Look at Her!

from time magazine:

The State of Divorce: You May Be Surprised
The annual national divorce rate has dropped to 3.6 per 1000 people, the lowest since 1970 and well off its peak of 5.7 in 1981. But marriage is down 30% since 1970, with the number of unnmarried couples living together up 10-fold since 1960.

Creature Comforts

Creature Comforts... came up during the seminar on evolution today... given by Sean Carroll

黄豆豆

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hRRS-rMvR4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cayXgQFlAZs&mode=related&search=

this guy is one the chinese equivalent of american idol... he's not bad eh??

社会不和谐，广告惹的祸？

i youtubed for old TV show intros... here's the old stuff.. :) how i loved it!! and i almost forgot i grew up watching she-ra and he-man! haah..

Dark Matter The Movie

"But the movie isn’t really about science.

As Mr. Chen, the director, said, “It’s about power, in a way.” That would be the nearly feudalistic power that a graduate adviser has over his student, who after 16 or more years sitting in a classroom listening and regurgitating information must now change gears and learn how to produce original research. That grueling process has been the crucible in which new scientists are made ever since Plato mentored Aristotle, and although it rarely leads to murder [adjoining article], it can often lead to disaffection, strife and lifelong feuds. "

Read the NYT article

and i can't help wondering why the university has refused to reveal the letters that Lu Gang wrote before action. maybe he should've sent it to NBC instead...

everyone is blogging about the fun we had.. haha.. i only remember one thing :)

kayaking in the middle of the ocean!!! the best is to just lie there... the sky looks incredibly large and empty when its blue fills every pixel on your retina.. imagine.. nothing but the sky is in sight, nothing but the bobbing of water is in your ear, nothing is in your mind but the tiny hope that it lasts longer... while you're gently rocked by the water up and down. i haven't felt so much at ease for years...if i owned a kayak, i would go out there in the ocean every morning and just lie there for a whole day... :p

(yah but of course good things never last and i had to be pulled back to reality by some idiot who splashed cold seawater on my face.)

i was shopping for mother's day cards yesterday.. and came across this card that says "coporate top, perfect homemaker, best mom!" and got a little scared by the enthusiasm people have over the newly emancipated female sex of the species... how is one supposed to do that?

another observation. as i was discussing this over dessert with a friend, i think witticism is highly related to the power relation in a conversation. i believe that 5 minutes into a conversation, even between strangers, the power relation is established. and from then on only the domineering party can afford to be witty all the time. probably just cos it takes a great deal of confidence to be witty. wonder if there is any, how the neural circuit for humour is like... definitely has a positive input from the "confidence center".

recently me and my friends been talking a lot about relationships and stuff.. there's one thing i've been thinking about, which is the difference between the singaporean kids and american kids in the terminology for being "in a relationship". the singaporean kids say "so and so are attached", whereas the american kids say "so and so are going out", or "so and so are dating". the latter is clearly a verb reflecting the activity of the two people, while the former is a adjective, mainly reflecting the status of the two people. difference in mindset no?

Startle response

at a popping balloon (click image to learn more). from the current issue of journal of neuroscience.

free hugs

this free hug dude so cute...

Stand up, all victims of oppression
For the tyrants fear your might
Don't cling so hard to your possessions
For you have nothing, if you have no rights
Let racist ignorance be ended
For respect makes the empires fall
Freedom is merely privilege extended
Unless enjoyed by one and all.

CHORUS:
So come brothers and sisters
For the struggle carries on
The Internationale
Unites the world in song
So comrades come rally
For this is the time and place
The international ideal
Unites the human race

Let no one build walls to divide us
Walls of hatred nor walls of stone
Come greet the dawn and stand beside us
We'll live together or we'll die alone
In our world poisoned by exploitation
Those who have taken, now they must give
And end the vanity of nations
We've one but one Earth on which to live

And so begins the final drama
In the streets and in the fields
We stand unbowed before their armour
We defy their guns and shields
When we fight, provoked by their aggression
Let us be inspired by life and love
For though they offer us concessions
Change will not come from above.

(c) Billy Bragg, circa 1990