Tuesday, October 31, 2006
KFC Jumps on Diet Bandwagon
Amid growing public pressure, the fast-food eatery announces that it's switching to a no-trans-fat frying oil.
...
Well, I have mixed feelings about this. Somehow, whichever way I picture it, it comes out quite comical. I'm imagining people eating KFC and all other fast food, putting themselves in health risks (as well as obesity statistics). And who do they blame? Why, the fast food managements, of course.
Can you imagine it? "It's all your fault for cooking great-tasting fast food that we can't help but eat, and you're putting us at risk because of the evil TRANS FAT!"
Minor digression here:
Trans fatty acids (commonly termed trans fats) are a type of unsaturated fat (and may be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated).
Trans fats occur naturally, in small quantities, in meat and dairy products from ruminants. Most trans fats consumed today, however, are industrially created through partial hydrogenation of plant oils and animal fats — a chemical process developed in the early 1900s and first commercialized as Crisco in 1909. Unlike other fats, trans fats are neither required nor beneficial for health. Eating trans fat increases the risk of coronary heart disease. For these reasons, health authorities worldwide recommend that consumption of trans fat be reduced to trace amounts. Trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils are generally considered to be worse than those occurring naturally.
Trans fats are increasingly being linked to chronic health conditions, are tightly regulated in a few countries, are mandatory on product labels in many others, and are the central issue in several ongoing lawsuits (particularly against fast food outlets). Many companies are voluntarily removing trans fats from their products, or establishing trans-free product lines.
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Yeah, and that was from Wikipedia. So back to the issue at hand, I think it's quite funny, because even without trans fat, there will be other fats in the fast food which will add inches to your waist and take years off your life.
Because if you really want to be healthy, eat a salad.
But hey, I'm definitely not complaining about KFC's move. It's only going to be a bonus for me, since I'll eat the chicken, trans fat or no trans fat.
♥ The lights faded at 2:35 am
2 days left. Somebody shoot me please.
Currently I'm submerging myself in lots of news and recent events and what-nots, because I'm really afraid that I won't have enough content for GP. It's so frustrating!!!
Anyway, in the notes and all, I've come across some quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Is this name familiar to you? It sure is to me. I keep reading quotes that he sprouted, yet I have no idea who the man is.
So my first instinct was to Google it out. So many pages available, where to begin? Then it reminded me of this article (what else?) I read yesterday, about Google. And so it hit me that I'm part of this Google generation. What's to happen to my shelf of encyclopaedias?
Hence I closed the window, and refered to the big book instead. The result is pretty satisfactory. From THE NEW BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE:
"Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) was among America's foremost poets and essayists. He was born May 25, 1803, in Boston, Massachusetts. His father, William Emerson, was a Unitarian clergyman and a stern but kindly man."
And that was the first paragraph. Now for the last:
"Emerson was a great essayist, idealist, and poet. Some of his best writing and most original thinking appear in his Journals, which were published in 10 volumes between 1909 and 1914. They provide the best biography of Emerson."
Ta-daa. There's even one of his poems in the book:
The Concord Hymn
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the enbattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set today a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.
Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Beautiful but depressing war poem. Back to the quotations, here are some that I like:
"Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you."
"Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect." (I got a very Matrix-feel to this. Did they quote him on this one?)
"The ancestor of every action is a thought."
"The only way to have a friend is to be one."
"We do what we must, and call it by the best names."
"Every artist was first an amateur."
"Every hero becomes a bore at last." (This was also quoted in the movie "Le Divorce".)
And my favourite:
"All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen."
And finally, a really funny one:
"I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
The man who hated quotations is probably one of the most quoted people right now. Whoa, some great irony going on in this world, but that's life.
♥ The lights faded at 12:12 am
Saturday, October 28, 2006
If you look closely enough, fallacies are everywhere. I just found another two, in television commercials, no less. The first one is about the air-freshener. You know, the one where the cartoon monkey mother says in her motherly voice, "Wherever they go, my rascals leave a smell..." or something like that. Uh-oh, I'm using "something like that" too often, which means I don't pay enough attention. All that TV-watching must have finally kicked me into the Attention Deficit Disorder league. Help.
