NDP: A Postscript So the fireworks have died down, they've finally stopped playing 'Home' ad nauseum, the National Stadium stands empty, bereft of the crowds that once thronged its old and cracked benches.

Take re-minesce for example. In his National Day-related post, he summed up my own thoughts very nicely when he said:

"National day ought to be a day when the people are proud - of the country. Of the humble, faceless layman. Of our past, and our present - and our futures. Our one minute of glory to the people that make the country WORK. And not just the men in white - without the support of the sheep, the system would collapse. Celebrities mean nothing to the economy. And Jack Neo's little piece on perpetuation of the arts is... cough. I'll reserve comment.

Sure, that moblog thing is an interesting idea.
But honestly - go click the links above.

How many of them can actually write?
What is the POINT of a celebrity moblog when all the pseudo-celebrity writes is "I wish I could update more often, but I'm too busy."

I cast my eye around the web, and behold - there are SO MANY Singaporean blogs out there. Hundreds upon thousands. Some of them can actually string words together into mini masterpieces.

Shouldn't national day recognise these usually hidden faces behind the pearls they produce out of their everyday, mundane lives?

Instead, we have the winner of the mydreamd8 competition (no offence, Janice) doing her best to represent the blogging community at large - and well. She's sweet, and she's trying her best, and I'm sure if I knew her in real life I'd be charmed.

But there's more to Singaporean bloggers than Janice.

I think the organisers got it all wrong. They shouldn't have "handpicked" top-blogs (through whatever social network they used to form their pool of candidates) which, quite honestly, are mostly rubbish, or just cute piccys of housepets or other snippets of celebrity life which, well, are interesting enough but not enough.

They should have set up a team to search the web for Singaporean weblogs - as many as possible -- and linked them ALL.

They could have categorised them, into advanced writers, and into daily bloggers, into reads of merit, and reads of substance - whatever. They could have done so, so much more.

Instead, we have a pale reflection of mydreamd8, with every "blogger" using a standardised template, and comments functions becoming blatant money rakers for Singtel. Every "blogger" there is really just Singtel's whore -- I wonder how they came up with that idea?

So some people will still read them, and ooh and ah.

But where is the pride? Where is Singapore??

Likewise, the whole National Day Parade thingie.

What's with all the boys in uniform twirling their big weapons around? And kiddies walking around a 400m track??

Is that meant to be some Brazilian carnival idea gone horribly wrong? Let's make it secure. Instead of having floats and a carnival meandering down the streets, let's make it simple - we'll put it all in a stadium. Make them walk around a track a few times.

I do think there's a role for a parade, and if the best we can do is a hemmed-in stageshow, then well and fine. Every country has it's parading of the colours. The Queen inspects the guard.

But the NDP shouldn't BE national day. It should just be one of the many things happening on national day."

After sleeping through most of NDP, and waking up only when the fireworks began, I concur wholeheartedly.

Is that all that National Day has come down to? Is that all we've got to offer? Where's the celebrating in the streets? The festivals? The carnivals and impromptu street parades and parties? The media crew filming the average Singaporean on the street, asking him about his views on celebrating another year of independence?

It almost seems as if NDP is the best we can offer as a celebration. Oh c'mon. I don't know about you, but after watching the same old thing year in, year out, seeing the usual military parade, the 21-gun salute, some song-and-dance routine, I can't help but feel jaded by it all.

And it's not as if every one of the past 22 National Days I have lived through has been spent in front of the idiot box. I've been actively involved in 2 NDPs so far, once during JC1 (1999- I was a cheerleader), and another time in NS (2002- I was part of the 'sai kang' party). I've been through countless rehearsals, burnt countless weekends, toiled under the hot sun, ate KFC and SFI food until I was thoroughly sick and tired of it, felt the same rush of pride and joy when singing the National Anthem at the close of the celebrations.

Yet, when I take a step back and look upon it all, all I see are just empty and hollow festivities and ceremonies, a showcase of military might and power, schoolchildren and various associations coerced into putting up with long days under the hot sun to put up some old song-and-dance routine to boost our ego and to remind us of how far Singapore has progressed from a sleepy seaside village to the global hub that it is today.

