Note: This post was posted on 19th March but dated 26th March so it stays at the top. Scroll down for posts newer than these.
Unlike many or perhaps most other blogs, this blog has no particular theme, ergo one reason for the name 'Balderdash', though perhaps the neologism 'Eclectia' would have been a better choice.
I am curious about what sort of content interests my readers, and so have decided to do a poll.
The major categories of content I've identified:
1) Quotes (Funny quotes or quotes of bad english)
2) NUS Commentary
3) Political Commentary (though I think it pales in comparison to more specialised sites)
4) Religion (includes polemics, links and such)
5) Personal anecdotes/musings
6) Pseudo-/Quasi-Intelligentsia topics (Content on topics like philosophy, science, social science, mathematics, the arts and such. Also includes material related to academics)
7) Amusements/frivolity (links, jokes, funny pictures etc)
8) Technology (here again I am left in the dust)
9) Miscellaneous (please specify in poll comments or the blog entry comment box)
THE POLL IS NOW CLOSED. Thank you for your participation.
This poll is dated 26/03/2005 so as to remain at the top of the other entries for the next week.
L'origine de Bert
Friday, March 25, 2005
Why should civil servants stop plundering the coffers?
WHEN the latest Transparency International forum was held, it was reported that the panelists issued a joint declaration that corruption should be stopped, given that it arrests a country's development ('Global Anti-Corruption NGO Blasts Corrupt Officials'; The Straits Times, February 20).
I am amused that members of the educated elite would find it appropriate to ask Governments to set up anti-corruption watchdogs, bodies which would effectively put an end to the practice of politicians and civil servants enriching themselves splendidly at the expense of their country.
One would have thought that it is up to the people to track down corrupt officials and try to expose them to the press (even if their letters might not be published).
It is NGOs like Transparency International, if they feel strongly that corruption should be stopped, who should go and 'carry out investigations' and such to stamp out corruption.
They are just like the typical NGO which urges politicians and civil servants to do everything, even to the extent of depriving them of their filthy lucre.
N!ôrlãn
The above is a parody of the following (real) letter. And, no, if you think I'm insinuating that civil servants are corrupt, you've totally missed the point of the parody (I was originally going to write about the Police urging robbers to turn themselves in, but decided that it was so subtle, even I wasn't getting it).
Why should Govt put itself out of power?
WHEN Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delivered the National University of Singapore Society's 50th Anniversary Lecture, it was reported that an NUS alumnus asked for Singapore to have alternative leadership, given that the Government is now opening up for more debate ('If casino gets nod, 'social costs will be managed'; The Sunday Times, March 20).
I am amused that a member of the educated elite would find it appropriate to ask the Government to set up a two-party system, a system which may effectively put the ruling party which forms the Government out of power if it succeeds.
One would have thought that it is up to the people to set up a viable opposition party that may offer alternative leadership to the present Government.
It is people like the NUS alumnus, if he feels strongly that there should be alternative leadership, who should go and 'rope in ex-ministers and MPs' and other like- minded people to form a political party.
He is just like the typical Singaporean who depends on the Government to do everything, even to the extent of asking it to put itself out of power.
Peter Teo Boon Haw
loupgarou26: "the government serves the people, not itself. if it be the best interest of the people that a two party system exist in order to provide checks and balances as well as to prevent political stagnation, then the government should create a playing field where a two party system can exist.
OR have we already reached the state where the government serves itself above the people.
has PAP become "PAP Action Party" and not "People's Action Party" ?"
[Editor's note: A clarification about my letter parody - I am not suggesting that we SHOULD split the PAP up, just that to rule out that possibility a priori because political parties don't and shouldn't do anything against their own interests is ridiculous.]
I want to parody the reports about mandatory HIV testing, but I've no ideas. At first I did something on SARS, then realised it didn't work very well.
WHEN the latest Transparency International forum was held, it was reported that the panelists issued a joint declaration that corruption should be stopped, given that it arrests a country's development ('Global Anti-Corruption NGO Blasts Corrupt Officials'; The Straits Times, February 20).
I am amused that members of the educated elite would find it appropriate to ask Governments to set up anti-corruption watchdogs, bodies which would effectively put an end to the practice of politicians and civil servants enriching themselves splendidly at the expense of their country.
One would have thought that it is up to the people to track down corrupt officials and try to expose them to the press (even if their letters might not be published).
It is NGOs like Transparency International, if they feel strongly that corruption should be stopped, who should go and 'carry out investigations' and such to stamp out corruption.
They are just like the typical NGO which urges politicians and civil servants to do everything, even to the extent of depriving them of their filthy lucre.
N!ôrlãn
The above is a parody of the following (real) letter. And, no, if you think I'm insinuating that civil servants are corrupt, you've totally missed the point of the parody (I was originally going to write about the Police urging robbers to turn themselves in, but decided that it was so subtle, even I wasn't getting it).
Why should Govt put itself out of power?
WHEN Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delivered the National University of Singapore Society's 50th Anniversary Lecture, it was reported that an NUS alumnus asked for Singapore to have alternative leadership, given that the Government is now opening up for more debate ('If casino gets nod, 'social costs will be managed'; The Sunday Times, March 20).
I am amused that a member of the educated elite would find it appropriate to ask the Government to set up a two-party system, a system which may effectively put the ruling party which forms the Government out of power if it succeeds.
One would have thought that it is up to the people to set up a viable opposition party that may offer alternative leadership to the present Government.
It is people like the NUS alumnus, if he feels strongly that there should be alternative leadership, who should go and 'rope in ex-ministers and MPs' and other like- minded people to form a political party.
He is just like the typical Singaporean who depends on the Government to do everything, even to the extent of asking it to put itself out of power.
Peter Teo Boon Haw
loupgarou26: "the government serves the people, not itself. if it be the best interest of the people that a two party system exist in order to provide checks and balances as well as to prevent political stagnation, then the government should create a playing field where a two party system can exist.
OR have we already reached the state where the government serves itself above the people.
has PAP become "PAP Action Party" and not "People's Action Party" ?"
[Editor's note: A clarification about my letter parody - I am not suggesting that we SHOULD split the PAP up, just that to rule out that possibility a priori because political parties don't and shouldn't do anything against their own interests is ridiculous.]
I want to parody the reports about mandatory HIV testing, but I've no ideas. At first I did something on SARS, then realised it didn't work very well.
Post ID: 111168869777279927
Thursday, March 24, 2005
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Krishnamurti
Random Playlist Song: Florence Foster Jenkins - Aria - Queen of the Night
Finally, someone who sings worse than my brother in law!
***
I think I'm suffering from blogger fatigue. Reading, more than writing.
And, no, RSS doesn't help. It's not the layouts that bog me down anyway.
***
The new colour the house is painted in looks like the old colour. Makes you wonder what the point of repainting was.
Above is the fragile glass dish (on which to put soap) that my mother got and which now lies in my sister's toilet.
Note how the dish rests lightly and loosely in the metal socket, being held in place merely by dint of gravity. Note also how a gentle nudge from one edge of the dish might disupt the dish's fragile equilibrium and send it hurtling over the edge of the bracket to a most unpleasant fate below.
I bothered to use Macro focus for this one, so it's much sharper.
Above is what remains of the glass dish that was placed in my toilet, and which lasted for about half a week. I was quite sure I'd eventually shatter the dish, but I didn't think it'd be quite so soon.
Needless to say, my mother was livid, though she did not shout in my face. Perhaps she recalled my urging her not to upgrade my toilet.
I am ever more sure now of my decision not to have children in the future.
***
More stuff that makes you go "what the hell?!":
'profanity', in a blog comment -
"I am intrigued by bloggers who like putting up narcissistic webcam photos of themselves leaning their boobs/moobs into the screen. They rule!!!"
More hatemail (of a sort - calmone, be jealous! Meanwhile I shall swoon over the many comments you draw from females):
"little presumptuous piggies like you exist...dude, just get your head out from the well ok? but oh dear god, please, don't stop enlightening and enlivening us with your little baseless essays and manifestos. i LOVE smart little piggies like you."
- from Lissa on the waiting room
It is curious how people love to make broad proclamations about supposed problems with other people's ideas, and then switch to ad hominem insults and attacks instead of addressing the putative problems.
Some time earlier, "z." on Livejournal commented that:
"we should always refrain from criticising things that we barely understand - you provided a very subjective and insensitive interpretation of what makes something halal, the processes and all."
No ad hominem insults and attacks here, at least, but till today, despite my requesting for such, I have not gotten an elaboration about how my interpretation was "subjective", or how I "barely [understood]" the Halal concept.
***
Parody of Jack Chick tracts: CthulhuMirror - Who will be eaten first?
Panel 1) One day, while sitting in a cafe...
A: George, it's vital that you make the right decision before you die.
2) George: You're gonna say I have to choose between God and the devil, right?
A: WRONG!
3) A: The stars are right! The Elder Gods are going to rise and eat us all!
"In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming." - HP Lovecraft
4) A: Soon the evil spawn, who had slept for eons... will awaken to clear the earth of man!
That is not dead which can eternal lie... And with strange aeons even death may die - H.P.l
5) A: NO ONE will be saved! EVERYONE will die and mankind itself will come to a horrible end!
... I shall never sleep calmly again when I think of the horrors that lurk ceaselessly behind life in time and in space, and of those unhallowed blasphemies from elder stars that dream beneath the sea... HPl.
6) A: Soon the seas will turn red with the blood of the human race, as the unspeakable terrors come from beyond the gate, which is Yog Sothoth, to devour all in their path! IaI Shub Niggurath! Ia! Ia!
7) George: So if were (sic) all gonna die, what difference does it make? Who cares? Nothing I can do about it... or is there?!
8) A: You're right George... It's hopeless. But there is one thing we can hope for... TO BE EATEN FIRST!
9) George: BE EATEN FIRST?! What the fuck kind of advantage is that?! Give me one good reason why I would WANT to be eaten first! ONE GOOD REASON!!!
10) A: Do you really want to stick around and watch the entire world be destroyed by evil creatures from beyond Hell?
George: Not really...
11) George: Oh God... your (sic) right... I don't want to see it all end! I want to be eaten quickly! What do I have to do to make my death a swift one?
The thing cannot be described - there is no language for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy... H.P.l..
12) A: You must worship and sacrifice at the altar to appease the appetites of the Elder Gods! Then may you hope for a fast death!
Cultist: Ph'ngful mghw'nath Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl lhtagnl
Cultist 2 (thinking): Gasp... This can't be!
Cultists: CTHULHU FHTAGN!
Sacrifice (presumably): WAAAHH
13) A: Chant invocations from the NECRONOMICON, the book of dead names written by the Mad Monk, Abdul Alhazred!
14) A: Only then... on the dreaded day when they rise... Will you be eaten first!
15) (Some other stuff I couldn't bother to transcribe - Full parody)
***
"Such babies usually grow up to be extremely attractive and very feminine girls"
- The now un-free ST on babies with genital anomalies
Something to think about the next time you pick girls up at clubs.
***
David Close Reads the word "Rational" - "‘Rational’ is derived from its near twin ‘ration.’ A rational individual is a rationed individual, who measures his emotions, words, and deeds for maximum impact. Nothing is wasted, all is measured, calculated, focused, tabulated."
!@#$%^&*() ... lit students
YDE Ads Sport Gender Discrimination in These Poster Photos? Well Spank Their Behinds! - "To call attention to its new Fall line, the Young Designers Emporium of South Africa has a new poster ad campaign in its shop windows. The "Brand Spanking New Fashions" posters feature models in their underwear sporting red marks on their thighs to imply they've been spanked with a paddle."
Sex crime prosecutor fired over note to girl - "The Marion County deputy prosecutor who was assistant chief of the sex crimes division was fired this week for sending a romantic e-mail to a 16-year-old girl."
Llanfairpwll - How to Say the Name Llanfairpwllgwyngyll
Lyrebird - "A Lyrebird is either of two large ground-dwelling Australian birds, most notable for their extraordinary ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment. A lyrebird's call is a rich mixture of its own song and any number of other sounds it has heard. Lyrebirds commonly mimic other species of bird or animal, and not uncommonly include sounds as diverse as chainsaws, car engines, rifle-shots, camera shutters, and crying babies."
Sleep survey wake-up call to Asia - "People in Asia burn the midnight oil, sleeping later than most Americans and Europeans and then waking up earlier, a global survey on sleep habits has found."
The Failure of the War on Drugs-BECKER - "A 200% tax on the legal use of drugs by all adults-consumption by say persons under age 18 would still be illegal. That would reduce consumption in the same way as the present war, and would also increase total spending on drugs, as in the current system. But the similarities end at that point. The tax revenue from drugs would accrue to state and federal authorities..."
***
I was walking along the road in school when a pickup truck drove past me. Not all that unusual, except that a huge cage totally enclosed the back of the pickup.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw 2 moving shapes at the back of the pickup. At first I thought they were circus animals, but the use of animals is been banned in local circuses. Then I considered that maybe they were from Cirque du Soleil, but then I didn't hear any bad pseudo-Jazz music blaring from the pickup's sound systems, nor did I see garish colours and outlandish designs out of some French guy's acid trip. Perhaps it was a travelling freak show? But then the Elephant Man has been dead for over a century.
And so I turned around, and saw 2 girls at the back of the pickup which, as you might recall, had a cage enclosing its entire rear portion. Otherwise, there was nothing spectacular. Though I did see one of the butt cracks that my sister and Ban Xiong keep complaining about seeing.
"We are still looking into the matter. We will get back to you as soon as possible." - I think the FCINUS has been PELUed (Public Entertainment Licensing Unit-ed), perhaps due in part to a faux pas on our part. I suppose we will wait for next semester and see if they've sorted everything out by then.
I saw a sign in the toilet announcing that a PDA lost in October last year had been found. These people are really slow. Or maybe the PDA fell through a time warp, or something.
After listening to many of Ban Xiong's extensive speeches on the difference between Science girls and Arts girls, looking around my economics lecture I almost thought I was in Science. Well, in the most Science-like Arts lecture group, at any rate.
Quotes:
Poly'boose (Polybius)
vision'near cipher (cigenere)
[On fast food discount coupons] One whole page of discount coupons. So mind-boggling. But who has the time to pick them out one by one? [Student: What's so hard about that?]... There are people who really use these coupons. [Me: She doesn't ah?] [Student: She's rich enough]
When Texas Instruments first came up with the handheld calculator... 4 functions: add, divide. Add, subtract, multiply, divide. So bulky, [costing a] hundred dollars. I should have kept it, because I would be able to sell it on eBay.
You look very confused, this girl sitting there. Come and see me. [Student: We're all very confused]
Have you been to Disneyland? I'm sure you have... I haven't been there, don't bring me... The fee to enter Disneyland is very high, but all the rides are free. Actually the rides are not free. As economists you know that you pay a cost, in time. Queueing... Actually the queue is not very long.
Getting Gertie's Gartle (Garter)
[On a class video] This is like, pirated. Stop piracy.
It's pretty amazing what birds will do to impress their mates. *displays notice of assignment deadline* Here's what you have to do to impress me.
[On sensory exploitation] This sounds like a theory thought up after a drunken night.
Fashion - yes, fashion is a social construct. I've used the 's' word, in a positive sense.
It's not a social construct. Some of you say it takes the romance out of love. You don't take the romance out of it. The romance is still in there. You just know how it comes about.
[Student on love being genetically advantageous: How do you explain courtly love?] [Me: 'Social construct']... Victorian era... Queen Victoria did not like her huband.
If you were a hermaphrodite, what would you do? [Student: Find another hermaphrodite and decide who's the male and who's the female] That would be a dumb thing to do.
Just a rule of tum (thumb)
Random Playlist Song: Florence Foster Jenkins - Aria - Queen of the Night
Finally, someone who sings worse than my brother in law!
***
I think I'm suffering from blogger fatigue. Reading, more than writing.
And, no, RSS doesn't help. It's not the layouts that bog me down anyway.
***
The new colour the house is painted in looks like the old colour. Makes you wonder what the point of repainting was.
Above is the fragile glass dish (on which to put soap) that my mother got and which now lies in my sister's toilet.
Note how the dish rests lightly and loosely in the metal socket, being held in place merely by dint of gravity. Note also how a gentle nudge from one edge of the dish might disupt the dish's fragile equilibrium and send it hurtling over the edge of the bracket to a most unpleasant fate below.
I bothered to use Macro focus for this one, so it's much sharper.
Above is what remains of the glass dish that was placed in my toilet, and which lasted for about half a week. I was quite sure I'd eventually shatter the dish, but I didn't think it'd be quite so soon.
Needless to say, my mother was livid, though she did not shout in my face. Perhaps she recalled my urging her not to upgrade my toilet.
I am ever more sure now of my decision not to have children in the future.
***
More stuff that makes you go "what the hell?!":
'profanity', in a blog comment -
"I am intrigued by bloggers who like putting up narcissistic webcam photos of themselves leaning their boobs/moobs into the screen. They rule!!!"
More hatemail (of a sort - calmone, be jealous! Meanwhile I shall swoon over the many comments you draw from females):
"little presumptuous piggies like you exist...dude, just get your head out from the well ok? but oh dear god, please, don't stop enlightening and enlivening us with your little baseless essays and manifestos. i LOVE smart little piggies like you."
