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Links - 24th November 2011

"If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long run - and often in the short one - the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative." - Arthur C. Clarke

***

No wonder children use 'gay' to mean 'rubbish': gay culture is shallow, camp and kitsch - "One thing that causes great consternation amongst schoolteachers, commentators and gay-rights activists is that young people use the word gay to mean "rubbish"... thousands of schoolchildren, some as young as four, have been reported to their local authorities for using racist or homophobic language... One boy was reprimanded for saying in class: "This work's gay"... is it really such a mystery as to why the word gay has come to mean rubbish?... gay culture is quite knowingly and resolutely lame... Susan Sontag examined what she called the "improvised self-elected class, mainly homosexuals, who constitute themselves as aristocrats of taste" and who are fascinated with "camp" – that is, with viewing the world "not in terms of beauty, but in terms of the degree of artifice, of stylisation"... It seems a bit harsh to write off schoolkids as homophobes when they are only expressing, in cruder lingo, what serious thinkers have said for years... it is often the same small urban clique that gives us rubbish "gay culture" which also goes mad when young people start to think that gay means rubbish. Their double standards are totally gay"

Calls for Melanie Phillips to be killed over gay rights prove society's values in danger - "I ­suggested on this page that some gay people were in danger of turning into the new McCarthyites by demonising and attempting to silence all who disagreed with the gay rights agenda... emails to me included such epithets as ‘vile, poisonous, horrible old woman’, and ‘people like you should be silenced as you insight (sic) bigotry and fear. Go and suck a tail pipe, get cancer, GET RAN OVER BY A TRAIN. I hope your ******* house burns down’... that they are, in fact, spewing out the very hatred, intolerance and incitement to violence of which they are accusing others would be hilarious were it not so terrifying... Whether it is dealing with lone ­parents, women or gays, ‘victim culture’... starts from the premise that such groups are the victims of those with power — whether these are men or heterosexuals — their ­members are therefore deemed to do no wrong, while the so-called ‘victimisers’ can do no right... To oppose the gay rights agenda no more means that one is anti-gay than to oppose multiculturalism or extreme ­feminism means one is anti-black or anti-woman... [This] makes our society intensely ­vulnerable to the radical Islamists whose inroads, for very similar reasons, we are also not allowed to discuss without being tarred and feathered as ‘Islamophobes’. But here’s the really awful irony in all this. Gay people are dreadfully persecuted under fundamentalist Islam, which dictates that they should be killed"
There is something seriously wrong when death threats are considered less serious than calling someone a faggot; rather predictably her article was linked disapprovingly by someone who missed all of this and only saw the keywords "bullies" and "totalitarian" out of context, and criticism of the politicisation of the curriculum equated to an anti-bullying measure

'Singh' ban denounced - "For the past decade, Indian immigration applicants with the surname Singh or Kaur were told by the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi that their names, too common to process quickly, would have to be changed"

Occupy Wall Street Divided - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 11/16/11 - Video Clip | Comedy Central - "Occupy Wall Street was divided by Class... You’ve been here for eight weeks, and you already have a ghetto?... Is there a course in condescension that everyone is taking here?... 'Would you share your iPad 2 with one of those shiftless hobos down in Bum Town?'
'No, but I do think we should live in a society where everyone has access to technology...'
'So it's not so much about sharing, it's about everybody having an iPad 2'
'Or at least everybody having access to the material wealth of life. Not just rich people'
'Except for yours'
'This is a personal possession. I'm more against private property, not personal property...
'Big decisions about Occupy Wall Street are being made in the atrium of the Deutsche Bank building'...
It made sense. Here decisions could be made quietly and out of the sight of the masses... the Occupation ended too early. They didn't even have time to develop a middle class for this new society to crush"

