why wy?

They've discovered a new planet but I feel strangely unexcited, I guess maybe because it's so far away. If you could name the new planet what would you call it? I like Tom, but I guess the science people are going to want something greek-sounding. Here's what's already been taken. My other suggestions are 42, planet Adams, Darth Vader, Mustafa (no R, like the shop), and possibly, Marina Bay. Smirk.

I bought leather boots today, in a shining example of male commando-style shopping. I saw it in the catalogue, did a recce the day before, found out which stores had my size, tried and bought it in under 5 minutes.

Funnier still was a man standing next to where I parked my bike. He was going on about how chain locks were useless because thieves go around with boltcutters, how they are speedy professionals and to get a better lock. Then, he hesitated, looked at da pink ting and said, maybe not yours, but people with thousand dollar bikes have to be careful.

At work, we had to pacify irate customers who didn't have allocated seats but wanted to sit in the empty reserved area. (The game was sold out so the stadium sells standing room tickets for the same price, which is capitalism to the max, not that I'm complaining when they pay for my boots.) We had to chuck a few out when the reserved area guys came back to their seats, and one guy turned particularly nasty, which is disappointing because he seemed like a reasonable chap up to that point. I didn't get to answer back, choosing wisely to remain in the background (radiating moral support) while a more enthusiastic colleague fended him off.

Some of the things he said: You have no compassion.
My ideal world response: Oh yeah, I knew there was something I forgot to get at the supermarket. Or, in my culture, we eat dogs.
Him: Get a life.
Me: Get a book, learn to read. S-t-a-n-d-i-n-g o-n-l-y.

Enough smarminess for one night.

Apologies for spotty blogging, I've been on cruise control since term started, but with assignments and homework piling, it's time to start the engine again.

The smurfs are an interesting society, from a genetic point of view, because they can't reproduce. They don't seem to die or get older either. Michael has just pointed out that there are two female smurfs, smurfette as well as sassette, who I don't remember at all from the cartoons. Then again, I wasn't a huge fan. Back to genetics - female smurfs are created from a petri dish, and even if they could reproduce, the male smurfs can't, so there is still no way to get baby smurfs, unless the smurfettes can reproduce asexually, like some insects and plants. Of course, there is the ontological argument as well, who created the first smurf et al, but it's friday after all.

And I know this is old hat, but how much would you pay for it?
(Last bad joke I'll make today, I promise.) Shopping and IQ is not an oxymoron, according to the Guardian, and there is even a quiz to rate your score.

something to make you laugh on a monday morning (some from tomorrow)
- adventures of the evil SCGS girl (free from armpit jokes)
- the attraction between women and men represented graphically (not graphic sexual, although there is an x pole and a y pole)
- guess what walt disney and the vatican have in common. It's not white gloves or the puppets waving. Apparently, disneyland is an autonomous zone and can even build its own nukes (with mouse ears obviously) if it wants.

I was at work at the stadium yesterday, when suddenly it hit me: This is like working at the Death Star. Okay, I know it doesn't make a lot of sense, but picture wide concete corridors, walking at a fast clip with the team manager who has his 2-way radio on, just the sense of being able to order the masses around, looking like we are in charge. Ah, the world of geekdom beckons.

I have just emerged from a 24-hour harry potter session (including sleep and meals), and I now know who the half-blood prince is. The book is even darker than the last (someone else expires), and even more disappointing is the message that while it is good to see the best in people, some people can be complete shits. I guess thematically the death makes sense, but I'm still reeling. Sigh.

For those of us who are thinking of moving, or have moved, here's a quote pinched from a friend's blog:
"A person in a rented apartment must be able to lean out of his window and scrape off the masonry within arm's reach. And he must be allowed to take a long brush and paint everything outside within arm's reach. So that it will be visible from afar to everyone in the street that someone lives there who is different from the imprisoned, enslaved, standardised man who lives next door." - Window Dictatorship and Window Rights, 1990, Friedensreich Hundertwasser

We saw a few places he designed in vienna, and they were amazing.
Wiki has this to say about him: Although Hundertwasser first achieved notoriety for his boldly-coloured paintings, he is more widely renowned today for his revolutionary architectural designs, which incorporate natural features of the landscape, and use of irregular forms in his building design. Hundertwasserhaus, a low-income apartment block in Vienna, features undulating floors ("an uneven floor is a melody to the feet"), a roof covered with earth and grass, and large trees growing from inside the rooms, with limbs extending from windows. He took no payment for the design of Hundertwasserhaus, declaring that it was worth it, to "prevent something ugly from going up in its place".

In a strange twist, the hostel room I stayed in Daylesford had a poster by him on the wall...

As CEOs are being given a bad name by gold taps and chauffeurs, here's a refreshing honest spin by the NTUC Income head honcho.

Mr Tan Kin Lian says:
I fly by economy class, including long distance travel
I drive a 8 year old Mercedes E200 and will keep it for a few more years.
He also claims to earn about half what most CEOs make, although he does not provide any figures.

When he first started his blog, people wondered if it was really him or a savvy PR department. But it is written in a really simple down-to-earth style, the author of the blog comes across as someone you could sit down and have teochew porridge with, as opposed to a posh nosh kind of guy.