To me, NDP has become way overblown and way overrated. True, we all like to feel good about ourselves sometimes, to give ourselves a congratulatory handshake at having made it this far and having succeeded beyond all odds, but to do it for so many years is starting to feel a little stale. And frankly, to me NDP has become but a showcase of how much money and manpower the organising committee has at its disposal, a platform where schools vie for top honours in contributing towards development of co-curricular activities (though sometimes I do wonder whether the schoolchildren actually have any say in whether they want to endure all the hard work and effort or not), where the SAF parades its military might and shows off some of its hardware, as well as showing our neighbours that we are not to be trifled with.

This is how the typical NDP goes:

Blablabla welcome to the National Stadium/ Padang yada yada if you look to the sky you will see the Red Lions blablabla watch the commandos rappel down and see the Guards Lightstrike and SCDF Red Rhino vehicles going round and round the track oh time for a mass unarmed combat display waffle pfiffle phoom watch the parade contingent come-a marching in the various civilian contingents foom foom pfiffle faff uniformed groups... lalalalala... representing the 5 arms of Total Defence... gobble gobble goop goop... choir sings at least one Tamil, one Malay and one Mandarin song, blablabla welcome the ministers of Parliament blablabla please rise for the arrival of the Prime Minister blablabla please rise for the arrival of the President blablabla rise for the national anthem blablabla look up to the sky you can see 5 Super Skyhawks yada yada presidential inspection blablabla 21-gun salute President stands in ceremonial landrover that goes round the track and starts waving at everyone blablablabla feu-de-joie blablabla parade contingent fall out song and dance segment coming up yadayada waffle look how far Singapore has progressed into a vibrant society ready to face the challenges ahead blablabla FIREWORKS! More singing and dancing! MORE FIREWORKS! Recite pledge, sing national anthem, President takes his leave, YET MORE FIREWORKS! Good night, and everyone leaves the National Stadium, only to get caught in the mother of all traffic jams.

What else is new??

Enough already. There's only so many ways you can spice up and add variations to the same old thing. No matter how much you add garnishing, put slices of lemon on top or cover it all in whipped cream and cherries or pour chocolate sauce all over it, if the cake is stale, it will still be stale, no matter what you do to it (Gee that made me feel hungry).

And I'm absolutely fed up with all this remixing and remaking of National Day songs. Oh, come on, yes, be creative, but doing a hip-hop or techno version of Home or any other National Day song is just plain distasteful and revolting. (Yes, no matter how crazy I am about techno music, there are some songs that should just never be techno-fied) You can accuse me of being purist, but hey, I like my National Day songs the old-fashioned style.

I'm not the sort to read too deeply into things, but I feel that NDP itself perhaps reflects the mentality of Singaporeans at large: desiring to be creative and unique, and yet still very much wanting to conform to the norm. Just look at the displays. What do you see? Mass synchronised displays. Military precision. Everything is rehearsed over and over again until perfection is achieved. There is no room for error. Everything has to be precise, on the dot, synchronised. Even in those years, when they tried to be creative and had hip-hop dancers and graffiti artists on stage, those were still kept under control; they were restricted to a section of the stage itself. Heck, I think the only thing spontaneous and random about NDP itself is the attack of the giant beach balls, or perhaps when they release balloons en masse into the sky.

Where's the spontaneity in that? The passion? The freedom to express yourself creatively, to break beyond the boundaries? I'm not asking for NDP to degenerate into a mass display of anarchy, and shows of synchronicity and precision are very appealing indeed, but after a while there's just this sense of a lack of individualism, that one is but a solitary cog in this gargantuan well-oiled machine.

And sticking to a tried-and-tested formula, as the committee did this year, didn't prove to be very exciting. In fact, apart from minor details, this year's NDP was an almost exact mirror of NDP '02. Yes, the commandos rappelling down the grandstand were there in 2002, and so were the Lightstrikes and Red Rhinos. And yes, even the huge balloon was featured in '02. So there. Where's the originality? Where's the adventure? Where's the risk-taking, the receptivity to new ideas?

In fact, I dare say that NDP '02 was more exciting than this year's display. Perhaps I'm just biased, especially since I experienced NDP '02 in the flesh, but this year's NDP left me rather unimpressed.

