Thinner Waistlines EQUAL Fatter Wallets

Fat people will be offered cash incentives to lose weight and do regular exercise under a radical strategy announced by the British government to tackle the obesity epidemic. Similar schemes have worked well in the United States.

By Microshock

Employers will be encouraged to set up competitions with money, vouchers and other rewards for people who give up those junk food for healthy eating and living. Those who lose the most weight would win the biggest prizes.

Schools should also consider banning children from going out of the gates at lunchtime and town councils are being urged to block new fast food outlets near parks and schools.

The goverment is investing 372Million pounds over the three years to implement the strategy known as "Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives".

Cool Stuff huh Britain!

Teck Whye Sec gets S$800K Synthetic Turf

Teck Whye Secondary School will be among the first of 80 schools to get a synthetic field, paid by the MOE. I am very excited about this because Teck Whye Sec is my ex-school where i came from.

The synthetic field, which costs about S$800,000 is expected to be completed within next 2 weeks. With the new field, there will be a two-fold increase in the usage of the field and the field is more able to take more intensive usage, and needs less maintenance than a grass field. The synthetic field will also allow schools greater flexibility to schedule their Physical Education lessons, field sports and games.

For this few years, the school's niche is in Hockey and thus the new field will make it easier for students to practice the sport in the school. Additionall, logistics of transporting students to previous training ground can be lessen. The pitch can also be used for hosting Hockey Tournaments as these competitions are played only on synthetic fields.

Tips to Beat Inflation

Consumer prices are at a 25 year high and we see no end in sight, with the crude oils prices playing a huge part to drive the consumer prices up. The name of the game now is save, save and save. As such, little bit of tightening our belts counts these days. Below are some tips that can be used everyday to beat the inflation:

By Hurray for Saturday

A) Transport & Communication
* Take trains and buses and avoid taxis.
* For drivers, they can save petrol on long run if they drive Hybrid cars. Taking trains or buses (abt S$2-3) are generally cheaper than taxis (S$10-20).
* Walk rather than take feeder buses (65 cents) for short distances.
* Buy Handphone that suits your needs.

B) Food
* Buy house brands at the supermarket which are cheaper. Some supermarket also gives discount on house brand for necessities.
* Bring own containers when packing food. These days, container for packing food cost an additional 20 cents.
* Eat less often fancy restaurant. Beside the higher cost of the food, we also can save on the Service Charge.

C) Health Care
* Ask doctor for generic drug such as paracetamol rather than branded name such as Panadol.
* You can go to free clinics such as Singapore Buddhist Free Clinic.

D) Recreation
* Go on holidays to nearby countries in the region, which cost about S$1,000 a person compared to US or Europe which would cost at least S$2,000 a person.
* Choosing countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and China is more favourable for the exchange rate.
* Choose free recreational spots such as ECP and WCP rather than Sentosa than charges S$3 per person for entrance fee.

E) Clothing & Footwear
* If you are one for branded items, you can get bargains at Salvation Army or any factory outlets such as those in Peninsula Plaze and Holland Village.
* Men can also stock up staples such as shirts and socks at warehouse sales by major department stores.

F) Education & Stationary
* Buy refills for pens. A refill for a Pilot Pen costs about S$1 compared to over S$2 for a new pen.
* You could also buy secondhand textbooks from seniors in school which allows savings up to S$20 per book. Edition may not be same, but content is very similar.

Hope following Singaporeans will find this tips useful. Perhaps this apply to overseas readers too.

Interesting Facts 5

More of FACTS! for those that love Facts for their Presentation or Speech:

In the weightlessness of space a frozen pea will explode if it comes in contact with Pepsi.

The increased electricity used by modern appliances is causing a shift in the Earth's magnetic field. By the year 2327, the North Pole will be located in mid-Kansas, while the South Pole will be just off the coast of East Africa.

The idea for "tribbles" in "Star Trek" came from gerbils, since some gerbils are actually born pregnant.

Male rhesus monkeys often hang from tree branches by their amazing prehensile penises.

Johnny Plessey batted .331 for the Cleveland Spiders in 1891, even though he spent the entire season batting with a rolled-up, lacquered copy of the Toledo Post-Dispatch.

Smearing a small amount of dog feces on an insect bite will relieve the itching and swelling.

The Boeing 747 is capable of flying upside-down if it weren't for the fact that the wings would shear off when trying to roll it over.

The trucking company Elvis Presley worked at as a young man was owned by Frank Sinatra.

The only golf course on the island of Tonga has 15 holes, and there's no penalty if a monkey steals your golf ball.

