Singapore 1980

Cold Front @11h

Singapore in the 1980s |||Singapore in the 1980s

Singapore National Day

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Causes of Itchy Ears & How to Find Relief

Did you know that an infection is not the only reason for itchy ears? The inside of your ear is rich with nerve endings. That’s why it’s susceptible to even the slightest tickle. When you have itchy ears, the sensation can be bothersome and uncomfortable. But, if you want to stop the itch immediately, sticking a cotton bud in isn’t advisable. Instead, find out what’s causing your ear itch to know the right treatment. This can give you the relief you’re looking for.

The ears are part of an intricate structure connecting the nasal and throat passages. Finding the root cause of your itch isn’t always easy. We’ve listed five possible reasons to help you identify what’s causing yours:

• Infection - Swimmer’s ear is a common ear infection with itchiness as one of the symptoms. It occurs when water stays in the ear canal and creates a moist environment, encouraging bacterial growth.
• Referred itch - Have you noticed that your ears sometimes get itchy when you have a cold or cough? If your doctor doesn’t diagnose you with a middle ear infection, the source of the itch may be an inflamed throat.
• Underlying skin conditions or allergies - You may have itchy ears if you have existing chronic skin conditions like eczema or psoriasis. The inflamed and itchy skin could appear on your earlobes or around your ear.
• Asteatosis due to perimenopause or menopause - Asteatosis is a type of eczema in the ear. It is characterised by a lack of cerumen (earwax), leading to dry and itchy ears. It’s a common symptom of perimenopause or menopause in women.
• Improper cleaning - Sticking cotton buds, ear picks, or even your fingers into your ears to remove ear wax can do more harm than good. It can push the wax further into your ear and increase the risk of infection. It can even damage your ear canal or your ear drum. Instead, gently wipe the outside of your ears with a clean towel. And because your ears are self-cleaning, it’s best to leave the ear canal alone.

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Travel Hack Everyone Must Know

Unlimited data, Affordable & Good (Best network is guaranteed)

It’s a fact that we feel the need to stay connected everywhere we go in today’s digitalized world. It will be a total nightmare if we are disconnected while travelling, even just for a bit. (Just take a look at the recent outage when Facebook, Instagram and, Whatsapp are down.)

Even if you do not dwell on such apps, a good WiFi connection can be handy when you need access to Google Maps. I am pretty sure you will not want to waste a single bit of your holiday getting lost in a foreign country, right?

“I’m travelling alone, why would I need a WiFi device when I can purchase SIM cards or activate my telco’s roaming services?” You may ask. It is a valid point but, most SIM providers has partnerships with a preferred local network provider. What this means is that in some areas, the reception can be exceptionally weak.

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Unhealthy condiments and their best substitutes

Small changes your health will thank you for!

Condiments can significantly impact your meal's healthiness. Even seemingly innocuous salad dressings can pack excessive salt and saturated fats. But while our evolutionary instincts drive us to crave high-energy foods, we now have abundant food options. The challenge? A hint of condiment can quickly turn into a heavy pour!

Yet you can still enjoy condiments while making healthier choices. Discover the best and worst options in this gallery:

