[MyAppleMenu] Oct 9, 2011

applesurf at myapplemenu.com applesurf at myapplemenu.com
Sun Oct 9 18:59:00 EDT 2011


MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** The Weird Sex Life Of Orchids <http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/oct/09/orchid-sex-botany-ziegler-pollan?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Fbooks%2Frss+%28Books%29>
Michael Pollan, The Guardian

So let us celebrate some other pinnacles of evolution, the kind that would get a lot more press if natural history were written by plants rather than animals. I'm thinking specifically of one of the largest, most diverse families of flowering plants: the 25,000 species of orchids that, over the past 80 million years, have managed to colonise six continents and almost every conceivable terrestrial habitat, from remote Mediterranean mountaintops to living rooms the world over. The secret of their success? In a word, sex. But not exactly normal sex. Really weird sex, in fact.

**** The Everyday Dancer By Deborah Bull – Review <http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/oct/09/everyday-dancer-deborah-bull-review?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Fbooks%2Frss+%28Books%29>
Fleur Darkin, The Guardian

To be an everyday dancer takes maturity of mind and a true understanding of the difference between seeing and being.



SingaporeSurf
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**** Fong Har Breaks Down As She Talks About Her Citizenship <http://www.yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/4997-fong-har-breaks-down-as-she-talks-about-her-citizenship->
Singapore Democratic Party

These people have done much wrong and there needs to be justice, she added. She repeated the call for a commission of inquiry to be held so that the truth can be revealed. Several of the 1987 detainees have openly defied the PAP, calling for an inquiry. The government has steadfastly refused to call for such an inquiry.

Ms Tang was no exception. She said that if the government has evidence against her, it should produce it in a court of law and not resort to cowardly measures like detention without trial where prisoners are tortured and confessions extracted.

**** Francis Seow Says He Would Like To Return To Singapore <http://www.yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/4996-francis-seow-says-he-would-like-to-return-to-singapore>
Singapore Democratic Party

Despite getting on in age, Mr Seow still spoke with gusto and challenged the government to produce evidence against ISA detainees instead of just insisting that there was wrong-doing.

"It's very strange, in 1987 the government accused the detainees of being Euro-communists, but then for me it said that I was a CIA agent," he said to the laughter of the audience. "They will say anything but will not produce evidence."

**** Francis Seow And Tang Fong Har Promises Not To Back Down <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/10/francis-seow-and-tang-fong-har-promises-not-to-back-down/>
The Online Citizen

It was clear from hearing the two speak, that the events of Operation Spectrum still haunted them to this day. Fong Har’s emotional recounting and Francis’ fiery words were testament to this. The two did go through traumatizing experiences and lived in a time when the nation was shrouded in a climate of fear. Both thus wanted to right the wrongs done to them, they wanted justice.

**** The Naivete Of Those Desperate To See Change Where Little Exists <http://furrybrowndog.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/the-naivete-of-those-desperate-to-see-change-where-little-exists/>
Furry Brown Dog

So dear relentlessly-positive folks, how many more mundane or mistaken instances of reform will you continue to hype when little has really changed? Please don’t mistake PR spin as change. The PAP already has good spin doctors, they don’t need additional folks like yourselves to help carry their spin.

Count me as one of the 30% of all folks identified by the IPS as perennial cynics. But personally I believe I would recognise genuine change when I see it.

**** The Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall: Travesty Or Inspiration? <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/10/the-sun-yat-sen-memorial-hall-travesty-or-inspiration/>
Ng Yi-Sheng, The Online Citizen

“This is a museum that honours people who dared to fight back against tyrants. They wanted to change the world, and they succeeded.”

“We must too.”

**** Police Investigating SDP Forum <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1158170/1/.html>
Channel NewsAsia

The Ministry of Home Affairs, in response to media queries, said on Sunday that the organisers of the forum on the Internal Security Act had arranged for a fugitive from justice, Mr Francis Seow, and a foreign national, Ms Tang Fong Har, to participate in a discussion on domestic politics.

**** Holding Slut-callers To Account <http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/holding-slut-callers-to-account/>
Alex Au, Yawning Bread

**** Vincent Wijeysingha: Or Perhaps They Will Torture Us To Produce A False Confession? <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/10/vincent-wijeysingha-or-perhaps-they-will-torture-us-to-produce-a-false-confession/>
The Online Citizen






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