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apparently some chee-hong passengers making women drivers uncomfortable. Grab tests new feature pairing women drivers with women passengers SINGAPORE: Grab is testing a new feature that allows its women drivers to indicate if they would prefer to pick up women passengers. The feature aims to increase safety for its women drivers, and is among other initiatives announced at the launch of its Women Programme, which seeks to lower barriers to entry for women looking to work on its platform. "Exclusive to women driver-partners only, Grab is now testing a new 'Women Passengers Preferred BETA' feature," said the ride-hailing platform on Wednesday (Mar 6) in a news release. "The feature enables women partners to indicate their preference for women passengers. When the feature is toggled on, it increases the chances of matching a woman driver-partner with a woman passenger, if there is a woman passenger in the vicinity." This offers an additional layer of safety while providing options for women drivers and users who would feel more comfortable driving or taking a ride with a woman, said Grab. Noting that its partner community is male-dominated, it added that more needs to be done to increase women participation on its platform. "Our new Women Programme aims to empower women to take up platform work by addressing their unique concerns around safety and dispelling the notion that driving is not suitable for them."

https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/wellness/old-person-smell-body-odour-sweat-2-nonenal-ageing-383531 Why does evolution create this unique odour in seniors? And yes, it's a thing. Even the Japanese have a word for it. You don’t have to have a canine’s superior olfactory system to know that we emit different odours at different stages of our lives. Babies, for instance, naturally smell pleasant even as they produce explosive diapers and regurgitated milk. During puberty, it's what smells like teen spirit – usually reminiscent of onion and sweat – that is likely to be the scent du jour. Your personal smell-scape changes again in your senior years and it’s not because you’ve adopted a new cologne or perfume. We’re talking about the “old person smell”, which you might have caught whiffs of in the just-vacated MRT seat, lift, taxi interior or if you live with elderly parents or grandparents: An amalgamation of Axe brand oil, moth balls and an unmistakable greasy, grassy odour. The smell is so distinct that the Japanese even has a term for it: Kareishu, which means the smell of gaining years. WHAT CREATES BODY ODOUR IN THE FIRST PLACE? Your personal brand of odour comes down to the sweat and substances that your body produces, said Associate Professor Lim Tit Meng, Science Centre Board’s chief executive. Generally, you have two kinds of sweat glands: Apocrine sweat glands (in hair-bearing areas such as the armpits and genital area) and eccrine sweat glands (everywhere on the body, including the palms and soles). “Apocrine sweat tends to contain more lipids and proteins, while eccrine sweat is mostly composed of water and electrolytes,” he said. “When bacteria break down these substances, the resulting odours can vary. Bacterial action on the lipids and proteins in apocrine sweat leads to the characteristic body odour.” If you're wondering what lipids are, they are an ingredient in sebum, the same pimple-causing stuff you’ve been fighting in your adolescent and adult life. “Sebum primarily comprises lipids, triglycerides, wax esters, squalene and cellular debris. When exposed to air and bacteria, these components can undergo oxidation and breakdown, resulting in a slightly oily and sometimes musty smell,” said Assoc Prof Lim. HOW DOES THE “OLD PERSON SMELL” COME ABOUT? A few things can give rise to this unique odour; one of which is 2-nonenal. A study on subjects between the ages of 26 and 75, noted that this colourless, insoluble, unsaturated aldehyde was detected only in those aged 40 years and older. Incidentally, 2-nonenal is the same compound found in aged beer and buckwheat, and has been described to smell greasy and grassy like fat and cucumber. The smell-inducing 2-nonenal is a by-product of omega-7 monounsaturated fatty acid after oxidation, said dermatologist Dr Eileen Tan from Eileen Tan Skin Clinic & Associates, Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital. "Age-related body odour likely has nothing to do with personal hygiene," said Dr Tan. According to the study, omega-7 monounsaturated fatty acid’s level in skin-surface lipids is found to increase up to six times with age. However, the cause of the increase is not clear. Another factor is sweating less. If there’s one good thing that comes out of getting older, it’s that you’ll sweat less, according to a 2021 study published in Skin Research And Technology by the International University of Health and Welfare in Narita, Japan. This could be caused by the age-related loss of collagen, which means your skin isn’t able to prop itself up as well as before. As a result, the sweat glands get compressed against the skin’s surface, making it harder for sweat to come out. (On a side note, this is also why seniors tend to suffer from heat exhaustion as they don’t sweat as much as younger people to regulate their bodies’ temperature.) Less sweat means less bacterial action, which then affects your body's odour. Furthermore, sebum production may also “decrease or change in composition, contributing to an altered scent”, said Assoc Prof Lim. These bodily changes, combined with diet, health conditions, medications and genetics, contribute to the unique “old person smell” characterised by “a more musty or stale scent”, he said. “The distinct scent typically becomes noticeable in later adulthood, around 60 years old or older” and can be set off and intensified by those aforementioned factors, said Assoc Prof Lim. WHAT’S THE EVOLUTIONARY PURPOSE OF THE "OLD PERSON SMELL"? Much like how we try to guess someone’s age by studying their appearance for physical attributes such as wrinkles and grey hair, odour could be another thing we unconsciously sniff out. In a study by Professor Johan Lundstrom, a brain science and cognitive psychologist from Monell Chemical Senses Center, volunteers were able to pick out the middle-agers based on smell alone. “It might be a way to distinguish the sick from the healthy – not overt sickness but underlying cell decay," said Prof Lundstrom. "The older we get, the more natural decay we have. But no one really knows why animals or people have this ability." Assoc Prof Lim agreed that the old person smell is evolution’s way to signal ageing and health. “Some theories suggest it could play a role in signalling social behaviours potentially linked to age-related immune changes.” CAN WE MINIMISE IT? Ageism may play a role in discriminating against the old people smell. In fact, the first study highlighted in this article found that people generally didn’t mind the odour and even found it less unpleasant and less intense than younger individuals and middle-agers – until they were told that the odour came from older people. Incidentally, the test subjects found that middle-aged men smelled the worst. If you are bothered by the smell, “maintaining a balanced diet rich in antioxidants and staying hydrated may help reduce the intensity of the old person smell”, said Assoc Prof Lim. “Additionally, using skincare products that promote skin health and moisture retention can be beneficial.” "Any scented products will help to mask the smell", said Dr Tan. Or try soaps that contain tannin-rich persimmon extract and let us know; it is said to dissolve 2-nonenal and help in eliminating odour. Or simply rock your personal brand of eau de toilette.

