Lava Flow

By Margaret Perry, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE : Southeast Asia's first sex exhibition opens this month in Singapore.

Sexpo 2005 will be held at Singapore Expo from November 18-20 with full approval from the authorities.

Miniature sculptures were put in dowry boxes to teach young couples how to consummate their marriage, along with a more detailed description on what to do.

This early form of Chinese sex education dates from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

These are some of the cultural sex exhibits that will be shown at Sexpo.

Organisers say Singapore's reserved society is ready for such an exhibition and they expect 60,000 people to attend.

Kenny Goh, founder of Sexpo 2005 said: "I guess the only concern is that some people may not want to be seen associated with some sleazy event. But there's nothing sleazy about the Sexpo. It's a sexual health education event."

Doctors will give talks on sexual health problems and solutions.

They say women are now more willing to come forward and seek help.

"These days, they come forward and say 'I have made up my mind, and we, as husband and wife, want to do something to solve our problem.' We see a more liberated group of women and a more liberated society," said Dr Lee Keen Whye, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist.

Sensual dancing, detailed sexual health talks and novelties will be available here in an area known as the bedroom. This is restricted to people aged 21 years and above.

The other part of the exhibition will be known as the living room and is open to the general public.

Topics will include things like infertility and treatments, and ways that parents can discuss sex education with their children.

- CNA /ls

— Tan Hui Leng

HE WAS was born with a congenital medical condition, but didn't know about it till three years ago, at the age of 38.

"I started experiencing shortness of breath and was constantly lethargic," said administrative assistant Amin Mubaruk, who used to play football regularly.

When he sought help for his condition, he was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, a rare heart-lung disorder that occurs when blood pressure from the pulmonary artery rises far beyond normal levels.

Mr Amin has gone from a prognosis that gave him up to three years to live, to coping with his condition so well that he is now setting up a support group for other patients with pulmonary hypertension.

The support group is the Southeast Asian chapter of the Pulmonary Hypertension Association based in the United States.

"I believe there are many more out there as it's often misdiagnosed as asthma," he said.

For more information on the association, you can email phasea-phasea@yahoo.com.sg or call 9159 9937.

WASHINGTON - That co-worker staring, eyes scrunched up, at his computer monitor may look like he's sweating through another hard day's work.

But he just might be one of the growing number of office jockeys who, according to new research, have their minds not on their jobs -- but on a blog.

Trade paper AdAge.com reported this week that US workers would waste the equivalent of 551,000 years during 2005 reading blogs, online web diaries and gossip sheets, which have exploded in numbers in recent years.

Around 35 million workers -- one in four of the labour force in the United States -- spend three-and-a-half hours, or nine percent of their working week on blogs, the survey found.

Blogs, which range in tone and quality from scandal sheets to semi-professional news sites to in-depth "geek" technology forums, are often seen as the ultimate expression of online freedom.

"Forget lunch breaks -- blog readers essentially take a daily 40 minute blog break," AdAge quipped, presenting its survey as a best-guess extrapolation based on blog related data.

The AdAge survey mirrors a poll conducted by America Online and Salary.com in July, which found that American workers were goofing off for two hours a day on the Internet, costing their employers 759 billion dollars a year.

But some blog and Internet experts argue that reading a blog in itself does not necessarily equate to wasted time -- and may replace time when workers could be idling away their boss's time doing something else.

"I think it is a little broad brush to turn around and say 'oh, they are reading blogs and it's a waste of time,'" said Steve Ferrer, head of sales and marketing firm The Propaganda House which specialises in the Internet, e-commerce and technology.

"If they weren't reading a blog they might be doing something else not necessarily productive either," said Ferrer, pointing out that some jobs require workers to use blogs and the Internet for research.

Lee Rainie, a researcher at the Pew Internet and American Life Project, said not all blogs were trashy journals -- many are now put out by reputable media firms, and used increasingly by corporations.

"It is not the case that a blog, is a blog, is a blog -- blogs run the spectrum from being ridiculous to the sublime," he said, but admitted: "the notion that some people might not be optimising their time is probably legitimate."

Pew earlier this year released research that suggested that eight million Americans have created blogs, while blog readership jumped 58 percent in 2004 and stood at 27 percent of Internet users.

The AdAge survey coincided with new reports that America's companies may be waking up to lost productivity as desk-bound workers surf the net.

Wired News reported this week that more and more corporations were installing security filters that block out phrases that include the word 'blog' in the URL.

Corporate America has also been alarmed at the prospect of workers actually writing blogs from their desks.

In the United States, flight attendant Ellen Simonetti was fired for posting photographs of herself in her uniform and a Google employee was dismissed after questioning his firm's finances in a blog.

Last year, Jessica Cutler, an intern for a US senator, transfixed official Washington with an anonymous steamy blog dubbed "Washingtonienne" devoted to her bed hopping after hours antics, before she too was fired.

- AFP /ls

By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia

If you've ever felt that work in the office can sometimes be a pain in the neck, you're not alone.

Seven out of 10 working adults suffer from some form of back, shoulder and neck pain, according to a survey done last year by the Singapore General Hospital.

Often, these aches and pains are a result of poor work habits or badly designed workstations.

To help overcome this, a new Code of Practice for Office Ergonomics was launched on Saturday.

The new standard covers the design and layout of workstations and equipment, such as height of tables, chairs and computers, as well as work postures and environmental factors such as lighting, noise and indoor air quality.

And in a society where so much time is spent in the office, alleviating such problems could have manifold benefits, like lowered absenteeism and higher productivity.

A study done in the United States showed that after implementing an ergonomics training programme for office workers, ergonomics-related illnesses dropped from eight injuries per 1,000 employees to three in 1000.

