Someone: nope. I remember reading the bad law in a printed judgement and thinking that it was really screwy. I think the judge also subtly hinted at how his powers were restricted by it as well
Re solving it... Hmmm, I havent thought that much into how it can be reworded fairly
According to my ex-police boss, he joked that even if ask for ID, you still get screwed. Seems like the law is the one that is flawed.
Me: yep
as the law society article pointed out
oh well
Someone: Maybe 2 matching ID's or something.
Me: if you ask for ID and get fake ID and she's 17... at least fine
Someone: A lousy solution yeah.
Me: wondering how many will show ID
Someone: Odds are, probably none. Those men just got bloody unlucky.
Or rather, I reword.
Those men were doomed regardless of what they did in mitigation
Me: looks like asking her age saves you 1 week at least
I think the first underaged one showed her sister's IC right
well seeing IC = even better mitigation than just asking age
Someone: That Buegin guy? Yep. Sister's ID
Me: so how come he still got hit with such a heavy penalty
Someone: I'm not sure. Also, the fradulent use of the ID - we have history of charging people for the false use of ID to enter casinos... not on basis of evading the $100 fee, but with regards to the mens rea of using the ID to cheat others into thinking you are another person
So by rights, there is precedent available to charge the girl with misuse of ID
If i remember right. Operating off memory here rather than google and/or my achived legal material
Me: if you're underaged and use fake ID to enter a club are you liable?
we must look at the underaged part here
I think fake ID to buy cigarettes, you're liable
Someone: ". This is in stark contrast to the law relating to minors’ purchase of cigarettes. Any person under 18 years of age who purchases, uses or has in his possession a tobacco product is guilty of an offence and liable upon conviction to a fine of up to $300"
Re entering the club - not aware of any cases of that nature. I suppose though, that the consequence is small in the eyes of the state
Me: it's sexist lah
and moralistic
Someone: Yes it is
I think that the law is full of outdated stuff. This is one of them.
Me: hard to call it outdated
it was enacted a few years ago
Someone: changing laws takes 1-2 years, and sometimes, even if in process of changing it, even if it turns out fucked up, you have to wait for the next window to change it again
as folks upstairs will inevitably ask 'why the hell wasnt this spotted before!!! You expect me to get embarassed before Parliament?"'
Has happened before
Me: hurr hurr
I doubt they'll change it they made it fucked up for a reason la
it's politically hard to support the rights of prostitutes or johns
Someone: Well, I wont say they made it fucked up out of malice - moreso because overworked policy officers were just too burned out to game out the possibilities
I was one before, and yes, i kicked myself for not spotting some stuff before it went to Parliament
Generally, a law that has been passed wont be fixed, unless it becomes an embarrassment.
On the global stage. e.g the oral sex law.
At least in this govt. There are too many high salaries at stake, to be the dickhead who keeps giving the Minister more work.
Ne: not malice but it's strategic ambiguity
the compromise between:
- recognising that you cant stamp it out
- difficulty of ousting existing brothels even if they wanted to
- 'conservative' moral views
it was a *deliberate* insertion to remove the fact of honest mistakes from possible defences la. it was inserted on purpose
yeah legal inertia
Someone: Generally, if its an insertion (e.g. 377D), i try to trace down the parliamentary report for the change
Oh the removal of defence thing. Gimme a sec to correctly name it
Yep 377D. The one that shafted the angmo dude. The one that says that reasonable mistake of age its not a defence.
Well tracing legislative history. For example, lemme trace back 377D and show you the process
You got the Penal Code on Statutes online open?
Me: oh I didnt know it was 377D
it shafted a lot of people la
51/2007
not long ago
they put it in to screw people
Someone: Yep. im doing the trace... gimme a sec
[I'm] Tracing back legislative history, so that i can see when 377D was inserted, and so trace back the Hansard (parliamentary debate minutes) where the Bill was first debated
You can do the same by clicking legislative history at the top of the page. See it>?
After clicking on it, scroll down to the bottom.
Basically, legis history, scroll down, ignore the consequential changes -e.g. criminal procedure code etc, as those are just changing of terminology caused by other acts changing
If you are lucky, you get links to the old Acts, before they changed
In this case, we got lucky.
Its the same change that inserted 377A, which is no wonder 377D got overlooked in all that debate
Me: 377A got inserted? it was just retained right
Someone: Nope the old 377 got wiped. 377A was inserted together with 377D and a few others
Ok, its the famous Hansard of 23 Oct 2007 thereabouts - the 2nd and 3rd reading where Thio went on about drinking thru a straw and all that nonsense
Me: oh well
sigh
and now ~50 men are screwed
Someone: Next I go here
Publications - Singapore Parliament Reports | Parliament Of Singapore
Me: wonder who mischievously inserted the line about an honest mistake
Someone: Found the Hansard - yep, no debate on 377D at all. It got overlooked by Parliament in the midst of the 377A debate.
Singapore Parliament Reports - Full Report: PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES SINGAPORE. OFFICIAL REPORT. ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT
Me: sigh
Thanks, gay activists.
Someone: Well to my experience, prolly an overworked policy officer drafted it shitty. And a manager overlooked it or edited it
Me: well as I said someone *actively* inserted the honest mistake clause
Someone: Generally, the Bill wil have gone thru several cuts
Me: the irony is lots more men have been prosecuted under 377D than 377A since this whole farce started in 2007
Someone: So fault can lie on Min, Dir, Mngr, legal advisor, or down to the officer who made that line.
You'll be quite shocked that its usually policy officers with utterly no legal experience makign the first cut of the wording of the law. If the lawyers in AGC dont spot it... and the Mngr, Dir, PS, Min, Parl all miss it...
Me: not surprised
legal training is an expensive skill
I thought bureaucracy is supposed to weed out this sort of problem
Someone: it can be self learnt to a certain extent. And sometimes, officers are driven by responsibility and guilt to learn how to draft shit better
Me: I hope whoever drafted this feels bad.
Someone: Doesnt work well on paper. Problem with many layers of clearing, is that subtle naunces of the wordings in the law get missed
Me: depends on the clearers
Someone: There is an old joke that what you drafted as a policy officer becomes completely different by the time it reaches the Min, and you get all the blame.
See, your bosses summarise your stuff.
So the explanations get dropped first
Once you lose the footnotes, the next layer thinks it ok to change stuff
And yes, you can see it change... But if your PS or Min changes your draft, sometimes you arent privy to the changes when it happens because it is far above your level... and sometimes you know it is career suicide to debate with a busy Min when his clearance comes in at 2am at night and you gotta prep to send it to Parliament
A lot of folks don't understand why the system fails us... not without having either been on the inside. And the govt dont help by not making the process more transparent.
Me: Your bosses change everything also
Yeah people just blame "gahmen"
L'origine de Bert
Tuesday, November 05, 2013
On 377D of the Penal Code: when only being psychic is enough to avoid criminal liability
Post ID: 6594943019317483480
Links - 5th November 2013
Review: 'Blue Is the Warmest Color': How Much Sex Is Too Much Sex? - "Kechiche is not the only French director to be accused of criminal badgering. Jean-Claude Brisseau received a one-year suspended prison sentence and fines of nearly 25,000 euros for sexually harassing two actresses while preparing his 2002 film Choses secrètes (Secret Things). His response was to make another movie, Les anges exterminateurs (Exterminating Angels), portraying himself as the victim of his victims... Instead of wondering why there is so much whoopee in Blue Is the Warmest Color — and it’s actually not that much: about nine minutes in the nearly three-hour film — one might ask why there is so little in most other movies. Considering that sex is an activity almost everyone participates in and thinks about even more, it’s startling and depressing to think about how few movies connect their characters’ lives with their erotic drives. The practical answer to this question it that people no longer pay to see sex in movie theaters, as they did in the ’70s for art-house dramas (Last Tango in Paris) and porno chic (Deep Throat); they get it on their home computers for free. But directors can still find much to explore, and Kechiche is one of them. Unlike the slick, deodorized sexcapades in late-night Cinemax movies, the graphic scenes in Blue express the personalities of Emma, who’s in charge, and Adèle, who’s truly, madly, deeply in love. Amour fou was rarely so fou, so fevered, so lovable."
Pot growers celebrate as Uruguay legalizes cultivation and consumption of marijuana - "What the government of President José “Pepe” Mujica is advocating — which will surely become law because of his movement’s comfortable majority in the Senate — will make this country of just 3.4 million people a trailblazer. Under Mujica, a 78-year-old former guerrilla, Uruguay has adopted a raft of liberal policies on issues from same-sex marriage to abortion."
Changing British attitudes: press and politicians out, royal family in - "The UK is still a long way off its 1980s levels of royal support, when 65% said it was "very important" for Britain to continue to have a monarchy. But there has been a fascinating turn-around in opinion – from 27% thinking this in 2006 to 45% expressing strong support for the royal family in this year's latest survey."
Gabriel Seah's answer to Sex: How many times would you need to have unprotected sex with someone who's HIV positive to get HIV? - Quora - "the man has a 99.92% of not getting HIV and the woman 99.96% in the first sexual encounter.
While this is very small, the chance that you will stay uninfected rises the more often you have sex. Using logarithms, we find that:
- To have a 99% chance of remaining safe, a woman can only have unprotected sex 12 times and a man 25
- To have a 95% chance, a woman can do it 64 times and a man 128
- 90%: 131 (female), 263 (male)"
Dear Prudence: My boyfriend is a 30-year-old virgin. - "“I don’t have a condom” is “The dog ate my homework” of the lifetime virgin"
Why I Don’t Swear: An Argument for Decent Language - "Aristotle made a distinction between voice and language. A voice is merely sound indicating pleasure or pain, but language has political and ethical dimensions. Language is a means by which human beings make distinctions between good and evil, just and unjust. “Language”, as my professor Dr. Robert E. Wood likes to say, “is reason laying down its tracks in a system of signs.” Reason cannot fully articulate itself in the sound of a voice. It needs the more refined mode of signs, in the form of letters that form words which can be strung together in meaningful patterns or sentences, which can be multiplied endlessly to create discourse. The problem with swearing is that it is more voice than language, more animal than human. Swear words are not chosen for the meaning they convey, but rather for their impact. Swearing is used to punctuate and emphasize discourse in the same way that exclamation marks function. Swearing is a base form of communication that indicates “perception of pleasure and pain.” It is akin to the barking of a dog, the howling of a wolf, or the crowing of a rooster. Swearing isn’t meant to mean anything. It is simply meant to make an impression. The swearing that passes for language in modern social discourse is essentially a counterfeit language that heralds a de-volution of the human subject to a more animal state... “hate speech” functions to create unsafe environments for “outsiders” and cultivates animosity towards them in those who employ this type of speech. Swearing is similar. Using swear words to communicate in sound what cannot be articulated in language can lead to behavior that is fueled by passion rather than reason. One need only consider how often unethical behavior is preceded by “F- it!”, or something similar, which serves to cut-off the psychic disturbances of fear, anxiety or guilt... To bark expletives rather than searching for the most appropriate word to express what one is thinking is an exercise in intellectual laziness that is the first symptom of the fall of man"
When one argues one advances points to persuade other people of the truth of one's position. However, when one swears one is short-circuiting the logical pathways to exploit emotional ones. When one has conceded the field of reason to one's opponent, one has thus lost the argument. In short: if you swear/insult your opponent, you have lost the argument
I'm an animal in bed - Imgur
Singapore Seen | Woman's revealing top -- is really over the top - "STOMPer Chen was appalled by how revealing this woman's top was, especially when she bent over to try out a mop during a product demonstration at Jurong Point. According to the STOMPer, the woman had attracted a lot of attention from bystanders... "She was looking at a mop demonstration while others were looking at her 'asset demonstration'!"
If STOMP publishes this, I guess it's okay for men to take photos of women in public (even if they're in revealing outfits) without getting charged
Grumpy massage “uncle” in video ad back to sell swimwear - "“Uncle” Toh is at it again. Well, at least his online alter ego is. A sound engineer at a dance club, 53-year-old Toh Kia Hing once again assumes his role as an infamous massage therapist “uncle” who is not happy being hassled by sexy women at work... The video is the third of a series of videos by Jobiness, a startup online platform that offers branding for businesses and a research database for jobseekers."
The first video was a ripoff of the Brazilian one (dreamjob.com.br) but they followed up with two others so good for them!
One man’s dream job is another man’s nightmare - "They include having to sniff the armpits of strangers when deodorant companies want to test their products, burning human waste in sea vessels... Ever tasted pet food? Someone does that for a living, too. The Daily Mail reported that Mr Simon Allison, a senior food technologist for Marks & Spencer in the UK, have to taste the canned food before they go on the shop shelves. And unlike the grumpy “uncle” in the video, he enjoys his work. Mr Allison said: “Sniffing the product is a bit like a professional wine taster. It has the taste and aroma of chicken and some of what you call the red flavours - things like heart and liver; gutsy, savoury notes. Then you get a mealy, green pea, pulse aroma and occasionally a sweeter note from the carrot. "You have to chew it a bit. I have trained my palate to look for materials that we will not allow in the recipe, such as tripe - pet owners react badly to the smell of tripe.”"
How To Be A Girly Girl - YouTube
How facelifts make us look younger by just 3 years - "Overall, the number of years ‘saved’ by having a full facelift or other procedures such as eyelid surgery is around three. The more work that’s done, the younger the look, according to US and Canadian specialists. But they failed to find any significant change in attractiveness ratings afterwards - and in Britain the cost of a clutch of cosmetic surgery procedures could top £10,000."
Interdisciplinarity - "The reality is that everyone likes breadth and interdisciplinarity in theory, but the resistance in practice is considerable"
"I went to USC as an undergrad and came out 6 years ago thinking that breadth of research was useful, important and necessary for healthy scholarship.
Then I went to grad school…"
Survey: 1 in 5 Singapore workers claim ‘ghostly’ workplace encounters - "Women are more likely than men to 'encounter' or hear about someone encountering 'something'... One respondent quips: “My colleague encountered a ‘ghost’ lurking in the washroom at my shop level. I encountered only the tap that turns on by itself at times, due to a faulty sensor. Ha-ha.” Another puts it bluntly: “Customers and colleagues are scarier than the 'supernatural' because they either make a din or take your stationeries without informing you.”"
Man's body found hanging after eight years in flat near Paris
Love really is like a drug - "Intense spells of passion are as effective at blocking pain as cocaine and other illicit drugs... Younger's team recruited students in the first nine months of a relationship, when feelings of passion are at their most intense. "We intentionally focused on this early phase of passionate love. We specifically were not looking for longer-lasting, more mature phases of the relationship. We wanted subjects who were feeling euphoric, energetic, obsessively thinking about their beloved, craving their presence," Sean Mackey, a co-author on the paper, said. "When passionate love is described like this, it in some ways sounds like an addiction. We thought, maybe this does involve similar brain systems as those involved in addictions.""
'Romantic Love Is an Addiction,' Researchers Say - "The researchers found that, for heartbroken men and women, looking at photographs of former partners activated regions in the brain associated with rewards, addiction cravings, control of emotions, feelings of attachment and physical pain and distress. The results provide insight into why it might be hard for some people to get over a break up, and why, in some cases, people are driven to commit extreme behaviors, such as stalking and homicide, after losing love"
Crazy in love: What happens in your brain when you really do have chemistry - "The frontal cortex, vital to judgment, shuts down when we fall in love. MRI scans show this de-activation occurs only when someone is shown a photo of the person they adore, causing them to suspend all criticism or doubt... Brain scans have also shown the area of the brain that controls fear, and another region involved in negative emotions, close down, explaining why people feel so happy with the world – and unafraid of what might go wrong – when they fall head over heels... Tests show that taking opioid drugs such as cocaine have a similar effect on dopamine as love.