- from Lissa on the waiting room
It is curious how people love to make broad proclamations about supposed problems with other people's ideas, and then switch to ad hominem insults and attacks instead of addressing the putative problems.
Some time earlier, "z." on Livejournal commented that:
"we should always refrain from criticising things that we barely understand - you provided a very subjective and insensitive interpretation of what makes something halal, the processes and all."
No ad hominem insults and attacks here, at least, but till today, despite my requesting for such, I have not gotten an elaboration about how my interpretation was "subjective", or how I "barely [understood]" the Halal concept.
***
Parody of Jack Chick tracts: CthulhuMirror - Who will be eaten first?
Panel 1) One day, while sitting in a cafe...
A: George, it's vital that you make the right decision before you die.
2) George: You're gonna say I have to choose between God and the devil, right?
A: WRONG!
3) A: The stars are right! The Elder Gods are going to rise and eat us all!
"In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming." - HP Lovecraft
4) A: Soon the evil spawn, who had slept for eons... will awaken to clear the earth of man!
That is not dead which can eternal lie... And with strange aeons even death may die - H.P.l
5) A: NO ONE will be saved! EVERYONE will die and mankind itself will come to a horrible end!
... I shall never sleep calmly again when I think of the horrors that lurk ceaselessly behind life in time and in space, and of those unhallowed blasphemies from elder stars that dream beneath the sea... HPl.
6) A: Soon the seas will turn red with the blood of the human race, as the unspeakable terrors come from beyond the gate, which is Yog Sothoth, to devour all in their path! IaI Shub Niggurath! Ia! Ia!
7) George: So if were (sic) all gonna die, what difference does it make? Who cares? Nothing I can do about it... or is there?!
8) A: You're right George... It's hopeless. But there is one thing we can hope for... TO BE EATEN FIRST!
9) George: BE EATEN FIRST?! What the fuck kind of advantage is that?! Give me one good reason why I would WANT to be eaten first! ONE GOOD REASON!!!
10) A: Do you really want to stick around and watch the entire world be destroyed by evil creatures from beyond Hell?
George: Not really...
11) George: Oh God... your (sic) right... I don't want to see it all end! I want to be eaten quickly! What do I have to do to make my death a swift one?
The thing cannot be described - there is no language for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy... H.P.l..
12) A: You must worship and sacrifice at the altar to appease the appetites of the Elder Gods! Then may you hope for a fast death!
Cultist: Ph'ngful mghw'nath Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl lhtagnl
Cultist 2 (thinking): Gasp... This can't be!
Cultists: CTHULHU FHTAGN!
Sacrifice (presumably): WAAAHH
13) A: Chant invocations from the NECRONOMICON, the book of dead names written by the Mad Monk, Abdul Alhazred!
14) A: Only then... on the dreaded day when they rise... Will you be eaten first!
15) (Some other stuff I couldn't bother to transcribe - Full parody)
***
"Such babies usually grow up to be extremely attractive and very feminine girls"
- The now un-free ST on babies with genital anomalies
Something to think about the next time you pick girls up at clubs.
***
David Close Reads the word "Rational" - "‘Rational’ is derived from its near twin ‘ration.’ A rational individual is a rationed individual, who measures his emotions, words, and deeds for maximum impact. Nothing is wasted, all is measured, calculated, focused, tabulated."
!@#$%^&*() ... lit students
YDE Ads Sport Gender Discrimination in These Poster Photos? Well Spank Their Behinds! - "To call attention to its new Fall line, the Young Designers Emporium of South Africa has a new poster ad campaign in its shop windows. The "Brand Spanking New Fashions" posters feature models in their underwear sporting red marks on their thighs to imply they've been spanked with a paddle."
Sex crime prosecutor fired over note to girl - "The Marion County deputy prosecutor who was assistant chief of the sex crimes division was fired this week for sending a romantic e-mail to a 16-year-old girl."
Llanfairpwll - How to Say the Name Llanfairpwllgwyngyll
Lyrebird - "A Lyrebird is either of two large ground-dwelling Australian birds, most notable for their extraordinary ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment. A lyrebird's call is a rich mixture of its own song and any number of other sounds it has heard. Lyrebirds commonly mimic other species of bird or animal, and not uncommonly include sounds as diverse as chainsaws, car engines, rifle-shots, camera shutters, and crying babies."
Sleep survey wake-up call to Asia - "People in Asia burn the midnight oil, sleeping later than most Americans and Europeans and then waking up earlier, a global survey on sleep habits has found."
The Failure of the War on Drugs-BECKER - "A 200% tax on the legal use of drugs by all adults-consumption by say persons under age 18 would still be illegal. That would reduce consumption in the same way as the present war, and would also increase total spending on drugs, as in the current system. But the similarities end at that point. The tax revenue from drugs would accrue to state and federal authorities..."
***
I was walking along the road in school when a pickup truck drove past me. Not all that unusual, except that a huge cage totally enclosed the back of the pickup.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw 2 moving shapes at the back of the pickup. At first I thought they were circus animals, but the use of animals is been banned in local circuses. Then I considered that maybe they were from Cirque du Soleil, but then I didn't hear any bad pseudo-Jazz music blaring from the pickup's sound systems, nor did I see garish colours and outlandish designs out of some French guy's acid trip. Perhaps it was a travelling freak show? But then the Elephant Man has been dead for over a century.
And so I turned around, and saw 2 girls at the back of the pickup which, as you might recall, had a cage enclosing its entire rear portion. Otherwise, there was nothing spectacular. Though I did see one of the butt cracks that my sister and Ban Xiong keep complaining about seeing.
"We are still looking into the matter. We will get back to you as soon as possible." - I think the FCINUS has been PELUed (Public Entertainment Licensing Unit-ed), perhaps due in part to a faux pas on our part. I suppose we will wait for next semester and see if they've sorted everything out by then.
I saw a sign in the toilet announcing that a PDA lost in October last year had been found. These people are really slow. Or maybe the PDA fell through a time warp, or something.
After listening to many of Ban Xiong's extensive speeches on the difference between Science girls and Arts girls, looking around my economics lecture I almost thought I was in Science. Well, in the most Science-like Arts lecture group, at any rate.
Quotes:
Poly'boose (Polybius)
vision'near cipher (cigenere)
[On fast food discount coupons] One whole page of discount coupons. So mind-boggling. But who has the time to pick them out one by one? [Student: What's so hard about that?]... There are people who really use these coupons. [Me: She doesn't ah?] [Student: She's rich enough]
When Texas Instruments first came up with the handheld calculator... 4 functions: add, divide. Add, subtract, multiply, divide. So bulky, [costing a] hundred dollars. I should have kept it, because I would be able to sell it on eBay.
You look very confused, this girl sitting there. Come and see me. [Student: We're all very confused]
Have you been to Disneyland? I'm sure you have... I haven't been there, don't bring me... The fee to enter Disneyland is very high, but all the rides are free. Actually the rides are not free. As economists you know that you pay a cost, in time. Queueing... Actually the queue is not very long.
Getting Gertie's Gartle (Garter)
[On a class video] This is like, pirated. Stop piracy.
It's pretty amazing what birds will do to impress their mates. *displays notice of assignment deadline* Here's what you have to do to impress me.
[On sensory exploitation] This sounds like a theory thought up after a drunken night.
Fashion - yes, fashion is a social construct. I've used the 's' word, in a positive sense.
It's not a social construct. Some of you say it takes the romance out of love. You don't take the romance out of it. The romance is still in there. You just know how it comes about.
[Student on love being genetically advantageous: How do you explain courtly love?] [Me: 'Social construct']... Victorian era... Queen Victoria did not like her huband.
If you were a hermaphrodite, what would you do? [Student: Find another hermaphrodite and decide who's the male and who's the female] That would be a dumb thing to do.
Just a rule of tum (thumb)
Post ID: 111138164882238596
Monday, March 21, 2005
Another guest editorial:
A SAMPLE OF A CHINESE OPPOSITION PRESS
Was at YIH today when I picked up another copy of THE EPOCH TIMES WEEKLY (SINGAPORE EDITION), which I always find fun to read. Especially when it says that it is the uncensored, unbiased source of news for the Chinese speaking world. In short, this newspaper, with a circulation in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, the US, Canada, Australia, NZ, Europe, Singapore and SE Asia, claims itself as the opposition press to the state-run PRC media.
I always find it a fun read, particularly because a quick flip through it reveals itself to be the least fact-based, sentimental agitprop imaginable. Clearly positioning itself against the CCP, every issue would contain some veiled attack or another. In one issue, it featured an article on Russia describing the wonders that it had gone through ever since Communism fell and it adopted capitalism. Among one of the data cited included “80 percent of Moscow residents have villas out in the countryside, and that every weekend they would head out to the villas to enjoy life.” While it sounds like Moscow had apparently found an amazing level of home ownership, anyone at least familiar with Russian culture would know that these villas are called “Dachas”, and the fact that many Russians have obtained these Dachas was in part due to the Soviet era where the trade unions had the task of obtaining land for the Dachas and distributing them among their members. Such pieces depicting journeys to former Eastern Bloc countries are just one of the inept examples of the Epoch Times’ “journalism”. This week we have another piece on Budapest, predictably ending a paragraph on the Hungarian flag, and how it “reflected the sacrifices and hope for the future the Hungarian people possessed.” This agitprop-disguised-as-travel op-ed piece comes after two pages after an urban legend page talking about the misfortunes that arose from Communists smashing Buddha statues, and a psychic that predicted Edward Kennedy’s near-death escape in the Chappaquiddick incident.
But this week’s issue takes the cake on the final page, with a movie review of KUNG FU HUSTLE. The reviewer describes it as a film “filled with justice and humanity and compassion, displaying the fundamental truth that good never triumphed over evil, displaying justice, conscience, heroism and truth, chivalry and morality”.
Spread that definition wide enough, and it can apply to “The Lord of the Rings”, “The Mummy”, “Star Wars”, “Rambo I—III”, “Rocky I—V”, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “Spiderman 1—2”, “Hellboy”, “The Incredibles”, “Die Hard” and “Battlefield Earth”. In short, it is a conventional happy-ending blockbuster.
And that is not all, according to the article, “The portrayal of the gangsters in the movie is similar to the CCP, and the final fight between the users of the Buddha Palm and the Toad Skill is very thought-provoking…only by uniting, like the heroes in the film, against the system, can we come to enjoy the glorious sunshine of democracy.”
Indeed, the mind boggles at how a man can using the toad skill, bloat himself up like a balloon and bounce around like a pinball, or how a man can send giant invisible forcefields down from the sky to crush his opponents. Notice how it does not say that the portrayal of the gangsters is similar to that of the CCP, because obviously if you dig deep enough any political system has its fair share of closet skeletons. Power corrupts. The only advantage to a system such as democracy is that the rights of the ruler hang not on his own conscience, but the will of the people. The Epoch Times, therefore, displays a fundamental lack of the workings of democracy, assuming it is the “glorious sunshine” that will come after any form of autocracy is defeated. History has more often than not, proven that this is not the case, all democracy was achieved via a phase consisting of the disenfranchisement of political and ethnic minorities, and the crushing of dissent. It took the French two empires and three republics to get their experiment right, and the Americans 200 years.
Best of all, the review puts words into Stephen Chow’s mouth, I swear, the author mentions that one of his friends told him about an interview with Stephen Chow, and that in the interview Chow said indirectly that “I am a very humble, normal person, and that movies are the way that I help to realize my fantasies.” Notice he never quotes Chow directly, but he manipulates a quote from a friend about Chow, my my, what journalistic integrity. If we are going to take this quote from Chow as a fact that secretly he desires the overthrowing of the CCP and not that he wanted to fulfill the fantasies of watching numerous martial arts movies as a child, then we must consider that Peter Jackson also directed the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy to fulfill a fantasy of his a possible sign that New Zealand has an oppressive, tyrannical political system despite being the first country in the world to have women’s suffrage and recognize the Maori culture as part of its makeup, and not that he wanted to go and relive the fantasy trilogy that he loved reading. Then quick, we must go and pull the cover on the parliamentary system of New Zealand and denounce it for its evil!
With such fine journalistic quality, the fact that the CCP in all its magnanimity allowed this paper to have its little corner in the SAR may in fact be a sign it tolerates its opponents more than given credit for.
With such an opposition press, I would hunger for state-owned media anyday.
--- Ivan Patrarch-Mayne
A SAMPLE OF A CHINESE OPPOSITION PRESS
Was at YIH today when I picked up another copy of THE EPOCH TIMES WEEKLY (SINGAPORE EDITION), which I always find fun to read. Especially when it says that it is the uncensored, unbiased source of news for the Chinese speaking world. In short, this newspaper, with a circulation in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, the US, Canada, Australia, NZ, Europe, Singapore and SE Asia, claims itself as the opposition press to the state-run PRC media.
I always find it a fun read, particularly because a quick flip through it reveals itself to be the least fact-based, sentimental agitprop imaginable. Clearly positioning itself against the CCP, every issue would contain some veiled attack or another. In one issue, it featured an article on Russia describing the wonders that it had gone through ever since Communism fell and it adopted capitalism. Among one of the data cited included “80 percent of Moscow residents have villas out in the countryside, and that every weekend they would head out to the villas to enjoy life.” While it sounds like Moscow had apparently found an amazing level of home ownership, anyone at least familiar with Russian culture would know that these villas are called “Dachas”, and the fact that many Russians have obtained these Dachas was in part due to the Soviet era where the trade unions had the task of obtaining land for the Dachas and distributing them among their members. Such pieces depicting journeys to former Eastern Bloc countries are just one of the inept examples of the Epoch Times’ “journalism”. This week we have another piece on Budapest, predictably ending a paragraph on the Hungarian flag, and how it “reflected the sacrifices and hope for the future the Hungarian people possessed.” This agitprop-disguised-as-travel op-ed piece comes after two pages after an urban legend page talking about the misfortunes that arose from Communists smashing Buddha statues, and a psychic that predicted Edward Kennedy’s near-death escape in the Chappaquiddick incident.
But this week’s issue takes the cake on the final page, with a movie review of KUNG FU HUSTLE. The reviewer describes it as a film “filled with justice and humanity and compassion, displaying the fundamental truth that good never triumphed over evil, displaying justice, conscience, heroism and truth, chivalry and morality”.
Spread that definition wide enough, and it can apply to “The Lord of the Rings”, “The Mummy”, “Star Wars”, “Rambo I—III”, “Rocky I—V”, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “Spiderman 1—2”, “Hellboy”, “The Incredibles”, “Die Hard” and “Battlefield Earth”. In short, it is a conventional happy-ending blockbuster.
And that is not all, according to the article, “The portrayal of the gangsters in the movie is similar to the CCP, and the final fight between the users of the Buddha Palm and the Toad Skill is very thought-provoking…only by uniting, like the heroes in the film, against the system, can we come to enjoy the glorious sunshine of democracy.”
Indeed, the mind boggles at how a man can using the toad skill, bloat himself up like a balloon and bounce around like a pinball, or how a man can send giant invisible forcefields down from the sky to crush his opponents. Notice how it does not say that the portrayal of the gangsters is similar to that of the CCP, because obviously if you dig deep enough any political system has its fair share of closet skeletons. Power corrupts. The only advantage to a system such as democracy is that the rights of the ruler hang not on his own conscience, but the will of the people. The Epoch Times, therefore, displays a fundamental lack of the workings of democracy, assuming it is the “glorious sunshine” that will come after any form of autocracy is defeated. History has more often than not, proven that this is not the case, all democracy was achieved via a phase consisting of the disenfranchisement of political and ethnic minorities, and the crushing of dissent. It took the French two empires and three republics to get their experiment right, and the Americans 200 years.
Best of all, the review puts words into Stephen Chow’s mouth, I swear, the author mentions that one of his friends told him about an interview with Stephen Chow, and that in the interview Chow said indirectly that “I am a very humble, normal person, and that movies are the way that I help to realize my fantasies.” Notice he never quotes Chow directly, but he manipulates a quote from a friend about Chow, my my, what journalistic integrity. If we are going to take this quote from Chow as a fact that secretly he desires the overthrowing of the CCP and not that he wanted to fulfill the fantasies of watching numerous martial arts movies as a child, then we must consider that Peter Jackson also directed the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy to fulfill a fantasy of his a possible sign that New Zealand has an oppressive, tyrannical political system despite being the first country in the world to have women’s suffrage and recognize the Maori culture as part of its makeup, and not that he wanted to go and relive the fantasy trilogy that he loved reading. Then quick, we must go and pull the cover on the parliamentary system of New Zealand and denounce it for its evil!
With such fine journalistic quality, the fact that the CCP in all its magnanimity allowed this paper to have its little corner in the SAR may in fact be a sign it tolerates its opponents more than given credit for.
With such an opposition press, I would hunger for state-owned media anyday.
--- Ivan Patrarch-Mayne
Post ID: 111141287353869616
"First secure an independent income, then practice virtue." - Greek Proverb
***
Many years ago, an ancient civilization flourished until an evil force rose up and vanquished its ancient protectors, wielders of the light side of the mystic force in the universe, aided by one of their order who'd been seduced by the powers of the dark side of the mystic force and then betrayed and destroyed them.
