Treasure Trove of Useless Information

"Uncover Singapore" and win $5,000

2009-10-09T12:09:00.001+08:00

The Library has launched a new mixed reality contest called "Uncover Singapore". Check it out at: http://blogs.nlb.gov.sg/uncoversingapore.

Uncover Singapore on Facebook

A Chat with my Barber

2009-09-14T08:46:00.006+08:00

I had an interesting conversation with the boss of a neighbourhood barber shop yesterday.

It started simply enough, when he asked, 'Boss, no plan today?'. I told him that today's plan was curry chicken and it triggered off his memories as a hawker running a stall opposite Changi Prison in the early 1980s, and curry chicken was one of his specialties.

But he gave up after 4 years to start his barber shop as the food business was too tiring for him. Nineteen years have passed since he moved to the neighbourhood and sixteen years since the shop opened.

Suddenly, he told me in a serious tone, 'You may be surprised, but quite a few Chinese shopkeepers here make use of jinn.'

'You can see them?' I asked.

'Yes, and my family too. You know what? They are scared of humans and they know who can see them and who cannot. Some Thai monks make use of them too.'

'How do they look like?' I asked.

'Oh, they look... different.'

'Do they have horns?' I probed further, ' At least that was how Incredible Tales portrayed a jinn.'

'No, no, no. They have very big nose...' he said, as he used his hands to describe the size of the jinn's nose, which looked like a football.

He then elaborated, 'I try not to enter shops with jinn, because they will either attack or run away because they are scared.'

I soon realised that the ambient noise in the barber shop came to a standstill, as if everyone else was trying to listen in to our little chat.

'OK, boss. Done. $10 only.'

That was my cue to go, I guess.

What if Singapore had a zombie infestation?

2009-07-28T16:29:00.005+08:00

When I started designing the Play Singapore alternate reality game (ARG) last year, the original concept involved stuff like time travel and alternative future scenarios, and getting players to submit stories and faked photos which could lead to an utopia or a dystopian future.

One of these scenarios was a hypothetical outbreak of a zombie virus in Singapore in the near future, possibly due to chemical leak into one of Singapore's water resources (Newater?). When I did this photo collage below in Feb 09, I took pains to include a SAF soldier in the new digital camouflage uniform, complete with a gas mask hastily 'Photoshopped' over his face.

The highway, trees & rubbish truck were from an acutal photo but I added in the 'Road Closed' signages, the hazard clean up crew in blue and the pile of zombie bodies awaiting incineration. Note the faked Bionix armoured fighting vehicles behind the rubbish truck. :-)

Play Singapore alternate reality game (ARG)

2009-07-24T18:49:00.008+08:00

I am developing an alternate reality game (ARG) called "Play Singapore" which uses a mix of puzzle-solving, treasure hunts and new media to let Singaporeans and foreigners explore and discover facets of Singapore's culture, heritage and attractions.

Players have to locate secret checkpoints in Singapore by solving puzzles found in cards or pages from a 'lost' diary which was supposedly written in the 1950s and 1960s .

Tying everything together is the >"Play Singapore" ARG blog which is written by a yet-to-be-named protagonist in this evolving story. The library is also running a competition which will run till Mar 2010, with prizes to be awarded to individuals or teams who discover each checkpoint first,.

The beta site is at http://playsingapore.wordpress.com, so please try it if you wish and let me know if you have any constructive feedback.

Chickenman

2009-07-18T13:26:00.001+08:00

I was buying chicken rice at one of the coffee shops along Purvis Street (in the Bras Basah area for those who don't know where that is) sometime last week and here's an interesting scene in which a young man - who was manning the chicken rice stall (whom I'll call Chickenman) - was busy slicing the chicken breast meat when I spotted his head moving up and turning to the right.

I traced his gaze and realised that his eyes were 'locked on' to a girl who was walking past. At a glance, she looked like the typical 'ah lian' type dolled up in Taiwanese style make up and dressing.

Then I realised that Chickenman was still chopping the meat while his eyes were tracking that ah lian as she walked from the right end to the left end of the five foot way.

Me: "Hey, you might chop off your fingers you know."

Chickenman (still gazing afar): "It's OK... I experienced" (and he smiled)

*chop chop chop*

Me (sarcastically): "Wah... your stall window is wiped so clean."

The girl then walks past a pillar and vanishes from Chickenman's line of sight.

Chickenman (turning to look at me as he flips the slices of chicken into the styrofoam box): "Ya lor. Must wipe clean clean. This area got lots of nice chicks."

Chickenman then realised that the girl was taking a seat in the coffee shop with her boyfriend, and 'locks in' once again. And he proceeds to slice more meat for other patrons.

