Smokey the Bear

Smoking causes many problems. The obvious ones are the harm smokers are doing to their bodies, as well as others'. Then, there are the other social problems resulting from smoking, such as litter. And finally, the damage that it does to the environment; deforestation in order to grow tobacco, the chemicals released in the air, etc. And if you follow the trail of destruction, you will probably link the polar bears' near extinction to smokers.

What's funny though is that smokers might probably tell you that they can identify with the plight of the endangered animals. Actually, there are quite a few similarities between them.

Ice caps are melting and the polar bears' natural habitat is slowly shrinking - Smoking is no longer allowed in many public places.

Many endangered animals can only survive in captivity, in the sanctuary of zoos, behind bars and glass - Smokers can only smoke within "yellow boxes".

With numbers dropping, endangered animals are finding it hard to find a mate to procreate - Male smokers have lower sperm count, 'nuff said. (Debatable)

Singapore Work Cult

In the news recently was a mega-church group that decided to invest about $280 million to "build, lease and operate an integrated civic, cultural, retail and entertainment hub". That's pretty amazing if you ask me. It got me curious and I began reading what I can find on the Internet on such mega-churches in Singapore.

I know what you might be thinking. But I'm not going into any discussion about whether a religious body should spend so much on a commercial endeavour.

But I do want to tell you about a dinner and dance I attended last week. Round about midway through the event, the hosts asked all of us to get up on our feet and to start dancing. But it wasn't like a footloose-dance-as-you-like kind of dance.

In fact, it was like a great gathering of free-loving hippies, holding hands and skipping around the table, punctuated by flinging of table napkins and doing hand motions similar to the Great Singapore Workout exercise.

It was all very surreal. But it was helluva funny. And for some strange reason, it felt almost religious at that moment.

Peter, Bjorn and John - Young Folks

This is one of my favourite songs from the Wichita Recording label. Peter, Bjorn and John, if you haven't already guessed, are Swedes.

Ole! Ole! Ole!

It's been about two weeks since my wife and I came back from our Europe trip. We spent about 11 days in a packaged tour, travelling from Portugal and across Spain. The trip took us from Lisbon to Caceres, then to Madrid, Toledo, Seville, Granada, Alicante, Valencia and to finally to Barcelona.

It sounds daunting, I know. And to be honest, for someone who don't like travelling much, I was afraid it might turn out to be a nightmare. But, to be honest, those 11 days flew by really quickly. I remembered transiting in Istanbul for four hours on the first day. The next thing I know, we were back in Istanbul again, transiting for five hours on the last day.

I have forgotten just how tough packaged tours can be. The pace is not for the faint-hearted. Also, I have never crossed so many timezones in my life. We must have adjusted our watches five or six times during the entire trip.

I will probably try to write some of the more interesting stuff that happened along the way. But in the meantime, you'll just have to settle for the photos I've taken during the trip. Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/darren.ng.yh/PortugalSpain

Electric Fans in Hawker Centres

As most true-blue Singaporeans should be, I love good food. And all the better when it's served in our affordable hawker centres.

Eating at hawker centres used to be a hot and humid affair given our weather, so it was a relief when relevant authorities started installing fans at strategic locations in our eating places.

However, I soon realised that the industrial-strength fans are blowing at levels that could rival Hurricane Katrina wind-speeds. Of course, I exaggerate here. But the point I'm making is, it is rather difficult for patrons to eat properly. Papers cups are constantly threatening to tip over, tissue packets (which we all love) are leaping off tables, hair plastered to our oily faces and sometimes oily food.

And even if we can put up with that, there is the aftermath. Hawkers are moving to disposable utensils. Styrofoam plates, plastic cutleries, paper cups, wooden chopsticks (and their accompanying plastic wrappers), and many more, are being blown off the tables onto the floors. You can imagine the mess.

While our cleaners are very dutiful, I can understand, during peak hours, it would be almost frustrating to mind not just tables but also floors.

I am wondering, would it be sensible perhaps, to simply turn down the level of power for these fans in question?

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This was first posted on the government's Reach website on 6 Sep 07.