Farewell Video CD of Uncles Peng & Chong

Latest 27/08/2009: We managed to raise another $300 from the sale of the Videos. After cost deduction, the uncles received an additional $125 each, to add to the $550 that was presented to each of them during the farewell party. Heartfelt thanks to all who have contributed in one way or another to send our uncles off into their retirement in the manner which they deserve.

The Video CD you've been waiting for is here and it's all thanks to Alvin for putting it together. It makes a great momento to remember the uncles by - since we won't get to see them at work after the end of this month.

To continue our effort to help them assimilate into a life without work, you are encouraged to get a copy of the video at a specially discounted price of $5.99 (Usual Price: $12). You are welcomed to pay the usual price if you so choose.

All proceeds (minus production cost of video CD) will go into the Chong & Peng Fund, the sum of which will be equally divided and handed to them before they retire on August 31st.

We are now open for orders till the end of the week. Ca$h payment only.

Hurry! and place your order today.

Mommy Safawati And Her Bundle Of Joy

Mommy Safawati has given her consent - too much of working in a hospital setting where Doctor's consent, Patient's consent or Head Of Department's consent are some areas where consent is sought before informations are released- now we can add Mommy's consent, before we can share these beautiful photos with everyone.

We thank Mommy Safawati for providing the photos of Baby Nur Falisha. As much as I would like to shower a whole list of pleasant praises, on behalf of myself and those who had the privilege of seeing Baby Nur Falisha with their own eyes, it is quite impossible to do so with such a beauty staring back at me as I type. I am sure Mommy and Daddy would understand.

Nothing is lost however, that we have here a new and beautiful family, with handsome Abang, Pretty Mommy and Beautiful Nur Falisha - all by the grace of God. Indeed, with grateful hearts we lift up our hands to give praise to God and ask that He continues to bless this young family, our family too, in the name of Mankind, and provide them the strength, the will and the love - to continue to bring beauty to this world.

With Joy, With Best Wishes and With Love,

From All in HIS and CCU.

Vinegar May Be A Fat Burner

The latest fat-busting weapon may be found right in your kitchen. According to health website WebMD, Japanese researchers said that ordinary household vinegar appears to turn on genes that help the body break down fats. This helps prevent fat buildup in the body, thwarting weight gain.

Vinegar has been used in folk remedies since ancient times. In recent years, research has suggested that acetic acid, the organic chemical in vinegar which gives it its sour taste, can help control blood pressure and blood sugar.

The Japanese researchers, led by DR Tomoo Kondo from the Central Research Institute of the Mizkan group Corporation, found that vinegar could influence genes linked to fatty acid oxidation and heat-generating (energy-burning) proteins.

They fed mice a high-fat diet. One group of mice was given vinegar through a stomach tube. Another group was given a lower dose – vinegar diluted with water – and a third group was not given vinegar.

The experiment showed that all the vinegar-fed mice developed a lot less body fat (up to 10% less) than mice which did not receive the vinegar compound. The amount of food eaten by the mice was not affected.

The research suggests that vinegar might help a person lose weight or fight obesity. The findings were published in the Journal Of Agricultural And Food Chemistry this week.

Farewell To Our Uncles

It is with sadness in my heart that I am penning these thoughts. It is now an open secret that our beloved uncles, Hoy Peng Chai and Chong Sey Qay, will be leaving us very soon.

Although we have heard this refrain many times before over the past few years, we are very certain that this time around it is going to be for real. I feel that we have done all we can to walk them as far as we could walk them, allowing them to be gainfully employed these past few years, and stretching our Human Resource Department to its limit, in keeping these uncles for as long as we could. It is time to cut the strings that bind us together as working colleagues.

Sad though this may be, we are assured that the bonds of friendship cannot be broken, unless we choose to. We will always remember both Uncle Peng and Uncle Chong for the rest of our lives. We will always cherish the memories of their friendship, through their laughter, their jokes and their commitment to making our working environment a better place for all to enjoy. They are a part of our family and will always be.

As we look back at all these wonderful memories, we might want to take stock of where our own path is leading to and what legacy we will be leaving behind for our future successors. There are so many positives we can extract from our interaction with both these wonderful uncles over the years we have been so privileged to have worked alongside them. This is the legacy they are leaving behind for us to emulate. We must therefore do justice to their friendships and the lessons they have imparted to us.

As we bid farewell to both Uncle Peng and Uncle Chong, we ought to give consideration to the one VIP friend they will be leaving behind, Uncle Teo. It is going to be a difficult transition for all three but more so for Uncle Teo, as he will have to plod on without the company of his two most closest colleagues. Uncle Teo’s contract goes on for the next few months and this will be a telling period for him. Let us not forget to lend him a hand, a listening ear and an embracing heart, to help him in this transition.

As we move on with life without these almost permanent structures which we have come to expect to see every single day, we will forever cherish these wonderful memories we have with them, and each time we remember them, we will say a prayer for their continued well-being. Let this be our pledge.

