Fun and futile things to do

1. Vote

From The Star: Youth voters eager, but unsure of their choice:

PENANG: Young and first-time voters are eager to exercise their right but are still undecided about their choice of candidates and political parties.

I may not be a professional voter, being a first-timer myself, but I've always thought of myself as a pretty logical person. This leads me to believe that I can give logical tips on choosing who to vote:

• Pre-election period is always full of hope, sunshine and promises that may or may not come true. Don't get sucked in. Try and remember if the candidates actually came through after the last election.
• Don't forget that elections are usually about choosing the lesser of all evils. Though you may not like what one candidate did, try not to vote for the opposition out of spite. Always remember the policies that they're touting. This is especially important for Muslim women.
• The incumbent isn't necessarily the best choice.
• Try to read coverage other than the usual newspapers, i.e. The Star, NST and etc. Reading other newspapers will help you think critically, though I don't advise that you depend on any one newspaper.

2. Sleeveface

From BBC: Picturing yourself as a rock icon:

Just when you thought vinyl records were being consigned to the dustbin of musical history, something comes along to make them relevant again.

Sleeveface started in a Cardiff bar but is fast becoming an internet phenomenon requiring just a record sleeve, a camera and big dollops of imagination.

Put the sleeve in front of your face, strike the pose of the rock god you've chosen, and get yourself photographed.

Err, that's it. It's easy but it helps if you have a big record collection.

Go have a look at the photos on BBC. It's quite cool. I wanna do one now.

3. Fight for your rights to have sex when you want to.

From BBC: Manila women fight contraception ban:

Twenty of Manila's poorest residents have filed a legal challenge against what they say is a ban on contraception.

The group - 16 women and four of their husbands - are fighting a policy which they say denies them access to condoms, to the pill and other effective forms of family planning.

This has had a devastating effect on their lives, they argue, causing unwanted pregnancies, pushing them further into poverty and harming their health and wellbeing.

More than 80% of Filipinos are Roman Catholics and the Church is hugely influential. Abortion is banned and President Gloria Arroyo openly backs the Church's anti-contraception stance.

The policy at the centre of the controversy was introduced in February 2000 by the then Manila City Mayor Jose Atienza, a staunch Catholic.

He backed "natural" family planning - a less reliable method which involves couples not having sex when the woman is at her most fertile - and called the use of alternative contraceptives "a very, very destructive practice which ruins Filipino values".

The policy has hit poorest people the hardest, they say, forcing people to choose between a packet of pills or food for their families.

Several of the petitioners have had many more children than they wanted - some at the expense of their health - because they could not afford to pay for contraception.

The policy also exposed women to violence from husbands who did not want to abstain from sex, the rights groups found in an earlier report, and meant more women were resorting to illegal and unsafe abortions.

No seriously.