Still on the topic of the media, this made me go hmmm.
A twice-convicted paedophile was released on parole, but the authorities refused to release any current pictures or address details. The Herald Sun tabloid promptly cracked into action and their next day headline was Mr Baldy Found, which had pictures of the man (who is not bald incidentally), where he lived etc etc. The police quickly moved him elsewhere. It is a valid concern of the parents, because there were schools and childcare centres nearby, and the man did go straight for the kiddies after his first jail sentence. But then again, it must be really hard to rebuild your life if nobody wants you as a neighbour. As for the paper's role in it, is it a case of investigative journalism: western model, or moral crusade? While the law protects victims, it's a murky area when it comes to the convicted.

And I'm obviously in the wrong profession, a former chiropractor just won $7.5m in a poker competition. Damn the rich bastards.

tyger had an interesting post on clouds sometime ago, but i bet they didn't look anything like this. They look like marshmallows and cartoon hands and feet, the kind i draw.

And because I am trying to get back into study-mode, there's an interesting scientific piece on how the voices in your head are always male.

My character in the kingdom of loathing is too drunk to continue adventuring, so I've taken to reading harry potter deaths, in the style of. That said, I can't wait to read the latest but can't afford it.

I watched fantastic four, which turned out to be less fantastic than the trailer. Better actors, a bit more plot, is that too much to ask? Don't waste your money.

For those following the short but eventful NKF vs SPH trial, chlim01 has a good roundup of articles about it. Of course, if you are enjoying warm tropical weather and a kopi-peng right now, there is more than enough about it in the local papers.

I guess the crux of the issue is how a charity should be run. Run as a business, the CEO is underpaid (only $600k a year), the 12-month bonus is standard along with the first-class travel and perks. However, when you are the public head of a charity which bombards people with appeals, stages expensive and dangerous stunts to raise money, inflicts guilt on those that don't donate... things are different.

I don't begrudge TT Dorai his basic salary, because he did turn NKF into a massive money generator, with reserves of over $200 million. Which charity wouldn't want to have access to that kind of money? But because it is a charity at the end of the day, I would expect the people working there to be socially conscious, and really, no one needs gold taps in the office.

I've actually met the man, who came across as tall and distracted, in an arrogant fashion. He did have, as one journo told me, a nose that can cut cake (ie aquiline) and I've always remembered him with that comment in mind.

Of course, the actual moral of the story is don't throw stones at people if you live in a glass house, and, don't sue a powerful media company that prides itself on digging up stories (the journalists), has ex-civil servants in management and a big team of very nice lawyers working for them.

link of the week (and weeks to come)
The kingdom of loathing is a very funny online adventure game, where meat is currency, beer is a restorative and you get attacked by ninja snowmen and a sabre tooth lime.

During this holiday, I managed to:
- make mayonaise (whisk an egg yolk with some salt, mustard, vinegar and dribble olive oil into it slowly).
- travel to daylesford, a mineral spring and spa area an hour's drive away. Hint: There is a public spa if you are on a budget, and there are also places that offer $500 scrubs/rubs/dubs. And don't drink the spring water unless you are fond of rusty pipe, cos that's what it tastes like.
- cycle to town (and to work)
- reading some Alexander McCall Smith, very amusing. Sad to say, I'm struggling through Eats, Shoots, Leaves, which is a humorous look at punctuation. She's too much of a word geek for me, and I guess it reminds me of work too.
- made funny faces at the fish at the aquarium, manta rays that stretch from fingertip to fingertip
- had a wonderful japanese lunch treat (and sake too). Thanks Mon!
- ripped a hole in the seat of my favourite jeans, just when it was getting to that perfect worn-out faded look.

(the idea of a holiday essay comes from a couple of blogs, mostly teachers I think.)

I been asking people, if they think they were smarter when they were younger, before they started knocking back a few. Most don't think alcohol has that much of an effect, as new synapses are being formed even as old cells are destroyed. Then again, I had trouble naming the G8 countries and it took an 8-year-old to remember them all (he knew where the concerts were held). It's scary, because I definitely would have known this 10 years ago, coincidentally before the philosophy honours inhouse bar had an existence, and before the friday night after-work sessions.

Anyhow, it is good that the live8 concerts have raised global awareness of poverty and the HIV crisis, although I'm not sure how much impact it had on the G8's decision to cancel some world debt and to put some sort of action plan together. All the publicity and slogans are amazingly emotive and powerful, like, Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great, spoken by Nelson Mandela.

I'm wondering if there are other ways to help, beyond petitioning governments, giving money. Something easy that everyone can do, like taking your own canvas bag to the supermarket instead of asking for plastic when it comes to reducing environmental waste. Obviously, not everyone is able or prepared to travel to worst-hit places to help, and even that may result in complications and a band-aid, feel-good effect. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

One of my favourite authors, Kelly Link, has made her first book available on the net for free. Definitely worth checking, and her new stuff too.

One of the things I have to figure out at the new job is how not to sound suggestive. There's a counter with a slot, and customers have to scan the bar code on their ticket but the scanner is deep in the inner recesses of the machine. So, most people don't put their ticket in far enough on their first try.

"Stick it in all the way mate."
"Slide it in further."
(from puck) "Deeper, deeper."

And then, after the ticket is scanned, I say "Just come right through."

So I'm taking suggestions.

da pink ting, next to some very comfortable mountain bikes.