Sec : Dangers of one-child policy

An interesting article of what is likely to happen to the individual, family and society when a country practices the one-child policy.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-25/chinas-one-child-policy-creates-ruthless-children-writer-says/6495666

O Level: Social Media Versus Traditional Media

Social media has rapidly integrated itself into our everyday lives, both personal and professional, and it’s perhaps had no greater impact than on the world of marketing, with consumers and brands seeing enormous benefits and changes.
But how does social media compare to traditional marketing? What are the pros and cons of each?
The advantages of social media marketing are numerous.

1. It’s cheaper. A lot cheaper. You can reach 1,000 people for a fraction of the cost using social media than you can through television, billboards or even email
2. Social media is the only marketing platform that allows you to engage and interact with your consumers – it’s a two-way relationship, which can be hugely lucrative for brands
3. The results are measurable, and marketers can take immediate action to spot trends and re-align campaigns

It’s not all gravy, though. Social media campaigns can be time consuming and the impact can disseminate very quickly, whereas traditional marketing campaigns, certainly in television, can produce short term results that have greater tangibility.
This infographic from Kuhcoon.com takes a closer look at social media vs traditional marketing.

(Source: Kuhcoon.com. Social media image via Shutterstock.)

Source: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-vs-traditional-media-marketing_b25389

O Level: Learning - the Finnish way

 

By Sandra Davie The Straits Times Monday, Sep 30, 2013

 

 

Like Singapore, Finland, which has a population of 5.4 million, is an education superstar. - See more at: http://www.edvantage.com.sg/content/learning-finnish-way#sthash.3XR6FXvm.dpuf

 

Only Finland's best become teachers

Free to play and free to learn at Finnish pre-schools.

 

 

Its students consistently do as well as top-performing Singapore pupils in international maths and science tests. 

 

But a recent study trip by The Sunday Times sponsored by Lien Foundation found that Finnish students take a completely different route to academic excellence.  Before going to Primary 1 at age seven, all that Finnish children in pre-schools seem to do is play.

 

And once in school, they do not undergo formal assessments or examinations until they are 18, when they sit for a matriculation examination to enter university. There is also little homework for primary and lower secondary students, and no nationwide standardised testing. 

 

And tuition? That is a concept foreign to most Finnish parents.  Teachers say the equivalent of Singapore's gifted education scheme or Normal or Express streams would be illegal in Finland because its education policy calls for all children to be given the same opportunities.

 

Streaming at 16

 

The only "streaming" allowed occurs at age 16, when students, after being graded by teachers, get to choose whether to take the vocational or academic route. 

 

And yet, the Finns have consistently performed in the top tier since the first Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) survey was conducted in 2000.  This study compares 15-year- olds in different countries in reading, mathematics and science. 

 

So how does Finland do it without the intense pressure and competition that are so much a part of Singapore's system?  Finnish educators list a combination of factors, from the strong reading culture - Finnish people borrow more books from libraries than anyone else in the world - to highly educated and well-trained teachers. 

 

Many also attribute the success of the Finnish education system to the strong foundation in learning laid in pre-school, where the focus is on cultivating intellectual curiosity and a love of learning in the young.

 

The emphasis is on learning through collaboration, not competition."  All children are given equal opportunities. We put equity ahead of producing top students," says Dr Pasi Sahlberg, who wrote the much-talked-about book, Finnish Lessons, which details how the country improved its mediocre academic results and produced top-performing students.

 

Every school is a good school

 

The 53-year-old director-general of CIMO (National Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation) at the Finnish Ministry of Education explains how Finns aim to have good schools for all students, echoing the Singapore Education Ministry's (MOE) recent slogan that "every school is a good school".

 

Dr Sahlberg says Finnish parents really do believe that all Finnish schools are equal. That would explain the puzzled looks given by Finnish parents when The Sunday Times asked how they select a school for their children. The answer: They pick the one closest to home.

 

Dr Sahlberg points out that the Pisa results show that the gap between high and low achievers in Finland is the smallest in the world.The main aim of its policymakers since the 1980s has been to ensure that every child should be given the same opportunity to learn, regardless of family background or income.

 

In Finland, education is free from pre-school to university level. Government spending on education makes up 6.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).All Finnish schools offer free meals, free health care, free psychological counselling and free individualised student guidance.The country's education system did not start out this way.

 

Back in the 1960s, less than 10 per cent of students continued their education until the age of 18. There was nationwide standardised testing for children at age 11. Children who scored in the top 25 per cent went to private schools that charged high fees.

 

But starting in the mid-1970s, education reforms were introduced. Private schools were scrapped and all schools became publicly funded. Pre-school teachers attended a three-year degree course, while those heading to teach in primary and secondary schools studied for five years up to master's level.

 

Teachers are allowed to design their own lessons.

 

Streaming of students to put them on either the vocational or academic tracks was pushed to a later stage, at age 16.Class sizes were kept to an average of 25 students. Teachers were allowed to design their own lessons.

 

Instead of examinations, teachers assessed students using tests they designed themselves. Grades in report cards were based not just on test scores, but also on projects and class participation. 

 

Periodically, the Education Ministry would track a few sample groups of children across a range of schools to make sure the system was working.  There was opposition to the reforms at first, with some groups calling for a return to examinations and streaming. 

 

But the results of the first Pisa studies in 2000 and the second in 2003 changed people's minds. Finnish children were among the top performers in mathematics, science and literacy.  Soon, educators from around the world were flocking to Finland, hoping to learn the secret to its success.

 

"Once, people used to come to Finland to learn about Nokia. Now, they come here to learn about our school system," says Dr Sahlberg, who receives numerous invitations from around the world to give talks and attend education conferences. 

 

Dr Sahlberg, who has been appointed visiting professor by Harvard University, says: "When the first Pisa study came out, most Finns didn't believe it. But we came out tops again in the second survey. The best thing that Pisa did was that it silenced those who wanted to go back to having private schools and national examinations."

 

But he is quick to correct any misconceptions among visiting educators that the system, from pre-school to university, is laid-back. He notes that although examinations and streaming do not exist in the lower levels, students have to sit examinations at age 18.  At 16, more than 90 per cent of students choose to further their education through either "general" or "vocational" upper secondary schools.