Let us come together to give them the sending-off only friends like them deserve. I won’t say it cannot come at a better time because there can never be a good time to leaving your job. But I will say that it is a good time for us as it coincides with our mid-year bonus payout. Perhaps we can be a little extra generous this year than previous years and come together to give them a rousing VIP send off.

Adios! Adieu! And Farewell! To our Friends.

Crying Babies Linked To Depressed Dads

(Answer to Riddle: It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky).

An infant’s excessive crying, or colic, has been linked to symptoms of depression in the mother. Now a study in the Netherlands said it might also have a negative reaction on the father.

The finding that continuous paternal depression appears associated with increased risk of colic among infants might inspire future fathers with depressive symptoms to seek treatment, Dr Mike P can den Berg of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam said. He and his colleagues assessed symptoms of depression in several thousand sets of parents when the mother were 20 weeks pregnant. They found that about 12% of the fathers and 11% of the mothers showed signs of depression.

For example, they answered positively to questions about feeling lonely, blue, hopeless, or worthless, having no interest in things, or having thoughts of ending life, the researchers reported in the journal Pediatrics.

The researches assessed parental reports of excessive crying later, when the infants of these parents had reached two months of age.

Overall, 4.1% of depressed fathers, compared with 2.2% of non-depressed fathers, had infants who cried for at least three hours daily on three or more days in the previous week. Corresponding figures among depressed and non-depressed mothers were 4.8 and 2.2 percent respectively.

SIT TIGHT!

Wash Your Car The Right Way

Wash your car at least once a week to remove surface dirt like dust, mud, grease spots and bird droppings. If the contaminants are not remove quickly, they can stick to the paintwork permanently. Wash and rinse one section at a time, working from top to bottom.

Never substitute car-washing products for dishwashing liquid or household cleaners. The latter are likely to be too harsh and contain harmful detergents, abrasives and additives that can strip off the wax and damage the paintwork.

Wash your car in a shaded area or in the cooler parts of the day. Washing in the hot sun may cause uneven drying, which can leave residue and streaks on your car. After the final rinse, wipe away excess water with a clean terry cloth to prevent watermarks from forming.

Wax your car at least twice a year to protect it from damage and to maintain colour and shine. Waxing helps remove paint oxidation and surface dirt, while adding a protective coating. It can play down or remove minor damage such as surface scratches and light contamination, and provide a high-lustre finish.

Sharing - Kids Are Quick by Juliana

(Answer to last Riddle: TURTLES CAN BREATHE THROUGH THEIR BUTTS)

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TEACHER: Maria, go to the map and find North America .
MARIA: Here it is.
TEACHER: Correct. Now class, who discovered America ?
CLASS: Maria.
____________________________________
TEACHER: John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the
floor?
JOHN: You told me to do it without using tables.
__________________________________________
TEACHER: Glenn, how do you spell 'crocodile?'
GLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L'
TEACHER: No, that's wrong
GLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.
___________________________________________
TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?
DONALD: H I J K L M N O.
TEACHER: What are you talking about?
DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.
__________________________________
TEACHER: Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't
have ten years ago.
WINNIE: Me!
__________________________________________
TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty?
GLEN: Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are.
_______________________________________
TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with ' I.'
MILLIE: I is..
TEACHER: No, Millie..... Always say, 'I am.'
MILLIE: All right... 'I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.'
________________________________
TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry
tree, but also admitted it.
Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't punish him?
LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand.
______________________________________
TEACHER: Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?
SIMON: No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook.
______________________________
TEACHER: Clyde , your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly the same as
your brother's. Did you copy his?
CLYDE : No, sir. It's the same dog.
___________________________________
TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when
people are no longer interested?
HAROLD: A teacher

Urban Legend Feature - Suntec City's Promise Of Wealth

Suntec City’s Fountain Of Wealth has long spouted a slew of myths about its fengshui powers, but is it all eyewash?

Visit Suntec City’s Fountain of Wealth on any given day and you will meet fortune seekers. Not that you will find money spurting from the 72 nozzles that line its upper ring. Neither is there a pot of gold waiting to be discovered. In fact, if you walk around its 57m perimeter, you will fond nothing to make sense of its given name.

Still, tourists and locals alike will circle the fountain three times in a clockwise direction while reaching out to touch the “lucky water” with their right hand. This ritual is believed to bring good fortune. But is there truth to its so-called powers, or is the fountain merely a clever gimmick to lure tourists? After all, it is listed as the World’s Largest Fountain in The Guinness Book of Records and attracts an average of 100,000 visitors a year.

A check with Suntec City found that the answer could lie in its construction and location. The complex, Which occupies 65,0321 sq m, was built by Hong Kong investors in phases and completed in 1997. The Fountain of Wealth was complete in early 1996. The water feature constitutes the “palm” of the structure, with the development’s five surrounding towers forming the “fingers”.

Fengshui enthusiasts believe the fountain brings prosperity to Suntec City’s stakeholders as it is smack in the middle of the five towers. Fengshui, which literally means “wind and water” in Chinese, is an ancient Chinese form of geomancy which studies both natural and manmade environments.

