Links - 15th November 2013

SF Asian Women Dating Arbitrage: Reality or Myth? Assessing the economics of dating for Asian men in the greater San Francisco Bay Area
When demand is inelastic, this is what you get. Solution: elastic demand

In Hookups, Inequality Still Reigns - NYTimes.com - "Women are less likely to have orgasms during uncommitted sexual encounters than in serious relationships.
Perhaps this mediates the effect where if women are assured that the sex will be great they are more likely to agree to casual sex

Gender Differences Accepting Casual Sex Proposals (NoH) | Feminist Critics - "anticipated pleasure from casual sex predicted people saying “yes,” and explained away some of the gap between men and women in accepting the offer. I think the results are fascinating, but I don’t think they contradict the evolutionary SST as much as she says... Gay men (2.55) responded much better to male proposers than heterosexual women (1.37). Heterosexual men (3.74) responded much better to female proposers than lesbian women did (2.27)... the gender of the receiver of the proposal is still quite an important factor, and that the difference she found in some of her studies is quite consistent with evolutionary psychology... Before you go tell all your friends that women turn down sexual proposals because they expect men hitting on them to be bad in bed, keep a few things in mind. Gender still had a bigger weight in predicting acceptance of sexual proposals: perceived sexual capabilities of the proposal was only part of why offers were accepted or refused. Even taking into account the fact that women perceived male proposers to be worse in bed (than men perceived female proposers), women still rejected the offers more... Yes, women would accept sexual proposals just as much as men, if only they got hit on by Johnny Depp! Wait, what? Poor Johnny Depp can only be in one place at once... There is no contradiction between Conley’s findings about pleasure, and the SST’s hypothesis that women are more selective in short term mating. In fact, Conley’s discovery that women on average perceive men to be worse lovers than men perceive women (even among friends) is consistent with women being more selective... some evolutionary theorists see the elusiveness of female orgasm as part and parcel of female selectiveness... the analysis could lead people to think that women would engage in casual sex just as much as men… if only men weren’t so lousy! But at least some of the reason that men are perceived to be lacking is because women and men have different expectations... Conley merely asked people whether they received at least one proposal. If a woman received 3 proposals and accepted 1, while a man had received 1 proposal and accepted 1, Conley’s study would measure them the same, even though the woman is obviously more selective. The 40% vs. 73% gap does not mean that women accept 40% of casual sex offers, while men accept 73%. It means that 40% of women and 73% of men who have received at least one casual sex offer also accepted it"
Addendum: This refers to Conley (2011), Perceived proposer personality characteristics and gender differences in acceptance of casual sex offers (used to claim that women are as interested in casual sex as men - under certain conditions), and is not hosted on whyevolutionistrue / why evolution is true

In Hookups, Inequality Still Reigns - NYTimes.com - "Women are less likely to have orgasms during uncommitted sexual encounters than in serious relationships. At the same time, researchers say that young women are becoming equal partners in the hookup culture, often just as willing as young men to venture into sexual relationships without emotional ties... women were twice as likely to reach orgasm from intercourse or oral sex in serious relationships as in hookups... a study of 24,000 students at 21 colleges over five years found that about 40 percent of women had an orgasm during their last hookup involving intercourse, while 80 percent of men did... By contrast, roughly three quarters of women in the survey said they had an orgasm the last time they had sex in a committed relationship. “We attribute that to practice with a partner, which yields better success at orgasm, and we also think the guys care more in a relationship,” Dr. England said... Debra Herbenick, a research scientist at Indiana University, said that for women, casual sex is exciting precisely because it is spontaneous. She compared a hookup with having dinner at a friend’s house. “You wouldn’t be like, ‘This is what I want and this is how I want you to make it, and I want you to use only this amount of basil,’” she said. Some women, confronted with these roadblocks, are redefining casual sex and the physical pleasure that they expect from it. Sex without strings has carnal and emotional benefits that don’t depend on reaching orgasm, they say... Casey Romaine, a 22-year-old Bard College graduate living in Nashville, Tenn., said that more than sex, hookups are often much more about two people giving each other the sense of intimacy, however brief, they need to get through the week... mediocre sex was a small price to pay “for the freedom to be able to enjoy it all.” The physical aspect of a tryst with a relative stranger was gratifying, she said, even if her chances of reaching orgasm were limited. When her partner’s performance was lackluster, she still took pride in her own sexual prowess."