 

Consider doing away with PSLE

 

Vocational students usually head to polytechnics or enter the job market. Those in the academic general stream have to sit a national examination to get a place in university.  Universities also set their own entrance tests to select students for specific courses.

 

However, there are those who believe the Finnish system is not suitable for all countries, including Singapore. 

 

While Finland's population is similar in size to Singapore's, it is largely homogeneous, with people speaking the same language, Finnish.  Also, Finland has a generous social welfare system where education and health care are free. But Finnish taxes are among the highest in the world at 44 per cent of GDP, reported Reuters.

 

The income tax rate ranges from 6.5 per cent to 31.75 per cent. On top of that, Finns pay municipal tax ranging from 16.25 per cent to 22 per cent.  Dr Sahlberg says Singapore is admired for the way it teaches mathematics and science, and for its recruitment and training of teachers.

 

But one thing that Singapore should consider doing away with is the Primary School Leaving Examination, he says, echoing the views expressed by Stanford University professor Linda Darling-Hammond in a recent interview with The Sunday Times.  "Singapore is one of the few countries in the world to have a high-stakes examination for 12-year-olds," says Dr Sahlberg. "So I wonder why Singaporeans are arguing over scores or bands.

 

Shouldn't the debate be about whether the exams are appropriate for children at such a young age?" 

 

He is aware of the anxiety felt by Singapore educators over the widening gap in school performance between children from disadvantaged homes and those from privileged backgrounds. 

 

Stressing that many elements of the Finnish school system are interwoven with the country's social welfare policies, he says: "As the OECD (Pisa) report stated, the highest-performing education systems are those that are able to combine quality with equity." 

 

And if there is something that Finland can show others, it is what equity and equal opportunity in education look like. And it is possible to achieve excellence along with equity."

 

 

Source: http://www.edvantage.com.sg/content/learning-finnish-way

'Eyes gouged out, bodies hanging from hooks, and fingers removed with pliers': Horrific claims of torture emerge as soldiers reveal gory Kenyan mall massacre details

By Paul Bentley
PUBLISHED: 22:56 GMT, 26 September 2013 | UPDATED: 12:46 GMT, 27 September 2013 

 
• Kenyan soldiers claim to find scenes of torture by mall terrorists
• They say children found dead in food fridges with knives still in bodies
• Men were said to have been castrated and had fingers removed

Soldiers told of the horrific torture meted out by terrorists in the Nairobi mall massacre yesterday with claims hostages were dismembered, had their eyes gouged out and were left hanging from hooks in the ceiling.

Men were said to have been castrated and had fingers removed with pliers before being blinded and hanged.

 

Children were found dead in the food court fridges with knives still embedded in their bodies, it was claimed.

 

Men were said to have been castrated and had fingers removed with pliers before being blinded and hanged

Most of the defeated terrorists, meanwhile, were reportedly discovered ‘burnt to ashes’, set alight by the last extremist standing to try to protect their identities.

 

The horrifying details came yesterday as the first pictures emerged from within the wreckage of the building, showing piles of bodies left strewn across the floor.

 

A third of the mall was destroyed in the battle between terrorists and Kenyan troops. 

 

More...

• World's most wanted woman: Interpol issues global arrest warrant for White Widow as it emerges she 'worked in halal pie shop while on the run'
• Mall massacre survivor smeared herself in the blood of teenage victim to make gunmen think she was dead

Lying in the rubble are feared to be the bodies of as many as 71 civilians who have been declared missing by the Kenyan Red Cross.

 

With detectives, including the FBI and the Metropolitan Police, still unable to reach the wrecked part of the mall for fear of setting off explosives, it could take up to a week to determine exactly who is still inside.

 

 

Pictured is the aftermath at Westgate Shopping Mall where the roof of the car park collapsed crushing three floors

Yesterday, soldiers and doctors who were among the first people into the mall after it was reclaimed on Tuesday, spoke of the horrifying scenes inside.

 

‘You find people with hooks hanging from the roof,’ said one Kenyan doctor, who asked not to be named.

 

‘They removed eyes, ears, nose. They get your hand and sharpen it like a pencil then they tell you to write your name with the blood. They drive knives inside a child’s body.

 

'Actually if you look at all the bodies, unless those ones that were escaping, fingers are cut by pliers, the noses are ripped by pliers. Here it was pain.’

 

A soldier, who took pictures at a bread counter and at the ArtCaffe, said he was so traumatised by what he saw he has had to seek counselling.

 

Bomb disposal experts with sniffer dogs were yesterday painstakingly combing the part of the building still standing for explosives before clearing forensic officers, police and troops to search for bodies.

Yesterday, soldiers and doctors who were among the first people into the mall after it was reclaimed on Tuesday, spoke of the horrifying scenes inside

Bomb disposal experts with sniffer dogs were yesterday painstakingly combing the part of the building still standing for explosives before clearing forensic officers, police and troops to search for bodies

The collapse happened on Monday when government troops launched a massive assault on the mall where up to 150 people are thought to have been killed

Images also emerged yesterday revealing the true extent of the destruction caused to the centre during the four-day battle between Kenyan forces and Islamic militants.

 

The first pictures taken inside the site show a gaping hole in the mall's roof after three storeys collapsed when Kenyan soldiers fired rocket-propelled grenades inside the complex, knocking out a support column, a government official said. 

 

Children's buggies are left abandoned just metres from the yawning pit, as cars hang precariously over the edge. Beneath many more vehicles lie on top of each other, smashed to pieces.

 

The collapse happened on Monday when government troops launched a massive assault on the mall where up to 150 people are thought to have been killed.

 

During the firefight, hostages reportedly had their throats slashed from ear to ear and were thrown screaming from third-floor balconies as the siege came to a bloody end. Forensics teams, still sifting through the mountains of rubble, fear many more bodies are yet to be found.

 

Shell-shocked Kenyan troops said the inside of the Israeli-run mall resembled a ‘scene from a horror movie’ with blood spattered everywhere and dead bodies strewn across the floor.

Between 10 and 15 terrorists are thought to have stormed the mall on Saturday, according to Kenyan officials. The police said five insurgents were killed in the battle and at least 10 taken into custody

The main thrust of the operation began at 6am on Monday when troops and helicopters surrounded the building, but their efforts were hampered by an Al Shabaab sniper who managed to pin them back for nearly 24 hours.

 

As tear gas was used to try to flush him out, another terrorist reportedly blew himself up. It is believed the resulting fire may have killed dozens of shoppers in a supermarket. 