The fountain design was developed by an American company called CMS Collaboratives and overseen by renowned American design firm, Tsao & McKown.

Suntec City could not confirm if fengshui experts had a hand in the design, although it did not rule out the possibility. A spokesperson said: “Since the fountain is in the middle of the five towers, it is seen as wealth in the palm of a hand, which gives prosperity and wealth to the stakeholders.”

The sprawling fountain takes up 1,683 sq m. It was built at a cost of $6M and sports four 13.8m-tall bronze legs, which support a huge bronze ring with a diameter of 21m.

It is not just visitors who subscribe to its powers. Some of those who run the more than 30 eateries circling the fountain do, too. For example, a Japanese restaurant which opened in 1997 reports a dip in earnings of at least 20% each time the fountain is switched off. This happens about four or five times a year either for maintenance of when events such as concerts are held there.

But skeptics dismissed this as hogwash. Some have heard of the myths but refuse to believe in them, questioning how a fountain could create wealth.

Geomancers like Mr huang Hong Jian, 45, however, said there is basis to the claims. The fountain’s fengshui powers are governed by how the towers are positioned, he said. Water symbolizes wealth and the towers are regarded in fengshui terms as ‘mountains’, which is good. Fengshui, he explained, is influenced by the integration of two metaphysical schools – visibility and energy, or ‘qi’ in Chinese.

Visibility refers to how well the body of water can be seen from another location. In this case, the view from the surrounding towers is ‘good, with no blockage’, he said.

Qi is determined by the alignment of the planets. In Suntec City’s case, he said the criteria is met. But individual tenants should note other factors important for good fengshui. These include how the office furniture is arranged, where the door is positioned and whether the ‘right person’ is running the place.

As if Suntec City is not already awash in good fortune, other stories tell of how it has another secret weapon to boost its store of luck.

An imposing black wall in front of Millenia Walk, which is opposite Suntec City, is said to prevent its good fortune from leaking. Office workers in the vicinity are familiar with this urban legend. The granite wall was built by Suntec City’s owners at about the same time as the fountain. Standing at abut 5m tall and 15m wide, it sits across the road from Temasek Boulavard, which encircles the fountain.

But checks have shown that the wall serves more practical than superstitious purposes. It doubles as both a water feature and a housing for air vents, which expel cooking fumes from the eateries around the fountain. The air vents face the front of Millenia Walk.

The other side of the wall, which has water flowing down from 6pm to 9pm daily, faces Temasek Boulavard. A flight of staircase on either side of the wall leads to an underground walkway linking Millenia and Suntec City.

Geomancer Adelina Pang, 39, said the wall probably has nothing to do with Millenia Walk and could have been erected merely to “retain Suntec City’s own qi”. In fengshui, water is used not only to attain wealth, but also to collect good qi, which could explain why the black wall also function as a water feature.

For those who disapprove of the wall’s black hue – a colour the Chinese associate with gloom and mourning - Ms Pang has some good news. In fengshui, blue and black represent the element of water, she said. The wall already functions as a water feature, so there’s no reason for it to be black. It was probably chosen for aesthetic reasons.

Two other factors apart from good fengshui – also referred to as Earth Luck – harness nature’s energy, she added. Believers call it the “trinity of luck”. Only when fengshui is aligned with Heaven Luck (one’s fate) – and Man Luck (One’s deeds and actions) – can good fortune be assured.

So then, good fengshui alone does not guarantee blessings. The only thing that is certain, we supposes, is the constant stream of tall tales.

A Doctor's Tips - Making High Heels Feel Like Sneakers

Dr. Splichal--who's trained in orthopedics, anti-aging, and sports medicine--set up camp at a shoe heaven here in NYC called Shoegasm to give out advice and host a "Catwalk Confidence" class for all the ladies with aching tootsies out there. Here's her genius advice for making the high heels experience a little less traumatizing:

1. Perfect Posture You want to hold your body in proper alignment when wearing heels which will prevent the common complaints of low back pain, knee pain and foot pain. From our head down to our feet proper alignment will not only help you feel great but you will look great! When standing in heels remember to keep the head and chin up, shoulders back and down, abdominals engaged and a slight bed in the knees.

2. The Stiletto Strut The way you walk in heels actually plays a big role in foot pain and possible risk of injury. By engaging the abdominals and lifting so you are light on your feet, you'll get the perfect Stiletto strut. You want to step one foot in front of the other aiming for the ball of the foot when stepping. Try to keep your heels in line with the toes and avoid turning out and walking like a duck.

3. Stretch Flexibility in the ankle joint and hip flexors are crucial to rocking your stilettos! You want to stretch you calves, hip flexors and feet before AND after wearing high heels. Foot and back pain can be avoided through releasing tight muscles and realigning the body after hours in stilettos.

4. Strengthen Feet Your feet are your foundation to standing and strutting so if you want to put some confidence in that strut don't forget to tone those toes! Some great exercises are picking up marbles, towel toe crunches, and inversion/eversion exercises for the ankle stabilizers.

