Crush or creepy? - "There was too much negativity on the Internet, the two friends felt.Far too many people were criticising others, calling people names and being cyberbullies.So Mr Liang Zhi Chao and Mr Michael Lee decided to set up a website where people could post pictures of attractive strangers whom they saw in trains and say good things about them.While their intention might seem admirable, some felt they were invading people's privacy.Mr Liang and Mr Lee, both in their 20s, are in the digital marketing field. They came up with mrtcrush.com to counter cyberbullying."
This is no longer up
On racism and xenophobia in Singapore « Musings from Singapore - "Singapore has been actively importing relatively more Chinese in order to maintain the ethnic balance in society. In 1989, Mr Lee said that the lower Chinese birth rate justified the government’s programme of encouraging Chinese immigration from Hong Kong. According to him, the Chinese majority must be maintained, “or there will be a shift in the economy, both the economic performance and the political backdrop which makes that economic performance possible.”... In the tension between global-local, it seems as if politicians have been motivated more by GDP growth and the interests of multinational corporations than by the ideals and preferences of ordinary Singaporeans.Do we want a global city or do we want a more regional, local one with closer ties to South-east Asia? It is interesting to note that in the same IPS survey Singaporeans say they are more comfortable with a local-born Malay OR foreign-born Malay as their boss than they are with a mainland Chinese... A little-known fact in Singapore is that Indians are now the richest ethnic group here in terms of resident household incomes. Many people assume the Chinese are"
I was once told that in pointing out that a high correlation between SES and academic grades showed meritocracy was working, I sounded like Lee Kuan Yew. Apparently Lee Kuan Yew is always wrong?
Why video games can do better than therapy for anxiety and depression - "In clinical, behavioural, and psychological science, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is recognized as the “gold standard” prevention and treatment approach for anxiety and depression. In a nutshell, CBT focuses on changing thinking patterns (e.g., rumination, negative self-talk) and behavioural strategies (e.g., avoidance, withdrawal) that cause and maintain anxious and depressive feelings. Several meta-analyses (a statistical approach that summarizes results of multiple scientific studies) have shown that CBT works, on average, to prevent escalations in anxiety and depression. What’s important to know is that although CBT is currently the most rigorously studied approach, outcomes are mixed and effect sizes are consistently small to moderate. This means that 40–60% of young people who go through CBT in the “real world”(i.e., outside the academic research context) do not improve."
How your age affects your appetite - "After the age of 50, we begin to suffer a gradual loss of muscle mass, at between 0.5-1% per year. This is called sarcopenia, and lessened physical activity, consuming too little protein, and menopause in women will accelerate the decline in muscle mass. A healthy, varied diet and physical activity are important to reduce the effects of ageing, and an ageing population’s need for palatable, cost-effective, higher-protein foods is not being met.Protein‐rich snack foods might represent an ideal opportunity to increase total protein intake in older adults, but there are currently few products designed to meet the requirements and preferences of older adults"
How to cook traditional Italian dishes at home - "Speaking about the myth of throwing spaghetti at the wall to check if it's cooked, Antonella said: ‘There are a lot of urban legends about al dente pasta but in Italy not everybody loves al dente pasta.In the North they love it a little softer, into the South they love their pasta almost raw... ‘When you have great fresh filled pasta, the flavour is inside. You just need to add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of Parmigiana Reggiano. If you want to enhance the flavour more then use the sauce, but only in a small spoon.’Antonella explained how using the wrong proportion of sauce to pasta can be a giveaway that a cook isn’t experienced in making Italian food.‘When you're speaking about fresh pasta tortellini, the filling has its own taste and power, as Italians we try not to cover it too much with the sauce... 'grate - from scratch - Parmigiano-Reggiano, 24 or 23 months on top. That is a signature and everyone will think you’ve lived in Italy. 'If you want to do something more, try to work on doing tomato sauce in the Italian way. Roughly chop onion, garlic, fresh ripe tomatoes and cook for a few minutes.'Then add fresh basil, this is the most contemporary Italian sauce.'... ‘Always buy parmigiana reggiano in a whole piece where you can see the crust and the stamp. Never buy it already grated, as you’ve already lost half the flavour.‘You also need two kinds of salt, the rock one to place in the water before the pasta and flakes to season. When preparing pasta, add the salt when the water is boiling and then only after use the salt flakes."
