McDonald’s new advertisement for the month of Ramadan, or the month of fasting according to the Islamic calendar, has received praises and even heartfelt tears.
The advertisement very aptly depicts the struggles of those fasting and yet having to work.
The video, which depicts a delivery rider, takes viewers through his work day, along with all the ups and downs he faces.
The video, shared on McDonald’s Facebook page received 2400 likes and numerous comments praising the heartwarming video. Even some delivery drivers themselves commented, sharing their experiences.
Even Twitter users loved every minute of it, including the tear-jerking ending.
Since Nur Alam Shah passed away on Friday, May 18, people have upped their donations for the heart surgery of the former S-league footballer’s 4-year old son, Mohammad Royyan Shah.
The young boy was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), a rare heart defect preventing normal blood flow, which meant the young boy has needed multiple surgeries since birth.
The late football player, age 38, and his wife, Madam Azean Aziz, also 38, had a daughter born with the same condition in November 2007. She died of the disease the following year. They have two other children, now ages 8 and 14.
Mr. Shah, who had been working as a limousine driver, was the only breadwinner in the family. He had played for Woodlands Wellington, and in the 2000’s, he was a member of the S-League, which is now known as the Singapore Premiere League.
The former footballer started a fundraising campaign for his son’s medical expenses on the crowdfunding platform Give.asia. As of May 21, Monday, donations had amounted to SGD 58,000.
When news of Mr. Shah’s death became publicly known, more donations started pouring in. By Wednesday, May 23, the goal of SGD 170,000 had been more then met. On the site page, the money given is listed at SGD 188,961.35, and it is indicated that the fundraising campaign has been completed.
Mr. Shah, with the help of his sister, had also been raising funds through selling football jerseys at a stall called Royyan’s Corner in Geylang Serai bazaar.
The former footballer began a non-profit organisation in 2017 called Combine Schools Football Club, which taught the sport to children from the ages of 12 to 17, with the goal of keeping them off the streets.
According to his wife, Madam Azean, “He always told me that we cannot just receive help, but instead try to do what we can to help others as well. He was very passionate about football and coaching so he spent his Sundays to coach children without charging anyone. He would even fork out his own money to send the children for tournaments.”
In a note thanking the donors who gave toward their son’s medical treatment, Madam Azean wrote,
“Dear wondeful donors, thank you for your overwhelming support to our campaign for Royyan’s surgery fees.
My husband, Nur Alam Shah, passed away peacefully in his sleep on 18 May, leaving behind myself and 3 children, including Royyan. He has been working very hard to help take care of the family, as he’s the sole bread winner of the family.
We hope to seek your kind understanding as we’ve adjusted our target slightly higher for us to tied through this tough period.
Thanks to the donors here, and GIVE.asia for helping us, as I’m still emotionally feeling unstable given that I’ve just lost my husband.
The account for the donation had been transferred to me, so I will manage the funds for Royyan surgery, which is schedule for this year.
Coffee shop industry giant Starbucks announced a change in company policy on Saturday, May 19, that allows visitors to sit at the tables and use the restrooms in their establishments even without purchasing anything. This new policy is applicable to over 8,000 branches in the US, but international stores will not follow suit.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the chairman of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, said, “We don’t want to become a public bathroom but we’re going to make the right decision 100% of the time and give people the key.”
Starbucks employees have therefore been told that everyone is welcome, provided that guests do not behave in a disruptive manner, such as using the restrooms improperly, drinking alcohol, smoking, or sleeping.
The new policy is known as the “third place policy.” It has come about several weeks after an incident in one Starbucks store in Philadelphia wherein a manager called the police concerning two African-American males who had wanted to use the bathroom before ordering anything. They were asked to leave the establishment, but declined to do so, since they were waiting for another man with whom they had a business meeting. The incident was filmed by another customer, and went viral on social and mainstream media.
Starbucks management announced the new policy in a letter distributed to all Starbucks stores and said, “Any person who enters our spaces, including patios, cafes and restrooms, regardless of whether they make a purchase, is considered a customer.”
The policy’s goal is to make each Starbucks branch “a warm and welcoming environment where customers can gather and connect,” and “is intended to help maintain the third place environment in alignment with our mission to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.”
In the past, how non-paying guests were to be treated was left up to each branch’s manager and staff’s judgment.
