today. It still strikes me as incredible that during the final heat of a competition the ‘announcer’ can ask the audience to show its appreciation of a female competitor’s look (never a male’s) by applauding accordingly when [her] number is called” (Vermay, 1994: 99).
Various Montreal dance teachers promote a dance style that focuses on the male dancer using turns to display the woman, thereby transforming her into an object of spectacle. The male concentrates on maneuvring the female and consequently dances less; his body is not exhibited to the same extent as the woman’s. The man’s leading facilitates displaying the woman’s body... Marcus views the exhibition of the female dancer as an element of the dance that balances out the male leadership, as women derive pleasure from being led through steps and spins that transform the female form into an object of beauty to be flaunted and exhibited. He says, "There always has to be someone who follows. That is not sexist... if we look at it from another angle, we see that the woman is the spectacle of the dance. It is the man who displays the woman. The man makes the woman move. Then it’s the woman who is displayed. And it’s the woman who always follows” (my translation).
There is a certain degree of truth in what Marcus says. Many female salsa dancers luxuriate in being observed and admired as the male dancers display their bodies. Many women revel in how their dancing enables them to be appreciated and desired. The overt objectification of the female form is one element that draws both women and men to salsa clubs and schools. Both in clubs and in dance classes, some women actively participate in the metamorphosis of their bodies into objects of spectacle. They dress in alluring and revealing clothes that draw attention to their legs, breasts, and navels. In contrast, men’s bodies are usually completely covered...
Proponents of the politics of pleasure may argue that female salsa dancers are not simply at the mercy of the male gaze when their bodies are exhibited, but also able to obtain power as the gesticulations of the dance and their enticing attire mold them into objects of male desire. Nonetheless, the power that women might attain in salsa never transgresses the male leadership in the dance. Jane Cowan illustrates that any supremacy that women attain in the dance is always circumscribed by masculine control... “Any sexual or gender complementarity—like women’s powers generally—that may be observed in particular sites and moments must always be seen in the context of a broader asymmetry of male dominance and of the androcentric and patriarchal institutions through which it is manifested”...
[Ballet] transforms the female body into an obcct of pleasure for the male gaze. The dancer, rendered ethereal and frail by her pointe shoes and her lithe frame, is supported and lifted by the male dancer. This dynamic of female subordination and male dominance transforms the ballerina into something to be looked at, or an object of the male gaze... Stephanie Jordan and Helen Thomas... refigure, for instance, Daly’s interpretation of the “drag step,” in which she claims “the man literally carries the ballerina on his back” (Jordan and Thomas, 1998: 247; Daly, 1987: 9). Jordan and Thomas propose this step as a means by which the female dancer increases the movement of the male by “clinging aggressively to his back”...
Ruud Vermay writes, “In Latin dance, despite the emphasis on the notion of the ‘male lead,’ successful partnering is the result of the equal flow of energy between two people, two people dancing with each other. If the energy flow is unequal, manipulation results. The manipulator dances at the partner, the manipulated dances for the partner”... Viewed from the perspective of body dynamics, accomplished male leading does not apply strength and force kit concedes to gravity and the woman’s energy"
--- Salsa and its transnational moves / Sheenagh Pietrobruno
From elsewhere:
"I am very happy if a man knows how to lead and lead well. I am a feminist, but somethings just work better when you don't try to lead. I don't want to lead--I don't know what I'm doing. And the rules of hand-to-hand (contact??) dancing are that the man leads. Some feminists will argue that the rules of dancing need to be changed, but I am not one of these. I don't want to change the Bible so that God is referred to as a woman. I don't care. It doesn't matter to me. What matters to me in terms of feminism is gender equality before the law and in society. Domestic abuse (although either gender can be abused), prostitution (ditto), equal legal rights, equal working rights, freedom from sexual harassment etc are far the more serious issues that feminism should deal with. Not dancing.
It's dancing for God's sake, not war."
Post ID: 5005393067849935482
"But in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." - Benjamin Franklin
***
Blowjob With Braces? FAIL! - "A mid 40s Taiwanese couple went to doctor, complaining that his penis was bleeding and was painful... while the wife was doing the job, the wire on braces somehow cut and torn his foreskin, and it started bleeding."
The day I decided to stop being gay - "I once attended the nuptials of a gay male friend to a girl with whom he had unexpectedly fallen head over heels in love. It was a curious affair: the wedding party was peopled with his ex-lovers — including me, the best man and even the vicar... At the BBC, where I worked for seven years, homosexuality was very nearly compulsory... It seems highly perverse that gays should fight for freedom from the bonds of heterosexual morality and then set to copying their oppressors by creating similar contracts of their own... The late jazz singer, art critic and gay-straight convert George Melly... told me about his Damascene transformation. He was 30 years old, on a country bicycle ride with a group of friends, when it happened. Floridly gay, he suddenly noticed that he was staring at the girls, rather than the boys, and declared to himself, “Oooh, you’re heterosexual now, dearie.” He went on to enjoy a long and happy marriage."
Apparently sexual orientation is not all that fixed for men (at least not for all men) either (we already know that women, as always, are complicated and change their minds). Of course people are trying to silence him in the comments.
Web 2.0 Suicide Machine: How to Quit Facebook, Twitter
Pretty women 'anger more easily' - "Researchers found women who rated themselves as pretty displayed a war-like streak when fighting battles to get their own way... they found how attractive other people rated the women also tallied... In men, they found a similar link but with physical strength rather than attractiveness per se"
Asia Carrera FAQs - "How can I get into porno movies?
This is one fantasy that's better left as a fantasy. There's a reason why you always see the same guys over and over in every movie. It's because there are very, very few guys who can perform on command under the demanding, grueling circumstances of shooting a movie. Imagine: it's 5am, you're exhausted, 15 crew guys are grouchy and waiting on you to perform so they can go home. They're giving you nasty looks while you're trying to get hard in the freezing cold, buck naked, on your aching knees on the cold metal hood of a car. The girl, who isn't even very attractive close up, is off set with her boyfriend, smoking a cigarette until you're ready. You're wanking in the cold with an audience of 15 impatient guys, knowing that if you don't get hard, word will spread instantly that you are not reliable. And if you don't come on cue, forcing them to reshoot the scene, you will never be hired again. Directors can't afford delays or failed scenes - so they simply refuse to hire new guys. The way to get around this is by bringing a hot new girl with you, and saying she'll only work with you. Fresh meat is worth its weight in gold around here"
France's Proposed Burqa Ban: Why Americans Might Want to Consider It Too - "Sarkozy has declared that in a country where women enjoy equal rights, he does not want to see those rights debased. Only several thousand French women wear the garment, most coming from communities made up of Muslims who emigrated from former French protectorates... when visiting countries such as Egypt and Morocco, where native women cover all but their faces, I am not likely to go out in public in shorts and a T-shirt, as I do here at home. Some culturally tone deaf Western tourists do dress as if they're touring Disneyland, but most have the presence of mind to cover up somewhat, out of respect for another country's culture, beliefs and tradition. I often wish Muslim immigrant women would repay the courtesy here in the U.S... many [American Muslim women who cover up I interviewed], seemed to have ulterior motives -- motives based on acceptance into a community or by a man who provides emotional or financial support"
Nazi Analogy Jumps the Slope -- and Maybe the Shark - "How are women ski jumpers today like Jews in Nazi Germany? Or are they?... Fifteen women ski jumpers from five countries, supported by feminists around the world, in 2008 launched a legal effort to force the International Olympic Committee to include women's ski jumping in 2010... B'nai Brith's human rights arm recalled the 1936 Berlin Olympics when the IOC did not protest Hitler's barring of Jewish athletes from the Games... B'nai Brith's allies below the 49th parallel have spent a lot of time recently trying to get conservative Christians and Tea Party Republicans to stop using Nazi analogies and Hitlerian imagery as they battle health care reform and President Obama"
Conversations About The Internet #5: Anonymous Facebook Employee - "We did have a master password at one point where you could type in any user’s user ID, and then the password. I’m not going to give you the exact password, but with upper and lower case, symbols, numbers, all of the above, it spelled out ‘Chuck Norris,’ more or less. It was pretty fantastic."
[CES 2010] RCA Airnergy Charger Harvests Electricity From WiFi Signals - "They were able to charge a BlackBerry from 30% to full in about 90 minutes, using nothing but ambient WiFi signals as a power source."
Secret of genius is sexual chemistry - "The careers of great male scientists, like those of male criminals, are most prolific in the first flush of youth, according to the study. Both groups pursue their chosen paths with greatest panache before the age of 35 and both lose their enthusiasm when they marry. The findings seem to support an observation by Einstein, who in 1942, at the age of 63, wrote: “A person who has not made his great contribution to science before the age of 30 will never do so”... In young and single men, testosterone levels are high, leading to risk-taking and creativity. Once a man settles down, testosterone levels fall and so does his creative or criminal output"
Diagnosing Our National Disease: Trends in Income and Happiness, 1973 to 2004 - "The principal force behind declining happiness has been a decline in the number of working-aged Americans who are married, as well as declining marital satisfaction. These trends, however, have been largely independent of trends in income. In fact, once marital factors are considered, the negative trend in happiness reverses direction, and economic factors emerge as the single most important force underlying growing happiness... perceptions of relative income have increased, despite growing income inequality"
Survey: France one of the most productive countries on earth
This is the same reason why Singaporeans work the most in the world, while their productivity fell
Using Fibonacci Numbers to Convert from Miles to Kilometers and Vice Versa - "If the distance you’re converting can be expressed as a single Fibonacci number, then for numbers greater than 21 the error is always around 0.5%. However, if the distance needs to be composed as a sum of n Fibonacci numbers, then the error will be around sqrt(n)·0.5%."
8-year-old Boy Scout placed on terrorist watchlist - "He shares the same name as a person on a security watchlist. Michael Hicks... was first singled out [when] he was just two-years-old. Since then he has found it hard to get on a flight without being mistakenly targeted as a 'suspicious person' on a government watchlist, which triggers a higher level of security screening... More than 81,000 frustrated travellers have asked for their names to be removed from watchlists by the US Department of Homeland Security, and there are currently 25,000 cases pending"
It's a good bet that many of the same people who find it incredible that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab managed to get through security also protest cases like this - and allege racism when security staff are given discretion to not screen 8 year old boys (there're more than half a million people on the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment).
***
Blowjob With Braces? FAIL! - "A mid 40s Taiwanese couple went to doctor, complaining that his penis was bleeding and was painful... while the wife was doing the job, the wire on braces somehow cut and torn his foreskin, and it started bleeding."