Total annual medical bills also fell dramatically by more than 70 percent.

Initiated by the Manpower Ministry, this new standard was developed and published by SPRING Singapore. - CNA/ir

Able-bodied are too demanding too.

I refer to Mr. Gary Seet Ann Hup's comments "Disabled too demanding", Oct 10.

Yes, there's no doubt wheelchair users would need more time to board and alight buses. If and only if there are more considerate and selfless passengers who would not jam up the front portion and entrance of the bus when there are plenty of space towards the rear end.

We have seen "precious minutes wasted" at bus-stops when some passengers just refuse to move their butts and thus slow down the boarding and alighting times. Does this mean that the masses are being delayed just because many of the "able-bodied" are not considerate and thoughtful enough? Before we point any finger at the wheelchair users and claim that they would delay us, lets do some serious self-reflection first.

And how many Singaporeans are willing to step forward to form the pool service as Mr. Seet suggested? I would take it that Mr. Seet would be one of the first.

It's not only about the wheelchair users. Those using crutches, walking sticks and other forms of walking aids, not to forget some senior citizens, tend to take a longer time, than the young and healthy "able-bodied", to board and alight buses. And there are also those who have been injured, during accidents and falls, and so require the assistance of crutches temporarily. So are we going to suggest that all these individuals are "too demanding" too?

We cannot and must not "penalise" the wheelchair users just because they have to move and travel around in their wheelchairs for the rest of their lives. Instead, it should be fair that they could enjoy the same privileges and service as the rest of us.

Perhaps we should be more innovative in finding solutions to solve all these "problems". How about a bus with a automatic ramp-loader at the rear to serve their needs? Or an escalator system onboard the bus to serve all the passengers so that we can rest our aching legs after a tiring day at work.

Afterall, we pride ourselves to have world-class educational institutes and universities, and reowned researchers and research programmes. I'm pretty sure that there would not be much difficulty in devising some smart technical gadgets/systems to allow wheelchair users to enjoy the public bus service and yet offer no or minimal delay to other passengers.

While we are attempting to improve the service standards in Singapore, don't leave out the group of less privileged and disabled.

Cannot expect same services as able-bodied

Letter from Gary Seet Ann Hup

I refer to the news comment, "Hold the bus, is someone being left behind?" (Oct 7). While I agree with integrating the disabled into the community, I don't agree with altering public buses to suit their needs.

The SMRT and Land Transport Authority (LTA) have already retrofitted our trains and train stations to make them accessible to people who use wheelchairs. The question is how to get these people to the stations from where they are, be it from their homes, workplaces or anywhere else.

The solution cannot be to retrofit public buses to accommodate them.

So as not to be labelled insensitive, let me explain. The LTA has introduced bus lanes and the public bus operators have set their schedules to make travelling by bus as smooth as possible and to move the masses as quickly as possible.

Like it or not, any delay has a cost in terms of longer travel times. Wheelchair users would need more time to board and alight from buses and this would hold up other passengers.

Being patient and understanding is one thing. Being late for work because of it is another.

Wheelchair-users should be "connected" to a pick-up service. Ideally, it should be a taxi service which takes them to the nearest MRT station and/or from the MRT station to their final destination.

Of course, this would cost them more than an able-bodied person pays to take the bus. If this system could be integrated into the taxi booking system it could be better administered and, perhaps, lower the cost.

Alternatives include setting up a pool of volunteers who could offer their services when needed. I'm not advocating a taxi service as fares might be quite hefty.

One has to take into account that, realistically, wheelchair-users cannot expect to be as mobile as able-bodied people.

To think otherwise would be akin to a poor person wanting to have whatever a rich person has. What a society can do is try to remove as many obstacles as possible.

More shock Project SuperStar exits lead some to question why the public has more say than the judges

Mervin Tay
mervin@newstoday.com.sg

FOR two consecutive weeks, MediaCorp TV Channel U's Project SuperStar has seen surprising exits, the latest being Derrick Hoh, Kelly Poon, Lai Lijun and Leon Lim on Thursday night.

"Viewers don't seem to be voting according to contestants' singing ability," observed 21-year-old student Tan Keng Hui.

Thursday's results shocked many, with a post appearing on the MediaCorp Communities Forum barely 20 minutes into the results show, wondering if a mistake had been made.

The voting mechanics of the show has come under fire. One of the gripes was the 30-per-cent versus 70-per-cent weightage accorded to judges' votes and call-in votes, respectively.

Many viewers feel professional judgment does not deserve lower weightage than popular opinion.

This was echoed in last week's 8 Days, with the entertainment magazine saying there should at least be a 50-50 split.

"It's sad to see the better ones leave because the judges' proportion of the score is too small," said part-time tutor Joseph Low.

The cost of each vote was also an issue of concern. Forum member pokka feels "neutral" voters — those whose votes might change and who do not vote for the same contestant throughout — have been "priced out of voting".

She drew a comparison with American Idol, where calls from land lines are free and SMS votes are only subject to normal messaging rates. In contrast, each vote costs 60 cents for Project SuperStar.

But for die-hard fans, cost is not a problem. Forum member energywen spoke of acquaintances who rally their friends to make "over 6,000 calls and SMSes" for a particular contestant, while frustrated asked: "If we restrict it to one vote per person or per handphone, I'm sure we'll witness a different outcome."

"Generally, it's hard for a small number of neutral viewers to influence the results because they'll be dominated by the different voting camps," said undergraduate Karine Chua.

If it's any consolation, Derrick, Kelly, Lijun and Leon will return on July 20 and 21 in the concluding quarter-finals.

Together with the four contestants who will be eliminated in next week's competition, they will battle for a place each in the male and female semi-finals.