Occupy Harvard? Students walk out on Greg Mankiw economics class. - "Students who participated in the walkout wrote in the open letter that they had hoped to be presented with a balanced view of economics in a required introductory course. "Instead, we found a course that espouses a specific—and limited—view of economics that we believe perpetuates problematic and inefficient systems of economic inequality in our society today. There is no justification for presenting Adam Smith’s economic theories as more fundamental or basic than, for example, Keynesian theory"... 'Incidentally, the authors of this letter are in for a treat: there’s plenty of Keynesian theory to come in the second semester of Ec 10. In fact, Mankiw is a great Keynes admirer... The only reason that these students have not yet studied the father of modern macroeconomics in Ec 10, of course, is that the first semester of the class is devoted to microeconomics'"
FAIL! Again, this is what happens when you let yourself be guided by your emotions

Gawkers 'haven't broken the law' - "BANGLADESHI construction worker Masum Tapader['s] He added that his employer had made him sign a document to ensure that he abides by stipulated rules during his stint here. "We are not allowed to talk to or marry Singaporean girls"... He was responding to an incident last Sunday where migrant workers thronged a Sentosa beach filled with bikini-clad sunbathers... Another netizen, lesterjason, felt that the migrant workers were only looking and have not broken any law. He said: "Girls are exposing themselves like that and you expect a normal guy not to look? There is no logic in that""
1) At first I thought they could hit them under my second-favourite part of the Penal Code: s. 509 Word or gesture intended to insult the modesty of a woman, but I realise staring does not fall under "utters any word, makes any sound or gesture, or exhibits any object" or "intrudes upon the privacy of such woman"
2) This is worse than apartheid - at least then you could talk to the "superior" race

Saudi Clerics: Women Will Turn Gay If They Drive - "Some Saudi men believe that allowing women to drive will lead to prostitution, pornography, divorce, and homosexuality"

Homeopathy worked for me - "250 homeopaths and patients lobbied their MPs and handed in to No. 10 Downing Street a letter and the declaration "Homeopathy Worked for Me" signed by 28,112 people"

Family Politics | India: A Portrait by Patrick French - "46.8% of the MPs have no significant family political background. Three out of ten MPs (28.6%) entered politics through family connections... an alarming 69.5% of women MPs came into politics through family connections"
Evidence that more women than men enter politics because of family ties; for the larger Asia region it's even more overwhelming

Poll: Most Jamaicans believe UK rule better - "Sixty percent of those surveyed believed the island would be better off if it had remained a U.K. colony... Jamaica achieved independence from Britain in 1962. Since then, the island has struggled with high crime, a hefty debt burden and inefficient government"
This would be a good refutation of postcolonialism, but we can anticipate the response which makes postcolonialism unfalsifiable

SubwayCrush.net - "Welcome to SubwayCrush where your MTA man-crushes can be shared online. This website was built to bring you the hunks of the underground – our everyday daydreams of the sexy straphangers across the train brought together by a community of compliments and adoration. Click through the galleries to see the many men of NYC that you should keep an eye out for and contribute the ones that you were lucky enough to view in person. The premise is simple: “See. Snap. Share.” After your jaw has been picked up off the floor, discretely snap a photo of him and send to us"
If this were about women it would be labelled creepy, objectification etc

Danish hotel flouts the law by reserving floor for women only - "A Copenhagen hotel will continue reserving a whole floor for women, despite a recent ruling that doing so is discriminatory and illegal... the Danish Gender Equality Board found in favor of a man who had filed a complaint against the hotel, ruling that the initiative was illegal. Since men are not allowed access to all the rooms, you would have to “presume that there is a difference in treatment based on sex” at the hotel, the board said in its ruling... the plaintiff could take the case to civil court and demand damages"
Don't you love this country? This is TRUE equality, not feminist equality (i.e. "Privilege")

Company introduces bacon-flavored... what?!? - "We've seen bacon-flavored mayonnaise, bacon-flavored vodka and even bacon-flavored ice cream. But just how far can the bacon obsession go?... J&D Foods, the company that brought you Bacon Salt and Baconnaise, is introducing Baconlube -- billed as "the world's first bacon-flavored personal lubricant and massage oil"... 43 percent of Canadians surveyed said they prefer bacon to sex. Now they'll never have to choose again"

EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration - "EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact. Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict... Rules banning bent bananas and curved cucumbers were scrapped in 2008 after causing international ridicule... Prof Brian Ratcliffe, spokesman for the Nutrition Society, said dehydration was usually caused by a clinical condition and that one could remain adequately hydrated without drinking water... “This claim is trying to imply that there is something special about bottled water which is not a reasonable claim”"

Racist — or just a symptom of wider malaise? - "While Neo's posting is undoubtedly deplorable, we should be asking if it is not a symptom of a wider malaise, particularly in whether such a stereotypical racist mindset has taken root among the populace and, if so, what the cause of this is. For the longest time, since our independence, in fact, Singaporeans have been told, warned, and threatened into not only staying away from discussing anything racial or religious, but to also trust the government in handling matters with regards to these... the Singapore government [creates] the impression and belief that a particular race is more prone to violence than others. Indeed, in March 2011, former Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo, when commenting on why the book "The Satanic Verses" was banned in Singapore while the film, "The Last Temptation of Christ", was allowed, explained that this was because "Christians are less likely to riot""

10 Top Tips to End Burglary

"You can fool too many of the people too much of the time." - James Thurber

***

10 Top Tips to End Burglary

1. Don't carry around crowbars.

2. When you see a house that has been unoccupied for a long time, leave it alone.

3. Occupy yourself so you won't think of or have time to break into people's houses.

4. If you drive by a house, don't break into it.

5. USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM! If you are not able to stop yourself from breaking into houses, ask a friend to stay with you while you are in public.

6. Buy an alarm! If you are worried you might break into a house you can hand it to the person you are with, so they can call the police.

7. If you see a house with an open door or window, don't rob it.

8. Don't break into people's houses.

9. Do I really need to continue?

***

Burglary Prevention Tips

"The burglary basics:

Make your home look occupied, and make it difficult to break in.

Lock all outside doors and windows before you leave the house or go to bed. Even if it is for a short time, lock your doors.

Leave lights on when you go out. If you are going to be away for a length of time, connect some lamps to automatic timers to turn them on in the evening and off during the day.

Keep your garage door closed and locked.

Don't allow daily deliveries of mail, newspapers or flyers build up while you are away. Arrange with the Post Office to hold your mail, or arrange for a friend or neighbor to take them regularly.

Arrange for your lawn to be mowed if you are going away for an extended time.

Check your locks on doors and windows and replace them with secure devices as necessary.

Pushbutton locks on doorknobs are easy for burglars to open. Install deadbolt locks on all your outside doors.

Sliding glass doors are vulnerable. Special locks are available for better security.

Other windows may need better locks. Check with a locksmith or hardware store for alternatives."



"10 Top Tips to End Rape"


Responsibility AWAREness

"Approaching American self-defence expert Marc MacYoung (again on Facebook), I held a brief discussion with him...

'[I]t is the opinion of myself and many other personal safety experts that many of these advocacy groups are promoting ideas that guarantee they always have a client base. With the information they give about a woman’s ‘rights’ to behave in dangerous and stupid ways, they are guaranteeing there will be a never-ending supply of rape victims for them to ‘help.’…

[L]ook into the funding that AWARE Singapore is getting and their political/legal lobbying and activities. The big money isn’t in the front lines actually helping women who were raped (Here in the States, most of the front line people are volunteers). The big money is in administration, ‘education’ fees, lobbying, medical and psychological funding'"

Inspired by Tony Tan telling students not to "fritter away [time] in pursuit of peripheral and frivolous activities"

Someone:

""窃以少年老成，中国称人之语也；年长而勿衰，英、美人相勖之辞也，此亦东西民族涉想不同、现象趋异之一端欤？青年之于社会，犹新鲜活泼细胞之在人身。新陈代谢，陈腐朽败者无时不在天然淘汰之途，与新鲜活泼者以空间之位置及时间之生命。人身遵新陈代谢之道则健康，陈腐朽败之细胞充塞人身则人身死；社会遵新陈代谢之道则隆盛，陈腐朽败之分子充塞社会则社会亡."

