The bane that is Internet: Drugs online

Perhaps another one technology that has become both a blessing and a curse is internet: being a mine for online marketers, legally, that is, the internet is now a big mine of gold for illegal online marketers - they not only take your money away from you with both eyes wide open - they do so with your "willingness and open participation"!

And with parents not at home, the supposedly 'safe abode' is easily penetrated and invaded by predators - all through the thin wire (literally) of internet.

Parents, beware.

With the internet wide open through our computers portal, no home is safe.

Read on...
-----

Keeping Your Child from Internet Drugs

James D. Zirin,Forbes.com


The drug culture of the fabled 1960s has now assumed a stark, contemporary reality. At the top of The New York Times Best-Sellers List this week is Beautiful Boy by David Sheff, a sadly typical tale of a father's "struggles with his son's meth addiction."

Nic Sheff's drug problems began at age 12, when his father found a bag of marijuana in his backpack. In high school, Nic, who has also just published a book about his addiction, learned to shoot up by studying a diagram on the Internet. By age 17, Nic was hooked on crystal meth; he fell into a decade-long boiling cauldron of substance abuse where he almost died. The account is sobering.

Slideshow: Keeping Your Child from Internet Drugs
Slideshow: The Dark Side of the Internet
Slideshow: Tips for Keeping Kids Safe Online
Slideshow: The Latest Surveillance Techniques
Slideshow: Top 10 Solutions for Educating Our Children

Although data shows the use of hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin has trailed off in recent years, the abuse of prescription drugs, particularly by children, and many freely available online, has soared. According to the National Institute of Health, 20% of Americans have used prescription drugs for recreational purposes.

The number of Americans involved in abuse of controlled prescription substances has more than doubled over the past decade or so, to nearly 17 million. Teenagers abusing prescription drugs number around 2.7 million, according to the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA).

CASA reports that more than half the nation's 12-to-17 year olds are at greater risk of substance abuse because of high stress, frequent boredom, too much spending money, or some catastrophic combination thereof.Abuse among college students is estimated at 20%, and not much is being done about it.

"It's time to get the 'high' out of higher education," declares CASA Chairman and Founder Joseph A. Califano Jr.

The trend toward early substance abuse is a cause for special concern. Young teens often start off with prescription drugs such as pain killers, tranquilizers and sedatives to relax, cope with stress or reduce inhibitions. They then graduate to alcohol abuse and even illicit drugs. It is beyond controversy that early abuse of any addictive substance spikes the chances of long-term dependence.

Studies conducted by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America show that 40% of American adults believe it is safe to take prescription drugs without a prescription. Why else would doctors prescribe them?

The problem is intensified by the widespread availability of drugs on the Internet. As every Web surfer knows, rogue Web sites are proliferating, along with their offerings of opiates, stimulants, downers, uppers and performance enhancers carefully crafted to appeal to the youngest and most vulnerable.

"The easy availability of addictive opioids, depressants and stimulants on the net has, for many children, made the Internet a greater threat than the illegal street drug dealer," says Califano.

One need not actively surf the Web to find these sites. Many of them solicit, via spam e-mails that invite the consumer to buy prescription drugs without a prescription. If you didn't get an e-mail, a Google search for "opiates but no prescription" produces over a million hits for sites, many of them offshore, offering controlled substances delivered to your door in a plain wrapper. All you need is a credit card.

The dangers of Internet-transmitted substance abuse are not limited to Web sites selling the substances. Recipes and "how-to" instructions abound. A savvy teenager can readily find on the net manuals for how to grow marijuana, get high on household goods and mix dangerous drinks such as Purple Haze, a potent alcoholic concoction named after a song written by Jimi Hendrix and performed by Britney Spears. Hendrix died in London of a drug overdose. And we don't need to tell you about Britney Spears.

The problem illustrates the dangers lurking within a free Internet. While normally, our preference is for less, rather than more, government regulation, some legislation may be necessary in this case. First, we need laws requiring all ISPs--any organization that provides Internet access--to screen out illegal content, or content soliciting an illegal transaction, once they are notified of its existence.

Google routinely removes specified pages from its search results, mainly because of claimed trademark or copyright infringement. Why can't it remove rogue drug Web sites? Or at least provide stern and familiar warnings as to the consequences of illegal abuse?

This effort will also require the cooperation of financial intermediaries such as PayPal and credit card companies. Without access to credit card payment, illegal drug dealers are out of business.

Of course, neither legislation and regulation nor more vigorous law enforcement provide the complete answer. The most effective approach is to stamp out demand--it is far more effective to kill the message than the messenger or the intermediary. Parents are key here. Warning ads at sites where drugs are purchased could also be quite effective. Nothing could be more important than talking to children early and often about drugs and how dangerous substance abuse is.

