Smoking is addictive. Find out how to beat the cig with these Health and Medicine collections. Some argue that addictions from cigarrettes to tobacco go beyond peer pressure or depression. Interestingly, there are psychological reasons too.
Valentine's Day 2008 is upon us. It is a day to express your love, and to celebrate the spirit of love. However, for those of you who do not want to shell out the big bucks for a fancy dinner and find that giving V-Day cards filled with some sappy, love stricken opportunity to beg for some good loving, a little too cheesy; we understand your predicament.
Thus, we have lined up a fine selection of eBooks and audio Books from our Overdrive eBook collection. You can either wind down and relax with these titles or impress your loved ones with 'intellect'!
Heathcliff Andrew Ledger
Born April 4, 1979(1979-04-04)
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Died January 22, 2008 (aged 28)
New York City, New York, United States
Domestic partner(s) Michelle Williams (2005-07)
1 Daughter named Matilda
When a much-loved book becomes a screen adaptation, fans of the book rightfully worry that the movie will fail to capture what delighted them about the story.
This time, we explore all things that delve into the human mind. Books extolling Sigmund Freud to Carl Jung and other psychological theorists is the running theme of our choices. Not a fan of psychology? Fret not. Murder, mystery and passion are what these psychological thrillers are premised on.
Are you a frequent theatre goer? Self professed music junkie? Or have the knack for singing? Then you shouldn’t miss Beauty World, a stunning theatre production incorporating all of the above. Here’s a review on Wild Rice’s much celebrated production.
What do you associate with the dawn of a New Year? The revelry and merry-making, party popping, soul-searching or the plethora of resolutions we vow to follow through?
With lots of exhilarating events in tow, 2008 promises to be an exciting year for all.
Here’s a take on our top 3 things juicy in the upcoming year…
Never been a great fan of fantasy realms or the enchanting magical worlds?
Image taken from Library PressDisplay
Good news for your Viagra-using hamster: On his next trip to overseas, he'll bounce back from jet lag faster than his unmedicated friends. Will we, humans, be able to benefit from this discovery soon too? (3)
Guess we could only join in and sing to the tune of Doris Day’s “Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps” for now.
Scientists have discovered that Viagra helped the hamsters they studied, overcome jet lag. This discovery earned them one of the ten awards given, at the 17th Annual Ig Nobel (The name is supposedly a play on the word ignoble and the name "Nobel" after Alfred Nobel, according to Wikipedia) Awards ceremony this year. (1)
The team at Quilmes National University in Buenos Aires, Argentina, came up with the jet-lag study, which found that hamsters given the anti-impotence drug needed 50 percent less time to recover from a six-hour time zone change. They didn't fly rodents to Paris, incidentally -- they just turned the lights off and on at different times. (3)
The Ig Nobel Awards ceremony is famously known for highlighting bizarre discoveries in the field of Science, and this year was no exception. Apart from hamsters taking center stage were others such as the extraction of vanilla flavouring from the unthinkable, cow dung. Other strange discoveries also included the examination of side effects from sword swallowing and whether rats can discriminate between Japanese and Dutch spoken backwards.
Image from OnAsia
It has been a year since our much loved Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, died on September 4, 2006.
"I have no fear of losing my life - if I have to save a koala or a crocodile or a kangaroo or a snake, mate, I will save it."-Steve Irwin
This picture was taken at our very own Singapore Zoological Gardens with our much loved Ah Meng and family. Steve commented that the Singapore Zoo was one of his favourite destination.
Many people don't realize that we are committed right now to a significant amount of global warming and sea level rise," said Gerald Meehl of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. "The longer we wait to do something about it, the more change we will have."
There is a lot of media coverage now about global warming and its threatening effects.
From catastrophic sea level rise to jarring changes in local weather, humanity faces a potentially dangerous threat from the changes our own pollution has wrought on Earth’s climate.
Most scientific public discussions on the topic tend to focus not on research but on the potential impacts of higher global temperatures. The following summarizes the major concerns.