The day I decided to stop being gay - "I once attended the nuptials of a gay male friend to a girl with whom he had unexpectedly fallen head over heels in love. It was a curious affair: the wedding party was peopled with his ex-lovers — including me, the best man and even the vicar... At the BBC, where I worked for seven years, homosexuality was very nearly compulsory... It seems highly perverse that gays should fight for freedom from the bonds of heterosexual morality and then set to copying their oppressors by creating similar contracts of their own... The late jazz singer, art critic and gay-straight convert George Melly... told me about his Damascene transformation. He was 30 years old, on a country bicycle ride with a group of friends, when it happened. Floridly gay, he suddenly noticed that he was staring at the girls, rather than the boys, and declared to himself, “Oooh, you’re heterosexual now, dearie.” He went on to enjoy a long and happy marriage."
Apparently sexual orientation is not all that fixed for men (at least not for all men) either (we already know that women, as always, are complicated and change their minds). Of course people are trying to silence him in the comments.
Web 2.0 Suicide Machine: How to Quit Facebook, Twitter
Pretty women 'anger more easily' - "Researchers found women who rated themselves as pretty displayed a war-like streak when fighting battles to get their own way... they found how attractive other people rated the women also tallied... In men, they found a similar link but with physical strength rather than attractiveness per se"
Asia Carrera FAQs - "How can I get into porno movies?
This is one fantasy that's better left as a fantasy. There's a reason why you always see the same guys over and over in every movie. It's because there are very, very few guys who can perform on command under the demanding, grueling circumstances of shooting a movie. Imagine: it's 5am, you're exhausted, 15 crew guys are grouchy and waiting on you to perform so they can go home. They're giving you nasty looks while you're trying to get hard in the freezing cold, buck naked, on your aching knees on the cold metal hood of a car. The girl, who isn't even very attractive close up, is off set with her boyfriend, smoking a cigarette until you're ready. You're wanking in the cold with an audience of 15 impatient guys, knowing that if you don't get hard, word will spread instantly that you are not reliable. And if you don't come on cue, forcing them to reshoot the scene, you will never be hired again. Directors can't afford delays or failed scenes - so they simply refuse to hire new guys. The way to get around this is by bringing a hot new girl with you, and saying she'll only work with you. Fresh meat is worth its weight in gold around here"
France's Proposed Burqa Ban: Why Americans Might Want to Consider It Too - "Sarkozy has declared that in a country where women enjoy equal rights, he does not want to see those rights debased. Only several thousand French women wear the garment, most coming from communities made up of Muslims who emigrated from former French protectorates... when visiting countries such as Egypt and Morocco, where native women cover all but their faces, I am not likely to go out in public in shorts and a T-shirt, as I do here at home. Some culturally tone deaf Western tourists do dress as if they're touring Disneyland, but most have the presence of mind to cover up somewhat, out of respect for another country's culture, beliefs and tradition. I often wish Muslim immigrant women would repay the courtesy here in the U.S... many [American Muslim women who cover up I interviewed], seemed to have ulterior motives -- motives based on acceptance into a community or by a man who provides emotional or financial support"
Nazi Analogy Jumps the Slope -- and Maybe the Shark - "How are women ski jumpers today like Jews in Nazi Germany? Or are they?... Fifteen women ski jumpers from five countries, supported by feminists around the world, in 2008 launched a legal effort to force the International Olympic Committee to include women's ski jumping in 2010... B'nai Brith's human rights arm recalled the 1936 Berlin Olympics when the IOC did not protest Hitler's barring of Jewish athletes from the Games... B'nai Brith's allies below the 49th parallel have spent a lot of time recently trying to get conservative Christians and Tea Party Republicans to stop using Nazi analogies and Hitlerian imagery as they battle health care reform and President Obama"
Conversations About The Internet #5: Anonymous Facebook Employee - "We did have a master password at one point where you could type in any user’s user ID, and then the password. I’m not going to give you the exact password, but with upper and lower case, symbols, numbers, all of the above, it spelled out ‘Chuck Norris,’ more or less. It was pretty fantastic."
[CES 2010] RCA Airnergy Charger Harvests Electricity From WiFi Signals - "They were able to charge a BlackBerry from 30% to full in about 90 minutes, using nothing but ambient WiFi signals as a power source."
Secret of genius is sexual chemistry - "The careers of great male scientists, like those of male criminals, are most prolific in the first flush of youth, according to the study. Both groups pursue their chosen paths with greatest panache before the age of 35 and both lose their enthusiasm when they marry. The findings seem to support an observation by Einstein, who in 1942, at the age of 63, wrote: “A person who has not made his great contribution to science before the age of 30 will never do so”... In young and single men, testosterone levels are high, leading to risk-taking and creativity. Once a man settles down, testosterone levels fall and so does his creative or criminal output"
Diagnosing Our National Disease: Trends in Income and Happiness, 1973 to 2004 - "The principal force behind declining happiness has been a decline in the number of working-aged Americans who are married, as well as declining marital satisfaction. These trends, however, have been largely independent of trends in income. In fact, once marital factors are considered, the negative trend in happiness reverses direction, and economic factors emerge as the single most important force underlying growing happiness... perceptions of relative income have increased, despite growing income inequality"
Survey: France one of the most productive countries on earth
This is the same reason why Singaporeans work the most in the world, while their productivity fell
Using Fibonacci Numbers to Convert from Miles to Kilometers and Vice Versa - "If the distance you’re converting can be expressed as a single Fibonacci number, then for numbers greater than 21 the error is always around 0.5%. However, if the distance needs to be composed as a sum of n Fibonacci numbers, then the error will be around sqrt(n)·0.5%."
8-year-old Boy Scout placed on terrorist watchlist - "He shares the same name as a person on a security watchlist. Michael Hicks... was first singled out [when] he was just two-years-old. Since then he has found it hard to get on a flight without being mistakenly targeted as a 'suspicious person' on a government watchlist, which triggers a higher level of security screening... More than 81,000 frustrated travellers have asked for their names to be removed from watchlists by the US Department of Homeland Security, and there are currently 25,000 cases pending"
It's a good bet that many of the same people who find it incredible that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab managed to get through security also protest cases like this - and allege racism when security staff are given discretion to not screen 8 year old boys (there're more than half a million people on the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment).
Post ID: 625427569362226436
Saturday, January 23, 2010
"Silence propagates itself, and the longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find anything to say." - Samuel Johnson
***
On Biblical Literalism:
"Ask an Evangelical whether or not he believes there are flames in hell, and after a thirty-minute philosophical recitation on the theological implications of eternal retribution in light of the implicit goodness of God, you will still not know what he really believes. Ask a Fundamentalist whether he believes there are really flames in hell and he will simply say, "Yes, and hot ones too!" This is why left-wing Evangelicalism has failed to make any substantial use of the media. It cannot express its theology in the concrete terminology of television English."
--- The Fundamentalist Phenomenon / Jerry Falwell
"The notion of the Bible as carrier of multiple senses is deeply rooted in the Christian tradition. Medieval Christianity sanctioned plural readings, not, of course, in the sense of uncontrolled randomness, but instead tamed by deep reflection on the manifold potentials inherent in sacred scripture...
There was, at the very least, the literal sense and the spiritual or allegorical sense, and the two stood in a hierarchical, although not necessarily oppositional, relationship. For the most part, the literal sense had no raison d’être on its own terms; ideally it served as a bridge toward the real goal of Bible reading: the spiritual sense, or the vision of God.
A dominant practice of medieval Bible reading was governed by the theory of the fourfold sense. Magnificently reconstructed by Henri de Lubac, the theory suggested that every biblical text was amenable to four different readings: the literal sense; the allegorical sense, which gestured toward deeper meanings beyond and above the literal sense; the moral, ethical sense; and the spiritual sense, which pointed toward heavenly realities. Whether one acknowledged this fourfold sense, or merely practiced the twofold sense, or a threefold one, the spiritual sense was in all instances accorded the position of primacy.
Medieval hermeneutics was dazzling in its ability to accommodate diverse and heterogeneous biblical readings within a model of unity... What gave unity to diversity was the premise of the Bible as the Word of God. It meant, among other things, that the Bible was perceived to be a single communication, undergirded by a unifying intentionality...
As one moves into the high and late medieval theology one observes a tendency in some quarters to devote a greater part of biblical exegesis to the exploration of the literal sense. In the twelfth century Hugh and Andrew at the Abbey of St. Victor in Paris, for example, made the study of the literal, authorially intended sense the principal subject of their scriptural scholarship. Hugh poked fun at those who hurried over the literal sense in their eagerness to reach the mystery... Significantly, neither Hugh nor Andrew challenged the primacy of the spiritual sense. They justified their devotion to the literal sense as an effort to strengthen the foundation of the spiritual sense.
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the philosophical school of nominalism rethought matters of mind and language in ways that served as harbinger of a new day... nominalism subtly but discernibly enhanced the prestige of the literal sense.
When in the sixteenth century Luther elevated the literal sense of the Bible, he was still moving in the tradition of the Victorines arid Ockham’s nominalism. But when he proceeded to denounce the fourfold sense in favor soley of the literal sense, and to condemn allegorical interpretation with particular vehemence, he was turning against a millennium and a half of Christian reading of the Bible. Scripture. he daimed, was self-explanatory. The Bible spoke for itself or, as he would phrase it, it was its own interpreter. The sensus literalis spoke clearly and unambiguously. Comprehensible in its plain sense and unimpeded by all other senses, the Bible was, therefore, accessible to everyone. No longer an impenetrable mystery safeguarded by and for theological experts, it was now held to be an open text intelligible for all who could hear and read.
In operational practice, however, scripture was anything but a self-regulating body, and Luther did his best to promote his preferred readings by means of his own translations, interlinear and marginal glosses, scholia (brief or longer essays), introductions, illustrations, and theologically motivated arrangements of the printed text. For Protestants, the Lutheran innovations marked the end of medieval mystification and signaled a welcome democratization of Bible reading. To Catholics, however, the novel approach to biblical hermeneutics appeared in a different light. Steeped in the tradition of medieval exegesis, they saw in the triumph of the via moderna a rational degradation of the mysterious quality of the Bible and a rise of the tyranny of the single sense. Whereas “at the beginning [of the Middle Ages] texts were seen as a boundless resource from which one could take an inexhaustible supply of meanings; at the end of the period, the meaning of the text is austerely anchored in the textual evidence.” And it was this austere single-mindedness of textual meaning that became a model for the modern, historical reading of the Bible.
In the scientific, artistic, and humanistic culture of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries the single sense came increasingly to be read in a factual representational manner... Historians of the stature of Jules Michelet, Leopold von Ranke, Theodor Mommsen, Alexis de Tocqueville, Jakob Burckhardt, and others developed precise methods of research that taught us how to collect, categorize, and evaluate primary sources. Governed by the conviction that it was both possible and desirable to know the past as it actually happened, they produced works on aspects of European and North American history which rank among the classics of Western historiography. In these and other developments of seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century scientific, artistic, humanistic culture, the single sense and its representative content were enforced with unprecedented resolve...
This modern seriousness that wanted to know what really happened engendered “a revolution in the morality of knowledge” that has traumatized Christian relations with the Bible ever since. Once Holy Scripture was, methodically and without reserve, subjected to fact-finding, literal scrutiny, its desacralization as Word of God was an inescapable consequence."
