Good people having fun

Just some people having fun… makes my day all the better… =)

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The plague

Oh why do we plague ourselves

oh why do we plague ourselves

With worries and misconceptions

and worries about misconceptions

and misconceptions about worries

Oh why do we plague ourselves

With anger and guilt

and anger about guilt

and guilt about anger

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Oh why do we plague ourselves

Because they say we must

Because they say we should

Because they say… because they say…

Hmmm… but,

who are they to say?

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Ohhhh~! why do we plague ourselves ???

Increasing paedophilia

Here’s a shocking statistic, in Australia, “1 in 4 girls and 1 in 7 boys are sexually abused by the time they’re 18″ (Maree Faulkner on The 7.30 Report of the 17th of September 2009). A separate report (The 7.30 Report of the 16th of September 2009) stated that the number of paedophiles are increasing, which, to be honest, can be seen by anyone really. What I’m wondering is, why is there an increasing number of paedophiles in society?

I’ve come up with the following possibilities:

1. There are just more paedophiles being caught, not that there are more of them.

2. The introduction of the age of consent. Previously boys and girls got married young, and still do in some countries. By young I mean 12 to 16, which is considered to be adolescence now, but was previously viewed as adulthood, once puberty has been reached that is.

3. Girls and boys reaching puberty earlier than in previous generations. There are scientific reports that the average age of puberty is decreasing as the generations go by. This obviously has an impact on physical looks and interest in sexual exploration.

4. Exploring sex at an early age. This one just popped up in my head when I was watching the report. It is a fact that currently most people start having sex in their teenage years. This might have an effect on their sexual desires later on. Adult men might still crave for the kind of experience that they had when they were teenagers. Perhaps the feel of young skin or the energy of younger girls or something or another. Perhaps just to “go back” to the happier and more carefree times.

5. The sexualisation of the young. From beauty pageants and fashion shows for kids (like this for example), to advertisements that portray young girls and boys as “small adults” (there was a documentary about this, but I can’t remember its name). This would probably impact more on the males than on the females. The theory goes that males are exposed to sexualised images of scantily or sexily clad young girls from a young age, thus increasing and imprinting their desire for young girls from an early age.

6. Sexualisation of society in general . Doubt I need to elaborate more on this, just turn on the TV or look at the advertisements around you. This an also lead to possibility #3.

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So which is it? No idea really. The advice is that we need to be vigilant to catch these people, but sometimes, we can become too over-enthusiastic, like this incident “Man arrested after kissing his daughter“.

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So what do we do?

Try to find out why and hopefully deal with it I guess.

Latin quote

Mors Omnia Vincit

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Death conquers all

or (I’ve heard at least one guy translate it as)

Death always wins

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[Thing is, I kinda like the second one better, though its technically more incorrect I think.]

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Mors Omnia Vincit… what more needs to be said?

Praise

It seems, that I find it hard to accept or believe praise. I’m not entirely sure why, but perhaps its because I’m constantly suspicious that its all “polite praise”. You know, where they smile and say nice things to you like “Great presentation!” and the like when secretly they think “Actually he was pretty… well.. not so good aye”. I’m not quite sure why I think like this actually. I don’t usually say or do things like that. But, I think maybe its because sometimes my mother does it? Like she’d use to tell these stories, well actually.. she still does, but anyhoo, she’d say like she’d be smiling and nodding and all while “in my heart thinking…” something not very pleasant. I don’t mean to superimpose this image and character on everybody I know, but I guess its hard not to be suspicious.
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Don’t get me wrong hey, I do like being praised, I mean, who doesn’t? But sometimes, well most of the time, I’d reflect and think, is he/she just saying these stuff to be nice? Is that really what they think? Was I really all right? Is he/she just trying to suck up? Though, why would he/she want to suck up to me???
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The lack of belief in myself is quite astounding to be honest, as I’ve just realised. Perhaps, I should have faith in myself. I’m quite a likeable person with some quite good abilities really. We all are I think =)

Referencing

One of the biggest frustrations about writing an academic paper or thesis is referencing. Since I’m not experienced in writing large pieces of work, referencing sometimes just gives me the shits.