 

The following day, the soldiers were ordered to adopt a 'shoot to kill' policy and launched their final attack on the terror group on the roof of the mall at 5pm.

The mall was retaken about half an hour later.

 

More...

• World's most wanted woman: Interpol issues global arrest warrant for White Widow as it emerges she 'worked in halal pie shop while on the run'
• Mall massacre survivor smeared herself in the blood of teenage victim to make gunmen think she was dead

Between 10 and 15 terrorists are thought to have stormed the mall on Saturday, according to Kenyan officials.

The police said five insurgents were killed in the battle and at least 10 taken into custody.

Source:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2434278/Kenya-mall-attack-torture-claims-emerge-soldiers-Eyes-gouged-bodies-hooks-fingers-removed.html#comments

Experiment that convinced me online porn is the most pernicious threat facing children today:

By Martin Daubney

 

The moment I knew internet pornography had cast its dark shadow over the lives of millions of ordinary British teenagers will live with me for ever.

 

I was sitting in the smart drama hall of a specialist sports college in the North of England with a fantastic reputation.

Before me were a group of 20 boys and girls, aged 13-14. Largely white, working class children, they were well turned-out, polite, giggly and shy.

 

Martin Daubney, ex-editor of Loaded, with his wife Diana and his son Sonny

As the presenter of a Channel 4 documentary called Porn On The Brain, airing next Monday at 10pm, I'd been invited to sit in on a forward-thinking class led by sex education consultant Jonny Hunt, who is regularly asked into schools to discuss sex and relationships. To establish what these kids knew about sex - including pornography - he had asked the children to write an A-Z list of the sexual terms they knew, no matter how extreme.

Most of these children had just hit puberty and some were clearly still children: wide-eyed, nervous, with high-pitched voices.

 

Some of the girls were beginning their first forays into make-up. Several wore braces on their teeth. Everybody was smartly turned out in school uniform, and the most anti-authority statement in the room was a tie worn deliberately short. A One Direction pencil case lay on a desk. These were clearly good children, from good homes. So far, so very, very ordinary.

 

But when Jonny pinned their lists on the board, it turned out that the children's extensive knowledge of porn terms was not only startling, it superseded that of every adult in the room - including the sex education consultant himself.

Martin was shocked by what the teenagers said

'Nugget, what's that?' asked Jonny.

'A nugget is a girl who has no arms or legs and has sex in a porno movie,' chortled one young, pimply boy, to an outburst of embarrassed laughter from some, and outright revulsion from others.

The adults in attendance were incredulous at the thought that not only did this kind of porn exist, but that a 14-year-old boy may have actually watched it.

But the more mundane answers were just as shocking. For example, the first word every single boy and girl in the group put on their list was 'anal'.

When questioned, they had all - every child in a class of 20 - seen sodomy acted out in porn videos. I was stunned they even knew about it - I certainly hadn't heard of it at that age - let alone had watched it and as a result may even have wanted to try it.

One 15-year-old girl said, 'Boys expect porn sex in real life'. And one boy - to choruses of approval - spoke of his revulsion for pubic hair, which he called a 'gorilla'.

 

When Jonny pointed out that pubic hair was normal in real life, the boys scoffed, but some of the girls were angry that the boys' template of what to expect from real girls had clearly already been set by porn.

 

By the end of the hour-long class - and three others that followed with other children - I was profoundly saddened by what I had witnessed. While teenage boys will always be fascinated by, and curious about, sex, what's now considered 'normal' by under-18s is an entirely distorted view of intercourse and the way relationships should be conducted.

 

It seemed as if the children's entire expectation of sex had been defined by what they see in online porn. The conversation was horrifying enough, yet there was worse to come.

 

In the playground, I interviewed a brave group of seven bright boys and girls aged 14-15 to ascertain in more detail what online porn they had witnessed.

 

'Nugget, what's that?' asked Jonny. 'A nugget is a girl who has no arms or legs and has sex in a porno movie,' chortled one young, pimply boy

 

One boy calmly recalled watching a scene too graphic to describe in a family newspaper, but which had involved an animal.

'You're watching bestiality?' I asked. 'That's illegal. Where are you getting this stuff from?'

 

'Facebook,' the boy said. 'It just pops up whether you want it or not, sometimes via advertisements. You don't have any control over it.'

 

A girl added, 'On Facebook, you just scroll down and it's there. If any of your friends like it, it comes up on your home page.'

 

These kids were balanced, smart and savvy. They were the most academically gifted and sporting in the school. They came from ordinary, hard-working households. This was not 'Broken Britain'.

 

Some were clearly shocked by what they had seen on the internet.

 

'I find it dirty and disturbing,' said one 15-year-old boy. 'I try not to look at it, but people just keep sending it to each other. They email disgusting links to each other's mobile phones to shock.'

One girl put her head in her hands and said, 'It's just gross'. 

It's horrifying enough for parents to know that children can get porn via the internet. But to think they get it from Facebook - the social media currency that has become a universal must-have for teenagers globally - will strike terror into their hearts.

Documentary investigates what effect online porn has on teens

 

I asked the teenagers: 'On a scale of one to ten, how likely would you say it is that boys and girls your age are watching porn online?'
 

The reply was a chorus of tens, nines and one eight.
 

When I asked the children if there were parental controls on the internet at home, they all said no, their parents trusted them. They all admitted their parents had no idea what they were watching, and would be shocked if they did know.
 

What I saw at the school was awful, but sadly not unusual.
 

The findings were backed up in a survey of 80 boys and girls aged 12-16, commissioned for the TV show.

It proves the vast majority of UK teens have seen sexual imagery online, or pornographic films.

According to the survey, the boys appear largely happy about watching porn - and were twice as likely as girls to do so - but the girls are significantly more confused, angry and frightened by online sexual imagery. The more they see, the stronger they feel.

But what impact is this steady diet of online depravity having on the attitudes of boys and girls towards real life relationships, and on their self-esteem?

Could it even have a wider impact on their lives, blighting their ability to function in the world, get good qualifications and jobs?

What I discovered left me truly shocked and saddened.

He wanted to know how to protect his son

You might be surprised. After all, from 2003-2010 I edited lad's magazine Loaded.