Guacamole is just so hard to explain - The People's Funny Pictures Blog - Quora

Choosing Seafood for Sushi or Sashimi -- Fish That Can be Eaten Raw - "I would recommend to you that all seafood you decide to eat raw be previously frozen. It is just safer that way. Yes, fresh is better in most cases, but even professional sushi chefs freeze their salmon first -- salmon is unusually susceptible to parasites. The critters you need to worry about are cod worms, seal worms and tape worms. Cod worms are of course found in cod, haddock, pollock and hake. They are easily visible to the naked eye and are easily removed -- if you catch them. Good New England fish houses "candle" their fish by putting the fillets on a light box to detect the worms. Now you know why cod is never seen at a sushi bar."

Young boy in tiger suit comes face to face with... - The People's Funny Pictures Blog - Quora

David Eckert Appears To Clench His Buttocks; Cops Order Enemas, Colonoscopy, X-Ray For Non-Existent Drugs

New York mayor-elect Bill de Blasio's family gives him lift - CNN.com - ""His family, just because of the racial mix, represents a big and increasingly large part of the city and speaks to certain sensibilities," said Harold Ickes, a veteran Democratic Party operative who advised the campaign and has known de Blasio for two decades. "The family is very important to Bill... From the outside, this family represents a part of the city not represented in city government.""
Identity politics: judging people by the color of their skin, not by the content of their character

Women Have Not Adapted To Casual Sex, Research Shows - "Overall women’s feelings were more negative than men’s. Eighty per cent of men had overall positive feelings about the experience compared to 54 per cent of women. Men were more likely than women to secretly want their friends to hear about it and to feel successful because the partner was desirable to others. Men also reported greater sexual satisfaction and contentment following the event, as well as a greater sense of well-being and confidence about themselves. The predominant negative feeling reported by women was regret at having been “used”... although women do not rate casual sex positively, the reason they still take part in it may be due to the menstrual cycle changes influencing their sexual motivation. Indeed, during the ovulatory phase (between days 10 to 18 of their cycle), women report increased sexual desire and arousal, with a preference for short-term partners."
This doesn't talk about the characteristics of the partners they want when they're fertile

Relationship break-ups hit men harder than women, researchers claim - "oung men often have few people in whom they confide - apart from their romantic partner. Whereas women are more likely to have close relationships with family and friends"

Cyclists call for 'strict liability' law to hold drivers to account - "opponents of the idea said cyclists and motorists should be equally responsible for road safety. Alan Douglas, a motoring journalist and member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, told BBC Scotland's Call Kaye programme: "I think this is an absolutely astonishing suggestion. Everyone using the roads is subject to the same law. "We all have equal responsibility, and surely the person who should be held responsible for an accident is the person who causes it. "This assumption that it is always the motorist at fault is absolutely breath-taking. It smacks of the sort of arrogance that we hear from some cyclists." A strict liability law would see the introduction of a hierarchy based on the vulnerability of road users. It would also mean that cyclists would be held automatically responsible for accidents involving pedestrians."