In NDPs of years gone by, there were several moments that I felt were quite novel and reflected some really good ideas. These included:

1) In 1999, there was a segment where there were various performers with cold fireworks strapped to their backs. A real feast for the eyes, and a prelude to the dazzling fireworks display later that night, if I may say so.

2) In 2000 (I think), they had an entire convoy of military vehicles parade down the streets, travelling through the neighbourhoods. People flocked to the roadsides to get a chance to come close to our best military hardware. And hey, talk about bringing the parade to those at home watching the parade on TV.

These, among many others which I can't really recall right now, reflected refreshing and new ways to spice up the parade, to stop it from becoming too stale and mundane.

I have a few ideas of my own:

1) Rig up fireworks in neighbourhoods throughout Singapore, and synchronise the timings such that they go off along with those going off over Kallang. Bring the parade to the sheep general populace, those who couldn't watch it live in the National Stadium. People don't have to flock all the way to Kallang just to watch fireworks. Let the entire island be ablaze in fireworks displays.

2) Have street parties and carnivals. Make it a time for people to just let their hair down and celebrate in the streets. Have a free flow of non-alcoholic drinks. Anyone can join in, young or old, cosmopolitan or heartlander, rich or poor. Don't let the celebrations and festivities be limited to Kallang; bring the joy and pride into the heartlands.

3) And running concurrently with all the celebrations, put up exhibitions. Talk about the achievements of some of our founding fathers, to let the younger generations know about our nation's formative years. The tumultous years, the Communist insurgency, the push for independence, the fateful merger and then separation with Malaysia, these are but dates and figures in the History textbooks. Let the children rediscover their roots, the struggles in our nation's early years, and how they alone hold the key to a brighter future. (Yah, I know. Time for PAP propaganda National Education... But seriously, apathy and ignorance of even basic facts is no excuse.)

I could think of a few more, but it's late, and I'm sleepy. And no, I do not aspire to work for the PAP. Politics just isn't my cup of tea.

But I do think that NDP has lost its lustre, that it has become a mere formality, that it has come to be synonymised with the very idea of National Day itself.

Hands up, all of you who think NDP is in dire need of a revamp.
  ¶ 11:11 PM 1 comments

  What to call Mr Lee Kuan Yew

1. Supreme Leader


2. Great Leader (Dear Leader for PM Goh)


3. Really Senior Minister (RSM)


4. Head of The Jedi Council


5. Super-Senior Minister


6. Dad


7. High Overlord


8. The One


9. Number 0 (If DPM Lee is going to be No. 1, and PM Goh is going to be No.2)


10. Sir

  ¶ 10:14 PM 0 comments

  I sense a disturbance in The Force... This post is a continuation of this.

As a Christian who also happens to be very fascinated with the multitude of lifeforms that once inhabited this planet long before humans walked the Earth, I am often caught up in a storm of arguments for and against evolution. And while I openly proclaim myself a Theistic Evolutionist, i.e. one who believes in both the existence of a God and that evolution does occur, it riles me to no end when Creationists and fellow Christians resort to half-truths, occasional outright lies, withholding of valuable information, out-of-context quotes, irrelevant and illogical arguments, and already-refuted points, and much hysterical arm-waving and hollering to strengthen the case for the story of creation, which, to put it mildly in my point of view, is complete bullshit.

Now I don't want to start a flame war or end up polarising my readers into 2 opposing camps, but all I have to say is that, at present, all the evidence points out that the Earth is indeed several billion years old, and that over the eons, the shape of life has not been immutable and permanent, but that organisms have been continually changing ever since time immemorial.

Follow this link to an article in Scientific American, for 15 rebuttals to some of the common Creationist arguments.

I have chosen to reproduce here the introduction to the essay, as well as a few of the other more pertinent points. The entire article is 7 pages long, so read the entire article only if you're really interested in the creation vs. evolution debate, which actually IMHO, isn't a real debate, but the whinings of a proportion of the population who would apppear to worship the book of Genesis more than they worship God Himself, and who choose to ignore all the evidence that exists all around us. But don't quote me on that.