• Mayonnaise - Registered dietitian Asvini Mashru from Wellness Nutrition Concepts asserts, "With processed refined soybean oil as the primary ingredient in most mayonnaise products, there's nothing healthy about mayonnaise."
• Olive oil - While mayo is generally not considered a healthy option, you can improve its healthiness by making sure it's prepared with olive oil instead of soybean oil.
• Ketchup - This particular condiment is a health nightmare, essentially pure sugar. According to Monica Auslander, a registered dietitian and founder of Essence Nutrition, just one teaspoon of it is equivalent to consuming an entire packet of sugar.
• Tomato relish - Consider trying tomato relish as an alternative. It's surprisingly easy to prepare at home, it contains much less sugar, and you can also find it available for purchase.
• Honey mustard - Mixing mustard and honey may sound tasty, but it packs quite a punch when it comes to both salt and sugar. In reality, honey is pretty much just sugar in disguise!
• Hummus - If you're thinking of swapping out honey mustard as a sandwich spread, then hummus could be a great choice.
• Fat-free dressing - Don't get tricked: most fat-free salad dressings are loaded with added sugar
• Greek yogurt - Opt for full-fat Greek yogurt as a substitute; it does the job perfectly. It's creamy, packed with healthy fats, and generally low in sugar.
• Hoisin sauce - The Chinese variation of American BBQ sauce offers a delightful combination of sweetness and saltiness, but it's essentially a sugar explosion.
• Oyster sauce - Danielle Flug Capalino, a registered dietitian in New York City, says, “Oyster sauce, another staple Chinese flavor, is also sweet but has half the sugar as hoisin sauce."
• Ranch dressing - "Salads are healthy, so we are quick to ignore the nutritional value of the dressing we drizzle over them.” 
• Tahini - Consider switching to tahini, a Middle Eastern condiment crafted from toasted ground hulled sesame seeds. While it's rich in fat, it's the good kind: unsaturated fat.
• Hot sauce - Hot sauces can be loaded with salt. If you're not limiting yourself to just a teaspoon, consider using chili flakes or real chili pepper to add spice to your food. You can do this after cooking.
• Soy sauce - It's a breeze to get carried away with soy sauce. It's like a flavor party for our taste buds, what with all that salt and sugar.
• Coconut amino acids - Consider replacing soy sauce with coconut amino acids. They offer the same salty, savory taste you love but are derived from fermented coconut palm sap and sea salt, making them a nutritious alternative.
• Sour cream - “Avoid the artery-clogging version of saturated fat by swapping it out for Greek yogurt,” says Tody Amidor, a registered dietitian and author of 'The Greek Yogurt Kitchen.'
• Guacamole - Avocados can transform into guacamole in a snap! Creamy and healthful, just the way you want it.
• Chocolate syrup - No matter how dark the chocolate syrup seems, it's usually packed with sugar, often in the form of high fructose corn syrup. It's better to avoid it, or at least save it for occasional treats rather than daily consumption.
• 70% chocolate - Edwina Clark, a registered dietitian and head of Nutrition and Wellness at Yummly, says: "If you’re desperate for chocolate, skip the imposters." Clark recommends 70% chocolate.
• Queso - When it comes to dips, this one leans on the unhealthy side. It's packed with sugar, salt, and unsaturated fats.
• The real thing - Feta cheese carries a notable saltiness, but you can reduce it significantly by soaking it. Afterwards, you can crumble it over your nachos.
• Meat-based gravy - Heather D’Eliso Gordon, a Kaiser Permanente registered dietitian, says meat-based gravy is high in "saturated fat, cholesterol, and refined carbs.”
• Gravy alternative - There's a wide variety of gravy mixes available, and you can also prepare them using fresh vegetarian ingredients.
• BBQ sauce - The salt in BBQ sauce isn't your heart's best friend, that's for sure!
• Try a rub instead - Consider preparing a rub by checking out one of the numerous online recipes. This allows you to monitor the ingredients going into your food.
• Blue cheese sauce - When it comes to meat or nutritious salads, there's no need to pile on spoonfuls of unnecessary fat and salt when we can opt for a healthier alternative instead.
• Healthy alternative - How about swapping it out for a blend of Greek yogurt, white vinegar, fresh lemon, garlic, salt, and pepper?
• Duck sauce - The sauce you pour over duck is typically made primarily with apricots, and there's often nothing really off about it. However, “it’s pretty easy to create your version without the sugar,” says Amy Isabella Chalker, a registered dietitian nutritionist in Santa Barbara, California.
• Hollandaise sauce - Hollandaise sauce is rich in butter and egg yolks, making it high in saturated fat and cholesterol. Healthier alternatives include trying a Greek yogurt-based hollandaise sauce or opting for a lighter version that uses a small amount of olive oil and egg whites.
• Creamy peanut sauce - This sauce can be calorie-dense and high in added sugars. A healthier alternative to traditional peanut sauce involves making your own sauce with natural peanut butter, lime juice, and low-sodium soy sauce.
• Pickle relish - Pickle relish often contains high fructose corn syrup and artificial colors. When seeking healthier alternatives, consider making your own relish using diced pickles, onions, and mustard.
• Chutney - Chalker recommends making “a chutney-like mix of apricot, vinegar, spices, ginger, and a bit of raw unfiltered honey" for a "healthier version with even more freshness and flavor.”

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Chiobu boss with a heart of gold

She fights to keep her staff paid

There are good bosses in life, and there are terrible bosses too. Sometimes, a good boss may fall on hard times and need a helping hand.

Enter this 25-year-old chiobu boss, who used to be a baker. She took over her family’s business about four years ago and has been planning to expand the business. Unfortunately, as we all know, her food business has been badly impacted by COVID. Due to COVID and dining-in restrictions, business has greatly suffered, to the extent that she sometimes only manages to take in only $100 a month! Despite the poor business, she has insisted on keeping all 26 members of her staff and did not cut their pay!

It goes without saying that we have loads of respect for this young chiobu boss who is not only pretty but has a heart of gold! Due to the stress of maintaining the business during COVID, she sometimes loses sleep and cries. But she is still choosing to continue on and is paying her staff out of her own pocket. “My parents have handed the restaurant to me and I do not wish to disappoint them. I also have many older workers, and they are the reasons why I continue on.”, she said. Her restaurant, GoodYear Seafood Restaurant, is located at 15 Tampines Ave. Since the dine-in restrictions have been relaxed to five pax from yesterday, we’re gonna go support her right now! Bring your father, mother, brother and sister too! You will get nice food, some eye candy and help save the jobs of her older staff!

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Ramadan رمضان 2025

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. It is during this month that Muslims fast. It is called the Fast of Ramadan and lasts the entire month. Ramadan is a time when Muslims concentrate on their faith and spend less time on the concerns of their everyday lives. It is a time of worship and contemplation.

