When I Was Young

Breaking up is not so hard to do

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KUALA LUMPUR - Close to a quarter, or 22 per cent, of urban Malaysians say they have broken up with someone via Short Message Service (SMS) while 20 per cent say they were dumped by their partners via SMS.

In a recent survey by research company Synovate, 39 per cent said that they had flirted with their partners through SMS while 49 per cent admitted to lying about their location or being late through SMS.

Over 8,000 people from 11 countries including Malaysia, Russia, France, Taiwan, the Philippines, United Kingdom and Singapore took part in the survey, which explored the attitudes of men and women toward mobile phones and factors surrounding their choices.

"It's clear that urban Malaysians opt for a non-confrontational approach when it comes to dealing with difficult and sometimes touchy situations," said Mr Steve Murphy, managing director of Synovate Malaysia.

"They find it easier to express themselves through a text message as oppose to face-to-face communication."

Close to half, or 49 per cent, of urban Malaysians also found it easier to say "no" to something they did not want to do via SMS.

The survey revealed that urban Malaysians preferred using a keypad instead of a touch screen-based phone.

About 61 per cent of respondents rated taking pictures as the most popular mobile phone related leisure activity, followed by 43 per cent who said they played games and 38 per cent who downloaded or listened to music.

Urban Malaysians were also found to have a strong attachment to their mobile phones, with 66 per cent admitting that they never leave home without it while 62 per cent said that they sleep with their mobile phones close by.

"We compared views of urban Malaysian mobile phone owners against other nationalities and found similarities across different nations," said Mr Murphy.

"With the exception of urban Taiwanese, all other urban mobile phone owners said that they never leave home without their mobiles.

"Urban Filipinos found it the hardest to turn off their mobiles while urban English (47 per cent) and Russian (40 per cent) mobile phone owners flirted with their partners the most through text messaging or SMS. Interestingly enough, over a quarter (26 per cent) of urban Singaporeans (the highest across all markets) were found to have flirted with someone who was not their partner via SMS." THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER

From TODAY, World – Wednesday, 16-Sep-2009

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Cloaked in confusion

Posted by PrfyVdlx , Labels: Afghanistan , Burqa , France , Islam , Nicolas Sarkozy , Society and Culture , Women , Women's Rights , Thursday, October 1, 2009 1:36 AM

ISLAM IN FRANCE

Burqa furore hints at internally-conflicted political discourse

Muslims in France wear the niqab (left) while the burqa (centre, right) is seldom seen in the country. AFP

PARIS - It is a measure of France's confusion about Islam and its Muslim citizens that in the political furore here over "banning the burqa", as the argument goes, the garment at issue is not really the burqa, but the niqab.

A burqa is the all-enveloping cloak, often blue, with a woven grill over the eyes, that many Afghan women wear, and it is almost never seen in France. The niqab, often black, leaves the eyes uncovered.

Still, a movement against it has gotten traction within France's ruling centre-right party, which claims to be defending French values, and among many on the left, who say they are defending women's rights. A parliamentary commission will soon meet to investigate whether to ban the burqa.

The debate is indicative of the deep ambivalence about social customs of a small minority of France's Muslims, and of the fear that France's principles of citizens' rights, equality and secularism are being undermined. French discomfort with organised religion is aggravated by these foreign customs, which are associated with repression of women.

Mr Andre Gerin, Mayor of Venissieux, a Lyon suburb with many Muslims from North Africa, began the affair in June by initiating a motion, signed by 57 other legislators, calling for the parliamentary commission.

"The burqa is the tip of the iceberg," Mr Gerin said. "Islamism really threatens us." In a letter to the government, he wrote: "It is time to take a stand on this issue that concerns thousands of citizens who are worried to see imprisoned, totally veiled women."

A few days later, President Nicolas Sarkozy said that "the burqa is not welcome on the territory of the French Republic".

The French press has been full of heated opinion pieces. Women wearing the niqab, many of them French converts to Islam, have said that they have freely chosen to cover themselves after marriage.

Passions have run so high that when domestic intelligence issued a report saying that only 367 women in France wore a full veil, it seemed to make no difference. For many French Muslims, the entire discussion is an incitement to racial and religious hatred.

Mr Mohammed Henniche, secretary for the private Union of Muslim Associations of Seine-Saint-Denis, said: "I think choosing to use burqa instead (of niqab) is not an accident. They chose a word that is associated with Afghanistan, and that spreads a negative, scary image."

Even existing laws are misunderstood, he said, with a woman refused entry to a bank because employees thought a head scarf was illegal.

"French political discourse is internally conflicted," said Mr John R Bowen, professor at Washington University in St Louis. There is confusion about different kinds of public space, he said - the street and places that belong to the state but are not freely open to the public, like schools.

However, Mr Bowen does not think there will be a law banning the niqab. THE NEW YORK TIMES

From TODAY, World – Wednesday, 02-Sep-2009

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More couples saying 'I do' Down Under

Posted by PrfyVdlx , Labels: Australia , Christian , divorce , Divorce demography , Education and Enrichment , Marriage , Relationships , Research , 1:09 AM

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RECORD MARRIAGES

MELBOURNE - The number of Australians tying the knot has hit a 20-year high, reversing the trend for an institution that appeared to be going out of fashion only a few years ago, according to official data.

The figures show that 118,756 marriages were registered in Australia last year, up 2.1 per cent on 2007 and more than 12 per cent on the recent low of about 104,000 in 2001.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the increasing popularity of marriage coincided with a fall in the number of divorces, which hit a 20-year low of 47,209 last year.

The data, released on Monday, showed almost 80 per cent of couples lived together before going down the aisle and the average age of people getting married was increasing, now 29.6 for men and 26.3 for women.

Analysts said the fact that couples were waiting until they were more mature before committing to marriage may explain the falling divorce rate.

"Basically, we are much more cautious and we're also now much more knowledgeable about the negative effects of divorce than we used to be," Relationships Australia vice-president Anne Hollonds said.

"There's been a lot more research that's been publicly discussed in the last decade, particularly about the negative effects on children."

Almost two-thirds of couples were married in a civil ceremony, rather than at a church or other place of worship, with November the most popular month to get hitched.

"Marriage hasn't gone out of fashion, people still want to get married," Australian Institute of Family Studies director Alan Hayes said.

"It's consistent with the institute's research, which indicates the majority of men and women across all ages endorse marriage as an institution." AFP

From TODAY, World – Wednesday, 02-Sep-2009

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Aerosmith cancels rest of tour

Posted by PrfyVdlx , Labels: History , Liv Tyler , Love in an Elevator , Michael Schumacher , Presidents , Steven Tyler , Tyler John , United States , Friday, August 14, 2009 2:28 AM

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Well, getting old is one reason, I believe so, and that the accident may be fatal after all, or that just like Schumacher who can't race yet as the previous accident left the neck unable to contain further strain, the same is true, I believe, for Steven Tyler. The similarity is striking for his daughter Liv Tyler.

Anyway, Aero fans, I think you can wait. Steven has to rest awhile.

Read that news story here.

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FAA on the Hudson plane crash

Posted by PrfyVdlx , Labels: Aeronautics , Aerospace , Air traffic control , Federal Aviation Administration , Hudson River , New Jersey , Technology , United States , 2:23 AM

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With so many accidents happening, we keep thinking, do we know the cause, and more importantly, can we prevent them? And what if the reason was negligence? What do you do? Or how are the victims, more so their families, compensated? Money is not gonna bring them back, no matter how much.

That question remains open and unanswered.

For the latest development on the Hudson crash, read it here:

FAA suspends 2 air traffic controllers over Hudson crash