--- The Jesus controversy: perspectives in conflict / John Dominic Crossan, Luke Timothy Johnson, Werner H. Kelber
***
On Biblical Literalism:
"Ask an Evangelical whether or not he believes there are flames in hell, and after a thirty-minute philosophical recitation on the theological implications of eternal retribution in light of the implicit goodness of God, you will still not know what he really believes. Ask a Fundamentalist whether he believes there are really flames in hell and he will simply say, "Yes, and hot ones too!" This is why left-wing Evangelicalism has failed to make any substantial use of the media. It cannot express its theology in the concrete terminology of television English."
--- The Fundamentalist Phenomenon / Jerry Falwell
"The notion of the Bible as carrier of multiple senses is deeply rooted in the Christian tradition. Medieval Christianity sanctioned plural readings, not, of course, in the sense of uncontrolled randomness, but instead tamed by deep reflection on the manifold potentials inherent in sacred scripture...
There was, at the very least, the literal sense and the spiritual or allegorical sense, and the two stood in a hierarchical, although not necessarily oppositional, relationship. For the most part, the literal sense had no raison d’être on its own terms; ideally it served as a bridge toward the real goal of Bible reading: the spiritual sense, or the vision of God.
A dominant practice of medieval Bible reading was governed by the theory of the fourfold sense. Magnificently reconstructed by Henri de Lubac, the theory suggested that every biblical text was amenable to four different readings: the literal sense; the allegorical sense, which gestured toward deeper meanings beyond and above the literal sense; the moral, ethical sense; and the spiritual sense, which pointed toward heavenly realities. Whether one acknowledged this fourfold sense, or merely practiced the twofold sense, or a threefold one, the spiritual sense was in all instances accorded the position of primacy.
Medieval hermeneutics was dazzling in its ability to accommodate diverse and heterogeneous biblical readings within a model of unity... What gave unity to diversity was the premise of the Bible as the Word of God. It meant, among other things, that the Bible was perceived to be a single communication, undergirded by a unifying intentionality...
As one moves into the high and late medieval theology one observes a tendency in some quarters to devote a greater part of biblical exegesis to the exploration of the literal sense. In the twelfth century Hugh and Andrew at the Abbey of St. Victor in Paris, for example, made the study of the literal, authorially intended sense the principal subject of their scriptural scholarship. Hugh poked fun at those who hurried over the literal sense in their eagerness to reach the mystery... Significantly, neither Hugh nor Andrew challenged the primacy of the spiritual sense. They justified their devotion to the literal sense as an effort to strengthen the foundation of the spiritual sense.
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the philosophical school of nominalism rethought matters of mind and language in ways that served as harbinger of a new day... nominalism subtly but discernibly enhanced the prestige of the literal sense.
When in the sixteenth century Luther elevated the literal sense of the Bible, he was still moving in the tradition of the Victorines arid Ockham’s nominalism. But when he proceeded to denounce the fourfold sense in favor soley of the literal sense, and to condemn allegorical interpretation with particular vehemence, he was turning against a millennium and a half of Christian reading of the Bible. Scripture. he daimed, was self-explanatory. The Bible spoke for itself or, as he would phrase it, it was its own interpreter. The sensus literalis spoke clearly and unambiguously. Comprehensible in its plain sense and unimpeded by all other senses, the Bible was, therefore, accessible to everyone. No longer an impenetrable mystery safeguarded by and for theological experts, it was now held to be an open text intelligible for all who could hear and read.
In operational practice, however, scripture was anything but a self-regulating body, and Luther did his best to promote his preferred readings by means of his own translations, interlinear and marginal glosses, scholia (brief or longer essays), introductions, illustrations, and theologically motivated arrangements of the printed text. For Protestants, the Lutheran innovations marked the end of medieval mystification and signaled a welcome democratization of Bible reading. To Catholics, however, the novel approach to biblical hermeneutics appeared in a different light. Steeped in the tradition of medieval exegesis, they saw in the triumph of the via moderna a rational degradation of the mysterious quality of the Bible and a rise of the tyranny of the single sense. Whereas “at the beginning [of the Middle Ages] texts were seen as a boundless resource from which one could take an inexhaustible supply of meanings; at the end of the period, the meaning of the text is austerely anchored in the textual evidence.” And it was this austere single-mindedness of textual meaning that became a model for the modern, historical reading of the Bible.
In the scientific, artistic, and humanistic culture of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries the single sense came increasingly to be read in a factual representational manner... Historians of the stature of Jules Michelet, Leopold von Ranke, Theodor Mommsen, Alexis de Tocqueville, Jakob Burckhardt, and others developed precise methods of research that taught us how to collect, categorize, and evaluate primary sources. Governed by the conviction that it was both possible and desirable to know the past as it actually happened, they produced works on aspects of European and North American history which rank among the classics of Western historiography. In these and other developments of seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century scientific, artistic, humanistic culture, the single sense and its representative content were enforced with unprecedented resolve...
This modern seriousness that wanted to know what really happened engendered “a revolution in the morality of knowledge” that has traumatized Christian relations with the Bible ever since. Once Holy Scripture was, methodically and without reserve, subjected to fact-finding, literal scrutiny, its desacralization as Word of God was an inescapable consequence."
--- The Jesus controversy: perspectives in conflict / John Dominic Crossan, Luke Timothy Johnson, Werner H. Kelber
Post ID: 1753159425266761149
"I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - Jane Wagner, (and Lily Tomlin)
***
Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress (1745)
"June 15, 1745
My dear Friend,
I know of no Medicine fit to diminish the violent natural Inclinations you mention; and if I did, I think I should not communicate it to you. Marriage is the proper Remedy. It is the most natural State of Man, and therefore the State in which you are most likely to find solid Happiness. Your Reasons against entering into it at present, appear to me not well-founded. The circumstantial Advantages you have in View by postponing it, are not only uncertain, but they are small in comparison with that of the Thing itself, the being married and settled. It is the Man and Woman united that make the corn- pleat human Being. Separate, she wants his Force of Body and Strength of Reason; he, her Softness, Sensibility and acute Discernment. Together they are more likely to succeed in the World. A single Man has not nearly the Value he would have in that State of Union. He is an incomplete Animal. He resembles the odd Half of a Pair of Scissars. If you get a prudent healthy Wife, your Industry in your Profession, with her good Economy, will be a Fortune sufficient.
But if you will not take this Counsel, and persist in thinking a Commerce with the Sex inevitable, then I repeat my former Advice, that in all your Amours you should prefer old Women to young ones. You call this a Paradox, and demand my Reasons. They are these:
1. Because as they have more Knowledge of the World and their Minds are better stor’d with Observations, their Conversation is more improving and more lastingly agreable.
2. Because when Women cease to be handsome, they study to be good. To maintain their Influence over Men, they supply the Diminution of Beauty by an Augmentation of Utility. They learn to do a iooo Services small and great, and are the most tender and useful of all Friends when you are sick. Thus they continue amiable. And hence there is hardly such a thing to be found as an old Woman who is not a good Woman.
3. Because there is no hazard of Children, which irregularly produc’d may be attended with much Inconvenience.
4. Because thro’ more Experience, they are more prudent and discreet in conducting an Intrigue to prevent Suspicion. The Commerce with them is therefore safer with regard to your Reputation. And with regard to theirs, if the Affair should happen to be known, considerate People might be rather inclin’d to excuse an old Woman who would kindly take care of a young Man, form his Manners by her good CounseLs, and prevent his ruining his Health and Fortune among mercenary Prostitutes.
5. Because in every Animal that walks upright, the Deficiency of the Fluids that fill the Muscles appears first in the highest Part: The Face first grows lank and wrinkled; then the Neck; then the Breast and Arms; the lower Parts continuing to the last as plump as ever: So that covering all above with a Basket, and regarding only what is below the Girdle, it is impossible of two Women to know an old from a young one. And as in the dark all Cats are grey, the Pleasure of corporal Enjoyment with an old Woman is at least equal, and frequently superior, every Knack being by Practice capable of Improvement.
6. Because the Sin is less. The debauching a Virgin may be her Ruin, and make her for Life unhappy.
7. Because the Compunction is less. The having made a young Girl miserable may give you frequent bitter Reflections; none of which can attend the making an old Woman happy.
8. [thly and Lastly They are so grateful!!
Thus much for my Paradox. But still I advise you to marry directly; being sincerely Your affectionate Friend."
--- Benjamin Franklin
***
Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress (1745)
"June 15, 1745
My dear Friend,
I know of no Medicine fit to diminish the violent natural Inclinations you mention; and if I did, I think I should not communicate it to you. Marriage is the proper Remedy. It is the most natural State of Man, and therefore the State in which you are most likely to find solid Happiness. Your Reasons against entering into it at present, appear to me not well-founded. The circumstantial Advantages you have in View by postponing it, are not only uncertain, but they are small in comparison with that of the Thing itself, the being married and settled. It is the Man and Woman united that make the corn- pleat human Being. Separate, she wants his Force of Body and Strength of Reason; he, her Softness, Sensibility and acute Discernment. Together they are more likely to succeed in the World. A single Man has not nearly the Value he would have in that State of Union. He is an incomplete Animal. He resembles the odd Half of a Pair of Scissars. If you get a prudent healthy Wife, your Industry in your Profession, with her good Economy, will be a Fortune sufficient.
But if you will not take this Counsel, and persist in thinking a Commerce with the Sex inevitable, then I repeat my former Advice, that in all your Amours you should prefer old Women to young ones. You call this a Paradox, and demand my Reasons. They are these:
1. Because as they have more Knowledge of the World and their Minds are better stor’d with Observations, their Conversation is more improving and more lastingly agreable.
2. Because when Women cease to be handsome, they study to be good. To maintain their Influence over Men, they supply the Diminution of Beauty by an Augmentation of Utility. They learn to do a iooo Services small and great, and are the most tender and useful of all Friends when you are sick. Thus they continue amiable. And hence there is hardly such a thing to be found as an old Woman who is not a good Woman.
3. Because there is no hazard of Children, which irregularly produc’d may be attended with much Inconvenience.
4. Because thro’ more Experience, they are more prudent and discreet in conducting an Intrigue to prevent Suspicion. The Commerce with them is therefore safer with regard to your Reputation. And with regard to theirs, if the Affair should happen to be known, considerate People might be rather inclin’d to excuse an old Woman who would kindly take care of a young Man, form his Manners by her good CounseLs, and prevent his ruining his Health and Fortune among mercenary Prostitutes.
5. Because in every Animal that walks upright, the Deficiency of the Fluids that fill the Muscles appears first in the highest Part: The Face first grows lank and wrinkled; then the Neck; then the Breast and Arms; the lower Parts continuing to the last as plump as ever: So that covering all above with a Basket, and regarding only what is below the Girdle, it is impossible of two Women to know an old from a young one. And as in the dark all Cats are grey, the Pleasure of corporal Enjoyment with an old Woman is at least equal, and frequently superior, every Knack being by Practice capable of Improvement.