And nothing could be more poignant than a parent's story of a child who lost his or her life to drugs. The recent tragic deaths of Daniel Smith, the 20-year-old son of Anna Nicole Smith (herself the victim of an overdose), and Academy Award winner Heath Ledger, at age 28, are but two examples of the horrific consequences of substance abuse. Nic Sheff is one of the lucky ones--he is still alive.


From ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:Keeping Your Child from Internet Drugs
-----

Related articles by Zemanta

• Prescription drug abuse exceeds heroin, cocaine and ecstasy combined (marijuanaevaluations.wordpress.com)
• ER Visits Surge for Abuse of Legal Drugs (wellness.blogs.time.com)
• Abuse of painkillers sending many in U.S. to ERs (ctv.ca)
• Illicit drug use increases in developing world, UN finds (guardian.co.uk)
• Abuse Of Meds Sends As Many To ER As Illegal Drugs (huffingtonpost.com)
• UN: Global drug use shifting to synthetic drugs (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Abuse of meds sends as many to ER as illegal drugs (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Abuse of meds sends as many to ER as illegal drugs (sfgate.com)
• NDLEA impounds 6,021 drug peddlers' international passports (vanguardngr.com)
• Abuse of Prescription Painkillers Soars (livescience.com)
• ER Visits Surge for Abuse of Legal Drugs (wellness.blogs.time.com)
• Abuse of painkillers sending many in U.S. to ERs (ctv.ca)
• Illicit drug use increases in developing world, UN finds (guardian.co.uk)

Singapore to launch new standard for hotel security

Image by publik16 via Flickr

Guarding against possible terrorist attacks? Perhaps.

All that I can say is that 'it is better to be safe than sorry.'

Read the story here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Officials Weigh New Detainee Site in U.S. (cbsnews.com)
• Australia police foil suicide attack on army base (nationalpost.com)
• Australian police 'foil terror plot' to storm Sydney army barracks (telegraph.co.uk)
• Homeland Chief Offers Shift in Tone, but Few Details (nytimes.com)
• High court revokes terror suspect control order (guardian.co.uk)
• Terror suspect accused of talking up jihad (msnbc.msn.com)
• US terror suspects hearing begins (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Four terror suspects detained in Australia (guardian.co.uk)
• Australia says it foiled suicide terror attack (ctv.ca)

Beauty queen's outfit falls short of Japanese tastes

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I agree with the detractors, those who fall under the conservative group.

Either you wear a totally revealing outfit (if you can call a two-piece underwear an outfit), or you dress up and down, all the way.

To me, this mid-way costume showing the hot pink underwear is more than simply an outfit: it seems that a crass and sleazy character is being projected by none other than Japan's Miss Universe contestant, and she represents the people, the female populace of Japan with that kind of dress.

If you are a Japanese girl, would you like to be looked at in that way?

Read that story here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 1950s Beauty Pageant Judging Guidelines (boingboing.net)
• Nicole Williams: Celeb Career Thermometer (huffingtonpost.com)
• Heidi Montag To Perform At Miss Universe Pageant (justjared.buzznet.com)

A few new articles that may be of interest

Image via Wikipedia

1. Looking for a job? New US weekly jobless claims jump

2. Secured by a facility protected by guards? Think again. Inmates found guilty of assaulting cell-mate

3. Is the principal the ‘top’ on students’ role model list?

Principal fired for jumping on students

Related articles by Zemanta

• Jobless claims bounce up (money.cnn.com)
• Jobless Claims Continue to Ease (outsidethebeltway.com)
• Initial jobless claims fall to lowest level since January (dailyfinance.com)
• Initial jobless claims drop, but continuing claims rise (dailyfinance.com)
• Initial jobless and continuing claims fall (dailyfinance.com)
• Finally, claims below 600,000 (economist.com)
• Markets still dogged by unemployment as jobless claims jump (dailyfinance.com)
• Stocks retreat on U.S. jobs data, lower oil prices (cbc.ca)
• Jobless claims edge up in latest week (money.cnn.com)
• Record continuing jobless claims threatens more foreclosures, deflation (dailyfinance.com)

Top criminal lawyer to act for owner of Brookes Business School

I was following this news lightly, Brookes Business School shut down due to 'fake' degrees offered.

Anyway, when I saw this news, I thought that the owner was trying to pull up some act to defend himself, and be declared righteous. I was wrong. You can read the rest of the story here.

Typo cuts drug offender's prison term

June 22, 2009 -- Updated 1421 GMT (2221 HKT)

By Jim Kavanagh, CNN

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Error on verdict form casts doubt on jurors' intent, Ohio appeals court rules
  
• Decision means Calvin Wells must serve just one year, not 10
  
• Legal issue elsewhere may have him transferred to New Jersey
  

Calvin Eugene Wells discovered a discrepancy on the verdict form for his conviction.

(CNN) -- A three-letter typo has slashed years off a prison sentence for a repeat drug offender in Ohio.