Pot growers celebrate as Uruguay legalizes cultivation and consumption of marijuana - "What the government of President José “Pepe” Mujica is advocating — which will surely become law because of his movement’s comfortable majority in the Senate — will make this country of just 3.4 million people a trailblazer. Under Mujica, a 78-year-old former guerrilla, Uruguay has adopted a raft of liberal policies on issues from same-sex marriage to abortion."
Changing British attitudes: press and politicians out, royal family in - "The UK is still a long way off its 1980s levels of royal support, when 65% said it was "very important" for Britain to continue to have a monarchy. But there has been a fascinating turn-around in opinion – from 27% thinking this in 2006 to 45% expressing strong support for the royal family in this year's latest survey."
Gabriel Seah's answer to Sex: How many times would you need to have unprotected sex with someone who's HIV positive to get HIV? - Quora - "the man has a 99.92% of not getting HIV and the woman 99.96% in the first sexual encounter.
While this is very small, the chance that you will stay uninfected rises the more often you have sex. Using logarithms, we find that:
- To have a 99% chance of remaining safe, a woman can only have unprotected sex 12 times and a man 25
- To have a 95% chance, a woman can do it 64 times and a man 128
- 90%: 131 (female), 263 (male)"
Dear Prudence: My boyfriend is a 30-year-old virgin. - "“I don’t have a condom” is “The dog ate my homework” of the lifetime virgin"
Why I Don’t Swear: An Argument for Decent Language - "Aristotle made a distinction between voice and language. A voice is merely sound indicating pleasure or pain, but language has political and ethical dimensions. Language is a means by which human beings make distinctions between good and evil, just and unjust. “Language”, as my professor Dr. Robert E. Wood likes to say, “is reason laying down its tracks in a system of signs.” Reason cannot fully articulate itself in the sound of a voice. It needs the more refined mode of signs, in the form of letters that form words which can be strung together in meaningful patterns or sentences, which can be multiplied endlessly to create discourse. The problem with swearing is that it is more voice than language, more animal than human. Swear words are not chosen for the meaning they convey, but rather for their impact. Swearing is used to punctuate and emphasize discourse in the same way that exclamation marks function. Swearing is a base form of communication that indicates “perception of pleasure and pain.” It is akin to the barking of a dog, the howling of a wolf, or the crowing of a rooster. Swearing isn’t meant to mean anything. It is simply meant to make an impression. The swearing that passes for language in modern social discourse is essentially a counterfeit language that heralds a de-volution of the human subject to a more animal state... “hate speech” functions to create unsafe environments for “outsiders” and cultivates animosity towards them in those who employ this type of speech. Swearing is similar. Using swear words to communicate in sound what cannot be articulated in language can lead to behavior that is fueled by passion rather than reason. One need only consider how often unethical behavior is preceded by “F- it!”, or something similar, which serves to cut-off the psychic disturbances of fear, anxiety or guilt... To bark expletives rather than searching for the most appropriate word to express what one is thinking is an exercise in intellectual laziness that is the first symptom of the fall of man"
When one argues one advances points to persuade other people of the truth of one's position. However, when one swears one is short-circuiting the logical pathways to exploit emotional ones. When one has conceded the field of reason to one's opponent, one has thus lost the argument. In short: if you swear/insult your opponent, you have lost the argument
I'm an animal in bed - Imgur
Singapore Seen | Woman's revealing top -- is really over the top - "STOMPer Chen was appalled by how revealing this woman's top was, especially when she bent over to try out a mop during a product demonstration at Jurong Point. According to the STOMPer, the woman had attracted a lot of attention from bystanders... "She was looking at a mop demonstration while others were looking at her 'asset demonstration'!"
If STOMP publishes this, I guess it's okay for men to take photos of women in public (even if they're in revealing outfits) without getting charged
Grumpy massage “uncle” in video ad back to sell swimwear - "“Uncle” Toh is at it again. Well, at least his online alter ego is. A sound engineer at a dance club, 53-year-old Toh Kia Hing once again assumes his role as an infamous massage therapist “uncle” who is not happy being hassled by sexy women at work... The video is the third of a series of videos by Jobiness, a startup online platform that offers branding for businesses and a research database for jobseekers."
The first video was a ripoff of the Brazilian one (dreamjob.com.br) but they followed up with two others so good for them!
One man’s dream job is another man’s nightmare - "They include having to sniff the armpits of strangers when deodorant companies want to test their products, burning human waste in sea vessels... Ever tasted pet food? Someone does that for a living, too. The Daily Mail reported that Mr Simon Allison, a senior food technologist for Marks & Spencer in the UK, have to taste the canned food before they go on the shop shelves. And unlike the grumpy “uncle” in the video, he enjoys his work. Mr Allison said: “Sniffing the product is a bit like a professional wine taster. It has the taste and aroma of chicken and some of what you call the red flavours - things like heart and liver; gutsy, savoury notes. Then you get a mealy, green pea, pulse aroma and occasionally a sweeter note from the carrot. "You have to chew it a bit. I have trained my palate to look for materials that we will not allow in the recipe, such as tripe - pet owners react badly to the smell of tripe.”"
How To Be A Girly Girl - YouTube
How facelifts make us look younger by just 3 years - "Overall, the number of years ‘saved’ by having a full facelift or other procedures such as eyelid surgery is around three. The more work that’s done, the younger the look, according to US and Canadian specialists. But they failed to find any significant change in attractiveness ratings afterwards - and in Britain the cost of a clutch of cosmetic surgery procedures could top £10,000."
Interdisciplinarity - "The reality is that everyone likes breadth and interdisciplinarity in theory, but the resistance in practice is considerable"
"I went to USC as an undergrad and came out 6 years ago thinking that breadth of research was useful, important and necessary for healthy scholarship.
Then I went to grad school…"
Survey: 1 in 5 Singapore workers claim ‘ghostly’ workplace encounters - "Women are more likely than men to 'encounter' or hear about someone encountering 'something'... One respondent quips: “My colleague encountered a ‘ghost’ lurking in the washroom at my shop level. I encountered only the tap that turns on by itself at times, due to a faulty sensor. Ha-ha.” Another puts it bluntly: “Customers and colleagues are scarier than the 'supernatural' because they either make a din or take your stationeries without informing you.”"
Man's body found hanging after eight years in flat near Paris
Love really is like a drug - "Intense spells of passion are as effective at blocking pain as cocaine and other illicit drugs... Younger's team recruited students in the first nine months of a relationship, when feelings of passion are at their most intense. "We intentionally focused on this early phase of passionate love. We specifically were not looking for longer-lasting, more mature phases of the relationship. We wanted subjects who were feeling euphoric, energetic, obsessively thinking about their beloved, craving their presence," Sean Mackey, a co-author on the paper, said. "When passionate love is described like this, it in some ways sounds like an addiction. We thought, maybe this does involve similar brain systems as those involved in addictions.""
'Romantic Love Is an Addiction,' Researchers Say - "The researchers found that, for heartbroken men and women, looking at photographs of former partners activated regions in the brain associated with rewards, addiction cravings, control of emotions, feelings of attachment and physical pain and distress. The results provide insight into why it might be hard for some people to get over a break up, and why, in some cases, people are driven to commit extreme behaviors, such as stalking and homicide, after losing love"
Crazy in love: What happens in your brain when you really do have chemistry - "The frontal cortex, vital to judgment, shuts down when we fall in love. MRI scans show this de-activation occurs only when someone is shown a photo of the person they adore, causing them to suspend all criticism or doubt... Brain scans have also shown the area of the brain that controls fear, and another region involved in negative emotions, close down, explaining why people feel so happy with the world – and unafraid of what might go wrong – when they fall head over heels... Tests show that taking opioid drugs such as cocaine have a similar effect on dopamine as love.
Post ID: 486254131914801369
Saturday, November 02, 2013
Stoning adulterers = Moderate Islam?
Description: "When Muslim organizations invite Shaykhs who speak openly about the values of Islam, the Islamophobic western media starts murdering the character of that organization and the invited speaker. The question these Islamophobic journalists need to reflect upon is; are these so called ''radical'' views that they criticize endorsed only by these few individuals being invited around the globe, or does the common Muslims believe in them. If the common Muslims believe in these values that means that more or less all Muslims are radical and that Islam is a radical religion. Since this is not the case, as Islam is a peaceful religion and so are the masses of common Muslims, these Shaykhs cannot be radical. Rather it is Islamophobia from the ignorant western media who is more concerned about making money by alienating Islam by presenting Muslims in this way. Islam Net, an organization in Norway, invited 9 speakers to Peace Conference Scandinavia 2013. These speakers would most likely be labelled as ''extremists'' if the media were to write about the conference. But how come this conference was the largest Islamic Scandinavian International event that has taken place in Norway with about 4000 people attending? Were the majority of those who attended in opposition to what the speakers were preaching? If so, how come they paid to enter? Let's forget about that for a moment, let's imagine that we don't really knew what all these people thought about for example segregation of men and women, or stoning to death of those who commit adultery. The Chairman of Islam Net, Fahad Ullah Qureshi asked the audience, and the answer was clear. The attendees were common Sunni Muslims. They did not consider themselves as radicals or extremists. They believed that segregation was the right thing to do, both men and women agreed upon this. They even supported stoning or whatever punishment Islam or prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) commanded for adultery or any other crime. They even believed that these practises should be implemented around the world. Now what does that tell us? Either all Muslims and Islam is radical, or the media is Islamophobic and racist in their presentation of Islam. Islam is not radical, nor is Muslims in general radical. That means that the media is the reason for the hatred against Muslims, which is spreading among the non-Muslims in western countries."
So it seems Moderate Muslims believe in sex segregation, stoning for adultery and the death penalty for homosexuals (and other aspects of Shariah law, including the parts with the death penalty), and calling such Muslims extremist is Islamophobic. Apparently Islam Net flies in imams to talk about why men should be able to beat their wives.
Does this mean that MUIS is crypto-islamophobic?
Also this might be a Norwegian event (held by Islam Net, allegedly the largest Muslim organisation in Norway), but the panel is in English.
Post ID: 5445099632011913487
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Regimentation
Officer: Soldier, do you have change for a dollar?
Soldier: Sure, buddy.
Officer: That's no way to address an officer!
Now let's try it again!
Officer: Soldier. Do you have change for a dollar?
Soldier: No, SIR!
Soldier: Sure, buddy.
Officer: That's no way to address an officer!
Now let's try it again!
Officer: Soldier. Do you have change for a dollar?
Soldier: No, SIR!
Post ID: 6924636056299469331
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
No Boy Left Behind?
Source: TopMastersInEducation.com
(Click on image for infographic)
"More boys are enrolled in kindergarten than girls, but fewer boys will graduate from high school. What happens in the years between to keep boys from being successful in school? Are our boys failing -- or are we failing our boys?
Picturing the Problem
In the beginning of life, boys and girls start out on mostly even footing. But not long after that, things begin to change.
For every 100 females ...
born
... 105 males are born
who are enrolled in kindergarten
... 107 males are enrolled
who repeat kindergarten
... 194 males repeat
who are suspended from public schools
... 215 males are suspended
who are diagnosed with a learning disability
... 276 males are diagnosed
who graduate from high school
... 96 males graduate
who are enrolled in college
... 78 males are enrolled
who have a master's degree
... 66 males have the same degree
* The picture is even worse when looking at only low-income and minority boys and men.
Why Is This Happening?
While the causes of boys' perceived underachievement in schools are no doubt myriad and complex, researchers and educators have pointed to a few key factors that are likely playing a role.
Zero-tolerance policies
Any violence or threats of violence or in many schools, simply talking about violence, earns most students a suspension. Boys are far more likely to be the perpetrators and victims of violence.
Of high school-age boys ...
40.7% engage in fighting
25.9% regularly carry weapons (whether to school or not)
Dearth of male teachers
Boys regularly encounter only female educators, meaning they spend the bulk of their days with people they may find it difficult to relate to.
Public school teachers
76% female
24% male
Natural differences in male and female development
Girls develop faster.
6 months earlier
The average girl is potty trained2 years earlier
The average girl reaches puberty
Teaching to the test
With school certifications and teacher salaries tied to student achievement, the focus for many public schools isn't necessarily a broad, well-rounded education -- it's making sure their students can past a battery of standardized tests. This means there's little room for error.
Why There's Hope
Once boys reach a certain age, the natural differences between boys and girls begin to evaporate, as males catch up to females developmentally, and in some cases, surpass them.
Boys regularly outperform girls in science, technology and math.
These two students probably have the same ability to understand math and geometry:
12-year-old girl and 8-year-old boy
Mean IQ levels
Age 7
Girls: 100.6
Boys: 99.4
Age 11
Girls: 100.4
Boys: 99.6
Age 16
Girls: 99.2
Boys: 100.8
What Schools Can Do to Engage Boys
Keeping boys engaged in school and learning is vital to keeping them from dropping out -- or simply tuning out. Here are ways to hold boys' attention in the classroom:
- Provide lessons that result in an end product (a booklet, comic strip or a model)
- Structure lessons as competitive games
- Require motor activity
- Allow boys to address open questions or unsolved problems
- Encourage a combination of competition and teamwork
- Craft lessons that focus on independent discovery and realization"
Post ID: 6872397883775763167
Sex, Money, Lies and Punishment
Sex, Money, Lies and Punishment
"The timeline of the sexual milestones in a law-abiding young person’s life in Singapore could, therefore, be conceivably presented as follows:
As shown in the timeline above, a person may lawfully work as a prostitute for three years before being legally permitted to watch a film containing explicit depictions of sexual intercourse. This exposes a major paradox in public policy. This article is primarily concerned (as are the over 50 men referred to above) with the differing ages at which commercial sex and non-commercial sex become legally permissible, in the context of a legal regime where prostitution is legal...
It appears that the maturity of an 18-year-old is required to conduct a holistic assessment of the benefits and disbenefits of engaging in sex for money. At the same time, this policy recognises the autonomy of adults to make the decision to enter the world’s oldest profession and of persons over 16 years of age to buy sexual services from strangers. Without making any value judgement on this policy, this reasoning can certainly be said to be entirely plausible.
This reasoning starts to break down when the full force of the law is applied to those whose sex workers lie to them about their age by holding themselves out to be 18 years or older when in fact they are under the age of 18...
Almost all the men who have been prosecuted to date in the ongoing series of prosecutions referred to previously claimed that they had no idea that the sex worker they engaged was under 18. Many of them asked the sex worker for her age and she assured them that she was 18-years-old. Some apparently even asked for ID but were refused. All of these men were convicted and given a custodial sentence despite never having intended to have commercial sex with a person under 18 years of age. Herein lies the great paradox of public policy. Here we have a legal regime that allows people to pay others for sexual services on the one hand but punishes them for doing so if, in doing so, through no fault of their own and despite their best efforts, they inadvertently engage the sexual services of a person under 18 years of age. The message this sends to the general public is that there is no safe way to engage the services of a sex worker without exposing oneself to criminal liability. This is a most unsatisfactory conclusion with regard to an activity which, strictly speaking, in the eyes of the law, is as innocuous as flying a kite or walking a dog.
The Courts’ response to this legislative dichotomy has been to issue judgements that betray an implicit disapproval of the buying of sexual services generally, without regard for its legality, and to suggest that each of the men convicted of inadvertently engaging an underage sex worker was the author of his own misfortune for having the audacity to seek out legitimate commercial sex in the first place.
With respect, the legislative dichotomy referred to above seems to have, quite understandably, created confusion in the Courts on the legal legitimacy of commercial sex in Singapore generally. In various other jurisdictions, debate has raged on whether prostitution should be legal. In jurisdictions where prostitution is illegal, the main argument for decriminalisation is removing the socially damaging impact of criminal gangs and human traffickers from the sector and the benefits that regulation can bring to public health, public safety and the protection of vulnerable minors. The debate on whether to criminalise prostitution has been conspicuously absent in Singapore, from which one would have to presume that there is no public support for the idea. However, also absent is the most significant justification for decriminalising commercial sex: full regulation.
