samedi, juin 28, 2003 {*} Have you been violated?During a discussion, a friend defined "making intellectual love" as "unloading facts and information; having a conversation that is both spontaneous and intellectually created... but it must be two way." He continued, "One way is intellectual rape, unwanted generally in schools, wanted generally in university lecture halls." Hmm. [] |
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{*} Potter mania has hit me...
Well, I've finished with the book. In two days. Reading on pdf - never done that before. I'm missing Chapter 24 though... but one chapter out of 38 isn't too bad; I just don't know the circumstances in which Harry has to go for more lessons with Snape... I guess one of these days, you'll find me at Kino or Borders - and you'll know which chapter I'll be reading. :) For those of you wondering: yes, there's a character death; yes, it's a rather major character; yes, it's worth staying up all night and reading. Do I like the book? I think it's too soon to tell. Ask me in another week or so. {*} Addendum I've got Chapter 24! Libellés : harry potter [] |
vendredi, juin 27, 2003 (Yet another) Difference between boys and girls... Warning: MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR SPOILER FOR HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. I MEAN MAJOR. I mean, if you highlight the empty space below and read it when you actually really want to read the book to find out just exactly what happens, you might actually KILL YOURSELF for having ZERO WILLPOWER to resist the temptation.Hermione: "Well, obviously, she's feeling very sad, because of Cedric dying. Then I expect she's feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry, and she can't work out who she likes best. Then she'll be feeling guilty, thinking it's an insult to Cedric's memory to be kissing Harry at all, and she'll be worrying about what everyone else might say about her if she starts going out with Harry. And she probably can't work out what her feelings towards Harry are, anyway, because he was the one who was with Cedric when Cedric died, so that's all very mixed up and painful. Oh, and she's afraid she's going to be thrown off the Ravenclaw Quidditch team because she's been flying so badly." A slightly stunned silence greeted the end of this speech, then Ron said, "One person can't feel all that at once, they'd explode." "Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have," said Hermione nastily, picking up her quill again. Libellés : harry potter [(Yet another) Difference between boys and girls...] |
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I'm highly impressed. The bootlegs are actually pretty good. I'm most impressed with the latest one - which you would have expected to be a rush job - but no, it's actually the best-formatted of the lot, with close to no spelling mistakes, and -*gasp*- formatting. Italics and dashes are properly put in place, and the general look of the whole document is pretty polished. I'm very impressed.
[Review of the bootlegs] |
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There's at least one nonsense version of Harry Potter out there - some futuristic crap writing which reads like the bad offspring of a nasty crossbreeding project between Orson Scott Card's Worthing Saga - Capitol Universe and William Gibson. Libellés : harry potter [Addendum] |
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I have downloaded all five of the Harry Potter books. Yes, even Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. They're all full text versions of the book, with the Scholastic version of the book jacket cover scanned- in as a "first page".
Viva le Internet! Libellés : harry potter [Bootlegged Harry!] |
jeudi, juin 26, 2003 {*} First I do democracy, then I fight it: Chris PattenThe former Governor of Hong Kong is now the Chancellor of Oxford - and is totally ticked off with the Brit govt's demands to muck about in University affairs, while failing to adequately fun higher eduction. "Have governments of both political stripes done well by higher education in the last quarter century? Have they hell. They have done very badly by higher education," he said. "Why should we have to accept a world in which we get less money but have to endure more interference?" {*} Beware of what you put online, it might just become global agenda... Hmm. Apparently Blair's people "made a mistake" by including material from a graduate thesis in their Iraq dossier. [Global Agendas] |
mercredi, juin 25, 2003 oh-boo-hoo-hoo-I-couldn't-help-it-I'm-in-showbiz-and-showbiz- is-all-about-looking-good-and-I-didn't-have-enough-willpower- to-withstand-the-*sniff*-pressure-that-everyone-puts-on-you- because-I'm-such-a-wuss-and-when-I-saw-Chen-Liping-who-was- known-to-be-a-little-"pudgy"-so-good-I-decided-that-I-wanted- to-be-slim-without-the-pain-and-sweat-of-exercise-so-I-took- it-and-now-my-life-is-ruined-*sniff-theatrically*-because-of- all-this-media-coverage-which-is-so-good-for-my-celebrity- standing-so-I-have-decided-to-ruin-Liping-and-Raymond's- lives-too-how-dare-they-recommend-something-which-they- thought-was-good-to-a-friend-now-I-feel-so-betrayed-how- dare-they-make-a-profit-on-my-insecurities-and-fear-of- being-fat-*full-blown-tear*-won't-anyone-offer-me-a-tissue- so-I-don't-get-my-nice-new-conservatively-coloured-Gucci- dress-(specially-bought-for-this-courtroom-scene-I-mean- occasion?)-now-I-want-to-ironically-complain-of-the- retributive-effect-of-my-sheer-stupidity-because-now-I- cannot-join-my-(oh-so-sickeningly)-sweet-fiance-pierre-png- when-he-goes-jogging-and-exercising-the-very-thing-I-wanted- to-avoid-in-the-first-place-and-now-I-shall-tear-and-look- all-emotionally-exhausted-because-I-watched-Chicago---[Ms. DeCruz] |
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Game Theory and The Name of the Rose Eco thinks of a novel as a "game" played between an author and a reader. The detective story, as a literary genre, probably influenced his thinking about this, since a good detective story lends itself to analysis as a game in which the author provides clues that should enable an ideal reader to solve a mystery before the solution is revealed at the end. Eco almost certainly is influenced by Jorge Luis Borges in this regard. But Eco's game-playing goes beyond this: he plants clues that relate to meaning, and it is up to the reader to create valid interpretations based on these clues--without wandering off into invalid interpretations. An author working on this topic would need to explore "game theory" in general, beginning with Johann Huizinga's Homo Ludens.[Game Theory and The Name of the Rose] |
{*} Jobs Vows To Get To The Bottom Of His Lunch
{*} From not your typical furry porn...