Calvin Eugene Wells of Akron was sentenced in October 2005 to 10 years in prison after being convicted of possessing more than 100 grams of cocaine, a first-degree felony.

Or so it seemed.

While serving his time, Wells discovered a stray word on the verdict form signed by the jurors who convicted him in Summit County Common Pleas Court. The form, typed up by a court or prosecutor's office employee, read:

"We, the Jury, find the Defendant Guilty of the offense of POSSESSION OF CRACK COCAINE.

"We, the jury, further find that the amount of crack cocaine WAS in the amount exceeding ten one hundred (100) grams as charged in the indictment."

The word "ten" in the second sentence is extraneous.

Wells brought the error to a succession of attorneys' attention, but no one managed to turn it to his advantage until Jason Desiderio was appointed to represent him.

"I have never seen anything like this in my life, where just attorney after attorney did nothing," Desiderio said.

"I think he had four appellate attorneys, and one appeal ... It's a very, very bizarre case."

Under Ohio law, for a person to be found guilty of a higher-level felony, the jury form must state either the degree of the offense or the circumstances that would make it a higher offense. The form's second sentence apparently was an attempt to state those circumstances, but the stray word muddled the meaning, Desiderio said.

A three-judge panel of the Ohio Court of Appeals unanimously agreed.

"The form is unclear, and we cannot determine what the jury understood 'ten one hundred (100) grams' to mean," Judge Eve Belfance wrote in the court's decision. "It certainly could have meant an amount exceeding one hundred grams, but it is possible the jury believed the form actually meant an amount exceeding less than one gram."

The uncertainty meant Wells could be convicted of nothing more than a fifth-degree felony, the judges ruled. The maximum sentence for a fifth-degree felony is one year, and Wells already had served four. Game over.

But not quite.

It seems Wells is wanted in Morris County, New Jersey, on a November 2000 sheriff's warrant for violating his probation for drug and weapons convictions. The sheriff is seeking extradition, spokeswoman Staci Santucci said. It's unlikely he'll be able to avoid it, said Desiderio, who will not be able to represent Wells because he's not licensed in New Jersey.

The original judge in the Ohio case, James R. Williams, is retired. The Summit County prosecutor's office did not return calls seeking comment on Wells' case.

"At the end of the day, he was convicted, and I understand that some people are going to feel upset that he's essentially out six years earlier than anyone anticipated," Desiderio said.

"But in our system, we give the benefit of the doubt to the defendant, and we do that for good reason. And in here there's a statutory mandate to ensure that we know what we're convicting people of and we know why we're doing it. And that mandate wasn't met."

From CNN.com; see the source article here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Typo cuts drug offender's prison term (cnn.com)

Don’t talk to strangers

05:55 AM Jun 18, 2009

YOUR phone rings and a stranger informs you that your relative has murdered someone and needs to flee the country. Or you could be told that your family and company are being watched.

In both scenarios, the caller would eventually demand money and will threaten to use violence to disrupt your business activities or cause harm to family members if payments are not made.

The police have detected this new variation of phone scams in which culprits make extortion calls to business offices demanding money. Like the earlier versions of phone scams, these are designed to trick victims into parting with their money.

The calls are believed to be made from overseas, and the culprit is also known to converse in Mandarin with a China or Taiwan accent, the police said in a statement yesterday.

The culprit may also threaten to kidnap female victims and take nude photos of them if his demands are not met. He may also claim that he has links with secret societies and needs money to help his men flee Singapore after committing serious crimes.

He may also say he has firearms and explosives.

None of the culprits have so far been successful, and none of the threats made have been carried out, according to the police. But they advise members of the public to be aware of, and to be vigilant against such scams.

You should never reveal any personal details, including those of your business or family to any caller, or transfer money to unknown persons.

Such calls should be reported as soon as possible by calling the police hotline at 1800 255 0000 or 999 if urgent police assistance is required.

The police also advise vigilance against the other variations of phone scams such as the kidnap, lottery and impersonation scams.

More details of what these entail can be found at the Singapore Police Force website at www.spf.gov.sg or the Commercial Affairs Department website at www.cad.gov.sg.

From TODAY, News – Thursday, 18-Jun-2009; see the source article here.

Australia appeals sentence in honeymoon death

Posted: 18 June 2009 1600 hrs

The Great Barrier Reef

SYDNEY: An Australian state launched an appeal against an American man's "manifestly inadequate" 12-month jail term for the manslaughter of his wife during a honeymoon diving trip.

Bubble-wrap salesman David "Gabe" Watson was sentenced to four-and-a-half years on June 5 but under a plea bargain most of the term was suspended, a decision that caused outrage among friends and relatives of his late wife.

"I have formed the view that this sentence is manifestly inadequate and the state will therefore lodge an appeal against the sentence in the Queensland Court of Appeal," said Queensland Attorney-General Cameron Dick.