 

With its frequent nudity and lewd photo spreads, I'd long been accused of being a soft pornographer, and after leaving Loaded I agonised that my magazine may have switched a generation onto more explicit online porn.

 

In the documentary I set out on a journey to answer the question: is porn harmless, or is it damaging lives?

 

My interest was deeply personal, too, as my own beautiful little boy, Sonny, is now four. Even though he has only just started primary school, the Children's Commissioner estimates boys as young as ten are now being exposed to online porn.

I wanted to know what I could do to protect my own son from a seemingly inevitable exposure to hardcore material in just a few years' time.

 

I used to be sceptical that porn was as damaging a force as the headlines and David Cameron - who recently said it was 'corroding childhood' - suggest. In the past I'd even defended pornography in university debates, on TV and on radio. I claimed it was our freedom of choice to watch it and said it could actually help add to adult relationships.

 

But what I saw during the making of the film changed my opinion of pornography forever.

 

The true stories of boys I met whose lives had been totally taken over by porn not only moved me to tears but also made me incredibly angry that this is happening to our children.

 

And the looks of revulsion on those poor girl's faces in the playground enraged me.

I feel as if an entire generation's sexuality has been hijacked by grotesque online porn.

 

To find out what porn is doing to young men, and the girls they have relationships with, we spoke to them via online forums and discovered that there were many young lives seriously blighted by an excessive, unhealthy relationship with pornography that can begin when they are as young as 12.

 

We learned that some had lost their jobs, others had broken relationships, failed exams, or got into serious debt through using porn.

 

'When you interview young women about their experiences of sex, you see an increased level of violence: rough, violent sex. That is directly because of porn, as young boys are getting their sexual cues from men in porn who are acting as if they're sexual psychopaths'

 

 

Take the 19-year-old man I got to know. He was handsome, articulate and in full-time employment as an apprentice electrician. But his life was dominated by his porn habit.

 

'Every bit of spare time I have is spent watching porn,' he says. 'It is extreme. I can't hold down a relationship for longer than three weeks. I want porn sex with real girls, but sex with them just isn't as good as the porn.'

Having established, like the recent Children's Commissioner report, that 'basically, porn is everywhere', we set out to discover what all this porn was doing to their brains.

Was it having any effect at all? Could it be addictive?

We found Dr Valerie Voon, a neuroscientist at Cambridge University and a global authority on addiction.

Then, in the first study of its kind, we recruited 19 heavy porn users who felt their habit was out of control and had Dr Voon examine their brain activity as they watched, among other things, hardcore porn.

She showed them a variety of images, both stills and videos.

These ranged from images known to excite all men, such as bundles of £50 notes and extreme sports in action, to mundane landscapes and wallpapers - all inter-spliced with hardcore porn videos, plus pictures of both clothed and naked women.

The ways in which their brains responded to this diverse imagery were compared with the responses of a group of healthy volunteers.

 

She was interested in a particular brain region called the ventral striatum - the 'reward centre' - where our sense of pleasure is produced. This is one of the areas where an addict will show a heightened response to visual representations of their addiction - whether it's a syringe or a bottle of vodka.

 

'Letting our children consume it freely via the internet is like leaving heroin lying around the house'

What we discovered was a revelation. When shown porn, the reward centre of normal volunteers barely reacted, but that of the compulsive porn users lit up like a Christmas tree.

The compulsive porn users' brains showed clear parallels with those with substance addictions.
Everybody on the project was astounded, even Dr Voon, who admitted she had been 'sceptical and ambivalent' about the study at the outset.

 

If porn does have the insidious power to be addictive, then letting our children consume it freely via the internet is like leaving heroin lying around the house, or handing out vodka at the school gates.

And this toxic effect is filtering down directly into young girls' lives.

 

The most shocking testament came from Professor Gail Dines. Regarded as the world's leading anti-pornography campaigner, she has interviewed thousands of men and women about sex and pornography.

 

'When you interview young women about their experiences of sex, you see an increased level of violence: rough, violent sex,' she says.

'That is directly because of porn, as young boys are getting their sexual cues from men in porn who are acting as if they're sexual psychopaths.

'Pornography is sexually traumatising an entire generation of boys.'

 

By talking with sexual addiction experts such as Professor John E Grant of the University of Chicago, Dr Paula Hall, the UK's top sex addiction therapist, and Professor Matt Field from the University of Liverpool, we learned that the teenage brain is especially vulnerable to addiction.

 

The brain's reward centre is fully developed by the time we're teenagers, but the part of the brain that regulates our urges - the pre-frontal cortex - isn't fully developed until our mid-20s. The brains of teenagers are not wired to say 'stop', they are wired to want more. The implications of this study are profoundly troubling.

 

So who is going to take on the responsibility for protecting our children until they are old enough to do it for themselves?

 

Can we rely on schools? It strikes me that the current sex education system in the UK - where schools are obliged only to teach the basics of reproduction and the perils of sex, which they can opt out of anyway - is hopelessly outdated.

 

In the internet age, our children are turning to online porn for an alternative sex education - the worst place they can go.

 

The Mail claimed a victory in July when David Cameron announced that by the end of 2014 all 19 million UK homes currently connected to the internet will be contacted by service providers and told they must say whether family friendly filters that block all porn sites should be switched on or off.

 

But our TV show proved that determined children will always find a way around online blocks.

 

Ultimately, the responsibility lies with us, the parents. The age of innocence is over.

Like many parents, I fear that my boy's childhood could be taken away by pornography. So we have to fight back.

 

We need to get tech-savvy, and as toe-curling as it seems, we are the first generation that will have to talk to our children about porn.

 

We have to tell our kids that pornographic sex is fake and real sex is about love, not lust.

 

By talking to them, they stand a chance. If we stick our head in the sand, we are fooling only ourselves.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2432591/Experiment-convinced-online-porn-pernicious-threat-facing-children-today-By-ex-lads-mag-editor-MARTIN-DAUBNEY.html#ixzz2gKomKWLt
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Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2432591/Experiment-convinced-online-porn-pernicious-threat-facing-children-today-By-ex-lads-mag-editor-MARTIN-DAUBNEY.html

Four-year-old kid makes Kenya mall attacker say sorry

 

The attacker took pity on the family and bizarrely handed the children Mars bars before telling them: “Please forgive me, we are not monsters.”

