mrjam.typepad.comThe Curious Diary of Mr Jam

By Nury Vittachi Home Archives Profile Subscribe Monday, 29 August 2016 6 news items which recently sent me back to my youth Continue reading "6 news items which recently sent me back to my youth " » Posted at 10:00 AM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Monday, 22 August 2016 THOUGHTS ON HOW WEIRD LIFE IS JUST NOW Continue reading "THOUGHTS ON HOW WEIRD LIFE IS JUST NOW" » Posted at 12:48 PM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Monday, 04 July 2016 Brain 'optional', scientists say, and I have proof Continue reading "Brain 'optional', scientists say, and I have proof" » Posted at 09:40 AM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Monday, 13 June 2016 4 TALES THAT PROVE OUR BRAINS ARE SWITCHED OFF AND IN OUR POCKETS Continue reading "4 TALES THAT PROVE OUR BRAINS ARE SWITCHED OFF AND IN OUR POCKETS" » Posted at 08:52 AM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Monday, 06 June 2016 Differences between Westerners and Easterners Continue reading "Differences between Westerners and Easterners" » Posted at 03:04 PM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Tuesday, 24 May 2016 4 true stories about taking risks Continue reading "4 true stories about taking risks" » Posted at 10:17 AM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Monday, 16 May 2016 The gift of persuasion Continue reading "The gift of persuasion" » Posted at 11:51 AM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Tuesday, 03 May 2016 Gender, toilets and all that A WOMAN WAS SACKED for having short hair and wearing trousers to work recently. “They said I was gay,” she complained to an unsympathetic Labor Tribunal in the city of Guiyang, southwest China. How could her employers get it so wrong? A pixie cut and skinny pants are what all the BABES wear these days. Only guys these days have long hair, handbags and Paisley pattern mini-dresses. *** The growing gulf between modern and ancient attitudes became evident a few days ago when I witnessed a discussion on gender politics. No one is born male or female, an American friend insisted. In evidence he offered a recent US court judgment saying, in an unmistakably skeptical tone, that the law should not give much credence to “birth-assigned sex, or so-called ‘biological sex’.” This casual dismissal of science irked some of the nerdy Asians in the group, who pointed out that every strand of DNA in each of the 30 trillion cells in your body specifies male or female. *** I could see both arguments but luckily avoided having to take sides by diverting attention to an astonishing gender-related news item which popped up on my email feed from reader Austen Au Yeung. *** A wallaby in Sydney’s main zoo managed to make herself pregnant more than a year after her male partner had left, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. *** The discovery followed soon after a report in New Scientist that virgin births are not only possible, but common, having been observed in snakes, fish, chickens and sharks. The belief that virgin births only produce sterile daughters was also disproved, the science journal said, and the findings “overturn everything we knew about parthenogenesis”. *** (The magazine’s letters page should expect a one-word email from a Jewish woman writing from a PO Box c/o Heaven: “FINALLY.”) *** I made a note to hide my copy of New Scientist from my daughters in case they got funny ideas—and then expanding mid-sections. (“Dad, you know you said we couldn’t have a puppy? Well…”) *** As for the “trans debate”, I used to believe that anyone can use any toilet, until I stepped into a public restroom beside a wild nightclub in Pattaya, Thailand, and came out convinced that no human should be allowed to use any public toilets EVER. *** So who can use them? About a month ago, a US reader told me the true story of Ricky Hernandez of Phoenix, Arizona, who decided that he was really a transgender woman, and had a series of surgeries. After he had become Eva Tiamat Medusa, he decided that he’d made a mistake. He wasn’t a woman – he was a dragon. He’s recently had more surgeries to get scales, horns and a snout and describes himself as “transspecies”. *** The reader expected me to be shocked by this, but having grown up on The Sword in the Stone and the Animorphs novels, I could see the cool side. *** If transspecies operations ever became available on welfare, I would wait until the next time someone called me “a bear with a sore head” and then sneak off to hospital and come back as one. RAWWRR! *** Clearly skyscrapers of the future will consist of one small office and 95 floors of toilets, one per person. I can get over my Pattaya trauma. FINALLY! Posted at 09:20 AM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Monday, 25 April 2016 I'm outing myself: I identify as a potato Continue reading "I'm outing myself: I identify as a potato" » Posted at 09:04 PM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Monday, 11 April 2016 MONDAY MOANING BLUES: THOUGHTS ABOUT SILENCE Continue reading "MONDAY MOANING BLUES: THOUGHTS ABOUT SILENCE" » Posted at 10:38 AM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Monday, 14 March 2016 The Day 16 Women Escaped Their Marriages Continue reading "The Day 16 Women Escaped Their Marriages" » Posted at 01:38 PM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Monday, 22 February 2016 Household pets hurt my self-esteem Continue reading "Household pets hurt my self-esteem" » Posted at 08:32 AM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Monday, 28 December 2015 3 eyebrow-raising news items about pets treated as children Continue reading "3 eyebrow-raising news items about pets treated as children" » Posted at 10:53 AM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Monday, 30 November 2015 4 examples of knee-jerk reactions Continue reading "4 examples of knee-jerk reactions" » Posted at 09:01 AM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Tuesday, 10 November 2015 10 Daddy and Child Conversations Continue reading "10 Daddy and Child Conversations" » Posted at 09:08 PM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Monday, 12 October 2015 SHE FAKED HER PREGNANCY. FOR 10 MONTHS Continue reading "SHE FAKED HER PREGNANCY. FOR 10 MONTHS" » Posted at 02:02 PM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Wednesday, 07 October 2015 BRAIN-EATERS SHOW EVOLUTION CONTINUING, SCIENTISTS SAY Continue reading "BRAIN-EATERS SHOW EVOLUTION CONTINUING, SCIENTISTS SAY" » Posted at 09:03 AM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Tuesday, 29 September 2015 10 reasons why the death of the comma is a disaster Continue reading "10 reasons why the death of the comma is a disaster" » Posted at 09:12 AM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Monday, 21 September 2015 DO YOU CURSE IN FRONT OF YOUR KIDS? Continue reading "DO YOU CURSE IN FRONT OF YOUR KIDS?" » Posted at 05:24 PM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Monday, 14 September 2015 IRONY AND THE ANGEL OF KARMA Continue reading "IRONY AND THE ANGEL OF KARMA" » Posted at 09:22 AM | Permalink | 0 Comments Reblog (0) Older » Subscribe to this blog's feed JOIN US My Other Accounts Facebook: nury.vittachi Twitter: NuryVittachi Search Archives August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 Tweets by @NuryVittachi Email me nury@vittachi.com Powered by Typepad...