During the Fast of Ramadan strict restraints are placed on the daily lives of Muslims. They are not allowed to eat or drink during the daylight hours. Smoking and sexual relations are also forbidden during fasting. At the end of each day the fast is broken with prayer and a meal called the iftar. In the evening following the iftar it is customary for Muslims to go out visiting family and friends. The fast is resumed the next morning.

During Ramadan, it is common for Muslims to go to the Masjid (Mosque) and spend several hours praying and studying the Quran. In addition to the five daily prayers, during Ramadan Muslims recite a special prayer called the Taraweeh prayer (Night Prayer). The length of this prayer is usually 2-3 times as long as the daily prayers. Some Muslims spend the entire night in prayer. The holiday of Eid ul-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan and the start of the next lunar month, Shawwal. This day is declared when the crescent new moon has been sighted or if sighting of the moon is not possible due to the weather, the completion of 30 days of fasting.

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A Dedication Song to All Seniors

Rural Life in Chon Buri Province, Thailand

Sattahip fresh market

Most Useless Megaprojects in the World

5 Abandoned, Delayed, and Failed Megaprojects

Chiobu FoodPanda delivery rider

A day in the life of a chiobu FoodPanda

Strong mama Elsie carrying the heavy bagpack!

Have you ever wondered what a typical day is like for a delivery rider? Nicole, a year 2 chiobu NTU comms student, decided to answer this question by following her mum to work for a day.

“My mum used to be an airport duty manager. She oversaw operations at the various terminals and handled customer service too. When her company put her on no-pay leave, she decided to join FoodPanda. We’re a family of bikers – actually it is quite interesting for my mum, she used to ride in her 20s and it’s been about 30+ years since she last rode.”, Nicole shared excitedly. Nicole feels really proud of her mum and the work that she does, and rightly so. Elsie is a bubbly chiobu delivery rider and makes her customers’ day by delivering items with a smile. Instead of allowing herself to feel sian (bored) at home, Elsie decided to take on this new job and has been happily doing it for the past 16 months.

Owing to her sporty, outgoing and friendly personality, Elsie enjoys this job as it allows her to befriend many fellow riders (some who are young and handsome, haha!). As a female chiobu rider who is in her 50s, Elsie stands out in this job, which is a positive thing in her opinion. “People are nicer to female riders. Sometimes we get heavy orders, like having to deliver a sack of rice or bottled drinks. So, we are quite respected for being able to handle the work.”, Elsie shared.

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Steve Jobs last words would change your views on Life

Steve Jobs Archive shares a special photo memory of the late Apple co-founder with the Mac in 1984

Steve Jobs would have turned 68 years old today. The recently announced Steve Jobs Archive has shared a special snapshot in time of the late Apple co-founder and the Macintosh to mark the date. In the photo, Steve Jobs is seen closely examining a person using the newly introduced Macintosh in a store window in New Orleans in 1984.

The photo was shot 39 years ago in February 1984. The original Macintosh was introduced only a month earlier. Leslie Berlin, who is the founding Executive Director of the Steve Jobs Archive, shares the story behind the image of Jobs spotting the Mac in the wild nearly 40 years ago.

“Steve’s friend Jean Pigozzi, who calls himself a “serious amateur photographer,” took the image and told me the story behind it,” Berlin writes. “Although Jean did not work in tech, Steve invited him along to a software conference in New Orleans. One evening after the event, as they were walking down O’Keefe Avenue looking for dinner, Steve—a notoriously fast walker—pulled to a halt. Someone in a store window was working on a Macintosh.”

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Steve Jobs

Jobs introducing the iPhone 4 in 2010

Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, business magnate, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a member of The Walt Disney Company's board of directors following its acquisition of Pixar; and the founder, chairman, and CEO of NeXT. He is widely recognized as a pioneer of the personal computer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, along with his early business partner and fellow Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Jobs was born in San Francisco to a Syrian father and German-American mother. He was adopted shortly after his birth. Jobs attended Reed College in 1972 before withdrawing that same year. In 1974, he traveled through India seeking enlightenment before later studying Zen Buddhism. He and Wozniak co-founded Apple in 1976 to sell Wozniak's Apple I personal computer. Together the duo gained fame and wealth a year later with production and sale of the Apple II, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputers. Jobs saw the commercial potential of the Xerox Alto in 1979, which was mouse-driven and had a graphical user interface (GUI). This led to the development of the unsuccessful Apple Lisa in 1983, followed by the breakthrough Macintosh in 1984, the first mass-produced computer with a GUI. The Macintosh introduced the desktop publishing industry in 1985 with the addition of the Apple LaserWriter, the first laser printer to feature vector graphics.

In 1985, Jobs was forced out of Apple after a long power struggle with the company's board and its then-CEO, John Sculley. That same year, Jobs took a few Apple employees with him to found NeXT, a computer platform development company that specialized in computers for higher-education and business markets. In addition, he helped to develop the visual effects industry when he funded the computer graphics division of George Lucas's Lucasfilm in 1986. The new company was Pixar, which produced the first 3D computer-animated feature film Toy Story (1995) and went on to become a major animation studio, producing over 25 films since.

