Protect the women we care about

Being genetically male does not mean I can't talk about cervical cancer. I have a wife, a mother, grandmothers, aunts, grandaunts, cousins, and perhaps someday, daughters. All are women or soon to be women that I care very deeply about.

Having lost two aunts to different types of cancers, I'd say I know firsthand that prevention is better than cure. Incidentally, did you know cervical cancer is the only preventable women's cancer?

Wikipedia gives its usual scientific explanation, but here's the plain English version by Monoxious:

Cancer doesn’t discriminate, it doesn’t affect you based on your skin colour, how rich or poor you are or even how old you are. So if you think that cancer won’t affect you or your loved ones, think again.
Here are some hard facts about Cervical Cancer:

• Cervical cancer refers to cancer originating from the cervix, which is the lower part of the womb (uterus).
• It is the 6th most common cancer amongst women in Singapore.
• It’s caused by human papillomavirus (HPV).
• It can take anytime from 10-20 years to develop but before that, pre-cancer cells develop and CAN be detected by a Pap smear.
• Lifestyle habits like smoking can increase the possibility of you contracting cervical cancer up to 10 times!!!
• Cervical cancer can be treated if detected early.

So what can we do about it? Sign up for a pap smear & HPV vaccination, ladies.

Gentlemen? Get the lady you care about to go for a pap smear. It's that simple.

If you go to a polyclinic in Singapore, it's heavily subsidised for Singaporeans. (In Malaysia, Japan, and Australia it's free.)

If you need to know more, POCC (Power Over Cervical Cancer, a Singapore initiative) has launched a very informative website at http://www.pocc.sg

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A little background:
Power Over Cervical Cancer is a campaign that aims to make Singapore the country with the lowest incidence of Cervical Cancer and they need your help to spread the word.

Pledge your support for this cause and protect those you care about by telling them about Cervical Cancer. Together, we have POWER Over Cervical Cancer.

Click the button below to begin!

Not Apologising For Being Human

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Bangladesh's army of 'InfoLadies'

They zap around on bicycles, each carrying a netbook, mobile phone, and medical supplies. 'InfoLadies' are like Little Miss Know-It-Alls with a revolutionary idea: to bring crucial (and potentially life-saving) information to the doorsteps of millions of poor people in Bangladesh.

"Ask me about the pest that's infecting your crop, common skin diseases, how to seek help if your husband beats you or even how to stop having children, and I may have a solution."

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In pursuit of silence.

I work at a computer all day, quietly, not saying a word. Yet, I tell my partner, once I'm done with work I crave stillness.

Not talking does not mean there is no noise. While we're at work a million things go through our minds, dozens of "non-verbal" conversations take place (Twitter, Facebook, SMS, MSN, e-mail, etc), ideas come and go.

Every e-mail & every article I read is part of the daily conversation that goes on in my seemingly quiet world. Once I'm off the grid, I don't want to have to think about these things. I also don't want to engage in small talk about my day or what I had for lunch with my partner, at least not within the first hour of finishing work. My favourite thing to do is head straight for the pool, where the water envelops me and I can't hear a thing.

Although, you could call this a form of escapism masquerading as "exercise".

In Pursuit of Silence: Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise, a book by George Prochnik, helped me rethink my definitions of silence and noise.

Right on the outset it says "More than money, power, and even happiness, silence has become the most precious—and dwindling—commodity of our modern world."

In order to understand the pursuit of silence, it would be necessary, also, to track the pursuit of noise. The two were bound together -- each, in its own way, was reactive. It's a torrid, choppy affair that we are often in denial about, or tend to laugh off as a bass-heavy, summer's night fling. But it seems to have a surprisingly tenacious hold on us, and if we are ever going to being making a serious investment in the cultivation of silence, we have to understand how we became so entangled with noise. 

and

Instead of being against noise, I think we need to begin making a case for silence. This means getting imaginative about expanding our understanding of silence in ways that develop associations between silence and a vibrant, fulfilling life. Anti-noise activists often compare noise pollution to air pollution. But unlike smoke, lots of noises are good, at least some of the time. Instead, we might frame noise as a dietary problem. Most of us absorb far too much sonic junk. We need to develop a more balanced sound diet in which silence, and sounds we associate with quiet states of mind, become part of our daily regimen. 

Prochnik concurrently maintains a blog of silence as well.

34 little ways to share with the world ↵

Leo Babauta (author of The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life) shares with us how we can really get charity to begin at home.

link ↵

Avert your eyes ↵

"If you are walking by a pond and you see a child drowning, do you save her? What if it means ruining a very fancy pair of Italian shoes?" 

Okay, if we assume the answer is yes, then why not spend the cost of those shoes to save 20 kids who are starving to death across town or the world? There's really no difference. Or by, extension, invest in research or development that solves a problem forever... The issues are proximity and attention.

My take is that most people would instantly save the kid, but given the choice, probably wouldn't take the road by the pond again any time soon. We like to avoid these situations, because these situations make us uncomfortable

link ↵ 

Paedophilia not linked to celibacy; it is linked to homosexuality

The Vatican's Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, also known as 'Deputy Pope', told a news conference in Santiago:

"Many psychologists and psychiatrists have shown that there is no link between celibacy and pedophilia but many others have shown, I have recently been told, that there is a relationship between homosexuality and pedophilia.."

It would be interesting to see where the Deputy Pope obtains this steaming pile of excrement from.

Meanwhile in England, Richard Dawkins (atheist campaigner) and Christopher Hitchens (atheist author) are planning a legal ambush on the Pope:

Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, the atheist author, have asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church.

Everything about Catholicism is dated - the rituals, the frocks, the cover-ups.

“This man is not above or outside the law. The institutionalised concealment of child rape is a crime under any law and demands not private ceremonies of repentance or church-funded payoffs, but justice and punishment."

This old boy's club mentality has gone on long enough.