The new policy of welcoming all guests now applies to all the Starbucks branches in the United States, which number over 8,000. For international stores, there will be separate guidelines issued.
As for Starbucks outlets in Singapore, Starbucks Asia has announced that the new policy does not apply, at least not yet.
The company said, “In Singapore, we continue to review our practices to ensure we are creating a welcoming ‘Third Place’ for our customers and remain committed to delivering the authentic Starbucks experience.”
Starbucks will be closing most of its stores in the US next week, on May 29 in order to conduct racial-bias training for all employees.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced a new list of rules on Tuesday, May 22. These rules have been released following last month’s advisory guidelines from thePersonal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) concerning regarding in-vehicle recording by transport service providers. The PCDC is the watchdog for privacy for the whole country.
The most significant development is that private-hire cars and taxis are now allowed to install video cameras facing inwards starting from June 22. The installation of these cameras is now allowed in order to address the problems of drivers’ abuse and fare evasion.
However, these cameras will only be recording video footage inside the vehicles. In other words, there will be no audio recording, and so private conversations of passengers will not be unrecorded.
Taxi companies and ride-hailing apps are required to give notice to customers who book with them that the vehicle they’ve hired has recording equipment installed. And in the vehicle itself, there mist be signs that indicate the presence of these cameras.
The National Taxi Association has been advocating for the installation of such cameras for the past three years. Using them is not necessarily illegal, but whether or not they breach privacy has been a concern.
Singapore’s biggest taxi company, ComfortDelGro, actually had cameras that face inwards put in their cabs in 2013, but these were later taken away. Premier, SMRT, Trans-Cab and Prime, other taxi services, have never installed this video equipment into their cabs.
The new guidelines from the LTA concerning video recording equipment are clearer for owners of private-hire car fleets and cab companies. First, approval from theLTA is now compulsory, and the video equipment must also be fitted into cars solely at establishments authorized by the LTA. According to them, “This is to ensure that the inward-facing in-vehicle recording devices (IVRDs) are installed according to the manufacturer’s requirements and LTA’s requirements, and to prevent the inward-facing IVRDs from being tampered with.”
Installation centers have to make certain that the video equipment is secured in the cab, and that the recordings within them are not accessible without authorization. Furthermore, recorded videos are only kept for one week at most.
The cameras are also installed in such a way that they are fixed into the vehicles, and cannot be made to swivel. This ensures that passengers will not be caught on video in compromising positions.
The owners of the cab companies and private-hire car fleets need to check on their vehicles’ camera equipment regularly, to ensure that the videos stay private.
Should the LTA’s regulations be disregarded, fines of up to $1000 or up to three months imprisonment, or possibly both, may be meted out,.
Drivers who wish for inward-facing cameras to be installed in their vehicles must also first get the LTA’s permission.
What can this car do on its own, and what does it still need human help with?AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar
As automated and autonomous vehicles become more common on U.S. roads, it’s worth a look at what these machines can – and can’t – do. At the University of Michigan’s Mcity, where I serve as director, we’re working to advance connected and automated vehicle technologies, to make cars safer, save energy, and make transportation more accessible to more people.
Level 0 is where most cars are right now, with a human driver responsible for every aspect of driving. The car may have some systems that notify the driver of certain hazards, like lane departure warnings, but the car does not do anything on its own.
Level 1 sees the beginning of automation, when the car’s computer and mechanical systems control one aspect of vehicle motion – such as its speed or steering. Cruise control is a type of Level 1 automation, in which onboard systems regulate speed, but traditional cruise control is far less safe because it only involves acceleration, not braking – and doesn’t involve any monitoring of surroundings. With adaptive cruise control, by contrast, on-board systems regulate both acceleration and braking to stay a safe distance behind a lead vehicle, and to react safely and smoothly when another vehicle merges in front or leaves the lane. All other aspects of driving, including steering and detecting and avoiding hazards, are still human-controlled. Another Level 1 technology is lane-keeping assistance, in which the car steers itself to stay in a particular lane on the roadway, while the human driver controls the speed and all other driving tasks.
A Level 2 autonomous vehicle can control both the steering and the speed at the same time, essentially offering partial automation. The human must remain ready to take full control in an emergency and is ultimately in charge of and responsible for whatever the vehicle does. GM’s Super Cruise and Tesla’s Autopilot are examples of Level 2 systems.
