The truth about incense

YEARS of breathing in smoke from the daily burning of incense at home could increase one's risk of respiratory tract cancers, a new study by Singapore scientists have found out.

Compared to those who do not light up joss sticks or coils of incense, those who do so over long hours for more than 40 years are 70 per cent more likely to contract cancers in the upper respiratory tract, said Associate Professor Koh Woon Puay at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

These include cancers of the nose or sinuses, tongue, mouth and windpipe.

The iPhone's First Worm

The first real-world iPhone cyber-attack has shown its face. And that face belongs to 1980s pop star Rick Astley.

Over the weekend, researchers at cybersecurity firms Sophos and F-Secure detected the world's first active iPhone worm, spreading among Apple smart phone users in Australia. Only users who have "jailbroken" their phones--altered them to run applications not authorized by Apple--are vulnerable, and among those, only those who failed to change their default password for a secure shell (SSH) application that allows file transfers between smart phones.

The payload of that unwelcomed program? Not a password-stealing keylogger or spam sending software, but a switch of the user's operating system wallpaper to Astley's face, along with a message: "ikee is never gonna give you up." (Astley's 1987 song of a similar name has been at the center of a viral "rickrolling" Web phenom, in which users trick friends into clicking on a YouTube link to Astley's hyper-cheesy music video.)

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Since the iPhone's advent, cybersecurity researchers have warned that its popularity would lead to new interest in smart phone hacking by cybercriminals. In July, Apple cybersecurity guru Charlie Miller showed at the Black Hat Conference in Las Vegas that a text message vulnerability in the phone would allow hackers to take control of the phone and use it to propagate more attacks, quickly spreading from iPhone to iPhone. Apple patched the flaw the day after Miller revealed it.

Researchers haven't estimated how many phones have been infected with the rickrolling "ikee" worm. But it's likely far fewer than would have been affected by Miller's text messaging vulnerability. Though around 4 million iPhone users have jailbroken their phones, according to mobile analytics firm Pinch Media, only a much smaller subset have likely failed to change their default password.

The world's first iPhone worm is also hardly a true criminal exploit. Instead, it seems to be half warning, half prank. Ikee's author, who identifies himself or herself as "ikex" in the worm's source code, also wrote in the code that "People are stupid, and this is to prove it so," adding that users should read their phones' manuals.

"It's not that hard, guys," ikex writes. "But hey who cares its only your bank details at stake."

Still, as in other cases where teenage prank hacking presaged profit-motivated cybercrimes, researchers warn that more dangerous iPhone hacks could follow, especially now that the ikee source code is publicly available. "This means that there will quickly be more variants," writes F-Secure researcher Mikko Hyppönen. "And they might have nastier payloads than just changing your wallpaper or might try password cracking to gain access to devices where the default password has been changed."

In other words: This may be one situation where Rick Astley should be taken seriously.

See. See! SEE!
JAILBREAK LA.

Parents up in arms again over PSLE Mathematics paper

SINGAPORE: The first thing her son did when he came out from the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) maths paper on Thursday this week was to gesture as if he was "slitting his throat".

"One look at his face and I thought ’oh no’. I could see that he felt he was condemned," said Mrs Karen Sng. "When he was telling me about how he couldn’t answer some of the questions, he got very emotional and started crying. He said his hopes of getting (an) A* are dashed."

Not for the first time, parents are up in arms over the PSLE Mathematics paper, which some have described as "unbelievably tough" this year. As recently as two years ago, the PSLE Mathematics paper had also caused a similar uproar.

(our our our batch^^)

The reason for Thursday’s tough paper, opined the seven parents whom MediaCorp spoke to, was because Primary 6 students were allowed to use calculators while solving Paper 2 for the first time. Paper 2 makes up 60 per cent of the entire paper and consists of 18 questions.

Said Mrs Vivian Weng: "I think the setters feel it’ll be faster for them to compute with a calculator. So the problems they set are much more complex; there are more values, more steps. But it’s unfair because this is the first time they can do so and they do not know what to expect!"

These parents’ children are studying in both neighbourhood and "top" schools.

In response to MediaCorp’s queries, the Education Ministry said this year’s paper was "comparable" to those of previous years. "There is no change in syllabus, question types or number of questions," a spokesperson said.