Mail Today – Wed, Sep 25, 20130

 

NAIROBI: Four-year-old British boy caught up in the Kenya mall massacre showed astonishing bravery by confronting a marauding gunman who ended up begging for his forgiveness, it has been revealed.

Elliot Prior, from Windsor, Berkshire, told one of the terrorists that he was a “very bad man” as he protected his mother, Amber, who had been shot in the leg, and six- year- old sister Amelie.

Incredibly, the attacker took pity on the family and bizarrely handed the children Mars bars before telling them: “Please forgive me, we are not monsters.” His mother, Amber and uncle Alex, told of the family’s terrifying escape from Al- Shabab terrorists.

When the militants struck, Amber hid under a cold meat counter for an hourand- a- half with her children. “ The terrorists said if any of the kids were alive in the supermarket they could leave. Amber made the decision to stand up and say yes. Then Elliot started arguing with them and called them bad men,” Alex revealed.

Apocalypse now? Doomsday could be far less than a billion years away

 

Boiling oceans and searing air temperatures will render our planet uninhabitable in the distant future - but other threats may put paid to Earth first.

 

 

 

 

 

By Rob Waugh | Yahoo! News – Thu, Sep 19, 2013

 

Boiling oceans and searing air temperatures will render our planet uninhabitable in the distant future, University of East Anglia scientists claimed.

We do at least have time to book our tickets to Mars or any of the other 1,000 “suitable” planets detected so far, according to Andrew Rushby of the University of East Anglia

Rushby said: "We estimate that Earth will cease to be habitable somewhere between 1.75 and 3.25 billion years from now. After this point, Earth will be in the 'hot zone' of the sun, with temperatures so high that the seas would evaporate. We would see a catastrophic and terminal extinction event for all life.




[Earth will get "too hot for humans"]

Rushby might be over-optimistic, though.

Readers who have set their doomsday clock for a billion years in the future might want to move the hour hand a little closer - several scientists have pointed out other threats which could bring apocalypse to our planet far more quickly.

Many of them, were, of course, designed by us.


Man-made plague

Astronomer Royal Martin Rees predicted that by 2020, one million people would have died in a single instance of “bio-terror - or bio-error”.

“Biotechnology is plainly advancing rapidly, and by 2020 there will be thousands-even millions-of people with the capability to cause a catastrophic biological disaster,” Rees said. “My concern is not only organized terrorist groups, but individual weirdos with the mindset of the people who now design computer viruses.”

Controversy raged in 2011 “mutant” strains of the H5N1 bird flu raged as labs engineered “new” viruses - to defend against them.

Paul Keim, chairman of U.S National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) said: 'I can't think of another pathogenic organism that is as scary as this one. I don't think anthrax is scary at all compared to this.'

In America, enthusiasts calling themselves “biohackers” race to engineer new strains of bacteria - and perhaps even new forms of life.

The field 'synthetic biology' came into being in 2010 when a scientist added synthetic DNA to a bacteria cell to create a 'new' life form.

An Oxford ethicist warned that it opened the door to 'the most powerful bioweapons imaginable'.


Robot uprising

Drones and other automated weapons systems are common on the battlefield - and even for police surveillance. But Human Rights Watch warn that Terminator-style robots - which can “decide” to kill - will be feasible in decades.

Human Rights watch claims several governments are working on the technology now.

The U.S government in particular has admitted to working towards robotic weapons systems with ‘total autonomy’.

“There is an ongoing push to increase UGV - unmanned ground vehicle - autonomy, with an ultimate goal of full autonomy,” said a U.S military report in 2011.

A U.S Air Force report in 2009 said, “Increasingly humans will no longer be ‘in the loop’ but rather ‘on the loop’—monitoring the execution of certain decisions.

“Simultaneously, advances in AI will enable systems to make combat decisions without necessarily requiring human input.”

Asteroid strike

When American government representatives asked NASA head Charles Boden what the best response to a large asteroid headed for New York City would be, his answer was simple: “Pray”.

NASA claims to have detected upwards of 97% of the “planet killer” asteroids in the solar system - objects six or seven miles wide, similar to the ones which killed the dinosaurs.

We should have warning if such an object approached, but there are currently no technologies which could stop it.

Media reports often focus on “mid-sized” asteroids, which would destroy a city on impact - but the destructive power of a “planet killer” is difficult to even imagine.

“Sixty-five million years ago, the dinosaurs had a bad day,” says Phil Plait - the writer of the Bad Astronomy blog, and a former Hubble scientist, speaking at TED.

Plait said that the entire Cold War arsenal of nuclear weapons would have amounted to a millionth of the power of the explosion that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Solar “hurricane”

Solar flares and coronal mass ejections blast matter into space, and can disrupt satellites - but our atmosphere shields us from much of their effects.

But they can vary widely in size - in 1859, a geomagnetic storm, named The Carrington Event, destroyed telegraph lines, and lit up the skies so brightly people could read at night.

A Lloyds study in 2013 predicted that the effects on our wired society would be far, far worse- costing at least £1.67 trillion, and devastating transport, communication, finance and even food supplies due ot the lack of refrigeration.

“We live in a cyber cocoon enveloping the Earth. Imagine what the consequences might be,' Daniel Baker, of the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, said in an interview with National Geographic.

'Every time you purchase a gallon of gas with your credit card, that's a satellite transaction.
'Imagine large cities without power for a week, a month, or a year. The losses could be $1 to $2 trillion, and the effects could be felt for years.'

Secondary: Children and Media

Do We Reveal Too Much About Our Kids Online?

By Bethany Hardy

             

Even cartoon parents blab about their kids. The mother of Greg Heffley, unlikely hero of the popular "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books, writes a parenting column for the local newspaper. In it, she shares life lessons based on anecdotes from her own family. The column has given Susan Heffley “a sense of celebrity which she enjoys,” says Jeff Kinney, author of the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series. “In her articles, she refers to her kids by their names, which adds to the humor,” Kinney says. But you can imagine her son’s dismay when Mrs. Heffley writes an article called “Puberty Is a Difficult Time.”
 

What Compels Parents to "Tell All"?

 

 

Although fictional, Susan Heffley’s tendency to spill the beans about her kids mirrors the habits of a significant majority of parents—that is, if their online activity is any indication. According to a 2010 study by Internet security firm AVG, 81 percent of children around the world have an online presence before the age of two. In the United States, that figure jumps to 92 percent. Such an astounding number of young children with parents blogging, Facebooking, or tweeting about them is surely a cultural milestone.
 

