educatewandie  -

by | § ¶ | trackbackWe Have A Winner!

Hearty congratulations to David who walks away with a brand new LAS Helmet with his submission for the first Togoparts Write-Out.

"I shall be brief about the ‘WHYs’ we have to avoid such dangers as many of you will have the same notions as I do. Life is doubtlessly precious, and many of us "Cycling Enthusiasts” understands clearly the freedom and joy we feel whenever we are on it. You have to admit this much that taking note of the points I stated to "Think safe at all times, in all ways" may not bring you longer life, but it certainly helps to prevent premature departures in life." read entire article..

Write Out #2 will commence once I finish coding and find enough cash or sponsors for the prizes.

Keywords: togoparts

by | § ¶ | trackbackVolunteer Trishaw Riders Wanted!

As part of this year's Senior Citizens Week, Joo Chiat CC and Siglap CC is jointly organising a trishaw ride for senior citizens from various nursing homes on the morning of 10 July 2005. Mr Chan Soo Sen, Minister of State for Education and MP for Joo Chiat will be the guest-of-honour for the event.

The route will pass through some of Singapore's more culturally rich areas eg. Little India and Chinatown, allowing the old folks to relieve the past and witness the changes that have taken place since. At the same time, it's to proactively reach out to elderly to promote a caring community, promote the welfare of the elderly in our community, and encourage the elderly to enjoy their golden years and continue to stay active.

The proposed route is as follows:
Engku Aman Road (Geylang Serai --- Malay Village) ---> Sims Avenue ---> Geylang Serai ---> Joo Chiat Road (Mosque) -----> Joo chiat Place ----> Tembeling Road (Kuan Im Tong Temple) --->Duku Road ---> Joo Chiat CC

Leg power volunteers are required to pedal these mean sleek singlespeed fully rigid touring machines This is your chance to bring some joy into the lives of these senior citizens, and at the same time experience what it's like to pedal a trishaw! Alternatively, you can volunteer to act as road marshalls.

There will be a familiarisation ride this coming weekend at 10am on the 3rd of July starting from outside THIS FASHION opposite Bugis Junction. Details on how to join in can be found here.

Keywords: cycling,trishaws

by | § ¶ | trackbackOur Untergang

Found via fellow plastician chlim01's blog.

"Given the lack of interest in history among Singapore's youth, I guess something like this was bound to happen sooner or later. Why do these students idolise Hitler? He's their HERO. He's handsome. He's good. He's decisive..."

The lack of interest is actively supported by the big money local/worldwide media as well. How else would you explain this?

Batman Returns Begins - Every freaking cinema, every freaking hour, every day.

Der Untergang - Orchard, 3.40pm.

by | § ¶ | trackbackStop it. Just Stop It.

Dear Mainstream Media,

Please stop shoving the hype about the IOC meeting and 2012 Olympic Host City announcement in July down our throats anymore. We are sick and tired of reading, watching and hearing about yet another fleet of luxury cars being launched for VIPs (Didn't you do exactly the same type of report years ago for other major meetings like the WTO ministerial?), we are tired about reading, watching and hearing superlatives about the 3 minute trailer that had a reported budget of over $400k but wanted actors to work for free.

Give it up and stop wasting airtime proclaiming how this is the 'NEXT BIG THING' for Singapore. How it will boost the economy (possibly) and the local sports scene (good luck). The focus is and will always be on the candidate cities before the announcement and on the winner afterwards. The IOC will come (Say Polite Words About Singapore _TM) and go. The world's media will come and go. And no one will even remember us in a week's time. Do you remember where they announced the hosts for the 2008 Oympics? I didn't. I had to look it up in the press archives. It was Moscow by the way.

Perhaps you should try to hype this event to rest of the world instead. Because I only heard us ever mentioned on The Beeb fleetingly in the past six months back in the UK but my guess is they'd rather be reading, watching and hearing about the candidate cities instead. Starting making positive noises about actually becoming a Olympic Games host and maybe people will start to sit up and pay attention. If Athens can do it, so can we.

Thank you.
A weary observer

Keywords: IOC,2012,Hype

by | § ¶ | trackbackAh Beng Movie Outing!

Wah so Oneshift will be hosting a movie meetup this week as replacement for the FARCICAL US GP yesterday. The movie we're talking about here is the perennial ah beng favourite, Initial D. Plans are to meet up this Thursday at GV Grand for a screening there. I wonder if my ah lian is free....

Keywords: oneshift,movie

by | § ¶ | trackbackTGP Stuff

Writeout #1 ends in about nine hours. Writeout #2 will be hosted by yours truely sometime next week. I hope we've managed to get enough quality entries! Meanwhile, June's Brunch Ride is set for this Sunday. As always, we welcome our community members, their/our friends, and friends of their/our friends (and so on...) to hit the road with us. Although I'm back, the girl and I have more 'pressing' matters to attend to that morning so I'm skipping the ride.