Child miners aged four at Congo cobalt mine - "it’s feared that thousands more children could be about to be dragged into this hellish daily existence – after the historic pledge made by Britain to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2040 and switch to electric vehicles... The planned switch to clean energy vehicles has led to an extraordinary surge in demand. While a smartphone battery uses no more than 10 grams of refined cobalt, an electric car needs 15kg (33lb)... Human rights charity Amnesty International also investigated cobalt mining in the DRC and says that none of the 16 electric vehicle manufacturers they identified have conducted due diligence to the standard defined by the Responsible Cobalt Initiative."
Lawyers argue Canada's prostitution laws violate sex workers' Charter rights - "Canada's prostitution laws are based on ideology and the flawed belief that sex work is inherently exploitative and harmful, lawyers challenging the laws' constitutionality argued in a Kitchener, Ont., court... In the first test case of its kind, the lawyers argue the laws, enacted in 2014 under Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government, violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms of sex workers by not ensuring their "security of the person.""
Minister Tan Chuan-Jin was right, some old people do collect cardboards for exercise | The Independent Singapore
Coming from The Independent, this is significant
Singaporean surprised to find fancy restaurant in Poland serves cocktails called “chao chee bye” and “kanina-bu” - "Singaporean youtuber and beatboxing champion Dharni was surprised to stumble across a rather fancy Chinese-Italian restaurant in Poland that served cocktails with names like “chao chee bye” and “kanina-bu”.Dharni, a Singaporean who appears to be based out of Poland, stumbled upon the familiar names at a restaurant called Reginabar. The youtuber was surprised to find that two beverages in the restaurant’s drinks menu are seemingly named after profane insults in Hokkien used by Singaporeans and Malaysians."
Analysis shows little to no correlation between education spending and student achievement - "Union bosses and other liberals have long argued that Nevada must spend more on K-12 education in order to increase student achievement.And in one sense, at least, they have been incredibly successful: Nevada has nearly tripled inflation-adjusted, per-pupil spending in the last 50 years. Student achievement, however, has stagnated, with Nevada's graduation rate — as reported by Education Week — plummeting to 44.3 percent... Despite the refrain being disproven, union bosses continue to parrot it... Nevada isn't the only state to have dramatically increased education spending in previous decades with little to no increase in student achievement to show for it. Nationwide, inflation-adjusted, per-pupil education spending has increased by about 140 percent in the last 40 years, and the number of teachers per pupil has increased by over 70 percent.Student achievement, however, has been hovering around the same level — or even decreasing — for decades... the correlation between spending and student achievement is, at best, only 3.18 percent and 1.82 percent"
Of course, this just shows that schools need even more money to show the desired results
Why Florida succeeds where Nevada fails - "Important subgroups in Florida — Hispanics, African-Americans and low-income students (i.e., those in a family of four earning under $38,000 annually) — also saw tremendous achievement gains. The improvement is so dramatic that Florida's Hispanic students now outscore Nevada's white students on the fourth-grade English reading exam!... Florida increased per-pupil spending by a mere $152 more than Nevada — yet Florida's students are an entire grade-level ahead. And while Hawaii increased spending by $4,144 and Wyoming increased spending by $5,953, neither state outperforms Florida's Hispanic students on the crucial fourth-grade NAEP reading exam. In fact, Florida ranks sixth in the nation on that exam, even though 35 states spend more.What's the secret behind Florida's jump in student achievement? Education reform — on multiple fronts:
Florida has the largest virtual-school program in the nation, with more than 80,000 students learning online.
The state has a robust program of charter schools (autonomous, privately run public schools): Over 350 charter schools serve more than 100,000 students.
Florida created a corporate-tuition scholarship program that allows more than 23,000 low-income students to attend the school of their parents' choice.