In any case, there's the illustration of how the air-freshener works, then back to the house scene, where two kid skunks are playing. Interesting. Mother monkey. Kid Skunks.
They must have been adopted.
The second television commercial is the one about some washing detergent. A girl complains to her mum about a lipstick stain on her collar. Wait a minute, isn't the whole "lipstick-stain-on-the-collar" supposed a man's problem? How the hell did a lipstick stain end up on a girl's collar?
Of course there's the suggestion that another girl kissed her, hence the lipstick stain. But this is Singapore television we are talking about, so let's rule out that option. So currently the only alternate option is that the girl used her collar to wipe her mouth, assumingly after a meal. Which, if you think about it, isn't very logical either. This girl obviously grooms, since she wears lipstick and all. What kind of well-groomed girl would wipe her mouth with her collar?
There you go, another fallacy.
On a switch of topic, let's talk about chocolate. Is a SNICKERS bar supposed to sting your throat? I'm eating one now, and I haven't had one for a very long time. Whoa, chocolate for supper, can you believe it? Anyway my mum is pretty funny. She fills up the refrigerator with a lot of these chocolate bars, even though nobody eats them. My sister is afraid of piling on the pounds, my mum doesn't like caramel, and I am currently held captive by braces. But I was looking around for food and found these bars, so I thought, "Heck, I'll just eat one."
Argh, now the stupid peanuts are caught everywhere. This spells an extra-long brushing routine later.
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I'm now reading GP notes. In between, I'm being reminded of this GP seminar I attended at New Creation Church (NCC for short, but I'm not comfortable with this acronym because it brings to mind the National Cadet Corps instead). Anyway it was pretty cool, and I made some new friends, some from TJC, some from MJC.
It's amazing how you can be in the same school, same graduating batch, same hall, same lecture theatre with a certain group of people for almost two years, yet you've never known their existence. But anyway, I'm happy to have met my new MJC friends.
Back to the subject on GP, I really like gender issues. In one of the notes, there's a series of illustrations taken from a 1970 children's book. The series of captions read as:
"Boys are pilots. Girls are stewardesses.
Boys are presidents. Girls are First Ladies.
Boys are doctors. Girls are nurses.
Boys are policemen. Girls are metermaids.
Boys can eat. Girls can cook.
Boys build houses. Girls keep houses.
Boys invent things. Girls use what boys invent.
Boys fix things. Girls need things fixed."
Goodness, I am very glad to live in the 21st century. Even such, the gender divide still exists. Yawn... I'm tired. Finally. It's now 1:35AM. My sleep clock has shifted into from 3AM to 11AM, which is really bad. Sleeping at 2AM would be a good start. Goodnight, or good morning really.
♥ The lights faded at 12:46 am
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Having lived on planet Earth for the past eighteen years and a little more, I seem to find more and more things that simply don't make much sense.
Scenario One:
Earlier this afternoon, while on the bus, I was observing the scenery. Among the scenery, stood Siglap Secondary School. This being the end of the year and all, there's plenty of advertising going on, hence posters like "PSLE Students, come join us!" are aplenty. One of these posters caught my eye: a poster of Hady Mirza, followed by a caption that said "Dreams do come true" or something like that. (The bus was too fast.)
Well, I know it isn't wrong, but it doesn't exactly make much sense either. What were they trying to promote? "Join our school and up your chances of winning Singapore Idol"? Do you suppose more students wanted to get into Anglican High School because it churned out Desmond Koh and Sun Ho?
Not that I'm criticising anything or anyone. I'm just trying to say that there seems to be a missing link in the logic somewhere.
... Hmm, I just thought about it, and one of the few ways for it to make sense is that the school has a culture that encourages you to pursue your dreams. Well, every school should have such a culture. It's just the education system, as usual. Pragmatism is good, but we're almost completely submerged in a culture that teaches us to run the rat race. Most of the time, it's more like, "Follow your dreams only if it pays well or at the very least you earn a decent living and you can pay your taxes".
I'm rambling again. I don't know... There's just a fallacy somewhere. Because, let's say I were a PSLE kid absolutely smitten with Jonathan Leong, I wouldn't be able to get into St. Joseph's Institution, would I?