In the present day, the traitor, now clad in black armour, helmet, face mask and faux leather gloves, with a flowing cloak and speaking in a deep voice, squares off with a bearded survivor garbed in brown robes from the order's glory days and strikes him down while the latter has an impassive look on his face, as his pupil, a modern day member of the order, watches on helplessly.
This pupil battles the traitor, who is revealed to be his father, and cannot accept this fact since he has always been told that his father died when he was young. His father then tries to seduce him to the dark side, but fails.
Later, the traitor watches helplessly by the side as his master battles and defeats his son, and zaps him with dark lightning-like energies emanating from his fingertips. Just before the master delivers the finishing blow, the son, writhing in pain, appeals to his father, who rushes in and defeats his master, suffering fatal wounds in the process.
As he lies dying in his son's arms, the traitor, now redeemed, has his mask removed by his son, exchanges some heartfelt words and departs to join the spirits of those he betrayed so long ago, who have returned to witness his redemption.
The story of Star Wars, or Gosei Sentai Dairanger Episodes 7-8? :0
Look familiar?
Darth Vader would not have looked out of place in this.
The Glove of Tetsumenpi Chouryou
Flowing cloak
Master Kaku gets slashed. Note the impassive look. Note also the beard and brown garb.
Ryou writhing in agony
Force Lightning!
But the Emperor can't breathe fire.
An impassioned plea
Ryou cradles his father
Ryou removes his father's mask
The apparitions visit the redeemed traitor
Corresponding screenshots from Star Wars may be found here.
***
Many years ago, an ancient civilization flourished until an evil force rose up and vanquished its ancient protectors, wielders of the light side of the mystic force in the universe, aided by one of their order who'd been seduced by the powers of the dark side of the mystic force and then betrayed and destroyed them.
In the present day, the traitor, now clad in black armour, helmet, face mask and faux leather gloves, with a flowing cloak and speaking in a deep voice, squares off with a bearded survivor garbed in brown robes from the order's glory days and strikes him down while the latter has an impassive look on his face, as his pupil, a modern day member of the order, watches on helplessly.
This pupil battles the traitor, who is revealed to be his father, and cannot accept this fact since he has always been told that his father died when he was young. His father then tries to seduce him to the dark side, but fails.
Later, the traitor watches helplessly by the side as his master battles and defeats his son, and zaps him with dark lightning-like energies emanating from his fingertips. Just before the master delivers the finishing blow, the son, writhing in pain, appeals to his father, who rushes in and defeats his master, suffering fatal wounds in the process.
As he lies dying in his son's arms, the traitor, now redeemed, has his mask removed by his son, exchanges some heartfelt words and departs to join the spirits of those he betrayed so long ago, who have returned to witness his redemption.
The story of Star Wars, or Gosei Sentai Dairanger Episodes 7-8? :0
Look familiar?
Darth Vader would not have looked out of place in this.
The Glove of Tetsumenpi Chouryou
Flowing cloak
Master Kaku gets slashed. Note the impassive look. Note also the beard and brown garb.
Ryou writhing in agony
Force Lightning!
But the Emperor can't breathe fire.
An impassioned plea
Ryou cradles his father
Ryou removes his father's mask
The apparitions visit the redeemed traitor
Corresponding screenshots from Star Wars may be found here.
Post ID: 111139607669244096
"Every sensible man, every honest man, must hold the Christian sect in horror. But what shall we substitute in it's place? you say. What? A ferocious animal has sucked the blood of my relatives. I tell you to rid yourselves of this beast, and you ask me what you shall put in its place?" - François-Marie Arouet
***
My essay - titularly on 2 essays but actually on nothing (as befits the spirit of close reading) is done, after much angsting and hand-wringing.
To think that the next one will be assigned on Tuesday *swoon*
***
Dropload Frequently Asked Questions
"Dropload supports itself with the single ad on each page and some donations. We have nearly 100,000 registered users today, and grow at a pace of almost 15,000 users a month. As long as our users keep checking out our sponsers and donate if they can, dropload will continue to exist. We provide dropload for free because there was a market for it, and we're nice people who want to make the internet more usable for everyone (or something heh)."
On the other hand, even if visitors don't check out my sponsors, this site will continue to exist. Joy, joy. Though I wonder how I might upgrade this site if I had more support.
***
Jiekai happened to take me and someone to see what people were doing at Jitterbugs Swingapore.
The dancing couples looked quite comfortable with each other; so now we know why he's so enthusiastic about dance.
***
It was the turn of the windows of my house to have their rivets changed, in one of the strange minor, petty and often municipal issues whose power to excite people seems out of proportion to their significance, perhaps because such are the only issues that said people are allowed to channel their energies towards (other examples include the Casino and the role of the Chinese Lanuage in Singapore and the case in China of the national outrage regarding the humiliation caused by 300 Japanese businessmen having an orgy with prostitutes in Zhuhai 2 days before the anniversary of the Manchurian Incident).
And so my mother is spending $10k refurnishing the toilets, kitchen stove and repainting the house. Why, when the old furnishings were perfectly usable and serviceable, I do not know. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Anticipating the resulting difficulties and complications, especially when she boasted of how the fixtures in my toilet were to be more expensive than those in hers, I asked her not to renovate my toilet, but was told that "this is my house".
So now everything looks nicer, but is more fragile, since there is a lot more glass; the cupboards are not waterproof, which means it will be very hard for my father to wash the toilets. There is also less space to store all our toiletries and bath equipment, which besides having been dispersed throughout the whole house, are also now less accessible, kept inside cupboards and behind panels as they are: I was asked to throw away a lot of other things. What space there is, I'm told not to use - a perfectly good glass platform should be left unladen with toiletries, I am told, since otherwise it would have to be cleaned. To boot, we get nagged more about not dirtying the place and taking care not to spoil the furnishings.
This is just like when she throws away clothes of mine that are perfectly useable (and not meant for wearing out) on the grounds that they look old and are 'disgraceful', leaving me with little to wear, and much of it undersized; a lose-lose situation for almost all concerned.
My sister's going to go bonkers when she returns from the UK - they haven't started painting yet, and I don't think they'll be done by the time she comes back, so she'll be awoken in the middle of the morning everyday. Aww.
***
Winning at Wheel of Fortune:
"Frequency distribution of letters in English text
Source: H. Beker and F. Piper, Cipher Systems, Wiley-Interscience, 1982.
A 8.167
B 1.492
C 2.782
D 4.253
E 12.702
F 2.228
G 2.015
H 6.094
I 6.996
J 0.153
K 0.772
L 4.025
M 2.406
N 6.749
O 7.507
P 1.929
Q 0.095
R 5.987
S 6.327
T 9.056
U 2.758
V 0.978
W 2.360
X 0.150
Y 1.974
Z 0.074
Based on the analysis by Beker and Piper, the most commonly occuring letters in the English language are:
E - 12.7%
T - 9.1%
A - 8.2%
O - 7.5%
I - 7.0%
N - 6.7%
S - 6.3%
H - 6.1%
R - 6.0%
D - 4.3%
C - 2.8%
So the 3 consonants you should choose are: H, D and C. And for the vowel, A.
From what I remember, people like to choose the letters C and D, but rarely H. Ah well.
***
Someone on the 'Li Jiawei' type of hair clip: "please dun use it
no matter how long your hair is
i will be scarred for life
if i see u i will forever change my mind about girls with hair clips"
***
Christian science - "A whole new side of Jesus is cropping up in the field of decision science. A new generation of scholars is taking Jesus to their collective theoretic, strategic bosom. Two recent studies stand out... In a mere 32 pages, Hassner uses game theory to "clarify aspects of the gospel narrative that have puzzled readers for the past 2,000 years". He reminds us that game theory can "explain the rationality of characters' choices. [It can] offer a coherent strategic interpretation of the work examined or compare the relative plausibility of existing interpretations.""
Sheep dash reaction test - I scored an average of 0.2882, a "bobbing bobcat" (middle category of 5)
New Zealand Fungus Gnat - Arachnocampa luminosa - "New Zealand fungus gnat larvae are ingenious hunters. Suspended from their tubes are several dozen "fishing lines" made of silk and covered with globules of sticky mucous. When night comes and the larva begins to glow, various insects that are attracted to the light and fly near get caught in the sticky mucous of the fishing lines. Vibrations are sent up the line and sensed by the larva, which then begins to reel in its catch by swallowing the line. At the same time, certain chemicals within the mucous begins to paralyse the prey so that it doesn't try to break free, or get ensnared in other lines or damage the one its on. When the prey has been reeled up, the larva bites it, kills it, and then either sucks out its juices or eats the entire thing."
***
Quotes:
I see that everyone is falling asleep. You shouldn't be, otherwise you'll be falling asleep for 2 more years, in econometrics.
The mean is BLUE [Ed: Best Linear Unbiased Estimator]. This is very consoling, very reassuring. You can sleep soundly tonight.
99.9 percent of the population in Singapore, maybe less in other countries, is statistically illiterate. All of you are better than them. By the end of this course you will all be statistically literate, and I'll be so proud of you.
If your census left out someone living undergroun, or living in the jungles of Bukit Timah...
I just mentioned 'after the break' and suddenly everyone got so excited. I haven't finished!
If someone puts a confidence interval on the front page of the Straits Times, you'll get a whole lot of letters asking: What is this guy talking about?... You will see them in the Economist, but that's no surprise because it is the very best magazine in the world, at least according to me. If you read only one magazine, read the Economist. It has the best political analysis, it has the best economics analysis, even the level of English is the best.
[On the 'Confidence Trick' for Confidence Intervals] Whether or not it's trickery, you'll have to do it for exams.
[On the 'Confidence Trick' for Confidence Intervals] Make sure you don't think too much about it. These things - you can go insane. Or you can go to the philosophy department, which is a better alternative.
Shore dinger's cat (Schrodinger's)
The veil might burst or the veil might not burst (vial)
That's why you never see confidence intervals in the newspapers. I tried it once personally, in the Business Times, and it backfired very badly on me... At the presentation, I explained like I am explaining to you now. All the journalists sat at the back. The next day, it came out in the newspapers. They completely misinterpreted what I said. The next day, all the letters came in. 'What is this guy talking about?'... That's why I don't talk to anyone about confidence intervals. I only talk to you about confidence intervals.
I'm going to tell you a story about the t distribution... Why are you moaning? People complain it's too boring, so I try to liven it up with stories, but you all don't like it... for module feedback you can complain about it. Then next semester I'll change strategy again. No more 'Lady Tasting Tea', no more stories, no more pictures of Fisher. I'll put in a lot of mathematical formulas. So you will kill your juniors.
[On Student's t distribution and yeast in Guiness Stout] The Guiness Stout you are drinking is so good because of Gosset and Poisson *laughs from audience*
[On punchcard computing] Every 25 years the alumni office will have a dinner... For my year they sent us a punchcard as the invitation card, to remind us of those days.
It was a really nice, real written article. You should read it before you go to bed. (real?)
[On Windows] I don't know if it's a superior product, but it works for me. [Professor: Because you're locked into it.]
[On computer upgrades] They will send in a team to migrate my computer from here to there, and everytime they migrate something will get lost.
My kids went on my computer in my office and they changed everything. They changed it to Mozilla... It fouled up everything... these kids of mine, they fouled up everything... She changed the configuration.
We shall talk about Paul Krugman next time in our lecture because he has not very flattering things to say about Singapore.
It might be worst (worse)
Have you re'wound your tape? (rewound)
mer'new'pew'lated (manipulated)
[On half hearted experiments on competitive markets in Singapore] Just a bit and they cry to the government. Because they are a government-linked company they cannot lose money... 'Ok, we've tried already, it's failed'
[On reading week] We're not revising, we're learning new things.
What's reading week like for you guys? We don't have reading week in the States... Do you sit under a tree and read a novel?
[On a reading] I thought it was very hard when I first read this book. I sat down with 4 University Professors and took a year to finish the book, and we still weren't sure what *** was saying. I wrote to *** *** and he came down from San Francisco and spent 2 nights going through the book with us. So of course I'm going to assign it to you in your first year of college.
The hats of birds and mammals (heads)
Here we have a grammatical error. The next sentence is not a sentence. Why is it not a sentence? Come on, this is elementary grammar school stuff.
'I often hear' is not the kind of sentence I want you to use in your essays. *** *** can do that because he has 55 pages of references... you can't do that.
[He talks about] 'truncated and degenerate' [languages], and he gives an example of a truncated and degenerate sentence. I don't think he did that on purpose. If he did, he's brilliant, but I'm not willing to concede him that.
[On a video clip] There's no sound in this clip because the narration was really goofy and the music was [annoying, so I removed it]
Graph is very powerful. I don't know why you hate to use that. (Graphs are, them)
[On a student answering another student's question] Ok thanks. You saved my life.
***
My essay - titularly on 2 essays but actually on nothing (as befits the spirit of close reading) is done, after much angsting and hand-wringing.
To think that the next one will be assigned on Tuesday *swoon*
***
Dropload Frequently Asked Questions
"Dropload supports itself with the single ad on each page and some donations. We have nearly 100,000 registered users today, and grow at a pace of almost 15,000 users a month. As long as our users keep checking out our sponsers and donate if they can, dropload will continue to exist. We provide dropload for free because there was a market for it, and we're nice people who want to make the internet more usable for everyone (or something heh)."
On the other hand, even if visitors don't check out my sponsors, this site will continue to exist. Joy, joy. Though I wonder how I might upgrade this site if I had more support.
***
Jiekai happened to take me and someone to see what people were doing at Jitterbugs Swingapore.
The dancing couples looked quite comfortable with each other; so now we know why he's so enthusiastic about dance.
***
It was the turn of the windows of my house to have their rivets changed, in one of the strange minor, petty and often municipal issues whose power to excite people seems out of proportion to their significance, perhaps because such are the only issues that said people are allowed to channel their energies towards (other examples include the Casino and the role of the Chinese Lanuage in Singapore and the case in China of the national outrage regarding the humiliation caused by 300 Japanese businessmen having an orgy with prostitutes in Zhuhai 2 days before the anniversary of the Manchurian Incident).
And so my mother is spending $10k refurnishing the toilets, kitchen stove and repainting the house. Why, when the old furnishings were perfectly usable and serviceable, I do not know. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Anticipating the resulting difficulties and complications, especially when she boasted of how the fixtures in my toilet were to be more expensive than those in hers, I asked her not to renovate my toilet, but was told that "this is my house".
So now everything looks nicer, but is more fragile, since there is a lot more glass; the cupboards are not waterproof, which means it will be very hard for my father to wash the toilets. There is also less space to store all our toiletries and bath equipment, which besides having been dispersed throughout the whole house, are also now less accessible, kept inside cupboards and behind panels as they are: I was asked to throw away a lot of other things. What space there is, I'm told not to use - a perfectly good glass platform should be left unladen with toiletries, I am told, since otherwise it would have to be cleaned. To boot, we get nagged more about not dirtying the place and taking care not to spoil the furnishings.
This is just like when she throws away clothes of mine that are perfectly useable (and not meant for wearing out) on the grounds that they look old and are 'disgraceful', leaving me with little to wear, and much of it undersized; a lose-lose situation for almost all concerned.
My sister's going to go bonkers when she returns from the UK - they haven't started painting yet, and I don't think they'll be done by the time she comes back, so she'll be awoken in the middle of the morning everyday. Aww.
***
Winning at Wheel of Fortune:
"Frequency distribution of letters in English text
Source: H. Beker and F. Piper, Cipher Systems, Wiley-Interscience, 1982.
A 8.167
B 1.492
C 2.782
D 4.253
E 12.702
F 2.228
G 2.015
H 6.094
I 6.996
J 0.153
K 0.772
L 4.025
M 2.406
N 6.749
O 7.507
P 1.929
Q 0.095
R 5.987
S 6.327
T 9.056
U 2.758
V 0.978
W 2.360
X 0.150
Y 1.974
Z 0.074
Based on the analysis by Beker and Piper, the most commonly occuring letters in the English language are:
E - 12.7%
T - 9.1%
A - 8.2%
O - 7.5%
I - 7.0%
N - 6.7%
S - 6.3%
H - 6.1%
R - 6.0%
D - 4.3%
C - 2.8%
So the 3 consonants you should choose are: H, D and C. And for the vowel, A.
From what I remember, people like to choose the letters C and D, but rarely H. Ah well.
***
Someone on the 'Li Jiawei' type of hair clip: "please dun use it
no matter how long your hair is
i will be scarred for life
if i see u i will forever change my mind about girls with hair clips"
***
Christian science - "A whole new side of Jesus is cropping up in the field of decision science. A new generation of scholars is taking Jesus to their collective theoretic, strategic bosom. Two recent studies stand out... In a mere 32 pages, Hassner uses game theory to "clarify aspects of the gospel narrative that have puzzled readers for the past 2,000 years". He reminds us that game theory can "explain the rationality of characters' choices. [It can] offer a coherent strategic interpretation of the work examined or compare the relative plausibility of existing interpretations.""