Is blogging about one’s child simply the modern-day version of pulling out the wallet photos, or does the "tell-all" nature of social media put the phenomenon in a league of its own?

Brooke Miller, a San Francisco-based advice columnist, believes social media have triggered an onslaught of parental insecurities. “Even if [parents] are fairly secure with their parenting and their children’s successes,” she says, “social media has become the official second opinion: ‘I think I’m doing a good job raising my kids … but let me find out for certain [by sharing on] Facebook.'"

Some parents are simply savvy enough to capitalize on the growing demand for solutions to typical parenting challenges, argues Pamela Savoy-Weaver, a Detroit psychologist. “More people are reading about parenting in order to reduce their anxiety by seeking a ‘recipe’ to follow,” she says. “As more parents seek the information, the supply—via blogs and posts—has boomed.”
 

Still other experts believe the “proud parent” behavior is tied to evolution. “In many ways, we're biologically wired to promote our children, and the Internet and social media provides a convenient and effective way to do this,” explains Nathan Gehlert, a Washington, DC-based psychotherapist. “Parents really [want] to do anything in their power to promote the well-being of their children.”
 

Advocating for Their Children

 

A mother who advocated for her child via the most public of forums believes that parents who share are motivated by three basic ideals. “We all want to feel as if we are a part of something, as if we are loved and understood, as if we are doing the right thing,” says Sarah Manley, who gained worldwide celebrity after posting “My son is gay” in response to nosy mothers at her son’s preschool who questioned his desire to dress up as Daphne from Scooby Doo for Halloween.

After her post went viral, Manley was both praised and vilified for sparking discussion about gender, bullying and acceptance. However, she says the response was “overwhelmingly positive.”

 

Seeking Support from Other Parents

 

 

“Charlotte” (real name withheld), a photographer and writer in Washington, DC, found comfort in blogging about her daughter’s recent bipolar diagnosis. “I am not generally a ‘mom blogger,’ but [in this case] I told all, hoping it would help other parents,” she says, explaining that she was compelled to share the personal and painful experience in a post on her work-related blog because “others out there may be battling the same issues and not realize they may need to get their child help, rather than constantly questioning if they're just horrible, ineffective parents.”
 

Today, Charlotte says she doesn’t regret it, since the post was therapeutic and helped her create an additional support system. But she does sometimes worry about her daughter’s privacy. “I only have concerns that as my daughter gets older, teachers, future employers, or others don't put two and two together and figure out it's her,” she says.
 

Is Too Much Sharing Dangerous?

 

 

Many bloggers admit that parents who blog or post their children’s pictures online walk a fine line between sharing the news of Junior’s latest accomplishment and encroaching upon his privacy and safety.
 

Heather Mann, a mother from Portland, OR, and founder of DollarStoreCrafts.com, tries to limit stories about her children on her blog. “As parents, we're the custodians of our children's personal privacy until they are old enough to take over,” she says. “Just because I am interested in sharing personal details of my life online doesn't mean my child will be.”
 

Tracy Gibb, a mom from East Haddam, CT, who blogs at Lessthanperfectparents.com, notes, “I think the mom blogging community is so friendly and supportive that it's easy to forget that people with less than innocent motives could be looking at your blog and getting information on your child.”
 

But in some situations, a lack of privacy can be a good thing, says Nichole Santoro, a mother in Elmhurst, IL. “Now that my husband and I are adopting a sibling for our son, we've accepted the fact that being open about our family is a necessity … in order to reach out to potential birth parents who may be considering adoption,” she explains.

5 Tips for Keeping Kids Safe

If you do choose to blog or post photos of your children online, remember to follow these guidelines:

1. Take advantage of privacy settings. By using the privacy settings offered on Facebook or other social media sites, you decrease the chances that online predators can view photos you post for family and friends, says Vivian Shic, spokesperson for Trend Micro, an Internet security firm.
2. Protect your child from identity theft. “A thief could piece together what might appear to be random bits of disparate information and use it to impersonate your child—opening bank accounts, taking out loans, even committing crimes—all in the child's name,” says Jacqueline Beauchere, a director with Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group.
3. Don't give strangers an "in" with your child. Beauchere advises against posting other kinds of information that could put your child at risk. “This includes not only facts … but also photos and feelings,” she says. “An appearance of vulnerability—sadness, loneliness or anger—could invite unwanted contact from strangers.”
4. Be judicious about the photos you post online. “Consider that cameras made after a certain year tag the photos with an identifier that tells you the location the photo was taken,” notes Shic.
5. Choose hack-proof passwords. Elizabeth Stanula, spokesperson for Geek Squad Agents, warns not to use personal information like birthdays or children’s names in your passwords. Nor should you use complete words, she says: “One of the most basic hacker tactics is known as a ‘dictionary attack,’ where an automated program will attempt the words of the dictionary.”

When in doubt about how much to share about your children in blogs or on social media sites, remember that scaling back is safest. It might even score you points with your friends, says Marty Chester, a father from Minneapolis: “Facebook is one of my few grown-up zones, and I also suspect everyone isn't interested in my kids' latest bowel movements.”
 

 

Source:http://www.pbs.org/parents/childrenandmedia/article-revealing-too-much-about-kids-online.html

US girl commits suicide after cyber bullying

 

AFP News 

 

 

A 12-year-old girl suffered months of ruthless cyberbullying from other girls committed suicide this week, authorities say.

 

Rebecca Ann Sedwick of the town of Lakeland in central Florida jumped from a platform at an abandoned cement plant near her home on Monday, according to the Polk County sheriff's office.

 

Her death is the latest in an apparently growing phenomenon of youths driven to taking their own lives after suffering cruel treatment online via text and photo messaging applications.

 

More than a dozen girls have been identified as possibly involved in the bullying of Sedwick, Polk County sheriff Grady Judd said at a news conference Thursday.

 

The bullying apparently started with a dispute over a boy that Sedwick had dated for a while, the New York Times reported.

 

According to her mother Tricia Norman, Sedwick received text messages that said things like "You're ugly", "Why are you still alive?" and "Go kill yourself."

 

Judd, the sheriff, said the girl was "absolutely terrorized on social media."