Do you enjoy seeing entitled cyclists regret their actions? If so, watch the latest footage of that cyclist who hopped on a car’s bonnet, fresh off the press! What happened? On 2nd June 2023 at East Coast Road, cyclist Nicolette Tan Shi-En, 31 had a fight with driver Elaine Michele Ow, 49. The situation went viral as a short clip was circulating from an outside POV (point of view) showing the cyclist hopping onto the car’s bonnet. But here’s the real POV up close and personal! More personal than I would like to be honest but oh well, the lengths we go to entertain you guys. The video starts with the cyclist saying something about how the car was not supposed to overtake her. I can’t quite hear her words clearly so if one of you can comment what she’s saying that would be great. I would also like to say that you just know she’s a Karen just from her voice and body language. Of course, that's a generalisation but I am right for this occasion. The cyclist then goes off behind the camera and hits the car, audible through a loud bump picked up by the camera. Also mildly audible is her complaining, as well as her continuing to hit the car. This is also evidenced by the driver shouting “Don’t do that! Don’t ****ing touch my car!” Kudos to her for keeping somewhat cool up to that point. Ms Tan (the cyclist/Karen) also decided to call the police, before coming back into view to block the driver, even after the light turns green.The honking of other cars behind can be heard as her mouth gapes, looking as if deeply offended that the drivers behind were not alright with being held up. At this point, Ms Ow (the driver) has had enough and decided to drive off. Nicolette decides it is a good idea to keep blocking a moving car, and asks “What are you doing?” This picture sums up my thoughts: Ms Tan also decides it is a good idea to hop on the bonnet while the car is moving. She clearly had not thought this through as when the car kept moving, she exclaimed “NOOOO!” and “WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?”. While repeatedly slamming the windshield, no less. Because continuing to damage the person’s car, that you voluntarily jumped on, is a good way to convince them to stop moving. Elaine pulls into the lobby of a mall, where Nicolette can finally get off. However, she continues to hold on to a broken windshield wiper that she broke while holding on to the car. The self-endangerment is astounding. The video ends with people off camera telling Elaine not to drive “like that”, as if she can do something about the person still holding on to the car. According to the Facebook post, Elaine the driver was charged with “rashly endangering the personal safety of others for driving forward while someone lay on the bonnet of her vehicle.” Nicolette the cyclist was charged with “rashly endangering the personal safety of others by laying on the bonnet of a vehicle while in the middle of the road and obstructing the driver’s view.” She also faces another charge of obstructing others in a public way by blocking a vehicle from moving forward. Both women were offered bail at $10,000, and both women stated they intend to seek lawyers. If convicted of rashly endangering the personal safety of others, they each face a jail term of up to six months, a fine of up to S$2,500, or both. Meanwhile, the penalty for the charge of obstructing others in a public way is a fine of up to S$1,000. Online chatter Netizens were frustrated at cyclists taking up road space also exhibiting such behaviour, as this is not the first time such a situation has occurred. Plenty of complaints were given to this cyclist and cyclists in general. Others praised the driver for standing up for herself and being somewhat composed throughout the situation. ========= Be the first to get the latest road/ COE news and get first dibs on exclusive promos and giveaways in our Telegram SGCM Community. Join us today!

Seriously?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/married-father-7-claims-fired-143000171.html A former Google executive says he has been fired after he rejected advances from a senior female member of staff, the male executive claims in a lawsuit. Ryan Olohan said he was groped by Tiffany Miller at an upmarket Manhattan restaurant in December 2019, alleging that she told him she knew he liked Asian women, which she is, and that her marriage lacked “spice.” Miller, who is the director of Google’s programmatic media, allegedly complemented Olohan’s physique and touched his torso while they were at Fig & Olive during a company get-together, per a report by the New York Post. Olohan, a married father of seven, claims he was promoted to managing director of food, beverages, and restaurants and joined a team that included Miller. The former exec said he was wary of bringing up the incident to his colleagues at first because several of them were drunk at the time—and when he did, they dismissed Miller’s advances as “Tiffany being Tiffany,” according to the lawsuit, filed on Nov. 30. Olohan, 48, then took his concerns to human resources, which did not take any action. The lawsuit stated that a representative from the department “openly admitted…that if the complaint was ‘in reverse’—a female accusing a white male of harassment—the complaint would certainly be escalated.” Instead, Olohan claims, Miller retaliated following his complaint and reported him to HR for unspecified “microaggressions.” A representative for Miller denied denied his allegations in a statement to Fortune. “This lawsuit is a fictional account of events filled with numerous falsehoods, fabricated by a disgruntled ex-employee, who was senior to Ms. Miller at Google. Ms. Miller never made any 'advance' toward Mr. Olohan, which witnesses can readily corroborate. Even more disturbing is the overt sexism and racism in Mr. Olohan‘s efforts to blame others for his termination.” Repeated harassment Two years after the first incident, Miller allegedly reprimanded Olohan while drunk at a Google event in December 2021—a situation that escalated to the extent that colleagues recommended she sit at the other end of the table. Miller did apologize, the lawsuit states, but “although Google was aware that Miller’s continued harassment of Olohan stemmed from his rejection of her sexual advances, it again took no action.” A further incident occurred in April 2022 during a company social event at a karaoke bar, when Miller once again verbally attacked Olohan while drunk, mocking him and reiterating that she knew he had a preference for Asian women with the prior knowledge that his wife is Asian. Olohan said he felt increasingly under pressure; his supervisor told him there were “obviously too many white guys” on his management team and in July he was allegedly encouraged to fire a male employee so he could be replaced by a woman. Olohan was then fired by Google in August, after he’d spent 16 years at the company, for not being “inclusive.” He claims that Google’s Employee Investigations Team said he’d expressed favoritism toward high-performing employees, and that he was “ableist” because he’d made comments on colleagues’ “walking pace.” The lawsuit accuses both Google and Miller of discrimination, retaliation, and fostering a hostile work environment.

Interesting article and I also notice this trend among people around me https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/why-some-women-choose-to-be-child-free SINGAPORE - Madam Shirlene Noordin is 52 this year, and she still gets asked when she will have children. The communications director, who has been married for a decade, used to find such questions intrusive, but they now just make her chuckle. When she was younger and answered that she preferred never to be a mother, friends and relatives often told her she would change her mind. Some even warned that she might regret her decision one day. Now, past her childbearing years, neither has happened. She and her husband continue to live a fulfilling child-free life. She is not alone. According to the latest population figures, there is a growing pool of married women in Singapore who do not have children. In 2020, 13.5 per cent of married women in their 40s did not have children - up from 9.3 per cent in 2010. This follows a similar pattern across all age bands, including those in their 30s and 50s and older. For some of these women, it is biology that has made the decision for them. But for the others, it is a choice driven by pragmatic, ideological or personal reasons. Since society still links womanhood to motherhood, many of them face pressure to procreate, and are often labelled selfish or even unnatural for not wanting children. It does not help that Singapore's total fertility rate has fallen to its lowest ever at 1.1 last year, after declining for the past decades. While married women who are childless by choice are still the exception, rather than the norm, an ongoing government review on women's issues has sought to understand why some couples have not jumped on the parenthood bandwagon.