Although there is some regulation of the sex industry in Singapore, this has yet to result in the benefits one would expect. Singapore has, for the last few years, been ranked by the US State Department as a Tier 2 trafficking destination... some minors continue to be exploited in the sex industry despite the inclusion of ss.376B and 377D to the Penal Code. The latter is due to a combination of factors, but one of those factors is the Government’s “farming out” of its regulatory responsibilities to the general public.
If a person wishes to purchase cigarettes or see an R21 movie, he is required to produce on demand an identification card proving that he is old enough. If he produces a forged identification card which claims that he is old enough, the merchant selling the cigarettes or screening the movie is absolved from all liability. There is no equivalent of s 377D for these industries that would deny these merchants recourse to the defence of mistake. In fact, in the case of the sale of tobacco, the defence of reasonable mistake as to age is explicitly provided for in legislation. Persons selling these goods and services have to be licenced by the Health Sciences Authority and Media Development Authority respectively. The Government sees potential risks to the health and welfare of minors in these sectors and, therefore, regulates their access to them but ultimately does not penalise merchants who are duped by unscrupulous minors.
Sex workers are not licenced per se. They are not legally required to produce identification to their customers on demand. Although sex workers are issued permits to ply their trade by the police, there is no legal requirement for them to produce these permits to customers on demand and no legal consequences for them if they refuse to do so. Nor are there any consequences for them should they provide paid sexual services after lying and explicitly claiming to be over 18 years of age when they are not. This is in stark contrast to the law relating to minors’ purchase of cigarettes. Any person under 18 years of age who purchases, uses or has in his possession a tobacco product is guilty of an offence and liable upon conviction to a fine of up to $300. Only in the sex industry is the party who is deceived, after making reasonable enquiries as to age, guilty of an offence, with the deceiving party remaining innocent.
The untenable position that the law has created is that all of the responsibility for ensuring that a sex worker is old enough to be a legal sex worker lies with the customer who, unlike a statutory licencing authority, has no statutory powers to demand proof of age in order to allow the sex worker to engage in her occupation. To say that a customer has the power to simply refuse to engage a sex worker who cannot produce ID fails to acknowledge that: (i) for obvious reasons, it is common practice for all sex workers to refuse to provide ID; and (ii) that refusal to engage a sex worker who cannot produce ID does nothing to protect underage sex workers from being exploited by actual paedophiles, which is the purported parliamentary intent behind ss 376B and 377D.
The existence of absolute liability in these circumstances muddies the already murky waters of public policy on commercial sex and creates an inherent paradox in the law that can only be resolved by changing the law in one of two ways:
1. Criminalise prostitution: If the public policy on this issue is that prostitution is just bad and not in the public interest, then the only way to express this through legislation is to ban it outright on pain of criminal conviction, whether of the sex worker, customer, brothel owner or some combination of these; or
2. Fully regulate prostitution: If the public policy on prostitution is that it is acceptable because its potential adverse effects on public health, the safety of children and law and order can be properly managed, then the only sensible way to express this through legislation is to create a comprehensive and transparent regulatory regime that clearly defines and enforces what is acceptable and what is not. To do this properly, a statutory board should be established to regulate and licence the sex industry, as has been done in other jurisdictions. All sex workers should be licenced by this statutory board, who would have the responsibility of ensuring that every licensee was over 18, free of venereal disease and entering the sex industry of her own free will. This board would issue a permit which would include a passport photograph and date of birth to each sex worker who would then be required to carry it and produce it upon demand to customers. Customers should be required to demand its production before engaging a sex worker. Having sight of a plausibly forged permit would be a complete defence to any charge of engaging an underage sex worker. Implementing such a regime would not place a financial burden on the state that would be significantly more onerous than the regulation of taxi drivers and doing so could lead to the creation of an environment where the exploitation of child sex workers becomes highly impracticable. In formulating such a regulatory regime, we should draw upon the experience of other developed countries where prostitution is licenced...
Where the accused asked for the sex worker’s age, he was given some credit, particularly if he asked for identification. However, where the accused relied on written representations of the sex worker’s age in advertising material, he was chastised for not making further enquiries, regardless of their futility. For the reasons outlined earlier in this article, an accused person’s lack of knowledge of a sex worker’s underage status should be a complete defence but as this is not the case, it makes sense for it to be a mitigating factor. However, the Courts have insisted on delving into this lack of knowledge to a level of granularity that attaches importance to the number and nature of inquiries made by the accused as to the sex worker’s age. This unfortunately ignores the fact that a sex worker will never produce identification with her name on it as well as the fact that if sex workers and pimps are untruthful in advertising material, they are unlikely to develop a conscience and become truthful when questioned in person. Accordingly, this factor has little bearing on the likelihood that children will be protected from a life of prostitution.
Although not mentioned in the leading High Court authority of Tan Chye Hin v Public Prosecutor, an aggravating factor that the District Court has applied in sentencing is the existence of a wide age gap between the accused and the sex worker. The rationale for this is not immediately obvious. Perhaps it represents a misapplication of the approach taken in non-commercial underage sex cases where both consenting parties are relatively young and about the same age and the assumption is that the sex took place in the context of a juvenile relationship. Under these circumstances, both parties are regarded, to some extent as victims of their own immaturity, and sentences are usually minimal if there is any prosecution at all. However, this cannot be said to be the case in the context of prostitution where there is no suggestion of the existence of a relationship. Surely in the context of a commercial transaction of money for sex, the age of the client cannot be a relevant factor in whether or to what extent the transaction itself is wrongful. Nevertheless, this seems to be the approach taken by the legislature by making ignorance of the sex worker’s age a complete defence for accused persons under 21. The Courts seem to have extended this approach by allowing an accused person’s relative youth to operate as a mitigating factor in itself and accused persons in their mid-twenties have received slightly lower sentences as a result...
The State has taken an unusually hostile stance towards customers of sex workers by stripping them of all defences notwithstanding that they have been victims of deceit. Ultimately, only the state possesses the coercive power and the moral authority to regulate prostitution. Instead, it has chosen to push this obligation onto unsuspecting individual consumers. The current law as outlined above, reflects an inert political compromise between pragmatic considerations regarding the inevitability of prostitution in one form or another, and the preservation of conservative values in society. This has been achieved by enshrining in law a tacit disapproval of commercial sex generally without an accompanying strong public effort to properly gate-keep entry to the sex industry by children. This mere disapproval is as cold a comfort to underage sex workers as it is to members of the public who have served prison sentences for having been deceived by them. They are both victims of a legal framework that, in trying to achieve the important objective of protecting children, has instead focused on deterring legitimate consumers from participating in the sex industry at all in order to avoid the hard work and responsibility inherent in properly regulating it."
Addendum: I would add that for cases where there is no payment, a reasonable mistake is still not a defence if she is under 16.
"The timeline of the sexual milestones in a law-abiding young person’s life in Singapore could, therefore, be conceivably presented as follows:
Age | Permissible Activity |
16 | Engage in consensual sex without remuneration |
16 | Engage and pay for the services of a sex worker |
18 | Become a sex worker and engage in consensual sex for remuneration |
21 | Watch a film containing explicit depictions of sexual intercourse |
As shown in the timeline above, a person may lawfully work as a prostitute for three years before being legally permitted to watch a film containing explicit depictions of sexual intercourse. This exposes a major paradox in public policy. This article is primarily concerned (as are the over 50 men referred to above) with the differing ages at which commercial sex and non-commercial sex become legally permissible, in the context of a legal regime where prostitution is legal...
It appears that the maturity of an 18-year-old is required to conduct a holistic assessment of the benefits and disbenefits of engaging in sex for money. At the same time, this policy recognises the autonomy of adults to make the decision to enter the world’s oldest profession and of persons over 16 years of age to buy sexual services from strangers. Without making any value judgement on this policy, this reasoning can certainly be said to be entirely plausible.
This reasoning starts to break down when the full force of the law is applied to those whose sex workers lie to them about their age by holding themselves out to be 18 years or older when in fact they are under the age of 18...
Almost all the men who have been prosecuted to date in the ongoing series of prosecutions referred to previously claimed that they had no idea that the sex worker they engaged was under 18. Many of them asked the sex worker for her age and she assured them that she was 18-years-old. Some apparently even asked for ID but were refused. All of these men were convicted and given a custodial sentence despite never having intended to have commercial sex with a person under 18 years of age. Herein lies the great paradox of public policy. Here we have a legal regime that allows people to pay others for sexual services on the one hand but punishes them for doing so if, in doing so, through no fault of their own and despite their best efforts, they inadvertently engage the sexual services of a person under 18 years of age. The message this sends to the general public is that there is no safe way to engage the services of a sex worker without exposing oneself to criminal liability. This is a most unsatisfactory conclusion with regard to an activity which, strictly speaking, in the eyes of the law, is as innocuous as flying a kite or walking a dog.
The Courts’ response to this legislative dichotomy has been to issue judgements that betray an implicit disapproval of the buying of sexual services generally, without regard for its legality, and to suggest that each of the men convicted of inadvertently engaging an underage sex worker was the author of his own misfortune for having the audacity to seek out legitimate commercial sex in the first place.
He chose to use the services of a commercial sex worker. He chose to take the risk that she may well be below 18 years of age. He chose to be reckless and therefore must bear the consequences.
With respect, the legislative dichotomy referred to above seems to have, quite understandably, created confusion in the Courts on the legal legitimacy of commercial sex in Singapore generally. In various other jurisdictions, debate has raged on whether prostitution should be legal. In jurisdictions where prostitution is illegal, the main argument for decriminalisation is removing the socially damaging impact of criminal gangs and human traffickers from the sector and the benefits that regulation can bring to public health, public safety and the protection of vulnerable minors. The debate on whether to criminalise prostitution has been conspicuously absent in Singapore, from which one would have to presume that there is no public support for the idea. However, also absent is the most significant justification for decriminalising commercial sex: full regulation.
Although there is some regulation of the sex industry in Singapore, this has yet to result in the benefits one would expect. Singapore has, for the last few years, been ranked by the US State Department as a Tier 2 trafficking destination... some minors continue to be exploited in the sex industry despite the inclusion of ss.376B and 377D to the Penal Code. The latter is due to a combination of factors, but one of those factors is the Government’s “farming out” of its regulatory responsibilities to the general public.
If a person wishes to purchase cigarettes or see an R21 movie, he is required to produce on demand an identification card proving that he is old enough. If he produces a forged identification card which claims that he is old enough, the merchant selling the cigarettes or screening the movie is absolved from all liability. There is no equivalent of s 377D for these industries that would deny these merchants recourse to the defence of mistake. In fact, in the case of the sale of tobacco, the defence of reasonable mistake as to age is explicitly provided for in legislation. Persons selling these goods and services have to be licenced by the Health Sciences Authority and Media Development Authority respectively. The Government sees potential risks to the health and welfare of minors in these sectors and, therefore, regulates their access to them but ultimately does not penalise merchants who are duped by unscrupulous minors.
Sex workers are not licenced per se. They are not legally required to produce identification to their customers on demand. Although sex workers are issued permits to ply their trade by the police, there is no legal requirement for them to produce these permits to customers on demand and no legal consequences for them if they refuse to do so. Nor are there any consequences for them should they provide paid sexual services after lying and explicitly claiming to be over 18 years of age when they are not. This is in stark contrast to the law relating to minors’ purchase of cigarettes. Any person under 18 years of age who purchases, uses or has in his possession a tobacco product is guilty of an offence and liable upon conviction to a fine of up to $300. Only in the sex industry is the party who is deceived, after making reasonable enquiries as to age, guilty of an offence, with the deceiving party remaining innocent.
The untenable position that the law has created is that all of the responsibility for ensuring that a sex worker is old enough to be a legal sex worker lies with the customer who, unlike a statutory licencing authority, has no statutory powers to demand proof of age in order to allow the sex worker to engage in her occupation. To say that a customer has the power to simply refuse to engage a sex worker who cannot produce ID fails to acknowledge that: (i) for obvious reasons, it is common practice for all sex workers to refuse to provide ID; and (ii) that refusal to engage a sex worker who cannot produce ID does nothing to protect underage sex workers from being exploited by actual paedophiles, which is the purported parliamentary intent behind ss 376B and 377D.
The existence of absolute liability in these circumstances muddies the already murky waters of public policy on commercial sex and creates an inherent paradox in the law that can only be resolved by changing the law in one of two ways:
1. Criminalise prostitution: If the public policy on this issue is that prostitution is just bad and not in the public interest, then the only way to express this through legislation is to ban it outright on pain of criminal conviction, whether of the sex worker, customer, brothel owner or some combination of these; or
2. Fully regulate prostitution: If the public policy on prostitution is that it is acceptable because its potential adverse effects on public health, the safety of children and law and order can be properly managed, then the only sensible way to express this through legislation is to create a comprehensive and transparent regulatory regime that clearly defines and enforces what is acceptable and what is not. To do this properly, a statutory board should be established to regulate and licence the sex industry, as has been done in other jurisdictions. All sex workers should be licenced by this statutory board, who would have the responsibility of ensuring that every licensee was over 18, free of venereal disease and entering the sex industry of her own free will. This board would issue a permit which would include a passport photograph and date of birth to each sex worker who would then be required to carry it and produce it upon demand to customers. Customers should be required to demand its production before engaging a sex worker. Having sight of a plausibly forged permit would be a complete defence to any charge of engaging an underage sex worker. Implementing such a regime would not place a financial burden on the state that would be significantly more onerous than the regulation of taxi drivers and doing so could lead to the creation of an environment where the exploitation of child sex workers becomes highly impracticable. In formulating such a regulatory regime, we should draw upon the experience of other developed countries where prostitution is licenced...
Where the accused asked for the sex worker’s age, he was given some credit, particularly if he asked for identification. However, where the accused relied on written representations of the sex worker’s age in advertising material, he was chastised for not making further enquiries, regardless of their futility. For the reasons outlined earlier in this article, an accused person’s lack of knowledge of a sex worker’s underage status should be a complete defence but as this is not the case, it makes sense for it to be a mitigating factor. However, the Courts have insisted on delving into this lack of knowledge to a level of granularity that attaches importance to the number and nature of inquiries made by the accused as to the sex worker’s age. This unfortunately ignores the fact that a sex worker will never produce identification with her name on it as well as the fact that if sex workers and pimps are untruthful in advertising material, they are unlikely to develop a conscience and become truthful when questioned in person. Accordingly, this factor has little bearing on the likelihood that children will be protected from a life of prostitution.
Although not mentioned in the leading High Court authority of Tan Chye Hin v Public Prosecutor, an aggravating factor that the District Court has applied in sentencing is the existence of a wide age gap between the accused and the sex worker. The rationale for this is not immediately obvious. Perhaps it represents a misapplication of the approach taken in non-commercial underage sex cases where both consenting parties are relatively young and about the same age and the assumption is that the sex took place in the context of a juvenile relationship. Under these circumstances, both parties are regarded, to some extent as victims of their own immaturity, and sentences are usually minimal if there is any prosecution at all. However, this cannot be said to be the case in the context of prostitution where there is no suggestion of the existence of a relationship. Surely in the context of a commercial transaction of money for sex, the age of the client cannot be a relevant factor in whether or to what extent the transaction itself is wrongful. Nevertheless, this seems to be the approach taken by the legislature by making ignorance of the sex worker’s age a complete defence for accused persons under 21. The Courts seem to have extended this approach by allowing an accused person’s relative youth to operate as a mitigating factor in itself and accused persons in their mid-twenties have received slightly lower sentences as a result...