6. Because the Sin is less. The debauching a Virgin may be her Ruin, and make her for Life unhappy.
7. Because the Compunction is less. The having made a young Girl miserable may give you frequent bitter Reflections; none of which can attend the making an old Woman happy.
8. [thly and Lastly They are so grateful!!
Thus much for my Paradox. But still I advise you to marry directly; being sincerely Your affectionate Friend."
--- Benjamin Franklin
Post ID: 8656482821278276889
"Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vaccuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1.5 tons." - unknown, Popular Mechanics, March 1949
***
Thoughts: I want to emigrate too
See below for English translation
五湖四海
想法: 我也想移民
李慧敏
联合早报, 2009年12月27日
曾经有家长因为孩子受尽华文折磨举家移民澳洲。最近我脑子里也闪过移民的念头，但绝不是因为学习能力比别人差而想逃离。不可否认，想移民的原因包含了一些跟风的心态。
我认识的几个朋友，已经成功飘洋过海，有的去了加拿大，更多的成为了澳洲永久居民，而且在那里过得很开心。前阵子，另一个朋友打算全家移民澳洲，邀我一起去听移民讲座了解情况。当时虽然有些心痒，但兴趣不大。就在同时，一名已移居澳洲的朋友在网上展示他的生活照。那些照片中的大自然风景非常令人神往。
再看看自己，每天庸庸碌碌。偶尔想喘口气，周末到武吉知马山或海边休息，可是到处都是人，找不到一丝宁静。就这样满腹牢骚，我上了澳洲移民局网站，想象着空旷的原野和蔚蓝的海洋。可是，网站上看到的不是迷人的风景，而让人眼花缭乱的申请表格。我没有细读，只知道必须先通过英文水平测试，才能考虑下一步。
英文考试分笔试和口试两个部分，并不如想象中可怕。口试更简单了，更像是与英国考官闲聊。考官问我是不是想移民澳洲，我有些吃惊。她说，好多来考试的人，包括新加坡人，还有在此地居住的其他国籍的人都想移民到那里去。她问：“新加坡那么糟吗？”我告诉她，说很糟也不至于，也许就是食之无味，而好些人就认为这里让人觉得很窒息。
据悉，新加坡每年有1000个优秀人才放弃公民权。现在我猜想每年移居海外的那些还算不上是最“优秀”的新加坡人以及永久居民的人数应该也不少。
毫无意外，我的英文成绩过关。但由于申请程序非常繁琐，只好找移民专家协助。顾问向我解释各种签证，并通知我，最好赶在12月中以前申请，因为很多人要移民到那里，政策会再收紧。此外，整个手续会拖拉一年多两年，而且未必都能成功。听完所有细节，我感到头昏脑胀。
其实我没去过澳洲，除了知道那里有袋鼠，好山好水、风光明媚，其余的我一概不了解。终于我说出了隐藏在心底的话：我对新加坡政府没信心。顾问听了一点也不觉得惊讶。原来前来申请的国人当中，好一部分以此为由打算移民。
我当然不敢质疑执政精英的治理能力，但是当我们一味地强调经济增长，这一会儿中国崛起，要赶紧改革华文教育要赶搭中国顺风车；下一会儿促请人们了解印度；又一会儿展开讲正确英语运动，怕别人听不懂我们的英语削弱竞争力；再一会儿看到开设赌场、发展艺术有利可图，我们也来凑一份……整个空气中充满着怕赶不上别人的焦虑与恐惧。从这一切事情上，我看不见一个能让我们安身立命的东西。
更不解的是，当外来人口不断增加，官方表示有足够资源应付，但当谈到养老问题，我们却被告知资源有限。我们作为小市民的，更多时候只能扮演被动的角色，默默地接受。
离开顾问公司，我心情很矛盾。其实我并不是真的想移民，但也不敢确定这个地方是否值得去爱？现在新加坡被当作一家大型企业来经营，凡事以商业利益为考量。既然如此，人们以同样的思维模式对待此地也不为过。按同样的思路，我们难道还要把人生精力最旺的阶段投资在这么冷漠的地方？这与居住在其他陌生的国度又有什么不同？
我还未整理出我的“投资策略”，还没计算出继续留下来能得到的回报与亏损。抱歉，我知道这是个很冷漠的态度，但这也是我耳濡目染学到的思维方式。
但在心底，我更希望新加坡未来在追求经济发展的同时，在各个不同的领域也能有突破，成为一个更可爱的地方。年关将至，此刻我能做的就是希望来年会更好。
（作者是本地自由撰稿人）
澳洲是许多新加坡人的移民目的地。
Translation:
Thoughts: I want to migrate too
Li Huimin
27/12/2009
Lianhe Zaobao
In the past, some parents uprooted their families and migrated to Australia because their children were being tormented by the slings and arrows of the Chinese language. Recently, the thought of migration has crossed my mind, but it is not academic inaptitude that induces these thoughts of flight. It cannot be denied that some of my reasons for emigration are influenced by the zeitgeist.
I know some friends who have successfully flown the coop. Some have gone to Canada, and even more have become Australian Permanent Residents, and are very happy there. Previously, another friend planned to emmigrate to Australia with his whole family, and invited me to a talk on immigration to know more about it. At the time, although I was a little curious, I wasn't too interested. At the same time though, a friend who had already emigrated to Australia showed me some photos of his life via the Internet. The photos of the Great Outdoors were amazing.
Re-examining my life, the drudgery of my daily life hit me. When I needed a breath of fresh air, I would head to Bukit Timah Hill or the seaside to relax on the weekends, but I would be mired in a sea of people around me, and be unable to enjoy any peace and quiet. With resentment in my heart, I logged on to the Australian Immigration Agency's Website, thinking of Australia's open plains and azure seas. However, the website had no such appealing images, but only application forms that left me bemused. I didn't read the website carefully, but gleaned that I would have to take a test of English proficiency before going any further.
The English proficiency test was not as terrifying as I had expected it to be. The oral component was simpler than the written component, and it was more like chatting with the British examiner. She asked me if I was thinking of emigrating to Australia, which startled me. She continued, saying that many people taking the test, both Singaporeans and residents of other nationalities, wanted to migrate there. She asked, "Is Singapore such a shithole?" I told her even if it was a shithole people might not want to migrate; perhaps there was a lack of joie de vivre, and many people think Singapore has a stifling environment.
Reportedly, there're only 1,000 outstanding Singaporeans who give up their citizenships annually. Now I surmise that this statistic does not include emigrants who are not considered "outstanding", or those who have taken up permanent residency overseas.
Luckily, I passed my English proficiency test. However, since there was too much bureaucracy, I had to find a migration consultant to help me. Explaining the various types of visas to me, he told me that I had best apply within the next year, since the high number of immigrants would result in the government tightening entry requirements. Also, the application process would take 1-2 years, and I might not necessarily make it. After hearing everything, I had a headache.
In truth, I've never been to Australia, and only know that "here be kangaroos", and that there're many mountains and great scenery; at the time I was clueless. Eventually I spake the words hidden in my heart of hearts, "I have no faith in the PAP". My migration consultant was not the least bit surprised. It turned out that many of those in whose footsteps I was following had voiced the same sentiments.
Naturally, I do not presume to question the Men In White's (MIW) ability to govern, but when we, in order to blindly pursue economic growth, in quick succession:
i) Engineer the Chinese language curriculum to benefit from China's rise
ii) Urge people to understand India
iii) Have the "Speak Good English Movement", fearing that others will not understand our English, which will imperil competitiveness
iv) Open Casinos and promote the Arts for economic purposes
What bandwagon shall we jump on next?
We are in a perpetual state of anxiety and fear caused by the imperative to keep up with others. I don't see how any of these will let us get on with our lives in peace.
Here's what puzzles me even more: when the number of foreigners in the population increases unceasingly [due to immigration], the MIW say that there are enough resources to cope, but when it comes to taking care of our elderly, we are warned that resources are limited. As peasants, most of the time we can only suffer passively, and in silence.
Leaving the immgiration consultant's office, I felt torn. Actually, I don't really want to migrate, but I cannot decide if this place is worth caring about. Right now, Singapore is run like a large corporation, and business considerations must always be taken into account. As such, you can't blame people for adopting the same mentality in thinking about Singapore. Using similar logic, do we really want to sacifice the best part of our lives for such a cold, uncaring country? How is this different from living in foreign countries?
I am still planning my "investment strategy", and still haven't done a cost-benefit analysis of staying in Singapore. Sorry, I know this is a cold, uncaring attitude but hey, that's what I've picked up from living in Singapore.
I really hope that in the future, as Singapore pursues economic development, it will also develop in other areas and become a country that is easier to love. As the year comes to a close, I can only hope that next year will see an improvement in the situation.
(The author is a local freelance writer)
Australia is a popular migration destination for many Singaporeans.