15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense
Opponents of evolution want to make a place for creationism by tearing down real science, but their arguments don't hold up

By John Rennie

When Charles Darwin introduced the theory of evolution through natural selection 143 (Ivan: now it's 145) years ago, the scientists of the day argued over it fiercely, but the massing evidence from paleontology, genetics, zoology, molecular biology and other fields gradually established evolution's truth beyond reasonable doubt. Today that battle has been won everywhere--except in the public imagination.

Embarrassingly, in the 21st century, in the most scientifically advanced nation the world has ever known, creationists can still persuade politicians, judges and ordinary citizens that evolution is a flawed, poorly supported fantasy. They lobby for creationist ideas such as "intelligent design" to be taught as alternatives to evolution in science classrooms. As this article goes to press, the Ohio Board of Education is debating whether to mandate such a change. Some antievolutionists, such as Philip E. Johnson, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley and author of Darwin on Trial, admit that they intend for intelligent-design theory to serve as a "wedge" for reopening science classrooms to discussions of God.

Besieged teachers and others may increasingly find themselves on the spot to defend evolution and refute creationism. The arguments that creationists use are typically specious and based on misunderstandings of (or outright lies about) evolution, but the number and diversity of the objections can put even well-informed people at a disadvantage.

To help with answering them, the following list rebuts some of the most common "scientific" arguments raised against evolution. It also directs readers to further sources for information and explains why creation science has no place in the classroom.

Among some of the excellent rebuttals to the points argued again and again in Creationist websites and propaganda are:

4. Increasingly, scientists doubt the truth of evolution.

No evidence suggests that evolution is losing adherents. Pick up any issue of a peer-reviewed biological journal, and you will find articles that support and extend evolutionary studies or that embrace evolution as a fundamental concept.

Conversely, serious scientific publications disputing evolution are all but nonexistent. In the mid-1990s George W. Gilchrist of the University of Washington surveyed thousands of journals in the primary literature, seeking articles on intelligent design or creation science. Among those hundreds of thousands of scientific reports, he found none. In the past two years, surveys done independently by Barbara Forrest of Southeastern Louisiana University and Lawrence M. Krauss of Case Western Reserve University have been similarly fruitless.

Creationists retort that a closed-minded scientific community rejects their evidence. Yet according to the editors of Nature, Science and other leading journals, few antievolution manuscripts are even submitted. Some antievolution authors have published papers in serious journals. Those papers, however, rarely attack evolution directly or advance creationist arguments; at best, they identify certain evolutionary problems as unsolved and difficult (which no one disputes). In short, creationists are not giving the scientific world good reason to take them seriously.

5. The disagreements among even evolutionary biologists show how little solid science supports evolution.

Evolutionary biologists passionately debate diverse topics: how speciation happens, the rates of evolutionary change, the ancestral relationships of birds and dinosaurs, whether Neandertals were a species apart from modern humans, and much more. These disputes are like those found in all other branches of science. Acceptance of evolution as a factual occurrence and a guiding principle is nonetheless universal in biology.

Unfortunately, dishonest creationists have shown a willingness to take scientists' comments out of context to exaggerate and distort the disagreements. Anyone acquainted with the works of paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould of Harvard University knows that in addition to co-authoring the punctuated-equilibrium model, Gould was one of the most eloquent defenders and articulators of evolution. (Punctuated equilibrium explains patterns in the fossil record by suggesting that most evolutionary changes occur within geologically brief intervals--which may nonetheless amount to hundreds of generations.) Yet creationists delight in dissecting out phrases from Gould's voluminous prose to make him sound as though he had doubted evolution, and they present punctuated equilibrium as though it allows new species to materialize overnight or birds to be born from reptile eggs.
When confronted with a quotation from a scientific authority that seems to question evolution, insist on seeing the statement in context. Almost invariably, the attack on evolution will prove illusory.

6. If humans descended from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?

This surprisingly common argument reflects several levels of ignorance about evolution. The first mistake is that evolution does not teach that humans descended from monkeys; it states that both have a common ancestor.

The deeper error is that this objection is tantamount to asking, "If children descended from adults, why are there still adults?" New species evolve by splintering off from established ones, when populations of organisms become isolated from the main branch of their family and acquire sufficient differences to remain forever distinct. The parent species may survive indefinitely thereafter, or it may become extinct.