The State has taken an unusually hostile stance towards customers of sex workers by stripping them of all defences notwithstanding that they have been victims of deceit. Ultimately, only the state possesses the coercive power and the moral authority to regulate prostitution. Instead, it has chosen to push this obligation onto unsuspecting individual consumers. The current law as outlined above, reflects an inert political compromise between pragmatic considerations regarding the inevitability of prostitution in one form or another, and the preservation of conservative values in society. This has been achieved by enshrining in law a tacit disapproval of commercial sex generally without an accompanying strong public effort to properly gate-keep entry to the sex industry by children. This mere disapproval is as cold a comfort to underage sex workers as it is to members of the public who have served prison sentences for having been deceived by them. They are both victims of a legal framework that, in trying to achieve the important objective of protecting children, has instead focused on deterring legitimate consumers from participating in the sex industry at all in order to avoid the hard work and responsibility inherent in properly regulating it."
Addendum: I would add that for cases where there is no payment, a reasonable mistake is still not a defence if she is under 16.
Post ID: 8020260344335241557
Monday, October 28, 2013
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Links - 27th October 2013
Caring About Connections: Gender and Computing - "While most of the male students describe an early and persistent magnetic attraction between themselves and computers, women much more frequently link their computer science interest to a larger societal framework. Nearly half of the women we’ve interviewed attach their interest in computer science to other arenas, such as medicine, education, space exploration and the arts. For many of these women, while interest in computing is strong, they are concerned that their study of computer science not require a myopic focus on the machine, or detach them from people and other concerns"
A more important reason than discrimination why there're fewer women in computing
Man Shot in Quarrel Over Kant's Philosophy - "Many Russians like to discuss philosophy and history, often over a drink, but such discussions rarely end in shootings."
By Singaporeans logic, we should criminalise philosophical discussions
What Arranged Marriages Taught Me About Love - "I remember the first time I found out that one of my friends had an arranged marriage... I was stunned. I had spoken to them many times before, and always noticed how much they seemed to enjoy one another's company. In fact, if someone had asked me to name the married couples I knew who seemed most in love, they would have been near the top of the list... they saw a marriage as being about so much more than the bride and groom alone... They hoped for the same exciting feelings that American culture calls "love," but they didn't see those emotions as definitive of the concept. They saw love as an action, one that's rooted in mutual self-giving and self-sacrifice"
rediff.com :'Arranged marriages can teach us a great deal' - "Secret # 1, she notes, is that your husband doesn't have to be your best friend. "That is why you've had a best girl friend, all along," she says. Another secret for a successful relationship: It doesn't matter if he doesn't dance. "Common interests are less important than shared values,' she asserts. And remember, she says, sexual chemistry is not always organic. "Attraction can be created," she adds, "if you know how to unlock your passion"... as a society when it comes to love, we rarely think ahead. As a general rule, we are not trained to think about how feelings will change or evolve three or 30 years into the future. We are not taught to consider what we might expect and want from our partners and relationships, after the initial flush of infatuation wears away or as we age or have children. This is one of the reasons that arranged marriages are such a valuable model: they have evolved specifically with these questions and concerns in mind... Women in arranged marriages have a real understanding of the idea that husbands are life partners and not lifesavers... if we're in a relationship, we become resentful when our real life partners can't live up to the fantasy man in our head!"
Are Pickup Artists Contributing to Rape Culture? - "Much of the language around surrounds the idea that women put up “token resistance,” encouraging PUAs to not take resistance and requests to stop seriously"
Here's a better headline: "Are women contributing to rape culture?"
Why Some Women Consent to Unwanted Sex With a Dating Partner: Insights from Attachment Theory - "anxiously attached women were the most willing to consent to unwanted sex, and they often cited fears that their partner would lose interest in them as reasons for their compliance. Contrary to hypotheses, avoidantly attached women were not the least willing to consent to unwanted sex. They often reported passively complying with a partner's sexual request in order to fulfill relationship obligations"
Roman gladiators were fat vegetarians - 05/04/2004 - ""Tests performed on bits of bone taken from the skeletons of some 70 gladiators buried at Ephesus seem to prove that they ate mainly barley, beans and dried fruit," said Dr Karl Grossschmidt, who took part in the study by the Austrian Archaeological Institute. "This diet, which has been mentioned in the oral history, is rather sad but it gave the gladiators a lot of strength even if it made them fat," said Grossschmidt who is a member of the University of Vienna's Institute of Histology and Embryology... A balanced diet of meat and vegetables leaves equal amounts of zinc and strontium in the cells, while a mainly vegetarian diet would leave high levels of strontium and little zinc, Grossschmidt said... "The bone density is particularly high in samples taken from the feet, which would suggest that the gladiators fought with their bare feet in sand," Kanz said. He believed that because some gladiators fought with little more than their bare hands, they could have "cultivated layers of fat to protect their vital organs from the cutting blows of their opponents""
Mixed marriages in China a labour of love - ""From the first time I started to love a Chinese man, hiding became part of my life," says American Jocelyn Eickenburg. She had moved to Shanghai in 2003 to be with her now-husband Jun Yu. "In the past, students had been expelled for dating or marrying foreigners. We didn't know what would happen if the university administration found out, so we told no-one he was living off-campus with me," she says. A foreign woman with a Chinese man is a rare pairing. Within her small expat community the social isolation was almost immediate. She felt alienated by her girlfriends, who would openly express their distaste for Chinese men... Jun's parents married in 1971 during Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution (1966-76), when China was closed to the world. It was a time when public displays of affection were punished and any discussion of sex was considered Western spiritual pollution... "For me to date and marry a Western woman was rebellious in a sense," says Jun, recalling that his father had cautioned him that foreigners could be friends but never lovers or wives... Jun is known as "the legend" amongst his peers as they generally regard having a Western wife as a "status symbol", he says. But when it comes to cross-cultural marriage, far more Chinese women date or marry Western men than the other way around. One of China's most famous scholars of sex, Li Yinhe, says one possibility is that Chinese men lack confidence. Mr Burger agrees saying: "Men are engrained with a cultural imprint and are brought up to believe that they are the head of the household, they have the power. "It is very intimidating approaching a Western woman, who has a perceived higher level of education, more money or earning power, and greater sexual experience"... "In the West, Asian women are portrayed as exotic beauties; a librarian in public but kinky in the bedroom. In China, the Western fantasy meets reality"... in general Chinese women have become far more aggressive when it comes to dating, something she attributes to social pressure and the fear of being labelled a "left-over woman" at 27... The West captured the imagination of Yong Zhi as a young girl growing up in Beijing. She "dreamed of travelling abroad". An "addiction" to Western novels inspired her to study English Literature at the prestigious Jilin University in north-east China... Yong met her husband David within two months of arriving in the UK to study at the University of Liverpool. She is celebrating 16 years of marriage. She says she knows of educated, good-looking women who go to certain bars in the hope of meeting a Western man to marry. "They have an image in their head and want to live 'the dream'.""
2 in 5 S'pore workers asked to do things unrelated to job scope - "21 per cent of respondents said the requests were downright absurd... Men are more likely than women to report taking on tasks outside their job description. Workers from SME companies indicted the highest incidences of non-work-related requests. Bosses in the construction industry are more likely to ask their subordinates to run personal errands. This is followed by manufacturing and services industries...
'Worker was asked to dress up as batman for a meeting with a client'
'Worker was asked to find a girlfriend for his boss's son'
'Worker was asked by her boss to find a dog that does not bark'
'Female worker was asked to go on a date with the boss's son'
'Worker was asked to book a hotel room using his own name and credit card then lie to the boss's wife when she called the office'"yo
Darius Cheung's answer to Singapore: Why is Ayer Rajah Expressway abbreviated to AYE (instead of ARE)? - Quora - "So I actually asked Land Transport Authority, not expecting them to entertain such a Bo Liao (frivolous) question. It's good to know someone in the government actually has a sense of humour too."
Speed cameras blamed for rise in number of women fined - "The number of women drivers convicted of speeding has risen steeply, possibly because speed cameras are not as lenient as some male police officers. Convictions of women are up by almost a quarter over the past five years, while successful prosecutions against men have dropped by 14%"
This is called "male privilege"
New Black Panthers Move Next to Whites-Only Town - The Daily Currant
Financial Pundit Explains How the Bible Helps Him Invest - "Sean uses the teachings of King Solomon, Jesus of Nazareth, and the Apostle Paul to show how anyone can get out of debt . . . make sound investments . . . and morally build substantial wealth."
Obama Unveils New American Flag - The Daily Currant - "The brand new American flag features a green and red color scheme, meant to symbolize Islam and Socialism, respectively. The red portion sports a Soviet hammer and sickle and six French fleur-de-lys, representing the six "important states" of California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Hawaii. The green section features the phrase "People's Republic of America'" written in Arabic. Just above the script is a marijuana leaf celebrating America's drug culture."
Police: Pa. woman cited nonexistent twin in theft
Vivienne Chen: So, He Likes You Because You're Asian - "Long before the White Man set foot in China, having light skin was a sign of wealth and status, as it meant you didn't spend long hours toiling in the sun. Remember, Asian cultures are the ones that mass market skin-lightening creams, where people often geteyelid surgery to make their eyes bigger, i.e. less Asian. Ever noticed how anime characters are googly-eyed, outrageously buxom/muscular, with wild colored hair -- as in, everything Asian people are normally not? The messy body-image politics of our native cultures, combined with the even messier sexual politics of interracial dating, are constantly conspiring against us Asian American females. The sooner we admit this and treat it with some good humor, the sooner we can stop flipping tables every time our new date has a few too many Asian girls on his Facebook friends list... "To be desired is to be fetishized... this idea that I want someone to desire me but not objectify me with their desires is absurd. It's like saying I only want to date someone who is not attracted to people that look like me.Here's the thing, you already are a fetish. You are your lover's kink, exist within their circle of desire, starting with gender, and getting more specific from there.""
The quote is a good argument against the 'evil' of objectification and objectifying
A more important reason than discrimination why there're fewer women in computing
Man Shot in Quarrel Over Kant's Philosophy - "Many Russians like to discuss philosophy and history, often over a drink, but such discussions rarely end in shootings."
By Singaporeans logic, we should criminalise philosophical discussions
What Arranged Marriages Taught Me About Love - "I remember the first time I found out that one of my friends had an arranged marriage... I was stunned. I had spoken to them many times before, and always noticed how much they seemed to enjoy one another's company. In fact, if someone had asked me to name the married couples I knew who seemed most in love, they would have been near the top of the list... they saw a marriage as being about so much more than the bride and groom alone... They hoped for the same exciting feelings that American culture calls "love," but they didn't see those emotions as definitive of the concept. They saw love as an action, one that's rooted in mutual self-giving and self-sacrifice"
rediff.com :'Arranged marriages can teach us a great deal' - "Secret # 1, she notes, is that your husband doesn't have to be your best friend. "That is why you've had a best girl friend, all along," she says. Another secret for a successful relationship: It doesn't matter if he doesn't dance. "Common interests are less important than shared values,' she asserts. And remember, she says, sexual chemistry is not always organic. "Attraction can be created," she adds, "if you know how to unlock your passion"... as a society when it comes to love, we rarely think ahead. As a general rule, we are not trained to think about how feelings will change or evolve three or 30 years into the future. We are not taught to consider what we might expect and want from our partners and relationships, after the initial flush of infatuation wears away or as we age or have children. This is one of the reasons that arranged marriages are such a valuable model: they have evolved specifically with these questions and concerns in mind... Women in arranged marriages have a real understanding of the idea that husbands are life partners and not lifesavers... if we're in a relationship, we become resentful when our real life partners can't live up to the fantasy man in our head!"
Are Pickup Artists Contributing to Rape Culture? - "Much of the language around surrounds the idea that women put up “token resistance,” encouraging PUAs to not take resistance and requests to stop seriously"
Here's a better headline: "Are women contributing to rape culture?"
Why Some Women Consent to Unwanted Sex With a Dating Partner: Insights from Attachment Theory - "anxiously attached women were the most willing to consent to unwanted sex, and they often cited fears that their partner would lose interest in them as reasons for their compliance. Contrary to hypotheses, avoidantly attached women were not the least willing to consent to unwanted sex. They often reported passively complying with a partner's sexual request in order to fulfill relationship obligations"
Roman gladiators were fat vegetarians - 05/04/2004 - ""Tests performed on bits of bone taken from the skeletons of some 70 gladiators buried at Ephesus seem to prove that they ate mainly barley, beans and dried fruit," said Dr Karl Grossschmidt, who took part in the study by the Austrian Archaeological Institute. "This diet, which has been mentioned in the oral history, is rather sad but it gave the gladiators a lot of strength even if it made them fat," said Grossschmidt who is a member of the University of Vienna's Institute of Histology and Embryology... A balanced diet of meat and vegetables leaves equal amounts of zinc and strontium in the cells, while a mainly vegetarian diet would leave high levels of strontium and little zinc, Grossschmidt said... "The bone density is particularly high in samples taken from the feet, which would suggest that the gladiators fought with their bare feet in sand," Kanz said. He believed that because some gladiators fought with little more than their bare hands, they could have "cultivated layers of fat to protect their vital organs from the cutting blows of their opponents""
Mixed marriages in China a labour of love - ""From the first time I started to love a Chinese man, hiding became part of my life," says American Jocelyn Eickenburg. She had moved to Shanghai in 2003 to be with her now-husband Jun Yu. "In the past, students had been expelled for dating or marrying foreigners. We didn't know what would happen if the university administration found out, so we told no-one he was living off-campus with me," she says. A foreign woman with a Chinese man is a rare pairing. Within her small expat community the social isolation was almost immediate. She felt alienated by her girlfriends, who would openly express their distaste for Chinese men... Jun's parents married in 1971 during Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution (1966-76), when China was closed to the world. It was a time when public displays of affection were punished and any discussion of sex was considered Western spiritual pollution... "For me to date and marry a Western woman was rebellious in a sense," says Jun, recalling that his father had cautioned him that foreigners could be friends but never lovers or wives... Jun is known as "the legend" amongst his peers as they generally regard having a Western wife as a "status symbol", he says. But when it comes to cross-cultural marriage, far more Chinese women date or marry Western men than the other way around. One of China's most famous scholars of sex, Li Yinhe, says one possibility is that Chinese men lack confidence. Mr Burger agrees saying: "Men are engrained with a cultural imprint and are brought up to believe that they are the head of the household, they have the power. "It is very intimidating approaching a Western woman, who has a perceived higher level of education, more money or earning power, and greater sexual experience"... "In the West, Asian women are portrayed as exotic beauties; a librarian in public but kinky in the bedroom. In China, the Western fantasy meets reality"... in general Chinese women have become far more aggressive when it comes to dating, something she attributes to social pressure and the fear of being labelled a "left-over woman" at 27... The West captured the imagination of Yong Zhi as a young girl growing up in Beijing. She "dreamed of travelling abroad". An "addiction" to Western novels inspired her to study English Literature at the prestigious Jilin University in north-east China... Yong met her husband David within two months of arriving in the UK to study at the University of Liverpool. She is celebrating 16 years of marriage. She says she knows of educated, good-looking women who go to certain bars in the hope of meeting a Western man to marry. "They have an image in their head and want to live 'the dream'.""
2 in 5 S'pore workers asked to do things unrelated to job scope - "21 per cent of respondents said the requests were downright absurd... Men are more likely than women to report taking on tasks outside their job description. Workers from SME companies indicted the highest incidences of non-work-related requests. Bosses in the construction industry are more likely to ask their subordinates to run personal errands. This is followed by manufacturing and services industries...