(with inputs from Acidflask)
***
Thoughts: I want to emigrate too
See below for English translation
五湖四海
想法: 我也想移民
李慧敏
联合早报, 2009年12月27日
曾经有家长因为孩子受尽华文折磨举家移民澳洲。最近我脑子里也闪过移民的念头，但绝不是因为学习能力比别人差而想逃离。不可否认，想移民的原因包含了一些跟风的心态。
我认识的几个朋友，已经成功飘洋过海，有的去了加拿大，更多的成为了澳洲永久居民，而且在那里过得很开心。前阵子，另一个朋友打算全家移民澳洲，邀我一起去听移民讲座了解情况。当时虽然有些心痒，但兴趣不大。就在同时，一名已移居澳洲的朋友在网上展示他的生活照。那些照片中的大自然风景非常令人神往。
再看看自己，每天庸庸碌碌。偶尔想喘口气，周末到武吉知马山或海边休息，可是到处都是人，找不到一丝宁静。就这样满腹牢骚，我上了澳洲移民局网站，想象着空旷的原野和蔚蓝的海洋。可是，网站上看到的不是迷人的风景，而让人眼花缭乱的申请表格。我没有细读，只知道必须先通过英文水平测试，才能考虑下一步。
英文考试分笔试和口试两个部分，并不如想象中可怕。口试更简单了，更像是与英国考官闲聊。考官问我是不是想移民澳洲，我有些吃惊。她说，好多来考试的人，包括新加坡人，还有在此地居住的其他国籍的人都想移民到那里去。她问：“新加坡那么糟吗？”我告诉她，说很糟也不至于，也许就是食之无味，而好些人就认为这里让人觉得很窒息。
据悉，新加坡每年有1000个优秀人才放弃公民权。现在我猜想每年移居海外的那些还算不上是最“优秀”的新加坡人以及永久居民的人数应该也不少。
毫无意外，我的英文成绩过关。但由于申请程序非常繁琐，只好找移民专家协助。顾问向我解释各种签证，并通知我，最好赶在12月中以前申请，因为很多人要移民到那里，政策会再收紧。此外，整个手续会拖拉一年多两年，而且未必都能成功。听完所有细节，我感到头昏脑胀。
其实我没去过澳洲，除了知道那里有袋鼠，好山好水、风光明媚，其余的我一概不了解。终于我说出了隐藏在心底的话：我对新加坡政府没信心。顾问听了一点也不觉得惊讶。原来前来申请的国人当中，好一部分以此为由打算移民。
我当然不敢质疑执政精英的治理能力，但是当我们一味地强调经济增长，这一会儿中国崛起，要赶紧改革华文教育要赶搭中国顺风车；下一会儿促请人们了解印度；又一会儿展开讲正确英语运动，怕别人听不懂我们的英语削弱竞争力；再一会儿看到开设赌场、发展艺术有利可图，我们也来凑一份……整个空气中充满着怕赶不上别人的焦虑与恐惧。从这一切事情上，我看不见一个能让我们安身立命的东西。
更不解的是，当外来人口不断增加，官方表示有足够资源应付，但当谈到养老问题，我们却被告知资源有限。我们作为小市民的，更多时候只能扮演被动的角色，默默地接受。
离开顾问公司，我心情很矛盾。其实我并不是真的想移民，但也不敢确定这个地方是否值得去爱？现在新加坡被当作一家大型企业来经营，凡事以商业利益为考量。既然如此，人们以同样的思维模式对待此地也不为过。按同样的思路，我们难道还要把人生精力最旺的阶段投资在这么冷漠的地方？这与居住在其他陌生的国度又有什么不同？
我还未整理出我的“投资策略”，还没计算出继续留下来能得到的回报与亏损。抱歉，我知道这是个很冷漠的态度，但这也是我耳濡目染学到的思维方式。
但在心底，我更希望新加坡未来在追求经济发展的同时，在各个不同的领域也能有突破，成为一个更可爱的地方。年关将至，此刻我能做的就是希望来年会更好。
（作者是本地自由撰稿人）
澳洲是许多新加坡人的移民目的地。
Translation:
Thoughts: I want to migrate too
Li Huimin
27/12/2009
Lianhe Zaobao
In the past, some parents uprooted their families and migrated to Australia because their children were being tormented by the slings and arrows of the Chinese language. Recently, the thought of migration has crossed my mind, but it is not academic inaptitude that induces these thoughts of flight. It cannot be denied that some of my reasons for emigration are influenced by the zeitgeist.
I know some friends who have successfully flown the coop. Some have gone to Canada, and even more have become Australian Permanent Residents, and are very happy there. Previously, another friend planned to emmigrate to Australia with his whole family, and invited me to a talk on immigration to know more about it. At the time, although I was a little curious, I wasn't too interested. At the same time though, a friend who had already emigrated to Australia showed me some photos of his life via the Internet. The photos of the Great Outdoors were amazing.
Re-examining my life, the drudgery of my daily life hit me. When I needed a breath of fresh air, I would head to Bukit Timah Hill or the seaside to relax on the weekends, but I would be mired in a sea of people around me, and be unable to enjoy any peace and quiet. With resentment in my heart, I logged on to the Australian Immigration Agency's Website, thinking of Australia's open plains and azure seas. However, the website had no such appealing images, but only application forms that left me bemused. I didn't read the website carefully, but gleaned that I would have to take a test of English proficiency before going any further.
The English proficiency test was not as terrifying as I had expected it to be. The oral component was simpler than the written component, and it was more like chatting with the British examiner. She asked me if I was thinking of emigrating to Australia, which startled me. She continued, saying that many people taking the test, both Singaporeans and residents of other nationalities, wanted to migrate there. She asked, "Is Singapore such a shithole?" I told her even if it was a shithole people might not want to migrate; perhaps there was a lack of joie de vivre, and many people think Singapore has a stifling environment.
Reportedly, there're only 1,000 outstanding Singaporeans who give up their citizenships annually. Now I surmise that this statistic does not include emigrants who are not considered "outstanding", or those who have taken up permanent residency overseas.
Luckily, I passed my English proficiency test. However, since there was too much bureaucracy, I had to find a migration consultant to help me. Explaining the various types of visas to me, he told me that I had best apply within the next year, since the high number of immigrants would result in the government tightening entry requirements. Also, the application process would take 1-2 years, and I might not necessarily make it. After hearing everything, I had a headache.
In truth, I've never been to Australia, and only know that "here be kangaroos", and that there're many mountains and great scenery; at the time I was clueless. Eventually I spake the words hidden in my heart of hearts, "I have no faith in the PAP". My migration consultant was not the least bit surprised. It turned out that many of those in whose footsteps I was following had voiced the same sentiments.
Naturally, I do not presume to question the Men In White's (MIW) ability to govern, but when we, in order to blindly pursue economic growth, in quick succession:
i) Engineer the Chinese language curriculum to benefit from China's rise
ii) Urge people to understand India
iii) Have the "Speak Good English Movement", fearing that others will not understand our English, which will imperil competitiveness
iv) Open Casinos and promote the Arts for economic purposes
What bandwagon shall we jump on next?
We are in a perpetual state of anxiety and fear caused by the imperative to keep up with others. I don't see how any of these will let us get on with our lives in peace.
Here's what puzzles me even more: when the number of foreigners in the population increases unceasingly [due to immigration], the MIW say that there are enough resources to cope, but when it comes to taking care of our elderly, we are warned that resources are limited. As peasants, most of the time we can only suffer passively, and in silence.
Leaving the immgiration consultant's office, I felt torn. Actually, I don't really want to migrate, but I cannot decide if this place is worth caring about. Right now, Singapore is run like a large corporation, and business considerations must always be taken into account. As such, you can't blame people for adopting the same mentality in thinking about Singapore. Using similar logic, do we really want to sacifice the best part of our lives for such a cold, uncaring country? How is this different from living in foreign countries?
I am still planning my "investment strategy", and still haven't done a cost-benefit analysis of staying in Singapore. Sorry, I know this is a cold, uncaring attitude but hey, that's what I've picked up from living in Singapore.
I really hope that in the future, as Singapore pursues economic development, it will also develop in other areas and become a country that is easier to love. As the year comes to a close, I can only hope that next year will see an improvement in the situation.
(The author is a local freelance writer)
Australia is a popular migration destination for many Singaporeans.
(with inputs from Acidflask)
Post ID: 4990762086757372937
Friday, January 22, 2010
"There are plenty of good five-cent cigars in the country. The trouble is they cost a quarter. What this country needs is a good five-cent nickel." - Franklin P. Adams
***
You see so much Non-Dairy Creamer at events and places in Singapore and Southeast Asia that when you see Milk, it's very gratifying.
I didn't know that SIA hired stewardesses outside the Greater Singapore area, but I saw a Japanese one one day. So much for the Singapore Girl.
Word advice for the day: bemused = wtf, amused = lol
Bad [Indian] cinematography: a crying woman sitting on a bed with a man standing in front of her. Both of their torsos are facing each other.
I hate sites that spam you and then claim your "friend" has sent you a message. WAYN (Where Are You Now), I'm looking at you.
When Singaporeans pay the smallest amount for something, they seem to think that they have the right to abuse it as they wish, and that those who do not pay for the same thing are somehow morally inferior. This explains why some motorists think that cyclists deserve to be knocked down because the former pay road tax and the latter don't. This might also explain why free toilets in Singapore are often cleaner than the ones you have to pay 10 or 20 cents to use, as well as why library books are free to borrow.
It's not a "tele-conversation", damnit. It's a "phone call"!
If homophobes are repressed homosexuals, do feminists secretly want to be dominated?
Someone told me that someone else told her that most guys lose interest in you [if you're a girl] when they find out you're attached. She didn't believe it at first, wanting to believe in the goodness of human nature, but she eventually realized that her friend was speaking the truth.
[On "Bananas" in Singapore] "I simply refuse to speak Chinese since I am more comfortable with English; imagine how it would be like if African-Americans were asked if they speak swahili, afrikaans or whatever their ancestors' tongues was" (one can add the English speaking folks of Greek, Italian, French, Spanish, etc descent in the US)
"Guys are like bonds, they take a long time to mature.
Girls are like options, they expire quickly."
"The first time I read Wittgenstein’s Tractatus, I was so stunned that I read it back-to-back three times over in the same weekend"
RT @seraphically At today's #CNMIAC, Industry people said #SMU students cannot deliver on the job. muahaha.all this hype about smoo and no substance.NUS FTW!
***
You see so much Non-Dairy Creamer at events and places in Singapore and Southeast Asia that when you see Milk, it's very gratifying.
I didn't know that SIA hired stewardesses outside the Greater Singapore area, but I saw a Japanese one one day. So much for the Singapore Girl.
Word advice for the day: bemused = wtf, amused = lol
Bad [Indian] cinematography: a crying woman sitting on a bed with a man standing in front of her. Both of their torsos are facing each other.
I hate sites that spam you and then claim your "friend" has sent you a message. WAYN (Where Are You Now), I'm looking at you.
When Singaporeans pay the smallest amount for something, they seem to think that they have the right to abuse it as they wish, and that those who do not pay for the same thing are somehow morally inferior. This explains why some motorists think that cyclists deserve to be knocked down because the former pay road tax and the latter don't. This might also explain why free toilets in Singapore are often cleaner than the ones you have to pay 10 or 20 cents to use, as well as why library books are free to borrow.
It's not a "tele-conversation", damnit. It's a "phone call"!
If homophobes are repressed homosexuals, do feminists secretly want to be dominated?
Someone told me that someone else told her that most guys lose interest in you [if you're a girl] when they find out you're attached. She didn't believe it at first, wanting to believe in the goodness of human nature, but she eventually realized that her friend was speaking the truth.
[On "Bananas" in Singapore] "I simply refuse to speak Chinese since I am more comfortable with English; imagine how it would be like if African-Americans were asked if they speak swahili, afrikaans or whatever their ancestors' tongues was" (one can add the English speaking folks of Greek, Italian, French, Spanish, etc descent in the US)
"Guys are like bonds, they take a long time to mature.
Girls are like options, they expire quickly."
"The first time I read Wittgenstein’s Tractatus, I was so stunned that I read it back-to-back three times over in the same weekend"
RT @seraphically At today's #CNMIAC, Industry people said #SMU students cannot deliver on the job. muahaha.all this hype about smoo and no substance.NUS FTW!
Post ID: 7444553496003571483
Amusing email I got from Hotmail:
"Thanks for using Hotmail for 10+ years!
That's right!
For roughly a decade you've been using Hotmail® to help keep your digital life in sync, and we just want to say thank you.
You've witnessed many dramatic improvements to Hotmail since it launched. Just imagine what the next 10 years will bring!
Back around the time you started using Hotmail...
Windows® 98 - Was the hot new operating system!
The Spice Girls - Were rocking stadiums from London to LA!
Mobile Phones - Were largely considered unnecessary and annoying!"
"Thanks for using Hotmail for 10+ years!
That's right!
For roughly a decade you've been using Hotmail® to help keep your digital life in sync, and we just want to say thank you.
