Basket.

I have distinctly mixed feelings about public holidays at the moment. On the one hand, there is no work, and on the other... there is no work. Which means no money. Not that I've been spending much, after a frightening splurge in early March. Even gone without buying a book for quite a while already.

In the papers this week: woman posts about extravagant lifestyle on weblog, complete with vapid, materialistic musings - proceeds to be flamed by trigger-happy demagogues - makes police report - extreme lack of newsworthy items in Singapore amply demonstrated when whole rigmarole makes front-page (albeit tabloid) news.

If you didn't quite catch that, some airhead bimbo made a police report against people who posted unpleasant comments on her tagboard.

This has to trump the woman who called 999 to report the infamous racist bloggers of 2005 (as she herself relates, the police officer thought she was reporting a fight at some void deck. Blog-block.), or the one other who nearly had a nervous breakdown because she couldn't take the flaming, bravely defending government policies online.

What these people must understand: if you can't take the heat, get the fuck out of the kitchen. Also it certainly speaks volumes about your actual mental strength and aptitude is you are not able to rise above crude insults from anonymous usernames on the Internet. Learn to behave like mature adults and understand that when you express your opinion, when you take a stand, there are bound to be people out there who will not like what you are saying. Some of these people are degenerates incapable of expressing themselves in any way other than utilising infantile references to your mother, your parentage and your sexual orientation, with a choice sprinkling of interjections regarding human genitals and/or your particular lack of them. It is most unfortunate, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. Humanity is not capable of simply getting along.

If you take flaming too seriously, all you'll be doing is making yourself a laughing-stock, because it shows that you too lack maturity. Learn to ignore barbs. It is better for you if you do, because life throws us so many anyway.