Apparently the recent announcement about school bus hikes which I wrote about here, is just a guideline for all bus operators - which means that they can keep their rates unchanged, or raise less than what’s recommended. Of course, who would do that? In fact, one operator did just that - raising his fares beyond what’s recommended.

So, really, whatever’s published is usually just a guideline - just like my entry on a fatter bonus for all. It’s just a guideline - you mean you were expecting 4 months of bonuses? =P

THE recent fee increase announced by the Singapore School Transport Association was just a guideline for both bus operators and parents and not meant to be applied across the board.

School bus operators can decide how much to charge but if parents find that the fare increase is way above the recommended rate of $5 to $10, they can file a complaint with the association, said its chairman Wong Ann Lin, 60.

One parent had complained to the association - which represents 90 per cent of the 900 bus operators here - about one operator who wanted to increase his fares by $30 to a new fare of $70 a month.

Mr Wong said: ‘I met with him and told him the problem laid with him - why did he charge $40 in the first place? As a parent, if the fares are suddenly increased by so much, of course I won’t be happy.’

Eventually, he said, the bus operator settled on a $10 to $15 increase.

Mr Wong also explained why school bus fares should go up next year. ‘With diesel prices rising, bus operators were asking us if they could raise fares and by how much, to cover their operating costs.’

Article obtained from straitstimes.con on 15th December 2007

Some weeks ago, someone wrote to the Straits Times forum about people not washing their hands after finishing their business at the toilets. I wasn’t sure if this was before or after the Prima Deli incident, but apparently, this got Straits Times going around to toilets to check out the behaviour of people after they are done with their business.

Somehow, I don’t know how they manage to stalk people in the toilets without having toilet users scream "gay!!!". Haha… the thought of it is hilarious =P

STUDENT Judia Ngo, 21, walks out of the toilet cubicle, looks into the mirror and fixes her hair.

She then leaves the loo - without doing what mothers have always reminded their children to do: Wash your hands!

Her reasoning: Her hands did not come into contact with faecal matter and are clean.

Miss Ngo is not the only one who thinks this way.

The Sunday Times staked out 18 public toilets - in shopping centres, foodcourts and hawker centres - to flush out the truth about hand-washing.

A dirty secret was uncovered: One in 10 toilet-goers did not wash his hands.

Some just wiped their hands on handkerchiefs while others said they washed only after ‘big business’ and ‘never thought of washing after urinating’.

In all, 75 out of 792 people were spotted not washing up.

But dirty hands carrying just a few germs could still cause big problems.

Since Nov 23, at least 153 people have come down with food poisoning after eating PrimaDeli bakery’s chocolate cakes.

At least eight of them have since tested positive for salmonella enteritidis which causes fever, diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

Salmonella can be spread by food handlers with dirty hands. Eight of PrimaDeli’s workers have tested positive for the strain.

This episode prompted letters to The Straits Times Forum about the shocking number of tertiary students who merely ‘wetted their hands under the tap and did not use soap’.

With additional reporting on Sunday Times

STUDENT Judia Ngo, 21, walks out of the toilet cubicle, looks into the mirror and fixes her hair.

She then leaves the loo - without doing what mothers have always reminded their children to do: Wash your hands!

Her reasoning: Her hands did not come into contact with faecal matter and are clean.

Miss Ngo is not the only one who thinks this way.

The Sunday Times staked out 18 public toilets - in shopping centres, foodcourts and hawker centres - to flush out the truth about hand-washing.

A dirty secret was uncovered: One in 10 toilet-goers did not wash his hands.

Some just wiped their hands on handkerchiefs while others said they washed only after ‘big business’ and ‘never thought of washing after urinating’.

In all, 75 out of 792 people were spotted not washing up.

But dirty hands carrying just a few germs could still cause big problems.

Since Nov 23, at least 153 people have come down with food poisoning after eating PrimaDeli bakery’s chocolate cakes.

At least eight of them have since tested positive for salmonella enteritidis which causes fever, diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

Salmonella can be spread by food handlers with dirty hands. Eight of PrimaDeli’s workers have tested positive for the strain.

This episode prompted letters to The Straits Times Forum about the shocking number of tertiary students who merely ‘wetted their hands under the tap and did not use soap’.