(He is from SJI, right?)
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Scenario Two:
While searching for some books, I found this ancient storybook called "Festival Fairy Tales". One of the stories inside is the classic favourite "Cinderella", and we all know how it ends. Nevertheless, I shall put down the last paragraph of the story here:
"And it so happened that the Prince married Cinderella and the two of them lived happily ever after. That was the reward Cinderella received for all the sacrifices she made and the hardships she endured with goodness and self-denial."
Self-denial!? What are they trying to teach young children? It's just as well that back then, when I first read this book, I didn't understand what self-denial means. Now it doesn't make sense on another level. Young children wouldn't know the term, so why put it in an innocent storybook?
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Okay, I think I'll go to school now, and see whether the mock GP paper has been marked. Then I'll study a bit and be back home to watch TV.
In a world that doesn't make much sense, I guess I'll just stick to the artificially coloured and sweetened lollipop world of television. And that, doesn't seem to make much sense either, but who cares?
♥ The lights faded at 2:02 pm
I just took one of those Tickle tests.
http://web.tickle.com/color/
What is your true color?
"Michelle, your true color is Red!
Your color is red, the color of racy sportscars, blushing cheeks, and luscious roses. Red symbolizes passion, romance, and love. So, since you're ruled by red, you probably trust your feelings more than your brain and tend to act spontaneously. If you see something you want, you go for it without thinking twice — impulsive is your middle name. You don't wait around for people to make decisions, either; you dive right in. Quite the romantic, you pay close attention to your emotions. In fact, if your heart isn't in what you're doing, you won't be satisfied. Of course, even when you do pour all your energy into the projects you tackle, your impetuous nature means your passions can shift as frequently as the wind. That's why some reds have trouble with commitment. Our advice? Next time you're feeling fickle, think before you act, if possible. You might be surprised at the results. Overall, though, it's great to be red. No one lives life more completely than you do."
Well... That sums it up accurately enough. Anyway about the whole TV thing, I just dug out more dirt. From TIME magazine, there's this theory that too much TV-watching for toddlers aged one to three can cause autism. Am I glad that my addiction only kicked in after the age of five or six. And I'm even happier to be part of the generation that had good television programmes, although I can't remember most of them now.
"Teletubbies" isn't showing anymore right? I've never sat through one entire episode. "Barney" is tolerable enough, sometimes pretty good even. Plus you can't beat that hit song, "I love you, you love me, we're a happy family..." From what I hear, children really love "Hi 5". I've watched a bit here and there, and it isn't bad at all, although it's cringe-worthy to think about those five people being so perky and childish all the time, and they are in their twenties and all, maybe older.
I think I understand why children like "Hi 5" so much. It's probably because the show features real (and reasonably young) adults that the children can look up to. They function as both literal and symbolic role models. Kids probably think, "I want to grow up to look just as good and sing and dance just as well as them". No kid in their right mind is want to grow up into a purple dinosaur, which probably explains said dinosaur's apparent long-overdue extinction.
However, using this theory, I wouldn't be able to explain the popularity of "Spongebob Squarepants".
♥ The lights faded at 12:54 am
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
I saw this while looking for GP-related articles.
Anyway this is some Newsweek illustration about science vs. the media. I forgot where the article is, but it's about how people now rely less on their doctors about their queries about nutrition, because of the information explosion. So now they get stuff from the media instead, and the media isn't always reliable. So the mixed messages are causing people to eat and do the wrong things.
Whoa... Now I know why they say that TV is deadly. Haha...
♥ The lights faded at 3:24 pm
Thanks to the show, I'm in a perpetual "princessy" mood. And I've gone a bit nutty, so bear with me.
As if the timing couldn't be more accurate, I just got a girly phone!
Nokia 7360... Pretty right? It's so pink and everything. Let's see how it looks on the table... 
Bleagh... Bad lighting. Anyway, I've checked out the functions, all pretty minimal, which is fine by me, since I don't need so many fancy things in a phone anyway.
And indulge me:
Voila! Princess! (Well, I can dream, can't I?) Damn it, why do I have to be such a bimbo? I think I've really gone crazy with the self-indulgence this time.