Diva - The Lois Lane - "In their late 20s and never been kissed... Assistant engineer Serene Ho, 30, had a less-than-perfect childhood and has struggled with her father's financial problems. As a result, she seeks a "Superman", a man who is stronger, smarter and more financially stable than she is - but men of that ilk are elusive."
Superman already has his superwoman

CISCO cop flashed warrant card at prostitute to find out her age - "An off-duty volunteer police sergeant who wanted to find out the age of a prostitute whose services he hoped to engage flashed his police warrant card at the woman to compel her to do so... the 42-year-old pleaded guilty to misconduct and was jailed for a day and fined $1,000... The court heard that Chua wanted to be “absolutely certain” that Ms Cai was above 18 years old before having sex with her."
This is actually much less than the penalty for inadvertent sex if she had been underaged

Australia considers fingerprinting women in burkas - "Last year Miss Matthews was sentenced to six months' jail for falsely claiming that a highway patrol officer had tried to remove her burka when he stopped her for a random breath test. But during her appeal it emerged that, because the complainant was wearing a burka when she appeared at a Sydney police station to report the incident, officers could only see her eyes, and ultimately could not be sure that Miss Matthews was the woman who made the false claim. Miss Matthews's barrister, Phillip Boulten SC, told the court: "All we know is that a woman in a black burka came with a man in a brown suit with an envelope, and that's it"... a Muslim woman said she would feel uncomfortable giving evidence in a A$1 million (£576,000) fraud trial unless she were able to wear the full veil. The woman had lived in Australia for seven years and had worn the burka since the age of 17, but the court denied her request and ordered her to testify without the veil... The full veil is banned in France and Belgium, but enforcing the bans has become difficult. Last week the first women to be summoned before a European court for illegally wearing the garments were refused entry, because they would not remove their face coverings"

A Same-Sex Domestic Violence Epidemic Is Silent - "Because domestic violence is still thought of as a heterosexual problem, there can be major hurdles when trying to find funding and conduct research, as well as when providing services to people who don't fit in the stereotype of a domestic violence survivor. "The idea that a woman can be the one who's abusive throws a wrench in the traditional view," Valentine said. "The idea that only men can be batterers makes it a lot harder for men to get access to shelter"... there are also internal factors that keep a cover of darkness over the issue of domestic violence in the gay community. "There can be a fear of making the community look bad"... "We need to change the way we look at domestic violence," Rogers said. "I don't see it in any way as a gender issue. I see it as a power and a control issue."
Feminism hurts LGBTQs!

Judge dismisses rapist's appeal against conviction - "The High Court on Wednesday dismissed the appeal of a rapist who argued that he could not have had sex with his 13-year-old victim because he suffers from erectile dysfunction. Justice Lee Seiu Kin said that even if the 27-year-old did have the condition at the time of the 2006 offence, it would still have been possible for him to have sex... even if the man had erectile dysfunction in 2006, he was still able to have sex with the help of his hands."
Her word: more important than medical evidence

▶ Woman's fake belly falls out on Chinese subway - YouTube - "Ms Chang, who has to commute on a crowded train every morning, thought it would be a great idea to buy a fake belly online as a way of securing a seat on the train. Unfortunately, her fake belly fell to the ground on the very first day she wore it"

GrubHub Reports Gender Difference in Ordering Dessert - "Data from GrubHub, an online and mobile food ordering service, confirms that women are 25 percent more likely to order dessert than men. In a release, the Company noted that women are approximately 50 percent more likely to order frozen yogurt "

Why setting a poverty line may not be helpful: Minister Chan Chun Sing - "he said the Government's approach is to use broad definitions for the groups it seeks to help, set clear criteria to identify and assess those in need, and come up with tailored schemes. "If we use a single poverty line to assess the family, we also risk a 'cliff effect', where those below the poverty line receive all forms of assistance, while other genuinely needy citizens outside the poverty line are excluded," he said."
For such a technocratic government which sets criteria everywhere else...

Most men wish women would help pay date tab: study - "Two out of three men think women should help pay for a date, although most feel guilty about accepting their money... Of the 64 percent wanting to split the bill, 44 percent said they'd even ditch a love interest who never doled out any dollars... Fifty-seven percent of women claimed they had offered to pay for a date -- although 39 percent confessed they hoped the man would reject their offer to chip in. In any event, over time, the vast majority of participants, both male and female, said they shared dating expenses in the first six months of seeing someone exclusively."

The moments that take our breath away

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that takes our breath away"

Should men have a say in women's issues [or an opinion]?

Women: Should men have a say in women's issues [or an opinion]? - Quora

"Yes.