5. Never wear the same pair of stilettos two days in a row No two pairs of shoes are manufactured exactly the same or worn down the same way. So each pair of shoes has its own unique pressure points on your feet which, if worn two days in row, will begin to cause pain and discomfort. If you wear high heels everyday, try to switch the heel height up every day.

Birthdays In July

July is THE birthday month with a number of our colleagues celebrating their entry to life in this wonderful planet called Earth.

Some of those on the list are Suryani Taib, Ali Hassan, Schneider Wong (now with Kaizen Office), Lee Ching, Chen Yi and Fadzidah Ahmad.

A Very Happy Birthday Wish To All!

July is also:
4 July: US Independence Day.
27 July 1858: The first use of fingerprints as a means of identification.

Other famous celebrities whose birthdays fall in July are:
Liv Tyler, Ruud Van Nistelroy, Pam Anderson, Princess Diana, Carl Lewis, Lindsay Lohan, Tom Cruise, 50 cent, Sylvester Stallone, Dalai Lama, Nancy Reagan, Tom Hanks, Jessica Simpson, Rembrandt, Nelson Mandela, Gisele Bundchen, Carlos Santana, Jennifer Lopez, Sandra Bullock, Arnold Schwarzenegger, JK Rowling,

The Birth Of H.I.S.'s Very Own Mini-Library

We have finally arrived! We now have our very own Mini-Library. And it is all thanks to our Director, Madam Koh Sai Fong - whose affiliation with the National Library Board has seen it donating some 130 books to help us create the library we have been longing for.

We also have a good mix of titles, ranging from local favourites like 'The Red Cheongsam & Home and Away' to adventure ones like 'Harry Potter, Troll Blood and Atherton’. Adding to the spice are popular novels like ‘The Shadow Of The Wind, The Outlaw Varjak Paw, The Namesake and The Alchemist’. For those planning to get married in the very near future, there is a ‘Wedding Planner’ to choose from while those who gun for excitement can take home a read like ‘Flying High In A Competitive Industry’.

Even those with special interest are not left out. If you like Japanese living lifestyles, you can look up the book titled ‘Japanese Design’, or if you have an interest in Peranakan culture, you can pick up ‘The Straits Chinese House’.

If these are not enough, we also have a collection of Malay, Indian and Chinese Novels. Small though the library may be, it does pack a solid punch with such a diverse mix of interesting books. Come and take a look for yourself.

Borrowing is easy. Just select the book you like (limit to a maximum of three at a time), record your name on the booklist provided and that’s it. We will leave it to you to decide when you want to return it. We trust that you will keep in mind that you will return the books as soon as you are done reading so that others may have a chance to enjoy what you have enjoyed.

Come then and pick up a book today. Do not delay, it’s first come, first serve.

Happy Reading!

Did You Know?

Why Is A Square Boxing Area Called A Ring?

The answer is that ‘ring’ was first applied not to the boxing area but to the spectators who formed a ring around the combatants, according to Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Although hand-to-hand combat was probably invented by the first two-year old boy to discover he had a younger sibling, the first public boxing matches took place in early 18th century England. These were bare-knuckled affairs with no time limits, no ropes and no referees. The winner was the last man standing0

The ring of bloodthirsty fans formed an enclosure for the pugilists.

Eventually, as boxers started to make more money for their efforts, small arenas were built that featured rings demarcated by wooden barriers or heavy ropes. The current ring, with four (or occasionally three) ropes tied to turnbuckles on the corner posts, is the descendant.

Although sanctioning bodies mandate the size of boxing rings, professional wrestling has no such requirement. In many venues, the same rings are used for boxing and wrestling. Amateur wrestling is done on mats laid across a floor. Ironically, the action in amateur wrestling is demarcated by a circle, yet it isn’t called a ring. None of this makes sense without the historial perspective. That’s probably why the most common slang term for the ring in professional wrestling is ‘the squared circle’.

Do you Doodle?

Good News! Doodlers: the next time you are caught scribbling away in a meeting or lecture, explain that you are improving your concentration. A study by a UK psychology professor has shown that people who doodle have better recall. Professor Jackie Andrade asked 40 people to listen to a very dull message and write down names of people mentioned. Half were told to doodle naturally while others simply sat and listened.

Lo and behold, the doodlers were better at concentrating and recalled more information. The reason, she says, is because doodling stops daydreaming and helps people pay attention. “We know that daydreaming takes a lot of mental energy,” she says. “The best thing is to concentrate on a single task, but otherwise try doodling to stop your mind wandering.”

Spotlight On A Hidden Cancer Risk

Night falls, so you flick your lights. But a theory has been gaining support in the past few years that artificial light at night may contribute to cancer, perhaps because it slows production of the hormone melatonin. Now two studies add weight to the idea.