I'm contemplating the purchase of the soundtrack. What do you think?
♥ The lights faded at 2:03 pm
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Somebody kill me, I'm addicted again.
Whoa. Once you start, you can't stop. (Is that why smokers just can't quit?) But the plot is undeniably good. It isn't melodramatic (yet), and it's good clean fun. And as for the eye candy...
Something for everybody... TV is spoiling me rotten by allowing me to feast my eyes on not one, but two pretty boys every weekday. (Plus I like to look at the pretty girls too. Bonus!) But here's my favourite one:
Isn't he handsome? I can't believe that I've been reduced to a bimbo who searches for pictures of a Korean serial actor on the internet. I'm an addict!
Okay, enough of fun time, I'm off to study now. But you can expect a load of future posts to be about the show.
♥ The lights faded at 8:30 pm
Friday, October 20, 2006
My expenses are going up up up, no thanks to the haze. The air-conditioning, the travel fare (I'm now taking the bus for distances that I usually cover by foot), the buying of health drinks, blah blah blah...
My mum was telling me about this spa alternative: the oxygen room. Basically, you pay $30, and then go into this room and breathe pure oxygen for one hour. Pretty cool right? I suppose business for them is now great because of the haze. If I got lots of money to burn, no pun intended, I'll move in 24/7. Goodness, that will be $720 a day, and if the haze stays for another month or so (touchwood), that will be a grand total of... $21,600.
Damn, that's a lot of money. So I guess the air-con is the next best thing. Maybe I'll get an air-purifier. There was one in the house, bought during the last haze, bought for $70. After the skies were clear again, my mum sold the thing to Cash Converters for a measly 12 bucks, since we all assumed that the haze wouldn't come again.
Man, what dramatic irony. Stupid haze!
♥ The lights faded at 1:23 pm
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Listening to: "Hotel California" by Eagles
Estimated PSI: 92
Actual PSI: 73
Today's Mock Exam: GP
Random Stuff. Can't wait for the PSI to get even lower, such that I'm actually looking forward to the monsoon season. Haze, haze, go away...
♥ The lights faded at 11:55 am
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
The internet has caused waay too many problems. In a place where you can do almost anything anonymously, sense of dignity does not matter anymore. You can be the biggest jerk in the world, but you're the biggest anonymous jerk, so that makes it alright because people do not know who you are. So nobody really cares.
And sarcasm and subtle humour is harder to detect. Many instances, you're being humorous, but people, being unable to see your expression, don't know that so they think you're blatantly insulting others.
*******
It's just weird to think how it can be so different from real life, yet somehow reflective. It's just as ironic that with progress, comes degeneration.
Maybe life is one big irony.
♥ The lights faded at 11:32 am
The Maths mock exam was... quite horrible, and it wasn't just the content. The Statistics part was more or less manageable, but Pure Maths... bleagh. I have recently begun to finally get the hang of arithmetic progression, but geometric progression is still so alien. And the curve-sketching part of maximum-minimum points, integration, etc... I think I need a miracle to get me through this.
Anyway, there were other horrible things. The LT desk was too damn tiny, everyone was too closely seated, Alexis and I kept knocking into each other, and my formula sheets kept flying away. Worst of all, at the end of the paper, the teachers just said that we could go off. Answer schemes will be available in the photocopy room, or on IVLE. Naturally I was stunned for a good two seconds. Initially I thought the whole thing was just a waste of time, but later Alexis reasoned that it was a good thing to make the students drag their asses there to do some real work.
Econs mock exam today. Enough said.
♥ The lights faded at 10:30 am
It is needless to say that you are incessantly childish and annoying. I would have said that you have long overstayed your welcome, if not for the fact that you were never welcome to begin with.
♥ The lights faded at 12:25 am
Friday, October 13, 2006
The joke's worn thin and fun time is over.
♥ The lights faded at 6:35 pm
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
I haven't been blogging lately, mainly because these few days, whenever I read my tagboard, I'm rendered speechless.
Who are you people? Why do you care so much about how I look? Regardless of whether you care, why do you seem to be constantly sitting at your computers trying to tag the lives out of one another, and ironically telling the other party to "get a life"?