"The introduction of the use of calculators does not have any bearing on the difficulty of paper. The use of calculators has been introduced into the primary maths curriculum so as to enhance the teaching and learning of maths by expanding the repertoire of learning activities, to achieve a better balance between the time and effort spent developing problem solving skills and computation skills. Calculators can also help to reduce computational errors."

But the parents MediaCorp spoke to said students were apparently so stumped that many — even top students who have regularly aced past school examinations — broke down in tears in right after the paper.

Private maths tutor Josephine Tan whose son studies at Anglo—Chinese School (Junior), said he told her that "many A* students in the top class... couldn’t finish all the questions".

According to posts on an online forum for parents, one example of the problem sums given was: "Jim bought some chocolates and gave half of it to Ken. Ken bought some sweets and gave half of it to Jim. Jim ate 12 sweets and Ken ate 18 chocolates. The ratio of Jim’s sweets to chocolates became 1:7 and the ratio of Ken’s sweets to chocolates became 1:4. How many sweets did Ken buy?"

Mrs Tan said: "They have spent months revising and preparing, but it’s so much tougher than they expected. It really put a big dent on students’ morale."

Another common gripe: There was not enough time for them to complete the paper.

A private tutor, who declined to be named, told MediaCorp she concurred with parents’ opinions. "This year’s paper demanded more from students. It required them to read and understand more complex questions, and go through more steps, so time constraints would have been a concern," the 28—year—old said.

However, the parents’ fear of poor grades for their children may be unfounded since they will be compared against the entire cohort’s performance.

And the answer to the question? 68.

Oh my oh my oh my! I wonder...so how was the PSLE Math Paper? ^^ Anyway, every year is hard. I mean, every two years. So only if you're lucky. Next year might be an easy paper. The thing is WHY CAN THEY USE CALCULATOR?! It's not fair! Seriously. Alamak.

2nd runner—up of Ms Singapore World pageant chosen as new winner

[2nd runner—up of Ms Singapore World pageant chosen as new winner]

SINGAPORE: The Miss Singapore World pageant has a new winner. 20—year—old Pilar Arlando will be going to South Africa on December 12 for a shot at the Miss World title.

The Travel, Tourism and Hospitality student at Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS) was selected as Miss Singapore World after the previous winner Ris Low gave up her crown amid a firestorm of controversy.

Pilar was third in the contest.

She said: "I’m sure that they saw my capabilities as a main title—holder, so I believe I don’t see myself as a replacement. I know the bad press was centred on Ris Low about her English but it does not affect me because I’m confident in the words that I say and how I speak."

In a statement, organisers ERM World said Claire Lee, who came in second, was not chosen because of her back injury which meant she could not stand for long hours.

And contest rules do not require them to select the first runner—up as a replacement.

The new beauty queen said she’s just a regular girl.

She said: "I do not have any convictions or criminal records I enjoy travelling, baking and participating in various sports activities. I’m a good girl." — CNA/vm

Ris Low ordered to re-take school exam

Ris Low ordered by court not to shop alone

SINGAPORE: Former Miss Singapore World Ris Low was back in court on Tuesday and ordered by a district judge not to go into a shopping mall unaccompanied by a family member.

In a review of her 24—month supervised probation, District Judge May Mesenas also reminded Ms Low to take her probation seriously.

It was revealed on Tuesday that Ms Low had to re—take her examinations at the Management Development Institute of Singapore after invigilators found revision notes in her pencil box in August.

Ms Low claimed that she had forgotten to remove them.

Her lawyer, Mr Sng Kheng Huat, assured the court that his client remained committed to serving her probation, and would undertake not to repeat the mistake.

The District Judge also told Ms Low, who stayed silent during the 10—minute hearing, to continue with her medical treatment and medication. The 19—year—old suffers from bipolar disorder.

On May 5, two months before she won the pageant, she pleaded guilty to five cheating and criminal misappropriation charges, with 60 other charges being taken into consideration.

Over two months last year, she had spent almost S$8,000 on items such as gold anklets, mobile phones, lingerie and meals in luxury restaurants using seven credit cards that did not belong to her.

Ms Low, who gave up her crown last month after the scandal over her conviction made the headlines, will appear at another probation review in three months’ time.

POOR RIS LOW!

For some if you don't know what's Bipolar disorder:
any of several mood disorders characterized usually by alternating episodes of depression and mania or by episodes ofdepression alternating with mild nonpsychotic excitement called also bipolar affective disorder, bipolar illness, manic-depression, manic-depressive psychosis;