An opinion's validity does not change regardless of who vocalises it.

The claim that men should not have a say or opinion about women's issues arises from a conception of group rights, of taking women as a group (and implicitly one with only one opinion). Indeed, this is deeply insulting and dehumanising to women.

It is also an intensely cynical perspective which denies our shared humanity - our capacity to care about and identify with other people.

Women's issues are often also men's issues - while a fetus might reside in its mother's body, there is no such thing as a Virgin Birth (i.e. a man is also involved), and if/when a baby is delivered the father is legally responsible for the child's upkeep. Bodily sovereignty does not trump the rights of other people - as an analogy, if I am infected with Ebola (or some other contagious and deadly disease), my bodily sovereignty and freedom of movement are justifiably forfeited if I refuse treatment and/or quarantine.

Those who claim that men should not have a say about women's issues are just trying to shut down debate and opposing voices - witness how they tellingly excoriate women who disagree with them (who presumably have views equally as valid as theirs, given that they are of the 'right' sex).

Notice too that men are never lambasted for talking about women's issues when they say the 'right' things (e.g. being pro-abortion rights).

This whole issue is something of a red herring in any case given that, for example, there is no gender gap in views on abortion - there is no reason to expect a man to have a significantly different opinion from a woman on the topic (Pew Study Finds 'No Gender Gap' on Abortion Debate Positions)."


"Susan B. Anthony never married.

Once when the abolitionist, Samuel May, told her: "You are not married. You have no business to be discussing marriage." She retorted: "You, Mr. May, are not a slave. Should you quit lecturing on slavery?""

--- The Great Ones, Volume 2 / V. K. Subramanian

Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien

LA BÉGUEULE
CONTE MORAL. (1772)
Voltaire

Dans ses écrits un sage Italien
Dit que le mieux est l'ennemi du bien;
Non qu'on ne puisse augmenter en prudence,
En bonté d'âme, en talents, en science;
Cherchons le mieux sur ces chapitres-là;
Partout ailleurs évitons la chimère.
Dans son état heureux qui peut se plaire,
Vivre à sa place, et garder ce qu'il a!

La belle Arsène en est la preuve claire.
Elle était jeune; elle avait à Paris
Un tendre époux empressé de complaire
A son caprice, et souffrant son mépris.
L'oncle, la soeur, la tante, le beau-père,
Ne brillaient pas parmi les beaux esprits;
Mais ils étaient d'un fort bon caractère.
Dans le logis des amis fréquentaient;
Beaucoup d'aisance, une assez bonne chère;
Les passe-temps que nos gens connaissaient,
Jeu, bal, spectacle, et soupers agréables,
Rendaient ses jours à peu près tolérables:
Car vous savez que le bonheur parfait
Est inconnu; pour l'homme il n'est pas fait.
Madame Arsène était fort peu contente
De ces plaisirs. Son superbe dégoût,
Dans ses dédains, fuyait ou blâmait tout.
On l'appelait la belle impertinente.

Or admirez la faiblesse des gens:
Plus elle était distraite, indifférente,
Plus ils tâchaient, par des soins complaisants,
D'apprivoiser son humeur méprisante;
Et plus aussi notre belle abusait
De tous les pas que vers elle on faisait.
Pour ses amants encor plus intraitable,
Aise de plaire, et ne pouvant aimer,
Son coeur glacé se laissait consumer
Dans le chagrin de ne voir rien d'aimable.
D'elle à la fin chacun se retira.
De courtisans elle avait une liste;
Tout prit parti; seule elle demeura
Avec l'orgueil, compagnon dur et triste
Bouffi, mais sec, ennemi des ébats,
Il renfle l'âme, et ne la nourrit pas.

