In million-dollar-doctor Susan Lim‘s case, a judge has ruled that a profession needs to have ethical charging, and that any charges should have a just and fair limit.
When do we start asking about ethical charging on COEs and COVs?
4 will play in this deadly game.
But only 1 will survive.
The Punggol East Single Member Centipede.
26 Jan 2013.
Edit: SDP has dropped out of the race.. so…
Correct Answer: You don’t run or walk in the rain. You pose.
Its December in Singapore. And for us, that means presents, turkey, and a shitload of rain.
Yeap, we’re well into the rainy season now, and inevitably, you’ll run into instances where you get caught in the rain.
Now, you’ll be thinking: Should I run or walk? Do I get wetter running or simply staying at my walking pace?
You may argue the case both, no, three ways:
Luckily, math and science has the answer:
This is a video of a Slow Loris eating a rice ball. It is quite possibly the cutest thing you’ll ever see in 2012 or when the world ends (whichever comes first).
That said, however cute you may find this video, know that the Slow Loris is in danger of going extinct. And the biggest contributing factor is the exotic pet trade.
Slow Lorises routinely have their teeth pulled out or cut before being sold as pets, and many of them die of blood loss, infection or poor nutrition.
So kids, if you want them to live, don’t live with them.
Awww.. those eyes!
In a previous post, I wrote about my mother dealing with Multiple System Atrophy, a degenerative condition that ultimately took her life late last month.
A degenerative condition, whether its MSA, cancer or any other terminal disease, is a heartbreaking condition to live with, whether its from the perspective of a caregiver, or the patient.
Without the support of friends, family and caregivers, a patient’s journey will be made that much tougher to withstand. I’d like to think that my mother’s condition and regression through her illness was made slightly easier to bear, surrounded by her beloved siblings, children and grandchildren.
I myself am living with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Its a chronic disease that at present has no cure, but is manageable with medication. I talk freely about it with friends who ask, especially when they see my slightly deformed index finger, like so.
Living with HIV
This is not the case for those with HIV. Many around us have our own moral judgements, societal prejudices and the weirdest paranoia that HIV is highly communicable. People with HIV have long been portrayed as an irresponsible bunch, deserving of it due to their lifestyles. Does a person with cancer or diabetes deserve it because he or she didn’t take optimum care of their health?
Imagine that you’re HIV positive, and having to keep your condition, fears, concerns and insecurities deeply to yourself. It is arduous enough a journey to live and fight through any terminal disease, let’s not make it any more difficult.
I recently came across this video, in which Avin Tan, a young Singaporean came out public with his HIV status. He’s the 2nd Singaporean to boldly step forward to give a face to HIV since Paddy Chew in 1998.
I applaud his courage in coming out and sharing his story, fears and hopes.
I hope there will be more like him, and I hope that we can accept him as a fellow Singaporean in need of support, and show him that we can look beyond the disease and see him for the friend, brother, son and person that he is.
Below is a video of him speaking at the 8th Singapore AIDS Conference this year. Let’s help get discrimination of HIV, and ultimately this and many other diseases to zero.
With Education, Empathy and by being an Example.
What do these timepieces have in common?
OK, other than the fact that i’ll never be able to afford any of them!
Did you notice, that they are all set to roughly 10:10?
Do you know why?
Don’t worry, its not a global conspiracy or a secret nod to some secret alien invasion scheduled to drop at 10:10. Its more of an aesthetic reason that watches in advertisements are set this way.
The brandnames are typically located just under the 12O’clock mark, so a 10:10 nicely frames the brand, and also provides a sort of smiley, or a tick, when you look at it. (a little not too subtle psychology at play there!)
10:10 also means that any sub-dials or dates (like in the Panerai above) would also not be blocked, and you can clearly see most of the features of the watch.
So there.
Multiple System Atrophy is a neurological degenerative disorder. As cells degenerate in specific areas of the brain, it starts affecting a patient’s balance, movement, bladder movement, and control of other muscular functions. The causes of MSA is unknown, and there is no known cure as of today.
MSA is a pretty rare disease, with a prevalence of 4.6 cases per 100,000 people.
Unfortunately, my mother was one of the 4.6.
Diagnosing the disease is a challenge, because there are no tests that can definitively confirm it. In the early stages, all we knew was that my mother’s brain seemed to have started shrinking. She’d suffered a few falls, and we thought it was a stroke that started meddling with her sense of balance.
It was only around 2006 that we had a more conclusive diagnosis.
At first, it was more about taking precautions when walking, and trying to reduce the amount of potentially hazardous activity such as walking tight flights of steps, and placing non-slip mats in the bath. However, it got progressively worse.
By the end of 2008, she was on a wheelchair, with assisted movements to and from the bathroom / bedroom. Her throat muscles were also affected such that she had difficulty pronouncing words, and some difficulty swallowing food. Towards 2011, she’d lost her voice, and all communication had to be done via her pointing out individual alphabets to spell out words on an alphabet chart. Even that fell apart toward her last year of struggle with MSA, as her arm muscles lost all control and strength.
She could no longer feed herself, and could only take in a soft diet. On days she was tired, she couldn’t even summon the strength to open her eyelids.
All this time though, she was extremely lucid, and her mind was still very active, remembering her dear little sister’s birthday, and making sure we were well attended to each time we visited.
MSA took away her life little by little. But she was adamant in never giving up, and never stopped fighting. She never made it easy for MSA.
She succumbed to MSA 30th October 2012. Taken, but not forgotten.
I love you Mum. I know you’re at a better place now.
It really wasn’t that long ago that Zynga was sitting proudly atop Facebook’s shoulders, looking at the world from above.
Zynga began trading on NASDAQ on 16th December 2011, debuting at $10. Its share price went up to $14 in March 2012. Around that time, they also announced the Acquisition of OMGPOP, makers of Draw Something. They were seemingly invincible.
Unfortunately, it seems that along with drawing something, they also drew the short end of the stick. Things just went south from there.
Their symbiotic relationship with Facebook meant that anything that hit Facebook would hit Zynga harder. And as Facebook stock tumbled, so did Zynga’s.
Today, they trade at about $2.22, and have just announced a series of layoffs of about 100+ employees (5% of staff).
What difference a year makes, eh?