oh, am i ever so tempted for this......

oh no.......

Found out today that Yiyi's fish - IkanFish - died in peace, cause of death: overfeeding

Maybe I should keep that in mind the next time I feel like taking a muffin to my face.

Heh... maybe I'll get her a new one on Friday. Let's see if she's a good girl tomorrow...

yiyi's pet fish.......

Two Fridays ago, I brought Yiyi out for an outing to the post-office in Damai. Just because she behaved well the whole time, I took that as an excuse to buy her KFC at Foh Sang for lunch (keyword: excuse) and we stopped by at the petshop just to have a look at puppies wagging their tails.

Yiyi was so excited with the visit to the petshop I could not resist getting her a pet for herself. This was supposed to be a mini-koi but Ben confirmed that it wasn't and I was ripped. Anyway it's only RM3.50...

We got all creative in naming the fish -- Ikan-Fish!

where's your red nose?..........

Okay, I think I've owed more than a few of you the explanation of the Red Nose phenomena that's sweeping some circles of facebookers -- although disappointingly slowly, but I hope more will catch the Red Nose and be counted in the Red Nose epidemic casualty list -- because we're all going to go to the hospital together for it!

Here's what's happening.

I have an idea. Let's come together one day, and throw a party, a Kids' Party, at KK's Women and Children Hospital in Likas (formerly known as Hospital Pakar, and before that, the old SMC). Imagine this -- there will be clowns, and balloon twisting! We'll play games, run around, maybe sing along a song or two! Let's throw in some magic tricks, and perhaps a puppet show. There will be food and cakes and sugary drinks! We'll have presents for all the kids there, and not forgetting the ones in the ward who couldn't join us! It will be a day where kids will feel better even before they've seen the doctors. And everyone will be spotting a Red Nose on that day.

When? I'm thinking 1st of April. Let's do up our own Red Nose Day, make some kids (and parents) happy, and throw them some fun, fun, fun! After all, it's supposed to be a fun day, anyway, right?

So who's with me? Put on your Red Nose, and let's do this!

We need a plan to be put up soon, please leave a message here at the blog, or leave me a remark on the facebook comments if you're interested to join in making this party happen.
And fellow Red Nose army - do spread this word around ;o)

thanks,
arteo

arteo goes for aerobics class.....

It isn't something I am proudest to admit, but yeah, I've joined the housewives club doing aerobics exercise at Likas Gym, and today was my second day there. I have to say, it was terribly intimidating to know and witness that middle age aunties (okay la, at this age maybe I should say middle age sisters) doing better at stability and having better endurance to complete the workout.

not quite!

I had a few people jokingly tease me that I'm there to do eye-laundry, but believe me friends, that's not quite the place to go eye-laundering for. Even if there was a couple of 'em eye-candies around, it's like being in a hall full of chaperons. Now that should should dry up any form of juices in your fantasy! Haha..

The worst thing was doing all that steps after a session of amateur weight lifting the evening before, leaving my shoulders and arms sore and weak even after a couple of sets. It made me think twice if I would ever undermine those pink little rubber coated dumbbells again.

Okay la, maybe the worst was when the instructor, Jane, says to make sure we keep our ball below the knees. Now, that would be a challenge!

Aerobics class is actually open to both men and women, with sessions at 9am, 5pm and 5:45pm weekdays. Daily membership, RM4 per session.

inspector gadget strikes again........

Going through some hidden and forgotten pile of mess under a bookshelf the other day, I happen to unearth one of my first gadgets from the last millenium, and I'm not kidding.

It is a PDA, or personal digital assistant, but I don't think people call it by its long name anymore. I remember getting it for RM300, no colour, doesn't play music and ran on 2xAA batteries. The spec may be pitiful today, but then it was something to envy of, hehe.

I've since moved on promiscuously from one gadget to another and my latest indulgence came about as a subtle rebellion against the iPhone nation, of which Ben has recently joined last weekend.

I wanted to enroll to the BlackBerry community, but the stiff competition from Nokia made me think a while (like, 45 minutes of phonecall to Ben and Jey), so finally decided to complete the round and come back to Nokia. I was off Nokia loyalty in 2004, moved on to Motorola, then to Sony Ericsson, landed on HTC once and then now back to Nokia again.

Nokia E72 wins just because it can do video call.

From now on, it's going to be living on bread without the luxury of butter. No more gadgets of any sort until July.

Alright, maybe June.

arteo's got red nose....

...where's yours?

life is like a (cup) of (drinking) chocolate...

Found this article while blog-rolling earlier... The next time you enjoy a cup of hot cocoa, or mocha for that matter (in my case, mostly) remember this story...