Freelance writer Chua Siew Gek, observed that more than 40 per cent of tertiary students she escorted to the restroom during an exam did not wash their hands.

Those caught dry-handed by The Sunday Times ranged from housewives to undergraduates, and from food preparation staff to professionals, from both genders.

Common reasons given for not washing their hands include: ‘We are in a hurry’, ‘It is unnecessary’ or ‘We’re carrying too many things’.

An 83-year-old retired cook wetted only one hand because she claimed her clean hand had been clutching her bag the whole time.

A 71-year-old retiree, who wanted to be known only as Mr Quek, not only failed to wash his hands in a hawker centre toilet, but also blew his nose and sat down to a hearty meal of rojak immediately afterwards.

Even those who washed their hands did not do so thoroughly: Out of the 717 who were observed washing their hands, only 134 used soap and 66 washed only one hand.

Student Cherie Goh, 20, said: ‘It’s a waste of time to use soap and sometimes I don’t like the smell that common restroom soap leaves on my hands.’

Food handlers were no better. Out of the 29 observed, 21 washed their hands, but 14 of them did not bother to use soap. Eight did not wash their hands at all.

Said chicken wings seller Bao Juan, 39: ‘If I take a dump, I use soap. But if it’s a ’small one’, I don’t. I’m not afraid of getting sick because I have never fallen sick.’

A food and beverage worker, who wanted to be known only as Vivian, did not bother with the taps. She said: ‘I use tissue to touch the flush in the toilet and I wipe my hands with my own wet tissues inside the cubicle.’

A fast-food restaurant employee, who wanted to be known only as Madam Ko, shook the fingers of one hand under the tap for a mere two seconds because she had used the ‘hand sanitiser in the restaurant already’.

But those who are not careful can find themselves in hot water - fast.

High-temperature cooking or refrigeration can kill germs or slow their growth rate, but any germs ingested can reproduce in the gut and cause serious illness.

Associate Professor Goh Lee Gan from the National University of Singapore’s community, occupational and family medicine department, said hand-washing reduces the occurrence of diarrhoea by 50 per cent.

Soap helps to emulsify grease that water cannot effectively remove, he added.

‘If left unchecked, germs on the hands can contaminate food and multiply in whichever food medium it is deposited on,’ he said.

‘Not washing because one thinks there is no contact with dirt is unsafe… How do you know your hand did not accidentally get contaminated, or that faecal matter did not soak through the tissue?’

To help change such dirty habits, the Restroom Association of Singapore will be rolling out a public education programme next year, which includes roadshows and talks in the heartland.

It has distributed 2,000 posters to schools and public toilets on the correct way to wash hands.

And sales assistant Shamyn Toh, is heeding such advice.

The 16-year-old, who washes her hands with soap each time she uses the toilet, said: ‘I cannot stand the thought of dirt all over me. I think it’s hygienic and only right to wash my hands.’

limjess@sph.com.sg

shulis@sph.com.sg

zhenyang@sph.com.sg

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 15th December 2007

This may not be new findings to me, but I thought that I’d share this. While it is common for only females to get breast cancer, it may be possible for our male counterparts to get breast cancer, or other related cancers as well.

While they may sometimes not get breast cancer as per se, they may end up being carriers of the gene that causes it. So guys, do something meaningful with your life. Get a breast cancer gene test (Ed: this may or may not have implications with regards to personal insurance. Do check it out with your insurance agent on any repercussions).

SAN ANTONIO - DOCTORS are encouraging a new group of people to consider getting tested for genes that raise the risk of breast cancer: men.

Male relatives of women with such genes often do not realise that they, too, may carry them, and face greater odds of developing male breast cancer, as well as prostate, pancreatic and skin cancer, new research suggests.

‘Everyone thinks of breast and ovarian cancer and just assumes it’s all women. They don’t even realise these genes can be inherited from the father’s side of the family,’ said Dr Mary Daly of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

After seeing breast cancer in several male patients who did not know they were at risk, Dr Daly conducted a small study, which was presented on Friday at a conference in Texas. She now is trying to convince more fathers, sons and brothers of women with the genes to get tested.

‘Very few of them want to,’ she said.

Breast cancer is the most common major cancer in American women.