Men ‘overestimate’ attractiveness of women – study. https://www.rt.com/news/545310-men-overestimate-attractiveness-women-study/ 6 Jan, 2022 15:11 New research on desirability and gender suggests that the old trope about ‘love at first sight’ holds true only for men. Men tend to overestimate a woman's attractiveness. © Getty Images / Tomas Rodriguez Researchers have found that men tend to overestimate how attractive a woman is based on just a brief glimpse, whereas women who catch a glance of a man are more likely to underestimate his handsomeness. The findings, published last month in the Evolution and Human Behavior journal, suggests the cliche about ‘falling in love at first sight’ only goes one way. The study appears to confirm the concept of ‘first-impression bias’ in both men and women. Conducted in Australia, researchers asked around 400 volunteers to evaluate the attractiveness of strangers from the opposite sex based on a blurry photo without a clear view of their facial features, and then again from a clear image. The researchers also randomized the order of presentation, switching between first showing participants a blurry image or a clear image. Through this method, they were apparently able to “isolate the unique effects of uncertainty” – which was only identified when volunteers saw the blurred images first. “When people have only incomplete information about a potential partner, they must make inferences about their desirability, leading to possible errors in judgment,” the researchers noted. The study looked at how people “balance the risks” of these errors of misjudgment, and the differences between how men and women respond to this uncertainty. The potential risks were described as either engaging in “regrettable mating behavior” when overestimating desirability, or “missing a valuable opportunity” when under-perceiving attractiveness. The results showed that men, on average, give women the benefit of the doubt when it comes to judging attractiveness, while the opposite held true when the roles were reversed. Further analysis suggested “more nuanced biases” in that men appeared to specifically overestimate the attractiveness of unattractive (but not attractive) women, while women exhibited a bias against attractive (but not unattractive) men. While noting that this was an “important finding,” the team said these were “broad quantitative effects” that needed to be studied further to understand why “first-impression bias” existed to begin with. They also highlighted the importance of conducting algorithm-based studies into cognitive biases. The study noted that earlier research on perception bias, including examinations of men overestimating how interested a woman was in them sexually, had emphasized “between-sex” differences.