In 1997, Jobs returned to Apple as CEO after the company's acquisition of NeXT. He was largely responsible for reviving Apple, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. He worked closely with English designer Jony Ive to develop a line of products that had larger cultural ramifications, beginning with the "Think different" advertising campaign and leading to the Apple Store, App Store (iOS), iMac, iPad, iPod, iPhone, iTunes, and iTunes Store. In 2001, the original Mac OS was replaced with the completely new Mac OS X (now known as macOS), based on NeXT's NeXTSTEP platform, giving the operating system a modern Unix-based foundation for the first time. In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor. He died of respiratory arrest related to the tumor on October 5, 2011, at the age of 56. In 2022, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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Gun, Pistol, Revolver & Rifle

Gun

SIG Pro semi-automatic pistol

A gun is a device designed to propel a projectile using pressure or explosive force. The projectiles are typically solid but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons), or gas (e.g. light-gas gun). Solid projectiles may be free-flying (as with bullets and artillery shells) or tethered (as with Tasers, spearguns and harpoon guns). A large-caliber gun is also called a cannon. Guns were designed as weapons for military use, and then found use in hunting. Now, there are guns, e.g., toy guns, water guns, paintball guns, etc., for many purposes.

The means of projectile propulsion vary according to designs but are traditionally effected pneumatically by a high gas pressure contained within a barrel tube (gun barrel), produced either through the rapid exothermic combustion of propellants (as with firearms), or by mechanical compression (as with air guns). The high-pressure gas is introduced behind the projectile, pushing and accelerating it down the length of the tube, imparting sufficient launch velocity to sustain its further travel towards the target once the propelling gas ceases acting upon it after it exits the muzzle. Alternatively, new-concept linear motor weapons may employ an electromagnetic field to achieve acceleration, in which case the barrel may be substituted by guide rails (as in railguns) or wrapped with magnetic coils (as in coilguns).

The first devices identified as guns or proto-guns appeared in China from around AD 1000. By the end of the 13th century, they had become "true guns", metal barrel firearms that fired single projectiles which occluded the barrel. Gunpowder and gun technology spread throughout Eurasia during the 14th century.

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Pistol

A government-issue M1911 pistol manufactured in 1914

A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a barrel with an integral chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French pistolet (c. 1550), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the English language c. 1570 when early handguns were produced in Europe. In colloquial usage, the word "pistol" is often used as a generic term to describe any type of handgun, inclusive of revolvers (which have a single barrel and a separate cylinder housing multiple chambers) and the pocket-sized derringers (which are often multi-barrelled).

The most common type of pistol used in the contemporary era is the semi-automatic pistol, while the older single-shot and lever-action pistols are now rarely seen and used primarily for nostalgic hunting and historical reenactment, and the fully-automatic machine pistols are uncommon in civilian usage because of their generally poor recoil-controllability (due to the lack of a buttstock) and strict laws and regulations governing their manufacture and sale (where they are regarded as submachine gun equivalents).

Technically speaking, the term "pistol" is a hypernym generally referring to a handgun and predates the existence of the type of guns to which it is now applied as a specific term; that is, in colloquial usage it is used specifically to describe a handgun with a single integral chamber within its barrel. Webster's Dictionary defines it as "a handgun whose chamber is integral with the barrel". This makes it distinct from the other types of handgun, such as the revolver, which has multiple chambers within a rotating cylinder that is separately aligned with a single barrel; and the derringer, which is a short pocket gun often with multiple single-shot barrels and no reciprocating action. The 18 U.S. Code § 921 legally defines the term "pistol" as "a weapon originally designed, made, and intended to fire a projectile (bullet) from one or more barrels when held in one hand, and having: a chamber(s) as an integral part(s) of, or permanently aligned with, the bore(s); and a short stock designed to be gripped by one hand at an angle to and extending below the line of the bore(s)", which includes derringers but excludes revolvers.

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Revolver

Colt Single Action Army

A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six cartridges, before needing to be reloaded, revolvers are commonly called six shooters or sixguns. Due to their rotating cylinder mechanism, they may also be called wheel guns.

Before firing, cocking the revolver's hammer partially rotates the cylinder, indexing one of the cylinder chambers into alignment with the barrel, allowing the bullet to be fired through the bore. By sequentially rotating through each chamber, the revolver allows the user to fire multiple times until having to reload the gun, unlike older single-shot firearms that had to be reloaded after each shot. The hammer cocking in nearly all revolvers is manually driven and can be cocked either by the user using the thumb to directly pull back the hammer (as in single-action), or via internal linkage relaying the force of the trigger-pull (as in double-action), or both (as in double-action/single-action).

Some rare revolver models can utilize the blowback of the preceding shot to automatically cock the hammer and index the next chamber, although these self-loading revolvers (known as automatic revolvers, despite technically being semi-automatic) never gained any widespread usage.

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Rifle

Names of parts of the M1 Garand rifle, World War II era, from US Army field manual

A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall.[1][2][3] In keeping with their focus on accuracy,[4] rifles are typically designed to be held with both hands and braced firmly against the shooter's shoulder via a buttstock for stability during shooting. Rifles have been used in warfare, law enforcement, hunting and target shooting sports.