Roughly translated, Chinese people like to compliment young people for being mature, where as British and Americans like to encourage each to stay young while growing old. Young people are like the fresh and active cells of a body. If there is no metabolism and the old cells don't get replaced by the young ones, the body dies. Society works the same way.

Chen Duxiu said this in 1915. Nearly a century later, we are still trying to make young people boring old people."

The World's Favourite Past Time

"Brain: an apparatus with which we think we think." - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

***

On complaining about the young:

Who says young people are lazy and rude?

"TOO rude, too lazy and too wasteful.

Adults worldwide routinely complain about erosion of moral standards among young people.

These laments have been growing louder, and in Singapore the debate has taken on a formal flavour, with much discussion recently about character education in schools.

But tell all of that to Professor Lee Wing On and he will simply reply that you have a poor memory.

'We forget how rebellious we were when we were young,' says the 57-year-old dean of education research at the National Institute of Education.

'When we grow older, we feel we have better values and think that the younger generation is deteriorating. But it's only a perception.'

Youth surveys have shown that the young sometimes have moral standards just as high, if not higher, than those of adults, says the respected scholar who has done research in the fields of citizenship, moral and values education.

One study he did on youth in Hong Kong, for example, showed that they expressed deep respect for their parents. 'They sometimes don't know how to communicate with their parents, but they know that fulfilling filial piety is not just giving money to them, but also spending time with them.

'Is there a more beautiful definition than this?' he asks.

Besides, societies have generally progressed over time.

'How can that take place if one generation were worse than the previous one?'

The problem, he says, is that people tend not to notice when the values that they have imbibed since they were young no longer take pride of place in society.

While frugality, for example, is a long-cherished virtue, it is increasingly at odds with capitalist economies where employment is dependent on people spending - rather than saving - money.

'If everyone was frugal, and we didn't change our clothes, or buy new furniture, or new cars, then manufacturers would not be able to sell their products, they could not run their factories... and people would not have jobs'...

There continues to be a distinct difference in the values upheld in Asian and Western education curricula in this globalised age.

Words like 'filial piety', 'harmony' and 'resilience' are more commonly used in Asian contexts, while 'tolerance' and 'liberty' are more often heard in the West.

There are also very clear differences in their citizenship education, he says.

In many Asian countries, including Singapore, citizenship education is bound to moral education. Someone qualifies as a good citizen if he is first a good person.

Regardless of the country's political system, Asian citizenship curricula tend to focus on cultivating good moral beings before talking about citizens' relationship with the wider society.

In contrast, he says, Western citizenship education is often tied to politics. A good citizen in the Western context is someone who is politically literate and knows his rights and responsibilities, such as electing a government to power...

Western countries, which used to emphasise individual rights, are starting to discuss social responsibility, he notes.

This is because 'if everyone defines good in his or her own way, if we are just tending to our own interest, then we cannot come to a societal compromise'.

Asian countries, meanwhile, are starting to open the discussion on individual rights because 'the downside of not knowing how to exercise your rights is that you forget your individuality'.

He adds that it could also make one lose the creative and critical edge to keep pace with the 21st century."


Also the point that citizenship education is inherently political is one that people forget.

Bizarre LJ Spam

"Anarchy - it's not the law, it's just a good idea." - Unknown

***

"hydraulik lodz

Hiya,

I am searching for a handy-man firm in Poland (I migrated here two years ago because of job duties) and was wondering if you knew such firm. On friday I stumbled upon a company known as Hydraulik-Lodz.pl that comes from Lodz, a significant Polish city). Have you heard of them? You may access their webpage here: http://uslugi-hydrauliczne-lodz.pl/

The issue I am dealing with with is a broken or cracked water pipe beneath the sink.

I would love to hear back from you

Take care"


The day when Polish Plumbers start spamming you...


"Very Bad Trip 2, vous en pensez quoi?

Il est enorme ce film non?
J'ai trop kiffer, sinon je viens decouvrir un super site sur bangkok, enfin bali mais c'est pareil on s'amuse bien là bas...

(spam link)

Et vous very bad trip 2 vous en avez pense quoi ???
tcho!"