How many of us, stargazers, were the lucky few to view the total lunar eclipse last evening despite the cloudy skies?
A total eclipse of the moon was slated to occur on Tuesday evening, between 5pm and 8pm. The best places to view this phenomenon cited by scientists were namely Eastern Asia, Australia and America.
News is out that Jack Neo, locally acclaimed director known for his colloquial brand of madcap humour, is busy preparing for his upcoming movie about Singapore-Malaysia underworld triads. You should have guess by now that the movie will probably be released during the Lunar month.
Image fron Factiva.com
Blue has been always associated with men, and pink to women. As sexist as it may seem, this old adage has been scientifically proven to be true. It is official everyone, men’s preferred colour is blue, while women tend to gravitate towards the colour pink. (By the way, blue is also the most popular colour.)
This was found in a research led by Professor Anya Hurlbert of Britain’s Newcastle University. She mentioned that women’s preference for pink was due to evolution. She explained that in primitive times “when women were the primary gatherers, they would have benefited from an ability to home in on ripe, red fruits.” (1)
The British researchers, to come to a conclusion, studied 208 young adults’ colour preferences. (2)
Just how did they go about with this study?
Volunteers were asked to select, as quickly as possible, their preferred colour from each of a series of paired, coloured rectangles (1,000 of them). Professor Hurlbert and her colleagues then plotted the results along the colour spectrum and discovered that while men prefer blue, women gravitate towards the pinker end of the blue spectrum. (2)
Apparently, women had a very clear pattern. Their choices were low in the yellow and green regions and rises to a peak in the purplish to reddish region. This shifted their colour preference slightly away from the blue towards the red. The differences were so substantial that experienced researchers were able to predict the sex of a participant by checking their favourite colour. (4)
Whether it is really true that gender-based colours exist, it still looks like this ongoing tradition of "pink for the girls and blue for the boys," is here to stay for a long time.
Direct Links:
(1) “Girls really do prefer pink.” The Gold Coast Bulletin. 21 August 2007. From Factiva.com
(2) Dayton, Leigh. “Division of sexes is colour coded.” The Australian. 21 August 2007. From Factiva.com
(3) “Women really do prefer pink, researchers say.” Reuters News. 21 August 2007. From Factiva.com
(4) Wainwright, Martin. “Pink for a girl and blue for a boy – and it’s all down to evolution.” The Guardian. 21 August 2007. From Factiva.com
Image taken from Factiva.com
A poll done on Americans reflected that one in four adults read no books in 2006. As shocking as it may seem, the polls reveals the truth, that there are indeed people all over this globe who have hardly ever read.
It was also reflected in the Associated Press-Ipsos poll that amongst those who read, women and seniors were most avid. Top choices for books were mostly religious works and popular fiction.
How about Singaporeans? Do we read? Share your views with us.
Direct Links:
(1) Fram, Alan. "Poll: 1 in 4 U.S. adults read no books last year." Associated Press Newswires. 22 August 2007. Data from: Factiva.com
How many times have we logged into discussions forums only to be left flabbergasted, with the vast amount of colourful (from what we found out, there’s a huge list) obscenities uttered everywhere? This is not only happening in discussion forums, but in blogs, chatrooms, just about everywhere that allow Internet users to leave behind their “thoughtful” comments.
The Internet has developed into something so important today, that one could even feel handicapped without it. Internet users come from various parts of the world, from many walks of life with different cultures, and belong to diverse age groups. Each group of users has their own expectations, characteristics and habits.
First there was Bring Your Bag Day, followed by Earth Day, and today it’s World Environment Day. It’s alarming that we earthlings, inhabitants of Earth, need to be reminded constantly that we should be caring for this planet we live in.
World Environment Day, which started back in 1972, is celebrated annually on the 5th of June. This day was set aside by the United Nations General Assembly and its commemoration is entrusted to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), whose international headquarters are located in Nairobi, Kenya. - 1
Tiger skins are burnt to mark World Environment Day in Bombay
The purpose of World Environment Day is to focus worldwide attention on the importance of the environment and stimulate political attention and action. Every year a different city is chosen to host annual event. The host government/city, in co-operation with UNEP, set the tone for the event. A theme, slogan and logo would be selected to be the focus for all of the World Environment Day information materials and promotional activities worldwide.
