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Some of us probably know we strive really hard and for long hours but to know that we beat Japan in this aspect and even earned the world's longest hours worked title is rather mind-boggling... From asiaone: S'poreans work the longest hours in the world The Star/Asia News Network Saturday, Oct 19, 2013 Singaporeans work the longest hours in the world, reported Nanyang Siang Pau on a study by Taiwan's China Times newspaper. They worked an average of 2,402.4 hours a year, higher than Taiwan's 2,140.8 hours. Workers in East Asian countries seemed to work longer hours than their Western counterparts, from between 2,090 and 2,402 hours in Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong. Those in Japan worked 1,745.2 hours, while those in the United States, Canada and Britain worked between 1,654 and 1,790 hours. (Source: http://news.asiaone.com/news/business/sporeans-work-longest-hours-world )

From AsiaOne: http://ride.asiaone.com/news/general/story...oads?page=0%2C0 How safe are our roads? (Clockwise from top) The junction of Rochor Road and Victoria Street, where a Ferrari driver ran a red light and hit a taxi on May 12 last year; the scene of a chain collision involving four vehicles on Seletar Expressway, near the Turf Club Avenue exit, on Dec 8, 2010; a car crashed into a traffic light at the junction of Woodlands Avenue 7 and Gambas Avenue on Oct 25, 2011. Maryam Mokhtar and Royston Sim | The Straits Times | Sunday, Mar 10, 2013 Drivers making right turns 'may misjudge, be impatient' Making a right turn at a cross junction can be dangerous and has been the cause of at least 11 serious or fatal accidents in the past two years. In 2011, a 22-year-old unlicensed driver killed a pedestrian while making a right turn from Tampines Street 45 into Tampines Avenue 9. That junction was also where two young brothers were knocked down and killed by a cement truck in January. In that instance, the truck was turning left. Nanyang Technological University adjunct associate professor Gopinath Menon said motorists making turns may misjudge the window to turn safely across traffic, or may be impatient. Said Mr Menon, a retired Land Transport Authority planner: "They take a risk and don't want to wait for the green arrow." Avid cyclist Francis Chu, 53, said cars making a right turn often focus only on traffic coming from the opposite direction and not on whether people are crossing the road they are turning into. Nee Soon GRC MP Lee Bee Wah told The Straits Times on Thursday that a resident in her ward who was in her 30s died in January because of another driver's misjudgment when taking a right turn. A car turning from Lentor Avenue into Yio Chu Kang Road knocked down the motorcyclist, who was coming from the opposite direction. "Drivers are impatient. We need a mindset change to encourage courtesy on the roads for everyone's safety," she said. Motorcyclists, cyclists most likely to get serious injuries The Straits Times found that motorcyclists and cyclists frequently paid for road accidents with their lives. On Feb 22, a motorcyclist in his 40s was killed after making a right turn at a junction in Sengkang, then colliding with another motorcyclist. This group of road users, said former Land Transport Authority planner Gopinath Menon, are more vulnerable to serious injuries and death as they are more exposed and not protected by a vehicle. A New Paper report last Saturday showed that of 14 road-related deaths reported in the previous two months, six involved motorcyclists and cyclists. Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport chairman Cedric Foo said "the best line of defence" was to educate them on road safety. "Cyclists need to don helmets voluntarily to save precious lives and we see anecdotally that they don't do that," he said. Asked if expressways posed a higher risk for motorcyclists, Mr Menon said riders "must be alert" on these roads, which have high-volume, high-speed traffic. Motorcyclist Roy Peng, 26, said: "It's dangerous even if you're a safe rider, what more if you are reckless." An executive in the industrial gas industry, he noted that some riders weave through lanes on the expressway without considering if they are in a vehicle's blind spot. And from his experience, lorries, which have larger blind spots, pose a greater threat. Road users 'less vigilant late at night, with fewer vehicles' Motorists and cyclists could be dropping their guard when they use the roads late at night or in the early hours. After a spate of recent accidents at these times, avid cyclist and co-founder of lovecycling.sg Francis Chu, 53, fears some cyclists perceive the roads to be emptier and hence safer. "From my experience, cars too tend to speed up because there are fewer motorists on the road." Two weeks ago, two men were killed on the same day in a pair of unrelated road accidents. The first victim is believed to have died instantly when his car mounted a kerb and hit a tree at around 2am. About five hours later, a 59-year old van driver is understood to have lost control of his vehicle, which skidded and struck a road barrier on the Ayer Rajah Expressway at about 7am. MP Lim Wee Kiak is a strong supporter of stiffer penalties for speeding drivers - especially in school zones. He said the changing lighting conditions at dawn and dusk could also be a factor affecting the visibility of motorists. Drivers interviewed said they tend to be less aware of their surroundings in the wee hours. Motorcyclist Nurhafi Azahari, 23, has been riding for five years and has been involved in two road accidents. He said: "Late at night after work, I sometimes feel too tired and less alert." There were 7,168 accidents causing fatalities or injuries last year and 7,926 in 2011. 6 Black Spots: 1. The intersection of Tampines Avenue 1, Tampines Avenue 4 and Bedok Reservoir Road: 2. The right turn from Woodlands Avenue 7 onto Gambas Avenue: 3. The merging of the Seletar Expressway and Bukit Timah Expressway: 4. The junction of Rochor Road and Victoria Street: 5. The slip road from Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 into the Central Expressway: 6. The Intersection of Upper Serangoon Road, Upper Paya Lebar Road and Boundary Road:

I can't access Asiaone.com this morning. My web browser showing this error message. Anyone else also got this warning?

From asiaone: http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/...114-383461.html Safety breaches led to deaths of NSFs Pictures of Private Dominique Sarron Lee Rui Feng with his headstone at the cemetery. Pte Lee, a 21-year-old full-time national serviceman (NSF), experienced breathing difficulties during an urban obstacle training exercise in Lim Chu Kang on April 17, 2012. AsiaOne Wednesday, Nov 14, 2012 SINGAPORE - Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen revealed in a ministerial statement to Parliament on Wednesday the details of the Commitees of Inquiry (COI) into the deaths of Private (Pte) Lee Rui Feng Dominique Sarron, 21, on April 17, and Third Sergeant (3SG) Tan Mou Sheng, 20, on May 11. He revealed that Pte Lee died of an allergic reaction in a training exercise after a platoon commander threw six smoke grenades, even though regulations specified no more than two grenades were to have been used. He revealed that the cause of death was certified by the forensic pathologist of the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) to be due to an "acute allergic reaction to zinc chloride due to inhalation of zinc chloride fumes". The COI believed that "if the Training Safety Regulations had been complied with, PTE Lee and his platoon mates would not have been subjected to smoke that was as dense as that during the incident". In the case of 3SG Tan who died after a jeep he was in overturned, it was found that individual negligence and breaches of safety had contributed to 3SG Tan's death. Firstly, the master sergeant had assigned an unlicensed driver to the vehicle, and the rear passengers including 3SG Tan did not wear a helmet or put on their seat belts. Other incidents of unlicensed driving were also found at the Combat Intelligence School, where the accident happened. A Commanding Officer and six other commanders have been redeployed to other assignments which do not require them to supervise soldiers for training or operations. The Chief Military Prosecutor will determine if these personnel should be subjected to a General Court Martial (GCM). Police investigations are also ongoing to determine if the personnel involved, including the unlicensed driver of the jeep, should be prosecuted in a Civil Court. Dr Ng said the SAF and Mindef were "deeply sorry for the untimely and tragic loss of Pte Lee and 3SG Tan and the anguish and distress it has brought to their families". He concluded: "These two deaths could have been avoided if safety instructions had been followed." "The SAF will learn from the incidents, correct any inadequacies and punish those who disregarded safety regulations," he also said.