Dick added that his decision was made after "careful consideration and due deliberation." Queensland's Solicitor-General Walter Sofronoff will represent the state in the Court of Appeal.

Watson, 32, was on honeymoon with his new wife Tina when she drowned during a diving trip at a shipwreck off the Queensland city of Townsville, just 11 days after their wedding in the United States.

An instructor found novice diver Tina lying on the bottom of the ocean after Gabe, an experienced rescue diver, had surfaced. She never regained consciousness.

An inquest heard earlier that a fellow diver saw Gabe Watson bear-hugging his wife underwater before he re-surfaced while she sank to the ocean floor.

In mid-2008, coroner David Glasgow found it was likely Watson killed his wife by holding her underwater and turning off her air supply, adding he may have been seeking a large life insurance payout.

"Let's hope justice will now be served," said opposition justice spokesman Lawrence Springborg.

"The handling of this sad case has been absolutely deplorable," he added.

- AFP

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• That's It? Man Gets One Year for Wife's Death (abcnews.go.com)
• Man jailed in wife's scuba death (msnbc.msn.com)
• Man pleads guilty to wife's honeymoon dive death (ctv.ca)
• Appeal over 'honeymoon killer' sentence could be considered (telegraph.co.uk)
• Outrage over sentence in honeymoon drowning (msnbc.msn.com)
• US man killed wife on honeymoon (guardian.co.uk)
• Diver faces honeymoon murder charge (msnbc.msn.com)
• Honeymoon killer David Watson could face new trial in US (telegraph.co.uk)
• Husband Jailed For Honeymoon Scuba Death (news.sky.com)
• You: US scuba death man in Australia court (news.bbc.co.uk)

Property agent charged with obstruction of justice

Honestly, it is not that you are in financial difficulty… it is when you resort to 'anything' to get you out of that financial difficulty. I am in financial difficulty, but I pray hard, and look for other 'clean means' to get me through…

----------

Posted: 18 June 2009 1217 hrs

SINGAPORE: A 33-year-old woman got herself on the wrong side of the law after she allegedly took the rap for a traffic offence.

Leung Man Kwan, an associate director with property firm HSR International Realtors, was charged on Thursday with obstructing the course of justice.

The court heard that Leung received S$1,000 from Evangeline Tay Su Ann in February 2008. In return, Leung took the rap for a traffic offence committed by Tay in January that year.

Tay, who was driving her friend's car, failed to stop at a red light at the junction of Lornie Road and Sime Road. She then asked a friend to help her find someone who would take the rap on her behalf.

When approached, Leung, who was in financial difficulties, agreed to do so. If convicted of obstruction of justice, she could be jailed for up to seven years, fined, or both.

- CNA/so

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Ex-Detroit Mayor Out After 99 Days In Jail (cbsnews.com)
• Kwame Kilpatrick Released From Jail After 99 Days (huffingtonpost.com)
• Call to ride the dragon (myleadingleads.blogspot.com)
• Judge orders trial against Guy Lafleur to go ahead (cbc.ca)

19 arrested for suspected loansharking activities in islandwide raid

By Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 15 June 2009 2042 hrs

SINGAPORE: Police have arrested 19 people for suspected involvement in a loansharking syndicate, making this the largest number of loansharking-related arrests resulting from a single operation this year.

18 men and a woman, aged between 19 and 40 years old, were taken into custody following an island-wide operation early Monday morning,

Officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and the Police Intelligence Department raided various locations and seized more than S$35,000 in cash.

Other items seized included computers, mobile phones, storage media and suspected debtor records.

Police said preliminary investigations indicate that the loansharking syndicate was also involved in loanshark-related harassment in connection with the illegal loans.

First-time offenders found guilty of operating a business as an unlicensed moneylender may be fined at least S$20,000 and up to S$200,000, jailed a maximum of two years, or both.

Repeat offenders face mandatory imprisonment of up to five years, including a fine of up to S$200,000.

Persons found guilty of loanshark harassment may be fined at least S$4,000 and up to S$40,000, or jailed up to three years, or both.

They could also be caned if any damage to property or hurt to persons was caused while committing the acts of harassment.

- CNA/yb

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Quebec police launch sweeping cannabis raids (cbc.ca)
• Ont. police discover remains of several infants (ctv.ca)
• Mexican Gangsters In 200-Man Gun Battle (news.sky.com)
• Mexico state strips cops of cell phones (msnbc.msn.com)
• Woman in court over 'sex assault' (news.bbc.co.uk)

Man gets 33 yrs for killing sparked by hot sauce

Image via Wikipedia

06/12/2009 | 02:00 PM

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — A man has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for killing a man during a melee that erupted when someone threw a bottle of hot sauce.

The Kansas City Star reports that 29-year-old Jarvis T. Williams was sentenced Thursday for his convictions on second-degree murder, three counts of assault and four counts of armed criminal action.