Sheep dash reaction test - I scored an average of 0.2882, a "bobbing bobcat" (middle category of 5)
New Zealand Fungus Gnat - Arachnocampa luminosa - "New Zealand fungus gnat larvae are ingenious hunters. Suspended from their tubes are several dozen "fishing lines" made of silk and covered with globules of sticky mucous. When night comes and the larva begins to glow, various insects that are attracted to the light and fly near get caught in the sticky mucous of the fishing lines. Vibrations are sent up the line and sensed by the larva, which then begins to reel in its catch by swallowing the line. At the same time, certain chemicals within the mucous begins to paralyse the prey so that it doesn't try to break free, or get ensnared in other lines or damage the one its on. When the prey has been reeled up, the larva bites it, kills it, and then either sucks out its juices or eats the entire thing."
***
Quotes:
I see that everyone is falling asleep. You shouldn't be, otherwise you'll be falling asleep for 2 more years, in econometrics.
The mean is BLUE [Ed: Best Linear Unbiased Estimator]. This is very consoling, very reassuring. You can sleep soundly tonight.
99.9 percent of the population in Singapore, maybe less in other countries, is statistically illiterate. All of you are better than them. By the end of this course you will all be statistically literate, and I'll be so proud of you.
If your census left out someone living undergroun, or living in the jungles of Bukit Timah...
I just mentioned 'after the break' and suddenly everyone got so excited. I haven't finished!
If someone puts a confidence interval on the front page of the Straits Times, you'll get a whole lot of letters asking: What is this guy talking about?... You will see them in the Economist, but that's no surprise because it is the very best magazine in the world, at least according to me. If you read only one magazine, read the Economist. It has the best political analysis, it has the best economics analysis, even the level of English is the best.
[On the 'Confidence Trick' for Confidence Intervals] Whether or not it's trickery, you'll have to do it for exams.
[On the 'Confidence Trick' for Confidence Intervals] Make sure you don't think too much about it. These things - you can go insane. Or you can go to the philosophy department, which is a better alternative.
Shore dinger's cat (Schrodinger's)
The veil might burst or the veil might not burst (vial)
That's why you never see confidence intervals in the newspapers. I tried it once personally, in the Business Times, and it backfired very badly on me... At the presentation, I explained like I am explaining to you now. All the journalists sat at the back. The next day, it came out in the newspapers. They completely misinterpreted what I said. The next day, all the letters came in. 'What is this guy talking about?'... That's why I don't talk to anyone about confidence intervals. I only talk to you about confidence intervals.
I'm going to tell you a story about the t distribution... Why are you moaning? People complain it's too boring, so I try to liven it up with stories, but you all don't like it... for module feedback you can complain about it. Then next semester I'll change strategy again. No more 'Lady Tasting Tea', no more stories, no more pictures of Fisher. I'll put in a lot of mathematical formulas. So you will kill your juniors.
[On Student's t distribution and yeast in Guiness Stout] The Guiness Stout you are drinking is so good because of Gosset and Poisson *laughs from audience*
[On punchcard computing] Every 25 years the alumni office will have a dinner... For my year they sent us a punchcard as the invitation card, to remind us of those days.
It was a really nice, real written article. You should read it before you go to bed. (real?)
[On Windows] I don't know if it's a superior product, but it works for me. [Professor: Because you're locked into it.]
[On computer upgrades] They will send in a team to migrate my computer from here to there, and everytime they migrate something will get lost.
My kids went on my computer in my office and they changed everything. They changed it to Mozilla... It fouled up everything... these kids of mine, they fouled up everything... She changed the configuration.
We shall talk about Paul Krugman next time in our lecture because he has not very flattering things to say about Singapore.
It might be worst (worse)
Have you re'wound your tape? (rewound)
mer'new'pew'lated (manipulated)
[On half hearted experiments on competitive markets in Singapore] Just a bit and they cry to the government. Because they are a government-linked company they cannot lose money... 'Ok, we've tried already, it's failed'
[On reading week] We're not revising, we're learning new things.
What's reading week like for you guys? We don't have reading week in the States... Do you sit under a tree and read a novel?
[On a reading] I thought it was very hard when I first read this book. I sat down with 4 University Professors and took a year to finish the book, and we still weren't sure what *** was saying. I wrote to *** *** and he came down from San Francisco and spent 2 nights going through the book with us. So of course I'm going to assign it to you in your first year of college.
The hats of birds and mammals (heads)
Here we have a grammatical error. The next sentence is not a sentence. Why is it not a sentence? Come on, this is elementary grammar school stuff.
'I often hear' is not the kind of sentence I want you to use in your essays. *** *** can do that because he has 55 pages of references... you can't do that.
[He talks about] 'truncated and degenerate' [languages], and he gives an example of a truncated and degenerate sentence. I don't think he did that on purpose. If he did, he's brilliant, but I'm not willing to concede him that.
[On a video clip] There's no sound in this clip because the narration was really goofy and the music was [annoying, so I removed it]
Graph is very powerful. I don't know why you hate to use that. (Graphs are, them)
[On a student answering another student's question] Ok thanks. You saved my life.
Post ID: 111117050177830420
Saturday, March 19, 2005
"'The best couturiers, hairdressers, home designers and cooks are men. I suspect that, were it biologically possible, men would make better mothers.’" - Ida Alexa Ross Wylie, ‘The Little Woman’ 1945.
***
Someone on my hair angsting: "maybe your hair is in good condition then:D
maybe it's just like the supermodels who think they are too fat
and pretty actresses who think they are too ugly"
Someone else on a snide remark I made about a quote on someone's file: "close reading is getting many creative interpretations from u"
Information from a source on [at least the old] SAJC: "the only good thing about Chapel was having cute councillors up on stage. Speaking of councillors, do you know that all SAJC councillors have to be "confirmed" at St. Andrew's cathedral, and so I guess that rules out having non-christian councillors. Head of the student council had to be an Anglician, though there was this year the Head was a SJI (hence catholic) boy."
Isn't that illegal? Religious discrimination...
***
Apparently we now have Halal hairdye. Oh well, I suppose after Halal ice I shouldn't be surprised anymore.
***
"Perhaps we can avoid the absurd if we devote ourselves to providing only for the basic needs of everyone. There is a great deal of misery in the world, and many of us could easily spend our lives trying to eradicate it - wiping out starvation, disease and torture.
Such aims do indeed seem to give life a meaning that is hard to question. But while they are certainly worthy and perhaps imperative goals, they cannot eliminate the problem. Granted, one advantage of living in a world as bad as this one is that it offers the opportunity for many activities whose importance can't be questioned. But how could the main point of human life be the elimination of evil? Misery, deprivation, and injustice prevent people from pursuing the positive goods which life is assumed to make possible. If all such goods were pointless and the only thing that really mattered was the elimination of misery, that really would be absurd. The same could be said of the idea that helping others is the only thing that really gives meaning to life. If no one's life has any meaning in itself, how can it acquire meaning through devotion to the meaningless lives of others?"
- The View From Nowhere, Thomas Nagel
***
I went down to what is known (affectionately or otherwise) to many of its students as Boon Lay Polytechnic for a focus group. Interestingly, from the small sample size I obtained, the SACSALs there seem less hiao than in The Premier Institution of Social Engineering, though they are equally annoying. Also the most normal-seeming (ie the most abnormal-seeming, since now it is normal to be abnormal - take the dying of hair, for instance. If you have black hair, you are abnormal) University students I've seen are from the NTU School of Communication and Information (aka Mass Comm). Perhaps, in the isolated environment that is NTU, cut off from the rest of the world, a sub-culture has evolved. Or maybe I need to visit the University of Gymnastics one day to reduce my sampling error so I can apply the Central Limit Theorem (you know I'm becoming loopy when I start making nonsensical statistical references in my writing - blame it on my USP 'Writing' module).
It was also very interesting because I was the only non-NTU Mass Comm student at the table. So since the $10 incentive for going for a focus group apparently comes from the students themselves, it seems that the money just gets recirculated in their closed economy (until outsiders like me come in to siphon some out).
***
Apparently the banner the Muslim society put up at their bazaar, according to someone, said: "TOWARDS A MORE GOD-CONSCIOUS SOCIETY". Bah.
My sister always complains that she sees a lot of ass cracks when she comes to NUS, but somehow I never see them. Maybe it's because I'm not looking out for them.
We saw a video which included a clip of a tiger eating a peacock. Other people seemed quite agitated but I was one of the few who was laughing. Ah well.
Quotes:
[On price fixing] The CEO who proposed it was fined, and promised not to do it again *laughs from audience*
[Me: Question: What do you learn in 'Biodiversity'? He can't answer the question.] Neither can I.
The bad thing is when I talk about sexual selection it's not a very interesting or erotic topic... but we have some videos of animals doing it, to wake you up.
[On the tiffin girl of the day coming in with food for many people] It's like food supply here. I'm also hungry.
[On the Prisoners' Dilemma] If it's only for prison people then it's not that interesting.
[On Vampire Bats overfeeding] Basically they pee out all the serum, and once they have reached critical size or critical weight - [To someone eating salad with faux bacon bits made of soy protein] how's lunch coming along over there? Nothing red [inside], I hope.
Tit for tit (tat)
[On a journal article] When you read the paper, what's the hidden message? To endlessly confuse everybody?
Billy Gates. What has he been doing lately? Besides writing a lot of crappy code.
[Professor: Would you want to call something altruistic that's harmful to you but helps others?] That's just stupid.
[On teaching altruism] No one wants to sit down and talk to a eight year old child and say that you should be good to your neighbor because the benefits outweight the costs... you don't want to start explaining the dictator game and the ultimatum game to young kids.
The more attractive the peacock, the more it gets to pro- [Other student: Mate. Mate. Mate.]
[Student on differences between males and females: Size] Size of what? *laughs from audience*
[On differences between males and females] Hair loss.
Everytime you walk around campus you can see a lot of differences between males and females.
We don't have the time to see the vidoes now. *sounds of dismay* If you can come up with the 2 main factors [affecting sexual selection] within 5 minutes, I'll show you the videos.
Many a times you read the textbook. (time)
You're probably born around this time - 1973. [Student: You're 10 years early] You're born in 1983? I'm a bit dated... I'm ancient.
Singaporeans abrought (abroad)
per chases (purchases)
he sole it to the wholesaler (sold)
My niece works till 11 or 12 [pm] and she gets 6 months' bonus. *gasps* Is that a measure of welfare?
[On family] The Italians - very close knit. The Italian Mafia - very close knit.
[On the CPI] The MTI economies are trying to come up with it, but my colleagues are complaining that their methodology is flawed.
If you are transisting to a knowledge-based economy (transiting)
This is particularly [important] in the United States, which is a welfare state (?! - a welfare state?)
Socrates always frames his questions so they don't have answers.
The reading only do this: spoil my eyes (did)
[On the writing module] This module can kill my 3 other modules
moral lerty (morality)
These are the killers, all the other readings are child's play compared to these... This will get your mind in a taffy, which is not my intention. I know now you think it is: he just wants to mess with our minds.
[On balance] I don't want you to say: therefore everything is equal and there's nothing to say. If you have nothing to say, don't write the essay.
When you write your essays you get lost in abstractions supported by abstractions supported by more abstractions.
[Some guy to some girl] Fuck you. No, I won't fuck you, you're a prude.
[On science girls] Science is full of 'floaters'... They float from place to place. They like to wear extremely baggy clothes. They look as if they are floating around.
[On my not-so-secret hair fantasy] Why don't you just shave your hair and wear a wig?
[Me: Shrill, Anorexic, Chinese-Speaking Ah Lians] Arts is full of them. *gets frosty looks from the 2 Arts girls beside him* Non-USP arts girls.
[Me on science floaters: Their primary prerogative is not to look good] Did you just use the word 'prerogative' when talking to me?... Never mind. I should talk more to you, then I'll become smarter. [Me: I've been told that before. Oh but you may also become more annoying.] You're annoying. [Me: Thank you.]
There's a huge difference between the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Science. At 9 o'clock, the Faculty of Science is bustling. At 9 o'clock, the Faculty of Arts is sleepy. [Student: No one's awake].
[Counting students] 3, 6, 9. Looks like I've to get better video clips to get you to attend.
[On sexual selection] There's selection in humans too, but we better not go into that.
Today's going to be a lot of [video] clips [Students: Yay! *laughs*] (Today there's)
[On moorhens] They're scratching like girls
[On paternity testing] 10 to 35 percent of the offspring are not sired by the father. That's in all socities. Not just decadent Western Societies... highest [rate was] in England.
Females tend to fantasise about other males at the time of ovulation... At the time of ovulation they prefer males with more angular features. When they are not ovulating, they prefer males with more feminine features.
Lung term partnership (long)
[On diopsids - flies, which he likes] I have to show at least some fly videos
[On mate choice in humans] Male terns: Instead of fish you give diamonds. [Professor: Not very healthy to eat] (Male terns give fish, humans)
[On female and male mate choice in humans] I personally think it's genetically determined... but most of you think it's a social construct.
Males with symmetrical ears run faster than males with asymmetrical ears. No, it's not because of aerodynamics.
[On beauty vs wealth in determining male attractiveness] Ugly but fabulously wealthy - can work. Just look at Donald Trump.
[On babies liking symmetrical female faces] Horny baby.
[Someone with only one earring in one ear on symmetrical faces] Now I know why babies like me. [Me: Then you should put one earring in each ear - symmetrical]
When you're invited to a party you only talk to certain people. You don't talk to the others. [Student: Like him - {he's} laughing.] Let's be realistic here.
Copulation in many animals is not a very big affiar. Swallows - they fly around. *claps hands* That was it.
It's a weird discman. It works better when spoilt.
The British are very statistical people... They have statistics in their blood.
[On Karl Pearson] He wrote so much that people during his time dind't know what he wrote.
I'll read you a short grandfather story... Listen, listen: this is the only time I'm gonna read a grandfather story in this course.
Have you been to the sixth storey of the Economics department? It is the only department in this faculty with photos of economists... after the lecture please make a beeline there (Why would the sociology department have photos of economists?!)
This is like throwing a dard at a board (dart)
[On an unbiased estimator] This could be a dart thrower who is really cock-eyed, or something like that.
***
Someone on my hair angsting: "maybe your hair is in good condition then:D
maybe it's just like the supermodels who think they are too fat
and pretty actresses who think they are too ugly"
Someone else on a snide remark I made about a quote on someone's file: "close reading is getting many creative interpretations from u"
Information from a source on [at least the old] SAJC: "the only good thing about Chapel was having cute councillors up on stage. Speaking of councillors, do you know that all SAJC councillors have to be "confirmed" at St. Andrew's cathedral, and so I guess that rules out having non-christian councillors. Head of the student council had to be an Anglician, though there was this year the Head was a SJI (hence catholic) boy."
Isn't that illegal? Religious discrimination...
***
Apparently we now have Halal hairdye. Oh well, I suppose after Halal ice I shouldn't be surprised anymore.
***
"Perhaps we can avoid the absurd if we devote ourselves to providing only for the basic needs of everyone. There is a great deal of misery in the world, and many of us could easily spend our lives trying to eradicate it - wiping out starvation, disease and torture.
Such aims do indeed seem to give life a meaning that is hard to question. But while they are certainly worthy and perhaps imperative goals, they cannot eliminate the problem. Granted, one advantage of living in a world as bad as this one is that it offers the opportunity for many activities whose importance can't be questioned. But how could the main point of human life be the elimination of evil? Misery, deprivation, and injustice prevent people from pursuing the positive goods which life is assumed to make possible. If all such goods were pointless and the only thing that really mattered was the elimination of misery, that really would be absurd. The same could be said of the idea that helping others is the only thing that really gives meaning to life. If no one's life has any meaning in itself, how can it acquire meaning through devotion to the meaningless lives of others?"
- The View From Nowhere, Thomas Nagel
***
I went down to what is known (affectionately or otherwise) to many of its students as Boon Lay Polytechnic for a focus group. Interestingly, from the small sample size I obtained, the SACSALs there seem less hiao than in The Premier Institution of Social Engineering, though they are equally annoying. Also the most normal-seeming (ie the most abnormal-seeming, since now it is normal to be abnormal - take the dying of hair, for instance. If you have black hair, you are abnormal) University students I've seen are from the NTU School of Communication and Information (aka Mass Comm). Perhaps, in the isolated environment that is NTU, cut off from the rest of the world, a sub-culture has evolved. Or maybe I need to visit the University of Gymnastics one day to reduce my sampling error so I can apply the Central Limit Theorem (you know I'm becoming loopy when I start making nonsensical statistical references in my writing - blame it on my USP 'Writing' module).
It was also very interesting because I was the only non-NTU Mass Comm student at the table. So since the $10 incentive for going for a focus group apparently comes from the students themselves, it seems that the money just gets recirculated in their closed economy (until outsiders like me come in to siphon some out).
***
Apparently the banner the Muslim society put up at their bazaar, according to someone, said: "TOWARDS A MORE GOD-CONSCIOUS SOCIETY". Bah.
My sister always complains that she sees a lot of ass cracks when she comes to NUS, but somehow I never see them. Maybe it's because I'm not looking out for them.
We saw a video which included a clip of a tiger eating a peacock. Other people seemed quite agitated but I was one of the few who was laughing. Ah well.