Saw this at Asiaone news. Driver tried to pull a fast one on taxi driver but didn't expect taxi uncle got car cams... I don't quite believe on the cyclist part....who the hell will reverse car on road for cyclist? http://motoring.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/...225-330123.html Don't know how to hyperlink or paste the whole article here.

From AsiaOne: http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/...401-412692.html Coming home to a 'messier' Singapore By Tracy Quek Singapolitics Monday, Apr 01, 2013 After almost a decade abroad as foreign correspondents for this paper, my husband and I returned home earlier this month. In our first weeks back, we wandered around the neighbourhoods we had grown up in, revisited our old hangouts and ventured into less familiar localities. On the whole, we found the general lay of the land not too different from our memories of it. There were changes, of course. New developments had sprung up where vacant lots once were. Food prices had shot up. Malls and trains were certainly more crowded than we remembered. The number of foreigners working and living in the heartland had also grown. I was amused to find young Western expatriates shopping at NTUC FairPrice, getting a trim at one of those express haircut salons, and dining at kopitiams in suburban malls among ordinary Singaporeans. I recalled seeing fewer of them in the heartland in the past. Over many welcome home meals with friends, some asked partly in jest but also seriously, if we were already regretting coming back. They did not have to spell it out for us. We had kept up with happenings back in Singapore while in China and later the United States even as we worked to understand and analyse the broad political, societal and economic changes unfolding in the two world powers. On the job, we covered natural disasters and protests, witnessed abject poverty as well as environmental degradation, wrote about the social impact of near economic meltdowns, and mused about the limits of democratic as well as authoritarian political systems. Compared with the newspaper headlines out of China and the US over the past decade, the ones out of Singapore were tamer. I, for one, was glad for it; it meant stability at home and that our families and friends were safe and secure. But over the past two or three years, in particular, things started to change. From transport to housing policies, we read about how things were not running as smoothly as before. Online, people were unrestrained in expressing anger and dissatisfaction, especially with how government officials had handled problems. Some of the vitriol stunned me. I was used to reading all sorts of extreme anti-establishment online commentary in the US, but I was taken aback by the intensity of bitterness and resentment among some Singaporeans towards the ruling party, individual office holders and the mainstream press. Over a farewell lunch with some Washington, DC-based Asia analysts, we wondered aloud about the increasing political and social messiness we were observing at home. One of them chuckled and said: "This is what countries go through all the time, you guys are finally normal!" We had a good laugh but it set me thinking. The US is a vast country with more than 200 years of history and evolution. It has been through and is still going through war and political upheaval the likes of which a less resilient nation might not have survived. Americans are used to the messiness of democracy and a democratic political system. They value the cacophony of views for they believe that is what makes American society so vibrant, innovative and unique. But what is normal for the US and other mature democracies is relatively new for Singapore. The question is whether this new normal will work out in Singapore's favour, and if all segments of society will be able to come together to harness this messiness in a productive way. A more personal question is how I, as a recent returnee to Singapore and as someone who has seen up close the merits and demerits of "messiness" elsewhere, can be sensitive to the new realities. I have no answers at the moment. It would not be fair to venture any before we properly reconnect with home after such a long time away. But one observation I can make now is that having the opportunity to live in two countries with very different political and economic systems has irrevocably changed how I view Singapore. I guess you could call it perspective. Our problems may have become more complex and, certainly, various missteps and blunders have been made, resulting in an erosion of trust and confidence among Singaporeans. But it also strikes me that we are still in a far better and stronger position than many other countries to fix problems and find a new equilibrium for the times. For one thing, Singapore is not as financially hamstrung as the US government and is able to tackle infrastructure problems quickly. In Washington, DC, ageing roads are filled with potholes and broken escalators take 10 months to fix because of budget and other constraints. Coming home at this stage of Singapore's evolution, there will be many emotions to sort out and new discoveries to be made. I stand at the beginning of my own homecoming cautiously optimistic that the journey will be enlightening and meaningful, and that it will lead to a deeper sense of rootedness. At this time, I find these words of the late US senator Robert F. Kennedy especially apt. "Like it or not we live in interesting times," he said in 1966, during a trip to South Africa when he spoke out against apartheid. "They are times of danger and uncertainty but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. And everyone here will ultimately be judged - will ultimately judge himself - on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort." The context may be different but the spirit of his exhortation rings true for me. [email protected]