You've witnessed many dramatic improvements to Hotmail since it launched. Just imagine what the next 10 years will bring!
Back around the time you started using Hotmail...
Windows® 98 - Was the hot new operating system!
The Spice Girls - Were rocking stadiums from London to LA!
Mobile Phones - Were largely considered unnecessary and annoying!"
Post ID: 2050334369465620096
A: "Belief and non-belief go together."
B: Is this some kind of lets-hold-hands rhetoric?
A on evolution: It's a little embarassing, actually. To be an atheist and not be very clear about the whole process of how mankind came to be where it is now.
B: Oh, don't worry, that's actually quite common. It is far less embarrassing than the situation where an atheist has to explain the difference between the immaculate conception and the virgin birth to a catholic.
B: Is this some kind of lets-hold-hands rhetoric?
A on evolution: It's a little embarassing, actually. To be an atheist and not be very clear about the whole process of how mankind came to be where it is now.
B: Oh, don't worry, that's actually quite common. It is far less embarrassing than the situation where an atheist has to explain the difference between the immaculate conception and the virgin birth to a catholic.
Post ID: 4288425775269235489
"The world's as ugly as sin, and almost as delightful" - Frederick Locker-Lampson
***
I am told that in China there isn't much charity because the emphasis is on helping friends and contacts rather than social responsibility. Social responsibility and community-building projects in China are practised by foreigners, not locals.
Somebody (I was told) did an exercise in Asia and Australia surveying what respondents would do if they won a million dollars. China and Taiwan were the only countries where no one said he'd donate to charity.
In a related note, not correcting superiors because you want to give them face might be one reason why its progress was retarded for so long.
***
I am told that in China there isn't much charity because the emphasis is on helping friends and contacts rather than social responsibility. Social responsibility and community-building projects in China are practised by foreigners, not locals.
Somebody (I was told) did an exercise in Asia and Australia surveying what respondents would do if they won a million dollars. China and Taiwan were the only countries where no one said he'd donate to charity.
In a related note, not correcting superiors because you want to give them face might be one reason why its progress was retarded for so long.
Post ID: 5818828305901035067
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
"Clothes make the man; naked people have little or no influence in society." - Mark Twain
***
Tsukiko: Look, everyone knows that the undead are the antithesis of life, right?
Except people are jerks. Lying, untrustworthy jackasses, every one of them. Everyone knows this, too.
So, logically, undead must be the opposite of that: caring, sensitive, honest souls who are oppressed by the living majority and their negative stereotypes.
They just need someone like me who understands them, so that they can realise it.
Monster-san: And the bloodsucking, and level-draining?
Tsukiko: Natural defenses against predation.
Monster-san: Ummm, yeah, I don't really think it works that way.
***
Tsukiko: Look, everyone knows that the undead are the antithesis of life, right?
Except people are jerks. Lying, untrustworthy jackasses, every one of them. Everyone knows this, too.
So, logically, undead must be the opposite of that: caring, sensitive, honest souls who are oppressed by the living majority and their negative stereotypes.
They just need someone like me who understands them, so that they can realise it.
Monster-san: And the bloodsucking, and level-draining?
Tsukiko: Natural defenses against predation.
Monster-san: Ummm, yeah, I don't really think it works that way.
Post ID: 736814912690285266
"It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong." - G. K. Chesterton
***
Someone else: my girlfriend's making comments about her ticking biological clock
Me: wah lao
knock her up lor
Someone else: she wants the wedding ring first hahah
Someone: one thing i've learnt is that
a fling is never a fling
Me: haha maybe not for girls
Someone: yep
and usually
if for the girls it didnt seem like a fling to them
most likely they go a bit berserk
and what you get is trouble and drama
Me: well. plausible deniability
Someone: i advise you to not take up such a social trade
hahahaha
it affects you.
the shit women are capable of
mannnnnnnnnnnnn. makes me so proud to be a woman
Me: haha. it's better to be gay
Someone: it is
MFTTW: i don't think blonde works for you no
you'd just look a bit trashy
like something out of people from walmart
i keep picturing you with blonde wig and oyur baby blue nightgown
Someone: another reason for me to hate religion
my *** partner pang seh me cos "it wasn't god's will" that we go for the national trials
Someone else: i need ideas
wat re the worst sort of disaster that can happen to sg
Me: PAP loses power
Someone else: muahahaha
Someone: Someone in the forums thought this was some children's tv show because there was dancing. It's a really NSFW animated gif... http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/412/23196.gif
Me in early January: we should have dinner one day
The 26 Year Old Virgin: Yah
We shld haf it one day
Mayb mid 2010
Sorry
I meant mid jan
Someone on words to a student in English class: "Go out and change the world. Use everything you have learned from me and your excellent teachers to get rid of the hate and hostility and fear. Make sure every Latin-American/Black/Asian is as equal as her White counterpart; keep gay people away from hate crimes and prejudice; and let every girl have the same opportunity as every boy. No anger, no abuse. Speak up for those who have no voice."
Someone else: I trust you mean all of this on terms of giving everyone an equal chance.
Being a white male, I get in trouble on this topic. I really am baffled why everyone should be treated equally.
Me: When girls do worse than boys at school, people cry about discrimination, prejudice and sexism.
When boys do worse than girls at school, people still cry about discrimination, prejudice and sexism - against girls.
"Do you know what you can say? To a black man. On the subject of race?"
"Nothing"
"That is correct"
Someone: I know your polemic views. They are flawed but they are good to attract attention and good for intellectual masturbation. So long as your views remain metaphysical, then it's fine.
Me: Funny, that's what Fundamentalist Christians say about me too
Someone: maybe you irritate everyone?
Me: No, people just don't like their views being challenged - especially when they can't say why the challenges are wrong
Someone: maybe people aren't as tenacious as you are? Maybe they're picking the fights that truely matter? perhaps they think you're a lost cause? Perhaps they don't like to talk to people who only think they are right and refuse to listen to logic?
Me: The basic test of someone's willingness to listen to logic is is whether he uses logic in the first place.
Poisoning the well does not inspire confidence.
Notice that you still haven't answered [someone else]'s question.
Someone else: what are streetwalkers?
pedestrians?
Someone: briefly, tell me what is wrong with CHC
Me: "everything"
Someone: ok, a little less briefly
ahahaha
***
Someone else: my girlfriend's making comments about her ticking biological clock
Me: wah lao
knock her up lor
Someone else: she wants the wedding ring first hahah
Someone: one thing i've learnt is that
a fling is never a fling
Me: haha maybe not for girls
Someone: yep
and usually
if for the girls it didnt seem like a fling to them
most likely they go a bit berserk
and what you get is trouble and drama
Me: well. plausible deniability
Someone: i advise you to not take up such a social trade
hahahaha
it affects you.
the shit women are capable of
mannnnnnnnnnnnn. makes me so proud to be a woman
Me: haha. it's better to be gay
Someone: it is
MFTTW: i don't think blonde works for you no
you'd just look a bit trashy
like something out of people from walmart
i keep picturing you with blonde wig and oyur baby blue nightgown
Someone: another reason for me to hate religion
my *** partner pang seh me cos "it wasn't god's will" that we go for the national trials
Someone else: i need ideas
wat re the worst sort of disaster that can happen to sg
Me: PAP loses power
Someone else: muahahaha
Someone: Someone in the forums thought this was some children's tv show because there was dancing. It's a really NSFW animated gif... http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/412/23196.gif
Me in early January: we should have dinner one day
The 26 Year Old Virgin: Yah
We shld haf it one day
Mayb mid 2010
Sorry
I meant mid jan
Someone on words to a student in English class: "Go out and change the world. Use everything you have learned from me and your excellent teachers to get rid of the hate and hostility and fear. Make sure every Latin-American/Black/Asian is as equal as her White counterpart; keep gay people away from hate crimes and prejudice; and let every girl have the same opportunity as every boy. No anger, no abuse. Speak up for those who have no voice."
Someone else: I trust you mean all of this on terms of giving everyone an equal chance.
Being a white male, I get in trouble on this topic. I really am baffled why everyone should be treated equally.
Me: When girls do worse than boys at school, people cry about discrimination, prejudice and sexism.
When boys do worse than girls at school, people still cry about discrimination, prejudice and sexism - against girls.
"Do you know what you can say? To a black man. On the subject of race?"
"Nothing"
"That is correct"
Someone: I know your polemic views. They are flawed but they are good to attract attention and good for intellectual masturbation. So long as your views remain metaphysical, then it's fine.
Me: Funny, that's what Fundamentalist Christians say about me too
Someone: maybe you irritate everyone?
Me: No, people just don't like their views being challenged - especially when they can't say why the challenges are wrong
Someone: maybe people aren't as tenacious as you are? Maybe they're picking the fights that truely matter? perhaps they think you're a lost cause? Perhaps they don't like to talk to people who only think they are right and refuse to listen to logic?
Me: The basic test of someone's willingness to listen to logic is is whether he uses logic in the first place.
Poisoning the well does not inspire confidence.
Notice that you still haven't answered [someone else]'s question.
Someone else: what are streetwalkers?
pedestrians?
Someone: briefly, tell me what is wrong with CHC
Me: "everything"
Someone: ok, a little less briefly
ahahaha
Post ID: 7532383289552910517
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
"Great part of being a grownup, you never have to do anything." - Peter Blake
***
Disgusting Chris sent me this recipe for General Tso's Chicken (which he's finally stopped calling "General Chicken"), saying it wasn't quite like the one I made.
A cursory inspection of the recipe reveals the reason - this is closer to Hunanese cuisine than what you find in the US (ergo, no sugar and lots of chili).
***
Disgusting Chris sent me this recipe for General Tso's Chicken (which he's finally stopped calling "General Chicken"), saying it wasn't quite like the one I made.
A cursory inspection of the recipe reveals the reason - this is closer to Hunanese cuisine than what you find in the US (ergo, no sugar and lots of chili).
Post ID: 4621889763042413534
"Two wrongs don't make a right, but they make a good excuse." - Thomas Szasz
***
I wasted my time in Sungei Gedong!
A group for "For admirers of the E-Mart Ah Lian who according to urban legends, is perpetually pregnant! (no longer pregnant, and no longer there)"
Choice comments by [ex-]full-time slaves which will doubtless lead COL Darius Lim, Director of Public Affairs for MINDEF, to remark that "it is heartening to note the very strong support for national service":
"I remember my platoon mate so like the place that he AWOL on his last week of ORD. I just want to say "FUCK YOU SAF AND FUCK OFF 42 SAR!!" Bye forever because I will never step my foot into the camp again. I will always remember that SAF is the organization that forces me out of Singapore. Australia here I come.."
"it true.. i wasted 3 years in Sungei Gedong and a total of 8yrs in Armour.... sigh..."
"Tribute from 42 SAR..
Fuck you Sungei Gedong"
"Fuck this camp! I hate Sungei Gedong!!!"
"The dog with the swollen genitials still there anot?"
"Leaving this damn place soon."