Level 3 automation is controversial. The car not only manages steering and speed, but is responsible for monitoring the environment around it and detecting challenges that require human intervention. In normal conditions, a human driver would not need to pay any attention at all, but if something went wrong with the system, the person would have to be ready to take over right away. Some industry experts think it’s possible for a disengaged driver to respond properly and quickly, but others don’t – and therefore skip right over this level in their technology development.
Level 4 and 5 automated vehicles are truly “driverless” – meaning a human driver is not needed at all. The car itself handles normal driving and is responsible for safe responses in difficult situations, such as pulling over when a sensor fails or a heavy snow blocks visibility. Level 4 vehicles are usually limited in some way, such as driving no faster than 25 mph, or not driving when it’s raining or snowing heavily, or driving only in a specific location, such as Mountain View, California, or Phoenix, Arizona, where many companies are testing autonomous vehicles.
When a self-driving car can operate safely and reliably anywhere, in any weather, at any speed, only then is it a Level 5 autonomous vehicle. This doesn’t exist – yet. In fact, some believe it will never be cost-effective to develop and test its safety enough, suggesting Level 5 autonomous vehicles may exist just on paper for a long time to come.
While researching how hard it is for low-income Americans to eat healthy on tight budgets, I’ve often found a mismatch between what people want to eat and the diet they can afford to follow. This made me wonder what eating right costs and how much of this tab gets covered by the largest federal nutrition program, commonly known as SNAP or food stamps.
To find out, I teamed up with Kranti Mulik, an agricultural economist.
MyPlate and SNAP
We based our nutrition assumptions on MyPlate, the federal government’s dietary guidelines, which account for differences according to age and gender. The guidelines spell out what you should eat from five food groups: fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy and protein – including meat, beans, eggs, tofu and other soy-based products, nuts and seeds.
SNAP benefits also vary, based on household income and how many eligible people live in a given household.
Conversations around healthy eating often leave out cooking time. But to estimate the monthly shortfall for people living in economic hardship who get SNAP benefits, we took into account not just grocery prices and SNAP benefits but the effort eating home-prepared meals requires.
This includes traveling to stores and shopping for ingredients, as well as prepping, cooking and serving meals and cleaning up afterwards. To estimate this value, economists have used the average U.S. hourly wage rate, multiplying it by the time it takes to prepare meals. They find that labor is worth 40 percent of what Americans spend on food that they eat at home.
For people who rely on SNAP benefits, the labor costs can be daunting. They may not live close to supermarkets or any stores that sell produce. They might not own cars and lack access to transit, and they might lack the basic cooking equipment needed to prepare meals.
The government does not officially bill SNAP as covering everything that beneficiaries spend on food – that’s why the word supplemental is part of the program’s name. In 2016, however, it estimated that Americans could afford to feed a family of four a healthy diet for as little as $588 a month – less than the $649 that a family of four can get at most in SNAP benefits. Remember, this amount excludes the labor of preparing meals.
We calculate that it would take about $1,100 per month, including labor, to keep food on this hypothetical family’s table. According to our calculations, SNAP covers about half – between 43 and 60 percent – of what following a MyPlate diet costs after taking into account the labor required for meal preparation.
For households that purchase only fresh produce, grains, dairy and meat, this shortfall is much bigger than for those buying canned, frozen fruits and vegetables. Serving a meal of freshly steamed broccoli, whole-wheat pasta and roast chicken costs more than heating up canned diced tomatoes and red beans to eat with white rice.
Besides, many breadwinners who have to stretch their food dollars work multiple jobs or have other constraints on their time. For them, every hour spent on meal preparation can amount to an hour’s worth of pay lost.
$600 more per month
Based on our model, we found that a family of four with two adults and two teens or tweens would need to spend more than $600 per month in addition to their SNAP benefits, if they ate only fresh produce, grains, meat and dairy.
That same household would need to spend almost $500 more than the maximum SNAP benefits if they ate a vegetarian diet with a mix of fresh, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables – and derived their protein from tofu and other soy-based products, beans, eggs, nuts and seeds.
Even excluding the labor it takes to put food on the table, that family would need to spend at least $200 monthly on top of its members’ SNAP benefits to consume a healthy diet.