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said: "Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups. The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. And enjoy your hot chocolate.

a sobering mistake...

Not mine though... I had a birthday wish from an old friend earlier, thinking that it was yesterday. Not a big problem though, but it got me thinking, gosh, yeah, another month to go... it's been a year since I've gained membership of the 30s club.

Some said life begins at 30... I'm just wondering, have I lived yet.

good piece of old news.....

...or old piece of good news.

I was just surfing away on topics related to coffee earlier and found a blogger that talks about his first experience of Tenom coffee. He swears off all other coffee and all other alcoholic drinks after tasting Tenom coffee (for real? Come on...)

But more surprisingly, he linked his article to another entry from another blog that explains about the differences between coffee beans... and to my surprise, it was my blog!! My old old blog!!

That made my day.

arteo's trip to food heaven, penang........

Food journal of my 4D3N trip to Penang...

apa boh pui bah ee...

how condom programme worked in thailand....

An excerpt from UNAIDS publication - 100pcCUP (CONDOM USAGE PROGRAMME) in Thailand

Introduction: A Brief History of the 100% Condom Programme

The urgency of the HIV situation in Thailand

Thailand was the first Asian nation to recognize that it had a major HIV/AIDS problem, a problem so serious as to deserve priority on the national agenda. While sporadic testing among female sex workers, injecting drug users (IDUs), and men having sex with men detected little HIV through the end of 1987, the rapid growth of HIV infections among IDUs in early 1988 spurred efforts to monitor the epidemic systematically.

By mid-1989, a national sentinel serosurveillance system had been established. In the first round of testing in 14 provinces conducted in June 1989, high infection levels were detected among sex workers in the countryÕs northern provinces, especially among sex workers in brothels. By June 1990, with the system expanded to include all 73 provinces, HIV prevalence among brothel-based sex workers had risen from 3.1 per cent in June 1989 to 9.3 per cent nationally (provincial median) and was climbing fast. By June 1991, it had grown to 15.2 per cent. Prevalence was also growing rapidly among young Thai men - who were tested when conscripted into the military at age 21 - from 0.5 per cent in November 1989 to 3.0 per cent in November 1991. Studies of behaviour and HIV infection among these conscripts and other populations soon demonstrated that most new HIV infections in Thailand were occurring through commercial sex.

The programme makes a difference

Initially, many people did not believe the programme would work. For example, reporters from a Thai newspaper went to Chiang Mai in 1991, shortly after the implementation of the programme there, seeking to purchase sex without a condom. To their surprise, they were unable to do so. Small studies have examined the ability to purchase sex without a condom, and have found that most sex workers are quite resistant to the idea. Numerous other studies, as well as questions asked of sex workers during the national sentinel serosurveillance, now routinely find that condom use in brothels and massage parlours exceeds 90 per cent (for a review of these studies, see UNAIDS 1998). These findings imply that the 100% Condom Programme, in combination with other prevention efforts, has been very effective at discouraging unprotected intercourse in establishment-based sex work (Chamratrithirong et al. 1999a).

There are clear indications that these efforts have had an impact on HIV transmission at the national level. Nationwide monitoring of condom use in brothel-based sex work and of levels of reported STDs among men has shown a strong relationship between the increase in condom use and the rapid decline in STDs. Data from studies of army conscripts have shown a steady increase in their use of condoms with sex workers, a decline in the number of visits to sex workers, and a decline in reported histories of STDs and in HIV prevalence. Studies found a tenfold reduction in STD incidence and a fivefold reduction in HIV incidence among young Thai men between 1991 and 1993 (Celentano et al. 1998). Thus, all indications are that the 100% Condom Programme has been an important contributor to large-scale reduction of HIV transmission throughout the country (see UNAIDS 1998).

Best Practice Criteria
This programme meets four of the UNAIDS best practice criteria:

Effectiveness

The 100% Condom Programme has contributed to substantial and well-documented increases in condom use in sex work throughout Thailand. While use rates are not 100 per cent, they do exceed 90 per cent in many direct and some indirect sex establishments. The programme has had somewhat less success in some harder to reach indirect sites, but condom use rates in these sites are still substantially higher than they were before the start of the programme. Given the role of sex work in HIV transmission in Thailand, and how well the increases in condom use in sex work mirror the major reductions in STDs and HIV incidence observed in the country, this programme has clearly assisted in efforts to control the HIV/AIDS epidemic (UNAIDS 1998). In concert with the National AIDS Education and Condom Promotion Campaign, this programme has also contributed to observed prevalence declines of HIV among young Thai men, pregnant women, and sex workers on a national scale.

