Dance like no one's watching

A friend of mine often posts tabloid worthy news links on Facebook.  One of the links today was about the dangers of the cosmetics we used.  If you want to find out how the cosmetics you use is killing you, you can check out http://cosmeticsdatabase.com/. 

Azure and I were having a laugh about the site when Azure pointed out that as long as a product contains ‘methylparaben’, that website will deem it is a hazardous product.  Curious, I did a search online on the effects of ‘methylparaben".  What I found out was that methylparaben is an anti-fungal that is widely used as a preservative for food, drugs, and cosmetics.  The compound is often found in carpules of local anaesthetic, acting as a bacteriostatic agent and preservative.  To date, there is no conclusive/causal evidence to suggest that ‘methylparaben’ is harmful to health.

My search however, did bring me to a very very insightful website on why there are so many obese people in the world today.  This article is taken from http://www.terressentials.com/endocrine.html:

The World Health Organization estimated that, in 1995, there were 200 million obese adults worldwide. By 2000, that number had grown to 300 million. It is very strange, indeed, that this epidemic coexists with undernutrition, affecting nearly every nation, rich or poor, and that it is affecting women more than men. What is causing this rapidly increasing global obesity epidemic?

Over the past decade, the United States has been urgently investigating the effects of low levels of synthetic personal care product chemicals found in our water — lakes, rivers, oceans. Scientists around the world have now linked these chemicals from personal care products to a growing global health crisis, causing life-threatening and costly metabolic and neurological disorders. These endocrine disorders threaten to bankrupt the US medical system within the next 30 years.

What types of products contain these harmful chemicals? The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently reported that they have found synthetic hormone-disrupting chemicals in shampoo, preservatives, hair coloring agents, sunscreens, fragrances and pharmaceuticals. These chemicals are washed into our water every day and, as a result, they never go away — they are persistent because of daily replenishment via bathing, swimming and urination. Sadly, of the 80,000 plus chemicals used in products, just a tiny fraction were ever fully tested for toxicity, let alone for their hormone interference potential. Currently, toxicity tests required by the government do not evaluate endocrine disrupting effects, so even so-called "tested chemicals" can have unidentified hazardous health effects. You should be aware that the phrases "no known toxicity" or "no known health effects" do not necessarily mean that a substance is harmless.

The EPA is very concerned about the antimicrobial preservatives called parabens (alkyl-p-hydroxybenzoates). Parabens are ubiquitous — found in cosmetics, skin creams, sunscreen lotions, shampoos — even pet food. The EPA states that all parabens — methyl, propyl, butyl — have been proven to have endocrine-disrupting effects. They are particularly concerned about the hormone-disrupting effects of nonoxynol (nonyl phenol) found in hair colorings, shampoos, and spermicides, and sunscreen chemicals such as benzophenone [oxybenzone] and methoxycinnamate. It is very disturbing to learn that many of these chemicals can be found in personal care products that claim to be "natural" and "organic." We feel that some companies who pretend to be natural and organic are among the worst of the environmental hypocrites.

What is an endocrine disruptor? Endocrine disruptors are chemical substances, primarily man-made synthetics, that interfere with the function of the endocrine system. These synthetics may be derived from petroleum or vegetable sources and are created in environmentally unfriendly industrial processes using toxic catalysts and reagents. These chemicals mimic, block or disrupt the actions of human (and animal) hormones and, unexpectedly, do more damage at low levels of exposure than at high levels. These chemicals can also work in sinister yet subtle ways by disrupting the body’s ability to produce adequate quantities of hormones or by interfering with the body’s hormonal pathways. One single chemical can affect many parts of the endocrine system. Often minute amounts of several of these environmental hormone chemicals can combine to create effects thousands of times more potent than a single chemical.

The endocrine system regulates every function of the body. It consists of the thyroid, pituitary, and adrenal glands, the pancreas, the ovaries and the testes, all linked to the hypothalamus in the brain. The hypothalamus is like the mainframe computer of the body, sending signals to the glands that provide the instructions for creating hormones, which are the natural chemical messengers that tell your cells what to do. The various endocrine glands send the messenger chemicals via the bloodstream to different parts of the body where they bind to specific receptors that control all cellular functions. One messenger hormone, estrogen, is secreted by the ovaries and plays a major part in the regulation of menstruation, fertility, pregnancy, and fat cell activity.