The slogan for 2007 is “Melting Ice – A Hot Topic?” which focuses on the effects that climatic changes have on polar ecosystems and communities, and the consequences around the world at the end of the day. The host city this year is Tromsø, Norway. - 2
The agenda set for today is:
- to give a human face to environmental issues
- empower people to become active agents of sustainable and quitable development
- promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues
- advocate partnership, which will ensure all nations and people enjoy a safer and more prosperous future
Interest in this annual event has been increasing each year, as evidenced by the number of countries which lend their support to this important United Nations Day, by the expanding list of municipalities, businesses and communities that participate, and by the hundreds of thousands of individuals who visit UNEP's World Environment Day website. - 1
An Algerian performs during the World Environment Day in Algiers
The world is all geared up to celebrate World Environment Day. How so, you ask?
Many people meditate, regardless of religion. Are you a beginner? Don't worry, help is on the way! Check out these titles.
Still the Mind: An Introduction to Meditation
By Alan Watts
Collection: NLB netLibrary Collection
WHEN "you" understand the art of contemplation, there is no experiencer separate from experience, and there is no one to get anything out of life, or therefore to get anything from meditation.
Finding the Center Within: The Healing Way of Mindfulness Meditation
By Thomas Bien & Beverly Bien
Collection: NLB netLibrary Collection, NLB Overdrive Collection
WHO wouldn’t want to live a calmer, more peaceful existence? Thomas and Beverly Bien teach that if we find the center within through ongoing mindfulness we...
Meditation for Dummies -- For Dummies; 2nd Ed.
By Stephen Bodian
Collection: NLB netLibrary Collection
THE truth is, you can learn the basics of meditation in five minutes. Did you realize that meditation has an illustrious multicultural history?
The Soul's Companion: Connecting With the Soul Through Daily Meditations
By Dayton, Tian
Collection: NLB netLibrary Collection
THEY may be daily quiet time or meditation, journaling or nature walks.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Meditation
By Joan Budilovsky & Eve Adamson
Collection: NLB netLibrary Collection
A POSITIVE mental state is ideal for meditation, and meditation can make the most of a positive mental state. Meditation Is Healing Power But meditation is more than stress relief, fitness ally, and preventive medicine.
Audio eBooks:
Angels & Guides Healing Meditations
By Sylvia Browne
Collection: NLB Overdrive Collection
YOU'LL find a new level of comfort, safety, and clarity as you listen to these four uniquely powerful meditations from world-renowned psychic and best-selling author Sylvia Browne. Discover that...
Creative Visualization Meditations
By Shakti Gawain
Collection: NLB Overdrive Collection
SHAKTI Gawain’s Creative Visualization Meditations audio has sold over 300,000 copies since its release nearly 30 years ago. Shakti Gawain gently guides listeners through meditations from her...
Native American Meditations
By Amanaska
Collection: NLB Overdrive Collection
Meditations
By Shakti Gawain
Collection: NLB Overdrive Collection
FOR nearly thirty years, listeners have found practical advice for improving their lives in Shakti Gawain’s audio products. The guided meditations found on this audio offer easy-to-implement approaches...
Want more? Well then explore our eBook Collections!
Ever wondered if there was another planet, just like Earth, in existence?
We may not know what lies far away from us right now but we are sure inching closer to discovery.
A planet very similar to our mother earth might be in existence after all. Astronomers have discovered an, what they describe as, icy earth-like planet orbiting a distant extra-solar star. (1)
Dubbed a ‘super-Earth’, the international team of scientists said the planet, which they believe to be a bare, rocky world, weighs 13 times as much as Earth and is circling a star about 9,000 light-years away. ‘Super-Earth’ appears to be the most Earth-like of any of the more than 200 planets discovered outside the solar system. (2)
Today, in a move to cut down the use of plastic bags, marks Singapore’s very first Bring Your Own Bag Day (BYOBD). Subsequently, BYOBD will be held on the first Wednesday of every month.