For bros who still have NS liabilities please take care. Go have yourself checked for medical conditions for if you feel out of breath or uncomfirtable during trainings. Having heart attack at 32 is rather unusual and hope LCP (NS) Chew recovers soon. From AsiaOne: http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/...222-403997.html NSman suffers cardiac arrest during IPPT training AsiaOne Friday, Feb 22, 2013 A Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Operationally-Ready National Serviceman, Lance Corporal (LCP) (NS) Chew Koh Leong, 32, suffered a cardiac arrest on Thursday, Feb 21, at 7.25pm while performing his IPPT Preparatory Training in Maju Camp. LCP(NS) Chew had no known prior history of heart disease. He was successfully resuscitated by an SAF medical doctor and medic, and was sent to the National University Hospital at 7.55pm. He is being treated in the intensive care unit and the cause of his cardiac arrest investigated by NUH specialists. The SAF is providing assistance to LCP(NS) Chew's family.

Only in the US they do this sort of surveys [laugh] But damn funny!!! TGIW bros! From AsiaOne: http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/...109-394266.html US Congress less popular than cockroaches: poll AFP Wednesday, Jan 09, 2013 WASHINGTON - The little loved US Congress, fresh off its fiscal cliff budget crisis, is now less popular than cockroaches and lice, a survey released Tuesday found. The Public Policy Polling survey of 830 Americans from January 3-6 revealed that Congress had hit new lows in the eyes of the same US voters who sent representatives to work there. The legislative body proved less popular than traffic jams, Donald Trump, France, lice, Genghis Khan, cockroaches and used car dealers, the poll found. Just nine per cent of those surveyed had a favourable opinion of Congress. "We all know Congress is unpopular," said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. "But the fact that voters like it less than cockroaches... really shows how far its esteem has fallen with the American public over the last few weeks."

I wonder why such articles are appearing on the web Asiaone news page. http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews...101-319312.html The Star/Asia News Network Sunday, Jan 01, 2012 I am an undergraduate at a public university and am currently in my final year. I have a dark secret that's consuming my life. I can barely keep up with my studies and I've been failing a number of papers. Despite support from my family members and girlfriend, I still ended up failing. I feel really lost. I come from a very strict and conservative family. If my family members find out about my secret, they will be greatly disappointed. I'm troubled but have nobody to turn to. It all started back when I completed my final STPM paper. I was masturbating in my room and had forgotten to lock the door. Halfway through, my grandmother opened the door to call me for dinner and caught me in the act. I was shocked to see her and quickly pulled up my pants. She just kept quiet and walked away. I felt dirty, disgusted, guilty and ashamed of myself. After the incident, I always felt awkward whenever I saw my grandmother, but seeing her was inevitable as we lived under the same roof. Things became worse a few months after the incident. One day, after my parents and had siblings had gone out, I had to help grandmother prepare dinner. As we were talking, she kept saying how much I resembled my (deceased) grandfather when he was young and how much she missed him. There was a long pause, after which she gestured me to her room. I had a feeling I knew what was going to happen, but curiosity got the better of me. I cannot remember much after this. I knew it was wrong, but I proceeded anyway. It lasted no more than five minutes and I quickly left her room after that. It was all very confusing, but that did not stop me - I started having sex with my grandmother regularly after that. She passed away recently and I sank into depression. I cannot concentrate on my course and my relationship with my girlfriend has been affected. Every time we attempt to have sex, I just cannot perform and she is getting impatient. My grades are failing, my girlfriend is frustrated with me, my family is disappointed with me, and I still fantasise about my grandmother. What I should do? Should I be honest with my family about this? On The Edge (The Star reader) You need private counselling or psychiatric help because having sex with your grandmother would have pushed the feelings of guilt, shame and disgust with yourself even deeper than when she caught you masturbating. But you could not help yourself because your grandmother had wrongfully pushed you into an incestuous sexual relationship. You were young, hot and horny, and could not control your raging hormones and sexual desires. She encouraged you, and enticed you into her room. That you reminded her of her husband was a lame excuse. You were her grandson and had you been a minor, what she did was actually a criminal act of statutory rape. You have been a victim and until now, you cannot escape from the memories. To you, she was someone who loved you and kept you happy. However, in your heart and mind, you knew it was so wrong. The failing grades and your sexual dysfunction could probably be due to your emotional and mental anguish. You are in depression because you are struggling with your feelings. Unless you have a family member who will understand and not overreact over this, you should seek professional help. Your conservative family may have difficulty coming to terms with this shocking truth and you do not need people coming to you will all sorts of accusations and blame. You need to understand your feelings and sort out the confusion in your mind, and get over this.