When you rub body care products on your body or hair dye on your scalp you can absorb or inhale synthetic chemicals that contain endocrine disruptors which may send false signals to your body’s endocrine glands. When your glands are confused they cannot function normally and serious health problems result. In addition, when you bathe, whatever chemicals aren’t absorbed by your body are washed down the drain into the drinking water supply, where they can cause a cascade of negative environmental problems. These endocrine disruptors are affecting algae and other microscopic life, fish, whales and birds. Humans are exposed when they drink the water and eat the fish contaminated by personal care product chemicals. The government has found sunscreen chemicals in fish and human breast milk.

Endocrine disruptors are stored in a body’s fatty tissues and do not get flushed out with water, thus they accumulate over the years. It is now recognized that the dramatic increases of breast cancer, non-Hodgkins lymphoma and thyroid cancer have been linked to exposure to environmental estrogens. In the past twenty-five years in the US, alone, thyroid cancer has increased more than 45%, with more women being affected than men, and has become the number one cancer in children under age twenty, many of whom suffered from fetal endocrine disruption exposures.

How can you protect yourself? Read every ingredient on every personal care product label and be suspicious of every chemical ingredient. Ask yourself if you would eat that ingredient because, when you rub products onto your body, 60% of the product may end up in your body. When your bottle of body lotion is empty, where did all of the product go? The lotion that was absorbed quickly, was absorbed into your body! The rest washes down the drain. Question manufacturers about their synthetic chemical ingredients. Tell your family and friends about the chemicals that are affecting them and their children. Remember true organic products NEVER contain potentially harmful chemical ingredients. True organic products are made from real organic foods. Protect yourself and our planet and use only true organic products. Ask for TerrEssentials — true organic.

Isn’t that one interesting and mystery smashing article?  So the reason why people are fat these days, is ‘cos we use too much shampoo, moisturisers, etc.  I’m SURE the people in Africa are skinny and malnourished ‘cos they don’t use as much cosmetics as we do.  Yeah.  That’s gotta be it man.

I’ve been attending this class on early Church History every Saturday with my cellgroup.  During our class last Sat, the facilitator spoke about the importance of journaling our Christian journey, which is something I’ve tried to do before though I kept losing the slips of paper… and even the last blog I had… was shut down after a while.  So I decided I’m going to put my thoughts from each lesson on this main blog (instead of creating a sub-blog which I did the last time).  After all, being a Christian isn’t a separate part of my life… so it makes sense to put whatever I want to record down on this blog.

Our "homework" from last Sat was to write about our Christian life journey thus far.  Here goes…

I come from a non-Christian family and my dad is really quite against Christians.  He feels that churches are out to brainwash people into worshipping a God that doesn’t exist.  He also feels that the Christian’s giving of money as part of our offering to God a scam by the church to cheat people of money. 

When I was in Pri 2, I got to know this girl called Grace.  She used to invite me to join her at her church’s Junior Sunday School’s activities – games day, camps, etc.  I wasn’t very keen initially but there was something different about this friend of mine.  Though she would get bullied or taken advantage of by other classmates, she never seemed to bear grudges against them.  So I eventually went for some of the camps and accepted Christ in Pri 4.

What led me to accept Christ as my Saviour was how the Christians I met reacted to situations differently from my non-believing extended family.  Instead of bearing petty grudges and returning tit for tat, they had more tolerance for people’s shortcomings and were willing to look for the good in people instead of naturally assuming the worst in people.  Having seen for myself this difference made me want to find out more about the God they believed in.

My parents were still apprehensive about me attending church so I didn’t go on a regular basis till I was in Sec 2-3.  Growing up in Senior Sunday School was fun.  My dad used to say that I’m not allowed to be baptised or have a "permanent religion" till I was 21… and so I followed his instruction and got baptised when I was 22. 

Over the years, there were times when I walked more closely with God, and there were times when I struggled with why certain things turned out a certain why.  I came to realise eventually that regardless of the circumstances that befall me, God is the only constant who works in ways that are beyond my imagination.  It is only at the end of every trial that I look back and see His hand in the big picture.

So that’s my Christian life story thus far.  Not spectacular but thankfully, I’m still hanging on.

Interesting article from the NY Times.

February 19, 2009

BASICS

Low-Tech Fixes for High-Tech Problems

By PAUL BOUTIN

BEHIND the cash register at Smoke Shop No. 2 in downtown San Francisco, Sam Azar swipes a customer’s credit card to ring up Turkish cigarettes. The store’s card reader fails to scan the card’s magnetic strip. Azar swipes again, and again. No luck.

