Okay, I can understand why Singapore was chosen as the nation where the fraud occured, because Singapore is actually considered a pretty high risk destination... betcha didn't know this, eh?
But damn, look at how they portrayed Singapore. It's like the last time they visited Singapore was in the 80's and that we haven't developed since. Racist much?
JK Rowling gave a rather good speech about the benefits of failure, at Harvard. Pretty good stuff, too. Full transcript here.
I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment.
However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average person’s idea of success, so high have you already flown academically.
Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.
Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.
So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.
Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.
I think this has to be one of the better speeches out there. Like she said, everyone's concept of failure is relative. I once had someone tell me that I wouldn't really understand certan things because I have never truly failed before, and it is true to the extent that I have never truly objectively failed the way Rowling had, but I had experienced failure to a personally unacceptable degree nonetheless. You really do learn alot about life, because more often than not, people don't sit down to reflect until shit hits the fan and the shock of it all breaks through.
It is true that failure is liberating - it gives you that sense of security that Rowling mentioned because hell, you're already in a shithole, so there's really nothing left to lose. Things can only go up from there because you really can't go any lower. When you're flying hgh like a Harvard graduate, you have so many things that you risk losing, that you end up going the "safe" way all the time for fear of losing what you already have. Many times I find myself entertaining the notion that I might be a much happier person if I was more of a failure. If you know you're not capable of great things, you become satisfied with being a normal person with a normal life and all, since that is the limit of your capabilities. But when you sense that you can do so much more, you just have to try. I remember someone once saying that it is a sin if you have the ability to do something and you don't. I totally agree.
I like to share. I think the internet will eventually bring about world peace as we share teh funnies. Today, we have:
1) Awesome transforming cigarette boxes:
2) Believe it or not, the Englishmen have never had Oreos until now. And they think it looks like mud.
3) This is soooo Japanese. If I had to pick something to represent Japan, this is it. Warning: Link is NSFW and might be disturbing to people who don't have a sense of humor. Oh by the way it sold for 15 million. [Murakami's My Lonesome Cowboy]
So yeah, another student in the US of A decided to try to blow up his school with 20 pounds of ammonium nitrate, planning to commit suicide in the explosion, go to heaven, and KILL JESUS.
LOL. Seriously. Full article here.
Well, first of all, how the hell is he going to heaven after blowing up an entire school worth of students? Fail.
Secondly, KILL Jesus. Last I checked, HE ALREADY DIED. Maybe he's like, I don't know, a couple thousand years late? Fail.
Thirdly, how in the world do you intend to, uh, kill a spirit anyway? Use a Ghostbusters gun? Fail.
Last of all, what exactly would happen should he succeed? Let's see... Jesus dies, then because he's JESUS AND ALL, he'd go to Heaven upon death. So... he ends up back in Heaven again ANYWAY. Fail.
Oh, did I mention he didn't even manage to get his plan in action? He got caught when his parents notified the police when they received his mail order of ammonium nitrate.
Epic Fail.
Batman has his sights set so far that he does not notice the metal grille in his face.
Also, the city is capable of projecting a mirror reflection of itself on any floor, at any height.
Somewhere out there, there's a graphic designer waiting to get fired.
There are some things in this world that have never been said until now:
"You can't high-five a woman's breast," Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Pederson said in court after comedian Aries Spears pleaded guilty in New York to giving a woman's breast a high five. [Link]
I love the internet.
There I was doing my homework on good friday, while wondering why they'd call it a "good" friday if it's the day Jesus died, unless they secretly really wanted Jesus dead or something, but that's probably not it. So I did a little modern-day research (Google) and came up with:
The name maybe derived from 'God's Friday' in the same way that good-bye is derived from 'god be with ye'.
It is good because the barrier of sin was broken.
Well now, there we go! Two questions answered at once. The origin of the 'bye' in good-bye had always puzzled me, and now I know - AND KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE!