Quotes:
[On price fixing] The CEO who proposed it was fined, and promised not to do it again *laughs from audience*
[Me: Question: What do you learn in 'Biodiversity'? He can't answer the question.] Neither can I.
The bad thing is when I talk about sexual selection it's not a very interesting or erotic topic... but we have some videos of animals doing it, to wake you up.
[On the tiffin girl of the day coming in with food for many people] It's like food supply here. I'm also hungry.
[On the Prisoners' Dilemma] If it's only for prison people then it's not that interesting.
[On Vampire Bats overfeeding] Basically they pee out all the serum, and once they have reached critical size or critical weight - [To someone eating salad with faux bacon bits made of soy protein] how's lunch coming along over there? Nothing red [inside], I hope.
Tit for tit (tat)
[On a journal article] When you read the paper, what's the hidden message? To endlessly confuse everybody?
Billy Gates. What has he been doing lately? Besides writing a lot of crappy code.
[Professor: Would you want to call something altruistic that's harmful to you but helps others?] That's just stupid.
[On teaching altruism] No one wants to sit down and talk to a eight year old child and say that you should be good to your neighbor because the benefits outweight the costs... you don't want to start explaining the dictator game and the ultimatum game to young kids.
The more attractive the peacock, the more it gets to pro- [Other student: Mate. Mate. Mate.]
[Student on differences between males and females: Size] Size of what? *laughs from audience*
[On differences between males and females] Hair loss.
Everytime you walk around campus you can see a lot of differences between males and females.
We don't have the time to see the vidoes now. *sounds of dismay* If you can come up with the 2 main factors [affecting sexual selection] within 5 minutes, I'll show you the videos.
Many a times you read the textbook. (time)
You're probably born around this time - 1973. [Student: You're 10 years early] You're born in 1983? I'm a bit dated... I'm ancient.
Singaporeans abrought (abroad)
per chases (purchases)
he sole it to the wholesaler (sold)
My niece works till 11 or 12 [pm] and she gets 6 months' bonus. *gasps* Is that a measure of welfare?
[On family] The Italians - very close knit. The Italian Mafia - very close knit.
[On the CPI] The MTI economies are trying to come up with it, but my colleagues are complaining that their methodology is flawed.
If you are transisting to a knowledge-based economy (transiting)
This is particularly [important] in the United States, which is a welfare state (?! - a welfare state?)
Socrates always frames his questions so they don't have answers.
The reading only do this: spoil my eyes (did)
[On the writing module] This module can kill my 3 other modules
moral lerty (morality)
These are the killers, all the other readings are child's play compared to these... This will get your mind in a taffy, which is not my intention. I know now you think it is: he just wants to mess with our minds.
[On balance] I don't want you to say: therefore everything is equal and there's nothing to say. If you have nothing to say, don't write the essay.
When you write your essays you get lost in abstractions supported by abstractions supported by more abstractions.
[Some guy to some girl] Fuck you. No, I won't fuck you, you're a prude.
[On science girls] Science is full of 'floaters'... They float from place to place. They like to wear extremely baggy clothes. They look as if they are floating around.
[On my not-so-secret hair fantasy] Why don't you just shave your hair and wear a wig?
[Me: Shrill, Anorexic, Chinese-Speaking Ah Lians] Arts is full of them. *gets frosty looks from the 2 Arts girls beside him* Non-USP arts girls.
[Me on science floaters: Their primary prerogative is not to look good] Did you just use the word 'prerogative' when talking to me?... Never mind. I should talk more to you, then I'll become smarter. [Me: I've been told that before. Oh but you may also become more annoying.] You're annoying. [Me: Thank you.]
There's a huge difference between the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Science. At 9 o'clock, the Faculty of Science is bustling. At 9 o'clock, the Faculty of Arts is sleepy. [Student: No one's awake].
[Counting students] 3, 6, 9. Looks like I've to get better video clips to get you to attend.
[On sexual selection] There's selection in humans too, but we better not go into that.
Today's going to be a lot of [video] clips [Students: Yay! *laughs*] (Today there's)
[On moorhens] They're scratching like girls
[On paternity testing] 10 to 35 percent of the offspring are not sired by the father. That's in all socities. Not just decadent Western Societies... highest [rate was] in England.
Females tend to fantasise about other males at the time of ovulation... At the time of ovulation they prefer males with more angular features. When they are not ovulating, they prefer males with more feminine features.
Lung term partnership (long)
[On diopsids - flies, which he likes] I have to show at least some fly videos
[On mate choice in humans] Male terns: Instead of fish you give diamonds. [Professor: Not very healthy to eat] (Male terns give fish, humans)
[On female and male mate choice in humans] I personally think it's genetically determined... but most of you think it's a social construct.
Males with symmetrical ears run faster than males with asymmetrical ears. No, it's not because of aerodynamics.
[On beauty vs wealth in determining male attractiveness] Ugly but fabulously wealthy - can work. Just look at Donald Trump.
[On babies liking symmetrical female faces] Horny baby.
[Someone with only one earring in one ear on symmetrical faces] Now I know why babies like me. [Me: Then you should put one earring in each ear - symmetrical]
When you're invited to a party you only talk to certain people. You don't talk to the others. [Student: Like him - {he's} laughing.] Let's be realistic here.
Copulation in many animals is not a very big affiar. Swallows - they fly around. *claps hands* That was it.
It's a weird discman. It works better when spoilt.
The British are very statistical people... They have statistics in their blood.
[On Karl Pearson] He wrote so much that people during his time dind't know what he wrote.
I'll read you a short grandfather story... Listen, listen: this is the only time I'm gonna read a grandfather story in this course.
Have you been to the sixth storey of the Economics department? It is the only department in this faculty with photos of economists... after the lecture please make a beeline there (Why would the sociology department have photos of economists?!)
This is like throwing a dard at a board (dart)
[On an unbiased estimator] This could be a dart thrower who is really cock-eyed, or something like that.
Post ID: 111115498120052028
Friday, March 18, 2005
"I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities he excites among his opponents." - Sir Winston Churchill
***
From what I read, there is a concerted campaign to spread FUD about homosexuals and AIDS in Singapore.
No doubt, this is to acquire political capital to ram the casino through.
***
***
The administration of The Premier Institution of Social Engineering starts screwing people even before matriculation:
"OMG! NUS are such bloody pricks.
i received a letter from them yesterday night [Ed: Saturday night], opened it just now- they want a scholarship app by tues, complete with a principal's report!
HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?
when this is all over i am going to make a voodoo doll and label it 'NUS' and stick millions of pins in it.
seriously. if they screw over someone who hasn't even started freshman year, you've got something coming."
My suggestion: Go to SMU, and send NUS a letter telling them that
Reply: [A letter] like, "SCREW YOU!"
Perhaps this is so, so that in the future we won't complain so much about governmental inefficiency and indeed may appreciate its efficiency compared to NUS.
Then again my favourite year 4 Law Girl says that compared to Bristol, NUS is relatively efficient: "the sunday before sch term opened, exchange supervisor told me tat i cldnt take 4 outta the 5 moduels i had pre-selected
so which ones COULD i take? she also dunno
hv to wait and see... attend ALL the lessons i were interested in, see if they'll take me...
no such thing as add/drop some more
they dive right into syllabus so i had to miss lessons basically
in the end nothing was relaly "my choice"
did a mix of modules tat were left with available slots/ kind convenors"
And Maid Marian in Nottingham concurs: "if u think the nus admin sux, u hafta see notts. then u'll realise what a dream the nus ppl are
they lost my £2k cheque for hall fees then called me a university debtor"
Must be a UK University affliction.
Meanwhile my NTU friend says they blackmail you: if you owe NTU money, they won't tell you but they'll threaten you when exam results are out, refusing to give you your results unless you pay up.
***
Essay grumbling from someone else: "if only people could be graded according to blog content and style of writing"
If only
And on close reading: "i gotta admit, it does over-complicate matters sometimes, life would be easier without all these, but the whole point abt writing modules is to get you to write well about something even if u dont like it"
Good point. If you can write well about uninteresting rubbish you can write well about anything: "the true test of ability and fortitude is to do something u dont like professionally and well". But then this module is not actually about writing and critical thinking, but rather about close reading
Someone on my description of close reading: "it sounds like practical crit on crack"
Someone should go and close read Rorschach inkblots. Would be very interesting to see the results.
I think if there were genuinely something interesting, useful or significant to write about, I wouldn't mind it so much (if at all if there was a genuine problem or complication to analyse), but the thing is that we have nothing real to write about, and so have to come up with what 'problems' which are, at least to normal people, contrived and nonsensical, to dissect and analyse. Jerry Seinfeld might have come up with an excellent sitcom on "nothing", but writing an essay on nothing is much harder.
Perhaps "homework assignments" (ie essays written on specific, often trite questions) are usually uninteresting (especially when they are the umpteenth esaay you've read on the dangers of Science and Technology, all of which sound the same since the writers just mug the points and vomit them out come essay time), but almost all close reading essays are even worse, since they are about nothing (nothing that normal readers care about anyway).
"it's always in FASS or USP classes that i hear so many fako accents!
dun really get them in bizad much
esp Lit/Eng/Philo/Pol Sci haha"
Hmm. I don't notice that.
Module tips: "To those who cannot afford to do another exposure and have not done any SS module, you can do the SSA module Singapore Society. Sociology of Singapore, cynic's style. Very enjoyable, might I say."
SSA1201
"Module Title: SINGAPORE SOCIETY
Module Description: This module introduces students to critical developments in the development of Singapore as a society and nation-state. It enables students to develop skills in understanding and making sense of Singapore society. It also encourages them to develop alternative interpretations of the development of Singapore society. The topics include: the origins of Singapore, ideology and identity, ethnic relations, industrialization, family, gender, religion, the state and civil society. This is a Singapore Studies module and open to students from all faculties."
Sounds interesting indeed. Then again:
"EXPECTATIONS
3. Preparatory Work
a. For each lecture (readings on average 4 hours per week)
b. For each discussion group (additional 2 hours per week over and above the readings)
4. Assignment (1 major term essay assignment - 6 weeks to complete)"
Hmm.
I'm doing my compulsory propaganda module right now (it is probably the best of the 4 available this semester), but I might do this as an unrestricted elective one day. Unfortunately I only have 5 of them (UEs) to play around with. Ah well.
***
Saw this M$N nick:
"The most amazing healing service ever! Muslims converted, aids patients healed, and my hamster is healed!. Glory to GOD!"
Right.
The one with (the) crab(s) suggests
"why not start a [NUS] community for Wo-Hen? I bet you'll have all the girls and the gay men clamouring to join it!"
That would be the *possibly* gay men, not the gay men per se. But maybe I could find someone like Gavin or Carrot Top.
"apropos" sends along this "humorous article I read which reminds me of you":
You may be a fundamentalist atheist if...
I found parts of it humorous too (for one thing, by definition an atheist cannot be a fundamentalist), but I'm not sure if it was for the same reasons that he did.
***
OB markers for Singapore film-makers
Follow the tale of Martyn See Tong Ming who, on submitting a 26 minute documentary on Chee Soon Juan to the Singapore Film Festival, was told that it was a political film and thus illegal. He was then threatened with legal action unless he withdrew the film from the festival.
Various articles on 'political' films in Singapore and related topics (eg Royston Tan's being interrogated by police) are attached.
You break the rules, we break your heads, says MM Lee
"I can assure you that in Singapore, when we decide that they are breaking the rules of the game, the unspoken rules as to how we survive, how we have prospered, then either their head is broken or our bones are broken."
- Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew issuing warning to SIA pilots at the World Brand Forum, CNA, Dec 2, 2003
***
Anal Sex According to the Word of God, Oral Sex According to the Word of God
"The Benefits of Swallowing - Drink of the Living Water
Aside from swallowing semen as a measure to prevent the waste and spillage of seed, ingesting ejaculate can have spiritual benefits, as we will see. Although the Old Testament makes reference to the bitterness of semen (And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water. [Numbers 5:24]), the New Testament casts the act of consuming ejaculate in a much more affirming light, as in the following passage, where Jesus speaks to the woman of Samaria about the gift of “living water”:
“Living water” in this context refers to semen, which literally is the liquid of life. As Christ indicates, drinking of the “living water” provides a spiritual replenishment for the soul. When the woman asks Jesus where she can get this “water”, he tells her to fetch her husband, clearly with the intention of instructing her on how to fellate him and swallow his semen."
This is both hilarious and instructive, since anyone looking at the text with an open mind would see that their interpretations are at least as correct as commonly accepted ones (if not more so, in some places).
***
Stupid Vending Machine Flash - KPMG interns are too free...
I have found the NUS Temasek Hall Online Social Club - Lut's Haloscan comments thread!
TimeCopy 1.4 - "Timecopy will copy the time, date, timezone, and daylight saving information from your desktop PC to you PalmOS device at each hotsync. Palm clocks are known to drift a little (about 1 second per day), and this way, you don't need to worry about that anymore."
Better than SyncTime, and free too!
Ban Steven Lim from appearing on Singapore Television Petition - "This petition is to be send to Mediacorp to ban Steven Lim from appearing on tv. In case you do not know who he is, check out his site at stevenlim.net . (but warned: just make a brief short visit) What is the intention of banning him? Simple. He is a shame of all Singaporean, and an attention whore."
tower of babel in singapore - "city harvest church, the giant mother of a building in jurong, cost a whopping 47.6 MILLION DOLLARS to build. as they proudly proclaim on their website, the money took the church 4 years to raise, with only 45% of their congregation working. the rest are basically housewives, retirees and kids. WHAT THE FUCK?!!! to add insult to injury, they're bragging about the type of titanium cladding that frames the outside of the building, as its being the first and only in southeast asia. the other building with this sort of titanium facade in the world, is the Guggenheim. yes. the fucking Guggenheim museum. they're also going on about their having the first Broquard fountain in SEA as well. of course Jaques Broquard is the best fountainmaker in the world. and you'll see this fountain, in their impressive opening flash intro at their website, fondly termed 'The Gates of Heaven'. right. so we should go drown ourselves there after having donated all our money to them so they can pay off their Phillip Starck bathrooms huh? yup. you heard me. a church having toilets by phillip starck."
Ah well. If people want to buy Magic Stones, they should be allowed to do so (if there is freedom of information, of course).
Rape as a Capital Crime - "But, if rape was punishable as a capital crime, then you have the unique situation where a rapist realizes that is in his best interest to murder the victim. What are the benefits of leaving the victim alive? Nothing that I can think of, except for whatever utility the rapist gets from withholding murder (which since he just raped the victim, I'm assuming that the rapist is not altruistic, and therefore this won't apply). But the costs of not murdering are high - there is a witness to his crime. So murdering actually becomes the better strategy if rape is punished as a capital crime, since in so doing, it increases the rapist's chances of survival."
Do Democratic Transitions Produce Bad Economic Outcomes?
"Several influential commentators have suggested recently that democratization in developing countries produces political instability, ethnic conflict, and poor economic outcomes... These authors buttress their claims with examples of democratic reforms that led to economic chaos and eventually a collapse back into autocracy. Such anecdotal evidence can be problematic from two perspectives. First, it is not clear how universal the pattern is. Perhaps the vast majority of other countries have had more successful transitions. For example, we rarely hear in these accounts about Mauritius and Botswana, two long term African success stories that also happen to be democratic countries. Second, these anecdotal accounts leave the counterfactual unspecified. Perhaps countries would have been even worse off in the absence of democratic transitions.
Does social science back up the pundits’ claims? We show in this paper that the data do not support the view that democratization is bad for economic performance. Our analysis reveals that major democratic transitions have, if anything, a positive effect on economic growth in the short run. Contrary to the claims of Kaplan, Zakaria, and Chau, this is especially true for the poorest countries of the world and those that are marked by sharp ethnic divisions. Democratization tends to follow periods of low growth rather than precede them. Moreover, democratic transitions are associated with a decline in growth volatility. Systematic analysis therefore uncovers a picture that is considerably more favorable to democratization."
***
Quotes:
The level 200 [modules] noticeboard (2000)
I majored in Philosophy in my undergraduate days. Philosophy and Economics. They offered me honours in Philosophy and Economics. I chose Economics, which I think is a mistake, in retrospect (or)
[On picking random people from the phonebook not being a random sample of the population of Singapore] Some people don't have phones, you know. Either because they are too poor or because they have 10 handphones already. Can you imagine, 10 phones ringing at the same time?
This is where we move from Philosophy to Statistics. Philosophy is about how to move from the specific to the general... [Philosophy is] Very fun at night with the beer and such, but this is 2 o'clock.
The Moe'zart of mathematics (Mozart)
X bar will converse to μ (converge)
[On talking about convergence in probability] Textbooks don't put this in because then no one would want to buy them. But you must take this course as a pre-requisite, so I can afford to put this in.
[On the chi-square distribution] I have a Greek friend who did a PhD in mathematics. He said it's supposed to be pronounced as 'kee'. But I can't get used to it, so I'm pronouncing it as 'kai'. Most people, even in the US, pronounce it as 'kai'.
[From the person setting the exam] I don't know how much of what I teach you will come out in the exam.