If you're so intelligent and so free, why don't you go find a cure for cancer, instead of annoying the hell outta me (because at this point, I am irritated) by expressing your one-cent (it's not even worth two-cents) opinion where it's not needed and certainly not wanted.
Plus the argument in the tagboard saga has digressed and deviated so much, it has become everything save from the things that make sense. And was the subject matter really about my looks in the first place? It started with Zack defending the "poor girl" whom I thought I was dissing.
At least I don't pretend that I'm not mean, or that I don't appear offensive at times. I can't possibly be all holier-than-thou and a self-righteous hypocrite. I don't want to wear the same dress as someone else. I don't want to blend into the crowd. Those are my choices. I am as much entitled to having my opinions as you are to having yours. But you crossed the line, because you had to condemn me for having my opinions instead of conforming to yours.
As for looks, why care? It's none of your business. Pretty or not pretty, so what? Whether or not I think I'm pretty or average or ugly, isn't going to affect your life. Then you think that I think too highly of myself and want to give me a reality check. Seriously, who do you think you are? What gives you the right to tell me what I should and should not do?
Since I really have nothing more to say at this point, I'll just stop here for now.
♥ The lights faded at 9:56 pm
Sunday, October 08, 2006
I would have tagged, but there's an error with cbox, of all things to happen.
In any case, I realise that we're really having different arguments altogether, which explains a lot of things. So just to clear some things up, no girl is going to want to wear the same dress as another girl on prom night, no matter how the other girl looks. Maybe you don't understand this because you're a boy. Therefore you think I'm "dissing" her looks, which I'm not. There's not much beyond that.
I don't feel insulted by an insult, but that doesn't mean I'm vain or that I think I'm pretty or anything like that. Plus life isn't black and white: just because I don't think I'm ugly doesn't automatically equate to me thinking I'm pretty.
Plus I don't know who Mary is, and having someone insult me in a language I don't understand doesn't exactly serve any impact, since there isn't much common ground to base an argument on.
Which, on the other hand, does not mean that I don't care. Goodness, when have I said that I don't care? Of course I care about what's going on in my blog. It's only right that I care.
♥ The lights faded at 3:23 pm
Thursday, October 05, 2006
A General Paper question reads:
"Blogging is nothing more than idle chatter and self-indulgence." Is this a fair comment?
I don't think I'll attempt a question like this one. For starters, how many examples can you give? But the real question is, are you finding this statement difficult to disagree with?
Speaking of GP, I finally finished the assignment. I think Mr Chew's really patient when it comes to stuff like this.
Hmm... I'll be busy today, but I hope I can squeeze in some Maths.
...
I can't believe I'm actually functioning properly this early in the morning. Ordinarily I wouldn't have woken up this early on a Sunday. I was happily dreaming that I was a journalist interviewing the gorgeous Gwen Stefani (which I am not making up), and then my phone rang. And I was thinking, "Of all times for the phone to ring..." and then the dream just sort of faded away. The second between waking up and taking the call, I was thinking, "What a dream."
Turns out it was Gracelyn who called. She apologised for waking me up, and I said it was okay. I thought it was actually 10.30AM or something. After the call, I realised that it was only 8AM. Part of me was happy, since I can afford to sleep for another two hours, but... I was wide awake. Bleagh...
And so here I am, blogging, idle chatter, self-indulgence and all.
♥ The lights faded at 11:46 pm
Message: Translated
Well, with "ahlian"'s advice, I consulted an online translator, and the message (you can find in the tagboard) directly translates to, "You are sow ugly so that the cows begin to cry when judgement sees yourself!"
I laughed when I read it. I couldn't help it. My gosh, you expect to me to cry with the cows just because some random individual tells me I'm ugly in Swedish?
I suppose I am ugly in Swedish standards, since I'm not tall, skinny and blonde. But what does it matter? I don't want to be some plastic Barbie anyway. I'm fine with the way I am.
Maybe last year, or even at the beginning of this year, you might have provoked a different response out of me. But I'm comfortable in my own skin now, and you're not worth it. The only thing you're getting out of me is amusement.
Things do change after all.
♥ The lights faded at 11:29 am