Prosecutors claim he fired more than 20 rounds from an assault rifle into a car in October 2005, killing 22-year-old Gary Scott and wounding three others.

Prosecutors said the victim had thrown a bottle of hot sauce at a woman's car, angering Williams.

They had requested a life sentence. Williams' public defender did not immediately return a call seeking comment. – AP

From GMANews.tv; see the source article here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Man jailed over shooting sparked by hot sauce (msnbc.msn.com)

Find time to pause and reflect, especially on MRT escalators

That is why I will always prefer the nipa hut… very cool, placid, relaxing… very much at home in an unhurried environment…

----------

EVERY morning, while standing on the left side of the upward-riding escalator at Raffles Place MRT station, so as to make way for those who are in a hurry on the right, I would wonder: "Who on Earth will walk up, instead of standing still, on this stunningly long and steep escalator?"

From my observation, there are, in fact, many commuters who do that.

Regardless of the time of the day, there is always a long line of men and women on the right of the escalator moving upward orderly and with haste.

Not only that, commuters are often in a "fighting" mode – they fight their way out of packed train carriages and crowded stations.

Some even run at track-and-field speeds, hoping to get an early start. The scene is like a race.

It strikes me, then, why people try to save some seconds by walking briskly up the escalator: They are constantly in a race.

But are they really in such a hurry?

Indeed, we are sometimes too busy to know why we are so busy, and we just keep ourselves always occupied, like a machine gone wild.

As a result, we can't afford to "waste time" by standing still and doing nothing on the escalator – we have to move forward all the time.

And we repeat the same rushing routine day in, day out.

Perhaps we should make use of the few seconds on the escalator to think about our life and ask ourselves: "Are we really in such a hurry?"

We should find time to pause and reflect. If we could do that, our lives would be less tiring.

Mr Charles Chen Jiacheng

From myPaper, My Say – Thursday, 28-May-2009

"Sexting" no worse than spin-the-bottle: study

Posted: 27 May 2009 1128 hrs

A mobile user sending a text message.

OTTAWA - Youths exchanging nude photos of themselves over cellphones, known as "sexting," should not face child pornography charges, as some have in the United States, a humanities conference heard Tuesday.

Peter Cumming, an associate professor at York University in Toronto, presented a paper on children's sexuality at the 78th Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences defending the practice as a modern variation on "playing doctor or spin-the-bottle."

"Technology does change things, and there can be very serious consequences" Cumming said. "But that obscures the fact that children and young people are sexual beings who have explored their sexuality in all times, and all cultures and all places.

"A distinction has to be made between nudity and child porn," he added.

The annual conference, held this year at Ottawa's Carleton University, brings together 8,000 researchers from around the world to discuss the latest social trends.

Sexting -- a combination of the words "sex" and "texting" -- made headlines earlier this year after students in a dozen US states were charged with child pornography for sharing nude and semi-nude photos with friends and classmates.

In March, three teenage girls sued a Pennsylvania prosecutor who accused them of peddling "child pornography," after a teacher discovered a waist-up image of two girls covered just by a bra, and another image of a girl topless.

District Attorney George Skumanik called for the girls to undergo five weeks of behaviour courses and take a drug test or face prosecution, according to a letter apparently sent to the teenagers' parents.

The American Civil Liberties Union, a co-signatory to the complaint, said Skumanik's threat was unconstitutional, and prosecution could have landed the girls on the sex offenders register, blighting future job prospects.

In other cases, a "bored" Florida boy was charged for sending a photo of his genitalia to a female classmate, while another was listed as a sex offender for emailing nude photos of his 16-year-old girlfriend to her family after an argument.

According to a survey by a US family planning organization, published in December, 20 per cent of American teenagers said they had participated in sexting.

Cumming said that to consider labelling a teen a sex offender because of a sexting incident -- a label that will stick for life -- defies common sense.

"It would be very unlikely to see dozens of news stories announcing that some children were caught playing spin-the-bottle, or doctor, or strip poker," he said in his presentation.

"Yet many of the cases brought forward have been on the same level of innocence and experience as those activities. In other words, kids are playing spin-the-bottle online."

Cumming also argued that such online activities are safer than traditional sexual games because there is no immediate physical contact and thus are less likely to lead to pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases.

- AFP/ir

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• STDs More Common Than Thought (abcnews.go.com)
• Federal Judge Issues TRO in Teenagers' Child Porn Case (blogs.wsj.com)
• Sext alert (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Teens sue prosecutor over racy cell-phone pics (msnbc.msn.com)
• Study finds link between lyrics, early teenage sex (ctv.ca)
• ACLU Sues Prosecutor Over 'Sexting' Child Porn Charges | Threat Level from Wired.com (wired.com)
• Protecting our children by turning them into felons (inquisitr.com)
• Universities considering texting students about acceptances (windsorstar.com)
• Universities want to jazz up acceptance offers (canada.com)

Higher pay for career switch

And I thought that there are no more high-paying jobs available…?