Do I have to reference this? Is this considers general knowledge? Is this enough paraphrasing? What images can I use? Where the hell was this book published? Yada yada yada…

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In any case, I was cleaning the toilet today and by some strange connection, I thought of how Singaporeans [I haven't really met any non-Singaporeans that use it like that, but there may be some out there] always go “Who says?”, and more often than not, defensively or aggressively at that, and I thought, “Hey, isn’t this referencing too?”.

For example, B is playing his favourite video game and A goes: [Try to imagine the tones and all yourself please]

A: Eh you know ah, they say that playing game too much will give you some joint disease…

B: Wah who say one? ?Who say??? This is hand-eye coordination training ok .. blah blah blah goes on a tangent about something totally and utterly unrelated to joint diseases…

In this case, B is asking for a reference (defensively) to who said he will get some joint disease if he continues playing.

Another example,

A: Wah.. durian damn smelly man!

B: Who say?? Who say durian smelly??? Damn nice smell man! Durian so nice to eat ok, must pick the one thats …. blah blah blah goes on a tangent about something totally and utterly unrelated to smelly durians…

In this case, B is asking for a reference (almost aggressively) to who said durians were smelly, though, B kinda knows who said it already… right?

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You would think that I would be quite good at referencing by now considering how much people keep asking “who say?”; but I guess, most of the time the question isn’t really answered at all, in other words, not referenced. Rhetorical questions……why bother?

Anyway, it has come to my attention that quite frequently the “who say?”s come after a “they say”. Here’s something that I only learnt last year..

A: You know they say ah…

B: They say?? theysay.com??

A: . . .

Or, if they should be used to it, the A-s will go

A: .. yah, theysay.com says…..

Incidentally, I did a search and there isn’t a theysay.com, as in, its up for sale if you want to buy it. But, there is a theysay.org, though.. I’m not quite sure what they do…

9th September

Four years ago on the 9/09/05, I was enlisted into National Service (NS). Viper company, platoon 2, section 4, bed 12. V2412. It was almost like a start of yet another new life. That’s what 9th of September means to me.

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If it means nothing to you and  you’re looking for more significance, maybe this news article will help: Why 09/09/09 is so special.

Colour

Helloooooooooooooo~~ COLOUR ~~~~~~!!!!

What a world

In the news recently: Hamas says Gaza now under control.

How interesting. According to the U.S and Israel and many other countries, Hamas is a terrorist organisation (even though it won the Gaza election). However, here we have Hamas attacking an al-Qaeda inspired group. Since al-Qaeda can be said to be the arch-enemy of the U.S.A at the moment because of the 9-11 attacks; and since the enemy of your enemy can also be considered your ally in some sense, then, isn’t Hamas now U.S.A’s ally?

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Consider this, in just a few days of this new group “declared an ” Islamic emirate” ”, Hamas has basically killed of the top tier of this radical extremist group. This is actually extremely efficient counter-terrorism., wiping it out before it even takes root. I believe the phrase is “nipping the problem in the bud”.

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The question is then, is Hamas then the Middle East’s most efficient neutraliser of al-Qaeda threats?? More efficient than Nouri al-Maliki’s and Hamid Karzai’s Iraqi and Afghan forces? More efficient than the U.S and NATO security forces?

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Lets face it, Israel doesn’t even participate much in fighting al-Qaeda. They don’t have anyone in Afghanistan, and we haven’t really heard much about them supplying intelligence either. Perhaps there is some intelligence work going on behind the scenes and all, but for the moment, they seem to be more pre-occupied with building illegal settlements, walls and cutting off entry routes to Palestinian states.

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Perhaps, the U.S should reconsider its allies and who exactly are the Unites States’ strongest and closest Middle East allies. And perhaps the ways in which it deals with certain groups.

Just a thought.

Step 1:

Work hard to get a good honours so that I can start this project of mine next year. In the meantime, hope to everything in the universe that it will all come together, at least the essential bits like funding and collaboration and the likes.

I SO hope that this is going to piece together properly. I promise that I’ll work hard for the rest, but I need some help at the start first. Please?