What I personally want to know is - what IS "typical furry porn"? {grin} [] |
lundi, juin 23, 2003 {*} Postgrad or not?After talking to Sun (a professor in ICM), suddenly the postgraduate thing looks like a good thing, because a lot of international organisations require that job-seekers have postgraduate degrees in whatever - and a lot of the posts ask for things like "(an) advanced university degree in journalism, communications, social sciences or related fields" - which the Masters in ICM should cover. Not to mention that a lot of internships are available ONLY to students who are undergrads, or who are pursuing a postgraduate degree. The free ride that NUS is offering is looking pretty good now - scholarship to do the masters, as well as a $1500 stipend every month. (I haven't gotten an offer of a place, or a confirmation of the scholarship (with no bond).) I'm wondering when they'll give me an offer - of if they give me an offer. ICM has a research-only Masters programme - meaning another bout of thesis-writing for me - which won't be able to be done in three months, I can assure you of that. No repeats on my honours year - there will have to be real research done, probably fieldwork and things - all very exciting or blah, depending on how you look at it. Exciting because it's research and fieldwork - you're really breaking new ground here! Blah because - who cares if you are? Why am I even considering this? Some of you know, and some of you don't - I would like to work for the UN, or some other international organisation. Let me travel! Yes, I've been bitten by the travelling bug rather badly this past holiday - though I don't really know if I like seeing and being in new places, or meeting new people. Maybe a bit of both, maybe neither? Maybe I just really needed a short holiday, and I don't really want to travel at all? The doubts and possibilities are endless. One of the girls I (used to) take for bible study cheered me on with the message: "Pursue your dreams!" - to which I immediately asked myself: Is this my dream, really? Or is it some half-baked notion borne out of madness? But then again, I thought I wanted to be a civil servant, but since I'm dreaming, why not dream big? Of ruling the world? <-- highlight to see the Top Secret Diabolical Plan. :-) But seriously though - why not dream big when I still can? There's plenty of time to become jaded and pissed off with the world; can I hang on to my rose-tinted sunglasses a little while longer please? While my parents are still willing to support me? (I think...) Just thinking (very) aloud. {*} Afterward Afterword More food for thought after another email to Sun. "If your goal is eventually to work with the UN, a more relevant public policy type programme like the MPP may stand you in better stead. My friends in Columbia and NYU who netted such internships were usually in such masters programmes." Hmm. [] |
dimanche, juin 22, 2003 {*} My Europe TripI've done it all in express time: for a narration and some pictures of my trip, go to: Enjoy! [] |
samedi, juin 21, 2003 {*} MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY COMES TO SINGAPORE!Finally, we poor consumers of an apparently "liberalised" and "competitive" information and communications technology sector will be able to do something nobody thought was coming - switch handphone operators without losing our handphone numbers! The service is currently available, but mobile operators charge a monthly fee for you to forward your calls to the next operator - but NOT SMS. The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) has mandated that the monthly fee be cut down to a ONE TIME FEE by the 1st of August 2003, and by the 1st of October 2003, must have upgraded their systems to support SMS forwarding too. Methinks Starhub will recoup the losses that they're making with their free incoming calls if there's a sudden influx of new subscribers...  vs  vs  Read MITA Minister Lee Boon Yang's speech here. {*} I thought my blog STUNK I thought my blog STUNK because I don't really have a bone to pick with anyone or anything - most blogs that I deem "not too bad" do - until today. Telco and ICT ROOLS! So says the ICM student. :) [] |
mercredi, juin 18, 2003 {*} Hello moi enfants. I'm home. And I'm part fish. *you are...Ariel!* You are innocencent, playful, a rebel heart, perky, adventurous, whismical,spontaneous, and care free but you can also be irresponsible, hasty, inconsiderate, and you tend to covet what you can't have. "Watch and you'll see someday I'll be part of your world." *which Disney princess are you?* brought to you by Quizilla [] |
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