Other complementary programmes aimed at young people and the general population also increased condom use in non-commercial sexual relationships. This is especially important because of a shift in sexual behaviour away from commercial sex towards more casual sex. In 1997, a survey showed that condom use with girlfriends had risen to 40% and with other women to more than 60% (see Table 1). In a survey in 1990 (Sittitrai et al. 1992), consistent condom use with non-commercial female partners was closer to 20%, rising to roughly 30% in a survey in 1993 (Thongthai and Guest 1995). That represents a major change in behaviour between 1990 and 1997.

Relevance

The 100% Condom Programme was designed and implemented with a good understanding of both the context and importance of sex work in Thai sexual culture. Rather than trying to eliminate sex work, it chose a pragmatic and cooperative approach of working within the existing institutions to prevent HIV and STD infection. This was strongly in keeping with the traditional non-confrontational nature of Thai society. The programme made good use of existing governmental structures of more than one ministry to enlist the active participation of various sectors of society. Finally, it was aimed at the source of most new infections in the Thai epidemic, as determined from careful epidemiological and behavioural monitoring in the country, making it directly relevant to the local situation. Over time, the shift to indirect forms of sex work has lessened its relevance to the current state of the Thai epidemic, and the programme needs to make greater efforts to find effective approaches for those sites.

Efficiency

Good use was made of existing public health and authority structures and personnel within the country to produce rapid increases in condom use on a national scale and rapid expansion of the programme to national coverage. The activities were implemented according to locally developed strategies, with good monitoring and evaluation of behavioural and epidemiological outcomes using existing sources of STD and HIV data, and in accordance with policies laid out at the national level. While considerable resources went into expanding STD care and promoting and delivering condoms as part of this programme, the benefits in infections averted vastly outweigh the resources invested.

Sustainability

The programme has contributed to changes in norms regarding condom use in sex work and visits to sex workers, changes that are likely to persist. Among young males, condom use in commercial sex is now expected, and reductions have already been seen in the percentage of men visiting sex workers. The programme is sustainable because it was institutionalized within existing national policy, national plan and health infrastructures with strong involvement of people at all levels (national, regional, provincial, and district). In fact, it encourages stronger links between the national, regional, and local efforts because of the technical assistance efforts between the national programme, the RCDCs, and the PPHOs. A strong sense of ownership of the programme was expressed in interviews in almost all provinces, along with a belief that the activities being undertaken were making a difference.

The improved relationships among health workers and owners and managers of establishments have made ongoing activities easier. Finally, the national policy and implementation of the 100% Condom Programme have been functioning since the early 1990s. However, in terms of future sustainability, new strategies need to be developed that can be effective in indirect sites.

relevance of abstinence in prevention of hiv transmission....

Uganda Winning the Battle Against AIDS — Using Abstinence
SARAH TRAFFORD
http://catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/se0074.html

Uganda may be on its way to wiping out AIDS by using the Biblical values of chastity and fidelity, a new Harvard University study finds. According to the study, abstinence education has shown significant effectiveness in reducing AIDS in Uganda, with the HIV infection rate dropping 50 percent between the years 1992 and 2000.

The east African nation is making a big impact with the revelation that the AIDS epidemic can be curbed. Riddled with HIV infections since the 1970s, Uganda has found miraculous success by using abstinence as its prevention strategy. Promotion of abstinence through billboards, radio programs and school sex education curricula has resulted in a slow and steady drop in HIV infection rates, as well as new attitudes about conquering AIDS in Uganda.

"Uganda is one of the countries that attach great importance on promoting abstinence among our youth," said Ahmed Ssenyomo, minister counselor at the Ugandan Embassy, in a speech to the African American Youth Conference on Abstinence.

When the program started in the late 1980s, the number of pregnant women infected with HIV was 21.2 percent. By 2001, the number was 6.2 percent. The Harvard study also reported Ugandan adults are not having as much risky sex: of women 15 and older, those reporting many sexual partners dropped from 18.4 percent in 1989 to 2.5 percent in 2000.

The emphasis on abstinence in Uganda’s program is unique. In other nations with high HIV infections, such as Zimbabwe and Botswana, condoms have been promoted as the answer to ending the AIDS crisis. In Botswana, 38 percent of pregnant women were HIV positive last year, contrasted with 6.2 percent of Ugandan women.

Much of the program’s success is due to the nation’s willingness to look beyond the sexual revolution to the past.

"What we’re seeing in parts of Africa is communities responding to the epidemic by saying, ‘Let’s see what’s in our culture — how can we deal with this with what we had in the past?’ " Susan Leclerc-Madlalas, a medical anthropologist at the University of Natal in South Africa, told the Associated Press. "What they had most of the time was a way of regulating sexuality."