-----

CHILDCARE JOBS

More than 80% of NTUC First Campus’ 660 vacancies targeted at PMETs

CHILDCARE centre operator NTUC First Campus is offering a higher starting pay for diploma and degree holders who join them under the Place and Train Scheme.

The starting pay for diploma holders is now $1,700 a month, $700 more than what it was in January when salaries were last revised.

After being trained, they can expect to earn $1,850 a month. Degree holders get $1,900 before training and between $2,200 and $2,500 after.

NTUC First Campus said the revisions would help make it easier for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) to make a mid-career switch to a profession they may have a passion for.

Benchmark salaries for principals have also been increased from $2,400 to $2,700; high calibre principals can earn about $4,500 a month.

The childcare centre operator said this would encourage more preschool teachers to stay in the sector, upgrade their skills and take on bigger responsibilities.

To support the professional development of their staff, NTUC First Campus is giving out 25 scholarships worth $1 million for part-time and full-time degree and masters programmes, locally or overseas.

It has 660 vacancies to be filled this year. More than 80 per cent are for PMETs interested in becoming early childhood education teachers and principals.

This is part of its plans to grow from 75 centres this year to 150 by 2011. 938LIVE

From TODAY, News; Friday, 15-May-2009

Related articles by Zemanta

• Brain training in the nursery (guardian.co.uk)
• Where is the Support for Working Families? (newswire.ca)
• U.S. Lags Behind with Isolated Teacher Training (smhc-cpre.org)

Sea rise from Antarctic ice melt overestimated: study

AFP - Friday, May 15

The shore of Deception Island in Antarctica, in 2008. While a collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet will have devastating impacts on global sea levels, a study published Thursday found the anticipated impact has been seriously overestimated.

CHICAGO (AFP) - - While a collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet will have devastating impacts on global sea levels, a study published Thursday found the anticipated impact has been seriously overestimated.

Using new measures of the ice sheet's geometry, British and Dutch researchers predict its collapse would cause sea levels to rise by 3.2 meters (11 feet) rather than previous estimates of five to seven meters.

However, the study published in the journal Science found that even a one meter rise in sea levels would be significant enough to weaken the Earth's gravity field in the southern hemisphere and affect the Earth's rotation.

That rotational shift would cause water to pile up in the northern oceans and could result in dramatic regional differences in sea levels, with the largest rise on the east and west coast of the United States.

"The pattern of sea level rise is independent of how fast or how much of the (Western Antarctic Ice Sheet) WAIS collapses," said lead author Jonathan Bamber of the University of Bristol in England.

"Even if the WAIS contributed only a meter of sea level rise over many years, sea levels along North America's shorelines would still increase 25 percent more than the global average."

Antarctica holds about nine times the volume of ice as Greenland and is considered a sleeping giant when it comes to sea levels.

The western ice sheet is of particular concern because enormous sections sit in inland basins on bedrock that is entirely below sea level.

Vast floating ice shelves currently limit ice loss to the ocean but scientists fear the sheet could collapse if the floating ice shelves break free.

The study authors based their predictions on the assumption that only ice on the downward sloping and inland-facing side of the basins would be lost while ice grounded on bedrock that is above sea level or slopes upward would survive.

Researchers do not know how quickly the shelf would collapse. But if such a large amount of ice melted steadily over 500 years it would raise sea levels by about 6.5 millimeters per year.

That's about twice the current rate due to all sources.

"Though smaller than past predictions, the scale of the fully manifested instability is enormous," cautioned Erik Ivins of the California Institute of Technology in an accompanying article.

"The total mass gained by the oceans ... would be roughly equal to the mass showered to Earth by the impact of about 2000 Halley-sized comets."

Further complicating the situation is the fact that Greenland seems to be losing as much or more ice than Antarctica, even though it doesn't have the same unstable configuration.

"Greenland needs only half the mass loss rate of Antarctica to have an equivalent effect on polar motion due to its less polar position," he wrote.

Even "more ominous" are the current accelerations of ice flow into the Amundsen Sea Embayment in Antarctica, he wrote.

"Should the ice sheet grounding line migrate farther inland, ice resting on bedrock well below sea level could become unstable."