La dégoûtée avait eu pour marraine
La fée Aline. On sait que ces esprits
Sont mitoyens entre l'espèce humaine
Et la divine; et monsieur Gabalis
Mit par écrit leur histoire certaine.
La fée allait quelquefois au logis
De sa filleule, et lui disait: « Arsène,
Es-tu contente à la fleur de tes ans?
As-tu des goûts et des amusements?
Tu dois mener une assez douce vie. »
L'autre en deux mots répondait: « Je m'ennuie.
C'est un grand mal, dit la fée, et je croi
Qu'un beau secret c'est de vivre chez soi. »

Arsène enfin conjura son Aline
De la tirer de son maudit pays.
« Je veux aller à la sphère divine:
Faites-moi voir votre beau paradis;
Je ne saurais supporter ma famille,
Ni mes amis. J'aime assez ce qui brille,
Le beau, le rare; et je ne puis jamais
Me trouver bien que dans votre palais;
C'est un goût vif dont je me sens coiffée. »
Très volontiers, dit l'indulgente fée.

Tout aussitôt dans un char lumineux
Vers l'orient la belle est transportée.
Le char volait; et notre dégoûtée,
Pour être en l'air, se croyait dans les cieux.
Elle descend au séjour magnifique
De la marraine. Un immense portique,
D'or ciselé dans un goût tout nouveau,
Lui parut riche et passablement beau;
Mais ce n'est rien quand on voit le château.
Pour les jardins, c'est un miracle unique;
Marly, Versaille, et leurs petits jets d'eau,
N'ont rien auprès qui surprenne et qui pique.
La dédaigneuse, à cette oeuvre angélique,
Sentit un peu de satisfaction.
Aline dit: « Voilà votre maison;
Je vous y laisse un pouvoir despotique,
Commandez-y. Toute ma nation
Obéira sans aucune réplique.
J'ai quatre mots à dire en Amérique,
Il faut que j'aille y faire quelques tours;
Je reviendrai vers vous en peu de jours.
J'espère au moins, dans ma douce retraite,
Vous retrouver l'âme un peu satisfaite. »

Aline part. La belle en liberté
Reste et s'arrange au palais enchanté,
Commande en reine, ou plutôt en déesse,
De cent beautés une foule s'empresse
A prévenir ses moindres volontés.
A-t-elle faim? cent plats sont apportés;
De vrai nectar la cave était fournie,
Et tous les mets sont de pure ambroisie;
Les vases sont du plus fin diamant.
Le repas fait, on la mène à l'instant
Dans les jardins, sur les bords des fontaines,
Sur les gazons, respirer les haleines
Et les parfums des fleurs et des zéphyrs.
Vingt chars brillant de rubis, de saphirs,
Pour la porter se présentent d'eux-mêmes,
Comme autrefois les trépieds de Vulcain
Allaient au ciel, par un ressort divin,
Offrir leur siège aux majestés suprêmes.
De mille oiseaux les doux gazouillements,
L'eau qui s'enfuit sur l'argent des rigoles,
Ont accordé leurs murmures charmants;
Les perroquets répétaient ses paroles,
Et les échos les disaient après eux.
Telle Psyché, par le plus beau des dieux
A ses parents avec art enlevée,
Au seul Amour dignement réservée,
Dans un palais des mortels ignoré,
Aux éléments commandait à son gré.
Madame Arsène est encor mieux servie
Plus d'agréments environnaient sa vie;
Plus de beautés décoraient son séjour;
Elle avait tout; mais il manquait l'Amour.
Pour égayer notre mélancolique,
On lui donna le soir une musique
Dont les accords et les accents nouveaux
Feraient pâmer soixante cardinaux.
Ces sons vainqueurs allaient au fond des âmes;
Mais elle vit, non sans émotion,
Que pour chanter on n'avait que des femmes.
« Dans ce palais point de barbe au menton!
A quoi, dit-elle, a pensé ma marraine?
Point d'homme ici! Suis-je dans un couvent?
Je trouve bon que l'on me serve en reine;
Mais sans sujets la grandeur est du vent.
J'aime à régner, sur des hommes s'entend;
Ils sont tous nés pour ramper dans ma chaîne:
C'est leur destin, c'est leur premier devoir;
Je les méprise, et je veux en avoir. »
Ainsi parlait la recluse intraitable;
Et cependant les nymphes sur le soir
Avec respect ayant servi sa table,
On l'endormit au son des instruments.