9. The Second Law of Thermodynamics says that systems must become more disordered over time. Living cells therefore could not have evolved from inanimate chemicals, and multicellular life could not have evolved from protozoa.

This argument derives from a misunderstanding of the Second Law. If it were valid, mineral crystals and snowflakes would also be impossible, because they, too, are complex structures that form spontaneously from disordered parts.

The Second Law actually states that the total entropy of a closed system (one that no energy or matter leaves or enters) cannot decrease. Entropy is a physical concept often casually described as disorder, but it differs significantly from the conversational use of the word.

More important, however, the Second Law permits parts of a system to decrease in entropy as long as other parts experience an offsetting increase. Thus, our planet as a whole can grow more complex because the sun pours heat and light onto it, and the greater entropy associated with the sun's nuclear fusion more than rebalances the scales. Simple organisms can fuel their rise toward complexity by consuming other forms of life and nonliving materials.

13. Evolutionists cannot point to any transitional fossils--creatures that are half reptile and half bird, for instance.

Actually, paleontologists know of many detailed examples of fossils intermediate in form between various taxonomic groups. One of the most famous fossils of all time is Archaeopteryx, which combines feathers and skeletal structures peculiar to birds with features of dinosaurs. A flock's worth of other feathered fossil species, some more avian and some less, has also been found. A sequence of fossils spans the evolution of modern horses from the tiny Eohippus. Whales had four-legged ancestors that walked on land, and creatures known as Ambulocetus and Rodhocetus helped to make that transition [see "The Mammals That Conquered the Seas," by Kate Wong; Scientific American, May]. Fossil seashells trace the evolution of various mollusks through millions of years. Perhaps 20 or more hominids (not all of them our ancestors) fill the gap between Lucy the australopithecine and modern humans.

Creationists, though, dismiss these fossil studies. They argue that Archaeopteryx is not a missing link between reptiles and birds--it is just an extinct bird with reptilian features. They want evolutionists to produce a weird, chimeric monster that cannot be classified as belonging to any known group. Even if a creationist does accept a fossil as transitional between two species, he or she may then insist on seeing other fossils intermediate between it and the first two. These frustrating requests can proceed ad infinitum and place an unreasonable burden on the always incomplete fossil record.

Nevertheless, evolutionists can cite further supportive evidence from molecular biology. All organisms share most of the same genes, but as evolution predicts, the structures of these genes and their products diverge among species, in keeping with their evolutionary relationships. Geneticists speak of the "molecular clock" that records the passage of time. These molecular data also show how various organisms are transitional within evolution.

There's more arguments, and you can read the whole article here.

Thirsty to find out more on the evolution and creation debate? Visit the following:

Talkorigins is the one-stop website that clears up the muck stirred up by the Creationists.

A blog (of sorts) that discusses and debates evolution.

An innocuous question about Answers In Genesis sparks off a long, protracted debate, with victory (of sorts) going to the evolutionists.

A statement-by-statement rebuttal to an entire article spawned by a Creationist.

After a while, the arguments all sound the same. This is what you get when an entire school of thought rehashes and recycles its arguments ad nauseum, even when it has been thoroughly refuted and disproved by the evolutionists.

I don't want a petty little thing like how the world came to be to detract from the glory of God (yes, atheists and non-Christians, go ahead and roll your eyes), so why is it that some people will go to extreme lengths just to accuse evolutionists of being evil blasphemers who don't believe in God and who will all burn in Hell? And I find it extremely distasteful that information is deliberately withheld, that Creationist science (an oxymoron itself) is force-fed and indoctrinated into schoolchildren and being preached as the truth, even when its lies have long been exposed.

Pah. Reading all that Creationist nonsense again irks me to no end. Shall reserve a true rant on this subject for another time.
  ¶ 7:31 PM 0 comments

  "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture – it’s a really stupid thing to want to do." Or so says Elvis Costello. *shrugs shoulders*

Check out Agagooga's analysis of the sorry state of modern music, entitled "Why I Dislike Modern Music".