From Yahoo! News; see the source article here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Ice sheet melt threat reassessed (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Study Halves Prediction of Rising Seas (nytimes.com)
• Scientists' Breakthrough On Rising Sea Levels (news.sky.com)
• Sea level rise from Antarctic ice sheet collapse overestimated, scientists say (cbc.ca)
• Antarctic ice sheet could melt - again (guardian.co.uk)
• Ice shelf collapse could shift axis of Earth, study says (ctv.ca)
• Antarctic ice melt more widespread than first thought: scientists (cbc.ca)
• Coral Fossils Reveal Sea Levels Rising Fast (time.com)
• Scientists say Antarctic glaciers slipping seaward (ctv.ca)

Swine flu is windfall for some tourist spots

By TRAVIS REED,Associated Press Writer AP - Sunday, May 10

The cruise Zenaiva Cervantes booked was to stop in sun-drenched beach cities on the Mexican Riviera. The cruise she took? That landed her in Seattle, where she pulled her arms tightly to her chest as she debarked on a damp, 50-degree morning.

"We wanted to relax in the warmth," the 61-year-old Tijuana, Mexico, resident said in Spanish Thursday. "If someone had told me I'd be in Seattle eight days ago, I wouldn't have believed them."

At the peak of the swine flu outbreak, major cruise operators Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. _ desperate to avoid passenger illness and lost revenue _ decided to reroute Mexico voyages until mid-June.

So even though fear has receded, once-sun-seeking passengers like Cervantes are finding themselves in San Francisco, Seattle and Victoria, British Columbia, in Canada. Cruise companies are compensating passengers for the switch with onboard credit plus vouchers for a future cruise. Passengers also had the choice to stay home and get a full refund, but most passengers are choosing to travel when they planned, the cruise lines said.

What they're losing in sunshine and tan lines, their new destinations are gaining in millions of dollars of business. In San Francisco, the 16 additional swine flu-related landings will boost the year's port traffic 31 percent and bring 49,000 new visitors, said Michael Nerney, San Francisco's maritime marketing manager. Each call could mean $1 million in sales for city businesses and together they'll produce $500,000 in revenue for the port.

"This is highly unusual _ shocking, really _ as the cruise lines set their sailing schedules 12 to 18 months in advance, and even minor changes are rare," Nerney said.

The great number of alternative ports in the Caribbean makes it far easier to swap stops there. Instead of Cozumel in Mexico, companies are opting for Ocho Rios or Montego Bay in Jamaica, Nassau or Freeport in the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands' St. Thomas, St. Maarten or Key West, Fla., or points across the Caymans and Turks and Caicos.

The Bahamas is happily awaiting diverted ships. Customs receives $15 for each passenger, and island clothing and jewelry shops, bars and cafes depend on tourist dollars, said tourism minister Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace said.

Analysts think the benefits may be fleeting for these ports because the outbreak hasn't been severe.

"I think it's a short-term bump that may already be dissipating," said Michael McCall, a hospitality research fellow and lecturer at Cornell University.

Jan Freitag, vice president of global development at Smith Travel Research, noted that, in addition to swine flu, Mexico travel has been affected by fear of heightened drug violence in border states. He sees business travel to Mexico remaining steady and swine flu having minimal impact on leisure traffic unless the virus worsens.

Hotel operators are seeing travelers postpone plans. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and Four Seasons Hotel and Resorts said virtually all guests booked at two of their Mexico resorts in late April and early May will come a few months later instead. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc. expected the flu to cost it $4 million to $5 million in revenue but said it could recover much of it from guests rebooked at its U.S. or Caribbean resorts.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says only 10 percent of infected Americans picked up the virus in Mexico, not one-third as previously estimated. But it maintains its warning against nonessential travel to Mexico.

Michael Crye, vice president of technology and regulatory affairs for the Cruise Lines International Association, called that restriction damaging and unnecessary, because areas hit hardest by the flu's spread are inland and the flu season is almost over.

Crye pointed to lessons learned from several rounds of bad publicity after gastrointestinal illnesses like the "Norwalk" virus broke out and said new passenger screenings ensure ships don't help spread the H1N1 virus, which causes swine flu.

"We believe ... we've got a good story to tell, and that you're probably at less risk going ahead with your destination than you would be in virtually any other public place," Crye said.

Eric Brey, head of the Center for Resort and Hospitality Business at the University of Memphis, predicted tourists would have no problem returning quickly to Mexico.

"Outside of this summer, I don't see it being that big a deal," Brey said.

In Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas, a place hit hard as tourism has fallen amid the recession, it is usually quiet this time of year. But taxies zipped abundantly by the docks last week.

"(The swine flu) is a good problem for us," said Edward Thomas, CEO of the West Indian Company Dock.

Despite the lack of sunshine, Cervantes, her husband and the thousands of other passengers who ended up in the Pacific Northwest with them enjoyed Seattle's blocks of boutiques and Pike Place Market, where vendors famously sling fish.

"We thought we'd be in our bikinis and bathing suits," said Philipe Tabet, a 53-year-old restaurateur from Albuquerque, N.M., traveling with his wife. "We just had to pack a little bit different, that's all. Unpack, and pack again."

___

Associated Press Writer Manuel Valdes contributed to this report from Seattle; Judi Shimel contributed from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; and Juan McCartney contributed from the Bahamas. Reed reported from Miami.