Many AIDS officials reject abstinence as a potential prevention strategy despite evidence that promotion of abstinence and fidelity have significantly reduced AIDS cases in Uganda over the past decade.

"Millions and millions of young people are having sexual relations," said Paolo Teizeria, director of Brazil’s AIDS program, at the 14th International AIDS Conference. "We cannot talk about abstinence. It’s not real."

Abstinence is often dismissed as a potential prevention method. Condom promotion and "safe-sex" initiatives have long been thought to be the answer to stopping the spread of HIV: Instead of encouraging people to curb their libidos, these initiatives have tried to provide "safer" ways of exercising them. However, in many African nations condoms aren’t looked upon kindly: there are a variety of urban legends that circulate in some regions that condoms are either ethnic cleansing tools or actually spread HIV themselves. (During the Cold War, the Soviet KGB spread "disinformation" that the United States created the AIDS virus to kill off Africans.)

"Ugandans really never took to condoms," Dr. Vinand Nantulya, an infectious disease advisor to Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni, told The New Republic.

The abstinence initiative in Uganda goes far beyond those who are already having sex — it starts with the education and promotion of an abstinence program for youth called "True Love Waits." Thirty thousand Ugandan youth are currently involved with the program. Launched in Uganda in 1994, True Love Waits focuses on abstinence until marriage as a way to prevent all sorts of adverse consequences associated with extra-marital sexual activity.

"Encouraging marriage, monogamy or abstinence, delaying the onset of sexual activity, discouraging promiscuity and casual sex, reducing the supply and demand of illegal drugs or providing treatment to drug addicts … are the absolute most effective approaches to reducing the risk of HIV," Rep. Mark Souder (R-Indiana) and six other members of the U.S. Committee on Government Reform said in a letter to the United Nations.

The United States and other countries have yet to embrace abstinence promotion as a mode of AIDS prevention. The United Nations recently predicted that AIDS will wipe out half the population in some African countries. In Uganda, the proverbial sun is starting to shine from the rain cloud of AIDS deaths — and it’s looking brighter.

what the vatican says about condoms......

Vatican: condoms don't stop Aids
Steve Bradshaw
The Guardian, Thursday 9 October 2003 16.51 BST

The Catholic Church is telling people in countries stricken by Aids not to use condoms because they have tiny holes in them through which HIV can pass - potentially exposing thousands of people to risk.

The church is making the claims across four continents despite a widespread scientific consensus that condoms are impermeable to HIV.

A senior Vatican spokesman backs the claims about permeable condoms, despite assurances by the World Health Organisation that they are untrue.

The church's claims are revealed in a BBC1 Panorama programme, Sex and the Holy City, to be broadcast on Sunday. The president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, told the programme: "The Aids virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon. The spermatozoon can easily pass through the 'net' that is formed by the condom.

"These margins of uncertainty... should represent an obligation on the part of the health ministries and all these campaigns to act in the same way as they do with regard to cigarettes, which they state to be a danger."

The WHO has condemned the Vatican's views, saying: "These incorrect statements about condoms and HIV are dangerous when we are facing a global pandemic which has already killed more than 20 million people, and currently affects at least 42 million."

The organisation says "consistent and correct" condom use reduces the risk of HIV infection by 90%. There may be breakage or slippage of condoms - but not, the WHO says, holes through which the virus can pass .

Scientific research by a group including the US National Institutes of Health and the WHO found "intact condoms... are essentially impermeable to particles the size of STD pathogens including the smallest sexually transmitted virus... condoms provide a highly effective barrier to transmission of particles of similar size to those of the smallest STD viruses".

The Vatican's Cardinal Trujillo said: "They are wrong about that... this is an easily recognisable fact."

The church opposes any kind of contraception because it claims it breaks the link between sex and procreation - a position Pope John Paul II has fought to defend.

In Kenya - where an estimated 20% of people have HIV - the church condemns condoms for promoting promiscuity and repeats the claim about permeability. The archbishop of Nairobi, Raphael Ndingi Nzeki, said: "Aids... has grown so fast because of the availability of condoms."

Sex and the Holy City includes a Catholic nun advising her HIV-infected choirmaster against using condoms with his wife because "the virus can pass through".

In Lwak, near Lake Victoria, the director of an Aids testing centre says he cannot distribute condoms because of church opposition. Gordon Wambi told the programme: "Some priests have even been saying that condoms are laced with HIV/Aids."

Panorama found the claims about permeable condoms repeated by Catholics as far apart as Asia and Latin America.