A disclaimer from Agagooga himself:

Please note that the title of this page is "Why I Dislike Modern Music", and not "Why anyone who likes modern music is a crass idiot who deserves to be shot". Few may agree with my intensely subjective opinions, but I retain the opinions anyway. Also, the following points do not all apply to all genres of modern music.

Non-modern music is by no means immune to all of these, but it suffers from the symptoms below to a much lesser extent.

Check it out here.
  ¶ 11:38 PM 0 comments

  Selections from mr brown's SNE 100 More gleanings from the wise words of mr brown. Check out the rest of his hilarious Singapore National Education series #100.

I have also learned lately:

• That with Xbox Live, Microsoft's new online gaming service, you can select a gamertag or userID of your choice. Tempting choices include:
  
  -leekuanyew (so your friends can boast that they just whooped Lee Kuan Yew's ass in Return to Castle Wolfenstein)
  
  -wa_si_chow_angmoh (so that when play with Westerners online, they will be dissing themselves every time they call your name)
  
  -hokkienexpletive_wa_eh_lao_bu (so that whoever calls your name online will be saying something rude about their mother)
  
  -a_chao_ah_gua (so that when people lose to you, you have to say you have been beaten by a_chow_ah_gua)



• That military commanders need their Mercs and Audis to communicate their commanding presence to their troops.
  
  If you need an easily identifable car to inform the troops their commander has arrived on site, wouldn't it be cheaper to paint a Land Rover pink and decorate it with Christmas lights? And if that is not enough, put bunny ears on it.
  
  "The position of Mindef... was that there were practical reasons for allotting high-end models to some officers... Military commanders, it said, need the cars to rush back to camp or anywhere else in an emergency, and to make their presence felt among their men.
  
  It said: 'An easily identifiable car helps to communicate the commander's presence. The presence of the car informs the troops that their commander is now with them even as they carry out their training and operational duties.'" -ST 11 May 2004.



• That not long after Singapore's Great Western Blackout, in a bid to keep up with us, Kuala Lumpur had a power blackout too, on the 19th of April. Anything Singapore can do, like have a power failure, Malaysia also boleh.
  
  While Singapore's blackout happened in the dead of night in an ulu part of the island, KL had theirs during the morning rush hour, right smack in the city centre.
  Singapore will have to work harder if they want to beat KL at having disasters. Damn, they're good.



• That government-linked building firm Synergy Construction has been wound up and is under investigation by CAD for "severe accounting irregularities". Synergy's majority shareholder is Jurong International, whose parent company is JTC Corporation.
  
  Creditors are now angry because they extended generous credit terms to Synergy on the basis of the prestigious and reliable name of JTC. Synergy owes hundreds of creditors more than $40 million.
  
  Hello, you think what? Government-linked company cannot pok-kai one ah?
  
  You know the shit has hit the bulldozing machine when even Government-Linked construction companies are going under.



• That according to Reuters, Singapore's PM is known as Goh Chok. All hail our Prime Minister, PM Tong.
  
  Stupid Angmohs. Cannot even get Asian names right.
  
  "Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair (L) looks on as his Singapore counterpart Goh Chok slips on the doorstep at Downing Street in London, May 11, 2004. REUTERS/Kieran Doherty"



• That North Korea has condemned the United States on human rights.
  
  "More countries joined the international community during the last few days in condemning the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers and urging the punishment of the perpetrators.
  
  The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Saturday described the United States as "the world's worst human rights violator and a graveyard of human rights for its violation of international law and the Islamic ethics and culture."
  
  It said the United States should settle all its human rights issues before acting as the "world judge of human rights."
  
  You tell them, Great Leader Kim Jong Il (or better known as Lil' Kim).



• That a nursing mom was asked to leave the Esplanade premises because what she was doing, breast-feeding her kid, was deemed offensive to other members of the public.
  
  I think the real reason was that the Esplanade, like our cinemas, do not allow patrons to bring in outside food.

Here's to 100 more SNEs!


  ¶ 8:52 PM 0 comments

  Lessons from being a year older Plagiarised from mr brown.

As I've matured, I've learned:

You cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in.

No matter how much I care, some people are just assholes.

It takes years to build up trust, and it only takes suspicion, not proof, to destroy it.