From Yahoo! News; source article is here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Several travel companies suspend trips to Mexico (cbc.ca)
• Cruise lines cancel Mexico stops; air travel also affected by swine-flu outbreak (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Flu? What Flu? (nytimes.com)
• Practical Traveler: Hard Times? Time to Take Off (nytimes.com)
• What Travelers Should Know (travel.nytimes.com)
• Why you should be extra nice to Seattle tourists (seattlepi.com)

Should the Committee of Inquiry be reconvened?

Letter from Leong Sze Hian

05:55 AM May 09, 2009

NOW that Mas Selamat Kastari has been captured, Singaporeans must be waiting in anticipation for his interrogation to be completed, to find out how he escaped.

I would like to suggest that the Committee of Inquiry be reconvened so that we can take appropriate measures to ensure that this does not happen again.

In the interest of fairness, the reprimand of the officers concerned may also be reviewed to see if any of them may be less to blame, in the light of new information. After all, they were judged based on the Committee of Inquiry’s understanding of the most likely escape scenario at the time.

From TODAY, Voices – Weekend, 09/10-May-2009

The heavy price of bigger breasts

No one takes you seriously when you tell them that your chest is a massive pain in the rear, or rather, back

by Bryony Gordon The Daily Telegraph

04:02 PM May 08, 2009

WOMEN with large breasts shouldn’t have to pay more for their underwear.

Women with larger-than-average busts always moan, don’t they?

They stand there, with their hands on their womanly hips, their cleavages eclipsing their tiny waists, whingeing because God was kind enough to bestow upon them the kind of bosom that renders men powerless with lust and women speechless with envy.

“It’s really awful, actually. I get terrible back pain” - at this point they will stick their hands on their lower backs for effect, thus heaving their breasts into your face - “and I can never find a bra that fits, or doesn’t look like a piece of building equipment or surgical dressing. Also, people just stare at them all the time. It’s as if I’m not a person - I’m just a giant pair of breasts.”

But now the big-breasted brigade have another reason to complain: Marks and Spencer (M&S) in Britain is refusing to end its practice of charging an extra £2 ($4.43) for bras over a DD cup.

Proving the gravity of the situation, a Facebook group has been set up.

Busts 4 Justice has more than 8,000 members, who will presumably dress their chests in superhero costumes and storm the M&S headquarters, or carry out a mass burning of their criminally expensive undergarments.

The group’s co-founder, Ms Beckie Williams - a 34E, apparently - argues that just as fat people don’t have to spend extra on larger clothes, so women with bigger breasts should not have to pay more for bras.

M&S claims that the engineering and materials required to create these feats of structural, supportive magnificence more than justifies the extra cost. Asda, meanwhile, has declared all-out war, and announced that their bras will be one price fits all.

“People may joke about it, but bras are a sensitive subject,” said Ms Williams this week. “It just shows how much of an emotional issue having big breasts is for a lot of women.”

Titter, titter. Actually, she has a point, though she is making it entirely in the wrong way - because every time a woman with a large bust moans about it, those in front of her usually switch off and focus on her chest.

Without going into detail, I am one of the aforementioned whingeing females, and there is not a man or woman in the world who will take you seriously when you tell them that your chest is a massive pain in the rear, or rather, back.

They just think: “Breasts, breasts, glorious breasts” and become so hypnotised that you wonder whether you could cure them of their 40 a-day habit.

Unfortunately, I fear the best way for Ms Beckie Williams to get justice for bigger busts is to squeeze hers into an M&S design, storm into M&S CEO Stuart Rose’s office and smile sweetly at him. Tragic, but probably true.

On the subject of big breasts, my thoughts naturally turn to Prime Minister of Italy, Mr Silvio Berlusconi.

He employed a former topless model as his minister for equal opportunities, phoned adult chat lines to carry out a pre-election opinion poll and told a doctor working with the victims of Italy’s recent earthquake that she could resuscitate him any time.

Now his wife is divorcing him. He is a laughing stock across the globe - but less so in Britain, where putting a topless model and an ageing pervert into government would probably be something of an improvement.

Meanwhile, in the real world - ie Twitter - a list of the social network’s most influential “Tweeters” has been released. Triple British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award-winning English film critic and presenter of radio and television Jonathan Ross has topped it.

Downing Street has only just beaten British television presenter Phillip Schofield.

Singers P Diddy, Britney Spears and Mr Ross’ wife are well ahead of former United States’ Vice-President and environmental activist Al Gore.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is left trailing in the wake of singer and actress Miley Cyrus and singer 50 Cent.

English musician and songwriter Liam Gallagher and English pop music singer and songwriter Lily Allen beat US Vice-President Joe Biden hands down.

A mirror on the changing face of the world, if ever there was one.

From TODAY, World – Friday, 08-May-2009