"once armour always armour...lanjiao!"
"Another 6 months to go. Shyttt."
"I'm visiting this **** in June again, piuh!"
"FUCK GEDONG" (multiple instances)
"I will be re-visiting this mud slum once again..pui!"
"OMG. i remember the mother fucking dog SSG Hao Nam Yong from AETC HQ last time; the "stand in" csm. I think now he's AETC bravo CSM now. Chee bye make me sign 3 extras for having 1mm long fingernails. To staff hao : FUCK YOU understand. man i didnt get to say that to you when i orded cause u werent around. i hope u read this"
"i wasted 5months in gedong! once armour always suffer"
"Its finally over man ... the worst 2 yrs of my life..."
"Passing the fucked road that leads all the way in to S.G
I always wonder....
How did i ever survived in that camp?"
"Fuck field camps... Fuck Live Firing... WTF Man!"
"heya folks, asking on behalf of a friend: wld anyone be familiar with the SM1 tank? my friend wld like to find out where the fuel valve is. unfortunately my not-of-choice vehicle is the always-break-down bronco (AETC) so hopefully someone can advise. kamsia!"
"Im gonna quit if there aint gonna be any girls in here...Damn..what were you guys thinking? Male orgy?"
"worst place in my entire life. those of u going u GL HF! prepare to die"
"Going to ord from this 鸟不生蛋， 狗不拉屎的地方"
Translation: A place where birds won't lay eggs and dogs won't shit - i.e. a shithole
***
I wasted my time in Sungei Gedong!
A group for "For admirers of the E-Mart Ah Lian who according to urban legends, is perpetually pregnant! (no longer pregnant, and no longer there)"
Choice comments by [ex-]full-time slaves which will doubtless lead COL Darius Lim, Director of Public Affairs for MINDEF, to remark that "it is heartening to note the very strong support for national service":
"I remember my platoon mate so like the place that he AWOL on his last week of ORD. I just want to say "FUCK YOU SAF AND FUCK OFF 42 SAR!!" Bye forever because I will never step my foot into the camp again. I will always remember that SAF is the organization that forces me out of Singapore. Australia here I come.."
"it true.. i wasted 3 years in Sungei Gedong and a total of 8yrs in Armour.... sigh..."
"Tribute from 42 SAR..
Fuck you Sungei Gedong"
"Fuck this camp! I hate Sungei Gedong!!!"
"The dog with the swollen genitials still there anot?"
"Leaving this damn place soon."
"once armour always armour...lanjiao!"
"Another 6 months to go. Shyttt."
"I'm visiting this **** in June again, piuh!"
"FUCK GEDONG" (multiple instances)
"I will be re-visiting this mud slum once again..pui!"
"OMG. i remember the mother fucking dog SSG Hao Nam Yong from AETC HQ last time; the "stand in" csm. I think now he's AETC bravo CSM now. Chee bye make me sign 3 extras for having 1mm long fingernails. To staff hao : FUCK YOU understand. man i didnt get to say that to you when i orded cause u werent around. i hope u read this"
"i wasted 5months in gedong! once armour always suffer"
"Its finally over man ... the worst 2 yrs of my life..."
"Passing the fucked road that leads all the way in to S.G
I always wonder....
How did i ever survived in that camp?"
"Fuck field camps... Fuck Live Firing... WTF Man!"
"heya folks, asking on behalf of a friend: wld anyone be familiar with the SM1 tank? my friend wld like to find out where the fuel valve is. unfortunately my not-of-choice vehicle is the always-break-down bronco (AETC) so hopefully someone can advise. kamsia!"
"Im gonna quit if there aint gonna be any girls in here...Damn..what were you guys thinking? Male orgy?"
"worst place in my entire life. those of u going u GL HF! prepare to die"
"Going to ord from this 鸟不生蛋， 狗不拉屎的地方"
Translation: A place where birds won't lay eggs and dogs won't shit - i.e. a shithole
Post ID: 4304204983736225542
Monday, January 18, 2010
"The gods too are fond of a joke." - Aristotle
***
An ad in My Favourite Periodical I was amused by, and which answers the age-old question: how do you advertise a job you can't tell people about?
"Where else could you barter in a bazaar, expose a terrorist network and brief Whitehall?
Please do not discuss your application with anyone"
Not only is the tagline cute, the testimonial does not give a last name (hell, the first name is probably fake) or the current posting and the past postings are described in a suitably vague fashion.
The Singaporean equivalent will probably be: "Where else could you pakat in a pasar malam, pass on intelligence to Malaysia and break up Opposition protests?"
(Incidentally this was scanned using my Canon N656U scanner which is more than 9 years old and still working fine)
***
An ad in My Favourite Periodical I was amused by, and which answers the age-old question: how do you advertise a job you can't tell people about?
"Where else could you barter in a bazaar, expose a terrorist network and brief Whitehall?
Please do not discuss your application with anyone"
Not only is the tagline cute, the testimonial does not give a last name (hell, the first name is probably fake) or the current posting and the past postings are described in a suitably vague fashion.
The Singaporean equivalent will probably be: "Where else could you pakat in a pasar malam, pass on intelligence to Malaysia and break up Opposition protests?"
(Incidentally this was scanned using my Canon N656U scanner which is more than 9 years old and still working fine)
Post ID: 5940030651602214154
"Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them." - Joseph Heller
***
What price happiness? (Sunday Times 10 Jan) - "A study shows that people who have a university or postgraduate qualification and earn $5,000 or more a month are the happiest. But they are also dissatisfied with their achievements and enjoy life the least, compared with those who are less well-off. Indeed, it is the Singaporeans earning less than $2,000 a month who enjoy life the most... 'The higher the household income, the more a Singaporean feels that he or she has not achieved much in life'"
Related articles; Two of the authors come from the Marketing Department of NUS Business School, and the last from the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre. Har.
Sex and shopping – it's a guy thing - "High-promiscuity men were more willing to borrow fashionable clothes from a friend to impress a potential mate rather than a new boss, whereas low-promiscuity men would rather impress the boss. Women showed no difference... high-promiscuity men who looked at photos of eight attractive women... said they would spend more money on items such as designer sunglasses or an elaborate car stereo rather than inconspicuous products such as low-cost jeans or a toaster... women rated a man driving a Porsche Boxster as more attractive for a short-term sexual relationship than a man driving a Honda Civic. But the Porsche did not make the man more attractive as a possible marriage partner. Men rating women were uninfluenced by the type of car she drove... much of human economic behaviour is engendered by motives of costly signalling to display our personal qualities to potential mates and other social partners"
In the same story: "GiveWell was founded in 2006 by former hedge-fund workers Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld. Frustrated by the absence of evidence provided by charities that they are delivering the goods in terms of their charitable ends, the pair decided to use their data-analysis skills to evaluate charities' effectiveness. They were appalled at what they found. Evidence-based charity lags far behind evidence-based medicine: virtually no charities do randomised, controlled trials regarding which interventions work. In fact, almost no charities collect any systematic data on whether or not their well-intentioned activities are actually doing any good"
Brazilians Urged to Pee in the Shower to Conserve Water
Regular eggs 'no harm to health' - "The idea that eating more than three eggs a week was bad for you was still widespread. But they said that was a misconception based on out-of-date evidence... "The amount of saturated fat in our diet exerts an effect on blood cholesterol that is several times greater than the relatively small amounts of dietary cholesterol. "The UK public do not need to be limiting the number of eggs they eat - indeed they can be encouraged to include them in a healthy diet as they are one of nature's most nutritionally dense foods.""
Turkey demands apology from Israel over envoy 'slight' - "Footage of Mr Ayalon urging journalists to make clear that the ambassador was seated on a low sofa, while the Israeli officials were in much higher chairs, has been widely broadcast by the Israeli media... "In terms of the diplomatic tactics available, this was the minimum that was warranted given the repeated provocation by political and other players in Turkey," he said, according to Reuters. One Israeli newspaper marked the height difference on the photo, and captioned it "the height of humiliation". Valley of the Wolves, popular in Turkey... depicts Israeli intelligence operatives running operations to kidnap babies and convert them to Judaism."
Monstropedia - the largest encyclopedia about monsters - "Monstropedia is the ultimate online encyclopedia of monsters in myth, magick and legend."
Island of love - "Jeju Island (South Korea) is called “the pearl of Korea”... One of the sights of this tropical paradise is the land of love – a theme park, opened in 2004 the series, where the garden of erotic sculptures. For relatively conservative South Korean Earth Love on the island of Cheju – a unique phenomenon. The collection of sculptures that illustrate the pleasures of the flesh"
Naked rambler faces life in prison - "The former Royal Marine, who became notorious for his naked hike from Land's End to John O'Groats in 2003, has spent much of the past seven years in prison for repeatedly appearing nude in public... Mr Gough said he accepted he could "potentially" remain in jail forever and added: "This is about individual freedom""
What If Your Wife Were A Porn Star? - "You don't even get to have sex with her all that often—intercourse is off-limits before a shoot, and afterward she's too tired and sore... Being a porn star is what Sky wants. She makes good money, she doesn't get bossed around by a suit, and she has time to attend college (majoring in women's studies)... Bill watches Sky's movies religiously and stealthily posts positive sentiments on porn sites, occasionally attacking critics. "I don't look at it as sex," he says. "I look at it as a guy with his dick in my wife, but they're working and it's not emotional. She never orgasms in porn. That's for us. If it happened on the set, it would be a little weird"... she occasionally brings home costars. "Girlfriends of mine call and say that they want to come by for a swim," Skyline says. "I say, 'Yeah, it's okay. You can fuck him"... He doesn't lie to his friends about what she does, and they've been mostly supportive. "One told me that he erased all her movies from his hard drive""
Meet America's First Legal Male Prostitute - "For a male, if you want to be successful in this type of venture, you're not a prostitute. You're a surrogate lover. You encompass everything that's required of you—not only emotionally, physically—but psychologically. Because women are wired differently. They're much more sensitive creatures... it's more of a civil rights thing now... It's just the same as when Rosa Parks decided to sit at the front instead of the back. She was proclaiming her rights as a disadvantaged, African-American older woman. And I'm doing the same... This actually isn't about selling my body. This is about changing social norms... I'm an equal opportunity employer. I don't discriminate based on race, color, creed, ethnicity, or skin tone. Notice I left gender out. That's for a reason... [Gay for pay is] disrespect to the artist. My sphincter isn't for sale... [a gigolo] must have the heart of a saint, the mind of a philosopher, and the skills of the devil"
I think only feminists would believe his civil rights spiel - if not for their reflexive opposition to prostitution
French students cry liberté over right to wear sexy clothes - "The protest in Essonne was in retaliation to the rules imposed by a new headteacher, who banned holes in trousers and in garments above the knee. Léa Dedieu, 17, persuaded 300 of the 2,100 students to come to school wearing revealing shorts or mini-skirts for the girls and Bermuda shorts for the boys. She said the protest was intended to make a philosophical point about freedom rather than to "draw attention to ourselves"... students at Geoffroy- Saint-Hilaire are not stopping at protests against clothing regulations. When it was rumoured that the head would ban all contact between couples on the school grounds, they threatened to stage a "day of kissing""
Vive la Révolution!
Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don't Go - "Humanities Ph.D.'s, without relevant experience or technical skills, generally compete at a moderate disadvantage against undergraduates, and at a serious disadvantage against people with professional degrees. If you take that path, you will be starting at the bottom in your 30s, a decade behind your age cohort, with no savings (and probably a lot of debt)"
When subtitles go wrong - "I'll now proceed to pleasure myself with this fish"
7 Badass Cartoon Villains Who Lost to Retarded Heroes - "This is a pretty cruel trick society played on the little girls of the world who saw these cartoons and played with the toys. While boys were taught that evil giant transforming robots could only be defeated with other giant transforming robots, girls were taught that evil could be defeated with the power of rainbows and flamboyant song and dance. Which one better prepared their audience for the real world?"
All The Gore | Best Gore - "Blood and gore is what this site is all about. Vast image and video galleries are being added as they become available so there is a lot to look forward to"
Universities and Islam: Hearts, minds and Mecca | The Economist - "A forthcoming book by Steffen Hertog, a sociologist, will argue that terrorists include a high number of engineers—not because of their need for bomb-making skills, but perhaps because of a mindset that likes rigidity and binary choices"
What Do Skeptics, Creationists, and Terrorists Have in Common? - "You won't find many postmodernist engineers. For many engineers, their solution to a given problem is the correct one, and everyone else's solution is "stupid". You also will find this trait amongst skeptics. We will often be very opinionated, and be able to debate our opinion to the bitter end... liberal arts students... 'have real trouble in fields like math and science because in those fields there are correct and incorrect answers, and incorrect answers cannot be met by "that's just, like, your opinion, man"... the smarter liberal arts types aren't like this at all'... [Engineering] provides a technical background without the basic science to challenge religious beliefs... Maybe engineers are attracted to religious terrorism, creationism (which is religion based) and skepticism because both religion and skepticism offer "rules"... skepticism offers the rigid rules of logic and evidence"
I find the explanation for skepticism wanting - logic and evidence are rules in other disciplines - notably the sciences - as well
YouTube - X-Mas Origins: Santa
Also fun: Tom Hanks is James Bond
Businessman Mirko Fischer sues British Airwars 'for treating men like perverts' - "A businessman is suing British Airways over a policy that bans male passengers from sitting next to children they don't know - even if the child's parents are on the same flight. Mirko Fischer has accused the airline of branding all men as potential sex offenders and says innocent travellers are being publicly humiliated"
***
What price happiness? (Sunday Times 10 Jan) - "A study shows that people who have a university or postgraduate qualification and earn $5,000 or more a month are the happiest. But they are also dissatisfied with their achievements and enjoy life the least, compared with those who are less well-off. Indeed, it is the Singaporeans earning less than $2,000 a month who enjoy life the most... 'The higher the household income, the more a Singaporean feels that he or she has not achieved much in life'"
Related articles; Two of the authors come from the Marketing Department of NUS Business School, and the last from the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre. Har.
Sex and shopping – it's a guy thing - "High-promiscuity men were more willing to borrow fashionable clothes from a friend to impress a potential mate rather than a new boss, whereas low-promiscuity men would rather impress the boss. Women showed no difference... high-promiscuity men who looked at photos of eight attractive women... said they would spend more money on items such as designer sunglasses or an elaborate car stereo rather than inconspicuous products such as low-cost jeans or a toaster... women rated a man driving a Porsche Boxster as more attractive for a short-term sexual relationship than a man driving a Honda Civic. But the Porsche did not make the man more attractive as a possible marriage partner. Men rating women were uninfluenced by the type of car she drove... much of human economic behaviour is engendered by motives of costly signalling to display our personal qualities to potential mates and other social partners"
In the same story: "GiveWell was founded in 2006 by former hedge-fund workers Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld. Frustrated by the absence of evidence provided by charities that they are delivering the goods in terms of their charitable ends, the pair decided to use their data-analysis skills to evaluate charities' effectiveness. They were appalled at what they found. Evidence-based charity lags far behind evidence-based medicine: virtually no charities do randomised, controlled trials regarding which interventions work. In fact, almost no charities collect any systematic data on whether or not their well-intentioned activities are actually doing any good"
Brazilians Urged to Pee in the Shower to Conserve Water
Regular eggs 'no harm to health' - "The idea that eating more than three eggs a week was bad for you was still widespread. But they said that was a misconception based on out-of-date evidence... "The amount of saturated fat in our diet exerts an effect on blood cholesterol that is several times greater than the relatively small amounts of dietary cholesterol. "The UK public do not need to be limiting the number of eggs they eat - indeed they can be encouraged to include them in a healthy diet as they are one of nature's most nutritionally dense foods.""
Turkey demands apology from Israel over envoy 'slight' - "Footage of Mr Ayalon urging journalists to make clear that the ambassador was seated on a low sofa, while the Israeli officials were in much higher chairs, has been widely broadcast by the Israeli media... "In terms of the diplomatic tactics available, this was the minimum that was warranted given the repeated provocation by political and other players in Turkey," he said, according to Reuters. One Israeli newspaper marked the height difference on the photo, and captioned it "the height of humiliation". Valley of the Wolves, popular in Turkey... depicts Israeli intelligence operatives running operations to kidnap babies and convert them to Judaism."
Monstropedia - the largest encyclopedia about monsters - "Monstropedia is the ultimate online encyclopedia of monsters in myth, magick and legend."
Island of love - "Jeju Island (South Korea) is called “the pearl of Korea”... One of the sights of this tropical paradise is the land of love – a theme park, opened in 2004 the series, where the garden of erotic sculptures. For relatively conservative South Korean Earth Love on the island of Cheju – a unique phenomenon. The collection of sculptures that illustrate the pleasures of the flesh"
Naked rambler faces life in prison - "The former Royal Marine, who became notorious for his naked hike from Land's End to John O'Groats in 2003, has spent much of the past seven years in prison for repeatedly appearing nude in public... Mr Gough said he accepted he could "potentially" remain in jail forever and added: "This is about individual freedom""
What If Your Wife Were A Porn Star? - "You don't even get to have sex with her all that often—intercourse is off-limits before a shoot, and afterward she's too tired and sore... Being a porn star is what Sky wants. She makes good money, she doesn't get bossed around by a suit, and she has time to attend college (majoring in women's studies)... Bill watches Sky's movies religiously and stealthily posts positive sentiments on porn sites, occasionally attacking critics. "I don't look at it as sex," he says. "I look at it as a guy with his dick in my wife, but they're working and it's not emotional. She never orgasms in porn. That's for us. If it happened on the set, it would be a little weird"... she occasionally brings home costars. "Girlfriends of mine call and say that they want to come by for a swim," Skyline says. "I say, 'Yeah, it's okay. You can fuck him"... He doesn't lie to his friends about what she does, and they've been mostly supportive. "One told me that he erased all her movies from his hard drive""
Meet America's First Legal Male Prostitute - "For a male, if you want to be successful in this type of venture, you're not a prostitute. You're a surrogate lover. You encompass everything that's required of you—not only emotionally, physically—but psychologically. Because women are wired differently. They're much more sensitive creatures... it's more of a civil rights thing now... It's just the same as when Rosa Parks decided to sit at the front instead of the back. She was proclaiming her rights as a disadvantaged, African-American older woman. And I'm doing the same... This actually isn't about selling my body. This is about changing social norms... I'm an equal opportunity employer. I don't discriminate based on race, color, creed, ethnicity, or skin tone. Notice I left gender out. That's for a reason... [Gay for pay is] disrespect to the artist. My sphincter isn't for sale... [a gigolo] must have the heart of a saint, the mind of a philosopher, and the skills of the devil"
I think only feminists would believe his civil rights spiel - if not for their reflexive opposition to prostitution
French students cry liberté over right to wear sexy clothes - "The protest in Essonne was in retaliation to the rules imposed by a new headteacher, who banned holes in trousers and in garments above the knee. Léa Dedieu, 17, persuaded 300 of the 2,100 students to come to school wearing revealing shorts or mini-skirts for the girls and Bermuda shorts for the boys. She said the protest was intended to make a philosophical point about freedom rather than to "draw attention to ourselves"... students at Geoffroy- Saint-Hilaire are not stopping at protests against clothing regulations. When it was rumoured that the head would ban all contact between couples on the school grounds, they threatened to stage a "day of kissing""
Vive la Révolution!
Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don't Go - "Humanities Ph.D.'s, without relevant experience or technical skills, generally compete at a moderate disadvantage against undergraduates, and at a serious disadvantage against people with professional degrees. If you take that path, you will be starting at the bottom in your 30s, a decade behind your age cohort, with no savings (and probably a lot of debt)"
When subtitles go wrong - "I'll now proceed to pleasure myself with this fish"
7 Badass Cartoon Villains Who Lost to Retarded Heroes - "This is a pretty cruel trick society played on the little girls of the world who saw these cartoons and played with the toys. While boys were taught that evil giant transforming robots could only be defeated with other giant transforming robots, girls were taught that evil could be defeated with the power of rainbows and flamboyant song and dance. Which one better prepared their audience for the real world?"
All The Gore | Best Gore - "Blood and gore is what this site is all about. Vast image and video galleries are being added as they become available so there is a lot to look forward to"
Universities and Islam: Hearts, minds and Mecca | The Economist - "A forthcoming book by Steffen Hertog, a sociologist, will argue that terrorists include a high number of engineers—not because of their need for bomb-making skills, but perhaps because of a mindset that likes rigidity and binary choices"
What Do Skeptics, Creationists, and Terrorists Have in Common? - "You won't find many postmodernist engineers. For many engineers, their solution to a given problem is the correct one, and everyone else's solution is "stupid". You also will find this trait amongst skeptics. We will often be very opinionated, and be able to debate our opinion to the bitter end... liberal arts students... 'have real trouble in fields like math and science because in those fields there are correct and incorrect answers, and incorrect answers cannot be met by "that's just, like, your opinion, man"... the smarter liberal arts types aren't like this at all'... [Engineering] provides a technical background without the basic science to challenge religious beliefs... Maybe engineers are attracted to religious terrorism, creationism (which is religion based) and skepticism because both religion and skepticism offer "rules"... skepticism offers the rigid rules of logic and evidence"
I find the explanation for skepticism wanting - logic and evidence are rules in other disciplines - notably the sciences - as well
YouTube - X-Mas Origins: Santa
Also fun: Tom Hanks is James Bond
Businessman Mirko Fischer sues British Airwars 'for treating men like perverts' - "A businessman is suing British Airways over a policy that bans male passengers from sitting next to children they don't know - even if the child's parents are on the same flight. Mirko Fischer has accused the airline of branding all men as potential sex offenders and says innocent travellers are being publicly humiliated"
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