Me: "Oh? This area also got a lot of ah kuahs." (or, transvestites)

Chickenman: "Really?"

He continued to stare at the ah lian.

Just then, a colleague of his shouted from the ah lian's table:

Coffee shop assistant: "Two roasted chicken breasts.... have or not?!"

Chickenman: "Have, have"

* Chop chop chop*

The coffee shop assistant walked over to collect the food, "Eh? How come it's white (steamed)chicken breasts? I thought you say got roasted chicken?"

Chickenman: "Eh? Did I say that?"

Coffee shop assistant (tracing Chickenman's gaze): "Si lang tow! You must be looking at girls again, right?"

The coffee shop assistant then takes another look at the ah lian, and slaps Chickenman lightly on the head, "Wah lau eh! She really looks like the boss's wife... and you stare at her."

Chickenman: "Oy!"

I decided I had seen enough....

Geylang

2009-07-17T14:02:00.003+08:00

You may have seen this ad in the papers earlier this month, promoting events at the library in Geylang East:

This was subsequently picked up by the media but fortunately, I am still able to walk around unrecognised by the majority.

... or so I thought this morning, when a colleague from another site bumped into me greeted me with, "Hi, Mr Geylang".

:-)

Found: Mystery song in WATCHMEN

2009-03-12T00:41:00.020+08:00

When I was watching WATCHMEN, a song playing in the background when Dan Dreiberg, (Night Owl II) met Laurel (Silk Spectre II) in a restaurant, and I was unable to find it in the Watchmen soundtrack.

It didn't quite sound English to me and I thought it had a French ring to it. So I tried my luck on Yahoo Answers. Within 24 hours, one response came in:

99 Luftballons by Blondie? Or 99 Red Balloons

I did a search in YouTube and found that it was actually a German song sung by Nena in the 1980s, and a few bands have since sung the English version.

Original German MTV by Nena:

English version by Blondie, but lip-synced by someone else:

I was puzzled. Why was this song included in the movie? A little Googling led me to the Wikipedia entry which mentioned that this was actually an anti-nuclear protest song in the 1980s, so it fitted well into the context of the Watchmen graphic novel & movie.

According to this site, the German lyrics can be translated literally as:

Do you have some time for me?
Then I'll sing a song for you
About 99 balloons
On their way to the horizon
Are you perhaps thinking of me?
Then I'll sing a song for you
About 99 balloons
And that something (like the war) comes from such a thing (the balloons)

99 balloons
On their way to the horizon
They thought they were UFOs from space
So a general sent
A flying squad out there
To raise the alarm if it was true
Yet there on the horizon were
Only 99 balloons

99 jet airplanes
Each one was a great warrior
Thought that they were Captain Kirk
There were great fireworks
The neighbors didn't understand anything
And felt immediately felt "pissed off"/provoked
Yet there they shot on the horizon
At 99 balloons

99 war ministers
Matches and petrol cans
Thought that they were clever people
Already caught wind of great spoils [of war]
Shouted: War, and wanted power
Man, who would have thought
That one day it would come to this
Because of 99 balloons

99 years of war
Don't leave a place for victors
There are no ministers of war any more
No jet planes either
Today I'm doing my rounds
Seeing the world lying in ruins
Found a balloon
Think of you and let it fly

And here are the lyrics for the English version:

You and I in a little toy shop
buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got
Set them free at the break of dawn
'Til one by one, they were gone
Back at base, bugs in the software
Flash the message, "Something's out there"
Floating in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by.

99 red balloons floating in the summer sky
Panic bells, it's red alert
There's something here from somewhere red
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky
Where 99 red balloons go by.

99 Decision Street, 99 ministers meet
To worry, worry, super-scurry
Call the troops out in a hurry
This is what we've waited for
This is it boys, this is war
The president is on the line
As 99 red balloons go by.

99 Knights of the air
ride super-high-tech jet fighters
Everyone's a Superhero
Everyone's a Captain Kirk
With orders to identify
To clarify and classify
Scramble in the summer sky
As 99 red balloons go by.

99 dreams I have had
In every one a red balloon
It's all over and I'm standin' pretty
In this dust that was a city
If I could find a souvenier
Just to prove the world was here...
And here is a red balloon
I think of you and let it go.

Beautiful song!
:-)

Red dawn

2009-03-11T13:00:00.001+08:00

It's been ages since I've seen a beautiful morning sky at home...

SNL: Colonel Angus comes home

2009-03-11T12:02:00.001+08:00

I saw this last Saturday on SCV Star World. It was part of "The Best of Saturday Night Live" series and it took me a while to realise what the cast was REALLY talking about.