We all wonder why NTUC got the 42,000 square foot compound in Marine Parade, which we all know is a PAP heartground. (stronghold)
[On provision shop owners being crowded out by NTUC] Another option you might not agree with is to turn their outlet into a Cheers. (outlets, Cheers)
[On Sheng Shiong surviving] Mr No Frills... he lives in a warehouse in Marsling. He stays upstairs. He says it saves money because at night he can watch over his stocks... he still drives his lorry.
[On NTUC] If they get out, who will get in? Cold Storage is owned by a Hong Kong group. They have a social mission. *laughs of derision from audience*
The Japanese never let you earn their money. They arrive - Nippon Airways, ANA. A Japanese bus will take them to the hotel - ANA or Daichi. They eat at Japanese restaurants, shop at Japanese outlets. They shop at duty free, then they go home... the Japanese are very insular.
NTUC... they are into everything. Even funerals.
We can talk until the cow comes home (cows come)
Have you been to a hypermarket? Err, I refuse to go in. I'm lost inside. Don't know what to buy.
[Student: I heard there are families that hangs out in Carrefour.] Singapore - we are so pathetic. We have no place to go... Go and shop, let your children frolic. Then you go home - tuition for the next day.
Statistics are like bikinis, what they reveal is interesting, but what they conceal is even more fascinating (written)
Tool park (toolpak)
Data anna'lie'sis (analysis)
The standard deviation should be calculated for the means of means. Just watch out for my grammar. (mean of the)
[On dragging in Excel] Ok. A little more... Ok, you made it.
I used the ver'rai'ance (variance)
[On the computer] Hopefully it is not hanged (has, hung)
[On dexterity in Excel] I do that a lot, but you can do it at home, to practise.
Let me just briefly summarise what we have did (done)
Lighter'rary digest (Literary)
The variance will shrunk (shrink)
[To me] Maybe I should do a photojournal. The pleasures of your body.
***
From what I read, there is a concerted campaign to spread FUD about homosexuals and AIDS in Singapore.
No doubt, this is to acquire political capital to ram the casino through.
***
***
The administration of The Premier Institution of Social Engineering starts screwing people even before matriculation:
"OMG! NUS are such bloody pricks.
i received a letter from them yesterday night [Ed: Saturday night], opened it just now- they want a scholarship app by tues, complete with a principal's report!
HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?
when this is all over i am going to make a voodoo doll and label it 'NUS' and stick millions of pins in it.
seriously. if they screw over someone who hasn't even started freshman year, you've got something coming."
My suggestion: Go to SMU, and send NUS a letter telling them that
Reply: [A letter] like, "SCREW YOU!"
Perhaps this is so, so that in the future we won't complain so much about governmental inefficiency and indeed may appreciate its efficiency compared to NUS.
Then again my favourite year 4 Law Girl says that compared to Bristol, NUS is relatively efficient: "the sunday before sch term opened, exchange supervisor told me tat i cldnt take 4 outta the 5 moduels i had pre-selected
so which ones COULD i take? she also dunno
hv to wait and see... attend ALL the lessons i were interested in, see if they'll take me...
no such thing as add/drop some more
they dive right into syllabus so i had to miss lessons basically
in the end nothing was relaly "my choice"
did a mix of modules tat were left with available slots/ kind convenors"
And Maid Marian in Nottingham concurs: "if u think the nus admin sux, u hafta see notts. then u'll realise what a dream the nus ppl are
they lost my £2k cheque for hall fees then called me a university debtor"
Must be a UK University affliction.
Meanwhile my NTU friend says they blackmail you: if you owe NTU money, they won't tell you but they'll threaten you when exam results are out, refusing to give you your results unless you pay up.
***
Essay grumbling from someone else: "if only people could be graded according to blog content and style of writing"
If only
And on close reading: "i gotta admit, it does over-complicate matters sometimes, life would be easier without all these, but the whole point abt writing modules is to get you to write well about something even if u dont like it"
Good point. If you can write well about uninteresting rubbish you can write well about anything: "the true test of ability and fortitude is to do something u dont like professionally and well". But then this module is not actually about writing and critical thinking, but rather about close reading
Someone on my description of close reading: "it sounds like practical crit on crack"
Someone should go and close read Rorschach inkblots. Would be very interesting to see the results.
I think if there were genuinely something interesting, useful or significant to write about, I wouldn't mind it so much (if at all if there was a genuine problem or complication to analyse), but the thing is that we have nothing real to write about, and so have to come up with what 'problems' which are, at least to normal people, contrived and nonsensical, to dissect and analyse. Jerry Seinfeld might have come up with an excellent sitcom on "nothing", but writing an essay on nothing is much harder.
Perhaps "homework assignments" (ie essays written on specific, often trite questions) are usually uninteresting (especially when they are the umpteenth esaay you've read on the dangers of Science and Technology, all of which sound the same since the writers just mug the points and vomit them out come essay time), but almost all close reading essays are even worse, since they are about nothing (nothing that normal readers care about anyway).
"it's always in FASS or USP classes that i hear so many fako accents!
dun really get them in bizad much
esp Lit/Eng/Philo/Pol Sci haha"
Hmm. I don't notice that.
Module tips: "To those who cannot afford to do another exposure and have not done any SS module, you can do the SSA module Singapore Society. Sociology of Singapore, cynic's style. Very enjoyable, might I say."
SSA1201
"Module Title: SINGAPORE SOCIETY
Module Description: This module introduces students to critical developments in the development of Singapore as a society and nation-state. It enables students to develop skills in understanding and making sense of Singapore society. It also encourages them to develop alternative interpretations of the development of Singapore society. The topics include: the origins of Singapore, ideology and identity, ethnic relations, industrialization, family, gender, religion, the state and civil society. This is a Singapore Studies module and open to students from all faculties."
Sounds interesting indeed. Then again:
"EXPECTATIONS
3. Preparatory Work
a. For each lecture (readings on average 4 hours per week)
b. For each discussion group (additional 2 hours per week over and above the readings)
4. Assignment (1 major term essay assignment - 6 weeks to complete)"
Hmm.
I'm doing my compulsory propaganda module right now (it is probably the best of the 4 available this semester), but I might do this as an unrestricted elective one day. Unfortunately I only have 5 of them (UEs) to play around with. Ah well.
***
Saw this M$N nick:
"The most amazing healing service ever! Muslims converted, aids patients healed, and my hamster is healed!. Glory to GOD!"
Right.
The one with (the) crab(s) suggests
"why not start a [NUS] community for Wo-Hen? I bet you'll have all the girls and the gay men clamouring to join it!"
That would be the *possibly* gay men, not the gay men per se. But maybe I could find someone like Gavin or Carrot Top.
"apropos" sends along this "humorous article I read which reminds me of you":
You may be a fundamentalist atheist if...
I found parts of it humorous too (for one thing, by definition an atheist cannot be a fundamentalist), but I'm not sure if it was for the same reasons that he did.
***
OB markers for Singapore film-makers
Follow the tale of Martyn See Tong Ming who, on submitting a 26 minute documentary on Chee Soon Juan to the Singapore Film Festival, was told that it was a political film and thus illegal. He was then threatened with legal action unless he withdrew the film from the festival.
Various articles on 'political' films in Singapore and related topics (eg Royston Tan's being interrogated by police) are attached.
You break the rules, we break your heads, says MM Lee
"I can assure you that in Singapore, when we decide that they are breaking the rules of the game, the unspoken rules as to how we survive, how we have prospered, then either their head is broken or our bones are broken."
- Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew issuing warning to SIA pilots at the World Brand Forum, CNA, Dec 2, 2003
***
Anal Sex According to the Word of God, Oral Sex According to the Word of God
"The Benefits of Swallowing - Drink of the Living Water
Aside from swallowing semen as a measure to prevent the waste and spillage of seed, ingesting ejaculate can have spiritual benefits, as we will see. Although the Old Testament makes reference to the bitterness of semen (And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water. [Numbers 5:24]), the New Testament casts the act of consuming ejaculate in a much more affirming light, as in the following passage, where Jesus speaks to the woman of Samaria about the gift of “living water”:
Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." 11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?...15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." 16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back." (John 4:10-16)
“Living water” in this context refers to semen, which literally is the liquid of life. As Christ indicates, drinking of the “living water” provides a spiritual replenishment for the soul. When the woman asks Jesus where she can get this “water”, he tells her to fetch her husband, clearly with the intention of instructing her on how to fellate him and swallow his semen."
This is both hilarious and instructive, since anyone looking at the text with an open mind would see that their interpretations are at least as correct as commonly accepted ones (if not more so, in some places).
***
Stupid Vending Machine Flash - KPMG interns are too free...
I have found the NUS Temasek Hall Online Social Club - Lut's Haloscan comments thread!
TimeCopy 1.4 - "Timecopy will copy the time, date, timezone, and daylight saving information from your desktop PC to you PalmOS device at each hotsync. Palm clocks are known to drift a little (about 1 second per day), and this way, you don't need to worry about that anymore."
Better than SyncTime, and free too!
Ban Steven Lim from appearing on Singapore Television Petition - "This petition is to be send to Mediacorp to ban Steven Lim from appearing on tv. In case you do not know who he is, check out his site at stevenlim.net . (but warned: just make a brief short visit) What is the intention of banning him? Simple. He is a shame of all Singaporean, and an attention whore."
tower of babel in singapore - "city harvest church, the giant mother of a building in jurong, cost a whopping 47.6 MILLION DOLLARS to build. as they proudly proclaim on their website, the money took the church 4 years to raise, with only 45% of their congregation working. the rest are basically housewives, retirees and kids. WHAT THE FUCK?!!! to add insult to injury, they're bragging about the type of titanium cladding that frames the outside of the building, as its being the first and only in southeast asia. the other building with this sort of titanium facade in the world, is the Guggenheim. yes. the fucking Guggenheim museum. they're also going on about their having the first Broquard fountain in SEA as well. of course Jaques Broquard is the best fountainmaker in the world. and you'll see this fountain, in their impressive opening flash intro at their website, fondly termed 'The Gates of Heaven'. right. so we should go drown ourselves there after having donated all our money to them so they can pay off their Phillip Starck bathrooms huh? yup. you heard me. a church having toilets by phillip starck."
Ah well. If people want to buy Magic Stones, they should be allowed to do so (if there is freedom of information, of course).
Rape as a Capital Crime - "But, if rape was punishable as a capital crime, then you have the unique situation where a rapist realizes that is in his best interest to murder the victim. What are the benefits of leaving the victim alive? Nothing that I can think of, except for whatever utility the rapist gets from withholding murder (which since he just raped the victim, I'm assuming that the rapist is not altruistic, and therefore this won't apply). But the costs of not murdering are high - there is a witness to his crime. So murdering actually becomes the better strategy if rape is punished as a capital crime, since in so doing, it increases the rapist's chances of survival."
Do Democratic Transitions Produce Bad Economic Outcomes?
"Several influential commentators have suggested recently that democratization in developing countries produces political instability, ethnic conflict, and poor economic outcomes... These authors buttress their claims with examples of democratic reforms that led to economic chaos and eventually a collapse back into autocracy. Such anecdotal evidence can be problematic from two perspectives. First, it is not clear how universal the pattern is. Perhaps the vast majority of other countries have had more successful transitions. For example, we rarely hear in these accounts about Mauritius and Botswana, two long term African success stories that also happen to be democratic countries. Second, these anecdotal accounts leave the counterfactual unspecified. Perhaps countries would have been even worse off in the absence of democratic transitions.
Does social science back up the pundits’ claims? We show in this paper that the data do not support the view that democratization is bad for economic performance. Our analysis reveals that major democratic transitions have, if anything, a positive effect on economic growth in the short run. Contrary to the claims of Kaplan, Zakaria, and Chau, this is especially true for the poorest countries of the world and those that are marked by sharp ethnic divisions. Democratization tends to follow periods of low growth rather than precede them. Moreover, democratic transitions are associated with a decline in growth volatility. Systematic analysis therefore uncovers a picture that is considerably more favorable to democratization."
***
Quotes:
The level 200 [modules] noticeboard (2000)
I majored in Philosophy in my undergraduate days. Philosophy and Economics. They offered me honours in Philosophy and Economics. I chose Economics, which I think is a mistake, in retrospect (or)
[On picking random people from the phonebook not being a random sample of the population of Singapore] Some people don't have phones, you know. Either because they are too poor or because they have 10 handphones already. Can you imagine, 10 phones ringing at the same time?
This is where we move from Philosophy to Statistics. Philosophy is about how to move from the specific to the general... [Philosophy is] Very fun at night with the beer and such, but this is 2 o'clock.
The Moe'zart of mathematics (Mozart)
X bar will converse to μ (converge)
[On talking about convergence in probability] Textbooks don't put this in because then no one would want to buy them. But you must take this course as a pre-requisite, so I can afford to put this in.
[On the chi-square distribution] I have a Greek friend who did a PhD in mathematics. He said it's supposed to be pronounced as 'kee'. But I can't get used to it, so I'm pronouncing it as 'kai'. Most people, even in the US, pronounce it as 'kai'.
[From the person setting the exam] I don't know how much of what I teach you will come out in the exam.
We all wonder why NTUC got the 42,000 square foot compound in Marine Parade, which we all know is a PAP heartground. (stronghold)
[On provision shop owners being crowded out by NTUC] Another option you might not agree with is to turn their outlet into a Cheers. (outlets, Cheers)
[On Sheng Shiong surviving] Mr No Frills... he lives in a warehouse in Marsling. He stays upstairs. He says it saves money because at night he can watch over his stocks... he still drives his lorry.
[On NTUC] If they get out, who will get in? Cold Storage is owned by a Hong Kong group. They have a social mission. *laughs of derision from audience*
The Japanese never let you earn their money. They arrive - Nippon Airways, ANA. A Japanese bus will take them to the hotel - ANA or Daichi. They eat at Japanese restaurants, shop at Japanese outlets. They shop at duty free, then they go home... the Japanese are very insular.
NTUC... they are into everything. Even funerals.
We can talk until the cow comes home (cows come)
Have you been to a hypermarket? Err, I refuse to go in. I'm lost inside. Don't know what to buy.
[Student: I heard there are families that hangs out in Carrefour.] Singapore - we are so pathetic. We have no place to go... Go and shop, let your children frolic. Then you go home - tuition for the next day.
Statistics are like bikinis, what they reveal is interesting, but what they conceal is even more fascinating (written)
Tool park (toolpak)
Data anna'lie'sis (analysis)
The standard deviation should be calculated for the means of means. Just watch out for my grammar. (mean of the)
[On dragging in Excel] Ok. A little more... Ok, you made it.
I used the ver'rai'ance (variance)
[On the computer] Hopefully it is not hanged (has, hung)
[On dexterity in Excel] I do that a lot, but you can do it at home, to practise.
Let me just briefly summarise what we have did (done)
Lighter'rary digest (Literary)
The variance will shrunk (shrink)
[To me] Maybe I should do a photojournal. The pleasures of your body.
Post ID: 111073027032691595
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Monday, March 14, 2005
Dear Mdms,
NUS has always supported religious diversity. On the OSA website, one reads that NUS has many religious student societies: 1 Buddhist, 2 Catholic,2 3 Christian, 1 Hindu, 1 Muslim, and 1 Sathya Sai. The various religions of Singapore are thus very well represented. However, according to the 2000 Singapore Census, 14.8% of the population of Singapore has no religion, making freethought the largest religious affiliation in Singapore after Buddhism and Islam.
We felt that it wasn't right that freethinkers, though being the third largest religious group (so to speak) in Singapore, were without a place in NUS to meet and talk to fellow freethinkers. And so we set up, on the IVLE the Freethinkers Community in NUS.
However, though we have managed to contact some fellow freethinkers via word of mouth, we have so far had no means of spreading the word to the NUS population at large. Most of the religious societies in NUS conduct publicity for their activities, so we have come up with some posters advertising our IVLE Community, and are seeking permission to put them up around campus this week.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
*** *** ***
Seah Shuqi Gabriel
*** *** ***
*** *** ***
Freethinkers Community in NUS
***
Freethinkers' Community in NUS - We now have a spartan website, with screenshots showing how to join!
NUS has always supported religious diversity. On the OSA website, one reads that NUS has many religious student societies: 1 Buddhist, 2 Catholic,
We felt that it wasn't right that freethinkers, though being the third largest religious group (so to speak) in Singapore, were without a place in NUS to meet and talk to fellow freethinkers. And so we set up, on the IVLE the Freethinkers Community in NUS.
However, though we have managed to contact some fellow freethinkers via word of mouth, we have so far had no means of spreading the word to the NUS population at large. Most of the religious societies in NUS conduct publicity for their activities, so we have come up with some posters advertising our IVLE Community, and are seeking permission to put them up around campus this week.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
*** *** ***
Seah Shuqi Gabriel
*** *** ***
*** *** ***
Freethinkers Community in NUS
***
Freethinkers' Community in NUS - We now have a spartan website, with screenshots showing how to join!
Post ID: 111081054312089212
Look look look! i'm on the net!!
http://www.flaredance.com/productions_rhythmicity.html
Check under "primeval savagery", "sirens" (jane's piece yay!) and "metamorphosis".