A couple of months ago, I saw this in Kinokuniya, and almost bought it purely because Moses looks like some deadly archmage channeling huge tidal waves on the cover and it featured many other dangerous looking, weapon wielding people that I assumed were characters from the Bible. With weapons. And ninja headbands. And one mean Moses. At least I think that's Moses. It's hard to tell one bearded man from another. Disappointed though, because when I flipped open the book, it turned out to be mostly just a regular Old Testament Bible (because that's where all the ass kicking is at) with only very few pages of very badly drawn manga panels. Not worth the $40+ price tag, despite how awesome the cover is. And then this morning, a website I was reading featured this:
Is that Jesus on the cover? He looks badass. Anyway, from the creator of the manga (an aspiring Anglican priest, too):
Mr. Akinsiku says his Son of God is “a samurai stranger who’s come to town, in silhouette,” here to shake things up in a new, much-abridged version of the Bible rooted in manga, the Japanese form of graphic novels.
“We present things in a very brazen way,” said Mr. Akinsiku, who hopes to become an Anglican priest and who is the author of “The Manga Bible: From Genesis to Revelation.” “Christ is a hard guy, seeking revolution and revolt, a tough guy.”
[From NY Times]
Less awesome is this one, which features a dated manga style and a less-than-awesome looking JC:
Maybe this is focused more on the New Testament or something, because I see a lot more girls and a lot less mean looking men waiting to chop things up (there's one though, on the left side of the cover). The one that takes the grand prize home for Most Ridiculous Bible Manga Adaptation, however, has to be this:
David vs giant evil robot Goliath. 'nuff said.
From Sports Illustrated:
"KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Kansas activities officials are investigating a religious school's refusal to let a female referee call a boys' high school basketball game.
The Kansas State High School Activities Association said referees reported that Michelle Campbell was preparing to officiate at St. Mary's Academy near Topeka on Feb. 2 when a school official insisted that Campbell could not call the game.
The reason given, according to the referees: Campbell, as a woman, could not be put in a position of authority over boys because of the academy's beliefs."
The private academy is owned by the society of St Pius X, whose world leader (Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre) was actually excommunicated by Pope John Paul II in the late 80's.
Think what you may of this issue with regards to people and religion, but what I'd really like to know is why a school such as this is being permitted to operate at all. If their world leader had been excommed by the Pope, shouldn't the society be required to relinquish it's status as a Catholic organisation and not be allowed to carry out any activities in the religion's name? I always thought the Pope was the final authority on all matters Catholic.
You know what the problem with religion is? They're scattered. They can't agree amongst themselves. Imagine a big chain of stores, say, Target. Now, if every single Target store had a different policy on refunds and said different things about what Target is all about, with the only common point being that they all sell stuff, you'd be thinking how can they all claim to be Target? Everyone knows Target is for the cheap. No one goes to Target because they want to splurge on some top end, upper-market designer goods. Try to figure out why, it's not that hard.
It's not enough to claim to be one and the same just because you are all running under one common banner, be it a company, a religion, an organisation, or whatever. In fact, it's even worse to be running under one banner but saying different things than it is to be just running under different banners. Religions need to get their act together somehow, maybe with a central command (something like the Pope and his entourage of holy men) which controls exactly what, who, and how, and actively enforces this control over anyone who chooses to call themselves a part of the religion the same way a large corporation has to enforce it's corporate identity and public image.
Anyway, just my 2 cents. I'm sure many people will disagree, because when it comes to religion, everyone has something to say about everything that gets said. They'd probably have something to say about that statement too. Heh.
This is soooooo going to make a lot of guys feel deprived.
Seven speed transmission, an on-board computer, disc brakes and even semi-slick racing tires with Enzo inspired hubcaps. The exclusive version even has a racing-style bucket seat with a four point harness, a leather steering wheel and an aero kit to keep drag down while you’re roaring down the street at 10mph.
[From: Oh Gizmo]
I seem to be doing this a lot these days, just posting up stuff I found on the net that I think the world should see as well.
1) Why are kids ALWAYS made to look SO DAMN FREAKY in product shots? Seriously, this kid looks like some kind of goblin being strapped to an electric chair...
2) Meet the... SPARTAAAAAAANS!!!! I am so watching this when it comes out.
