Politics is, admittedly, a weak point [in America]

The Economist, from Declinism Resurgent [economist.com]]

Understatement of the century… It’s not a weak point, it’s fucking broken.

[T]he testicles are exquisitely sensitive to touch and there is a huge release of adrenalin when there is excessive force applied to these organs. … A heart attack could certainly result from severe testicular pain from squeezing.

Dr. Irwin Goldstein, quoted in Can You Die If Someone Squeezes Your Testicles Hard Enough? [gizmodo.com] by Jesus Diaz

“As Lin Yutang, the famous Chinese writer and inventor said: “What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child?” That must be it.”

Kenneth Jeyaretnam in Disneyland With the Death Penalty, Revisited [wired.com]

That might be the most insightful thing about Singaporeans I’ve ever read… You could never find another place on Earth that has the variety of food in Singapore. Food is one of the things that make it hard to take a Singaporean out of Singapore.

Someone, commenting on this article in another forum said:

“I think we have to stop saying shit about the place you live. If you dont like it, move :)”

Setting aside the fact that moving is often not an option, I think this person missed the point of the article, expressed near the end:

“Later this evening I’m going out to eat in Little India’s Serangoon Road at the Banana Leaf Apolo Restaurant. There one dines deliciously off a banana leaf rather than a plate. It’s still one of my favorite places to eat. I used to go with my parents as a boy and my father used to take my son out there for breakfast. No doubt my son will take his son.”

Despite the fact the the author’s father was sued into destitution by members of the ruling party for defamation, the author still calls Singapore home. And regardless; if one is going to complain about a place, it is in the end only where you do, or have lived, that you should be complaining about. I think it is altogether right to complain about is where you live… No place is perfect and one can always desire change in this things you don’t agree with. It might be a product of leisure time but it is what it is. We all want things to be better. Every time we get what we want we move the goal post. We always strive for a better place in the world. Singapore is a good place on balance but that does not mean people who live here should just accept things as is forever.

Same. Due. Date. (Plus 4 years) ‘Nuff said.

Why is my site more popular on Mondays?

“The money we spend on health care is money we don’t spend educating our children, or investing in infrastructure, scientific research and defense spending. So if what this means is we ultimately have overmedicalized, poorly educated Americans competing with China, that’s not a very good investment.”

Uwe Reinhardt, quoted in Why an MRI costs $1,080 in America and $280 in France

This is actually a scan of an old 35mm negative. I took this photo back in 1998 at a rave in my hometown, long before I knew how to handle my camera. But I’ve always loved the effect, though I think it looked better printed on glossy photo paper than it does scanned.

Could someone explain to me the use of documenting one’s parents ethnic and language groups on a child’s birth certificate is? What possible use can that information be other then for discrimination – either denying something or granting something on the basis of one’s or one’s parent ethnic or linguistic group? The only thing I can think is that it could be used for statistics, but that could just as easily come from the census. I think this information is a hold over from when it was used for discrimination, and they just have not removed it, because why would they unless someone forced them to?

“Our findings suggest that if the pursuit of self-interest goes unchecked, it may result in a vicious cycle: self-interest leads people to behave unethically, which raises their status, which leads to more unethical behavior and inequality.”

Paul Piff, quoted from Shame on the Rich [sciencemag.org] about research into ‘whether dishonesty varies with social class’.

For my own experience, I can state that, without doubt, people in Singapore who drive expensive cars (one of the things studied in the research), drive like they own the road. I remember this was the case in the US too, but in Singapore when we talk about expensive cars we are talking about 50% of the cars on the road (BMW, ‘Benz, or more expensive!). That many ass hole drivers makes the traffic in the tiny island of 5 million, with very good infrastructure, as bad as the traffic in New York City with it’s much larger population!

The sound is not terrific on this one, but it’s the sound of services at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.