Women worse at parking than men You can now stop squabbling over whether women park cars better than men. According to a German study, women are slower and less accurate than men at parking, confirming the suspicions of many male motorists out there. According to the study, female drivers take an average of 20 seconds longer than male drivers to park their cars. Even so, their cars are more likely to be crooked than not, Telegraph reported. 65 people were asked to park an Audi A6 family saloon in a standard parking lot. Drivers' manoeuvres, including head-on, reverse and paralle parking, were timed and rated for accuracy according to how far they kept the vehicle from the edges of the bay. Researchers had expected the women volunteers to be slower in parking, Telegraph reported. But they were surprised that the "cautious approach" did not produce a tidier result. Dr Claudi Wolf from Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, who led the study, said that the research confirmed previous findings that men have better spatial awareness and coordination than women. Men also take more risks behind the wheel, she added. She said: "These prejudices exist and as a scientist I decided the find out if they are true or based on myth," she told the Mail. "I don't think that feminism or the cause of women is in any way set back by these findings," the researcher qualified. "It only proves what previous studies about the spatial differences between men and women have shown." "Besides, it is not as if there was a massive failing by women. It is just about parking - not the triumph of men over women."

http://forums.asiaone.com/showthread.php?t=42230 Wah, quite shocking. Quite amazing that even TT also kena outted and posted online. Gosh....! Dunno true or not.

I recently came across this article about P-plates and whether they actually help new drivers by 'telling' other drivers that they are still new on the roads and for them to be a little more understanding when it comes to giving way and so on. We were all there before, green eyed driver with a new license in hand and 2 P-plates stuck to the front and rear window. But does this make the lives of new drivers' more difficult than it already is? Some say that its better because more drivers are understanding, give way most of the time and don't honk unnecessarily while other new drivers complain that they face a lot of nasty tailgaters and aggressive 'experienced' drivers. Well its not just the drivers under probation who are 'under attack', it seems that experienced drivers also have complaints about new drivers hogging the roads and changing lanes without looking out for traffic. So who is at fault here? All I can say is that from my own experience when I was still driving under the P-Plate, most drivers on highways were very impatient even though I was travelling slightly above the speed limit of 90, most of them were traveling at around 105 to 110. I think it really depends on where you're driving and the current road condition. In traffic jams, having the P-plate did help quite a bit especially when changing lanes and in the smaller roads as well, most drivers tend to be more understanding. But on the highways, P-plates stand no chance... Check out the videos from Razor Tv to find out more about what other Singaporeans think.. Razor Tv P-Plates Help or Hazard?

Asia one playing spot the difference game...