Built on uneasy compromises: The young women behind BooksActually speak up https://www.ricemedia.co/books-actually-young-women-speak-up/ Renée Ting was barely 19 years old in 2011 when she first got the call telling her that she was hired at BooksActually. To the quiet teenager, the bookstore was her escape from the volatility of home. “I was really completely mesmerised by this beautiful place,” she says, recalling her first impression of the bookstore, which had relocated to Club Street. “It was a three-storey cement floor, wood shelves, books floor-to-ceiling, cats… the place was cosy, the music was good, the books were good: it was my dream.” BooksActually first opened its doors in 2005 in a shophouse along Telok Ayer Street. The two co-founders, Kenny Leck, then 28, and Karen Wai, then 21, had started the business as a couple. Karen, then an undergraduate studying Literature, designed the look and feel of the brand, while Kenny was in charge of BooksActually’s business and operations. They ran the bookstore with a crew of young part-time staff—elves, they were called—growing up under their wing. It was a familial picture, a dreamy haven, especially in comparison to the surrounding corporations in the district. Sixteen years later, BooksActually is arguably the most successful independent bookstore in Singapore to date. A particularly strong champion of fiction and poetry titles, it is now armed with its own publishing house, Math Paper Press. It is often cited as one of the pillars in Singapore’s arts and cultural landscape and has been covered extensively in publications ranging from local news outlets to The New York Times. In a country like Singapore, the survival of an independent bookstore can feel like a win, a liberal middle-fingered affront to the corporate elitism that fuels much of the economy. Considering the Amazonization of bookstores globally, it is easy to romanticise a small business centred around the love of reading as the little man fighting the good fight. The rarity of such an institution can possess such an allure that one ends up overlooking its flaws. “Somewhere along the way, I became okay with romantic advances” A few months after joining BooksActually, Renée realised that her boss, Kenny, then 34, was romantically interested in her. By this time, Karen and Kenny had split up but continued to run the bookstore as business partners. Kenny was also in an ongoing relationship with another young employee. “At that time, I didn’t think there was anything wrong,” she says as we sit down in her apartment in May 2021, recounting her time there. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I had strong feelings. It felt a bit like a mentorship, but then somewhere along the way, I became okay with romantic advances.” Kenny broke off his relationship with the other employee and got together with Renée. It was around then that Renée and her two older sisters were kicked out of their home. Unmoored and desperate for any sense of normalcy, Renée poured herself into the BooksActually. She would become its most loyal employee, and by extension, Kenny’s unwavering partner, devoted to his literary dream. In media interviews and public Facebook posts, Kenny often reiterates the narrative of David and Goliath, citing his lack of socio-economic privileges and educational qualifications, rising rental costs, and the noble dream of the bookstore that could. He comes across as an unconventional figure when placed among the literati, a self-proclaimed Ah Beng who will not hesitate to yell at rude customers to his staff. It is a narrative that fits well into Singapore’s storytelling caricature. Still, bookselling has never been an easy industry to navigate in Singapore. For years, BooksActually had struggled to pay rent, and in 2018 even started a Shophouse Fund that consisted of selling $50 bricks. The pandemic hammered this harsh reality in; last year, BooksActually shuttered its beloved space in Tiong Bahru and shifted its operations entirely online. Together with the recent closure of the Huggs-Epigram Coffee Bookshop, it doesn’t seem like a particularly smooth road ahead for the book business. But the well-built brand of BooksActually still stands. Its publishing arm continues to be one of the first places aspiring authors turn to, and it holds the loyalty of many local writers. To writers and avid readers alike, BooksActually remains an irreverent, pure-spirited bastion: a cause to believe in. However, no legacy is built alone. Looking past the public image of a lone man, it becomes a little clearer that the bookstore’s success is also much due to the little-attributed labour of the many young women such as Renee, who has worked within its doors. Some employees came and left with their professional boundaries intact, but others found themselves spun into Kenny’s web of personal affairs. While their experiences varied in consent and consequence, it is worth noting that they tended to start their employment at the bookstore between the transitional ages of 19-21, and for various reasons, would leave by their mid-twenties. “We got married—my entire life was the store” Barely six months into their relationship, Kenny started discussing marriage and a house with Renee. It was the safety she had been seeking. “I was sold to the idea because this person who owns and runs an establishment like that, who is so powerful, wants to have some kind of future with me, sees worth in me enough to want to settle down,” she says. The small voice of hesitation she had was hushed by the overwhelming prospect of a secure future with someone she thought loved her for who she was, even though she hadn’t quite figured out who that person was yet. And so Renée committed herself fully to this idea. She was, as she says, “In it for life.” Life meant working at the store, now at Yong Siak Street, and sleeping there, in a small storage room at the back. Every night, she would roll out a thin mattress that curved onto the wall because the room was too small for it. Kenny, due to his back problems, would sleep on the single bed. For the next six years, Renée barely had a day off. Nor did she have much of a social life outside of BooksActually. “I would see my family three times a year, sometimes four. So my entire life was the store, I had nowhere else to go, so there was no real point negotiating any sort of off day,” she says. Kenny had disliked her sisters, calling them “frauds” who were not going to be there for her if she was in trouble. Although she had no reason to believe this was true, she started distancing herself from them too. Unspoken & uneasy compromises Her life became enmeshed with the bookstore, with any markers of independence slowly whittled away. She even stopped drawing a salary. Early on, when BooksActually was facing financial trouble, Kenny and Karen had sat her down and asked if they could pay her the month after. A month became two, then three. When Renée got into a relationship with Kenny, “It became a discussion we never had, but I fell into a default, like, since he’s not drawing a salary… I shouldn’t, even though I was an employee in the eyes of the law.” It was the first of many unspoken, uneasy compromises made with the perception of trust, which muddied the boundaries between the personal and the professional. But it didn’t matter much to Renée. She lived in the store, after all, and didn’t need to pay for rent or transport. (Much later, an ex-employee recalls Kenny telling her that he didn’t see the need to pay Renée when he was already housing her.) “Any transport I took was for errands for the store. I didn’t even spend or buy much anyway. Every once in a while, I’d look to Kenny and be like, do we have enough this month? Do you think I can bank in one cheque? He’d be like, I let you know. See how. And then once in a while, he would be like, this month got enough, and I’d bank in one cheque, which was S$1,500. To buy things, like books. So the money went back into the store anyway.” These practical concerns meant little when Renée was 20 and armed with a cause to believe in. “And I think before I knew it, it’s almost like I jumped into the role of wife and business partner all in one without actually figuring out whether or not I was interested in this guy,” Renée said. A few years after her marriage and subsequent divorce to Kenny, Renée continues to re-assess her life at BooksActually. “It was more like the responsibility of things or the idea of running something so big and important at the time that maybe might have been for me the appeal… It’s a calling, it’s a decision that we’re helping so many people, it’s a cause, and I’m doing good, I’m benefitting the literary community—all these writers—by creating an important space like the bookstore.” Life At BooksActually Renée was not the only employee; she worked alongside a slew of staff who fit a similar demographic: primarily female and in their early twenties. Hires were made based upon vague criteria such as whether or not they seemed to fit in with the environment. Kenny seldom made male hires, and the employed few did not seem to stay for long. There was no firing system in place; instead, Kenny would ask Renée to give certain employees fewer and fewer shifts until they got the hint. Ex-employees spoke of an environment conducive to this transitional phase in life: right after tertiary education or right before a higher education degree. It was low-paying, but at that age, the dreamy idea of working in an indie bookstore such as BooksActually was a bigger draw. At least until Renée left, there was no designated break hour nor were there seats, so lunch meant buying food back from the nearby hawker centre and eating while standing up, but many employees perceived these to be the minor inconveniences of a larger vision. Among many of the staff, it seemed like a congenial, almost familial environment. But throughout the years, a few complained about Kenny’s tendencies to blow hot and cold when it came to preferential treatment, at first seeming to treat one person with exceptional friendliness, then giving them the cold shoulder soon after. One ex-employee recalled him telling her that there was no one in the staff that he could trust and rely on and that she was the “only one” he “would dare to withhold pay from” because she’d “understand.” In her experience, this closeness soon degenerated into him ignoring her and refusing to communicate even on professional terms. More than one staff member eventually left BooksActually, citing this recurring state of affairs. According to them, Kenny seemed to have a chip on his shoulder and frequently painted himself as a have-not who was doing all he could. Once in a while, he’d have an angry outburst and abruptly declare that he knew many people in power; that whoever offended him would never have a career in the arts if he said so. He would even mention off-hand that he was in a gang in his polytechnic days and that he continued to associate himself with its members. As overextended as these claims seem to be to a neutral observer, and while some of the staff waved it off, it was enough to make many of the 15 ex-employees interviewed for this article hesitant to speak up. Like many small bootstrapped businesses, BooksActually did not have any internal human resources infrastructure and operated on a relatively informal culture. This