One from Israel’s University of Haifa, analysed satellite measurements of night-time light and cancer rates in 164 countries. The most brightly lit had the highest rates of prostrate cancer, more than double those in the dimmest nations. Meanwhile, Harvard researchers who tracked more than 18,000 postmenopausal women reported that those with the lowest night-time levels of melatonin were about 60 percent more likely to develop berast cancer.

So how can you minimize the possible risk posed by modern lighting? Sleep in as dark a room as possible. Use blind or shades if you live on a bright street. Keep a night light in the bathroom for midnight visits instead of turning on the overhead. Even brief exposure to light can suppress melatonin. A red bulb is best: red wavelengths cause a less precipitous drop of the hormone.

Skip Breakfast, Gain Weight

(Answer to last riddle: CHEWING GUM while peeling onions will keep you from crying).

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Forgoing breakfast is the wrong way to go if you are trying to lose weight.

You have heard this many times before: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. A new study underlines this belief yet again. It says that people who are trying to lose weight may hinder their odds of success if they skip the first meal of the day. That is because it biases your brain towards craving high-calorie foods over low-calorie foods.

“When people are fasting – in the case of skipping breakfast – it leads to people being hungrier and it also leads to greater activity in the areas of the brain involved in the reward,” Dr Anthony Goldstone, of Imperial College London, Britain, told The Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Washington, DC.

“In addition, we find that when people are fasting, the prefer high-calorie foods to low-calorie foods’” he added.

The findings were based on brain-imaging studies performed on 20 non-obese healthy people who were shown pictures of low-calorie foods (salad, vegetables and fish) and high-calorie foods (cake, chocolate and pizza). The subjects were asked to rate how appealing the pictures were after a filling breakfast or after no breakfast at all.

Dr Goldstone noted that past studies had shown that people who skipped breakfast on a regular basis tended to be heavier, had a tendency to get more of their calories from fat, and were more likely to gain more weight over the years than those who ate breakfast regularly. The new study suggested a possible mechanism by which this might occur.

“It may be that when you miss meals, and maybe particularly breakfast, your brain reward system is biased towards these high-calorie foods over the low-calorie foods,” Dr Goldstone said, “and this is an entirely appropriate responses of the body in a defence to try to maintain calorie intake.”

“This mat then be an explanation for why people who miss meals in an attempt to lose weight – something that is used by 30 to 40 percent of people trying to lose weight – may find it hinders their weight-loss attempts. It may have an opposite effect and they could gain weight,” he said.

He said that the results supported current medical advice to eat a healthy breakfast to prevent weight gain and aid in weight loss.

Urban Legend Feature - hungry For Revenge

Some believe evil will befall anyone who steps on food offerings for hungry ghosts. Could it all be in the mind?

When he was 7 years old, Mt Teo Chai Leng walked over some food offerings placed along a dark lane during the seventh month of the Chinese Lunar calendar. That night he developed a mild fever that lasted two hours. This recurred at the same time over the next three days. Hi father, a Taoist priest, concluded that the fever bore the hallmarks of a ghost encounter, so he prayed over him and had him drink water mixed with a burnt joss paper. The child recovered the next day. Now 43, Mr Teo, himself a taoist priest for the past 25 years, has learnt his lesson: Woe betide anyone who offends the spirits, especially during the seventh lunar month when the Chinese observe the Hungry Ghost Festival.

Offenders may run a light fever and suffer sleepless nights and loss of appetite, or they could face a bout of bad luck and run into financial trouble, he warned. In more serious cases where the spirits enter and possess a victim, he may become mad or even die, said Mr Teo. To sidestep possible ill fortune, he advise people to keep a safe distance from offering sites. If you have to walk by them, be sure not to look at or utter careless words about them, he said. Instead, say differentially: "Excuse me, please let me pass."

Some may dismiss all this as superstition. But for years, the Chinese have been observing such practices, which have become stuff of urban legends associated with the Hungry Ghost Festival. they believe that food and paper money meant for wandering spirits during the festival, which falls on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, are not to be trampled on lest the spirits are offended. The term 'hungry ghost' is actually a misnomer as the festival is an occassion for all ghost.

During the seventh lunar month, the Buddhists offer prayers to express filial devotion to their dead ancestors. They commemorate the filial piety of Mu Lian, a mythical character who was able to find his dead mother in hell only with much effort. When he tried to feed his starving mother, other hungry ghosts grabbed the food. But with the intercession of Buddha, who was touched by his devotion to his mother, he finally succeeded in feeding her.

The Buddhists celebrate the festival as yulan Penhui, which is derived from the Sanskrit word "ullambana", meaning "emptying out of hell". They believe that "hell beings" are allowed to wander the world in search of food and other necessities during the seventh month. To Taoists,
the festival is a time to pray for ther estless souls that have no one to pray for them, giving rise to the English label "Hungry Ghost Festival".

In multi-religious Singapore, even members of the Malay and Indian community are mindful to keep a safe berth from road side religious offerings. Respect for spirit offerings should be shown throughout the year, Taoist priests said. One could offend the roaming spirits at any time - there just happens to be more of them around during the seventh lunar month, they added. And one is more vulnerable to the supposed ghosts if his 'yangqi' or life force is low, said Mr Teo.