'Worker was asked to dress up as batman for a meeting with a client'
'Worker was asked to find a girlfriend for his boss's son'
'Worker was asked by her boss to find a dog that does not bark'
'Female worker was asked to go on a date with the boss's son'
'Worker was asked to book a hotel room using his own name and credit card then lie to the boss's wife when she called the office'"yo
Darius Cheung's answer to Singapore: Why is Ayer Rajah Expressway abbreviated to AYE (instead of ARE)? - Quora - "So I actually asked Land Transport Authority, not expecting them to entertain such a Bo Liao (frivolous) question. It's good to know someone in the government actually has a sense of humour too."
Speed cameras blamed for rise in number of women fined - "The number of women drivers convicted of speeding has risen steeply, possibly because speed cameras are not as lenient as some male police officers. Convictions of women are up by almost a quarter over the past five years, while successful prosecutions against men have dropped by 14%"
This is called "male privilege"
New Black Panthers Move Next to Whites-Only Town - The Daily Currant
Financial Pundit Explains How the Bible Helps Him Invest - "Sean uses the teachings of King Solomon, Jesus of Nazareth, and the Apostle Paul to show how anyone can get out of debt . . . make sound investments . . . and morally build substantial wealth."
Obama Unveils New American Flag - The Daily Currant - "The brand new American flag features a green and red color scheme, meant to symbolize Islam and Socialism, respectively. The red portion sports a Soviet hammer and sickle and six French fleur-de-lys, representing the six "important states" of California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Hawaii. The green section features the phrase "People's Republic of America'" written in Arabic. Just above the script is a marijuana leaf celebrating America's drug culture."
Police: Pa. woman cited nonexistent twin in theft
Vivienne Chen: So, He Likes You Because You're Asian - "Long before the White Man set foot in China, having light skin was a sign of wealth and status, as it meant you didn't spend long hours toiling in the sun. Remember, Asian cultures are the ones that mass market skin-lightening creams, where people often geteyelid surgery to make their eyes bigger, i.e. less Asian. Ever noticed how anime characters are googly-eyed, outrageously buxom/muscular, with wild colored hair -- as in, everything Asian people are normally not? The messy body-image politics of our native cultures, combined with the even messier sexual politics of interracial dating, are constantly conspiring against us Asian American females. The sooner we admit this and treat it with some good humor, the sooner we can stop flipping tables every time our new date has a few too many Asian girls on his Facebook friends list... "To be desired is to be fetishized... this idea that I want someone to desire me but not objectify me with their desires is absurd. It's like saying I only want to date someone who is not attracted to people that look like me.Here's the thing, you already are a fetish. You are your lover's kink, exist within their circle of desire, starting with gender, and getting more specific from there.""
The quote is a good argument against the 'evil' of objectification and objectifying
Post ID: 6733534311237073016
Friday, October 25, 2013
An... interesting use of taxpayers' money
As seen on LyricsFreak
"Don't Expose Yourself To Extortion" - a message brought to you by the Singapore Police Force
Post ID: 2516487681816284674
Follow Your Passion: the results of pernicious motivational drivel
Solving Gen Y's Passion Problem - Cal Newport - Harvard Business Review
"One of the best-known books about my cohort, for instance, is titled Generation Me. The New York Post called us “The Worst Generation,” while USA Today noted that we are “pampered” and “high maintenance.” Earlier this year, a New York Times op-ed called us “Generation Why Bother,” noting that we’re “perhaps…too happy at home checking Facebook,” when we could be out aggressively seeking new jobs and helping the economy recover. The fact that up to a third of 25-34 year-olds now live with their parents only supports these gripes.
To many, the core problem of this generation is clear: we’re entitled. I don’t deny these behaviors, but having recently finished researching and writing a book on career advice, I have a different explanation. The problem is not that we’re intrinsically selfish or entitled. It’s that we’ve been misinformed.
Generation Y was raised during the period when “follow your passion” became pervasive career advice. The chart below, generated using Google’s N-Gram Viewer, shows the occurrences of this phrase in printed English over time.
Notice that the phrase begins its rise in the 1990s and skyrockets in the 2000s: the period when Generation Y was in its formative schooling years.
Why is this a problem? This simple phrase, “follow your passion,” turns out to be surprisingly pernicious. It’s hard to argue, of course, against the general idea that you should aim for a fulfilling working life. But this phrase requires something more. The verb “follow” implies that you start by identifying a passion and then match this preexisting calling to a job. Because the passion precedes the job, it stands to reason that you should love your work from the very first day.
It’s this final implication that causes damage. When I studied people who love what they do for a living, I found that in most cases their passion developed slowly, often over unexpected and complicated paths. It’s rare, for example, to find someone who loves their career before they’ve become very good at it — expertise generates many different engaging traits, such as respect, impact, autonomy — and the process of becoming good can be frustrating and take years.
The early stages of a fantastic career might not feel fantastic at all, a reality that clashes with the fantasy world implied by the advice to “follow your passion” — an alternate universe where there’s a perfect job waiting for you, one that you’ll love right away once you discover it. It shouldn’t be surprising that members of Generation Y demand a lot from their working life right away and are frequently disappointed about what they experience instead.
The good news is that this explanation yields a clear solution: we need a more nuanced conversation surrounding the quest for a compelling career. We currently lack, for example, a good phrase for describing those tough first years on a job where you grind away at building up skills while being shoveled less-than-inspiring entry-level work. This tough skill-building phase can provide the foundation for a wonderful career, but in this common scenario the “follow your passion” dogma would tell you that this work is not immediately enjoyable and therefore is not your passion. We need a deeper way to discuss the value of this early period in a long working life.
We also lack a sophisticated way to discuss the role of serendipity in building a passionate pursuit. Steve Jobs, for example, in his oft-cited Stanford Commencement address, told the crowd to not “settle” for anything less than work they loved. Jobs clearly loved building Apple, but as his biographers reveal, he stumbled into this career path at a time when he was more concerned with issues of philosophy and Eastern mysticism. This is a more complicated story than him simply following a clear preexisting passion, but it’s a story we need to tell more.
These are just two examples among many of the type of nuance we could inject into our cultural conversation surrounding satisfying work — a conversation that my generation, and those that follow us, need to hear. We’re ambitious and ready to work hard, but we need the right direction for investing this energy. “Follow your passion” is an inspiring slogan, but its reign as the cornerstone of modern American career advice needs to end.
We don’t need slogans, we need information — concrete, evidence-based observations about how people really end up loving what they do."
"One of the best-known books about my cohort, for instance, is titled Generation Me. The New York Post called us “The Worst Generation,” while USA Today noted that we are “pampered” and “high maintenance.” Earlier this year, a New York Times op-ed called us “Generation Why Bother,” noting that we’re “perhaps…too happy at home checking Facebook,” when we could be out aggressively seeking new jobs and helping the economy recover. The fact that up to a third of 25-34 year-olds now live with their parents only supports these gripes.
To many, the core problem of this generation is clear: we’re entitled. I don’t deny these behaviors, but having recently finished researching and writing a book on career advice, I have a different explanation. The problem is not that we’re intrinsically selfish or entitled. It’s that we’ve been misinformed.
Generation Y was raised during the period when “follow your passion” became pervasive career advice. The chart below, generated using Google’s N-Gram Viewer, shows the occurrences of this phrase in printed English over time.
Notice that the phrase begins its rise in the 1990s and skyrockets in the 2000s: the period when Generation Y was in its formative schooling years.
Why is this a problem? This simple phrase, “follow your passion,” turns out to be surprisingly pernicious. It’s hard to argue, of course, against the general idea that you should aim for a fulfilling working life. But this phrase requires something more. The verb “follow” implies that you start by identifying a passion and then match this preexisting calling to a job. Because the passion precedes the job, it stands to reason that you should love your work from the very first day.
It’s this final implication that causes damage. When I studied people who love what they do for a living, I found that in most cases their passion developed slowly, often over unexpected and complicated paths. It’s rare, for example, to find someone who loves their career before they’ve become very good at it — expertise generates many different engaging traits, such as respect, impact, autonomy — and the process of becoming good can be frustrating and take years.
The early stages of a fantastic career might not feel fantastic at all, a reality that clashes with the fantasy world implied by the advice to “follow your passion” — an alternate universe where there’s a perfect job waiting for you, one that you’ll love right away once you discover it. It shouldn’t be surprising that members of Generation Y demand a lot from their working life right away and are frequently disappointed about what they experience instead.
The good news is that this explanation yields a clear solution: we need a more nuanced conversation surrounding the quest for a compelling career. We currently lack, for example, a good phrase for describing those tough first years on a job where you grind away at building up skills while being shoveled less-than-inspiring entry-level work. This tough skill-building phase can provide the foundation for a wonderful career, but in this common scenario the “follow your passion” dogma would tell you that this work is not immediately enjoyable and therefore is not your passion. We need a deeper way to discuss the value of this early period in a long working life.
We also lack a sophisticated way to discuss the role of serendipity in building a passionate pursuit. Steve Jobs, for example, in his oft-cited Stanford Commencement address, told the crowd to not “settle” for anything less than work they loved. Jobs clearly loved building Apple, but as his biographers reveal, he stumbled into this career path at a time when he was more concerned with issues of philosophy and Eastern mysticism. This is a more complicated story than him simply following a clear preexisting passion, but it’s a story we need to tell more.
These are just two examples among many of the type of nuance we could inject into our cultural conversation surrounding satisfying work — a conversation that my generation, and those that follow us, need to hear. We’re ambitious and ready to work hard, but we need the right direction for investing this energy. “Follow your passion” is an inspiring slogan, but its reign as the cornerstone of modern American career advice needs to end.
We don’t need slogans, we need information — concrete, evidence-based observations about how people really end up loving what they do."
Post ID: 5351756455931164058
Thursday, October 24, 2013
D*ck Maintenance - Banned Commercial!
Schaeffers New Zealand Style Deck Sealant:
"The accent is so confused. It is a weird mix of southern hemisphere; it has elements of south african, australian and new zealand accents."
"The accent is so confused. It is a weird mix of southern hemisphere; it has elements of south african, australian and new zealand accents."
Post ID: 8686879822633447238
Does Race Exist?
Does Race Exist? (Scientific American)
"Polymorphisms that occur at different frequencies around the world can, however, be used to sort people roughly into groups. One useful class of polymorphisms consists of the Alus, short pieces of DNA that are similar in sequence to one another. Alus replicate occasionally, and the resulting copy splices itself at random into a new position on the original chromosome or on another chromosome, usually in a location that has no effect on the functioning of nearby genes. Each insertion is a unique event. Once an Alu sequence inserts itself, it can remain in place for eons, getting passed from one person to his or her descendants. Therefore, if two people have the same Alu sequence at the same spot in their genome, they must be descended from a common ancestor who gave them that specific segment of DNA.
One of us (Bamshad), working with University of Utah scientists Lynn B. Jorde, Stephen Wooding and W. Scott Watkins and with Mark A. Batzer of Louisiana State University, examined 100 different Alu polymorphisms in 565 people born in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Europe. First we determined the presence or absence of the 100 Alus in each of the 565 people. Next we removed all the identifying labels (such as place of origin and ethnic group) from the data and sorted the people into groups using only their genetic information.
Our analysis yielded four different groups. When we added the labels back to see whether each individual's group assignment correlated to common, predefined labels for race or ethnicity, we saw that two of the groups consisted only of individuals from sub-Saharan Africa, with one of those two made up almost entirely of Mbuti Pygmies. The other two groups consisted only of individuals from Europe and East Asia, respectively. We found that we needed 60 Alu polymorphisms to assign individuals to their continent of origin with 90 percent accuracy. To achieve nearly 100 percent accuracy, however, we needed to use about 100 Alus.
Other studies have produced comparable results. Noah A. Rosenberg and Jonathan K. Pritchard, geneticists formerly in the laboratory of Marcus W. Feldman of Stanford University, assayed approximately 375 polymorphisms called short tandem repeats in more than 1,000 people from 52 ethnic groups in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. By looking at the varying frequencies of these polymorphisms, they were able to distinguish five different groups of people whose ancestors were typically isolated by oceans, deserts or mountains: sub-Saharan Africans; Europeans and Asians west of the Himalayas; East Asians; inhabitants of New Guinea and Melanesia; and Native Americans. They were also able to identify subgroups within each region that usually corresponded with each member's self-reported ethnicity.
The results of these studies indicate that genetic analyses can distinguish groups of people according to their geographic origin. But caution is warranted. The groups easiest to resolve were those that were widely separated from one another geographically. Such samples maximize the genetic variation among groups. When Bamshad and his co-workers used their 100 Alu polymorphisms to try to classify a sample of individuals from southern India into a separate group, the Indians instead had more in common with either Europeans or Asians. In other words, because India has been subject to many genetic influences from Europe and Asia, people on the subcontinent did not group into a unique cluster. We concluded that many hundreds--or perhaps thousands--of polymorphisms might have to be examined to distinguish between groups whose ancestors have historically interbred with multiple populations...
Because traits such as skin color have been strongly affected by natural selection, they do not necessarily reflect the population processes that have shaped the distribution of neutral polymorphisms such as Alus or short tandem repeats. Therefore, traits or polymorphisms affected by natural selection may be poor predictors of group membership and may imply genetic relatedness where, in fact, little exists...
According to Shriver's analyses, approximately 30 percent of Americans who consider themselves "white" have less than 90 percent European ancestry. Thus, self-reported ancestry is not necessarily a good predictor of the genetic composition of a large number of Americans. Accordingly, common notions of race do not always reflect a person's genetic background...
Several polymorphisms in CCR5 do not prevent infection but instead influence the rate at which HIV-1 infection leads to AIDS and death. Some of these polymorphisms have similar effects in different populations; others only alter the speed of disease progression in selected groups. One polymorphism, for example, is associated with delayed disease progression in European-Americans but accelerated disease in African-Americans. Researchers can only study such population-specific effects--and use that knowledge to direct therapy--if they can sort people into groups.
In these examples--and others like them--a polymorphism has a relatively large effect in a given disease. If genetic screening were inexpensive and efficient, all individuals could be screened for all such disease-related gene variants. But genetic testing remains costly. Perhaps more significantly, genetic screening raises concerns about privacy and consent: some people might not want to know about genetic factors that could increase their risk of developing a particular disease. Until these issues are resolved further, self-reported ancestry will continue to be a potentially useful diagnostic tool for physicians.
Ancestry may also be relevant for some diseases that are widespread in particular populations"
"Polymorphisms that occur at different frequencies around the world can, however, be used to sort people roughly into groups. One useful class of polymorphisms consists of the Alus, short pieces of DNA that are similar in sequence to one another. Alus replicate occasionally, and the resulting copy splices itself at random into a new position on the original chromosome or on another chromosome, usually in a location that has no effect on the functioning of nearby genes. Each insertion is a unique event. Once an Alu sequence inserts itself, it can remain in place for eons, getting passed from one person to his or her descendants. Therefore, if two people have the same Alu sequence at the same spot in their genome, they must be descended from a common ancestor who gave them that specific segment of DNA.
One of us (Bamshad), working with University of Utah scientists Lynn B. Jorde, Stephen Wooding and W. Scott Watkins and with Mark A. Batzer of Louisiana State University, examined 100 different Alu polymorphisms in 565 people born in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Europe. First we determined the presence or absence of the 100 Alus in each of the 565 people. Next we removed all the identifying labels (such as place of origin and ethnic group) from the data and sorted the people into groups using only their genetic information.
Our analysis yielded four different groups. When we added the labels back to see whether each individual's group assignment correlated to common, predefined labels for race or ethnicity, we saw that two of the groups consisted only of individuals from sub-Saharan Africa, with one of those two made up almost entirely of Mbuti Pygmies. The other two groups consisted only of individuals from Europe and East Asia, respectively. We found that we needed 60 Alu polymorphisms to assign individuals to their continent of origin with 90 percent accuracy. To achieve nearly 100 percent accuracy, however, we needed to use about 100 Alus.