France/Spain 2011 - Day 8, Part 1 - Monastery of San Juan de la Peña

"I love the power women have. I think women rule the world because they rule men. Manipulating men -- that's our job. That's what we're on the planet for" - Isla Fisher

***

Once again, I find myself with a familiar problem - I will be unable to finish my travelogue before flying off again in mid-January. So I will try and finish the March France/Spain chronicles before moving on to the August Australia tales.

France/Spain 2011
Day 7 - 23rd March - Monastery of San Juan de la Peña (Part 1)


Jaca street

We then drove to the monastery of San Juan de la Peña y Monte Oroel, composed of 2 monasteries - the Old (lower) Monastery and the New (upper) Monastery. Which was incidentally also on the Route to Santiago.


Map of area


Upper Monastery, 17th century


Front


Carved portals


This is why Spain loves the EU - money to build visitors' centres

The presentation of the area was rather strange, with us looking downwards at ghostly (white plaster has that effect) mock scenes, turning us into voyeurs. I surmise that this was the lower layer of the monastery and we were standing on the upper layer - but since everything was in Spanish I had no way of finding out.


One scene


Another

Then we got to be on the same level as the ruins.


Bodega (Warehouse)




The signs pointed us out through a door marked "Emergency Exit"


Escalera (Staircase - ???)




Baking bread


I assume he's a carpenter. He looks like a monkey - maybe it is a representation of childhood illness which hit people in the Middle Ages hard


Hnnng...


Information on the Hospital

We then went down to the lower monastery, partially carved into the rock, which despite being older was ironically in better condition (at least compared to the old parts of the upper monastery).


Swarmed by a Spanish tour group


Monks' bedroom


On the monastery


Courtyard


Mural


High Church of San Juan


More explications


"A reproduction of the Holy Grail, which was said to have been kept in the Monastery to protect it against Muslim invasions"


Noble Pantheon, with tombs of nobility


Arch to what should be the Royal Pantheon




Interior of Royal Pantheon


More information


Archway


12th century Romanesque cloisters


Cloisters from back

Some of the more impressive capitals with Bible scenes:


Jesus forgiving the adulterer


Lazarus


An angel wakes a sleeping Joseph


Valley the monastery looks out over


Valley panorama


Valley

We didn't have time to see small villages. They might be picturesque but once you've seen one you've seen them all. More importantly we had to hit our hotel by 6pm so we had to cheong.

We then stopped for lunch in some roadside restaurant.

They were out of Judias Verdes (Green Beans).


This was called macaroni but was really penne-like pasta with pork


Fish soup


This should be menestra. It translates as stew but this was very dry


Rabbit


This should be lamb chops
We also had pork chops but they looked like the lamb chops

As you can see, the Spanish cook their fries like the British cook their chips, albeit in a different shape and crispier. About the most that can be said about this approach is the fries seem fresher.


House flan, rice pudding with milk, natilla con galleta (translated as Cookie Custard)

This all cost 12,5€ per person. Lunch in Spain is cheap, with their set menus.

After lunch I beheld a city upon a hill


Town on a hill (Berdún)


Fork

At one part there was a nice lake and a ruined tower on a hill, but everyone else in the car was sleeping so no one could take a photo for me.

We pulled into Pamplona for a short while, but even the city centre was quite boring. Either that or I read the "city centre" sign wrongly. In any case we had 3 hours to travel almost 300km to the hotel with the ridiculous 6pm checkin time. So we continued on.


This should be a street sign in Pamplona. I don't know why I took


Sign in Basque! A sign that we had entered a different part of Spain.


Snack we had: tortilla with cheese and ham


Cute road safety sign
They also had "Attention: use engine brake" signs in 6 languages - Spanish, Basque, French, English, what I thought was Portuguese and Arabic. I was impressed, considering how unfriendly to non-Spanish languages Spain was.

A road sign said Paris was nearer than Santiago (our ultimate destination). w00t.


I don't know how the Spanish can be full eating tapas for dinner. Then again maybe it's because lunch is so big, they have no space for a proper dinner.

Virtually everywhere closes for lunch. Damn Spain.