meant that there were no set guidelines on romantic relations in the workplace, nor any safety nets for employees such as Renée. While she might have willingly entered into and therefore normalised her situation, she found that she did not have the same amount of agency that Kenny did. And beyond the most explicit example of Renée, this lack of infrastructure left marks on the lives of several other young women involved in the bookstore. Cracks in the facade For L, who worked in BooksActually on-and-off for over a period of five years, from 2012 to 2017, learning of Renée’s experience caused her to re-assess an email exchange that she had initially considered a harmless event long relegated to the recesses of her memory. L was in the middle of her undergraduate degree in the UK when she started receiving emails from Kenny via a private email address. The email correspondences were friendly, with Kenny asking about her well-being and encouraging her to send her writing to him for publishing consideration. But what surfaced in her memory in light of Renée’s divorce was one paragraph in which Kenny wrote: “Always very tricky business to talk/email/text you/. Ren can get paranoid when it comes to a few individuals. And yes, I have this secret email address that no one knows since ages & ages ago. So this is the safest way to communicate with you. Apologies for resorting to such under the radar communication.” L remains puzzled about what that insinuates. Why was that not done in an official capacity? Why the need for language that seemed to blur the lines between the personal and the professional? While she was unclear about his intentions, it was enough for her to purposefully include well-wishes to Renée in her replies in a subtle bid to maintain a friendly, professional tone. Another ex-employee interviewed for this article mentions that this was not the only email exchange sent under this guise and that Kenny had multiple private email addresses. ‘Mel’ Renée and Kenny married in October 2016 in a small ceremony held in the bookstore. Three months later, in December, Renée began to suspect that there was a romantic affair developing between Kenny and another employee. At the time, Mel (name withheld) was 22-years-old and two years younger than Renée. Renée had noticed how they would stand close to each other, their body language suggesting a casualness that the other employees did not share. Kenny would show particular concern whenever Mel was feeling unwell and insisted on running errands with her under the pretence of training. The bookstore became a microcosm in which every interaction grew increasingly tense for Renée, but there was nowhere else to go. The “affair”, however, was more complicated than it seemed at first glance. Mel had just come back to work from an overseas trip in December 2016 when she realised that Kenny was suddenly ignoring her. Perplexed, she texted him to ask if she had done anything wrong. Kenny replied, requesting a private meeting with her, on the pretext of work. In the 15 minutes they were alone in the apartment across the street that he used as an office, Kenny then confessed that he had fallen in love with her. He planned to “phase Renée out” over the next two years. Shocked, Mel told him she was not interested, to please stay faithful to Renée, and asked if she should quit. Kenny said no, promised that he would keep things professional and that there would be no more advances, on one condition: that Mel would spend a day with him. Was he asking her out on a date? Or was it more like simple accompaniment? Confronted with this, Mel agreed, but the end of the day led to the same conclusion: she was not interested in getting involved in his marriage. Kenny then apologised and told her that he would leave her alone. “I just wanted to work in the bookstore” However, a month later, Kenny once again asked for a private meeting where he confessed his romantic feelings for a third time. Amid Kenny’s emotional outburst, Mel grew sympathetic and made an offer: “I’d let him hug me for so long as he wanted, then to please, stick to the promise of being professional and not talk to me about this again. He asked if he could also hold my hand, and I relented. Then he asked me if I really didn’t like him at all, and I, not wanting to be mean, told him that I did like him, but he was married, so no, I wasn’t interested…” “I guess that was where I was wrong because I lied that I did like him. While I did like him, it was in a, “I like what you’ve done for the local art scene, for our local writers, and I respect you a whole lot” way. I obviously did not elaborate on that. and I did go out with him that one time. so I may have given him the idea that I wanted him to do some sort of grand gesture for me …” she says via email. The fallout was immense. In January 2017, Renée confronted Kenny about his feelings, and Kenny painted a picture of a reciprocal affair. Unsurprisingly, Mel never stepped into the bookstore again. “I remained quiet about it, all because I just wanted to work in the bookstore. For what? I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I never felt like I belonged anywhere, and the bookstore felt like a sort of home,” Mel says. Kenny, position, and power Like Renée, Mel had gone through much turbulence in her youth. Coming out of familial and intimate partner abuse, with both cases resulting in the perpetrators getting away scot-free, she learnt to adopt deference to people in authority, as well as a belief that her version of the story was never going to matter. Until we spoke, Mel had never told anyone the complete account of what had happened. According to Varian Monteiro, Counselling Consultant at The Relational Counselling Studio, “Looking again at the differences in position and power, what would be the consequences of rejecting such an advance? The employee could be blocked from future projects, be the first to take a pay-cut or be retrenched, or might be asked to resign for some flimsy reason. Some people might have the resources (e.g., financial, mental) to face the consequences that could follow their refusal, but most are unable to and for good reason/s.” “Imagine having to walk that line of not provoking your boss (to maintain one’s job) without compromising one’s morals, each and every working day. The toll of having to do that must be immense,” Monteiro added. “It sounds to me that true mutual consent was not present, and this ex-employee chose to play it cautiously by not outrightly rejecting, not burning the bridge (that connects to her rice bowl), and even trying to maintain respect for this person. In an ideal workplace, employees should not have to be put in such positions.” It is clear that this lack of infrastructure in place at the bookstore, paired with an authority figure who did not prioritise such boundaries, had serious consequences. No one was trained to deal with conflict or hold behaviours accountable. Still, the vocabulary around such experiences continues to be debatable in the public sphere. Can such incidents be considered harassment? A 2021 AWARE-Ipsos survey shed light on the sobering reality that two in five workers have been sexually harassed at the workplace in the last five years, with many having a nascent understanding of what harassment constitutes. Only three out of ten workers chose to report these incidents. Aftermath By the time Buy SingLit Fest rolled around in March 2017, Kenny was romantically involved with yet another employee—according to former staff of the bookstore. This time, the girl was 20. Time passed a lot slower for both Mel and Renée, whose involvement in the bookstore spiralled into more than they could have ever foreseen. It has taken them years to rebuild their lives, and the road to healing continues to be one of starts and stops. The dissolution of her marriage shattered Renée and called into question the foundations of her life, one that was built around Kenny and BooksActually. The dream, it turns out, had never been theirs. It was solely his. And his partners were bright-eyed 20-year-old women who bought into it. Years later, Mel continues to question her complicity. “I did encourage his behaviour, I did let him ‘touch’ me, and I did keep quiet the entire time when I could have just told Renée. I still believe that I’m at fault.” Traumatised, it took Mel four months before she started looking for a new job, one that was unrelated to the bookstore or its vast network of collaborators. In that time, she also had to field anonymous calls and emails from friends of the couple, convinced that she was to blame. The emotional toll was almost too much to bear. While these lives were overturned in the wake of Kenny’s irresponsible decisions, it seemed that until recently, some boundaries continued to be casually crossed—lessons had not been learned. An ex-employee, X, who worked at the store between 2017 and 2019, recalls how Kenny would tell her, to an uncomfortable degree, that she reminded him of Renée. “This is Renée’s camera,” he would say. “You should try picking up photography.” When walking past an eatery that he and Renée used to frequent, he would point it out. “We should have breakfast here one day.” He would also encourage her to consume Renée’s favourite books and films. To X, it felt like he was encouraging her to become a new Renée. Eventually, he told her that he couldn’t talk to her anymore because he felt guilty each time he looked at her. It was precisely this inability (at best) or unwillingness (at worst) to draw boundaries between the personal and professional, particularly towards the young women who came to work at the store for a livelihood, that needs to be called out. Epilogue Undoubtedly, BooksActually has played an important role in Singapore literature and has been an invaluable resource to many. This might tempt us to let these imperfections go. But to what extent can we do so without perpetuating real harm? For a business like an independent bookstore, which prides itself on its inclusive, liberal values, the hypocrisy is glaring. An ex-employee, Si-Min, states plainly, “I don’t see the loss. I don’t mourn these symbols. It has to reckon with its shadow. It’s just what it is.” More importantly, would the bookstore be the success it is today without the vulnerability, labour, and trust of these young women strung together across years of belief in a cause? What, then, is our collective responsibility? Is the answer a series of social media posts re-shared into oblivion, dissecting every truth and fallacy? Is it a boycott of the store? Si-Min offers a sobering perspective. “The truth is that no one cares. Institutions will not care. BooksActually will still thrive,” she says. Amidst heated discourse, we need to remember to prioritise the well-being of the survivors above all. We need to believe their stories, honour their privacy, and give them the support they need. As a society, the onus is on us to call out inappropriate behaviour, demand clear human resource policies, and be aware of our rights as workers. We need to create the safe spaces necessary such that no one else will have to go through this again. RICE has reached out to Kenny Leck via email about the allegations mentioned in the article. He asserts: “I’d like to categorically state that each and every allegation that has been mentioned in your email is untrue.”