Other studies have produced comparable results. Noah A. Rosenberg and Jonathan K. Pritchard, geneticists formerly in the laboratory of Marcus W. Feldman of Stanford University, assayed approximately 375 polymorphisms called short tandem repeats in more than 1,000 people from 52 ethnic groups in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. By looking at the varying frequencies of these polymorphisms, they were able to distinguish five different groups of people whose ancestors were typically isolated by oceans, deserts or mountains: sub-Saharan Africans; Europeans and Asians west of the Himalayas; East Asians; inhabitants of New Guinea and Melanesia; and Native Americans. They were also able to identify subgroups within each region that usually corresponded with each member's self-reported ethnicity.
The results of these studies indicate that genetic analyses can distinguish groups of people according to their geographic origin. But caution is warranted. The groups easiest to resolve were those that were widely separated from one another geographically. Such samples maximize the genetic variation among groups. When Bamshad and his co-workers used their 100 Alu polymorphisms to try to classify a sample of individuals from southern India into a separate group, the Indians instead had more in common with either Europeans or Asians. In other words, because India has been subject to many genetic influences from Europe and Asia, people on the subcontinent did not group into a unique cluster. We concluded that many hundreds--or perhaps thousands--of polymorphisms might have to be examined to distinguish between groups whose ancestors have historically interbred with multiple populations...
Because traits such as skin color have been strongly affected by natural selection, they do not necessarily reflect the population processes that have shaped the distribution of neutral polymorphisms such as Alus or short tandem repeats. Therefore, traits or polymorphisms affected by natural selection may be poor predictors of group membership and may imply genetic relatedness where, in fact, little exists...
According to Shriver's analyses, approximately 30 percent of Americans who consider themselves "white" have less than 90 percent European ancestry. Thus, self-reported ancestry is not necessarily a good predictor of the genetic composition of a large number of Americans. Accordingly, common notions of race do not always reflect a person's genetic background...
Several polymorphisms in CCR5 do not prevent infection but instead influence the rate at which HIV-1 infection leads to AIDS and death. Some of these polymorphisms have similar effects in different populations; others only alter the speed of disease progression in selected groups. One polymorphism, for example, is associated with delayed disease progression in European-Americans but accelerated disease in African-Americans. Researchers can only study such population-specific effects--and use that knowledge to direct therapy--if they can sort people into groups.
In these examples--and others like them--a polymorphism has a relatively large effect in a given disease. If genetic screening were inexpensive and efficient, all individuals could be screened for all such disease-related gene variants. But genetic testing remains costly. Perhaps more significantly, genetic screening raises concerns about privacy and consent: some people might not want to know about genetic factors that could increase their risk of developing a particular disease. Until these issues are resolved further, self-reported ancestry will continue to be a potentially useful diagnostic tool for physicians.
Ancestry may also be relevant for some diseases that are widespread in particular populations"
Post ID: 2407465302175393360
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Conscription in Switzerland: Study Trip vs Reality
CSNS will review lessons learnt from Swiss conscription system: Dr Ng
19 Oct 2013
Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen said the Committee to Strengthen National Service (CSNS) will review the lessons learnt from its study of the conscription system in Switzerland.
Dr Ng, who chairs the committee, made the comments at the end of the CSNS's study trip to Switzerland and Finland from October 16 to 18.
He noted that the Swiss Army Forces has an efficient conscript training system which takes into consideration conscripts' abilities, motivation and aptitude during the assignment of military vocations.
He said the CSNS will consider ways to optimise the contributions of Singapore’s servicemen.
Dr Ng added that Swiss women can also volunteer for conscription.
A statement from the Singapore's Ministry of Defence said the CSNS delegation also learnt how the Swiss Armed Forces has strengthened employers' support for conscription.
This is done through various engagement activities which allow the employers to better appreciate how military training develops the individual and brings value to their companies.
The delegation visited Payerne Air Base and was briefed on how conscripts support the operations of the air base.
It also learnt how Swiss reservists maintain their military skills and technical competencies.
***
Armée suisse: Les soldats voient peu d'intérêt à leur service militaire - Suisse - lematin.ch (Swiss Army: Soldiers have little interest in their military service - translation below)
15.02.2013
Armée suisse — Les soldats pensent que le service militaire a peu de sens. Selon une récente enquête, seuls 40% d'entre eux ont réellement le sentiment de contribuer à la sécurité de la Suisse.
Selon une enquête menée auprès des membres de l'armée, seuls 40% d'entre eux ont réellement le sentiment de contribuer à la sécurité de la Suisse.
Environ la même proportion de sondés pense pouvoir profiter du service militaire dans la vie civile. L'enquête relayée vendredi par la Neue Zürcher Zeitung et dont l'ATS a pu se procurer les résultats, a été menée l'an dernier auprès de 11'000 soldats et cadres de l'armée.
De nombreux employeurs ne voient également pas l'intérêt de l'armée. Seuls 40% des sondés estiment que leur employeur a de la compréhension pour leur service militaire. Moins de 30% recommanderaient à leurs connaissances une formation dans l'armée.
Les soldats évaluent toutefois positivement l'esprit de camaraderie qui règne à l'armée, ainsi que la compétence de leurs instructeurs. Deux tiers sont satisfaits du matériel mis à disposition. A contrario, à peine plus de la moitié trouvent leur service stimulant et clair.
Le chef de l'armée en tire les conséquences
«Ces chiffres sont mauvais et ne suffisent pas. Nous devons mieux expliquer aux soldats pourquoi la Suisse a une armée et à quoi elle sert», a réagi le porte-parole de l'armée Christoph Brunner, interrogé par l'ats.
Le chef de l'armée André Blattmann a décidé que ce rôle sera dévolu aux éléments les plus expérimentés. Environ une vingtaine de brigadiers et de divisionnaires visiteront les troupes en 2013 et feront un discours devant chaque unité.
Par ailleurs, selon Christoph Brunner, 150'000 membres actifs de l'armée seront interrogés au cours de l'année. L'enquête sera menée comme celle de l'année dernière. Les réponses pourront être données par SMS, l'armée s'engageant à traiter les données de manière anonyme.
Translation:
Swiss Army: Soldiers have little interest in their military service
Swiss Army - Soldiers think that their military service is pointless. According to a recent survey, only 40% of them felt that they were really contributing to Swiss national security.
According to a survey conducted among members of the armed forces, only 40% of them really felt that they were contributing to Swiss national security.
About the same proportion of those polled thought they could benefit from their military service in civilian life. The survey reported Friday by Neue Zürcher Zeitung and for which ATS managed to get the results, was conducted last year among 11,000 soldiers and commanders of the military.
Many employers do not have interest in the armed forces either. Only 40% of the polled thought that their employer understood their military service. less than 30% would recommend military training to those they knew.
Nonetheless, the soldiers positively evaluated the spirit of camaraderie which reigned in the armed forces, as well as the competence of their instructors. Two thirds were satisfied with the equipment available. On the other hand, hardly more than a half found their service stimulating and clear.
The Head of the Armed Forces will draw the necessary conclusions
"The numbers are bad and inadequate. We must better explain to soldiers why Switzerland has armed forces and what they are for", commented the armed forces spokesman Christoph Brunner interviewed by ATS.
The Head of the Armed Forces André Blattmann has decided that the role will be delegated to more experimental parties. About 20 brigadiers and generals will visit the troops in 2013 and give a talk to each unit.
Also, according to Christoph Brunner, 150,000 active members of the armed forces will be interviewed over the year. The interview will be conducted like last year's. The responses will be able to be given by SMS, and the armed forces commits to keeping responses confidential.
19 Oct 2013
Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen said the Committee to Strengthen National Service (CSNS) will review the lessons learnt from its study of the conscription system in Switzerland.
Dr Ng, who chairs the committee, made the comments at the end of the CSNS's study trip to Switzerland and Finland from October 16 to 18.
He noted that the Swiss Army Forces has an efficient conscript training system which takes into consideration conscripts' abilities, motivation and aptitude during the assignment of military vocations.
He said the CSNS will consider ways to optimise the contributions of Singapore’s servicemen.
Dr Ng added that Swiss women can also volunteer for conscription.
A statement from the Singapore's Ministry of Defence said the CSNS delegation also learnt how the Swiss Armed Forces has strengthened employers' support for conscription.
This is done through various engagement activities which allow the employers to better appreciate how military training develops the individual and brings value to their companies.
The delegation visited Payerne Air Base and was briefed on how conscripts support the operations of the air base.
It also learnt how Swiss reservists maintain their military skills and technical competencies.
***
Armée suisse: Les soldats voient peu d'intérêt à leur service militaire - Suisse - lematin.ch (Swiss Army: Soldiers have little interest in their military service - translation below)
15.02.2013
Armée suisse — Les soldats pensent que le service militaire a peu de sens. Selon une récente enquête, seuls 40% d'entre eux ont réellement le sentiment de contribuer à la sécurité de la Suisse.
Selon une enquête menée auprès des membres de l'armée, seuls 40% d'entre eux ont réellement le sentiment de contribuer à la sécurité de la Suisse.
Environ la même proportion de sondés pense pouvoir profiter du service militaire dans la vie civile. L'enquête relayée vendredi par la Neue Zürcher Zeitung et dont l'ATS a pu se procurer les résultats, a été menée l'an dernier auprès de 11'000 soldats et cadres de l'armée.
De nombreux employeurs ne voient également pas l'intérêt de l'armée. Seuls 40% des sondés estiment que leur employeur a de la compréhension pour leur service militaire. Moins de 30% recommanderaient à leurs connaissances une formation dans l'armée.
Les soldats évaluent toutefois positivement l'esprit de camaraderie qui règne à l'armée, ainsi que la compétence de leurs instructeurs. Deux tiers sont satisfaits du matériel mis à disposition. A contrario, à peine plus de la moitié trouvent leur service stimulant et clair.
Le chef de l'armée en tire les conséquences
«Ces chiffres sont mauvais et ne suffisent pas. Nous devons mieux expliquer aux soldats pourquoi la Suisse a une armée et à quoi elle sert», a réagi le porte-parole de l'armée Christoph Brunner, interrogé par l'ats.
Le chef de l'armée André Blattmann a décidé que ce rôle sera dévolu aux éléments les plus expérimentés. Environ une vingtaine de brigadiers et de divisionnaires visiteront les troupes en 2013 et feront un discours devant chaque unité.
Par ailleurs, selon Christoph Brunner, 150'000 membres actifs de l'armée seront interrogés au cours de l'année. L'enquête sera menée comme celle de l'année dernière. Les réponses pourront être données par SMS, l'armée s'engageant à traiter les données de manière anonyme.
Translation:
Swiss Army: Soldiers have little interest in their military service
Swiss Army - Soldiers think that their military service is pointless. According to a recent survey, only 40% of them felt that they were really contributing to Swiss national security.
According to a survey conducted among members of the armed forces, only 40% of them really felt that they were contributing to Swiss national security.
About the same proportion of those polled thought they could benefit from their military service in civilian life. The survey reported Friday by Neue Zürcher Zeitung and for which ATS managed to get the results, was conducted last year among 11,000 soldiers and commanders of the military.
Many employers do not have interest in the armed forces either. Only 40% of the polled thought that their employer understood their military service. less than 30% would recommend military training to those they knew.
Nonetheless, the soldiers positively evaluated the spirit of camaraderie which reigned in the armed forces, as well as the competence of their instructors. Two thirds were satisfied with the equipment available. On the other hand, hardly more than a half found their service stimulating and clear.
The Head of the Armed Forces will draw the necessary conclusions
"The numbers are bad and inadequate. We must better explain to soldiers why Switzerland has armed forces and what they are for", commented the armed forces spokesman Christoph Brunner interviewed by ATS.
The Head of the Armed Forces André Blattmann has decided that the role will be delegated to more experimental parties. About 20 brigadiers and generals will visit the troops in 2013 and give a talk to each unit.
Also, according to Christoph Brunner, 150,000 active members of the armed forces will be interviewed over the year. The interview will be conducted like last year's. The responses will be able to be given by SMS, and the armed forces commits to keeping responses confidential.
Post ID: 1190744724447947539
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Tout est fini à 50 ans
Tout recommence à 50 ans
"Certains le disent haut et fort, d’autres le reconnaissent à demi-mots: pas facile d’affronter les cinquantièmes rugissants. «Pour les femmes surtout, nuancent Régine Lemoine-Darthois et Elisabeth Weissinan. La cinquantaine marque une rupture dans la vie des femmes car elle est synonyme de transformations physiques et fonctionnelles, soulignent-elles. Pour amorcer une nouvelle vie, elles doivent faire leur deuil des bébés qu’elles n’auront plus et de la femme jeune et séduisarne qu’elles ne seront plus.»
Des quinquas aux prises avec le mal-être de la ménopause. Monique Barbery, 52 ans, gynécologue, en voit passer beaucoup dans son cabinet parisien. «Elles sont plus charnellement liées que les hommes au facteur temps. Elles enragent souvent de cette horloge biologique implacable, mais peut-être sont-elles ainsi mieux préparées qu’eux à vieillir, du moins celles qui ne s’épuisent pas dans une vaine quête de l’éternelle jeunesse. Au fond, beaucoup franchissent avec vaillance le mur du son de la cinquantaine. Avec force soupirs et parfois une certaine complaisance dans la plainte, mais il y a de l’exorcisme dans ce lamento.» Dur, pour les filles de la génération «hommes, femmes, même combat», d’accepter l’inégalité biologique: leurs hommes peuvent encore faire des enfants, elles, non. Pis. «leurs compagnons peuvent être saisis d’angoisse face à leur ménopause, observe la psychanalyste Jacqueline Schaeffèr [Le Refus du féminin, PUF]: elle les renvoie â leur cinquantaine, dont ils ne veulent pas entendre parler, eux qui se sentent en pleine maturité, surtout s’ils ont réussi socialement»."
"Certains le disent haut et fort, d’autres le reconnaissent à demi-mots: pas facile d’affronter les cinquantièmes rugissants. «Pour les femmes surtout, nuancent Régine Lemoine-Darthois et Elisabeth Weissinan. La cinquantaine marque une rupture dans la vie des femmes car elle est synonyme de transformations physiques et fonctionnelles, soulignent-elles. Pour amorcer une nouvelle vie, elles doivent faire leur deuil des bébés qu’elles n’auront plus et de la femme jeune et séduisarne qu’elles ne seront plus.»
Des quinquas aux prises avec le mal-être de la ménopause. Monique Barbery, 52 ans, gynécologue, en voit passer beaucoup dans son cabinet parisien. «Elles sont plus charnellement liées que les hommes au facteur temps. Elles enragent souvent de cette horloge biologique implacable, mais peut-être sont-elles ainsi mieux préparées qu’eux à vieillir, du moins celles qui ne s’épuisent pas dans une vaine quête de l’éternelle jeunesse. Au fond, beaucoup franchissent avec vaillance le mur du son de la cinquantaine. Avec force soupirs et parfois une certaine complaisance dans la plainte, mais il y a de l’exorcisme dans ce lamento.» Dur, pour les filles de la génération «hommes, femmes, même combat», d’accepter l’inégalité biologique: leurs hommes peuvent encore faire des enfants, elles, non. Pis. «leurs compagnons peuvent être saisis d’angoisse face à leur ménopause, observe la psychanalyste Jacqueline Schaeffèr [Le Refus du féminin, PUF]: elle les renvoie â leur cinquantaine, dont ils ne veulent pas entendre parler, eux qui se sentent en pleine maturité, surtout s’ils ont réussi socialement»."