The Chinese believe that the 'yin' world is populated by ghosts and spirits, while human beings make up the 'yang' realm. Upon entering a person's body, the ghost can throw one's system off balance, resulting in physical and emotional illness.

Mrs Sandra Tan, 50, a retired financial controller, witnessed such an episode. Her elder sister was preparing soup as a food offering more than 30 years ago during the seventh lunar month when some of the ash from the joss sticks she was holding fell into the soup. She yelled in dismay that it had been contaminated. Later that day, she developed a fever, supposedly because her utterances had offended the spirits. Already distressed by her husband's infidelity, she also suffered daily migraines, panic attacks and a loss of appetite after that. Despite peace offerings made by her mother and visits to mediums, her condition continued to worsen and she died five years later. Although she was diagnosed as having died of a brain tumor, her family believed her brush with the spirits led to her undoing.

To shed more light on this myth, devotees at several temples here were approached but many declined to comment, for fear that they may say 'the wrong things' and offend the spirits, as one put it. Such a response is not unusual, given that the Chinese view the world as being divided into good and evil. Acts that offend the spirit world invite retribution in the same way that evil begets evil, said Associate Professor Lo Yuet Keung of the Department of Chinese Studies at the National University of Singapore. So to placate vengeful ghosts and have peace of mind, it is customary for Taoist priests to offer prayers, food and paper money during the seventh lunar month.

Retired teacher Lee Lih Tyng, 51, said that traditional beliefs validate the existence of ghosts. When the ghosts are said to be released from hell (during the Hungry Ghosts Festival), this induces fear in the minds of believers. It is pure psychology. They are trapped by their fears, suffer illusions and paranoia and then develop psychosomatic illness. A former Taoist, she used to subscribed to such beliefs.

Seen in this light, the death of Mrs Tan's sister could have been triggered by her guilt over offending supposed spirits, said Mrs Lee. Her inability to find a cure despite repeated visits to Chinese mediums convinced her that she had been possessed by a vicious and powerful ghost. This, in turn, led to a spiral of fear and paranoia that led to her eventual death. "If no one told you to be careful of these things, you would be ignorant and nothing actually happens. It's in keeping with the Chinese saying, 'bu zhi zhe bu zui' (the ignorant are without fault)," said Mrs Lee, recounting how beggars in her neighbourhood have eaten food offerings for spirits with no consequence. Still, many prefer to err on the side of caution.

Insurance agent Heng yun ying,46, who claimed to have seen ghosts in the past said: "That you cannot see ghosts with your eyes does not mean they do not exist. There's much power in the spirit world."

Fear is not the only reason behind offerings to ghosts. NUS Dr Lo said others include respect for and devotion to the dead. The Chinese, he added, regard the ,iving and the dead as one continuum. Offerings to the ghosts are a symbolic expression of filial love for dead
ancestors. "Underlying all this is Chinese altruism, a call to treat one's fellow beings, even those not related by blood, in a generous and gracious way." he said. He likened this to 'educating people by the use of spirits".

So the warning not to step on food offerings could be seen as a way to encourage reverence for the dead. It is impossible to prove a link between an offence that displeases a ghost any any ill effects that follow because much of this is tied to a person's belief system, he said.

But no matter why people make offerings, the result is the same - it spurs people on to show compassion and love. "There's a didactic purpose to all this that's rational and not superstitious,: he said. "What is superstitious are human perceptions and understandings."

H1N1 Update

This update comes while I am still on leave. As such, I am not able to provide further information on what new directives have been adopted by the hospital.

However, on the national front, the news is that there are a number of clusters of cases which impress that there is a community outbreak - and one which is ongoing - for an indefinite period. The total number of cases in Singapore stands at 220 with 26 new cases from yesterday's report.

What's hot in the news is the possibility that some schools will be closed if the the number of infections are significantly high. The present measures are as follows:

Alert level: YELLOW
Stay at home for seven days if you are returning from:
- Australia
- Argentina
- Canada
- Chile
- Dominican Republic
- Hong Kong
- Indonesia
- Japan
- Mexico
- Panama
- Philippines
- Spain
- Thailand
- United States
- United kingdom

From Monday 29 June 2009, schools will:
- check temperature twice daily
- suspend assemblies
- stagger recess times
- scale down co-curricular activities
- hold classes on hygiene and H1N1
- screen visitors for fever
- alert parents to take students home who have fever but have not been to affected countries
- send students who have fever and have visited affected areas to hospital

Appreciate if anyone in the office could provide an update on what's happening over in the hospital.

Thanks =:

Urban Legend Feature - A Thorny Issue

Drinking alcohol with your durian could kill you, Or is it just a pungent tale?

Kings of old have been known to make heads roll, but this king – of fruits – can make your insides churn. And that is not because some find the pungent durian hard to stomach. Feast on the fruit, wash it down with alcohol, and you could well end up dead, so goes the old wives’ tale that has been circulating in the tropics for years.