You can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes. After that, you'd better have a big weenie or huge boobs.

You shouldn't compare yourself to others - they are more screwed up than you think.

You can keep puking long after you think you're finished.

We are responsible for what we do, unless we are celebrities.

Regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades, and there had better be a lot of money to take its place.

No matter how you try to protect your children, they will eventually get arrested and end up in the local paper.

Never, under ANY circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved (and never will achieve) its full potential, that word would be "meetings".

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

When God, who created the entire universe with all of its glories, decides to deliver a message to humanity, HE WILL NOT use, as His messenger, a person on cable TV in a bad suit, with a bad hairstyle.

You should not confuse your career / job with your life.

No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.

When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that individual is crazy.

Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

Never lick a steak knife.

Take out the fortune before you eat the cookie.

The most powerful force in the universe is gossip.

You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.

The main accomplishment of almost all organized protests is to annoy people who are not in them.

A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.

Whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.

Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

It is not what you wear; it is how you take it off.

Sweat the petty things, and not pet the sweaty things.

Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy it.

Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

99% of the time when something isn't working in your house, one of your kids did it.

There is a fine line between genius and insanity.

The people you care most about in life are taken from you too soon and all the less important ones just never go away. And the real pains in the ass are permanent.

Your family and true friends love you, no matter what.

Author unknown
  ¶ 8:36 PM 1 comments

  I WIN Ha! Think you could get me so easily? You forgot the power of Google!

As you can see, a semblance of normality has resumed here. Now for me to do my re-posting on the other blog...
  ¶ 4:26 AM 0 comments

  Down, but certainly not out. No little hacker is going to stop me.
  ¶ 7:21 PM 1 comments

  Latin Prayer of Death, my ass... Are you totally sick and tired of receiving nonsensical chain mails? I am. And while Friendster is totally lame, at least some people have chosen to post their nonsense up on their Friendster Bulletin Boards, instead of clogging up our email inboxes.

Well, the most recent one is the totally retarded Latin prayer of Death. Apparently, you're supposed to repost it in your bulletin, otherwise your family members will die within the year.

RIGHT...

This is a latin prayer. And
you have
opened it.
And because you did open it, you will repost
this
bulletin if you do not want the members of your
family die in a year's time. I'm not kidding
around. You do have the option to ignore this
message and death knocks at the door of your
family. Have fun! P.S. Don't change the SUBJECT
TITLE of the MESSAGE. Adios! Avada Kedavra!

THE PRAYER OF DEATH:
El tiquira con vosotros mes tera dima ul
kevadra,
ses avada, mi jubilo con de los requerrimos,
unta
de pondresita kon cantamos, remanso tu sus lomis
enta dira ela proteuera, lumos esta di ridikula
pontre se mundo de adios. mustros monda, el
tiquiera. Cada vez que elevamos nuestras voces
en
alabanza y adoración al Demoño, es necesario que
lo hagamos bién, entendiendo lo que le estamos
diciendo. Es por ello que la Palabra de Dios nos
enseña que debemos usar nuestro intelecto para
entonar cánticos al Satanas. Es tan sencillo
como
comprender lo que estamos cantando. Es procesar
cada palabra que estamos entonando, haciéndola
brotar desde nuestro corazón, y dirigirla a
nuestro paliente. Recuerda que no estamos
cantando por cantar, ni estamos entonando
cánticos para escuchar lo bonito que se oye. No,
estamos dándole la Alabanza a nuestro Dios. Él
es
el objeto de nuestra alabanza.Él es la razón por
lo cual cantamos, por lo que sonamos nuestros
instrumentos de punyeta. No podemos estar
cantando a la ligera sin darle el peso que
merece
estar cantándole a Dios. Que las palabras no
salgan de nuestros labios, sólo porque nos
sabíamos la letra de tal o cual canto, sino que
sea brotando desde nuestro corazón, expresando
al
Señor todo lo que Él es para nosotros. Si vamos
a
entonar un canto que diga por ejemplo: "Tu
eres
Bueno", que realmente estemos comprendiendo
lo
bueno y maravilloso que Él es con nosotros. Si
estamos diciendo: "Tú eres grande y
fuerte", que
todo nuestro ser lo esté proclamando. Si estamos
cantando: "El gozo que el Señor ha puesto
en
mí",
¿estaremos en una actitud de seriedad o de
tristeza?. Al contrario, debemos expresar lo que
estamos diciendo, por lo tanto debemos estar
contentos, gozosos y sonrientes al proclamar
estas verdades. Y si estamos cantando:
"Enciende
una Luz y déjala brillar", ¿Porqué hay
algunos
que elevan sus brazos? Éste canto, al igual que
muchos otros, son para cantárselos a nuestros
hermanos, en alabanza al Señor (Alabanza es
hablar de Él a otros). En cambio si estamos
entonando un canto que diga: "Tú eres
Santo,
Santo, Santo", ahora es cuando debemos
elevar
nuestras manos y nuestro corazón al Señor y
adorarle. Debemos usar nuestra inteligencia al
cantar alabanzas, es muy importante. No
olvidemos
que "Grande es Jehová y digno de ser en
gran
manera alabado". por lo tanto debemos
alabarle
como Él lo merece, con todo nuestro corazón y
cantando con el entendimiento , proclamando y
declarando lo que Él es. Si estamos celebrando
que Cristo ha vencido a todos nuestros enemigos,
entonces alegrémonos y declaremos con toda
convicción ésta verdad. Si estamos cantando que
nos rendimos a Él, pues que sea una realidad y
que Él gobierne verdaderamente sobre nuestras
vidas. Yo te animo a que uses tu inteligencia al
momento de cantar y entrarás en una nueva
dimensión de la Alabanza de nuestro Dios. Avada
Kedavra. Nema.