SNL...COLONEL ANGUS

Here's the transcript if you need to analyse it... :-)

Watching the Watchmen

2009-03-09T13:36:00.023+08:00

My colleagues & I saw the Watchmen movie together, and as usual, we shared our reviews with each other. Here are some of the reviews:

Mine:

WATCHMEN gets a 7 out of 10 rating from me.

As DL reminded me after the show, I did borrow the comic from CTPL because this was a hot title in secondary school days but I never got down to reading it as the artwork was not to my taste. Instead, I passed it to DL .... :-)

I was curious enough to read about it in Wikipedia a week before today, and I must admit that the storyline was rather interesting and was in many ways, ahead of its time. I mean we now have a few anti-superhero TV series and comics like:
* HEROES (no costumes, got superpowers)
* THE BOYS (CIA superpowered agents keeping "superheroes" who are perverts, jerks or deviants in line)
* WANTED (supervillains have killed off all superheroes& are ruling the world together)
* AFTER THE CAPE (fallen superhero turns alcoholic bank robber)

but I don't recall another comics world in the 1980s in which all (but one) superheroes are actually normal humans without any superpower, which makes them more 'human' and credible. In the movie, the costumed heroes in the 1940s actually looked kind of cheesy because all they had to show for were ill-fitting costumes and newspaper cutouts, esp. the Mothman and the old Night Owl. If our world really had costumed vigilantes, that's how they might be...

What I also liked was how these superheroes were weaved into an alternate history, like the Comedian being JFK's assassin or Dr Manhattan taking Neil Armstrong's photo on the moon. I also liked the opening sequence which sums up the rise & fall of superheroes, set to Bob Dylan's song.

What I didn't like about the Watchmen movie was the lack of personality in most of the 6 superheroes, except The Comedian and Rorschach:
* Dr Manhattan... you might as well talk to a toaster. For all the intellect and power he has, he has no perspective and becomes a weapon and a puppet. And no one could really criticise his costume... because he has none to speak of. ;-)
* Night Owl II... is a low-budget Batman wannabe w/o the detective brains or style (look at his Archie craft vs the Batmobile) ... which may explain why he needs Rorschach to be his partner.
* Silk Spectre II ... is the obligatory female in the team, methinks. If you read THE BOYS, you would have thought that Ozymandias was trying to make the Watchmen look like a bunch of fags....
* Ozymandias... I think his real power is not his quick kung fu moves or super brain, but his skin...

I really wonder how the 6 Watchmen actually functioned as a team in their hey-days.... :-)

When we first encounter Dr Manhattan talking to Rorschach (plus the Vietnam War scene), he was giant-sized and we learn that he can increase his size at will... Does that mean his *ahem* grows proprtionately too? No wonder he has the b**ls to toast Rorschach at the end.... :-)

Oh, if you're wondering which Watchmen character you are, try these quizzes:

http://www.angelfire.com/comics/mooreportal/wpi.html (I am Night Owl I)
http://www.quizilla.com/quizzes/259121/which-watchmen-character-are-you (I'm Night Owl II)
http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=6060670582074285026 (I'm Rorschach ??!!)

Try it!

GT:
I loooooved the film.

Think I confessed to sm of u aft the show tt I actually cheated and saw it on Sat cos I wanted to watch it once w/o knowin anythin and once aft knowing evth. Read the comic on Sun, includin at the hairdresser's, on the train, over dinner, etc.

Loved it for those heart-stoppin moments set to Unforgettable (Comedian being flung across room), Times they are a Changing (Silhouette waltzing rd Times Sq aft VJ day kssin the nurse), Sounds of Silence (Comedian's funeral even as Rorshach as Walter watches w The End is Nigh).

And the piece tt broke my heart: Rorshach's final stand in the snow. Cried both times.

Loved it Loved it. LOOVED IT.

Best line I think will get evn better w age. Sally Jupiter: " As u get older, the future gets more unclear, and yet the past, even the grimier parts, get brighter all the time."

9/10

-1 for all the useless sex and chat up scenes btw Owl/Specter.

RH:
Cutting the review short.

I like the movie. The stylised slow motion fighting scene is nicee.
It's interesting how they link the movie periodically.

I think Rorcharch steals the show and
Dr Manhattan should put his pants on.

ratings: 8/10 :)

S Cedar:
7/10

Not a comic book fan and this is not the type of movie I would actually see, especially since ST gave it bad review (2/5). I was worried that this movie would be like "The Spirit", but thankfully it wasn't, though at times the movie was 'draggy'. (CK, i insist i saw u sleeping lor)

Was impressed by the soundtrack and the opening scene crafted to the tune of "Unforgettable" and the flashback to how the "minutemen" was formed...also impressed with the movie set design and the attention paid to details (the 3.5" diskette anyone?)
then the rest I mostly hide behind my fingers and bag because it was too violent..hahaha...