More than 178,000 new cases, and more than 40,000 deaths from it, are expected in the United States alone this year.

But men get it, too - about 2,030 cases are estimated to occur this year, accounting for about 1 per cent of all breast cancer cases, according to the American Cancer Society. About 450 of these male cases will prove fatal.

The BRCA-1 or BRCA-2 genes markedly raise the risk of breast cancer and are most prevalent among those of Eastern European Jewish descent.

In men, they double the normal risk of prostate cancer, triple the risk of pancreatic cancer and make breast cancer seven times more likely to develop.

As part of a larger study on perceptions of genetic risk, Dr Daly surveyed 24 close blood relatives of women who had tested positive for one of these genes and had told their male kin the results.

Six men said they had not been told, or had forgotten. Of the other 18, two mistakenly said the test had been negative. Seven did not think the results revealed anything about their own cancer risk.

Only five understood they, too, might carry the genes.

Of the six who expressed any interest in being tested themselves, three said they were doing so mostly for their children’s sake.

‘We try to reach out to the men in these families, particularly men who have little children,’ Dr Daly said. ‘If they were to die without being tested, their children would grow up without that information’ that they, too, were at risk, she said. — AP

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 15th December 2007

Sometimes, I find it a little amusing on how come companies (or even government agencies; thank goodness they don’t do that usually) can come up with statistics on how much employees will be getting this year - for bonus.

I mean,  how is someone able to dictate how much a private company can give to their employees? It’s not as if all companies belong to this cartel a common entity that is able to dictate how much should be paid out.

If a private companies is not doing that well, then other companies should not come out with such figures because:

1. It hurts the morale of the employees of a company that is not doing well
2. It makes people jealous that others many be potentially getting a certain amount
3. It may entice people into moving to other places; amongst others

So really, bonuses should just be made a statistic - according to industry - and as a bracketed range; instead of hyping up the entire "fatter bonuses" issue.

I’d think this is rather irresponsible.

EMPLOYERS are expected to hand out bigger bonus payouts this year, especially in booming sectors such as real estate, the energy industry and construction.

Recruitment industry leaders expect this year’s private-sector payouts to be even bigger than last year’s - which were considered among the highest in recent years.

As a rule of thumb, employees who got a two- to three-month bonus last year can expect a three- to four-month bonus this year, they say.

These handsome payouts have been fuelled by Singapore’s exceptional growth, set to top 8 per cent this year.

Many businesses are recording big profits and greater market share - and that usually translates to fatter bonuses.

‘It has been a good year for many organisations, and stronger compared to last year,’ said Mr Charles Moore, partner-in-charge of recruitment agency Heidrick & Struggles in Singapore.

Mr Mark Ellwood, managing director of another recruitment firm Robert Walters Singapore, said: ‘Asia has been a big growth story for a lot of organisations that are fast expanding within the region,’

The oil and gas sector, which has experienced a boom in growth, is expected to lead the pack in delivering the most attractive payouts this year, according to GMP Group chief executive officer Annie Yap.

The financial sector, traditionally known to deliver the best bonuses, will not disappoint either - except, perhaps, for some divisions with direct exposure to the United States sub-prime housing market, she said.

For those at front-end, money-making jobs such as investment bankers and fund managers, a 12-month bonus is not uncommon.

‘Those people will be looked after if they have performed and brought in revenue,’ said Mr Ellwood.

The size of the bonus is typically linked to a number of factors, including individual performance and company performance.

Given the strong growth of the property sector, it is not surprising if the bonuses overtake those offered in banking, said Mercer Human Resource Consulting managing director (Asean) Su-Yen Wong.

One area where leaner bonuses may be on offer is manufacturing, which has suffered a moderate slowdown in growth.

Experts say delivering attractive bonuses is a strategic tool for firms keen to retain talent in a tight labour market. ‘It is important that (the bonus) is enough to make employees stay engaged and on board, especially in a tight labour market, that they do pay the people they want to keep,’ said Mr Moore.

‘The stronger bonuses reflect the fact that companies are increasingly linking pay to performance,’ said Ms Wong.

Experts say employees should enjoy this year’s rich harvests, as weaker economic growth expected next year may mean smaller bonuses.

yanghw@sph.com.sg

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 15th December 2007