The term was originally rifled gun, with the verb rifle referring to the early modern machining process of creating grooves with cutting tools. By the 20th century, the weapon had become so common that the modern noun rifle is now often used for any log-shaped handheld ranged weapon designed for well-aimed discharge activated by a trigger.

Like all typical firearms, a rifle's projectile (bullet) is propelled by the contained deflagration of a combustible propellant compound (originally black powder and now nitrocellulose and other smokeless powders), although other propulsive means are used, such as compressed air in air rifles, which are popular for vermin control, small game hunting, competitive target shooting and casual sport shooting.

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Empathy Vs Sympathy

The difference between sympathy and empathy

Of the two words, empathy is the more recent entry into the English language. Sympathy was in use for almost 300 years before empathy’s first written record in the nineteenth century. You might notice that both words contain -pathy, and that’s what makes them sort of similar – they share the same Greek root word pathos, which means “feelings” or “emotion,” but also “suffering” or “calamity.” But while both words deal with emotions, they are still very far from being synonyms.

What is empathy? The Greek phrase that lends empathy its meaning is “passion from feelings or emotion.” Most people know empathy has to do with understanding and sharing the experiences, feelings, and emotions of another person. However, empathy can also refer to using imagination to ascribe your feelings or attitudes to an object, such as a painting or a natural object.

What is sympathy? Sympathy derives from Greek words meaning “with feeling.” The word is most commonly used to describe the way we share someone else’s feelings, especially feelings of sorrow or trouble. Hence, greeting cards given to mourning families are called sympathy cards. Sympathy can also refer to the sense of harmony between people with the same tastes, disposition, or opinions. When a person feels sympathy toward a cause or an organization, he has feelings of approval, loyalty, or support.

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“Empathy” vs “Sympathy”: Which Word To Use And When

The terms empathy and sympathy are often confused, and with good reason. Both of the words deal with the relationship a person has to the feelings and experiences of another person. One involves feeling a certain way about a person, and the other involves feeling the same way that another person does.

What is the difference between sympathy and empathy?

Both sympathy and empathy have roots in the Greek term páthos meaning “suffering, feeling.” Sympathy is the older of the two terms. It entered English in the mid-1500s with a very broad meaning of “agreement or harmony in qualities between things or people.” Since then, the term has come to be used in a more specific way.

Nowadays, sympathy is largely used to convey commiseration, pity, or feelings of sorrow for someone else who is experiencing misfortune. This sense is often seen in the category of greeting cards labeled “sympathy” that specialize in messages of support and sorrow for others in a time of need. You feel bad for them … but you don’t know what it is like to be in their shoes.

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What's the difference between 'empathy'? & 'sympathy'

Though the words appear in similar contexts, they have different meanings.

Sympathy is a feeling of sincere concern for someone who is experiencing something difficult or painful. Empathy involves actively sharing in the person’s emotional experience.

Sympathy and empathy both involve feelings of concern for someone, but empathy goes beyond a feeling of concern to include an active sharing in the suffering person’s emotional experience.

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Difference Between Empathy & Sympathy - what about Compassion?

Empathy and Sympathy are two closely related but distinct emotions. Sympathy involves feeling sorry or pity for someone, whereas empathy involves understanding and sharing someone’s feelings. Sympathy is more of an external expression of emotion, while empathy is an internal emotional response.

Simply put, sympathy is feeling for someone, while empathy is feeling with someone. Understanding the difference between these two emotions can help us communicate and connect with others on a deeper level. The words sympathy, empathy, and compassion are closely related terms that are often used interchangeably. 

However, they are different. The definitions of these terms often demonstrate different aspects of intersubjective experience:

• Empathy is the ability to intimately feel and see another’s suffering, not just through understanding what they are going through but by being able to put themselves in another’s shoes. When expressing empathy, a person may use their personal experience to relate to another’s suffering.
• Sympathy is an emotion experienced in reaction to something that happens to others. When someone understands what another person is going through and feels sorrow or pity toward them, this is sympathy.
• Compassion means ‘to suffer together,’ which is an expression of caring and warmth. Someone who expresses compassion recognizes the pain in another person and is motivated to help them.

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How does sympathy differ from empathy? And what about compassion?

When a friend is suffering from some misfortune, loss, or stressful experience, we want to be able to commiserate in a way that is both helpful and supportive. Whether it’s a physical problem, like a health issue, or an emotional problem, like a breakup from a romantic partner, how do we respond in a way that emanates warmth and understanding? Do we offer sympathy or empathy?

What's Empathy? Empathy and sympathy are similar, yet they differ in how they can make one who is suffering feel. Empathy is a sense that you can understand and share the feelings of another. This "shared" experience can generate a profound understanding because you attempt to know what it’s like to “walk in their shoes.” What's Sympathy? Sympathy is a feeling of pity or sorrow for someone else's misfortune. Sympathy may not be received as well as empathy, but sorrowful sympathy can offer some warmth and support in the face of someone else’s misfortune—if administered with sensitivity and sincerity.