 

At one point, the mother had pulled her daughter out of school and transferred her to another, closed down the girl's Facebook page and took away her cellphone.

 

Things seems to be getting better and Rebecca's spirits seemed to be lifting at her new school.

But she also secretly signed on to new apps such as a cellphone message application called Kik Messenger and the bullying resumed, the Times said.

 

In Kik Messenger, Sedwick had changed her user name to "That Dead Girl," the Times said.

Secondary: Parenting With Worry Versus Parenting With Wisdom

  

Written by Mark Gregston.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the moment the doctor places that sweet, newborn baby in our arms, we parents start to worry.  The dangers we never considered before starting a family now become monumental.  So we spend a weekend baby-proofing the house with complex locks and latches. When our kid gets the sniffles, we assume it is some rare Zebra Flu, and rush them to the doctor.  When they go skateboarding, we fit them with pads and helmets, and cover them in bubble-wrap, just in case.  And when our kids rush into the door waving that driver’s license, all moms and dads can think about are the many ways their precious kid can be injured inside that two-ton metal death trap we call “cars.”  Let’s not sugarcoat it—parents worry about their kids!

 

Yet, God has a word for the fear we face as parents.  Philippians 4:6,7 tell us, “Do not be anxious about anything (and that includes our kids!), but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

 

As moms and dads, we want to protect our kids.  But what starts off as parental concern has the potential to become crippling worry!  Maybe you’ve parented in a state of fear for so long, you don’t even realize it’s your default way of raising kids.  Let me contrast a worried parent and a wise parent in order to see the areas we need to change.

 

Pain

A Worried Parent:  “I will do whatever it takes to prevent pain in my child’s life.  And that goes beyond putting Band-Aids on scrapes and making chicken soup when kids are sick.  As a worried parent I will diligently guard my child, even into the teenage and young adult years.  I spend a lot of energy protecting my son or daughter from anything that might cause them some hurt or discomfort.  My role is to be an emotional safety net so they never have to hit the ground.  Because I don’t like to see her in pain, I rescue my daughter from the consequences of her own decisions.  I make sure my son is not placed in any type of situation where he could fail or get hurt.  Sure, I’m constantly imagining new ways my teens could injure themselves, but that is the price you have to pay to be a worried parent.”

 

A Wise Parent: “I see pain as a catalyst for growth in my children.  A toddler only has to put his hand on a hot stove once to learn not to do that again!  Of course, I’m the first one to run to my kid and offer compassion and encouragement for the aches and pains, but I know that pain can be constructive.  In fact, those times where my teenage son or daughter feels the brunt of a bad decision, I trust that they have learned a valuable life lesson.  So I don’t swoop in to shield my teen from painful consequences or hard choices.  But in wisdom, I do offer compassion and love to see them through the tough times.”

 

Mistakes

A Worried Parent:  “Mistakes are to be avoided at all costs.  I don’t even want to think about the damage, hurt, or loss of reputation that would come if our teen messed up.  To alleviate the problem, I’ll limit my son or daughter’s freedom, so they have no room to make any errors.  I’ll decide what my teen will wear, who she’ll be friends with, who she’ll date, where she’ll go, and what she’ll do in her free time.  To make sure my son doesn’t fall behind in school, I’ll diligently schedule his homework for him.  I may even do it for him, if need be.  I know more about what he needs than he does, so I’ll make all his decisions for him regarding work, friends, sports, entertainment, and church.  That way, I’ll mitigate any chance he has to make any mistakes.  And then maybe, I’ll be less anxious about my teen.”

 

A Wise Parent:  “Mistakes will happen.  I’m not perfect, and my kid isn’t perfect.  In the process of training him to be independent and mature, I realize that there will be some slipups along the way.  While it might cause some initial discomfort, maybe even a little embarrassment on my part, I know that missteps come with the territory.  But I committed to move from teaching my kid, to training my teen, and that will come with a few bumps along the way.  I’ve decided to give my son or daughter a little more freedom every year.  At a certain age, I will put her in charge of getting her homework done and preparing for tests.  I’ll encourage my son to get a job when he is old enough to drive, and put him in charge of paying for gas and insurance.  You see, as a wise parent, I’m not focused on my child doing something wrong; I’m more concerned about getting my teen to do something right!  So I’ll respond to mistakes, handle consequences when necessary, but I always try to follow up with a sincere question, So what did you learn through this experience?”

 

Communication

A Worried Parent:  “I’m always afraid my teenager is not listening to anything I say.  As a worried mom I’m going to tell him what I’m going to tell him, then tell it to him, then tell him what I already told him.  Being a worried dad, I will always keep telling my son or daughter the same thing over and over again, in endless repetition.  So what if they say, ‘I heard you!’ or ‘I get it, Dad.’  Constant lectures, plus nagging, will eventually push my teen into doing the right thing.  That way, I’ll sleep well at night.”

 

A Wise Parent:  “I understand that constant criticism and demands will only push my teen farther away from me.  Being a wise parent, I’m learning to distinguish between the times I need to talk, and the times I need to listen.  I take my cues from James 1:19; Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.  My communication with my teen will be equal parts training and equal parts listening.  There was a friend of mine whose eighteen-year-old son was weighing an important decision that would decide his future.  As he explained his options with his mom, this mother had to consciously bite her tongue, and hold off on giving her opinion and saying, ‘This is what you need to do!  Why can’t you see that!’  But she continued to listen patiently to her son.  The next day, this young man came back to his parents with the question every parent wants to hear, ‘Mom and Dad, can you give me some advice?’  Unforced, this young man sought out the wisdom of his parents, all because they practiced listening instead of lecturing.  And as a wise parent, that’s a model I want to follow.”

 

Okay, there’s a sense of hyperbole in these examples for sure.  But if we take an honest look at the way we parent, we may find we’re raising our kids with a sense of worry instead of air of wisdom.  If we let our imaginations run wild, and ruminate on all the tragic events that can happen, we’ll only spiral out of control and end up hurting our teens in the process.  Instead, let’s remember that God is in control.  He loves our teens infinitely more than we do, and has their best interests at heart.  That’s why we’re told, “Do not be anxious about anything.”  A worried parent lives in fear.  A wise parent lives in confidence.  And that trust trickles down into the entire family.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Gregston is an author, speaker, radio host, and the founder and director of Heartlight, a residential facility for teens located in Hallsville, Texas. Check out our website, www.parentingtodaysteens.org. It’s filled with ideas and tools to help you become a more effective parent, such as other helpful articles by Mark, and practical resources for moms and dads. On our website you can download the Parenting Today’s Teens podcast, or find a radio station near you to listen to our broadcast. You can also call us directly at 1-866-700-3264.