SHAME ON YOU, if you actually thought that this had any grain of truth to it.

Agagooga has posted a wonderful tirade against all the idiots and fools who have been bo liao, naive and gullible enough to believe in such retarded nonsense.

Stupidity knows no bounds (repost of a Friendster bulletin I put up)

Now, the few of you who are still actively using Friendster might have seen an alleged "Latin Prayer" being circulated on Bulletin Boards lately. Amazingly, this chain letter (or prayer, if you like) has powers of magnitude more powerful than all the other chain letters out there. While those only threaten to leave you shagless, loveless or at most kill you, this one has power over the lives of your whole family. Wow, just imagine that.

I would like such amazing power too. Not to put a death curse on the families of all the idiots who read my obviously fake chain prayer, but to emotionally blackmail gullible fools into wasting bandwith, pissing sensible people off and making other foolish nincompoops circulate the balderdash that I've written around the world!

How stupid are you? Do you really believe some rubbish posted on a Friendster bulletin board which you haven't even read and can't even understand, can have an effect on you?

Sheesh, the bastard who started this ridiculous joke couldn't even get his facts right - the damn thing isn't even in Latin, for Pete's sake. Latin does not have upside down question marks, tildes or other squiggly signs over the letters. Everyone has actually been forwarding a Spanish prayer (of sorts). Hell, it isn't actually a prayer, more of a homily about how to pray, part of which reads: "No, we are giving the Praise to our God. He it is the object of our praise.It is the reason thus we sang, reason why we sounded our instruments of [untranslated word: punyeta]. We cannot be singing to the light one without giving the weight him that deserves to be singing God to him." No part of the homily says anything about death.

If you were only stupid enough to believe in this nonsense, you can still be forgiven. But if you actually reposted this chain "prayer", you are not only stupid, but horribly evil. Is it not enough for your family to die? Do you want the families of all your "friends" (up to all 500 of them) to have a curse of death over them? Shame on you. You deserve to go to hell. Or you would if it existed (and millions of innocent people were condemned to burn there for all eternity by a "loving" god, but that is another rant for another day), so I will just excoriate you selfish and malicious people here.

Ivan's comments: Well said. Well said. Personally, I think that there are too many stupid people who are being allowed to breed. It's about time that we, the self-proclaimed intellectual elite, step in to stop this abject wasting away of the human brain.

So please, dear readers, think twice before you follow the advice written in some silly little email or Friendster bulletin board post. Do you seriously believe that a little bunch of 0s and 1s can really affect your life and your destiny so much? Oh, come on...
  ¶ 11:10 PM 0 comments