As customers begin to queue, he reaches beneath the counter for a black plastic bag. He wraps one layer of the plastic around the card and swipes it again. Success. The sale is rung up.

“I don’t know how it works, it just does,” says Mr. Azar, who learned the trick years ago from another clerk. Verifone, the company that makes the store’s card reader, would not confirm or deny that the plastic bag trick works. But it’s one of many low-tech fixes for high-tech failures that people without engineering degrees have discovered, often out of desperation, and shared.

Today’s shaky economy is likely to produce many more such tricks. “In postwar Japan, the economy wasn’t doing so great, so you couldn’t get everyday-use items like household cleaners,” says Lisa Katayama, author of “Urawaza,” a book named after the Japanese term for clever lifestyle tips and tricks. “So people looked for ways to do with what they had.”

Popular urawaza include picking up broken glass from the kitchen floor with a slice of bread, or placing houseplants on a water-soaked diaper to keep them watered during a vacation trip.

Today, Americans are finding their own tips and tricks for fixing misbehaving gadgets with supplies as simple as paper and adhesive tape. Some, like Mr. Azar’s plastic bag, are open to argument as to how they work, or whether they really work at all. But many tech home remedies can be explained by a little science.

Cellphone Losing Charge

If your cellphone loses its battery charge too quickly while idle in your pocket, part of the problem may be that your pocket is too warm.

“Cellphone batteries do indeed last a bit longer if kept cool,” says Isidor Buchanan, editor of the Battery University Web site. The 98.6-degree body heat of a human, transmitted through a cloth pocket to a cellphone inside, is enough to speed up chemical processes inside the phone’s battery. That makes it run down faster. To keep the phone cooler, carry it in your purse or on your belt.

This same method can be used to preserve your battery should you find yourself away from home without your charger. Turn off the phone and put it in the hotel refrigerator overnight to slow the battery’s natural tendency to lose its charge.

Remote Car Key

Suppose your remote car door opener does not have the range to reach your car across the parking lot. Hold the metal key part of your key fob against your chin, then push the unlock button. The trick turns your head into an antenna, says Tim Pozar, a Silicon Valley radio engineer.

Mr. Pozar explains, “You are capacitively coupling the fob to your head. With all the fluids in your head it ends up being a nice conductor. Not a great one, but it works.” Using your head can extend the key’s wireless range by a few car lengths.

Dry Ink Cartridge

If your printer’s ink cartridge runs dry near the end of an important print job, remove the cartridge and run a hair dryer on it for two to three minutes. Then place the cartridge back into the printer and try again while it is still warm.

“The heat from the hair dryer heats the thick ink, and helps it to flow through the tiny nozzles in the cartridge,” says Alex Cox, a software engineer in Seattle. “When the cartridge is almost dead, those nozzles are often nearly clogged with dried ink, so helping the ink to flow will let more ink out of the nozzles.” The hair dryer trick can squeeze a few more pages out of a cartridge after the printer declares it is empty.

Cellphone in the Toilet

It could happen to anyone: you dropped your cellphone in the toilet. Take the battery out immediately, to prevent electrical short circuits from frying your phone’s fragile internals. Then, wipe the phone gently with a towel, and shove it into a jar full of uncooked rice.

It works for the same reason you may keep few grains of rice in your salt shaker to keep the salt dry. Rice has a high chemical affinity for water — that means the molecules in the rice have a nearly magnetic attraction for water molecules, which will be soaked up into the rice rather than beading up inside the phone.

It is a low-tech version of the “Do Not Eat” desiccant packets that may have been packed in the box the phone came in, to keep moisture away from the circuitry during shipping and storage.

Longer Wi-Fi Reach

If your home Wi-Fi router doesn’t reach the other end of the house, don’t rush out to buy more wireless gear to stretch your network. Instead, build a six-inch-high passive radio wave reflector from kitchen items, like an aluminum cookie sheet.

Follow the instructions at freeantennas.com/projects/template. Place the completed reflector — a small, curved piece of metal that reflects radio waves just like a satellite TV dish — behind your Wi-Fi router. It focuses the router’s energy in one direction — toward the other end of the house — rather than letting it dissipate its strength in a full circle. No cables, no batteries, no technical knowledge required. Yet it can easily double the range of your network.