Florida operates the McKay Scholarship program, which sends over 20,000 special-needs kids to the public or private school of their parents' choice.
Florida strengthened curriculum and assessments and introduced a very clear and public system for grading schools: A through F.
Florida banned social promotion out of the third grade — if the child cannot yet read, he or she repeats the grade or takes a remedial summer-school program.
Florida reformed teacher recruitment by creating a genuine alternative pathway, in which adult professionals who desire to teach can become state-certified.
Florida even, for a time, offered students scholarships to leave failing schools."
Introduction – School Spending and Student Achievement in Michigan: What's the Relationship? - "The bulk of the research on this question has typically shown that there is little correlation between spending and achievement"
Does Money Matter? Hanushek, Jackson, and the Questions We Ask - "spending money on dual enrollment programs, which allow high school students to take college courses and earn college credits while still in high school , has many significant positive effects on educational outcomes... Spending on early childhood programs also has important benefits for disadvantaged children... Such research suggests that if the increased funding is spent effectively, such as on smaller class sizes in early grades or to fund a high -quality earl y childhood program for disadvantaged students, the funding can and often does influence student achievement positively... increases in school funding can matter –under particular conditions. What more might be said about these conditions? Jacksonet al. (2016) suggest that increased court-mandated spending is more likely be spent on instruction and school support services, than upon other,presumably less effective, reforms. The authors draw this conclusion because they find that a 10% spending increase is associated with roughly a 1.4 increase in school days, a 4% increase in teachers’ base salary, and a 5.7% reduction in teacher-student ratios. Therefore, spending for these purposes, such as reduced class-size,might be more effective for improving student outcomes than spending for other purposes. In addition to how money is spent, the district circumstances may also be important to these findings. The districts that received additional funding due to the court -mandated reforms had common characteristics: they were in relatively poorer areas in comparison to other districts in their state, for example, and had subsisted on lower per -pupil spending before the reforms. This specific context —having a certain kind of district that receives permanent unforeseen funds that did not go towards necessities —might create special circumstances in which districts choose to spend money more productively"
She championed the idea that freezing your eggs would free your career. But things didn’t quite work out. - The Washington Post - "Brigitte Adams caused a sensation four years ago when she appeared on the cover of Bloomberg Businessweek under the headline, “Freeze your eggs, Free your career.” She was single and blond, a Vassar graduate who spoke fluent Italian, and was working in tech marketing for a number of prestigious companies. Her story was one of empowerment, how a new fertility procedure was giving women more choices, as the magazine noted provocatively, “in the quest to have it all.” Adams remembers feeling a wonderful sense of freedom after she froze her eggs in her late 30s, despite the $19,000 cost. Her plan was to work a few more years, find a great guy to marry and still have a house full of her own children.Things didn’t turn out the way she hoped... Two eggs failed to survive the thawing process. Three more failed to fertilize. That left six embryos, of which five appeared to be abnormal. The last one was implanted in her uterus. On the morning of March 7, she got the devastating news that it, too, had failed.Adams was not pregnant, and her chances of carrying her genetic child had just dropped to near zero. She remembers screaming like “a wild animal,” throwing books, papers, her laptop — and collapsing to the ground... A number of Adams’s friends were also early adopters of egg freezing; today they are facing a similar reckoning... The four women’s experiences underscore the incredible uncertainty involved in egg freezing. James A. Grifo, a fertility specialist at NYU Langone Health who is one of the pioneers of the procedure, calls the whole notion of being able to “control” your fertility — perpetuated by the media and embraced by feminists — destructive... the number of women freezing their eggs is skyrocketing — from 475 in 2009 to nearly 8,000 in 2015... A 2016 Fertility and Sterility study of 137 women who tried to use their frozen eggs found that women who froze 10 eggs at the age of 36 faced a 30 percent likelihood of achieving a live birth. Last year, researchers writing in Human Reproduction calculated that the same women should have a 60 percent success rate based on their mathematical model."
This might be why Singapore doesn't allow egg freezing in most cases