Awesome Ideas for School Lunches

A Singaporean mother-of-two, Lee Li Ming is gaining acclaim for making awesome school lunches – reportedly, every single day.

 

She started in 2011, when her son, Ivan was missing her at nursery and since then she has prepared over 200 different creations for him and his younger brother Lucas Tey.

 

Lee’s blog (http://www.bentomonsters.com/) is a brilliant how-to for aspiring bento artists. From recipes to picture tutorials and lists of tools and tips, there’s something there for everyone who would like to gain a new skill and become a little more creative.

 

And she has over 185,000 Instagram followers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday, Malaysia’s world number two Nicol David advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2016 Windy City Open Squash championship in Chicago. David took 31 minutes to beat England’s Sarah-Jane Perry 11-6, 11-9, 11-5.

 

 

As for Low Wee Wern, it was another frustrating outing as she crashed out in the first round. The world No. 32 gave Hong Kong’s world No. 26 Joey Chan a close fight but eventually fizzled out to lose 11-7, 10-12, 9-11, 12-14 in Chicago on Friday.

 

It was the third straight first-round loss for Low. She was also an early casualty in the Tournament of Champions in New York last month and the Cleveland Classic earlier this month.

Facebook Reactions

The "like" button has always been too simplistic of a reaction for Facebook users.

 

The reality is that human reactions are just too complex and varied. And for deeper reactions, we had to resort to making comments.

 

From Wednesday, users can now do a whole lot more than "like" a Facebook post.

 

"Love", "Haha", "Angry”, Wow", and "Sad" are the latest Facebook buttons that people can click when responding to a post. Anyone who uses Facebook can now choose from these "Reactions" on top of liking, commenting or sharing something.

 

With these latest reactions, we can now better view sentiments and pain points at a glance. As a Facebook user, there is greater interaction. And from a marketing perspective, "reactions" offer more data to be mined for targeting.

 

Facebook researchers, engineers and product teams spent more than a year preparing “Reactions” for launch. They worked with sociologists, consulted focus groups and conducted surveys to determine which emotions would make the final cut. They looked at the most popular stickers and emojis on the platform for clues too.

 

Missing from this set of responses is a "dislike" button – an option CEO Mark Zuckerberg first hinted at in September 2015. But launching a dislike button would have risked turning Facebook into a place where people vote posts up or down.

 

"That doesn't seem like the kind of community that we want to create," Zuckerberg said during a town hall Q&A.

 

This is yet another attempt at keeping Facebook fresh, and deepening people's attachment to the website and app.

 

At worst, some users could find the new choices unhelpful. But as long as a few million people "Love" or laugh a few times a day, that's still a lot of new, profit-driving data for Facebook and their advertisers.

 

In Friday’s Scottish Premiership game between Celtic and Hamilton Academical, both teams shared points when substitute Eamonn Brophy scored 17 minutes from the end to equalize a thirty-fifth minute penalty goal from Leigh Griffiths.

 

With one point earned, Celtic extended their cushion at the top of the table to seven points.

BTW, Toastmasters from Area P5, do keep this date free!

 

Ventilation Corridors to Blow Smog Away

Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Authorities in Beijing, China are reportedly developing a network of ventilation “corridors” to help tackle the city’s choking air pollution.

 

Construction in the zones, which will be created by connecting parks, rivers, lakes, highways and low building blocks, will be strictly controlled and obstacles to air flow will be removed over time, said the Xinhua state news agency, citing Wang Fei, deputy head of Beijing’s urban planning committee, as saying.

 

There will be five large corridors that will be more than 500 meters wide and several smaller ones, the report said, without giving a time frame for the project.

 

Pollution is a sore topic in China, spurring public protests every year about environmental degradation, particularly from factories. For the city and its surroundings, the government have set a target for 2020 of reducing pollution by 40% from 2013 levels.

 

Beijing frequently features near the top of the list of China’s most polluted cities as emissions from vehicles and heavy industry combine with weather conditions to raise smog levels. The worst bouts of air pollution tend to coincide with periods of low wind.

 

The authorities have increased efforts to reduce air pollution after the city’s first “red alerts” in December last year, when hazardous smog smothered the city.

 

It is good to know that China authorities are being pro-active.

 

I was in PJ’s Jalan Yong Shook Lin yesterday to deliver a CC speech #2 titled “Take a Break” at the IJM Toastmasters meeting. I was evaluated by Dr Thilla Chelliah, Area T2 Director and a Money Mastery member.

 

It was a good meeting – not only because I was there (sorry, syiok sendiri only!) but one IJM member pushed himself to do his CC #6 speech extemporaneously. A remarkable effort from this remarkable Toastmaster, S Sugumaran.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One more reason to join Toastmasters: Here, we push ourselves because we don’t know our limits.

A Mosquito-borne Virus Has a Song

Zika has arrived in Jamaica and the island nation is fighting it in uniquely Caribbean style: with dancehall beats and air horns.

 

“All di people dem weh nuh want Zik V hol up yu han!” (All the people who don’t want Zik V, hold up your hands!) – the tune begins.

 

“We nuh want Zik V” has got to be the catchiest dancehall tune ever about a mosquito-borne virus:

 

Jamaica's latest public service announcement

 

The patois-heavy song calls for Jamaicans to “mash up all mosquito breeding site,” “go hard” on mosquitoes, and make sure there’s “no stagnant water in sight.”

 

Jamaica, which confirmed its first case of Zika late last month, struggles to keep mosquitoes under control, making it ripe territory for a wider outbreak of the virus.  

The Aedes aegypti mosquito (left) that carries Zika loves to breed in old tires, open water drums, and discarded tin cans – all commonplace items here. The wealth of breeding sites has led to other mosquito-borne illnesses such as chikungunya, dengue and yellow fever.

 

“We live in a tropical country and mosquitoes are always here. I don’t think we are vigilant enough… it’s a starting point for me to really communicate to Jamaican people that we really have to change our mindset,” said Michael Abrahams, who wrote “We nuh want Zik V” and stars in the music video.

 

Abrahams, who has a day job as an obstetrician and gynecologist, considers himself a sort of mosquito breeding site vigilante. He likes to talk about the many places that he’s found and destroyed breeding sites, from schools to hospitals to his own patio.

 

“If everyone had that kind of mindset it would help,” he said.

 

The song also gives a “shout out to pregnant ladies” to protect themselves. Although Jamaica has so far confirmed only one case of the Zika virus, the government is telling women to delay getting pregnant for the next six to 12 months because of a possible link between Zika infection in pregnant women and microcephaly.

 

The Jamaican government is playing Abrahams’ song as a public service announcement on radio, television, and in movie theaters.

 

On Wednesday afternoon, I attended the SPAD Toastmasters meeting – thanks to Area W2 Director Nicole Leong’s invitation. It was held in Block D at their Platinum Sentral office in Jalan Stesen Sentral 2 in KL Sentral.

 

The club have now been given a new lease of life and I am glad I did my part to support SPAD Toastmasters.  

At their club meeting, I completed another CC#10 titled “Giving Up” and thus, this marked the completion of my 32nd Competent Communication manual.

 

Two Mondays ago, I managed to finally access my “Education Awards” page on the TI website and I discovered that one completed CC manual that wasn’t accounted for – was finally included in my thirty-two-CC tally. (Feeling grateful!)