Date: 19 June 2005
Time: 8.00am
Start: Toa Payoh Library
Distance: Approx 30km

An easy-paced ride exploring Toa Payoh, Balestier and end around town area. Actual details will be made known on the day. Roadies are more than welcome to join us. Off-roading is an option that will be activated ONLY if everyone coincidentally turns up on knobbies. Either way, it is a slack ride. If you want to chiong,
kindly go join the Thomson group or head to BT. As for the actual brunch, we will be eating by 1130hrs somewhere down town.

Most team members will have some form of spares, and repair & first aid kit. But as any amount & manner of incidents may occur (Murphy's Law) even on a relaxed ride, we encourage you to bring your own to complement the group's collective equipment. Do bring your helmet, and wear it! It is for your own protection and also a good habit to cultivate, which we are happy to encourage.

[Technorati: Singapore, Togoparts, Cycling]

Keywords: togoparts,brunch,ride

by | § ¶ | trackbackSo I Did The Tourist Thing

Well guess what. Because of a certain Queen who has to celebrate her birthday TWICE a year, London was overcrowded and understaffed on the exact Saturday that I visited. The entire circle line was down for 'essential maintenance work'. So I managed only 2 museums. Pathetic. British Museum's 'Views From Africa' was... underwhelming. So were the regular Greek/Roman/Persian loot on display. Except for the beautiful roof over the great hall and the Rosetta Stone, I'd suggest giving it a miss and go visit the Pergamon Museum in Berlin instead. I'm glad my girl agrees with me on this.

The Imperial War Museum on the other hand was great fun for me. Maybe it's to do with all the big boys toys and giant penises guns scattered all over the place but the exhibits were more engaging. 'The Children's War' special was particularly moving with its neat use of audio and video aids. By the time I left Lambeth North station, it was time to collect the bags and get on the bus.

I still have no love for London.

Keywords: london,museum

by | § ¶ | trackbackWhat's New?

Back home in hot humid and sticky Singapore.

by | § ¶ | trackbackDoing The Tourist Thing

Frida Khalo, she with the unibrow and moustache is on at Tate Modern while this year's Turner Prize - the prize for creating the most pretentious pieces of junk that is supposed to pass off as art these days - nominees are at Tate Britain. But they do have Turner's works too so maybe I'll go there.

Also on my list is the "Views From Africa" exhibit at the British Museum, "The Children's War" at the Imperial War Museum and primary school art at the National Gallery.

5 museums and galleries in 5 hours is not only impossible, but it's probably an insult to all the works on display with the exception of the Turner Prize bullshit of course. So I'll have to pick and choose quite carefully. And then there's maze of the underground to contend with as well...

So it's a long AFK from now till Monday.

Keywords: london,tourist

by | § ¶ | trackbackNostalgia Sia

While reading about the new BBS Documentary (3 DVDs worth of interviews), it occured to me that I should google up on the local BBS scene. And so I found a 1996 listing of local BBS numbers tucked away forgotten on someone's PacificNet homepage. . Actually that someone is Vivien Goh. You may have seen her on TV or in the press for her clowning and balloon sculpting. I never knew she was into BBSes.

Here are some which I think I've connected to.

System Name	Datel	Speed	S/w	Oper Hrs	SysOp(s)
After Dark BBS	581-3603	14.4 32b 42b	RACS	24h	Jeffrey Tan
Andromeda #1	744-9049	14.4 32b 42b	RACS	24h	Tan W. Leong
Bobcat	738-2509	28.8 34p 32t	PCBD	24h	Chan YK
Bobbylink	254-5076	16.8 H16 32b	RACS	24h	Bob Kuah
Bytes Exchange	283-0947	28.8 VFC 32b	RACS	24h	Sunny Koh
Cynosure	863-3500	28.8 34 42b	MAJO	24h	Chern Ann
D j vu BBS	292-2298	19.2 32t 42b	RACS	24h	Liu Weixiong
Excalibur BBS	286-7508	28.8 34 42b	MAXS	24h	Tony Wong
Flying Bananas	788-0943	14.4 32b 42b	RACS	24h	He Xianyong
Free of Charge	266-1716	14.4 32b 42b	PCBD	24h	Jonathan Koh
GraveYardShift	221-1801	14.4 32b 42b	EZYC	24h	Ferris Chia
Juno'sque BBS	472-4598	19.2 32t 42b	RACS	--	Samuel Setoh
Ngee Ann Text 1	469-3110	14.4 32b 42b	PCBD	24h	NP Staffs
Onyx BBS	754-0219	14.4 32b 42b	MAXS	24h	A Wong
SIA BBS 1	542-6365	14.4 32b 42b	GALC	24h	Poon Chiawee
T h o r BBS 1	344-3726	28.8 VFC 32b	RACS	24h	Ong W Lock
Winter Solstice	463-7387	14.4 32b 42b	MAXS	24h	Hsieh BC

These were the types of lists Sysops used to distribute amongst themselves or placed in the files section. Numbers were also advertised on rival boards' one-liner programs which were the blog tagboards of the time. Some had porn and pirated software, others had door games and still others had discussion forums and FidoNet links that actually had discussions going on in them. Cynosure even had fancy Windows GUI for theirs (but damn it was slow!). There were probably more numbers in my terminal dailing software. Heck, I even talked to some of them on the phone! I wonder where all the sysops and BBS visitors are now and what they're up to these days.