Post ID: 2189155291549993461
Bad Career Advice: Do What You Love and You'll Never Work a Day
Bad Career Advice: Do What You Love and You'll Never Work a Day
"Oh man, this one kills me. It’s so frequently repeated that hardly anyone questions its truth anymore. And the sad fact is this: If you do what you love for a living, you’ll probably end up loving it a little bit less...
This is a blatant, hurtful lie that far too many people fall for. And they end up feeling like something is wrong with them, when really something is wrong with the idea they’ve been sold.
When something you love becomes work, it fundamentally—and unavoidably—changes the way in which you interact with it...
Work is called work because it’s not play. Once you depend on something to put food on your table, it becomes something different. It’s no longer “that thing you do for fun,” it’s “that thing you have to do for survival.”
That doesn’t mean you won’t end up enjoying or maybe even loving the work you do. But it will also be work. You probably won’t mistake it for anything else.
Once you take an activity you love (for me, writing) and start doing it for pay, you involve the opinions and needs of others. Writing for a living means I often have to set aside my personal artistic vision, and simply follow the instructions of my client. I sometimes call myself a “writer monkey” because I feel so caged in.
I still write for myself, to explore my own ideas and personal style, and, on most days, I’d say I love the work I do…but these are two different things. The writing I do for work is not the writing I do for play...
Work is about more than the thing you’re doing. It offers nourishment in a number of different ways. So, when you think about finding work you’ll enjoy (work that, hopefully, can be truly nourishing) think about the entire experience.
It’s dangerous to suggest that work can be anything other than work. Doing what you love can certainly make it a more enjoyable experience. But you’ll also experience a new side of that activity, and it won’t be comfortable...
I’m very lucky to do what I love for a living. But sometimes, I’m like the gourmet chef who lives off takeout and frozen meals. When you do an activity all day long and depend on it for survival, the playfulness can disappear quickly. Just like in a marriage, it sometimes takes effort to stay in love. At the end of the workday, I have to force myself to write for pleasure after I’ve been writing for eight hours already.
Do I sound cynical? Perhaps a little. But too many people sit around convinced that if only they could turn their NASCAR obsession into a fulltime job, they’d finally be happy. I encourage you to take a deeper look at the things you love and what work means to you. There might be a happy intersection of the two, but don’t force it."
"Oh man, this one kills me. It’s so frequently repeated that hardly anyone questions its truth anymore. And the sad fact is this: If you do what you love for a living, you’ll probably end up loving it a little bit less...
This is a blatant, hurtful lie that far too many people fall for. And they end up feeling like something is wrong with them, when really something is wrong with the idea they’ve been sold.
When something you love becomes work, it fundamentally—and unavoidably—changes the way in which you interact with it...
Work is called work because it’s not play. Once you depend on something to put food on your table, it becomes something different. It’s no longer “that thing you do for fun,” it’s “that thing you have to do for survival.”
That doesn’t mean you won’t end up enjoying or maybe even loving the work you do. But it will also be work. You probably won’t mistake it for anything else.
Once you take an activity you love (for me, writing) and start doing it for pay, you involve the opinions and needs of others. Writing for a living means I often have to set aside my personal artistic vision, and simply follow the instructions of my client. I sometimes call myself a “writer monkey” because I feel so caged in.
I still write for myself, to explore my own ideas and personal style, and, on most days, I’d say I love the work I do…but these are two different things. The writing I do for work is not the writing I do for play...
Work is about more than the thing you’re doing. It offers nourishment in a number of different ways. So, when you think about finding work you’ll enjoy (work that, hopefully, can be truly nourishing) think about the entire experience.
It’s dangerous to suggest that work can be anything other than work. Doing what you love can certainly make it a more enjoyable experience. But you’ll also experience a new side of that activity, and it won’t be comfortable...
I’m very lucky to do what I love for a living. But sometimes, I’m like the gourmet chef who lives off takeout and frozen meals. When you do an activity all day long and depend on it for survival, the playfulness can disappear quickly. Just like in a marriage, it sometimes takes effort to stay in love. At the end of the workday, I have to force myself to write for pleasure after I’ve been writing for eight hours already.
Do I sound cynical? Perhaps a little. But too many people sit around convinced that if only they could turn their NASCAR obsession into a fulltime job, they’d finally be happy. I encourage you to take a deeper look at the things you love and what work means to you. There might be a happy intersection of the two, but don’t force it."
Post ID: 6673435581304907331
Monday, October 21, 2013
Links - 21st October 2013
Singaporean ship cruises to N. Korea - "GIANT speakers thump out club hits as the deejay bellows: “Everybody get on the dance floor!” The nightspot is a boarded-up swimming pool on a ship sailing in North Korean waters. The groovers are mainly middle-aged men and women wearing pins featuring pictures of the late North Korean leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. Conspicuously missing was the beat of South Korean popstar Psy’s Gangnam Style. “We’re not allowed to play that one,” explains Danny Tay, the 46-year-old Singaporean who owns the ship."
Answer to China: What things do mainland Chinese people find surprising when they visit Taiwan? - Quora - "most people approaching or offering help in Taiwan are actually honest, not trying to cheat you or scam you. Normally if approached by a stranger in mainland China many peoples' first reaction is to ignore them and walk away, but quickly realize that in Taiwan this is absolutely not necessary."
Decoding the Female Happiness Paradox - "The feminist triumph has deprived women of an essential element of their erotic lives. By raising women’s status and emphasizing “equality,” feminism has performed the psychological equivalent of a clitoridectomy on our society’s women. Rather than objects of lust and passion, they are now competitors, rivals and colleagues — their erotic capital is significantly diminished. The men around them are no longer strong and dominant, but cowed, vacillating and timid. Women’s opportunities to “feel like a woman” have been radically curtailed. Hypergamous needs are left unfulfilled by their “equal” husbands and boyfriends. Is it any wonder that women report less happiness? For all the trouble feminism has caused us men over the decades, it appears that it has been a significant source of misery for women as well. This is why feminism will ultimately fail: in their hearts, women don’t want it."
Porn 'downloaded in Vatican City': 'Female and transsexual porn shared in Catholic Church HQ' - "a 2012 survey by Religious Institute..found that 'one in five clergy reported intentionally visiting a sexually explicit website in the past six months.' But 16 percent of those asked replied that they 'preferred not to answer the question about their personal use of these sites.'"
Back to hostility: the roots of Russia’s anti-gay attitudes - "Russians’ tolerance of gays and lesbians has varied throughout history, although periods of increased authoritarianism have always resulted in a crackdown on homosexual behavior."
Want a top-notch startup sector? Reform the Singapore Armed Forces - "Two key differences that emerge upon a brief review of Israel’s and Singapore’s culture are the following:
• the freedom to question assumptions
• military service culture"
Thank you for joining my homepage - "Thank you for joining my homepage. These photos I made in winter 2003-2004. I took this mongolian bitches and fucked them very well. Ok, enjoy this site." (NSFW)"
This is very bizarre
Success or Just Showing Up?: Uniforms Inspire Attendance, Not Achievement - Real Time Economics - WSJ - "School uniforms may improve attendance, particularly among females, a new study shows. Attendance among middle-school and high-school students improved slightly – between 0.3 and 0.4 of a percentage point — when students were required to wear uniforms... uniforms had some positive impacts, but had little influence on important barometers of student achievement and behavior... School uniforms were more effective in improving attendance in mixed-race or primarily white or Asian high schools and middle schools. The effects tended to be most prominent among low-achieving students and students who were economically disadvantaged... Teacher attrition fell by five percentage points after uniforms were required... "In terms of discipline we also find little evidence of uniform effects""
Le spam nigérian le plus poétique (et drôle)
▶ Tsubomi.avi - YouTube
This is a demanding exercise routine
日本女人VS中国女人：说的有点狠，不过也有几分道理！_中华论坛_中华网论坛--网友影响中国--全国最大社区媒体 - "日本的女人平时是淑女,床上是贱人. 中国的女人很多床上是淑女,床下是贱人."
UF study shows long-term drug abuse starts with alcohol » News » University of Florida - "Alcohol — not marijuana — is the gateway drug that leads adolescents down the path toward more serious substances"
How to Handle an Unhappy Bridesmaid : Brides - ""One of my bridesmaids is constantly complaining about how much she hates the dress, while all the others like it"...
Assuming you still like this carping, uncooperative friend, take her aside and ask what is really bothering her. Is it the dress? Is it the price? Is it her weight? Is it something about being single?"
Jealous B*tches series: The Fat B*tch in Denial | LovelySexyBeauty: adventures in love, enchantment, & beauty - "The Fat B*tch in Denial is one of the most annoying Jealous B*tches a girl may ever have to deal with. Deep down inside these girls KNOW that being overweight is not cool. Instead of spending hours controlling their appetites, picking out healthy and moderate meals, and hitting the gym, they spend most of their time putting together “slimming” outfits (usually in shades of black), carefully photoshopping pictures to put up online, and causing problems for us skinnier ones."
Misogynist: A man who hates women as much as women hate one another
Belief in hell, according to international data, is associated with reduced crime - "undergraduate students were more likely to cheat when they believe in a forgiving God than a punishing God... supernatural punishment had emerged as a very effective cultural innovation to get people to act more ethically with each other. In 2003, he said, Harvard University researchers Robert J. Barro and Rachel M. McCleary had found that gross domestic product was higher in developed countries when people believed in hell more than they did in heaven."
Highly religious people are less motivated by compassion than are non-believers - "compassion consistently drove less religious people to be more generous. For highly religious people, however, compassion was largely unrelated to how generous they were"
Can religion make you fat? - "young churchgoers were 50 percent more likely to turn into obese middle-agers than those who avoided church... "Our best guess," says Matthew Feinstein, the study's lead author, is that "more frequent participation in church is associated with good works and people may be rewarding themselves with large meals." It's also to do with holy matrimony, says Kenneth F. Ferraro of Purdue University, quoted by CNN. "Weight gain is common after marriage and... marriage is highly valued in most religious groups."
Geylang's China sex worker writes open letter to S'pore men - "She said the men she encountered were mostly generous and considerate. And she was so impressed that she even toyed with the thought of staying on in the hope of settling down with a local man. But on the other hand, she also felt Singapore men were too naive. 'No matter how well you treat the streetwalkers, you are just a fool in their eyes. 'When you sympathise with them, you will definitely fork out money to support them. 'But behind your backs, they are laughing at how they've conned you.' She also added: 'Just treat it (the encounter) as a sexual transaction.'"
How To Win That Music Competition? Send A Video - "the volunteers were better able to identify the winners when they couldn't hear the music at all, compared with when they could only hear the music. In fact, it was even worse than that: When the volunteers could see the musicians and hear the music, they became less accurate in picking the winners compared with when they could only see the performers. The music was actually a distraction. Tsay says this not only says something about the volunteers, but it also says something important about the original experts who judged the competitions."
Ikea at last cracks China market, but success has meant adapting to local ways - "On a king-size bed in the middle of the largest showroom, a little boy wakes from a nap next to his (also sleeping) grandmother. When the old woman casually helps the boy urinate into an empty water bottle, dripping liquid liberally on the grey mattress under his feet, most passers-by seem not to mind or even notice"
Threesome Planning - Menage a Trois Planning - Marie Claire - "I occasionally mention the name of a female friend. "Would she be acceptable?" "Absolutely," he says. It turns out that all of my girlfriends and practically all the spouses of his friends would potentially make the cut, including the pregnant ones... "You won't believe what my husband wants for his birthday." I tell her that I've agreed to it in principle but that I haven't yet found the third party. I think she gets that I'm propositioning her, but instead of taking the bait, she becomes the Cassandra of threesomes... Not only is Emma out of the running, she seems to be morphing into that most dreaded of creatures: the friend. She talks of future lunch dates at other Asian restaurants. I'm suddenly sympathetic to those male "friends" of mine who disappeared when I got engaged. Why stick around?... It occurs to me that planning this threesome has become another one of the things I do, like organizing playdates and supervising the renovation of our kitchen. Nevertheless, my new man's-eye view of the world is thrilling. I notice women everywhere — at the photo shop, in line at the supermarket. I even scan my book group — middle-aged expatriates who like to read about the Holocaust — for candidates. I have a belated feminist revelation: Women don't demand raises and promotions, because we're trained to sit pretty and let someone else chase us. In my new role as decider, I don't care what anyone thinks of me. I just go after what I want from them. It's refreshing to have some time off from wondering whether I look fat... Everyone (at least everyone male) wants to have one, but no one's had a good one... How do I convince a woman to take off her clothes? My husband, who spent years of his life addressing this particular challenge, gives me a little pep talk. "With women, you have to listen to all the stuff they say," he explains. "They have all these complex emotional issues, and you have to try to figure out what they are. Just keep asking questions. Be pleasant and reassuring but also slightly mysterious"... I'm not sure what kind of plans she wants to make. We'll each suck one of his toes? I'll read him poetry while she pirouettes?"
Answer to China: What things do mainland Chinese people find surprising when they visit Taiwan? - Quora - "most people approaching or offering help in Taiwan are actually honest, not trying to cheat you or scam you. Normally if approached by a stranger in mainland China many peoples' first reaction is to ignore them and walk away, but quickly realize that in Taiwan this is absolutely not necessary."
Decoding the Female Happiness Paradox - "The feminist triumph has deprived women of an essential element of their erotic lives. By raising women’s status and emphasizing “equality,” feminism has performed the psychological equivalent of a clitoridectomy on our society’s women. Rather than objects of lust and passion, they are now competitors, rivals and colleagues — their erotic capital is significantly diminished. The men around them are no longer strong and dominant, but cowed, vacillating and timid. Women’s opportunities to “feel like a woman” have been radically curtailed. Hypergamous needs are left unfulfilled by their “equal” husbands and boyfriends. Is it any wonder that women report less happiness? For all the trouble feminism has caused us men over the decades, it appears that it has been a significant source of misery for women as well. This is why feminism will ultimately fail: in their hearts, women don’t want it."
Porn 'downloaded in Vatican City': 'Female and transsexual porn shared in Catholic Church HQ' - "a 2012 survey by Religious Institute..found that 'one in five clergy reported intentionally visiting a sexually explicit website in the past six months.' But 16 percent of those asked replied that they 'preferred not to answer the question about their personal use of these sites.'"
Back to hostility: the roots of Russia’s anti-gay attitudes - "Russians’ tolerance of gays and lesbians has varied throughout history, although periods of increased authoritarianism have always resulted in a crackdown on homosexual behavior."
Want a top-notch startup sector? Reform the Singapore Armed Forces - "Two key differences that emerge upon a brief review of Israel’s and Singapore’s culture are the following:
• the freedom to question assumptions
• military service culture"
Thank you for joining my homepage - "Thank you for joining my homepage. These photos I made in winter 2003-2004. I took this mongolian bitches and fucked them very well. Ok, enjoy this site." (NSFW)"
This is very bizarre
Success or Just Showing Up?: Uniforms Inspire Attendance, Not Achievement - Real Time Economics - WSJ - "School uniforms may improve attendance, particularly among females, a new study shows. Attendance among middle-school and high-school students improved slightly – between 0.3 and 0.4 of a percentage point — when students were required to wear uniforms... uniforms had some positive impacts, but had little influence on important barometers of student achievement and behavior... School uniforms were more effective in improving attendance in mixed-race or primarily white or Asian high schools and middle schools. The effects tended to be most prominent among low-achieving students and students who were economically disadvantaged... Teacher attrition fell by five percentage points after uniforms were required... "In terms of discipline we also find little evidence of uniform effects""
Le spam nigérian le plus poétique (et drôle)
▶ Tsubomi.avi - YouTube
This is a demanding exercise routine
日本女人VS中国女人：说的有点狠，不过也有几分道理！_中华论坛_中华网论坛--网友影响中国--全国最大社区媒体 - "日本的女人平时是淑女,床上是贱人. 中国的女人很多床上是淑女,床下是贱人."