What About Compassion? Compassion is more of an attitude, a way of thinking—it's a tendency to care for others and humanity, even from a distance. Compassion may reach further than a single individual potentially to masses of people with a particular ailment, experience, or hardship. Although compassion is generally good for us and others, health workers, nurses, and other service personnel can sometimes suffer compassion fatigue because caring for others, emotionally or physically, can be exhausting. And this can hurt their well-being.

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Empathy

Empathy is generally described as the ability to take on other's perspective, to understand, feel, and possibly share and respond to their experience. There are more (sometimes conflicting) definitions of empathy that include but are not limited to social, cognitive, and emotional processes primarily concerned with understanding others.

Often times, empathy is considered to be a broad term and broken down into more specific concepts and types that include cognitive empathy, emotional (or affective) empathy, somatic empathy, and spiritual empathy. Empathy is still a topic of research. The major areas of research include the development of empathy, the genetics and neuroscience of empathy, cross-species empathy, and the impairment of empathy. Some researchers have made efforts to quantify empathy through different methods, such as from questionnaires where participants can fill out and then be scored on their answers.

The English word empathy is derived from the Ancient Greek ἐμπάθεια (empatheia, meaning "physical affection or passion"). That word derives from ἐν (en, "in, at") and πάθος (pathos, "passion" or "suffering"). Theodor Lipps adapted the German aesthetic term Einfühlung ("feeling into") to psychology in 1903  and Edward B. Titchener translated Einfühlung into English as "empathy" in 1909. In modern Greek εμπάθεια may mean, depending on context, prejudice, malevolence, malice, or hatred.

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Sympathy

Sympathy is the perception of, understanding of, and reaction to the distress or need of another life form.

According to philosopher David Hume, this sympathetic concern is driven by a switch in viewpoint from a personal perspective to the perspective of another group or individual who is in need. Hume explained that this is the case because "the minds of all men are similar in their feelings and operations" and that "the motion of one communicates itself to the rest" so that as "affections readily pass from one person to another… they beget correspondent movements."

Along with Hume, two other men, Adam Smith and Arthur Schopenhauer, worked to better define sympathy. Hume was mostly known for epistemology, Smith was known for his economic theory, and Schopenhauer for the philosophy of the will. American professor Brené Brown views sympathy as a way to stay out of touch with one's emotions. They attempt to make sense out of the situation and see it from the person receiving the sympathy's perception.

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Compassion

Compassion is a social feeling that motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental, or emotional pains of others and themselves. Compassion is sensitivity to the emotional aspects of the suffering of others. When based on notions such as fairness, justice, and interdependence, it may be considered partially rational in nature.

Compassion involves "feeling for another" and is a precursor to empathy, the "feeling as another" capacity (as opposed to sympathy, the "feeling towards another"). In common parlance, active compassion is the desire to alleviate another's suffering.

Compassion involves allowing ourselves to be moved by suffering to help alleviate and prevent it. An act of compassion is one that is intended to be helpful. Other virtues that harmonize with compassion include patience, wisdom, kindness, perseverance, warmth, and resolve. It is often, though not inevitably, the key component in altruism. The difference between sympathy and compassion is that the former responds to others' suffering with sorrow and concern whereas the latter responds with warmth and care. An article in Clinical Psychology Review suggests that "compassion consists of three facets: noticing, feeling, and responding".

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Types of Shellfish

Lobster

Lobsters are malacostracans of the family Nephropidae (synonym Homaridae). They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, including the first pair, which are usually much larger than the others. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important and are often one of the most profitable commodities in the coastal areas they populate.

Commercially important species include two species of Homarus from the northern Atlantic Ocean and scampi (which look more like a shrimp, or a "mini lobster")—the Northern Hemisphere genus Nephrops and the Southern Hemisphere genus Metanephrops.

Although several other groups of crustaceans have the word "lobster" in their names, the unqualified term "lobster" generally refers to the clawed lobsters of the family Nephropidae. Clawed lobsters are not closely related to spiny lobsters or slipper lobsters, which have no claws (chelae), or to squat lobsters. The most similar living relatives of clawed lobsters are the reef lobsters and the three families of freshwater crayfish.

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Oyster

Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not all oysters, are in the superfamily Ostreoidea.

Some types of oysters are commonly consumed (cooked or raw), and in some locales, they are regarded as a delicacy. Some types of pearl oysters are harvested for the pearl produced within the mantle. Others such as the translucent Windowpane oysters, are harvested for their shells.

The word oyster comes from Old French oistre, and first appeared in English during the 14th century. The French derived from the Latin ostrea, the feminine form of ostreum, which is the latinisation of the Ancient Greek ὄστρεον (ostreon) 'oyster'. Compare ὀστέον (osteon) 'bone'

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Clam

Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two shells of equal size connected by two adductor muscles and have a powerful burrowing foot. They live in both freshwater and marine environments; in salt water they prefer to burrow down into the mud and the turbidity of the water required varies with species and location; the greatest diversity of these is in North America.