Marrying durian and drink is said to cause indigestion, flatulence, stomach discomfort and even death in some cases. Rubbish, you say? Not if you hear service engineer Mike Thiah tell it. The 35-year old once drank vodka at a barbecue after having durians at home. “I threw up the whole night and my lungs felt as if they were being squeezed,” he said. The ordeal left him with a sore throat and a cough for a week.

Some say the problem lies in the compounds found in the two, which can cause havoc when mixed. Others believe that since both are considered “heaty’, the body is unable to cope with the surge of heatiness. The Chinese believe that food falls under two groups: heaty or cooling.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) expert Zhu Wen Jun said there is no scientific or chemical criteria when classifying food, “It depends on the effect the food has on balancing the ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ forces within the body. Any imbalance of the two forces will result in illness or pain,” said the dean of TCM College at Pearl’s Centre.

The College was set up jointly by the Singapore TCM Organisations Committee and the Ministry of Health (MOH) in July 2002. Durian, he added, is high in vitamins and protein, and is a “heaty’ food which boosts the body’s ‘yang’ energy. Alcohol is also heaty, so the two could clash and cause discomfort. “But I don’t think it will lead to death,” he said.

And not all alcoholic drinks make bad company, it seems. Durian seller Goh Kwee Leng, 54, said “the combination seems to cause discomfort only when the alcohol content of the drink is higher”. He has seen some people down beer with durians to no ill effect. He owns 717 Trading, a major durian importer and wholesaler here. He reckoned that mixing the fruit with hard liquor, such as whisky and brandy, produces gas, which can cause discomfort.

A check with vice-professor Zhu seems to support his stand. The physician said beer is considered a ‘cooling’ food while hard liquor is ‘heaty’ and so clashes with the equally heaty durian.

We ran this story by the Health Promotion Board, which said there is little scientific evidence to support the belief that durian and alcohol make a lethal combination. Most reports are anecdotal, said Dr Annie Ling, who heads the board’s Nutrition Department. “There have been a very limited number of studies done to verify the effects of mixing the two, and these have yielded findings that are contrary to common belief,” she said.

Doctors referred us to an article in the December 1969 edition of the Singapore Medical Journal, which described an attempt to investigate the potential dire effects of durian and alcohol in mice. The study concluded that there were no dangerous effects on the mice that had been given both durian and alcohol.

A check with MOH to verify reported deaths or complications arising from washing durians down with alcohol was also unfruitful. This is because deaths here are recorded based on what killed the victim, such as heart stoppage or loss of blood, and not the action that caused death.

But Dr Dede Selamat Sutedja, senior consultant at the Department of Gastroenterology & Hepatology at NUH, had a rational explanation for how the urban legend might have come about. Durian, he said, contains about 30% carbohydrates, of which half are simple sugars and the other half, complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates may not be easily digested in some people and may cause abdominal discomfort.

The addition of alcohol, which has a direct inflammatory effect on the stomach wall lining in some people, may worsen the abdominal discomfort caused by durians. There is however, not enough evidence to draw any definite conclusion.

Mr Tan Siew Mong, A TCM physician with more than 20 years’ experience, also advised against mixing the two. Durian is heaty and alcohol raises the blood pressure, so mixing the two is not advised, However, the extent of discomfort will depend on the amount consumed and the individual’s body resistance, he said.

Leaving aside life and death concerns, the marriage of durians and alcohol does not have the blessings of nutritionists either. Dr Ling pointed out that four seeds of medium-sized durians and a can of beer provide about 420 kilocalories, or more than 20% of an average person’s recommended daily energy allowance. This will lead to bloated stomachs and higher body fats.

So, like Romeo and Juliet, it seems the match is doomed, however you look at it.

Urban Legend Feature - What's In That Satay Gravy

Ask Singaporeans what they remember about the now-defunct Satay Club at the old Esplanade, and the answer would probably be: cool breeze, smoky air and delicious satay to die for. The cluster of 28 stall there, of which 21 hawked satay, was the favourite haunt of foodies and night owls during the 1970s and 1980s.

The Satay Club first opened in the 1940s off Beach Road, near a bus terminus in Hoi How Road, which no longer exists on the map. It then moved to the Esplanade in 1970, and began doing roaring business. By the late 1980s, however, it has lost much of its charm. Dogged by customer complaints of bad hygiene practices and rampant touting, it eventually closed for good to make way for the arts centre Esplanade – Theatres On The Bay and the Nicoll Highway extension.

But not every memory of the Satay Club consists of mouth-watering chicken, mutton and beef satay by the way. In fact, there is an unsavoury tale about the place that could put you off the sticks of skewered meat altogether.

Rumour has it that to keep customers coming back for more, satay hawkers went to great lengths to spice up their gravy. The story went that they borrowed from black magic rituals and added “special ingredients” like dirty underwear and soiled sanitary napkins.