***
http://www.flaredance.com/productions_rhythmicity.html
Check under "primeval savagery", "sirens" (jane's piece yay!) and "metamorphosis".
***
Post ID: 111080607388500983
Sunday, March 13, 2005
"Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity." - Nick Diamos
***
"young lesbians can't be trusted. they all turn straight in JC"
"I hate being the one to have to compile projects because I'm the only one in there who has a competant grasp of english."
Most competant (sic) indeed.
"u dunno pain till u've to compile a grp report with 2 or 3 viet gals in ur team
i actually gave up editting, submitted their rubbish, and got a B- <S
but it was either that or my sanity"
***
One of the two wretched texts I'm cracking my head trying to close read and do an essay on:
Where brain, body, and world collide (Daedalus, Spring 1998 by Clark, Andy)
On Close Reading:
Me: yeah comparative essay sucks
Someone: hahah i know
ive been there
Me: they should just scrap the writing module
or rework it so it's really about writing and critical thinking
rather than [what] it is currently
Someone: hahaha
well one can always hope
Me: yeah right
that'll mean they lose their job
close reading is useful
but to make it the focus of the whole module?!
... it shows you the current state of the humanities in academia
attacking windmills like Don Quixote - blowing up easily resolvable problems and contriving problems
having your head in the clouds while the world moves on below you
Someone: oh yes
sounds too familiar
Someone else: if by close reading, you mean analyzing the arguments of two different people and seeing where they break down, there's nothing wrong with that at all
Me: texts are only so long. no one will bother to insert in countless qualifications and elaborations
if you want to find problems you'll be able to find them if you dig deep enough, and blow them up when normal people would happily resolve, harmonise or rationalise them
Someone else: 'The complication for the motive can simply be that applying the theory to a particular ad unlocks the hidden meaning of the ad, or else demonstrates the sleeper effect, or whatever.'
Me: hidden meaning!
ooh. have you seen any black helicopters?
Analyse arguments - I do that all the time
so it's not that I don't like doing that
if you have to do close reading to find hidden meaning to an ad, then there's something wrong
ad makers don't insert hidden meanings for close readers to find
they insert explicit meanings for target audiences to absorb
I doubt ad makers are so free as to insert hidden meanings for people like you to dissect
Someone else: too bad. i feel sorry for you.
back to my paper.
Me: back to essay
***
ABC - Learn the alphabet in a very unique way.
I first linked this in May 2003, then it was down for a long time. Miraculously, it has now reappeared!
***
"young lesbians can't be trusted. they all turn straight in JC"
"I hate being the one to have to compile projects because I'm the only one in there who has a competant grasp of english."
Most competant (sic) indeed.
"u dunno pain till u've to compile a grp report with 2 or 3 viet gals in ur team
i actually gave up editting, submitted their rubbish, and got a B- <S
but it was either that or my sanity"
***
One of the two wretched texts I'm cracking my head trying to close read and do an essay on:
Where brain, body, and world collide (Daedalus, Spring 1998 by Clark, Andy)
On Close Reading:
Me: yeah comparative essay sucks
Someone: hahah i know
ive been there
Me: they should just scrap the writing module
or rework it so it's really about writing and critical thinking
rather than [what] it is currently
Someone: hahaha
well one can always hope
Me: yeah right
that'll mean they lose their job
close reading is useful
but to make it the focus of the whole module?!
... it shows you the current state of the humanities in academia
attacking windmills like Don Quixote - blowing up easily resolvable problems and contriving problems
having your head in the clouds while the world moves on below you
Someone: oh yes
sounds too familiar
Someone else: if by close reading, you mean analyzing the arguments of two different people and seeing where they break down, there's nothing wrong with that at all
Me: texts are only so long. no one will bother to insert in countless qualifications and elaborations
if you want to find problems you'll be able to find them if you dig deep enough, and blow them up when normal people would happily resolve, harmonise or rationalise them
Someone else: 'The complication for the motive can simply be that applying the theory to a particular ad unlocks the hidden meaning of the ad, or else demonstrates the sleeper effect, or whatever.'
Me: hidden meaning!
ooh. have you seen any black helicopters?
Analyse arguments - I do that all the time
so it's not that I don't like doing that
if you have to do close reading to find hidden meaning to an ad, then there's something wrong
ad makers don't insert hidden meanings for close readers to find
they insert explicit meanings for target audiences to absorb
I doubt ad makers are so free as to insert hidden meanings for people like you to dissect
Someone else: too bad. i feel sorry for you.
back to my paper.
Me: back to essay
***
ABC - Learn the alphabet in a very unique way.
I first linked this in May 2003, then it was down for a long time. Miraculously, it has now reappeared!
Post ID: 111070175762577092
"I never believed in Santa Claus because I knew no white dude would come into my neighborhood after dark." - Dick Gregory
***
FCINUS (Freethought Community in NUS)
"Event Title: Is a relationship with God ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY??
Organizer: NUS Campus Crusade for Christ (NUSCCC)
Description: Nowadays, it seems to be fashionable to be "God-less". Why do I need God? After all, isn't God just something NICE TO HAVE?? Life is fine without one for all these years anyway....But is "Free-thinking" really a logically acceptable way to live? Come and find out for yourself, and decide after the meeting - IS IT ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY FOR MANKIND TO KNOW GOD??"
The time is now, the day is here!
To no one's surprise, this event is organised by the CCC. I notice that they used the words "logically acceptable". Well, the last time the had the temerity to claim that they would show "scientifically why god exists and why jesus loves you", and it turned out to be a bait-and-switch (what's new?).
(Those interested in finding out more or in aiding the war effort should contact me on ICQ/M$N, drop me a mail or leave a comment below)
***
Mathematics - Counting
Question: If one rolls a 10 sided die twice and multiplies the results of the rolls, how many unique results can one potentially get?
Apparently the answer is 42 - one person coded a program to get this result; 2 others used brute force method (listing everything out).
***
Overheard
"The trick is not in blindly following every management fad that surfaces whenever some enterprising guru invents a new set of principles to enrich himself - yet another variation of some seven pillars of wisdom."
"Retirement is being able to say what your former colleagues would love to utter themselves but are too shy to."
- Former Singapore Airlines CEO Cheong Choong Kong
"The discovery that tendencies to altruism are shaped by benefits to genes is one of the most disturbing in the history of science. When I first grasped it, I slept badly for many nights, trying to find some alternative that did not so roughly challenge my sense of good and evil. Understanding this discovery can undermine commitment to morality - it seems silly to restrain oneself if moral behavior is just another strategy for advancing the interests of one's genes. Some students, I am embarrassed to say, have left my courses with a naïve notion of the selfish-gene theory that seemed to them to justify selfish behavior, despite my best efforts to explain the naturalistic fallacy." - Professor Randolph Nesse
On home 'ownership' in Singapore:
"It is not ownership. It is a 99-year lease with a myriad of conditions." - Singapore Serf in LiveJournal
***
Conversations
Friend: hey the [writing] conference timetable has a "kimberly" on it
that's not u right
why is your msn nick 'kimberly'?
isn't ur name gabriel
Me: haha you don't know?
look at my msn pic
Friend: who is that guy
power rangers
Me: it's a girl lah
Friend: oh i see... u know after seeing your favourite long haired prince and descartes pictures, as well as ur own long hair, no wonder i thought this power rangers girl is a guy too :P
so her name is kimberly... ok
so that kimberly in our timetable is a girl?
hahaha... i thought she's a guy too
Someone else on reading that: amy jo johnson does NOT look like descartes or wohen nankan
Me quoting a review of NUS modules to a Chemical Engineering student: This module is really very 'free'. Basically you can skip all the lectures and still won't be at a disadvantage.
can skip USP mods meh
Someone: yah i skip all the *** [lectures and tutorials]
free topic mah
Me: do they notice you skipping?
Someone: yes of course. the prof knows
Me: he doesn't mind ah
Someone: i don't know! i haven't seen him in 2 months.
he hasn't sent me any threatening mails
Me: no wonder you're always so free
Maybe I should set up a page reviewing the NUS modules I've done. Then again I already have enough incriminating things online, heh.
***
Frilly skirts
I asked Screwed Up Girl why so many girls wore frilly skirts. Her answer: "They make girls feel like princesses".
Now, even if I didn't know her to be the Purveyor of Inaccurate Information, I would be suspicious at this kind of cock - there is no other adjective in English, Hokkien or all the other tongues of men for this - answer, especially since I think it makes them look more like curtains. And so I took this question before a distinguished panel:
Critic 1 did not know and thought it made them look like "cupcake dolls". Now, for all that I call her "my No. 1 fan: She with dyed past-shoulder length hair that used to be rebonded, a serious attitude problem, curses freely and loves to wear dominatrix-style pumps, but who disavows the title of "ah lian" (tamade to you too)", at least she doesn't wear frilly skirts, so there's a point in her favour.
Critic 2 said she and her friend were discussing this, and said they didn't know. She also said frilly skirts were "stupid and unflattering"; "those skirts are damn ugly".
Critic 3 postulated that "celebrities wear and look good and they hope by wearing it they'll look, especially good or something".
Then again maybe I asked the wrong crowd. Critics 1-3 would never wear frilly skirts. Maybe I need to talk to some SACSALs (Shrill, Anorexic, Chinese-Speaking Ah Lians) (purely for research purposes, of course).
***
The Muslim Exception
heathcliff24 gets acquainted with the Muslim Exception:
"The father: YOUR DOGS ARE DISTURBING US. WE ARE MUSLIMS, DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND, YOU STUPID? WHY DON'T YOU GO INSIDE?
I: The dogs ARE ON THEIR LEASH! Besides, we came here first, there are so many empty seats elsewhere. Why did you choose the one beside us?
The father: So what?"
***
Handsome Boy Steven Lim
Steven Lim updates:
It seems he now offers 5 services (up from 3). The new ones:
- Express Courier/ Delivery Services
- Webpage Conceptualization, Design and Creation Services (Seeing his site, err... No thanks)
New products:
- Steven Lim's autographed http://www.stevenlim.net T-shirts!!!! (One has a picture of him in a 'snow hat')
- Couple T-shirts - T-shirts with the couple's picture on them ($60 a pair?! Wth. I can get them much cheaper elsewhere. And the samples look like they have him and his 16 year old girlfriend on them)
The prize for the "Find Steven Lim" Digital Photo Contest is $500. Wah, maybe I should try to take part.
***
Technology
I was observing my brother in law browsing through his collection of 459 mostly blur ('artistic') pictures in iShit (or whatever it's called), and noticed that, more than the lack of a scroll whell, more so than that of a right mouse button, was greatly hindering his progress.
How many Mac users are acquainted with the joys of scroll wheels, I wonder.
LangaList Std Edition 2005-03-07: Cheap Shot?
"
When I was back in the world of corporate publishing, and tracking the minutia of PC companies, Microsoft was spending more on user testing than any other software company--- bar none. I have no reason to believe that that's changed.
Small example: A decade ago, Microsoft found that users were intimidated by long streams of startup messages from the PC as different components woke up and came on line; and so Microsoft hid them behind a startup graphic. (You really only need to see the startup messages when something's going wrong.) For many years, the Windows startup screen was derided by the Linux community as a sign of Windows' wimpishness. Most distros of Linux continued to proudly flash a text message from every tiny subsystem or software component as they woke up or shut down. ("Probing SCSI..." "Found CPU..." "Init: entering runlevel 5"... etc.) But now--- surprise!--- more and more Linuxes are hiding this complexity from the end user; finally recognizing that most of the time, for most of the users, those messages are just so much screen clutter. In short: Microsoft was right.
Microsoft also was right about the location and function of the Start button; in fact, it's been copied on almost all the non-Windows graphical interfaces, too, including most Linux GUIs."
***
String theory
Escape from the universe
"The universe is destined to end. Before it does, could an advanced civilisation escape via a "wormhole" into a parallel universe? The idea seems like science fiction, but it is consistent with the laws of physics and biology. Here's how to do it:
Create a baby universe
According to inflation, just a few ounces of matter might suffice to create a baby universe. This is because the positive energy of matter cancels out the negative energy of gravity. If the universe is closed, then they cancel out exactly. In some sense, the universe may be a free lunch, as Guth has emphasised. Strange as it may seem, it requires no net energy to create an entire universe. Baby universes are in principle created naturally when a certain region of space-time becomes unstable and enters a state called the "false vacuum," which destabilises the fabric of space-time. An advanced civilisation might do this deliberately by concentrating energy in a single region. This would require either compressing matter to a density of 1080g/cm3, or heating it to 1029 degrees kelvin.
Send a nanobot to recreate civilisation
An advanced civilisation might want to send enough information through the wormhole to create a "nanobot," a self-replicating atomic-sized machine, built with nanotechnology. It would be able to travel at near the speed of light because it would be only the size of a molecule. It would land on a barren moon, and then use the raw materials to create a chemical factory which could create millions of copies of itself.... these robot probes would create huge biotechnology laboratories. The DNA sequences of the probes' creators would have been carefully recorded, and the robots would have been designed to inject this information into incubators, which would then clone the entire species. An advanced civilisation may also code the personalities and memories of its inhabitants and inject this into the clones, enabling the entire race to be reincarnated."
***
Links
Sleeping Beauty - "In 19th-century England, Victorian publishers further sanitized fairy tales, toning down the violence yet again and simplifying the narratives. Victorian readers wanted these stories to be charming, to reflect the gender roles of the time, and above all to instruct proper upper- and middle-class children in appropriate morality. Innuendo replaced the overt and troubling activity of carnal sex and violence . . . but as modern writers from Angela Carter to Marina Warner have pointed out, these underlying themes are tenacious. Looking at the original German language version of the Grimms' "Little Briar Rose," Heinz pulled out a staccato list of suggestive language: the hedge is "penetrated," Briar Rose is "pricked," and she sleeps not in a shrine or a wooded cottage but enclosed within a phallic tower."
The USB Auditor - "With the USB Auditor you can immediately begin capturing critical data that gives you instant answers to the who and what regarding all USB ports in your organization
The USB Auditor is a non-intrusive clientless software solution that captures the critical data that you need from each USB port. The USB Auditor creates a report displaying the USB devices currently connected to your network and those that were recently connected. For even more convenience, the USB Auditor can export this report to an MS Excel file pre configured with the most commonly used queries."
I'm sure the SAF's MSD would like to get its hands on this software to stop the bothersome dongles (ie Thumbdrives) (heh heh)almost essential for daily work in many SAF offices that pose a grave security threat.
'If you don't take a job as a prostitute, we can stop your benefits' - "A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services'' at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year."
Angelina's Lesbian Sex Confessions - "Hollywood beauty Angelina Jolie has boasted that she is an expert in lesbian sex. Tomb Raider star Angelina, who is bisexual, says she knows what women like."
For some reason I was amused by this
It’s Not Dangerous - "Ten Reasons Why Blogging is Good For Your Career"
Calvin and Hobbes archive from Nov 1985 to Dec 1995
***
NUS stuff
"Event Title: Social Services Sector: The Next Pillar of Growth- An NKF Perspective
Description: There are myths and there are myths about the social services sector.
These are perennially poor organisations that survive on the vagaries of human compassion. There are no structures or business models in the sector.
No good salaries, no career growth, and no scope for specialists. In fact, philanthropy and career just does not go together. It is the place to be if you are an industry reject, or if you are benevolent and compassionate, but not interested in success.
In his talk, NKF Chief Executive Officer Mr TT Durai will shred all these myths and discuss a lot more – on the business of charity, about career prospects in the sector, volunteerism, and regarding the importance of growth of the sector. He will discuss how you can earn a good living and, at the same time, do your bit in supporting humanity." [Ed: Emphases mine]
All is made clear.
I have a classmate who, every half a minute or so, makes a half-humming sort of sound in his throat, or seems to half-mutter a syllable. Quite disturbing.
Quotes:
Morning class. [The] mid-term is over. Some of you don't want to come to class. It's alright.
They ban smoking on the campus. It is very costly to you. You go all over the campus looking for secluded places to smoke.
You want a break? Ok, come back in 2 minutes.
[On a level 2000 module] I'm doing a lot of things in this lecture that cover things in level 3000.
[On monogamy (?)] Gibbons. They have these really interesting songs to tell each other about what happened last night.
This is an instable situation (unstable)
[Student: There's almost no cost to siring a child] At the age of 80? You just drop dead... get a heart attack [while in the act of congress]... Risk of death during childbirth or conception is low... unless it's a very timid male. He dies from the horror [of witnessing childbirth]. 2 chances to get a heart attack.
Pushing off all the little deers (deer)
One male can usually fertilise many males (females)
Males are more likely [than females] to die. [Student: Why?] There's a whole lot of arguments about that. Because they act like idiots, mostly. [Someone: {They} work harder... women: relax at home the whole day]
I have lots of stupid things to do. Careers 2005 fair: People asking me what's the difference between chemistry and applied chemistry. At the back of my head [I'm thinking]: I have absolutely no idea. Fortunately I had a book there.
[On a journal article] Unfortunately I'm not allowed to send it to you due to copyright reasons. You can download it yourself for private use, which I'm sure you're all dying to do.