AWARE ... wan sui wan sui wan wan sui ... no $20K no talk ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOW5xR5O_tY The man seem to be "an employee in this place need to service the chinese". if the chinese is disgusting just ignore them let them wait (service lasped) since they say "they dun want to be service by him, act smart plant the camera purposely provoke the 2 women hopping to capture "good stuff" against the china women... in the end own ego bruise sad case. scratch head...... why??? you judge and share your opinion no right or wrong more like how will you handle this situation. EQ factor

wif all due respect to them, its not abt mocking them but a realistic observation of how they drive. mi start of wif 2.... 1. driving but wif 2 side mirrors folded 2. enter into xpressway from slip road, chiong quickly into outer most lane n drive slowly from there

Saw this story on women who drive fast cars - Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin with nice photos for guys that like fast cars, and guys that like pretty women story in Chinese, Google translated the 1st page was quite acceptable https://www.iconsingapore.com/people/meet-6-women-who-all-love-driving-fast-cars/ ---------------- "I often think that the car has its own personality. My car should be a man. It is my companion on the road and it protects me." If Ferrari or Lamborghini are the active young boys in the sports car industry, then the British century-old Aston Martin is a mature gentleman. According to statistics, Singapore had only 196 Aston Martins as of 2017, which is very rare. However, Germaine Tan describes her car as Aston Martin Vantage S. “Lamborghini is a sports, edgy car. Aston Martin first reminds you of elegance and style. It is a symbol of luxury and status. You may often see Lamborghini on the road, but you will not be too familiar with Aston Martin. So it will naturally attract your attention." Many car lovers become caring for the other half. For Germaine, the car is her best friend. She said: "I often feel that the car has its own personality. My car should be a man. It is my companion on the road and protects me." This is the first sports car in her life. The dark-gray body is low-key and she particularly sprays the rims into red roses, adding a touch of softness to the masculine body. Aston Martin has always been known to be steady, for the 22-year-old Germaine may not pull the wind. In this regard, she had different opinions: "Young people of the same age really like high-profile sports cars, but I like the service of Aston Martin. They are very kind and they often hold events. These activities are very good. The members of the club are very happy and I feel very comfortable.” The car is to her and it is like the second home. Before work every day, this is the private area where she is free to be alone with her. “I will let my mind drift or empty in the car; the rear compartment of the car is my daily sundries. And with the unique taste of the leather chair, I feel as if I'm comfortable at home." When she was shooting, she watched as she removed a big puppet, a box with a coat, a water tank and other miscellaneous items from the car. Can imagine how comfortable she usually is in the car. Young and frivolous, although Germaine had a sports car, she did not have much experience in car racing. At most, she only went to Malaysia with the Aston Martin team. "The car was really stable when it turned, it gave me a sense of security, let me know it is very reliable and will protect me, just like my boyfriend." Then she was amazed by her adjective. Ha ha. Why does such a delicate girl like a sports car? She said that when you step on the gas pedal and hear the wonderful sound of the engine, you will feel a sudden burst of strength. "This power comes from the car."

SEES OVERWHELMING DEMAND WOR MCF LADIES - what say you? https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/boot-camp-for-women-to-experience-ns-sees-overwhelming-demand-more-than-1000-gun-for-100 SINGAPORE - Would you pay to stay in a military bunk, eat combat rations and go on a route march? More than 1,000 women of all ages jumped at the chance to do so, signing up for a women's boot camp to experience what national service is like. Response for the overnight camp was so overwhelming that the organiser, Ang Mo Kio Women's Executive Committee (WEC), had to conduct balloting for the 100 slots up for grabs. The camp, which the organiser promoted as a "golden opportunity" to go through NS activities, will take place from Sept 1 to 2 at Maju Camp in Clementi. Participants will take part in a 3km route march, handle the SAR21 rifle and taste combat rations, among other activities. The women will also get to stay overnight in military bunks. Each participant pays $55. PAssion card members get a $10 discount. The camp was announced on July 17 in a Facebook post by the Women's Integration Network Council, which is the coordinating body for the 105 WECs in Singapore. The post attracted almost 3,000 shares and more than 2,000 comments. Among the 100 who managed to secure a place for the camp, the youngest participant is 13 years old, while the oldest is 64, the organising committee told The Straits Times. The average age of the participants is about 29. Ms Joanna Portilla, chairman of Ang Mo Kio WEC, said: "Through this camp, the organisers hope to give women a glimpse of what our national servicemen go through so that they can better relate to national servicemen's experiences and demonstrate stronger support and involvement in NS and defence. "We are very grateful for the overwhelming response from the public. This shows that women are keen to play a part in supporting national service." Those who failed to clinch a spot will be notified from Sunday (Aug 19) onwards. Ms Portilla added that the committee is open to the possibility of organising similar initiatives in the future. The camp is part of an initiative by the Advisory Council on Community Relations in Defence (Accord) which facilitates initiatives from the community that better support national defence and NS, among other roles. The success of the Dads for Life Camp, which saw more than 200 father-son pairs take part in an overnight camp at the F1 Pit Building last year, inspired Accord to suggest a similar experience for women, said Ms Portilla. That camp was organised by the Centre for Fathering. Administrative executive Tabatha Lim, 19, will be joining the upcoming camp with a friend. Ms Lim, who is excited about being able to handle the SAR21 rifle, told ST: "I was really excited when I got to know about the boot camp as I have always been very curious about what it's like to serve NS. "We spend a lot of time listening to so many stories from our male friends, brothers, fathers, and we never got to experience it ourselves unless we decide to sign on with the army. So this is the perfect opportunity to do so." Civil servant Lee Yet Wei, 30, also applied to join the women's camp because she was curious about NS life, and what it is like to stay in the bunks. She said: "Such an opportunity doesn't always come by, and it is an experience I am looking forward to."