I came in so late into the BBS scene, I was probably attending the funeral. And everyone in attendence was too busy discovering teh internets to even deliver a proper eulogy befitting this granddaddy of online geek culture.

Keywords: singapore,bbs

by | § ¶ | trackbackPrincess Juliana International Airport

Seems like there are some new visitors here (hello all!), which makes me wonder what Wandie has been doing online these days. Oei you, time to start cultivating new hobbies.

Anyway, I have some newfound knowledge to share here.

(http://www.anniebees.com/Photos/SpottingSaintMaarten.htm)

 

I think many of us have seen the above picture before. But did you know that Princess Juliana International Airport, in St Maarten, has a aircraft runway that is touching water at both its ends?

(http://www.anniebees.com/Photos/SpottingSaintMaarten.htm)

 

Now, hmm ...... what if the pilot is short-sighted, or is a kan cheong spider?

For more pictures and video clips, go to:
http://www.anniebees.com/Photos/SpottingSaintMaarten.htm
http://www.big-boys.com/articles/stmarten.html

by | § ¶ | trackbackLe Cafe Scientifique

I wish I've found out about Cafe Scientifique earlier.

Cafe Scientifique is a place where, for the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology. Meetings have taken place in cafes, bars, restaurants and even theatres, but always outside a traditional academic context.

The Cafe Scientifique is a forum for the discussion of important and interesting scientific issues that is much more informal and accessible than a public lecture.

The Leicester CS holds its meetings every other Tuesday evening at the LCB Depot Coffee Heaven. It's already been graced by the likes of Sir Alec Jeffreys, inventor of DNA fingerprinting, Jack Bacon, a NASA scientist who worked on the ISS and many other interesting authors and academics.

They're talking about 'The Science of Middle Earth' tonight and cheem stuff like 'A Heretical Link Between General Relativity And Quantum Mechanics' in October. And I can't bloody attend any of them because I won't be here!

Now the obvious question is, will anyone be interested in starting Cafe Scientifique Singapore?

Keywords: science

by | § ¶ | trackbackGeneva Contention

Showing you the faces of the Abu Gharib prisoners being abused and who were not treated under the terms of the Geneva Conventions would be in violation of the said Geneva Conventions.

Somehow this reminded me of the recent "'We cannot tell you what the libelous remarks were because it would amount to repeating them" incident.

In other news, I've just found out that I'm no longer able to play FPS games without experiencing motion sickness (or was it the whacked news I've been reading about lately?). I need to go lie down before my stomach inverts itself. Welcome to bizarro world airlines, barf bags can be found in the seat pocket in front of you....

by | § ¶ | trackbackSummer Reading

I've finally bought the books that have been sitting in my Amazon basket for so long.

* On Photography - Susan Sontag
* Euclid in the Rainforest: A Story of Logic - Joseph Mazur
* The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
* Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
* Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Haruki Murakami

Oh yes. Two of Murakami's books written almost two decades apart. Should be interesting. I can only wonder how they read like in their untranslated original form. Incidentally, The Curious Incident.. is on the NLB's READ! Singapore reading list. Here's hoping it's more like Life of Pi than Vernon God Little. Euclid in the Rainforest was bought on a hunch while Sontag's On Photography has been on many a 'required reading' list everywhere for a very long time.

I had to resist from adding Pratchett's Going Postal because I can prolly get a decent copy from a 2nd hand store and Nanny Ogg's Cookbook because it's well.. it's probably too funny to be read safely in the kitchen with all those pointy knives and big boiling pots of soup. Other books that I skipped (this time) were The Rider, A Short History of Nearly Everything, Dr.Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation and Vibrator.

Keywords: reading,books

by | § ¶ | trackbackFrom Monday's ISIHAC

Alternate meanings to common words. Say them out loud. Hilarious.

Ivy - Roman for four
Hamas - What geordies use to bang nails in
Liability - Political skill
Cashew - Nut that makes you sneeze
Pistachio - ......
Dukedom - Aristocratic birth control contraption
Concurrent - An object that looks like a raisin but isn't
Comatose - What a beautician does to a lady with lots of body hair
Tally Ho - A loose woman who keeps count