I understand you... imperfectly

Ronald Kow on how people interpret things differently

By Ronald Kow
Senior Executive Subeditor
ronald@sph.com.sg

 

This is what happens when you try to be too clever.

A friend was fiddling with the messaging functions on a new iPhone, sent me some text and asked me whether I received it as an SMS on my 'hp' (meaning handphone or mobile phone) or as an e-mail.

Fond of not giving simple, straightforward replies, I did not send my response as just the mere 'hp' or 'phone' or 'sms' any other similar term referring to the cellular phone. I texted back 'Hewlett-Packard', intending to use its familiar 'HP' initials. My friend thought I meant the PC, and took it that

Measuring MPs who use social media

Guest blogger Avish Joseph on his firm's partnership with The Straits Times in analysing how Singapore politicians use social media

By Avish Joseph
Lead Consultant
digital@bell-pottinger.co.uk

 

On a Tuesday morning in September 2011, we at Bell Pottinger Digital held a collaboration meeting with The Straits Times' Political Desk in our Suntec City office to conceive and design a social media research project that would prove to be challenging and ambitious.

At first, the task seemed straightforward. Analyse how politicians use social media in Singapore.  Simple enough.

The team had already done "social media scanning” and “thematic analysis” on the Presidential election few months back. Why not use the frameworks and techniques which we had used for the previous project?

The rugby-loving principal who changed lives

Lin Zhaowei finds out more about the life and work of former school principal Mrs Priscilla Krempl when he attends her wake.

By Lin Zhaowei
Journalist
zhaowei@sph.com.sg

 

"I may never have completed my education if not for her."

That was the similar reply from two people I met on Friday afternoon, when I visited the wake of Mrs Priscilla Krempl, principal of St Andrew's Secondary from 1996 to 2001 and Bedok Town Secondary from 2002 to 2007. She died on Thursday morning at the age of 66, after she was hit by a stroke and admitted to hospital. She was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer just four weeks ago.

ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSIN

Toxic cosmetics? It's all about the dose 

There's no need to panic about reports of cancer-causing chemicals. Grace Chua suggests some questions to ask.

By Grace Chua
Reporter
caiwj@sph.com.sg

 

In sunny Singapore, we've all been told: Wear sunscreen. It's good for your skin.

But now, it turns out, scientists from Nanyang Technological University have found that nanoparticles of zinc oxide, a substance used in many sunscreens and cosmetics, can cause a chain-reaction cascade that leads to cancer in lab-grown cells.

Cue alarm and frantic consumers saying: But I thought it was natural!

Why IVF is a mixed bag for me

Guest blogger Dr Yong Tze Tein on the new In-Vitro fertilisation rule by the Ministry of Health.

By Dr Yong Tze Tein

yong.tze.tein@sgh.com.sg

 

'Congratulations!'

I beamed happily at Kim. It was the 1990s, when I was still a trainee in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Driven by the desire to have children after 10 years of marriage, and having saved enough money, Kim had come for an In-Vitro fertilisation (IVF) cycle.

Moments later, however, my enthusiasm wavered while I was doing the ultrasound scan. On the screen before me was, not one, not two, but three little fetal hearts.

Temptation of Easy Money

Chua Mui Hoong on credit cards & the dangers of going into debt

By Chua Mui Hoong
Review Editor
muihoong@sph.com.sg

 

It took all of 10 minutes for Stanchart to give me $90.

I didn’t even ask for it. It came knocking on my door, in the form of a very courteous and efficient young man.

I was passing through Novena MRT, on an errand, when I was accosted by the said young man from the Stanchart road-show kiosk which was situated in a non-descript corner fairly close to the escalators leading the way out from the bowels of the station to shopping nirvana above. I glanced at the Stanchart logo and paused.

Steve Jobs, the Tech Prophet

Yeong Ah Seng looks at how Apple's icon made their products appeal to hearts, not minds

By Yeong Ah Seng
Digital Technology Editor
yeong@sph.com.sg

 

Like most Apple fans, I have never met the man. But we all seem to know him through his products and the yearly appearances at MacWorld shows in San Francisco.

What is it that triggers such a huge outpouring of grief and accolades at the passing of a man whose impact on our lives has largely been through the gadgets that we carry - notably the iPod, iPhone and iPad? Mr Steve Jobs was not only a visionary who created a great number of cool devices that millions took to. It was his ‘thinking differently’ that overturned conventional wisdom and led

Teaching the ABCs of values

Jane Ng explains why the Ministry Education's renewed emphasis on character education is heartening

By Jane Ng

janeng@sph.com.sg

 

One of my most treasured pieces of feedback about my five-year-old son, Jason, has nothing to do with how he can spell, read or count.

The feedback, which had to do with his behaviour, came from a fellow parent at his former preschool, whose son was being bullied at the playground.

She said that instead of joining in the act or doing nothing about it, Jason put out his hands to stop the bullies from pretending to claw at her son’s face. She was touched and decided to let my husband and me know about it.

It's not too late to save Borders

Loh Keng Fatt explains why an admission fee to read at Borders has merit

By Loh Keng Fatt
News Editor, Sunday Times
kengfatt@sph.com.sg

 

In May 2009, I wrote a blog arguing that bookshops like Borders should charge people a $2 admission fee to recoup some money from the hordes who come to browse and read for free and in air-conditioned comfort.

That generated comments from one camp which supported what I proposed and the other which threw the book at my audacity to raise such a scenario.

The detractors in this group said it was against the time-honoured spirit of browsing in a bookshop and that the pursuit of knowledge should not carry a price.

Why I cooked beef stew on Curry Day

Tessa Wong shares three simple reasons for not joining the Cook A Pot of Curry event

By Tessa Wong
Political Correspondent
twong@sph.com.sg

 

On Sunday as my Facebook and Twitter feeds lit up with friends tweeting about their curry lunches and dinners, I was slaving away in my kitchen making beef stew.

I had heard about Curry Day about two weeks ago, when several friends on Facebook sent me invites to the Cook A Pot of Curry event. In those two weeks, I had thought about what tolerance, and being Singaporean, means to me, and decided: I wasn't going to cook curry.

I wasn't trying to be contrarian for the sake of it. Nor was I trying to make an anti-Curry Day statement. I just