The era of discrimination has ended. Saudi Woman Makes History Driving F1 Car On The Day Female Ban Was Liftedhttps://www.carscoops.com/2018/06/saudi-woman-makes-history-driving-f1-car-day-female-ban-lifted/ Aseel Al-Hamad of Saudi Arabia drove a 2012 Lotus Renault F1 car on the very same day that a driving ban was lifted on female drivers on the Gulf kingdom’s roads. Al-Hamad is the first female member of the Saudi Arabian Motorsport Federation to drive around the French Grand Prix circuit. This past Sunday, she took the 2012 Lotus E20 out in front of thousands of fans, saying that she felt she belonged in the driver’s seat. “I believe today is not just celebrating the new era of women starting to drive, it’s also the birth of women in motorsport in Saudi Arabia,” she said during an interview with Reuters. “The most important thing I am looking forward to is to start seeing the next generation young girls trying (motorsport). I want to watch them training and taking the sport very seriously as a career. This is going to be really my biggest achievement.” The Saudi interior designer and businesswoman had driven the E20 around Paul Ricard before, part of a familiarization day. She’s also the first woman to import a Ferrari to Saudi Arabia, and has taken part in track days, workshops and professional racing courses around the world, in her 458 Spider. As for the Renault-powered F1 car she drove on Sunday, it’s the same one that Kimi Raikkonen drove to victory in Abu Dhabi in November of 2012. “It was perfect. Everything was smooth, I felt I belong in the seat,” she added. “I loved the fact that there was an audience around…today is magical.” Saudi women gear up for new freedom as driving ban endshttps://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/24/end-to-driving-ban-for-women-in-saudi-arabia.html The lifting of the ban, ordered last September by King Salman, is part of sweeping reforms pushed by his powerful young son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in a bid to transform the economy of the world's top oil exporter and open up its cloistered society. Women with foreign drivers' licenses only began converting them earlier this month, so the number of new drivers remains low. Others are training at new state-run schools, with 3 million women expected to drive by 2020. Women in Saudi Arabia took to the roads at midnight on Sunday, ushering in the end of the world's last ban on female drivers, long seen as an emblem of women's repression in the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom. "It feels weird, I am so happy ... I'm just too proud to be doing this right now," said 23-year-old Majdooleen al-Ateeq as she cruised across Riyadh for the first time in her black Lexus. The lifting of the ban, ordered last September by King Salman, is part of sweeping reforms pushed by his powerful young son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in a bid to transform the economy of the world's top oil exporter and open up its cloistered society. Women drove up and down a main road in the eastern city of Khobar and cheered as police looked on. "We are ready, and it will totally change our life," said Samira al-Ghamdi, a 47-year-old psychologist from Jeddah, one of the first women to be issued a license. The lifting of the ban, which for years drew international condemnation and comparisons to the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan, has been welcomed by Western allies as proof of a new progressive trend in Saudi Arabia. But it has been accompanied by a crackdown on dissent, including against some of the very activists who previously campaigned against the ban. They now sit in jail as their peers take to the road legally for the first time. Women with foreign drivers' licenses only began converting them earlier this month, so the number of new drivers remains low. Others are training at new state-run schools, with 3 million women expected to drive by 2020. Some still face resistance from conservative relatives, and many accustomed to private drivers say they are reluctant to take on the country's busy highways. "I definitely won't like to drive," said Fayza al-Shammary, a 22-year-old saleswoman. "I like to be a princess with someone opening the car door for me and driving me anywhere." Economic boon Concerns that women drivers will face abuse in a country where strict segregation rules usually prevent women from interacting with unrelated men prompted a new anti-harassment law last month. The Interior Ministry plans to hire women traffic police for the first time, but it is unclear when they will be deployed. The public security directorate reported no unusual incidents one hour after the ban ended. Riyadh resident Amr al-Ardi said the women in his family would wait to see how the system works before they start driving. The decision to lift the ban in the tightly controlled kingdom — where once-forbidden cinemas and concerts have also returned — is expected to boost the economy, with industries from car sales to insurance set to reap returns. The change should save families billions of dollars on chauffeurs while encouraging more women into the workforce and raising productivity, if only modestly at first. Auto companies have produced theatrical ads marking the ban's end, while private parking garages designated "ladies" areas with pink signage. Many Saudis celebrated on social media, but some reactions were derisive or expressed concern about social impacts. One Twitter user said he would not allow his wife to take the wheel: "If she wants to drive she can go to her father and God willing she will drive lorries. Decisions like this depend on personal freedom #She--Won't--Drive." Much of the kingdom's overwhelmingly young population supports Prince Mohammed's reforms, but many Saudis fear their speed could provoke a backlash from religious conservatives once seen as dominant. Activists arrested Activists and diplomats have speculated that the arrests of more than a dozen women's rights advocates over the past month were aimed at appeasing conservative elements or at sending a message to activists not to push demands too far. The crown prince's modernization efforts have won praise at home and abroad, but he has also provoked unease with an anti-corruption purge last year, when scores of royals and top businessmen were detained at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh. Most were freed after reaching settlements with the government. Billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, an early advocate of women driving who was detained at the Ritz for three months, tweeted a video of his daughter driving. "Saudi Arabia has just entered the 21st century," he said to his granddaughters in the back seat in the video. "Thanks to King Salman for this achievement." Even with the end of the driving ban, Saudi Arabia remains one of the most restrictive countries for women, who need permission from legally mandated male guardians for important decisions such as foreign travel and marriage. Amnesty International said lifting the ban was "a small step in the right direction," but called for an end to other practices that discriminate against women. Activists have already begun campaigning to end the guardianship system, which has been chipped away at slowly over the years. Prince Mohammed declared in an interview earlier this year that he believes men and women are equal. But veteran Saudi activist Hala Aldosari says women remain second-class citizens and criticized the crown prince's "piecemeal approach" as serving the interests of the elite at the expense of women from more restrictive families. "Worst of all will be if these small-scale reforms, and the silencing of feminists, slow the momentum for pushing the Saudi regime into making more meaningful change," she wrote in a U.S. newspaper.

one day enough or not?

Health is important. All MCF members do take care Women who work nights face higher cancer risk: study http://www.asiaone.com/health/women-who-work-nights-face-higher-cancer-risk-study?xtor=EREC-16-4[Emarsys_Newsletter]-20180109&extid=6934d0cfb7b252f1ae9f0dbddf5ff88ca8637e77 Women who regularly work the night shift in Europe and North America may face a 19 per cent higher risk of cancer than those who work during the day, said a study Monday. These heightened risks were not apparent among female night-shift workers in Australia and Asia, said the meta-analysis in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. "Our study indicates that night shift work serves as a risk factor for common cancers in women," said study author Xuelei Ma, an oncologist at the West China Medical Center of Sichuan University in Chengdu, China. "We were surprised to see the association between night shift work and breast cancer risk only among women in North America and Europe," he added. "It is possible that women in these locations have higher sex hormone levels, which have been positively associated with hormone-related cancers such as breast cancer." The review incorporated 61 previously published studies on the topic, spanning 3.9 million participants from North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia and more than 110,000 cancers. One drawback to the study was that the different definitions of long-term night shift work -- with some of the papers describing it as "working during the night" and others saying "working at least three nights per month." But the association was stark. While overall long-term night shift work increased the risk of cancer by 19 per cent, the risk of certain cancers were even higher. Female night shift workers saw a 41 per cent increased risk of skin cancer and a 32 per cent higher risk of breast cancer. The risk of gastrointestinal cancer was 18 per cent higher than in women who did not perform long-term night shift work. A subset of female nurses was also highlighted in the study, which showed "those who worked the night shift had an increased risk of breast (58 per cent), gastrointestinal (35 per cent), and lung cancer (28 per cent) compared with those that did not work night shifts." Ma noted it was possible that nurses might be more likely to undergo screening, since they work in the medical profession. "Another possible explanation for the increased cancer risk in this population may relate to the job requirements of night shift nursing, such as more intensive shifts." When it came specifically to breast cancer, the risk rose by 3.3 per cent for every five years of night shift work, said the study. Previous research has shown that nighttime work can disrupt the body's circadian rhythms, causing hormonal and metabolic changes that may boost the risk of cancer, diabetes, obesity and depression. "The results of this research suggest the need for health protection programs for long-term female night shift workers," said Ma. "Long-term night shift workers should have regular physical examinations and cancer screenings."

越南新娘不吃香　乌克兰美女争嫁狮城男 Vietnamese brides are not popular in Ukraine beautiful women compete to marry a Lion male. There are at least more than 10 Nongmeidayan Ukraine beauty to fight to marry Lion Lang. Vietnamese brides are no longer popular, matchmaking company to introduce Ukrainian beauty with a devil figure to the Lion man! There are currently more than 10 from Ukraine, accountants, teachers, businessmen and managers looking for Lion husband. In the past 10 years, many Vietnamese women married into Singapore, but the unhappy marriage, and even the frequently heard examples ended in divorce. In addition, the Vietnamese women like married into Singapore and other countries, leading to a Vietnamese man a wife is hard to find, the Vietnamese Government so the legislative ban marriage intermediary arrangements Vietnamese women married abroad. This leads to the Vietnamese bride can not be longer at the Singapore men's welcome. Local marriage agency to find new business opportunities, now got the beauty of Ukraine, to the Lion City man pairing. First Overseas International Matchmaker, boss Zhuoxin Cheng respondents said that since the beginning of this year the company began to open up new sources of foreign brides, set out on the online photos of the former Soviet Republic of Ukraine beauty, hope they find a nice ring. 17.08.2012 Shin Min Daily News ", please read the complete report.

