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New censorship review panel to relook content codes for new media |
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New censorship review panel to relook content codes for new media
Todayonline 05:55 AM Sep 25, 2009
THE members of the new Censorship Review Committee 2009 have been named. Mr Goh Yew Lin, chairman of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, will head the panel.
Sixteen other people, including academics, media experts, lawyers, violinist Min Lee and author Koh Buck Song, who serves as deputy chair, were also appointed to the committee, which was announced the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts.
Mr Goh, managing director of GK Goh Holdings, called it a "very challenging responsibility to find an appropriate balance in our national censorship policies", with the issues involved "complex" and some "contentious".
The independent panel was set up to conduct a mid-term review of content issues across broadcast, films, videos, publications, audio materials, the arts and new media.
It will look largely at issues raised by industry players. But it will also examine how media convergence is "testing traditional content regulation concepts", and whether new content codes are necessary to guide the emergence of new technologies and new media platforms, said the ministry.
The committee will hold focus group discussions and set up a website for people to give feedback.
It will submit its report to the Government by the middle of next year.
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women want longer intercourse |
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Fri, Sep 18, 2009
The New Paper
It’s stamina that counts for her
YET another scientific study has been done on a basic response that goes back to early humans – female sexuality.
And one more small light bulb has been switched on for men still remaining in the dark.
Contrary to popular perception, a woman does not need plenty of foreplay in order to achieve sexual satisfaction.
Instead, what women want is longer intercourse.
This is a key finding of a study conducted in three waves (1993, 1998 and 2003) under the supervision of the Institute of Sexology, Charles University, Prague.
Researchers have found that of the over 2,000 women surveyed in the study, foreplay lasted for an average of 15 minutes and intercourse for 16 minutes.
The time spent on intercourse was correlated with orgasm consistency, but the time spent on foreplay was not.
Simultaneous orgasms
The study said women tend to reach orgasms together with their partners more as a result of intercourse and the length of the intercourse, than as a result of foreplay and the length of foreplay.
So, it’s still the men’s ability to have and sustain an erection that is important, according to the study.
If some men have difficulty in this area, a pill can help, said a separate study.
Researchers studied 159 men who were randomised to receive either fixed-dose Levitra 10 mg or placebo for four weeks.
This was followed by a one-week wash-out period, which is more than enough time to wash out any left-over effects of the drug in the system.
The study subjects were then switched over – those who started on Levitra received placebo and those who started on placebo received Levitra.
They were instructed to take the study medication an hour before attempting intercourse.
The men were given a simple stopwatch that was started at the point the erection was perceived hard enough for penetration. The timer was stopped immediately after withdrawal.
This is the first time researchers have used a stopwatch to quantify the response to a PDE5 inhibitor, which are drugs used to treat erectile dysfunction (ED).
The study showed that over the four-week treatment period, when the men took Levitra, they achieved an average duration of almost 13 minutes of erection during intercourse, versus 51/2 minutes with the placebo.
The 13 minutes come close to the average time of 16 minutes of intercourse, reported by the women in the first survey.
The scientific four-week study was conducted in the US.
Said Dr Michael Wong, medical director of Singapore Urology and Fertility Centre, Mount Elizabeth Hospital and president of the Singapore Urology Association: “More attention should be given to improve the quality and duration of intercourse rather than foreplay.”
In contrast, many sex therapists have been emphasising foreplay instead.
The study of men is the first study on ED that used the duration of an erection as a key performance index.
Previously, the key performance index for such drugs, which also include Viagra and Cialis, was the firmness of erection.
The study was funded by Bayer Schering Pharma, the company which manufactures Levitra.
source : The New Paper |
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Dishes 'hijacked': Malaysia |
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Sep 17, 2009
KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA will lay claim to its signature dishes like laksa and chicken rice which are being 'hijacked' by other countries, the tourism minister said according to a report on Thursday.
Those on the list include the fragrant coconut milk rice 'nasi lemak', spicy soup noodle 'laksa' and pork ribs herbal soup 'bak kut teh', Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen said according to The Star newspaper.
'We cannot continue to let other countries hijack our food. Chili crab is Malaysian. Hainanese chicken rice is Malaysian. We have to lay claim to our food,' she was quoted as saying.
'In the next three months, we will identify certain key dishes (to declare as Malaysian). We have identified laksa... all types of laksa, nasi lemak and bak kut teh,' she added.
Ms Ng said her ministry will announce a strategy on how to brand the dishes as Malaysian.
'That is Part Two. We cannot reveal it yet, but we will let you know soon,' she reportedly said.
Ms Ng did not name which countries were hijacking the dishes, which are popular around the world and particularly in neighbouring Singapore and Indonesia.
Her comments came amid a diplomatic row with Indonesia, where protesters have accused Malaysia of stealing its cultural heritage.
The dispute erupted in Indonesia in August after erroneous reports emerged that Malaysia had screened tourism advertisements featuring the traditional 'pendet' dance of Indonesia's Hindu-majority Bali island.
The ad was actually a promotion for a Discovery Channel programme, but despite an apology from the network, protesters vowing to 'crush Malaysia' have burned national flags and thrown rotten eggs at the embassy in Jakarta.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman will meet his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda in Jakarta on Thursday in a bid to cool the tensions which Malaysia has described as a 'grave concern'.
Ties between the two countries are regularly punctuated by rows over cultural issues as well as the welfare of Indonesian labourers and maids working in Malaysia. -- AFP |
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Facebook hits financial milestone |
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Facebook hits financial milestone
Posted: 16 September 2009 0718 hrs
WASHINGTON - Facebook announced on Tuesday it was earning more money than it was spending and had signed up its 300 millionth member.
Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the fast-growing social network had become "cash flow positive" last quarter, meaning that it is now earning enough to cover operating costs.
"Earlier this year, we said we expected to be cash flow positive sometime in 2010, and I'm pleased to share that we achieved this milestone last quarter," Zuckerberg said in a blog post.
"This is important to us because it sets Facebook up to be a strong independent service for the long term."
Facebook's announcement is significant in that the Palo Alto, California, company, unlike other Web giants such as Amazon, eBay, Google and Yahoo!, had yet to prove how it would translate traffic growth into cash.
Zuckerberg, who created Facebook with two Harvard University roommates five years ago, did not provide any financial details but the company is believed to pull in hundreds of millions of dollars a year from advertising.
The chief executive also announced that "as of today, Facebook now serves 300 million people across the world."
Facebook signed up its 200 millionth user in April.
US software giant Microsoft bought a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook in 2007 for 240 million US dollars, valuing the social network on paper at 15 billion US dollars.
A Russian Internet company invested 200 million US dollars in a nearly two percent stake in Facebook in May in a deal that valued the social networking giant at 10 billion US dollars.
- AFP/ir |
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