Meet the Spartans
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3) Asian female body art (Note: Nudity, NSFW)
4) This jigsaw is hardcore. Has your house in the middle, as a specially house-shaped piece.
Okay, I'm supposed to be doing my work now, but since today's such a nice and sunny day I felt I just had to post some of these things up to brighten up the day even more.
1) Hello Kitty AK-47. Buy one here for just $1072.95! (Note: Make sure it is legal to purchase assault rifles in your country, and please don't hurt anyone with it. Hello Kitty would be really sad if you did.)
2) Getting married saps a man's testosterone level. No wonder men are bastards while they're single and henpecked once they get married.
3) More of captain obvious from the scientific community. People feel happier when they have free time to relax! An earth shattering insight into human psychology, eh?
4) Funny picture, with the funniest comment ever.
"Hmm, looks like you have a bad case of polaroids." - Anonymous
I really should be studying for my japanese test tomorrow, but this strip deserves immediate posting on my blog:
Warning: Contains language that some people might find offensive, such as names and slangs of genitals and the f-bomb.
Damn funny though. If you insist on not defiling your ears you'll be missing out on some lulz. Especially at 01:00. With oil.
Image says it all. Fine Art Taco Photography.
2)
Giant banana. In space. For all to see. Geostationary Banana Over Texas. Seriously. This guy rocks.
3) There is no 3.
Oh my goodness this has got to be the funniest thing EVER. If you've been following the news in Singapore, you'll know all about the Odex saga, where this really crappy anime subbing company decides to threaten anime downloaders to either pay them $5000 or get sued in court. The anime community is of course incensed, seeing it as an act of extortion to line their own pockets because Odex sales have been crap because their subs are crap.
Well, some anime fan decided to stage an anti-Odex protest using his action figures at Youth Park (link to his blog post here), and lo and behold, the police somehow knew about his intentions beforehand (monitor the net much?) and sent down FOUR RIOT VANS to the scene to, umm, stop the toys from protesting.
Aside from the obvious humor value of seeing four riot vans being sent down to stop a bunch of toys, I must say that that guy has got the balls man. Kudos to him for carrying through with the plan even though the police knew about it and came down all prepared for some kind of big fight or something.
In defense of the police force though, I guess it would have been a wise choice to always prepare for the worst, so even though it looks bad on them this time, they're just doing their job. Also, I'll salute them for being a good enough sport to not stop the guy from doing the little toy protest. Maybe its because he demonstrated non violent intentions.
... full of things that make you wonder. Seriously, if anyone thinks this world is boring, monotonous and drab, all you need to do is come talk to me and I'll show you some of the most amazing things this world has to offer, right here on the internet. Everything posted here is real. Follow the links to read the original articles if you wish to.
First up, a scientist uses research as an excuse to read 12,942 comic books. Now thanks to his... um, hard work, we know that superheroes have a larger social network than villians which is why they always win.
"Physicist Pablo Gleiser of the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research in Buenos Aires, Argentina, studied the social web within the fictional universe of Marvel comics, comprising 6486 characters in 12,942 issues. Taking two characters to be linked if they appeared in the same issue, he found a superficially realistic social network."
Then, another bunch of scientists decided that most waking activities were inversely related to sleep time. Okkkaaayyy... Captain Obvious. Like, spend more time awake, sleep less as a result? Genius! Who woulda thunk?
And then we have this guy here who's going to go down in human history because... just watch the video. You'll see.
Love Death 2 is first-person-shooter meets Japanese erotic game from developer TEATIME. And what are players shooting in this erotic game? Well...it ain't bullets!
Here's what's going on: the girl character Koto Sumikawa says we can do whatever we want. She wants to talk. The player doesn't and unloads in her general direction, causing her to get annoyed. The player then goes and gets a bat (yes, a BAT) and scares the poor girl. The player then "shoots" a few "rounds" at her, causing her to scurry about the room and run through a chalkboard and disappear, causing the entire room to moan. The player fires off a few more rounds as a denouement. The end.
Think you've seen the world? No you haven't. I'm not sure if you'll want to either.