Lindsey Haynes-Maslow began this research while working for the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Perhaps the two most prominent demographic changes over the past 50 years relate to age. In 1968, the baby boom had just ended, and the oldest members of its cohort were only 22 years old.
As baby boomers age, the nation has substantially aged as well. In 1970, the median age in the U.S. was 28.1. In 2016, it was 37.9.
Demographers and geographers like myself have watched as this aging cohort transformed the U.S., from young children in the 1950s and 1960s to senior citizens today. This graying of America has left a distinctive geographical fingerprint.
Where older Americans live
Unsurprisingly, popular retirement states like Florida and Arizona have high concentrations of older Americans.
What may be more of a surprise is the broad swaths of elderly running through the Midwest and the Appalachians. These regions have aged significantly, as many younger residents headed toward the coasts.
Younger people have also moved out of New England, primarily in search of jobs. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Connecticut are among the seven states with a median age of over 40 in 2010; Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida are the others.
Meanwhile, the number of births has declined since 2007. In fact, in 2013, over 30 percent of all U.S. counties experienced a phenomenon known as “natural decrease,” due the greater number of deaths than births. Natural decrease is now most prominent in Maine, the Appalachian region, the Great Plains and the Midwest.
Demographers expect this phenomenon to expand geographically over the coming years, as the general population continues to age.
Movement around the US
Over the last half century, Americans have steadily redistributed themselves, moving from the Northeast and Midwest to the South and West. From 1970 to 2010, the Northeast and Midwest grew 15.7 percent, while the South and West nearly doubled in population.
The country has also become more urban. The percentage of the population living in urban areas increased by about 7 percentage points between 1970 and 2010. Urbanization increased in all states except Oklahoma and Maine.
Despite this trend, many cities are now shrinking – particularly cities in the Northeast and Midwest. More people, particularly young adults, are leaving these places for economic opportunity than are coming in. The percentage of the population living in large cities has declined since 2013, while the percentage living in smaller cities increased from 17.9 to 20.1 percent.
Today, Americans are far less likely to move than they were 50 years ago. In 1968, 19 percent of the population changed their principal place of residence. This figure declined to just 11 percent in 2015.
In fact, despite a much larger population today, fewer total people are moving. In 1968, 37.3 million changed residence, while only 34.9 million did so in 2015. Indeed, the mobility rate in 2016 was the lowest it had been in decades.
Much of this change is attributable to age. People are less likely to move as they age. In 1968, parents of the baby boomers were in their highly mobile, young adult years, but today boomers are older and more apt to stay where they are.
Coast to coast
Migration over the last 50 years has led the population to become more bicoastal. In 2010, 46.2 percent of Americans lived in states bordering the ocean – up from 43.2 percent in 1970.
Baby boomers have contributed to this trend. Fifty years ago, this group was spread out evenly among the rest of the general population. By 1990, they had became more bicoastal and were concentrated in a small number of dynamic, growing metropolitan areas.
Between 1990 and 2000, a substantial number of boomers flocked from these metro areas to amenity-laden retirement and pre-retirement regions, like the Pacific Northwest, Florida, northern Wisconsin and Michigan, as well as some areas of the South, like the Ozark region and the Western Carolinas.
These areas have continued to grow, while baby boomers moved away in their greatest numbers from the southern Great Plains and the area along the Mississippi River Valley.
With the aging of the baby boomers, Generation X and millennials are now beginning to drive demographic change. With time, these groups will take an increasing role in determining the evolving geography of the U.S.
Peter Rogerson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Facebook user Clarence Tan posted on Tuesday, 22 May, about a fake Singtel telephone bill that was mailed to him.
The bill was delivered enclosed within a generic Singtel envelope. When Tan called in to Singtel, they said, “that they had been receiving countless calls about this and was told that it was a phishing mail and had been ongoing for quite some time”.
While Singtel staff told Clarence that there was no such account number as printed on the letter, another supposed member of Singtel’s staff approached him claiming that the bill ID was indeed valid. That led to speculation of a possible data leak with Singtel.
Clarence Tan said in his post, “Update: When i called Singtel, I did asked them to check the account number and they told me that there was no such account number and was told to ignore it. But then, a Singtel staff(not entirely sure legit or not) approached me and told me that he had checked the bill ID and it was valid(weird huh? Data leak?)”.