BYOBD is a campaign jointly conducted by the National Environment Agency (NEA), the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and major supermarkets namely Carrefour, Cold Storage, Giant, NTUC Fairprice, Prime Supermarket, Sheng Siong and Shop N Save. The campaign’s purpose is to raise awareness and educate the public on how to curb wastage of plastic bags. (3)
On BYOBD, shoppers who do not bring their own bags can purchase reusable bags available at the participating shops. Checkout staff at these shops will still provide plastic bags to shoppers nonetheless, should they need them for their purchases. Instead, shoppers may be asked if they will donate 10 cents for each plastic bag taken. The proceeds will go to the SEC, a registered charity organisation, to fund its environmental outreach programmes. (3)
Recently, a Jack Russell and a Shih Tzu made the headlines by tying the knot. Yes, you read right. Two dogs in love got married, right here in our Lion City.
This canine couple Judan (the groom/Jack Russell) and Cash (the bride/Shih Tzu), just like any other union, exchanged vows (or perhaps woofs?) in front of friends (fellow canines) and their owners, complete with a traditional tea ceremony.
The lavish wedding was held at Dogoholics, a restaurant for dogs.
Read the full article, search for “You may pet the bride” in Newsbank!
Publication: Straits Times, The (Singapore)
Date: 9 April 2007
Animal marriages, as uncommon as they may seem, are happening in other parts of the world as well.
The much-awaited 79th Annual Academy Awards was presented yesterday to recognise some of the best in the film production industry.
There were no surprises in the acting categories. British actress Helen Mirren won Best Actress for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, while Forest Whitaker won Best Actor for his scary turn as African dictator Idi Amin in The Last King Of Scotland.
Inexperienced, Jennifer Hudson clinched best supporting actress for playing a struggling singer in Dreamgirls. She made the remarkable leap from seventh in American Idol to winner at the Oscars, edging out a field that included Cate Blanchett for Notes On A Scandal.
However, there were some surprises at this year’s Oscars.
Valentine's Day is nearing ...
We should be reminiscing about all those love stories with fairytale endings (most of which are fictional, unfortunately) and basking in the mood of this widely romanticized month. Instead, we figured we should spare a thought (or many thoughts) for those who had tragic endings to their love lives.
Several names come to mind, at the mention of this. There were star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, passionate and power-hungry lovers Antony and Cleopatra, and not forgetting tabloids' favourites ex-happily married couples Ryan Phillipe and Reese Witherspoon, Britney Spears and Kevin Federline, and ex-match made-in-heaven Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston.
Though it's thousands of miles away
Sierra Leone connect to what we go through today
Over here it's a drug trade, we die from drugs
Over there they die from what we buy from drugs
The diamonds, the chains, the bracelets, the charmses
I thought my Jesus piece was so harmless
'Til I seen a picture of a shorty armless
And here's the conflict
It's in a black person soul to rock that gold
Spend your while life tryin' to get that ice
On a Polo rugby it look so nice
How can something so wrong make me feel so right?
Right? 'fore I beat myself up like Ike
You can still throw your Roc-a-Fella diamond tonight
- Diamonds from Sierra Leone, Kanye West
Recently released blockbuster Blood Diamond has been causing a stir. And no, we are not talking about the usual Hollywood movies with made-up stories that most often seem surreal here.
However saddening, dramatic and violent Blood Diamond may seem, ultimately, it tells a true story.
The first installment of epic trilogy, Eragon, gets released this week in the theatres all over Singapore.
Based on a successful novel by Christopher Paolini, this epic inheritance trilogy’s main highlight is dragons.
Researchers in the US have discovered that 14% of US Internet users have shown signs of cyber-dependence. This discovery was based on a study done, believed to be the first large-scale research for the effects of prolonged web surfing, on 2,513 people across 50 states.
So is being addicted to the cyber world as harmful as being addicted to drugs?
