Singapore’s ruling party defends ‘robotic’ youth wing video
Singapore: Singapore’s ruling party has defended a promotional video produced by its youth wing that went viral after being lambasted online for its amateurish quality and for sounding “robotic”.
The five-minute YouTube video clip, titled “Re-ignite the Passion of Servant Leadership”, featured youth leaders of the long-ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) espousing a series of motivational messages for other party members. Some appeared to be reading from a script placed on either side of the camera. One segment featured a woman and a man clad in the all-white party uniform and holding miniature toy guitars, as others around them took turns to complete a sentence: “We must empower our members… to make a positive impact… to those around us”. In a statement, the PAP, which has ruled Singapore for 55 years, said the effort by members of the Young PAP was “genuine and sincere”.
“We did not expect that our humble (raw and unpolished) in-house production would go viral like this,” it said in a Facebook post yesterday. It said the video represented the Young PAP’s “spirit of activism – to serve our nation and to care for our fellow Singaporeans”. Online, the video continued to draw a steady stream of derision today. It was first uploaded on the PAP YouTube channel on April 23 and has since logged more than 66,000 hits.
“And here kids, you find yourself a bunch of brainwashed young adults. They even sound like robots. Amazing,” wrote local celebrity comedian Hirzi Zulkiflie on the Must Be Singapore Facebook page, which had shared the video. “Sad to see youth talking like parrots, reading script and with bad diction/pronunciation,” wrote another Facebook user. The video is not the first involving the PAP and the government to be mocked by the city-state’s increasingly vocal online community in recent years.
In 2007, a video featuring senior officials from media regulator the Media Development Authority rapping attracted tens of thousands of viewers on YouTube, many bemused by their attempt to look hip. Off-the-cuff gaffes by politicians including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong have also been turned into Internet memes by bloggers. With Singapore’s mainstream media perceived as pro-government, citizens are increasingly venting their anger on social media and independent websites. The PAP, in power since 1959, suffered its worst showing yet in a 2011 general election following widespread discontent over immigration, the cost of living and a widening income gap. (AFP)
Bill says Hillary not flesh-eating zombie post Rove jibe
Washington: Former US President Bill Clinton has said wife Hillary is not a flesh-eating zombie. The comments from Bill came as he mocked Karl Rove’s recent claim that Hillary may have brain damage.
Rove invoked a previous right-wing conspiracy theory about Hillary’s December 2012 fall When asked about Rove’s comments at a fiscal conference, Bill said consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds According to the Huffington Post, Bill said that first they say she faked her concussion; now they say she’s auditioning for a part on ”The Walking Dead’! ”The Walking Dead” is a popular horror TV series depicting a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by zombies who hunt and eat humans, the report said.
According to the report, last year when Hillary hit her head in a fall near the end of her tenure as Secretary of State, a number of prominent conservatives suggested that she faked the injury to avoid testifying before Congress on the attack in Benghazi, Libya. (ANI)
Now, a virtual pet to help obese kids lose weight
Washington: If your kids are gaining weight because they spend more time indoor playing video games instead of playing outdoor, you may soon turn technology on its head – all thanks to a virtual pet designed to induce kids to physical activities. The pet – an obese virtual dog – and an overall game platform has been developed by researchers from the University of Georgia in the US.
Children allowed to interact with the virtual pet averaged 1.09 hours of additional physical activity per day when compared to the group without the pet.
One of the goals for designing the pet was to make sure that it did not just have a “cool effect”, said Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, an assistant professor of advertising at Grady College, University of Georgia in the US.
“We really wanted them to integrate the virtual pet into their individual lives, their social lives and then bring it in as a part of their environment that enables them and encourages them to engage in physical activity,” she added.
The study involved 61 kids of ages 9-12. Participants set goals for the amount of physical activity they wanted to complete throughout the day over a course of three days. They were made to wear an activity monitor that would keep track of their activity.
Children were split into two groups but only one group was allowed to train, exercise and play with an obese, virtual dog. The children assigned to interact with the virtual pet were told that their physical activity would be used to improve the health of their individual dog, which they got to name and choose the colour of its collar.
The interaction with the pet as well as the goal setting and checking was done using a kiosk.
For the group with the virtual pet, if their goal had been met, their dog would give them a congratulatory message and allow them to use controls to cause the dog to perform a trick. If goals were not met, the dog would encourage them to participate in more physical activity to meet their goals.
“I really believe that emerging technology is able to help people make better decisions and make behavioral changes for the better,” Ahn said. (IANS)