He added, “Some of you might think that since there is no “-” before the amount, Singtel might me owing me $8.35 instead(I wish). Which is one of the reason why i called them to enquire in the first place(Free money right? Who don’t want?)”.
Clarence Tan’s lengthy Facebook post opened up a possibility of an attempted scam using Singtel telephone bills as a front.
There were also other netizens who apparently received similar letters that were also allegedly fake.
However, some netizens said otherwise, explaining that Singtel’s staff were unsure that a balance amount was in face owed to Clarence, as indicated by the ‘-‘ before the amount.
A third group of netizens said that the scam was not involving money directly at all, but was most likely a way to acquire bank details of victims.
So, which is it?
Singtel has not shed any light on these incidents.
Dr Tan Cheng Bock’s latest Facebook post has prompted yet another round of calls for him to ‘do a Mahathir’ and lead the opposition to victory at the next General Election.
Yesterday, Dr Tan posted a photo of himself seated at a busy food centre. Titling the post “LISTENING TO THE PEOPLE,” Dr Tan wrote: “Last weekend l was at Blk 726 West Coast Market and Food Centre. I was having breakfast with friends and sharing our views on current issues. There, I also enjoyed meeting and speaking to the many other people who were there at the Centre . Some of them were surprised to see me. The food centre was packed and doing well.”
The title of Dr Tan’s latest social media post is notable and many appear to have drawn links between Dr Tan’s post and what Malaysia’s Dr Mahathir Mohamad did during the watershed 2018 Malaysian General Election – Dr Mahathir listened to the people and led the opposition coalition against his former party to victory.
The 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad not only soundly defeated the incumbent at the polls but he also ushered in Malaysia’s first transition of power since independence. Interestingly, it was Dr Mahathir himself who helped establish the ruling Barisan National (BN) coalition in power and served as Malaysia’s longest-serving Prime Minister.
During the last General Election earlier this month, Dr Mahathir stepped out of retirement and left the ruling party to lead the opposition. Breaking the BN’s six-decade long monopoly, Dr Mahathir beat his one-time protégé Najib Razak and became the world’s oldest head of government.
Dr Tan congratulated Dr Mahathir for his historic win on Facebook after the Election. He wrote, in part: “You have shown that age has not prevented you from doing what u believe is right.”
Dr Mahathir’s win prompted many Singaporeans to draw parallels between the 92-year-old and Dr Tan. At 78, Dr Tan is 14 years junior to Mahathir. Much like Mahathir, Dr Tan was also with the ruling party previously and served as People’s Action Party (PAP) parliamentarian for 26 years, between 1980 and 2006. He was also elected into the PAP’s Central Executive Committee in 1987 and remained a member until 1996.
Dr Tan’s latest post has renewed calls for him to unite the opposition to take on the ruling party at the next Election:
Interestingly, these calls come even as some Singaporeans urge Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong to also ‘do a Mahathir’ and perhaps even join forces with his close friend, Dr Tan, to achieve success against the ruling party at the next Election:
On Monday, May 21, Minister of Finance Heng Swee Keat posted on his Facebook account about a recent visit he had made to the PSA. His post contained many of the recent positive developments at the port operating group. He praised PSA for its forward-looking and innovative moves.
In his post, Mr. Heng acknowledged that the PSA is vital to Singapore’s future and economy, since trade and connectivity play a big role in keeping the country robust and healthy.
He expressed how glad he was that PSA has made investments in innovation and that the port it is building for future generations is “more intelligent, efficient, secure and sustainable.”
The Finance Minister also wrote that he was excited to see PSA’s test beds. These are platforms for performing rigorous tests on new technologies or scientific theories. Test bedding includes innovative research and development.
The specific PSA testing Mr. Heng was referring to were the trials for using Automated Guided Vehicles, which he believed was an important tool for upscaling skills and global competitiveness.
Mr. Heng also noted the PSA’s collaboration with the Institutes of Higher Learning, which enables them to upskill and reskill the workers of PSA. He used crane operators as an example, who have received training for working with new operating systems. These operators no longer need to be on their cranes in order to operate the machinery, but are able to control them from their offices.
The Finance Minister ended his post with an admonition for Singapore to develop in all levels of the economy, and to make sure that citizens are well-trained to take advantage of available opportunities as the economy grows.