Dirty Discs

You need to clean a skipping DVD or CD, but as a bachelor you don’t have any sissy cleaning fluids? Soak a washcloth with vodka or mouthwash.

Alcohol is a powerful solvent, perfectly capable of dissolving fingerprints and grime on the surface of a disc. A $5 bottle of Listerine in your medicine cabinet may do the job as effectively as a $75 bottle of DVD cleaning fluid. Also, swabbing your copy of “Lost Weekend” with Stoli instead of fussing with a Discwasher kit is a lot more manly.

Too Much Flash

If your cellphone’s built-in camera flash is much too bright, washing out photos, tape a small piece of paper over the flash. Experiment with different colors and thicknesses of paper to tone down the flash from superbright white to a more pleasing glow for evening photos.

Crashed Hard Drive

If — no, make that when — your PC’s hard drive crashes and can’t be read, don’t be too quick to throw it out. Stick it in the freezer overnight.

“The trick is a real and proven, albeit last resort, recovery technique for some kinds of otherwise-fatal hard-drive problems,” writes Fred Langa on his Windows Secrets Web site. Many hard drive failures are caused by worn parts that no longer align properly, making it impossible to read data from the drive. Lowering the drive’s temperature causes its metal and plastic internals to contract ever so slightly. Taking the drive out of the freezer, and returning it to room temperature can cause those parts to expand again.

That may help free up binding parts, Mr. Langa explains, or at least let a failing electrical component remain within specs long enough for you to recover your essential data.

That’s the spirit of folk remedies: They may or may not work, but what have you got to lose?

Well, this isn’t my first blog post but it certainly is my first “hello” from my office laptop.  Yeap.  After 2.5 years of lobbying by my boss, I finally got a laptop thanks to Loudhailer (helps when the co-CEO of the Singapore office is also the product head for trade credit and PRI.  Heh).  It’s a great laptop on almost all counts (with the exception of having no on board optical drive but I can live with that).  The batt life is amazing… I’m at 84% after slightly over 1 hour of use and that’s a remaining 7 hours of usage left.  Good huh?

Anyway, here’s the specs of the X200:

Read a few interviews given by Glenn Ong and Jamie Yeo recently and while I don’t think Jamie Yeo is any angel, I think Glenn has shown himself to be the bigger arse, the bigger jerk.  So the question that pops up every time my friends and I talk about it is – what on earth does Jean Danker see in him???

Personally, I think Jean Danker needs to watch the movie, He’s Just Not That Into You.  I love how the movie starts.  A little girl gets pushed by a little boy at the playground.  She goes crying to her mom and what does her mom say?  Her mom tells her that the little boy was mean to her because he has a crush on her.  And that, is the start of her downfall into “jerkdom”.

Girls need to learn that why a guy acts like a jerk, it isn’t ‘cos he likes you.  He’s just a jerk.  And if that guy’s a jerk to another girl, he’ll be a jerk to you too.  It’s that simple really.  It’s the rule, and few are the exceptions.

Extrapolating the lesson from the movie, I think Jean Danker should learn that she belongs to the rule, not the exception.  After all if a guy can go public saying things like his previous women (that’s 2 wives and I don’t know how many girlfriends) have “fallen into his lap” and how he “settled too fast”, I think it’s a clear demonstration what the “rule” here is.

Come on girl, you gotta wake up your idea.

2 Peter 2

False Teachers and Their Destruction

¹But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. ²Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. ³In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

I knew an ex-colleague who attended (not sure if she still does ‘cos I lost touch with her) New Creation Church and she would sometimes tell me during lunch that if a Christian is truly faithful, that Christian will be blessed by God and will enjoy material riches.  I found that extremely disturbing ‘cos that is a totally distorted view of the bible.  It’s like Gold 90.5FM’s commercial – hearing only the good things.  The bible talks about God having plans to prosper us… but the bible also talks about standing firm when our faith is tested.

I could go on about how skewed the prosperity gospel is but this post isn’t about that.  This post is about an alarming thing a friend showed me just now.  The pastor of New Creation Church has a website… and in it, you can donate money to his ministry and get this – YOU GET A PARTNERSHIP CARD!!  Even more astounding is that your partnership is ranked based on the amount of money you donate.  Ranging from USD10 to USD500 per month, you get to be anything from a "Destined to Reign Partner" to a "Joseph’s Inner Circle Partner".  Pardon my language but WHAT THE $*@&^#?