Clams in the culinary sense do not live attached to a substrate (whereas oysters and mussels do) and do not live near the bottom (whereas scallops do). In culinary usage, clams are commonly eaten marine bivalves, as in clam digging and the resulting soup, clam chowder. Many edible clams such as palourde clams are ovoid or triangular; however, razor clams have an elongated parallel-sided shell, suggesting an old-fashioned straight razor.

Some clams have life cycles of only one year, while at least one has been aged to over 500 years old. All clams have two calcareous shells or valves joined near a hinge with a flexible ligament and all are filter feeders.

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Shrimp

A shrimp (pl.: shrimp (US) or shrimps (UK)) is a crustacean (a form of shellfish) with an elongated body and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – typically belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are also referred to as "shrimp".

More narrow definitions may be restricted to Caridea, to smaller species of either group or to only the marine species. Under a broader definition, shrimp may be synonymous with prawn, covering stalk-eyed swimming crustaceans with long, narrow muscular tails (abdomens), long whiskers (antennae), and slender legs. Any small crustacean which resembles a shrimp tends to be called one. They swim forward by paddling with swimmerets on the underside of their abdomens, although their escape response is typically repeated flicks with the tail driving them backwards very quickly. Crabs and lobsters have strong walking legs, whereas shrimp have thin, fragile legs which they use primarily for perching. Shrimp are widespread and abundant. There are thousands of species adapted to a wide range of habitats. They can be found feeding near the seafloor on most coasts and estuaries, as well as in rivers and lakes. To escape predators, some species flip off the seafloor and dive into the sediment. They usually live from one to seven years. Shrimp are often solitary, though they can form large schools during the spawning season.

They play important roles in the food chain and are an important food source for larger animals ranging from fish to whales. The muscular tails of many shrimp are edible to humans, and they are widely caught and farmed for human consumption. Commercial shrimp species support an industry worth 50 billion dollars a year and in 2010 the total commercial production of shrimp was nearly 7 million tonnes. Shrimp farming became more prevalent during the 1980s, particularly in China, and by 2007 the harvest from shrimp farms exceeded the capture of wild shrimp. There are significant issues with excessive bycatch when shrimp are captured in the wild, and with pollution damage done to estuaries when they are used to support shrimp farming. Many shrimp species are small as the term shrimp suggests, about 2 cm (0.79 in) long, but some shrimp exceed 25 cm (9.8 in). Larger shrimp are more likely to be targeted commercially and are often referred to as prawns, particularly in the Commonwealth of Nations and former British colonies.

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Mussel

Mussel (/ˈmʌsəl/) is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.

The word "mussel" is frequently used to mean the bivalves of the marine family Mytilidae, most of which live on exposed shores in the intertidal zone, attached by means of their strong byssal threads ("beard") to a firm substrate. A few species (in the genus Bathymodiolus) have colonised hydrothermal vents associated with deep ocean ridges.

In most marine mussels the shell is longer than it is wide, being wedge-shaped or asymmetrical. The external colour of the shell is often dark blue, blackish, or brown, while the interior is silvery and somewhat nacreous. The common name "mussel" is also used for many freshwater bivalves, including the freshwater pearl mussels. Freshwater mussel species inhabit lakes, ponds, rivers, creeks, canals, and they are classified in a different subclass of bivalves, despite some very superficial similarities in appearance.

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Crayfish

Crayfish[a] are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some species are found in brooks and streams, where fresh water is running, while others thrive in swamps, ditches, and paddy fields. Most crayfish cannot tolerate polluted water, although some species, such as Procambarus clarkii, are hardier. Crayfish feed on animals and plants, either living or decomposing, and detritus.

The term "crayfish" is applied to saltwater species in some countries. The name "crayfish" comes from the Old French word escrevisse (Modern French écrevisse).[2][3] The word has been modified to "crayfish" by association with "fish" (folk etymology).[2] The largely American variant "crawfish" is similarly derived.

Some kinds of crayfish are known locally as lobsters, crawdads, mudbugs and yabbies. In the Eastern United States, "crayfish" is more common in the north, while "crawdad" is heard more in central and southwestern regions, and "crawfish" farther south, although considerable overlaps exist.

The study of crayfish is called astacology.

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Crab

Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the thorax (brachyura means "short tail" in Greek). They live in all the world's oceans, in freshwater, and on land, are generally covered with a thick exoskeleton, and have a single pair of pincers on each arm. They first appeared during the Jurassic Period.

Crabs are generally covered with a thick exoskeleton, composed primarily of highly mineralized chitin. Behind their pair of chelae (claws) are six walking legs and then two swimming legs. The crab breathes through gills on its underside; gills must be at least moist to work.

Crabs vary in size from the pea crab, a few millimeters wide, to the Japanese spider crab, with a leg span up to 4 m (13 ft). Several other groups of crustaceans with similar appearances – such as king crabs and porcelain crabs – are not true crabs, but have evolved features similar to true crabs through a process known as carcinisation.

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Prawn

Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (members of the order of decapods), some of which are edible.

