Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Thursday, 26 December 2013
Lazy, Hazy, Days in Singapore
Lianhe Zaobao readers were asked to sum up 2013 in a Chinese character. According to reports, "Haze" was the winner; no surprises there!
Saturday, 20 March 2010
Tiger Tiger Burning Bright
Tiger claws are de rigeur amongst the superstitious and apparently readily available in several Singapore outlets. This disturbing piece of news was featured in the Straits Times today.
Just why one would wish to destroy a beautiful and endangered animal like a tiger simply to become the owner of a tiger claw amulet is beyond me.
Evidently 59 outlets were found to have been trading in tiger body parts last month and only seven claimed to have known anything about the trading ban. Such collective amnesia is hard to believe. Some 320 items were seized.
The government meantime continues to gets its claws intom the prickly subject of productivity. With the recession-proofing subsidies being phased out the emphasis is switching to innovation and increasing the productivity of Singaporeans.
Alongside this is the ongoing battle to get the birth rate up. The latest ploy is a combo meal which comes with a free card game. You have to be a couple, preferably married or about to be, for the game to be any fun according to the promotional advertising.
And even you are feeling so inclined after a straight flush, I have it on good authority that tiger will not be featuring on the combo menu.
Just why one would wish to destroy a beautiful and endangered animal like a tiger simply to become the owner of a tiger claw amulet is beyond me.
Evidently 59 outlets were found to have been trading in tiger body parts last month and only seven claimed to have known anything about the trading ban. Such collective amnesia is hard to believe. Some 320 items were seized.
The government meantime continues to gets its claws intom the prickly subject of productivity. With the recession-proofing subsidies being phased out the emphasis is switching to innovation and increasing the productivity of Singaporeans.
Alongside this is the ongoing battle to get the birth rate up. The latest ploy is a combo meal which comes with a free card game. You have to be a couple, preferably married or about to be, for the game to be any fun according to the promotional advertising.
And even you are feeling so inclined after a straight flush, I have it on good authority that tiger will not be featuring on the combo menu.
Sunday, 1 March 2009
Boozy Basoonists
"The charge M'Lud is that on August 31st, the accused was drunk in charge of his instrument"
An unlikely scenario? Perhaps not, according to the revelation this week that binge drinking amongst members of Britain's leading orchestras is a serious problem. Reportedly things have got so bad that there was "an incident in which a percussionist had fallen off the back of a high stage while drunk".
Now I know that in a recession the arts are almost amongst the first to suffer but up until now I thought it was only rock bands that took to the stage inebriated.
For some reason it appears that brass players drink more than other sections of the orchestra. Having tried to master the trombone as a teenager I can understand the frustrations endured by this section of the orchestra but it didn't turn me into a raging alcoholic.
There has no doubt been a corresponding rise in sales in strong mints wherever British orchestras are located. A bass player with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (a fitting title, in the context of this story) tells of a fellow musician who attempted to mask his habit with this confectionery and whose playing got "worse and worse".
To the best of my knowledge this affliction has yet to strike Singapore's classical music scene. I shall however be listening carefully for the sounds of Mozart on Speed.
An unlikely scenario? Perhaps not, according to the revelation this week that binge drinking amongst members of Britain's leading orchestras is a serious problem. Reportedly things have got so bad that there was "an incident in which a percussionist had fallen off the back of a high stage while drunk".
Now I know that in a recession the arts are almost amongst the first to suffer but up until now I thought it was only rock bands that took to the stage inebriated.
For some reason it appears that brass players drink more than other sections of the orchestra. Having tried to master the trombone as a teenager I can understand the frustrations endured by this section of the orchestra but it didn't turn me into a raging alcoholic.
There has no doubt been a corresponding rise in sales in strong mints wherever British orchestras are located. A bass player with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (a fitting title, in the context of this story) tells of a fellow musician who attempted to mask his habit with this confectionery and whose playing got "worse and worse".
To the best of my knowledge this affliction has yet to strike Singapore's classical music scene. I shall however be listening carefully for the sounds of Mozart on Speed.
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Making Compost And The Full Monty
The news from Singapore this week has been a mixed bag. The most scandalous headline has been the revelation that an expatriate male and his "Japanese looking" woman partner divested themselves of their clothes and walked unencumbered through the expat enclave of Holland Village.
Whatever drove them to think that their fellow diners would enjoy such 'entertainment' is beyond me. However the act clearly had its novelty value, as on the return journey (yes, not content with walking one way they then decided to retrace their steps) many of the local were ready with their cell phone and digital cameras to catch the action.
Quite apart from the fact that to doing the "Full Monty" in a public space in Singapore is regarded as lewd act and carries a court appearance with it, the couple in question clearly had not read the second article that caught my eye in this week's Straits Times - the increasingly prevalence of skin cancer.
New Zealanders and Australians do not need to be reminded of this deadly skin disease but many Singaporeans are blissfully unaware of the consequences even though more and more of them are falling victim to it.
While on the subject of victims, the Sunday paper today covered do-it-yourself tips to help locals weather the worst effects of the recession.
At first glance several of these DIY activities provide tremendous possibilities.
After I have finished making my own muesli bars I may wish to shave my head. To do this I need to but a set of hair clippers priced between $45 and $119 - which rather defeats the purpose really as I could buy a packet of muesli bars on special at NTUC for $4 and my hairdresser would gladly shave my head (what's left of it to shave) for $20.
Other practical advice included 'how to make a cake' and in the section below it, 'how to make compost', presumably using the cake in question after it fails to rise in the oven.
Jesting aside, it is revealing that such advice is needed as I learn to make a cake by age six and the compost heap at the bottom of my childhood garden was a source of mystery, earth worms and pungent odours.
I realise of course that many Singaporeans rarely cook and making their own cakes and muesli bars is something they would not have considered before these hard economic times set in.
As for the compost making, I just hope my condo neighbours haven't been reading the same article and are not out measuring our common access way for a plastic bin.
Whatever drove them to think that their fellow diners would enjoy such 'entertainment' is beyond me. However the act clearly had its novelty value, as on the return journey (yes, not content with walking one way they then decided to retrace their steps) many of the local were ready with their cell phone and digital cameras to catch the action.
Quite apart from the fact that to doing the "Full Monty" in a public space in Singapore is regarded as lewd act and carries a court appearance with it, the couple in question clearly had not read the second article that caught my eye in this week's Straits Times - the increasingly prevalence of skin cancer.
New Zealanders and Australians do not need to be reminded of this deadly skin disease but many Singaporeans are blissfully unaware of the consequences even though more and more of them are falling victim to it.
While on the subject of victims, the Sunday paper today covered do-it-yourself tips to help locals weather the worst effects of the recession.
At first glance several of these DIY activities provide tremendous possibilities.
After I have finished making my own muesli bars I may wish to shave my head. To do this I need to but a set of hair clippers priced between $45 and $119 - which rather defeats the purpose really as I could buy a packet of muesli bars on special at NTUC for $4 and my hairdresser would gladly shave my head (what's left of it to shave) for $20.
Other practical advice included 'how to make a cake' and in the section below it, 'how to make compost', presumably using the cake in question after it fails to rise in the oven.
Jesting aside, it is revealing that such advice is needed as I learn to make a cake by age six and the compost heap at the bottom of my childhood garden was a source of mystery, earth worms and pungent odours.
I realise of course that many Singaporeans rarely cook and making their own cakes and muesli bars is something they would not have considered before these hard economic times set in.
As for the compost making, I just hope my condo neighbours haven't been reading the same article and are not out measuring our common access way for a plastic bin.
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