You cannot mist it (miss)
It is envy'saged that in the future everything will be competitive (envisaged)
[On naked molerats at the Singapore Zoo] You can use the queen molerat lying on the poor, oppressed males.
A cheating male... can lay his own eggs [Professor: Males don't lay eggs.] Oh.
The female isn't the oppressed one. It's the males. They all want to be queens. [Student 2: Huh?] Oops. [Student 3: Freud's heart would've been broken] (???)
[On the naked mole rats] They're the world's most beautiful animals. Ugly in video and ugly in reality too.
[Video narrator: The Queen prevents female workers from reproducing by producing a hormone in her urine, which the females get exposed to when they use the colony latrine.] So be wary of public bathrooms.
[On worker ants being female] You can astonish your family by saying: 'That's a female ant.' When they ask how you know: 'I look at the private parts.'
[On the fallaciousness of the common naive moralistic tales of hardworking and subservient ants living in harmony and working for the common good, and the implication of this being a laudable model for human societies] So it's a war out there. You think they're all working for the common good, but it's a war.
[On the secret war in ant colonies between workers and the Queen to skew the sex ratio either way] I always have to put this in. From an Evolutionary point of view it makes perfect sense. Intelligent design cannot explain this. This is what good science can do [- explain and predict]... Yes, natural selection rules. *Throws a punch into the air*
They might be es'strange'd brothers (estranged)
If your mother comes up to you and wants to borrow a hundred dollars, you will lend it to her quite easily. If a stranger in the street comes up, you won't borrow him a hundred dollars. [Student: That's because you can track down {your mother}... [Students from] business administration... (lend)
[Me on genetic altruism in the Great Apes: How do you know it's genetically based?] Because they don't have 'Our Shared Values' on the back of their notebooks.
[On R. Nesse being disturbed that altruism was shaped by Evolution] I don't believe he slept badly. When I first found out about it I thought it was very interesting... knowing the future of altruism is assured, I sleep better at night.
Snapper / Snaypearl (Snapple)
You can read as many modules as you want to, to make your fees worth... to make your money's worth (get)
There was a year when the President of the Economics Society was not an Economics major. He was a Political Science major.
***
FCINUS (Freethought Community in NUS)
"Event Title: Is a relationship with God ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY??
Organizer: NUS Campus Crusade for Christ (NUSCCC)
Description: Nowadays, it seems to be fashionable to be "God-less". Why do I need God? After all, isn't God just something NICE TO HAVE?? Life is fine without one for all these years anyway....But is "Free-thinking" really a logically acceptable way to live? Come and find out for yourself, and decide after the meeting - IS IT ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY FOR MANKIND TO KNOW GOD??"
The time is now, the day is here!
To no one's surprise, this event is organised by the CCC. I notice that they used the words "logically acceptable". Well, the last time the had the temerity to claim that they would show "scientifically why god exists and why jesus loves you", and it turned out to be a bait-and-switch (what's new?).
(Those interested in finding out more or in aiding the war effort should contact me on ICQ/M$N, drop me a mail or leave a comment below)
***
Mathematics - Counting
Question: If one rolls a 10 sided die twice and multiplies the results of the rolls, how many unique results can one potentially get?
Apparently the answer is 42 - one person coded a program to get this result; 2 others used brute force method (listing everything out).
***
Overheard
"The trick is not in blindly following every management fad that surfaces whenever some enterprising guru invents a new set of principles to enrich himself - yet another variation of some seven pillars of wisdom."
"Retirement is being able to say what your former colleagues would love to utter themselves but are too shy to."
- Former Singapore Airlines CEO Cheong Choong Kong
"The discovery that tendencies to altruism are shaped by benefits to genes is one of the most disturbing in the history of science. When I first grasped it, I slept badly for many nights, trying to find some alternative that did not so roughly challenge my sense of good and evil. Understanding this discovery can undermine commitment to morality - it seems silly to restrain oneself if moral behavior is just another strategy for advancing the interests of one's genes. Some students, I am embarrassed to say, have left my courses with a naïve notion of the selfish-gene theory that seemed to them to justify selfish behavior, despite my best efforts to explain the naturalistic fallacy." - Professor Randolph Nesse
On home 'ownership' in Singapore:
"It is not ownership. It is a 99-year lease with a myriad of conditions." - Singapore Serf in LiveJournal
***
Conversations
Friend: hey the [writing] conference timetable has a "kimberly" on it
that's not u right
why is your msn nick 'kimberly'?
isn't ur name gabriel
Me: haha you don't know?
look at my msn pic
Friend: who is that guy
power rangers
Me: it's a girl lah
Friend: oh i see... u know after seeing your favourite long haired prince and descartes pictures, as well as ur own long hair, no wonder i thought this power rangers girl is a guy too :P
so her name is kimberly... ok
so that kimberly in our timetable is a girl?
hahaha... i thought she's a guy too
Someone else on reading that: amy jo johnson does NOT look like descartes or wohen nankan
Me quoting a review of NUS modules to a Chemical Engineering student: This module is really very 'free'. Basically you can skip all the lectures and still won't be at a disadvantage.
can skip USP mods meh
Someone: yah i skip all the *** [lectures and tutorials]
free topic mah
Me: do they notice you skipping?
Someone: yes of course. the prof knows
Me: he doesn't mind ah
Someone: i don't know! i haven't seen him in 2 months.
he hasn't sent me any threatening mails
Me: no wonder you're always so free
Maybe I should set up a page reviewing the NUS modules I've done. Then again I already have enough incriminating things online, heh.
***
Frilly skirts
I asked Screwed Up Girl why so many girls wore frilly skirts. Her answer: "They make girls feel like princesses".
Now, even if I didn't know her to be the Purveyor of Inaccurate Information, I would be suspicious at this kind of cock - there is no other adjective in English, Hokkien or all the other tongues of men for this - answer, especially since I think it makes them look more like curtains. And so I took this question before a distinguished panel:
Critic 1 did not know and thought it made them look like "cupcake dolls". Now, for all that I call her "my No. 1 fan: She with dyed past-shoulder length hair that used to be rebonded, a serious attitude problem, curses freely and loves to wear dominatrix-style pumps, but who disavows the title of "ah lian" (tamade to you too)", at least she doesn't wear frilly skirts, so there's a point in her favour.
Critic 2 said she and her friend were discussing this, and said they didn't know. She also said frilly skirts were "stupid and unflattering"; "those skirts are damn ugly".
Critic 3 postulated that "celebrities wear and look good and they hope by wearing it they'll look, especially good or something".
Then again maybe I asked the wrong crowd. Critics 1-3 would never wear frilly skirts. Maybe I need to talk to some SACSALs (Shrill, Anorexic, Chinese-Speaking Ah Lians) (purely for research purposes, of course).
***
The Muslim Exception
heathcliff24 gets acquainted with the Muslim Exception:
"The father: YOUR DOGS ARE DISTURBING US. WE ARE MUSLIMS, DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND, YOU STUPID? WHY DON'T YOU GO INSIDE?
I: The dogs ARE ON THEIR LEASH! Besides, we came here first, there are so many empty seats elsewhere. Why did you choose the one beside us?
The father: So what?"
***
Handsome Boy Steven Lim
Steven Lim updates:
It seems he now offers 5 services (up from 3). The new ones:
- Express Courier/ Delivery Services
- Webpage Conceptualization, Design and Creation Services (Seeing his site, err... No thanks)
New products:
- Steven Lim's autographed http://www.stevenlim.net T-shirts!!!! (One has a picture of him in a 'snow hat')
- Couple T-shirts - T-shirts with the couple's picture on them ($60 a pair?! Wth. I can get them much cheaper elsewhere. And the samples look like they have him and his 16 year old girlfriend on them)
The prize for the "Find Steven Lim" Digital Photo Contest is $500. Wah, maybe I should try to take part.
***
Technology
I was observing my brother in law browsing through his collection of 459 mostly blur ('artistic') pictures in iShit (or whatever it's called), and noticed that, more than the lack of a scroll whell, more so than that of a right mouse button, was greatly hindering his progress.
How many Mac users are acquainted with the joys of scroll wheels, I wonder.
LangaList Std Edition 2005-03-07: Cheap Shot?
"
In the story about using an install program to uninstall you remarked "Using a 'setup' program to *UN*install software might seem strange, Roy, but it makes perfect sense when you remember that Office is from Microsoft, the company that makes you use the 'Start' menu to stop your PC.
Raymond Chen (a Microsoft engineer) has a Microsoft blog ( http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2003/07/22/54559.aspx ) where he talks about many things and this is one he has mentioned in the past. This action is not by chance or perversion, but the result of a lot of user testing. Users would go to the Start button when they want to shut down. It is like a home base.
Microsoft is not perfect, but when it comes to responding to customers and users, I believe they have no peer.
When I was back in the world of corporate publishing, and tracking the minutia of PC companies, Microsoft was spending more on user testing than any other software company--- bar none. I have no reason to believe that that's changed.
Small example: A decade ago, Microsoft found that users were intimidated by long streams of startup messages from the PC as different components woke up and came on line; and so Microsoft hid them behind a startup graphic. (You really only need to see the startup messages when something's going wrong.) For many years, the Windows startup screen was derided by the Linux community as a sign of Windows' wimpishness. Most distros of Linux continued to proudly flash a text message from every tiny subsystem or software component as they woke up or shut down. ("Probing SCSI..." "Found CPU..." "Init: entering runlevel 5"... etc.) But now--- surprise!--- more and more Linuxes are hiding this complexity from the end user; finally recognizing that most of the time, for most of the users, those messages are just so much screen clutter. In short: Microsoft was right.
Microsoft also was right about the location and function of the Start button; in fact, it's been copied on almost all the non-Windows graphical interfaces, too, including most Linux GUIs."
***
String theory
Escape from the universe
"The universe is destined to end. Before it does, could an advanced civilisation escape via a "wormhole" into a parallel universe? The idea seems like science fiction, but it is consistent with the laws of physics and biology. Here's how to do it:
Create a baby universe
According to inflation, just a few ounces of matter might suffice to create a baby universe. This is because the positive energy of matter cancels out the negative energy of gravity. If the universe is closed, then they cancel out exactly. In some sense, the universe may be a free lunch, as Guth has emphasised. Strange as it may seem, it requires no net energy to create an entire universe. Baby universes are in principle created naturally when a certain region of space-time becomes unstable and enters a state called the "false vacuum," which destabilises the fabric of space-time. An advanced civilisation might do this deliberately by concentrating energy in a single region. This would require either compressing matter to a density of 1080g/cm3, or heating it to 1029 degrees kelvin.
Send a nanobot to recreate civilisation
An advanced civilisation might want to send enough information through the wormhole to create a "nanobot," a self-replicating atomic-sized machine, built with nanotechnology. It would be able to travel at near the speed of light because it would be only the size of a molecule. It would land on a barren moon, and then use the raw materials to create a chemical factory which could create millions of copies of itself.... these robot probes would create huge biotechnology laboratories. The DNA sequences of the probes' creators would have been carefully recorded, and the robots would have been designed to inject this information into incubators, which would then clone the entire species. An advanced civilisation may also code the personalities and memories of its inhabitants and inject this into the clones, enabling the entire race to be reincarnated."
***
Links
Sleeping Beauty - "In 19th-century England, Victorian publishers further sanitized fairy tales, toning down the violence yet again and simplifying the narratives. Victorian readers wanted these stories to be charming, to reflect the gender roles of the time, and above all to instruct proper upper- and middle-class children in appropriate morality. Innuendo replaced the overt and troubling activity of carnal sex and violence . . . but as modern writers from Angela Carter to Marina Warner have pointed out, these underlying themes are tenacious. Looking at the original German language version of the Grimms' "Little Briar Rose," Heinz pulled out a staccato list of suggestive language: the hedge is "penetrated," Briar Rose is "pricked," and she sleeps not in a shrine or a wooded cottage but enclosed within a phallic tower."
The USB Auditor - "With the USB Auditor you can immediately begin capturing critical data that gives you instant answers to the who and what regarding all USB ports in your organization
The USB Auditor is a non-intrusive clientless software solution that captures the critical data that you need from each USB port. The USB Auditor creates a report displaying the USB devices currently connected to your network and those that were recently connected. For even more convenience, the USB Auditor can export this report to an MS Excel file pre configured with the most commonly used queries."
I'm sure the SAF's MSD would like to get its hands on this software to stop the bothersome dongles (ie Thumbdrives) (heh heh)
'If you don't take a job as a prostitute, we can stop your benefits' - "A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services'' at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year."
Angelina's Lesbian Sex Confessions - "Hollywood beauty Angelina Jolie has boasted that she is an expert in lesbian sex. Tomb Raider star Angelina, who is bisexual, says she knows what women like."
For some reason I was amused by this
It’s Not Dangerous - "Ten Reasons Why Blogging is Good For Your Career"
Calvin and Hobbes archive from Nov 1985 to Dec 1995
***
NUS stuff
"Event Title: Social Services Sector: The Next Pillar of Growth- An NKF Perspective
Description: There are myths and there are myths about the social services sector.
These are perennially poor organisations that survive on the vagaries of human compassion. There are no structures or business models in the sector.
No good salaries, no career growth, and no scope for specialists. In fact, philanthropy and career just does not go together. It is the place to be if you are an industry reject, or if you are benevolent and compassionate, but not interested in success.
In his talk, NKF Chief Executive Officer Mr TT Durai will shred all these myths and discuss a lot more – on the business of charity, about career prospects in the sector, volunteerism, and regarding the importance of growth of the sector. He will discuss how you can earn a good living and, at the same time, do your bit in supporting humanity." [Ed: Emphases mine]
All is made clear.
I have a classmate who, every half a minute or so, makes a half-humming sort of sound in his throat, or seems to half-mutter a syllable. Quite disturbing.
Quotes:
Morning class. [The] mid-term is over. Some of you don't want to come to class. It's alright.
They ban smoking on the campus. It is very costly to you. You go all over the campus looking for secluded places to smoke.
You want a break? Ok, come back in 2 minutes.
[On a level 2000 module] I'm doing a lot of things in this lecture that cover things in level 3000.
[On monogamy (?)] Gibbons. They have these really interesting songs to tell each other about what happened last night.
This is an instable situation (unstable)
[Student: There's almost no cost to siring a child] At the age of 80? You just drop dead... get a heart attack [while in the act of congress]... Risk of death during childbirth or conception is low... unless it's a very timid male. He dies from the horror [of witnessing childbirth]. 2 chances to get a heart attack.
Pushing off all the little deers (deer)
One male can usually fertilise many males (females)
Males are more likely [than females] to die. [Student: Why?] There's a whole lot of arguments about that. Because they act like idiots, mostly. [Someone: {They} work harder... women: relax at home the whole day]
I have lots of stupid things to do. Careers 2005 fair: People asking me what's the difference between chemistry and applied chemistry. At the back of my head [I'm thinking]: I have absolutely no idea. Fortunately I had a book there.
[On a journal article] Unfortunately I'm not allowed to send it to you due to copyright reasons. You can download it yourself for private use, which I'm sure you're all dying to do.
You cannot mist it (miss)
It is envy'saged that in the future everything will be competitive (envisaged)
[On naked molerats at the Singapore Zoo] You can use the queen molerat lying on the poor, oppressed males.
A cheating male... can lay his own eggs [Professor: Males don't lay eggs.] Oh.
The female isn't the oppressed one. It's the males. They all want to be queens. [Student 2: Huh?] Oops. [Student 3: Freud's heart would've been broken] (???)
[On the naked mole rats] They're the world's most beautiful animals. Ugly in video and ugly in reality too.
[Video narrator: The Queen prevents female workers from reproducing by producing a hormone in her urine, which the females get exposed to when they use the colony latrine.] So be wary of public bathrooms.
[On worker ants being female] You can astonish your family by saying: 'That's a female ant.' When they ask how you know: 'I look at the private parts.'
[On the fallaciousness of the common naive moralistic tales of hardworking and subservient ants living in harmony and working for the common good, and the implication of this being a laudable model for human societies] So it's a war out there. You think they're all working for the common good, but it's a war.
[On the secret war in ant colonies between workers and the Queen to skew the sex ratio either way] I always have to put this in. From an Evolutionary point of view it makes perfect sense. Intelligent design cannot explain this. This is what good science can do [- explain and predict]... Yes, natural selection rules. *Throws a punch into the air*
They might be es'strange'd brothers (estranged)
If your mother comes up to you and wants to borrow a hundred dollars, you will lend it to her quite easily. If a stranger in the street comes up, you won't borrow him a hundred dollars. [Student: That's because you can track down {your mother}... [Students from] business administration... (lend)
[Me on genetic altruism in the Great Apes: How do you know it's genetically based?] Because they don't have 'Our Shared Values' on the back of their notebooks.
[On R. Nesse being disturbed that altruism was shaped by Evolution] I don't believe he slept badly. When I first found out about it I thought it was very interesting... knowing the future of altruism is assured, I sleep better at night.
Snapper / Snaypearl (Snapple)
You can read as many modules as you want to, to make your fees worth... to make your money's worth (get)
There was a year when the President of the Economics Society was not an Economics major. He was a Political Science major.
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