The term prawn is used particularly in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Commonwealth nations, for large swimming crustaceans or shrimp, especially those with commercial significance in the fishing industry. Shrimp in this category often belong to the suborder Dendrobranchiata. In North America, the term is used less frequently, typically for freshwater shrimp. The terms shrimp and prawn themselves lack scientific standing. Over the years, the way they are used has changed, and in contemporary usage, the terms are almost interchangeable.

Shrimp Vs Prawn - The terms shrimp and prawn are common names, not scientific names. They are vernacular or colloquial terms, which lack the formal definition of scientific terms. They are not taxa, but are terms of convenience with little circumscriptional significance. There is no reason to avoid using the terms shrimp or prawn when convenient, but it is important not to confuse them with the names or relationships of actual taxa.

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Scallop

Scallop (/ˈskɒləp, ˈskæləp/) is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related families within the superfamily Pectinoidea, which also includes the thorny oysters.

Scallops are a cosmopolitan family of bivalves found in all of the world's oceans, although never in fresh water. They are one of the very few groups of bivalves to be primarily "free-living", with many species capable of rapidly swimming short distances and even migrating some distance across the ocean floor. A small minority of scallop species live cemented to rocky substrates as adults, while others attach themselves to stationary or rooted objects such as seagrass at some point in their lives by means of a filament they secrete called a byssal thread. The majority of species, however, live recumbent on sandy substrates, and when they sense the presence of a predator such as a starfish, they may attempt to escape by swimming swiftly but erratically through the water using jet propulsion created by repeatedly clapping their shells together. Scallops have a well-developed nervous system, and unlike most other bivalves all scallops have a ring of numerous simple eyes situated around the edge of their mantles.

Many species of scallops are highly prized as a food source, and some are farmed as aquaculture. The word "scallop" is also applied to the meat of these bivalves, the adductor muscle, that is sold as seafood. The brightly coloured, symmetric, fan-shaped shells of scallops with their radiating and often fluted ornamentation are valued by shell collectors and have been used since ancient times as motifs in art, architecture, and design. Owing to their widespread distribution, scallop shells are a common sight on beaches and are often brightly coloured, making them a popular object to collect among beachcombers and vacationers. The shells also have a significant place in popular culture.

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Is it better to eat several small meals or fewer larger ones?

Many of us may have heard that eating several small meals daily can help improve metabolism and achieve optimal health. However, evidence to support this claim is mixed. In this Honest Nutrition feature, we take an in-depth look at the current research behind meal frequency and discuss the benefits of small frequent meals compared with fewer, larger ones

It is widely accepted in modern culture that people should divide their daily diet into three large meals — breakfast, lunch, and dinner — for optimal health. This belief primarily stems from culture and early epidemiological studiesTrusted Source.

In recent years, however, experts have begun to change their perspective, suggesting that eating smaller, more frequent meals may be best for preventing chronic disease and weight loss. As a result, more people are changing their eating patterns in favor of eating several small meals throughout the day. Those who advocate for eating small, frequent meals suggest that this eating pattern can:

• improve satiety, or feeling full after a meal
• increase metabolism and body composition
• prevent dips in energy
• stabilize blood sugar
• prevent overeating.

While a few studies support these recommendations, others show no significant benefit. In fact, some research suggests it may be more beneficial to stick with three larger meals.

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Is breakfast really the most important meal of the day?

Breakfast is often described as the most important meal of the day, but is skipping this morning meal really detrimental to health? Newer research suggests this may not be as bad as many of us believe. In this Honest Nutrition feature, we take an in-depth look at breakfast and whether skipping it is really harmful.

Breakfast literally means “to break the fast.” It is the first meal of the day after a stretch of not eating overnight. Breakfast earned its title as the most important meal of the day back in the 1960s after American nutritionist Adelle Davis suggested that to keep fit and avoid obesity, one should “eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.” Though a recent study of 30,000 adults found that 15% regularly skipped breakfast, many still believe it to be the most important meal of the day. Breakfast provides the body with important nutrients, to start the day feeling energized and nourished. Many also believe that it can promote weight loss. But is breakfast really the most important meal of the day?

As with most things in nutrition, the answer is complex. While some research suggests that skipping breakfast is not harmful, other research suggests otherwise. Eating regular meals and snacks, including breakfast, allows for more opportunities throughout the day to give the body the energy and nutrients it needs to function optimally. However, as long as a person can fit their nutrients in during other meals, breakfast may not be the most critical meal of the day.

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Easy To Grow Plants To Brighten Up Your Office

If you’re working from home or heading to the office each day, one thing remains certain: an organized, clean and friendly workspace is a great avenue for productivity and can help to improve overall job satisfaction too.

Nothing brightens up an office or work area like plants, and especially if they are low maintenance and able to grow even without getting as much sunlight as some others. Our list today features some of the easiest plants to grow irrespective of if the plants are on a desk or in a darker corner somewhere.

Getting your hands on any of these four interesting plants is sure to offer an instant mood boost and will add to the inviting feeling best suited to any work environment:

• English Ivy
• Bromeliad
• Peace Lily
• Dracaena

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