UF study shows long-term drug abuse starts with alcohol » News » University of Florida - "Alcohol — not marijuana — is the gateway drug that leads adolescents down the path toward more serious substances"
How to Handle an Unhappy Bridesmaid : Brides - ""One of my bridesmaids is constantly complaining about how much she hates the dress, while all the others like it"...
Assuming you still like this carping, uncooperative friend, take her aside and ask what is really bothering her. Is it the dress? Is it the price? Is it her weight? Is it something about being single?"
Jealous B*tches series: The Fat B*tch in Denial | LovelySexyBeauty: adventures in love, enchantment, & beauty - "The Fat B*tch in Denial is one of the most annoying Jealous B*tches a girl may ever have to deal with. Deep down inside these girls KNOW that being overweight is not cool. Instead of spending hours controlling their appetites, picking out healthy and moderate meals, and hitting the gym, they spend most of their time putting together “slimming” outfits (usually in shades of black), carefully photoshopping pictures to put up online, and causing problems for us skinnier ones."
Misogynist: A man who hates women as much as women hate one another
Belief in hell, according to international data, is associated with reduced crime - "undergraduate students were more likely to cheat when they believe in a forgiving God than a punishing God... supernatural punishment had emerged as a very effective cultural innovation to get people to act more ethically with each other. In 2003, he said, Harvard University researchers Robert J. Barro and Rachel M. McCleary had found that gross domestic product was higher in developed countries when people believed in hell more than they did in heaven."
Highly religious people are less motivated by compassion than are non-believers - "compassion consistently drove less religious people to be more generous. For highly religious people, however, compassion was largely unrelated to how generous they were"
Can religion make you fat? - "young churchgoers were 50 percent more likely to turn into obese middle-agers than those who avoided church... "Our best guess," says Matthew Feinstein, the study's lead author, is that "more frequent participation in church is associated with good works and people may be rewarding themselves with large meals." It's also to do with holy matrimony, says Kenneth F. Ferraro of Purdue University, quoted by CNN. "Weight gain is common after marriage and... marriage is highly valued in most religious groups."
Geylang's China sex worker writes open letter to S'pore men - "She said the men she encountered were mostly generous and considerate. And she was so impressed that she even toyed with the thought of staying on in the hope of settling down with a local man. But on the other hand, she also felt Singapore men were too naive. 'No matter how well you treat the streetwalkers, you are just a fool in their eyes. 'When you sympathise with them, you will definitely fork out money to support them. 'But behind your backs, they are laughing at how they've conned you.' She also added: 'Just treat it (the encounter) as a sexual transaction.'"
How To Win That Music Competition? Send A Video - "the volunteers were better able to identify the winners when they couldn't hear the music at all, compared with when they could only hear the music. In fact, it was even worse than that: When the volunteers could see the musicians and hear the music, they became less accurate in picking the winners compared with when they could only see the performers. The music was actually a distraction. Tsay says this not only says something about the volunteers, but it also says something important about the original experts who judged the competitions."
Ikea at last cracks China market, but success has meant adapting to local ways - "On a king-size bed in the middle of the largest showroom, a little boy wakes from a nap next to his (also sleeping) grandmother. When the old woman casually helps the boy urinate into an empty water bottle, dripping liquid liberally on the grey mattress under his feet, most passers-by seem not to mind or even notice"
Threesome Planning - Menage a Trois Planning - Marie Claire - "I occasionally mention the name of a female friend. "Would she be acceptable?" "Absolutely," he says. It turns out that all of my girlfriends and practically all the spouses of his friends would potentially make the cut, including the pregnant ones... "You won't believe what my husband wants for his birthday." I tell her that I've agreed to it in principle but that I haven't yet found the third party. I think she gets that I'm propositioning her, but instead of taking the bait, she becomes the Cassandra of threesomes... Not only is Emma out of the running, she seems to be morphing into that most dreaded of creatures: the friend. She talks of future lunch dates at other Asian restaurants. I'm suddenly sympathetic to those male "friends" of mine who disappeared when I got engaged. Why stick around?... It occurs to me that planning this threesome has become another one of the things I do, like organizing playdates and supervising the renovation of our kitchen. Nevertheless, my new man's-eye view of the world is thrilling. I notice women everywhere — at the photo shop, in line at the supermarket. I even scan my book group — middle-aged expatriates who like to read about the Holocaust — for candidates. I have a belated feminist revelation: Women don't demand raises and promotions, because we're trained to sit pretty and let someone else chase us. In my new role as decider, I don't care what anyone thinks of me. I just go after what I want from them. It's refreshing to have some time off from wondering whether I look fat... Everyone (at least everyone male) wants to have one, but no one's had a good one... How do I convince a woman to take off her clothes? My husband, who spent years of his life addressing this particular challenge, gives me a little pep talk. "With women, you have to listen to all the stuff they say," he explains. "They have all these complex emotional issues, and you have to try to figure out what they are. Just keep asking questions. Be pleasant and reassuring but also slightly mysterious"... I'm not sure what kind of plans she wants to make. We'll each suck one of his toes? I'll read him poetry while she pirouettes?"
Post ID: 8233385287265524215
Singapore on the BBC
Amused that "Singapore's mid-life crisis" is now the 9th most read article on the BBC website
BBC News - Singapore's mid-life crisis as citizens find their voice
Post ID: 1712427270922119634
One Man Died For All
"ONE MAN DIED FOR ALL"
WHO IS THIS MAN?
Obi-wan.
HOW DOES HIS DEATH HELP US?
To escape the Death Star.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT THAT WE REMEMBER HIM?
Because he comes back as a ghost at random times and it can be quite surprising.
Post ID: 3014834859479469116
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Friday, October 18, 2013
Why didn't the Chieftains of the Dúnedain before Aragorn II claim the throne of Gondor?
Thomas Snerdley's answer to The Lord of the Rings (books, movies and creative franchise): Why didn't the Chieftains of the Dúnedain before Aragorn II claim the throne of Gondor? - Quora
"The claiming of the reunited throne of Arnor and Gondor was driven by the geopolitical realities of Middle Earth rather than whether the shards of Narsil were reforged into Andúril. Military victory over Sauron was a necessary precursor to political reunification.
***
The heirs of Isildur (Chieftains of the Dúnedain) before Aragorn II could not hope to reunite the North and South Kingdoms for several reasons:
1) The existential threat to Gondor posed by the lord of Mordor.
2) The non-existential but significant threats facing the former territories of Arnor -- and in particular the Chieftains of the Dúnedain -- due to the depredations of the orcs of the Misty Mountains and other vassals, minions and spies of Sauron.
3) The growing threat posed to Rohan and eastern Enedwaith (which separated the North and South Kingdoms) posed by Saruman's machinations against King Théoden.
In the decades before the War of the Ring, the Chieftains of the Dúnedain lacked the capability to nullify any of these threats. In fact, both Rohan and Gondor were severely challenged merely attempting to repel encroachments against their borders and peoples. At this time, the public pronouncement of the existence of a legitimate Heir of Isildur would merely have resulted in Sauron launching waves of assassins against him. Numerous Chieftains of the Dúnedain had been slain by either orcs or wolves/wargs upon discovery by Sauron's agents (including Arathorn I, Arador and Arathorn II).
Happily, during the Chieftainship of Aragorn II all of the necessary ingredients came together enabling him to terminate Sauron's existential threat to Gondor as well as relieving incidental threats against Rohan and Rhudaur (eastern Arnor). By far the most important aspect of this was the discovery of Sauron's Ruling Ring which offered the only viable prospect of completely destroying Sauron. Other ingredients included:
1) the White Council driving Sauron from Dol Guldur (relieving pressure against Lothlórien and northeastern Rohan
2) the death of the dragon Smaug which removed a massive potential threat to eastern Arnor or Gondor
3) the tripartite union between the elves of Mirkwood, the men of Dale and the dwarves of Erebor
4) knowledge of the Paths of the Dead and the potential utility of the Dead men of the White Mountains
With these geopolitical elements in place ... and with a tremendous dollop of luck and heroic actions by all the members of the Fellowship of the Ring, Lady Galadriel and warriors of both Rohan and Gondor ... it was possible to remove the threat of Sauron from Middle Earth. In the event, Narsil/Andúril played a relatively minor role.
Only with Sauron dispatched, Saruman de-fanged and both of their armies dispersed could the North and South Kingdoms be reunited and the Heir of Isildur claim the throne without being swiftly assassinated."
Me: Why not long before Sauron's return, though?
Before he declared himself in Mordor he wasn't quite as powerful. During the Watchful Peace, for example.
Him: 1) By the time of the Watchful Peace (years 2063 - 2,460 of the Third Age) the Kingdom of Arnor hadn't existed for over 1,200 years. When Eärendur, the tenth and last King of Arnor, died in the year 861 of the Third Age, his three sons split up the kingdom into three separate provinces, Arthedain, Rhudaur and Cardolan.
2) The kings of the three divided provinces squabbled amongst each other for power and were bled white by over six centuries of conflict with the Witch King of Angmar from around the year 1,300 to 1,965 of the Third Age.
3) The Dúnedain kings in Rhudaur had already been ousted from leadership, and possibly all slain, by hill-men who allied themselves with the Witch King.
4) In 1409 of the Third Age, the Witch King's forces overwhelmed the province of Cardolan and slew its last Dúnedain king.
5) The remaining Dúnedain of Arthedain were grievously weakened when the Witch King of Angmar overran Arthedain and King Arvedui drowned in the Bay of Forochel. In fact, they would have been annihilated and gone extinct had not King Eärnil II and Glorfindel of the House of Elrond arrived together at the head of powerful armies to defeat the Witch King.
6) Following this, the Dúnedain of Arthedain struggled merely to keep their lineage unbroken and to avoid discovery and assassination. In the period of the Watchful Peace, Aragorn I was slain by wolves (possibly evil Wargs of the Misty Mountains). Far from entertaining ideas about expanding their claims, they merely limped along hoping not to be exterminated.
7) Any Chieftain of the Dúnedain in Arthedain with delusions of grandeur would still be painfully aware of King Arvedui's attempt to assert his rightful claim to the kingship of Gondor, which was rebuffed in favor of King Eärnil II.
8) During the years of the Watchful Peace the Stewards of Gondor had relaxed their vigilance against Sauron since he seemed to be quiescent. The formerly powerful border defenses in the east and west (including the Tower of Orthanc) were abandoned or allowed to crumble. The Stewards' attention was devoted to internal reconstitution rather than external expansion.
In short, the only realistic scenario for reunion of the North and South Kingdoms was to destroy Sauron, revitalize Gondor and use that legitimacy to reassert control over the fractured northern areas that had once comprised the Kingdom of Arnor. Because of the disappearance of Sauron's Ruling Ring, this simply wasn't possible during the years of the Watchful Peace.
"The claiming of the reunited throne of Arnor and Gondor was driven by the geopolitical realities of Middle Earth rather than whether the shards of Narsil were reforged into Andúril. Military victory over Sauron was a necessary precursor to political reunification.
***
The heirs of Isildur (Chieftains of the Dúnedain) before Aragorn II could not hope to reunite the North and South Kingdoms for several reasons:
1) The existential threat to Gondor posed by the lord of Mordor.
2) The non-existential but significant threats facing the former territories of Arnor -- and in particular the Chieftains of the Dúnedain -- due to the depredations of the orcs of the Misty Mountains and other vassals, minions and spies of Sauron.
3) The growing threat posed to Rohan and eastern Enedwaith (which separated the North and South Kingdoms) posed by Saruman's machinations against King Théoden.
In the decades before the War of the Ring, the Chieftains of the Dúnedain lacked the capability to nullify any of these threats. In fact, both Rohan and Gondor were severely challenged merely attempting to repel encroachments against their borders and peoples. At this time, the public pronouncement of the existence of a legitimate Heir of Isildur would merely have resulted in Sauron launching waves of assassins against him. Numerous Chieftains of the Dúnedain had been slain by either orcs or wolves/wargs upon discovery by Sauron's agents (including Arathorn I, Arador and Arathorn II).
Happily, during the Chieftainship of Aragorn II all of the necessary ingredients came together enabling him to terminate Sauron's existential threat to Gondor as well as relieving incidental threats against Rohan and Rhudaur (eastern Arnor). By far the most important aspect of this was the discovery of Sauron's Ruling Ring which offered the only viable prospect of completely destroying Sauron. Other ingredients included:
1) the White Council driving Sauron from Dol Guldur (relieving pressure against Lothlórien and northeastern Rohan
2) the death of the dragon Smaug which removed a massive potential threat to eastern Arnor or Gondor
3) the tripartite union between the elves of Mirkwood, the men of Dale and the dwarves of Erebor
4) knowledge of the Paths of the Dead and the potential utility of the Dead men of the White Mountains
With these geopolitical elements in place ... and with a tremendous dollop of luck and heroic actions by all the members of the Fellowship of the Ring, Lady Galadriel and warriors of both Rohan and Gondor ... it was possible to remove the threat of Sauron from Middle Earth. In the event, Narsil/Andúril played a relatively minor role.
Only with Sauron dispatched, Saruman de-fanged and both of their armies dispersed could the North and South Kingdoms be reunited and the Heir of Isildur claim the throne without being swiftly assassinated."
Me: Why not long before Sauron's return, though?
Before he declared himself in Mordor he wasn't quite as powerful. During the Watchful Peace, for example.
Him: 1) By the time of the Watchful Peace (years 2063 - 2,460 of the Third Age) the Kingdom of Arnor hadn't existed for over 1,200 years. When Eärendur, the tenth and last King of Arnor, died in the year 861 of the Third Age, his three sons split up the kingdom into three separate provinces, Arthedain, Rhudaur and Cardolan.
2) The kings of the three divided provinces squabbled amongst each other for power and were bled white by over six centuries of conflict with the Witch King of Angmar from around the year 1,300 to 1,965 of the Third Age.
3) The Dúnedain kings in Rhudaur had already been ousted from leadership, and possibly all slain, by hill-men who allied themselves with the Witch King.
4) In 1409 of the Third Age, the Witch King's forces overwhelmed the province of Cardolan and slew its last Dúnedain king.
5) The remaining Dúnedain of Arthedain were grievously weakened when the Witch King of Angmar overran Arthedain and King Arvedui drowned in the Bay of Forochel. In fact, they would have been annihilated and gone extinct had not King Eärnil II and Glorfindel of the House of Elrond arrived together at the head of powerful armies to defeat the Witch King.
6) Following this, the Dúnedain of Arthedain struggled merely to keep their lineage unbroken and to avoid discovery and assassination. In the period of the Watchful Peace, Aragorn I was slain by wolves (possibly evil Wargs of the Misty Mountains). Far from entertaining ideas about expanding their claims, they merely limped along hoping not to be exterminated.
7) Any Chieftain of the Dúnedain in Arthedain with delusions of grandeur would still be painfully aware of King Arvedui's attempt to assert his rightful claim to the kingship of Gondor, which was rebuffed in favor of King Eärnil II.
8) During the years of the Watchful Peace the Stewards of Gondor had relaxed their vigilance against Sauron since he seemed to be quiescent. The formerly powerful border defenses in the east and west (including the Tower of Orthanc) were abandoned or allowed to crumble. The Stewards' attention was devoted to internal reconstitution rather than external expansion.
In short, the only realistic scenario for reunion of the North and South Kingdoms was to destroy Sauron, revitalize Gondor and use that legitimacy to reassert control over the fractured northern areas that had once comprised the Kingdom of Arnor. Because of the disappearance of Sauron's Ruling Ring, this simply wasn't possible during the years of the Watchful Peace.
Post ID: 7376763152291929341
Thursday, October 17, 2013
The Most Exciting Movie So Far This Year
"Game of Bones: Winter is Cumming"
Post ID: 6821761090013102898
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