“I’m not sure how it began,” recalled bank officer Janice Chen, 32. “but when I was a kid, I heard from a friend who, as usual, heard from a friend’s friend and so on, that someone had gone to the gravy pot for a second helping and fished out a soiled sanitary napkin. “from then on, I was quite wary every time I had satay. It didn’t put me off entirely, but I was sure to check for strange items”.

Mr Charles Goh, 37, the founder of Asia Paranormal Investigators (API), a Singapore group that studies paranormal activities and urban legends, said: “I used to eat there a lot and did hear people talking about the rumour. I agree that the satay there seemed to taste better than those elsewhere. But then again, this could have been due to the atmosphere.”

We first checked with Mr Fahmi Rais, who heads the department of spiritual research at Singapore paranormal Investigators. The group, which had about 500 members, also deal with paranormal activity. Mr Fahmi, 38, has studied Malay superstitions and magic for the past 25 years. He was not aware of the Satay Club rumour, but said the use of “personal wares” like underwear and sanitary pads to win favour with people is a popular Indonesian ritual.

These rituals, he said, date back to pre-Islamic times and are steeped more in tradition than religion. For instance, a popular custom that some still practices is for newly married women to cook a pot of rice and place it between her legs. She lets the vapour seep into her clothes and genitalia, then back into the pot again.

The belief is that once her husband eats from that pot of rice, the couple will enjoy a smooth marriage. “Genitals, underwear, sanitary napkins – they are all considered dirty things. The dirtier something is, the more potent the magic is said to be,” said Mr Fahmi.

Mr Kamil Kassam, 49, a Malay folklore expert with API, had a theory about the power of soiled sanitary napkins. “In black magic, blood is needed to summon evil spirits,” he said. His late father, a satay seller on Bedok North, was a non-practising bomoh (Malay for healer or witch doctor). lthough he was familiar with the Satay Club story, he dismissed it instantly. “Someone probably started the rumour about a competitor to cause the other guy’s business to suffer.”

So while these accounts confirmed that there was some basis to the story, did the hawkers at Satay Club ever act on those beliefs?

Tracking down former Satay Club hawkers was the best way to crack the mystery, but this proved to be an arduous task. After the makan haven shut down in 1995, many of its hawkers moved to other food hubs like Lau Pa Sat and Clarke Quay. Admittedly, stalls that claimed to be from the original Satay Club – either from Hoi How Road or the Esplanade – are aplenty. Many, however, are run by second- or third-generation hawkers who have no recollection of the old days. Others have long been taken over by outsiders.

But at Makansutra Gluttons Bay at Esplanade Mall, an open-air food centre with 12 stalls that opened in 2005, hawker Kamis Decon was able to shed some light on the rumour. The 62 year old, who claims to be the oldest living Satay Club hawker still in business, runs the Alhambra Padang Satay stall which was set up in 1962 in Hoi How Road.

At the old Satay Club, his stall number was 16. He shook his head incredulously when we asked him if the rumour was true. “It’s nonsense. In the old days, everyone used ingredients of better quality,” he said. “Although the same ingredients like coriander, tamarind and lemongrass are used now, they are of poorer quality. That’s why the satay tasted better then.”

He added, “The story about using underwear or sanitary pads, that’s all gossip.” Like Mr Kamil, he had heard of it, but believed it was simply the work of a disgruntled saboteur among the hawkers. Still, after some probing, he revealed that it was not uncommon for hawkers then to resort to black magic to ward off competition.

He recounted, to our surprise, that he “kena sabo before”. One day in 1972, he found his stall surrounded by ground kemenyan, a kind of fragrant crystallite used by bomohs to cast sharms or spells. Undaunted, he gathered the kemenyan and threw the particles into the fire. The culprit, he suspected, was a neighbouring stall owner whose plan of sabotage backfired. That day, Mr Kamis sold all his satay in one hour.

Another former Satay Club hawker, Mr Martoyo Ngawan, 49, had also heard of the story but never witnessed it. He used to help out at his late father’s business – Stall #1 at the Satay Club – and now runs Fatman Satay at Lau Pa Sat. “What I know is that hawkers sometimes use pieces of white cloth to skim off the ingredients from the gravy so that customers won’t end up biting into the spices,” he pointed out. This white cloth, he reasoned, may have been mistaken for a sanitary napkin or underwear.

We also checked with the National Environment Agency (NEA) in the hope that securing something more solid than an educated guess. Formerly the Ministry of Environment, it regulates hygiene standards at food centres, including the old Satay Club.

Surely the unlucky customer who had fished out underwear or a sanitary napkin would have lodged an official complaint? Archived newspaper reports from 1970 to 1995 showed that the ministry often stepped in to deal with errant hawkers who flouted hygiene regulations.

However, the NEA came back to say that its checks on Satay Club “yielded no returns as the records were irretrievable”. This deepened the intrigue and left us none the wiser. But whether or not “special ingredients” were ever used, Singaporeans’ stomachs are surely made of sterner stuff.

Said sales manager James Lee, 36: “Who cares, really? People go for good food. As long as they don’t end up getting food poisoning or a tummy ache, they won’t care what goes into the satay gravy.”.