Food Vouchers

8 Jan 2011 - The British Government is slowly changing tactics in its struggle to motivate the Brits to lead healthier lives. British officials are abandoning the health argument and fattening people's wallets instead. They have tested several programmes that pay people incentives to make make healthy choices. Last week the Government committed to cash payouts to try to reverse the obesity epidemic, announced it would give out five million GBP 50 vouchers to families that could be swapped for fruits and vegetables instead of hamburgers and fries. "If people drop out they get nothing," said Winton Rossiter, who designed the programme tested by the Weight Wins Company. "And people hate giving up money even more than they hate giving up the fatty snacks.".  

Eating Worms

7 Jan 2010 - Female students in China have been eating roundworm eggs to lose weight for job interviews, all because employment is so hard to come by in China.The eggs hatch in the stomach, allowing those who take them to shed pounds without exercising or dieting. But swallowing the worms or its eggs is extremely dangerous, and definitely not to be recommended for those wanting to shed pounds in the New Year. Unemployment in China stands at 22% and the size of the labour pool has grown by 112 million people over the last decade to more than one billion people. It was also reported that other people stare for hours at pictures to suppress their appetite so they can shed weight.  The unemployment problem is in particular high in rural areas. Jobs in cities are being created quickly as China undergoes a rapid transformation into a developed country. The country's urban population will rise to over 700 million people by 2015, outstripping the rural population for the first time.

Dumb and dumber

6 Jan 2011 - It is not something we like to admit easily, but it seems that the human race may actually becoming increasingly dumb. Man's brain has been gradually shrinking over the last 20,000 years from 1,500 cubic centimeters to 1,350 cubic centimeters - losing a chunk the size of a tennis ball. The female brain has shrunk by about the same proportion. Luckily, most scientists believe that the fact the size of teh brain is decreasing does not mean our intelligence is in decline as well. Some believe that our brains are smaller but increasingly efficient. There are several theories for the shrinking brain. One is that big heads were necessary to survive prehistoric life, which involved cold, outdoor activities. Another theory believes that skulls developed to cope with a chewy diet of rabbits, reindeer, foxes and horses. As our food is now much easier to chew, our heads stopped growing. There is - however - hope. A recent study found out that our brain is on the rise again. Maybe we get smarter at last.

Just a Service Provider ...

6 Jan 2011 - Who would have predicted this? Clairvoyants and astrologers can legally practise in Romania since a few days as fortune-telling was officially recognized as a profession per 1st January 2011. The Romanian Government adopted last week a bill listing fortune-tellers, astrologers and "small practitioners" along with butlers, embalmers and driving instructors in thye "personal services" category. The move drew scatching comments on the internet with some asking if fortune tellers would have to declare revenues and pay taxes."Will they have to issue bills that will then act as warranty certificate?"Benjib, an internet user, said. If so, :just imagine the number of complaints over unfulfilled predictions lodged with the consumers protection office," he added.

New Language

4 Jan 2010 - The Lake Superior State University in Sault St. Marie, Illinois, USA released its annual list of banished words, terms so overused, misused and hackneyed they deserve to be sent to a permanent linguistic trash can in 2011. "Viral" often used to describe the rapid spreading of videos or other content over the internet, leads the list for the year 2010. Runners up include "epic" and "fail" often twinned to describe a blunder of monumental proportions. Fourteen words were on the list. Cliched terms such as "wow factor" , "a-ha moment", "back story" and "BFF" (Best Friend Forever) rated highly. The very au courant use of "Facebook" and "google" as verbs got a thumbs down as well. As usual, election-cycle zingers and catchwords quickly look as worn out as last year's campaign posters. The word "Mama Grizzlies", used to describe right-wing female politicians is therefore also on the list. Did somebody say Sarah Palin?

Back to School

3 Jan 2011 - It is not totally clear to me why school holidays in Malaysia are held in November and December (the cooler weather seem perfect to study?), but the holidays are over and today and tomorrow children return to school. The back-to-school shopping frenzy is evident in many of the leading stores and shopping malls. Parents, with their children in tow, pick out school uniforms and shoes in the right sizes and colors. "Whenever the school term starts, the one thing most parents worry about is having to spend a significant amount to buy school uniforms, books, shoes and stationary. These days children ask for what they want and they insist that we buy their favorite things," said mother of six, Ajurun Begum Ahmad. Ajurun recommends not to wait last minute with the purchases, as it pays off to shop around, and they could benefit from the year-end sale. Another mother takes a different approach: "Although we have to get everything new for the little one, that still does not mean that we will give in to all his demands."

Shrinking Population

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2 Jan 2010 - Japan's population shrank by a record margin last year as the nation rapidly ages, said the Welfare Ministry yesterday. The number of people fell by 123,000, the biggest drop since the records began in 1947. It is an illustration of the demographic crisis the country faces as a smaller working population has to support a mass of pensioners. It is the fourth consecutive year that the country's population has declined. The fall was larger than the 72,000 registered in 2009. The Ministry estimated 1,071,000 babies were born in Japan last year, almost flat from 2009, while deaths soared by 52,000 to a record of 1.194,000. It is interesting to note this trend in one of Asia's most developed nations, and similar trends are spotted in South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. It would probably also be the same in Europe but immigration changes the picture in the old world.

Rolling Stones

2 Jan 2010 - Rolling Stones' guitar player Keith Richards has published his autobiography called "Life". It seems an appropriate title for a man who was near-dead for many years of his life. He wrote the book together with ghostwriter James Fox. Richards explains how it all started ... The band was still totally unknown when they were invited for an interview by a local magazine.Jazz News (!!!!). The journalist asked the duo Mick Jagger and Keith Richards what the name of the band was They had no clue, but they saw an album by Muddy Waters lying around and one of the songs on the album was called Rolling Stone. So, voila ... The Rolling Stones were born. Much has been said about the rivalry (and friendship) between Mick and Keith, but the name of the band was chosen by both of them. Not long after, they played the world in gigantic stadiums and earned lots of money. The legendary band was born.