Japanese women list the things men do that make them look cool without even realizing it https://en.rocketnews24.com/2017/11/15/japanese-women-list-the-things-men-do-that-make-them-look-cool-without-even-realizing-it/ Tiny gestures can make big differences in how these women see a man. Japan puts a lot of effort into personal appearance, as thorough grooming and stylish, seasonal attire are considered by many to be prerequisites for going out the door in the morning. But recently women on Internet forum Oshiete Goo highlighted the fact that often a man is at his most attractive when he’s not actively trying to look cool. The discussion was kicked off when one woman, going by the screen name kozakura, posted: “What are the little gestures and moments that make you think you could fall for a guy? For me, it’s when a man gets a serious look on his face when he’s putting something together or repairing something. Or when he’s talking to an animal…that gets me every time.” From there, others were quick to chime in with their personal favorites, some of which, like kozakura’s mention of household repairs, included old-fashioned masculine activities, or simply the overall atmosphere of the strong silent type. “I like the look a guy gets in his eyes when he’s driving and checks the next lane before crossing over into it.” “When he reaches up to change a lightbulb, or gets something off a high shelf and hands it to me with a smile.” “For me, more so than talkative guys, I like men who are sort of resonant. Guys who have a cool quietness to them, and who only show their smile to people they’re really close to, those are the kind of guys who get my heart racing. Seeing them smile, there’s a childlike cuteness that just pierces my heart.” But as some women pointed out, even the most mundane motions can be enough to make them feel drawn to a guy. “When a guy takes off his glasses, to casually scratch his eye, wipe the lenses, or put in eye drops.” “The way his hands look when he’s dividing up a large plate of food for everyone at the table.” “The way he walks. If I think a guy is cool or handsome, he always has a gallant stride. It’s like his attitude and life philosophy are all reflected in the way he walks.” Of course, some were willing to admit that they might be reading a bit too much into these mannerisms, such as the woman who said: “There’s something attractive about a guy who’s looking off into the distance. It’s like he’s getting ready to take on a big challenge, or chase after a fervent dream…or maybe he’s just admiring the view.” But as far as providing that initial spark of attraction, these little things can be enough. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your thoughts?

http://temasektimes.wordpress.com/2012/07/...s-in-the-world/

hihi using my hubby nick here. hahaha what do u girls like to do when ur hubby is soooo in love with his car, and spend precious time cleaning his car interior and polishing the exteriors. wondering if got ladies in car forum! haha oh man, we should form a club or something "The 2nd Wives Club"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUQQ8I2xT1E I really don't know why she can do this... What will you do?

FOUR elderly women suffered deep cuts, fractures and bruises at Punggol Plaza yesterday morning when the handrail of the escalator they were on suddenly stopped moving. The women, in their 70s and 80s, were just three steps from the top. As they were clutching on to the handrails, they lost their balance and fell backwards. Two ended up in a heap at the foot of the escalator, while the other two landed on the steps. Madam Kiong Mok Lan, 76, who was at the rear of the group, suffered the worst injuries. She had tried to put her hands out to stop the others from falling onto her, but the slim-built woman was unable to withstand their weight. She landed face down and fractured her left cheekbone, right hand and left leg. Her spectacles also broke, and her left eye was swollen and bruised. All the women suffered bruises and long scratches down their backs caused by the escalator's jagged metal edges. One of them, Madam Liew Poh Chan, 72, had deep cuts on both shins and was bleeding profusely. The women were taken to Changi General Hospital by ambulance, and later discharged. Madam Kiong was heading for breakfast at the mall at about 9am with her daughter-in-law's parents - Mr Yap Ah Kow, 77, and Madam Hoh Peck Tau, 72, - as well as family friends Madam Cheong Tai, 81, and Madam Liew. Mr Yap, Madam Hoh and Madam Cheong are Malaysians who came here for a holiday last Friday and were scheduled to go home today. The group had planned to visit Resorts World Sentosa after breakfast. Madam Kiong's daughter-in-law, Mrs Wendy Lim, 43, was also on the escalator, which connects the basement to the first floor. But the housewife and her father, Mr Yap, were unhurt. Career counsellor Gilbert Goh, who witnessed the incident, said he was having breakfast at a fast-food restaurant near the escalator when he heard something that 'sounded like thunder'. When he rushed out to help, he saw the four women sprawled along the escalator. 'I got a shock,' said Mr Goh, 49, a member of the opposition National Solidarity Party who had contested in the recent general election in Tampines GRC. When The Straits Times spoke to them at the hospital later, the women appeared shaken and tired. But they grew agitated when recounting the accident. Madam Hoh claimed one of the mall management officers said it happened because the women became giddy. 'She said that we are old and fell because we were feeling giddy. How is it possible that all four of us suffer from giddiness at the same time?' she said in Mandarin. Her son-in-law Andy Lim, 46, rushed to the mall after his wife told him what had happened, and asked a mall employee to test the escalator twice. Both times, he said, the handrail stopped intermittently. Mr Lim, who works in a training company, said it was 'very irresponsible' of the management to dismiss the incident as a minor one. When The Straits Times contacted the management office, an officer at first said what happened was 'normal' and just 'a big hoo-ha'. Another employee said the mall had never received any public feedback about the escalator being faulty. Yesterday afternoon, the escalator was cordoned off and inspected by workmen from a repair company. The mall said the escalators are maintained every month. Several shoppers and shop owners claimed that the particular escalator was often problematic. One shop owner, who has been there for seven years, said incidents are common. The Straits Times understands that the mall management has reported the incident to its insurance company. A check with several malls found that most service their escalators every month. VivoCity, for example, also deploys its technicians to check on escalators when it gets complaints. Faulty escalators are cordoned off and signs put up to inform shoppers they are being maintained, said a spokesman. Mr Lionel Tan, owner of FB Industries, a company which installs and maintains lifts and escalators, said accidents on escalators are common. He said escalators can stop moving suddenly when the safety switches are activated by users who stand too closely to the sides. But he said it is rare for the handrail to stop moving.

Please post in the tiko thread.

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/26446041/women-prefer-men-with-big-bellies Many here can be happy liao hahaha... Im not happy, im one of those 3 out of 4.. damn.. hahaha...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/colombian-womens-cycling-team-causes-stir-with-unfortunate-naked-jersey-design-9732037.html It looks rude.