Firstly, since when does a ministry belong to a person?  Shouldn’t it be Jesus’ ministry that we focus on?  Secondly, how could someone be ranked based on the amount he donates?  Thirdly, why on earth would any God-fearing believer want to be part of "Joseph’s Inner Circle"?!?!?!?  I think we all want to hear the Lord say that we’ve been a good and faithful servant and not, "Congrats, you were part of Joseph’s Inner Circle".

I think what bugs me most about the website is that focuses strongly on Joseph Prince instead of Jesus our Lord and Saviour.  I have to say that I’m totally disgusted and repulsed.  

John 15:4-5

⁴Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Didn’t blog much the end of last week ‘cos I just got way too busy at work.  Stayed in office till 11:30pm on Wed… and somehow forgot that I worked Wed away and thought Thurs was Wed.  Thank goodness BQ pointed it out to me and for the first time, I truly appreciated the acronym, TGIF.

Had a couple of things that I wanted to blog about last week but I can’t really remember them now.

Anyway, Iceman and I went to T2 with the cellgroup for lunch yesterday and I went to look for a pair of Oakley sunglasses I saw in May/June last year, when I was on my way to Manila.  Didn’t find the model I like but I did find something I like better!

Presenting the Oakley Behave Asian Fit!

They were quite comfy when I tried them on… sits properly on my nose.  A little loose such that they slide down a bit when I tilt my head downwards but I could live with that ‘cos if it’s too tight, I’ll get a headache.

Checked the Oakley US website and this product has been discontinued in the US!!  It’s still available on the Japan site but only 2 colours left.  Sigh.  Should I get them now instead of waiting till juz before the honeymoon?

This is the other colour I would consider though I prefer the “berry” colour above.

Maybe I should try to get off work early tonight… check out Marina Sq or something…

Been hearing this song on the radio… the line "starts in my toes, makes me crinkle my nose" caught my attention.  Had to google that line before I found the title and singer.  Catchy song.

Here’s the lyrics for those who can’t catch all the words…

I’ve been awake for a while now.
You’ve got me feeling like a child now.
‘Cause every time I see your bubbly face,
I get the tingles in a silly place.

Chorus:
It starts in my toes,
Makes me crinkle my nose.
Wherever it goes I’ll always know,
That you make me smile.
Please stay for a while now.
Just take your time,
Wherever you go.

The rain is falling on my window pane,
But we are hiding in a safer place.
Under covers staying dry and warm.
You give me feelings that I adore.

Chorus:
They start in my toes,
Makes me crinkle my nose.
Wherever it goes I’ll always know,
That you make me smile.
Please stay for a while now.
Just take your time,
Wherever you go.

What am I gonna say…
When you make me feel this way…
I just… mmm

They start in my toes,
Makes me crinkle my nose.
Wherever it goes I always know,
That you make me smile.
Please stay for a while now,
Just take your time.
Wherever you go…
Da-Da-Dum-da-da-da-da-da.

I’ve been asleep for a while now.
You tucked me in just like a child now.
‘Cause every time you hold me in your arms,
I’m comfortable enough to feel your warmth.

It starts in my soul,
And I lose all control.
When you kiss my nose,
The feeling shows.
‘Cause you make me smile.
Baby just take your time now,
Holding me tight.
Wherever, wherever, wherever you go.
Wherever, wherever, wherever you go.
Wherever you go,
I always know,
‘Cause you make me smile even just for a while.

I know I have an overactive imagination but sometimes I just can’t help seeing similarities in people – even if they are of a different race.

Like Justin Long (saw him in He’s Just Not That Into You just now) and Joey Leung (of TVB’s Detective Investigative Files fame).

This is Justin Long:

And this is Joey Leung (even their names sound alike!!):

It’s not so apparent in the photos above but I couldn’t really find any clearer pics of Joey Leung.  I think they have the "same pattern".  Maybe it’s the floppy hair, puppy eyes, bushy eyebrows & short build.  Hmm… don’t know lah.  They just remind me of each other on screen.

My mom "kena suan" by her colleague last week.  It was unintentional I think… but funny nonetheless.

Colleague: Do you mind if we go Mos Burger for lunch today?
Mom: OK.  Why you ask?
Colleague: ‘Cos it so happens everytime you lunch with us we have fast food.
Mom: Why?  You think auntie cannot eat fast food is it?
Colleague: Ya… my mom doesn’t eat.

*ROFL*