Le lendemain mêmes enchantements,
Mêmes festins, pareille sérénade;
Et le plaisir fut un peu moins piquant.
Le lendemain lui parut un peu fade;
Le lendemain fut triste et fatigant:
Le lendemain lui fut insupportable.

Je me souviens du temps trop peu durable
Où je chantais, dans mon heureux printemps,
Des lendemains plus doux et plus plaisants.

La belle enfin chaque jour festoyée
Fut tellement de sa gloire ennuyée,
Que, détestant cet excès de bonheur,
Le paradis lui faisait mal au coeur.
Se trouvant seule, elle avise une brèche
A certain mur; et, semblable à la flèche
Qu'on voit partir de la corde d'un arc,
Madame saute, et vous franchit le parc.

Au même instant palais, jardins, fontaines,
Or, diamants, émeraudes, rubis,
Tout disparut à ses yeux ébaubis;
Elle ne voit que les stériles plaines
D'un grand désert, et des rochers affreux:
La dame alors, s'arrachant les cheveux,
Demande à Dieu pardon de ses sottises.
La nuit venait, et déjà ses mains grises
Sur la nature étendaient ses rideaux.
Les cris perçants des funèbres oiseaux,
Les hurlements des ours et des panthères,
Font retentir les antres solitaires.
Quelle autre fée, hélas! prendra le soin
De secourir ma folle aventurière!
Dans sa détresse elle aperçut de loin,
A la faveur d'un reste de lumière,
Au coin d'un bois, un vilain charbonnier,
Qui s'en allait par un petit sentier,
Tout en sifflant, retrouver sa chaumière.
« Qui que tu sois, lui dit la beauté fière,
Vois en pitié le malheur qui me suit;
Car je ne sais où coucher cette nuit. »
Quand on a peur, tout orgueil s'humanise.

Le noir pataud, la voyant si bien mise,
Lui répondit: « Quel étrange démon
Vous fait aller dans cet état de crise,
Pendant la nuit, à pied, sans compagnon?
Je suis encor très loin de ma maison.
Çà, donnez-moi votre bras, ma mignonne;
On recevra ta petite personne
Comme on pourra. J'ai du lard et des oeufs.
Toute Française, à ce que j'imagine,
Sait, bien ou mal, faire un peu de cuisine.
Je n'ai qu'un lit; c'est assez pour nous deux. »
Disant ces mots, le rustre vigoureux
D'un gros baiser sur sa bouche ébahie
Ferme l'accès à toute repartie;
Et par avance il veut être payé
Du nouveau gîte à la belle octroyé.
« Hélas! hélas! dit la dame affligée,
Il faudra donc qu'ici je sois mangée
D'un charbonnier ou de la dent des loups! »
Le désespoir, la honte, le courroux,
L'ont suffoquée: elle est évanouie.
Notre galant la rendait à la vie.
La fée arrive, et peut-être un peu tard.
Présente à tout, elle était à l'écart.
« Vous voyez bien, dit-elle à sa filleule,
Que vous étiez une franche bégueule.
Ma chère enfant, rien n'est si périlleux
Que de quitter le bien pour être mieux. »

La leçon faite, on reconduit ma belle
Dans son logis. Tout y changea pour elle
En peu de temps, sitôt qu'elle changea.
Pour son profit elle se corrigea.
Sans avoir lu les beaux moyens de plaire
Du sieur Moncrif, et sans livre, elle plut.
Que fallait-il à son coeur?... qu'il voulût.
Elle fut douce, attentive, polie,
Vive et prudente; et prit même en secret
Pour charbonnier un jeune amant discret,
Et fut alors une femme accomplie.

On 377D of the Penal Code: when only being psychic is enough to avoid criminal liability

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"

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.

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.

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!

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 trained

2 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"

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:

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.

Me destroying a Sandcastle at East Coast

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

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

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."

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."

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"