Legislation passed during WWI making it illegal to say "gesundheit" to a sneezer was never repealed.

Manatees possess vocal chords which give them the ability to speak like humans, but don't do so because they have no ears with which to hear the sound.

SCUBA divers cannot pass gas at depths of 33 feet or below.

Catfish are the only animals that naturally have an ODD number of whiskers.

Replying more than 100 times to the same piece of spam e-mail will overwhelm the sender's system and interfere with their ability to send any more spam.

Polar bears can eat as many as 86 penguins in a single sitting.

The first McDonald's restaurant opened for business in 1952 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and featured the McHaggis sandwich.

Health Talks - Should We be Getting More Sunlight?

Based on the journal Circulation that was published last week, a five-year study has concluded that Vitamin D may offer protection against serious illness, including strokes ands heart failures, as well as play a vital role in supporting bone strength.

Most of us gets our fairshare of Vitamin D from exposure to the sun, but it seems most of us are not getting enough. Based on reports, only about 10 per cent of us are getting ideal levels of it, thou outright deficiency are rare. So the question is how much Sun do we really need? since we know that Sunlight is Good for you, as well as Bad for you! And how are we supposed to get it?

By Predi

Good news that optimizing your Vitamin D production does not necessary must come from baking in the sun, even when you are out of Vitamin D. Short exposures are enough for most people, with some researchers suggesting that a fair-skinned adult wearing a T-SHIRT and trousers needs only 5-10 mins i the midday sun to top their levels in Vitamin D.

Sun-worshippers will be disappointed thou to learn that more is not good. Once Vitamin D has been produced, the rest is converted into inactive substances. The only thing you'll be doing by staying in the UV Rays is increasing your chance of developing skin cancer.

Suncreen worn by most under the sun, will still allows people to get their required dose. One of the study shows that although sunscreen reduced Vitamin D production, it wasn't enough to cause a deficiency.

And if you are concerned about skin cancer or darker skin or spend most of your time in-doors, all you have to do is take the easy option of throwing back a vitamin supplement in the morning.

By Bitzi

No More White Card from Spore to Malaysia

According to reports, the familiar white card, which once was as essential as your passport to getting you in and out of malaysia (for Simgaporeans), is now no more, as overland travellers found out to their surprise and confusion over the last weekend.

Last saturday, without much fanfare or effort to publicise it, the Malysian Immigration Department began a trial towards a more convenient "paperless system" at both the Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints.

For travellers, it means the need to fill up the four-page immigration white card everytime they enter Malaysia from Singapore is No More. Visitors now only need to produce their passport to be inspected and stamped at the immigration checkpoints.

While the move was aimed at smoothing the way, however, travellers who were caught unawares reacted with a mix of confusion and wariness - as there were no official notification about it.

On the Malaysian side of the causeway, A4-Sized notices in English and Malay were placed at the immigration checkpoints an dthe usual booths for foreign travellers to fill up their immigration cards were closed.

But some travellers were perharps more caustious, following recent scares about unstamped passports. There were recent cases of those who had gotten into trouble at the immigration, such as a Singapore Armed Forces Lieutenant that was sentenced to three months in jail, as his passport and immigration card were found to be unstamped.

According to latest confusio, some visitors who had presented their filled-up immigration cards for last few days - were not told these were obsolete. In fact, many said immigration officials stamped and collected their cards as per last time normal.

So my advice to all - Although it is much more convenient this way. We should be more careful, be it card or no card - it is always better to check that your passport has been stamped each time you enter or leave Malaysia.

UK Government Laptops Being Desk-Bound

Britain is getting more comical this days. British civil servants have been banned from removing their laptops containing sensitive information from their offices, after a computer was stolen that contained the personal details of 600,000 people.

The lost laptop containing details of potential recruits for their Ministry of Defence, was stolen earlier this month of January in Birmingham City at central England. This was confirmed by the ministry last week and reported by all major newspapers globally.
Pix By Johny Vulkan
It is the latest in a series of data blunders in Britain by government bodies. Two months ago, personal details of 25 million people which is nearly half the country's population, was lost in the post. That episode triggered a series of parliament discussions and debates whereby opposition parties are calling the head of the new Prime Minister Mr Brown.

The Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell (British Top Civil Servant) has written an internal email to all permanent secretaries that from now onwards, no unencrypted laptops or drives containing perosonal data should be taken outside secured office premises. He has also asked for assurance that this is communicated throughout their organizations and delivery bodies and implemented immediately, and that steps are taken to monitor compliance.

This top-down action should be been announced long time ago since the lost of the 600,000 details of British people. Just how you will feel if this details actually falls into the hands of the Terrorists.