“Psychiatrists feel that addiction to Net is alarming as it could lead to a number of repercussions.” (4)
Addiction to online gaming can be fatal - there have been reports of at least three deaths in Korea and others in China during marathon online gaming sessions that have been directly attributed to gaming addiction. Reuters reported the case of a 28-year-old South Korean man who lost his job because of his gaming addiction and died of heart failure last year after playing online battle simulation games almost non-stop for 50 hours. (3)
Image from: Grolier - The New Book of Popular Science
Social SciSearch
An international, multi-disciplinary index to the literature of the social, behavioural, and related sciences, produced by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI®). It contains all of the records published in the Social Sciences Citation Index.
Business, Finance and Industry, Education, Health and Medicine, History, Language and Literature, Law and Government, Philosophy, Psychology and Religion
Arts & Humanities Search
Covers 1,300 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals, plus relevant social and natural science journals, and has additional records from the Current Contents series of publications.
Arts, History, Language and Literature, Philosophy, Psychology and Religion, Social Sciences and Humanities
Consumer Reports
Contains the complete text of all articles and product recalls from Consumer Reports magazine, plus articles from Consumer Reports Travel Letter and Consumer Reports on Health. Goods and services covered include appliances, cars, electronics, foods, health, home, personal and travel.
Business, Finance, Industry, Computers and Information Technology, Health and Medicine, Sports, Recreation and Travel
Asia Intelligence Wires
Contains an extensive collection of newswire stories, newspaper articles and journal articles from a wide variety of over 200 sources. Geographic coverage includes Cambodia, China, India, Hong Kong, Indochina, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Business, Finance, Industry, Computers and Information Technology, Law and Government News, Singapore and Southeast Asia, Sports, Recreation and Travel
[ALL THE ABOVE DATABASES ARE AVAILABLE
TO NLB STAFF AND PATRONS OF LEE KONG CHIEN REFERENCE LIBRARY]
DIRECT LINKS
1. Images courtesy of EBSCOHost Academic Search Premier
We Singaporeans generally love to shop, and now we have another mall to conquer.
Vivocity is finally here!
HUGE - that was the reaction of shoppers who checked out VivoCity, Singapore's newest mall, at its soft opening over the weekend. Over 300,000 shoppers thronged the mall during the weekend it opened its doors to public, and this exceeded expectations landlord MapleTree Investments said.
At 1.04 million sq ft, equivalent to the size of Suntec City and Tangs combined, the mall located within the HarbourFront precinct is also Singapore's largest.
But while size was a talking point, some shoppers were disappointed that not all the shops were open. Only 60 per cent of the 300 stores, such as Tangs, Topshop, Guess and Esprit, welcomed shoppers over the weekend.
One of the highlights of the mall, cinema operator Golden Village, said 12,000 movie tickets were sold over the weekend. Golden Village (GV), whose latest weapon is GV Vivocity - a $20 million, 15-screen cineplex has ambitious plans to sell one million movie tickets in its first year and boost GV's market share to 50 per cent from its current 44 per cent.
The name “VivoCity” was chosen as it perfectly encapsulated landlord Mapletree’s vision for the development. “Right from our initial planning, we aimed to create a distinctively different leisure and retail destination,” explained Mr Cheng, chairman of MapleTree Investments.
Well, whether VivoCity becomes Singapore’s ultimate lifestyle destination, we’ll only know after the mall's official launch on Dec 1 2006, when 90 per cent of the stores is expected to be opened.
Direct Links:
(1) VivoCity - http://www.vivocity.com.sg/
(2) Vibrant City.
Chiang, Tay Suan Straits Times, The (Singapore). October 10, 2006.
Taken from: Newsbank
(3) On a screen near you: War of the ‘plexes.
Ee, Jaime. Business Times, The (Singapore). October 7, 2006.
Taken from: Newsbank
(4) Vivacious VivoCity - Singapore's biggest mall VivoCity opens tomorrow.
Yip, May. Straits Times, The (Singapore). October 6, 2006.
Taken from: Newsbank