 

Source: http://www.heartlightministries.org/blogs/markgregston/2013/09/06/parenting-with-worry-versus-parenting-with-wisdom/

Secondary: Former gang member now guides youths at drop-in centre

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/former-gang-member-now-guides-wayward-youths--085259530.html

By Sia Ling Xin

 

 

Yahoo! Newsroom/Jonathan Kiew - Jonathan Kiew, 27, has come a long way since his wayward teenage days. For the past 7 years, he has been working at a drop-in centre for youths.

At age 15, Jonathan Kiew got involved in every parent’s worst nightmare: he joined a gang. His life was then all about drugs, promiscuity and peddling bootleg movies.

Yet the now 27-year-old young man who sat down for an hour-long interview with Yahoo! Singapore was well-spoken, affable and humorous. He asked this reporter for her preferred beverage. But when the standard bottled water was requested, he counter-offered  a packet of winter-melon tea, a local favorite.

“Just in case you change your mind,” he said with a grin, the interviewee-equivalent of holding open a door for the ladies.

Decked in a T-shirt and sports shorts, Kiew had the vibe of a Physical Education teacher. He was radiating energy as he gave a tour of his workplace -- the Youth Guidance Outreach Services centre at Woodlands Street 81.

While the interior of the centre is warm and homey, complete with pool tables, board games and even, a drum set, the exterior can be a little intimidating.

Doorways are watched by close-circuit televisions and a metal gate that requires someone to beep you in and out.

There have been incidents of theft, with a memorable one starring a boy who managed to steal the hard-drive of one of the computers at the centre. They only realised it later when for days, the computer would not boot up properly. Kiew finally managed to get the truth out of the boy he suspected was behind the theft.

“I know how to talk to the other kids, how to call the suspect’s bluff, and in general I know how to handle them because I was one of them,” he said.

 

Jonathan and Wilson Tan, who steered Kiew’s life from street-gang member to social worker. 

 THEN

Perhaps he would still be one of them, if not for 41-year-old Wilson Tan, his mentor, who steered Kiew’s life from street-gang member to social worker.

Hailing from a dual-income-parent family meant Jonathan was a latch-key kid during his teenage years. His father was in the shipping industry and would be home only a couple of times a year, while his mother, an accountant, clocked long hours.

It was sheer boredom, plus the need for attention and a sense of belonging, that attracted his teenage self to a group of gangsters in his neighbourhood.

For a few years, Kiew regularly skipped school, stayed away from home and roamed the streets selling illegal copies of VCDs. He even took ‘special orders’ from regulars who requested certain films, burning and selling them for a few dollars a piece. 

 

“I wasn’t as hardcore as some of the other members, but it was enough for my mother to worry and for the school to think of kicking me out,” he recounted.
 

 

 

 

 

Jonathan, Wilson and other colleagues at the centre they work at captured in a moment of celebration

 

SECOND ACT

Enter Tan, 14 years his senior, a social worker who attended the same church as Jonathan’s mother. The worried Mrs Kiew had asked Tan who left his job as an aerospace aircraft technician to work with troubled youths, to try to connect with Jonathan and convince him to stay in school.

Knowing Kiew’s love of sports, and that he had a sense of youthful arrogance in him, Tan challenged Kiew to a one-on-one soccer game. The hook: Tan would have three favours to collect, or he would buy the whole church youth group, about 100 hungry teenagers, pizza.

“I thought, why not? I looked at Wilson and saw this man in his late-20s and I was so sure I would beat him,” Kiew confessed.

The score: 5-1 to Tan. It turned out to be the only game Tan won against Jonathan in their 12 years worth of matches so far.

A fair sport, Kiew adhered to the premise of their bet. He started going for youth programmes at the centre Wilson was working at -- it would later become his workplace -- and his attendance at church picked up.

For about four years, Tan and Kiew fostered their mentor-mentee relationship. Kiew graduated from secondary school, then Institute of Technical Education.

Jonathan, Wilson and other colleagues at the centre they work at captured in a moment of celebration.

LOST

Soon, it was time for enlistment, and the years in the army proved to be a challenge for them both. Contact ceased -- Kiew switched phone numbers, making it difficult for Tan to contact him, and rejoined his clique of gang-member friends.

“It’s easy to become wayward while serving National Service, because you’re cooped up most of the week, and when you’re out you want to go out and have fun, not go to a youth centre or stay home,” he explained.

As his operationally ready date (ORD) drew close, Kiew started “freaking out about what I was going to do”, he said.

“I wanted a job I felt for, and would give me the time and energy to spend on my family should I start one down the road,” he said.

Not knowing what to do, he turned to Tan.

“I gave him a call out of the blue,” Kiew said, describing the apprehension he felt. “Anyone would be angry with someone who crawled back asking for help after being missing-in-action for so long, but Wilson just took me under his wing again without any questions.”

Jonathan is stationed at the drop-in centre at Woodlands Street 81, one of the 48 drop-in centres scattered is …

TODAY

Kiew took up the responsibilities of planning activities for the centre’s afternoon drop-in programme at Tan’s offer, and befriended the teenagers as Tan did with him. He is stationed at one of the 48 centres scattered islandwide.

These centres are run by the People’s Association, Singapore’s Children’s Society, as well as various family service centers and youth organisations.  The drop-in points act as a safe place for teenagers to hang out after school, where they can be mentored by an adult, get to know other teenagers, as well as pick up hobbies or enjoy recreational activities.

The six-month trial period lengthened into a year, then two. “It’s already been seven years,” he said.

“I’m happy for Jonathan. All the years of working with him has paid off, and now he too is contributing to helping others,” Tan said.

Today, Kiew has a long-term girlfriend who also works in the sector. His parents approve of his job despite their initial misgivings about prospects and pay. He is friends with his co-workers. Life is a far cry from his teenage days and he is happy with it being this way.

“I am so thankful that I lost that one soccer match against Wilson because I got so much more. He still hasn’t collected that third favour, so I guess I owe him one. I owe him what I have today,” Kiew said.