P2:
to cut a long story short.

i super like the show. especially since the director is Mr 300!

8.5 out of 10

AAA:
I've not read the comic before nor read anything abt it so the only info I got about the story was from watching the movie. The 1st part was a little draggy but thru the middle, it was interesting how the story got pieced together with flashbacks and snippets and how it got linked. It was always raining in the show eh? Somehow some of the characters and bits reminded me of some of Batman.

And it WAS a violent movie! All the head hitting, bangings on tables, glass and the toilet bowl..... 6.5/10

SK:
how on earth to beat DL's review?

i liked the movie. it's something different from all the one-dimensional hero movies out there. Was thinking how a face off between Wolverine and Rorcharch would turn out. Wolverine might not win. There are some bits I dont like though: you can tell that the dialogue in some bits were transplanted from the book and this doesnt always make cinematic sense. Rating 7/10

NS:
To begin with, it's not really the kind of movie that I'd normally go for. So pardon me if some of my views are pretty jarring compared to those who raved it. =)

I agree that the special effects were fantastic and the way they linked one scene to another with such deep thinking dialogues made it marvellous. The fact that it's action-packed is another plus point. However, I felt that some scenes were too draggy and unnecessary which explains for the movie lasting more than 2 hrs.. I think I've also had enough of America trying to save the world.. With the massive credit crunch that's hit the world worse than great depression, it's time that the Americans save themselves first!

Can't deny that 'Roscharch's' character/presence was such a steal though...

ratings: 6/10

MHI:
7/10...

Doing flashback scenes, as far I know, is the most easiest thing to do - as far as writing, directing etc are concerned. But I thought the many flashback techniques used in this movie was commendable.... it helped me to get acquainted to the many many superheroes in just a movie... the plot, action scenes, flashback scenes, excellent scripting etc were balanced....

I havent heard of Watchmen until I saw their picture on a magazine cover sometime last year ( i think it was the First mag and initially, i thought 'watchmen' is a some kind of movie involving security guards or something.....ha! ...Maybe next time there will be a comic book heroes made up of all security guards....)

On another note, maybe I''m wrong but i think this is also another extension of the list of superheroes, mixed and matched together to come out with Watchmen (does it sound like De-Construction and Re-Construction? hmmm):

I could see the Nite Owl on similar grounds with Zorro and Batman. All three use animals as their heroic symbols, have an "office" underground that store their costumes and vehicles. When Bob Kane created Batman, he was highly influenced by Zorro. Not sure if Nite Owl was also influenced by either Batman or Zorro....

Dr Manhattan - similar to Incredible Hulk - scientific experiments went wrong, so he becomes strong. The glowing Dr reminds me of the Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four too....

The Comedian - reminds of The Joker and The Riddler put together, but with a darker personality....

In a nutshell, I think the director/ producer wanted to highlight the importance of values and morals among each character in the movie - brotherhood-friendship-love-the nemesis within etc....

DL:
One of the things i keep thinking about is, why is Rorschach's mask like that?
IS that part of his power? haha, of course i know its not, since i read the comic before. But I am very fasinated by it through out the whole movie.
When he was unmasked in the prision, i felt kinda disappointed, but i was wrong, the man behind the mask was more interesting and unbreakable.
So i did some search on wiki on his name, then i found out about "Rorschach inkblot test". It is then i realize the movie is what you want it to be.

If you want action, it has it and it does it pretty good without too much of it. If you want effects, Dr Manhattan is the effects man. If you want sex Owl and Silk give you some. But if you would to go deeper into the plot you will find some mind-blogging stuff about grey moral world and the themes that Watchmen is all about.
So it just like the Rorschach inkblot test, whether its good or bad, its up to your own taste to judge the movie. The movie will be good if you read comics before and have a nerd knowledge for superheroes or even better read the Watchman comic itself, but most of the mindblogging stuff is from the interviews of the creator itself.

For me the movie works cause it stirs up a thinking ...... Rorschach inkblot test .... interesting...That how the world works ...

CK:
"I'm not stuck here with you, you all are stuck here with me!!!" - Roscharch's/Walter Kovacs

8 / 10

Not just an action movie, this comes with good storyline and witty dialogue...kept me up throughout the 160 mins. (yes S Cedar i didn't sleep)

AS:
Wondering why is this movie known as Watchmen? Are they supposed to look after USA / planet Earth?
Anyway, the story is interesting enuf to keep me stay awake (enough plots, actions, artistic scenes)
I give a 8 / 10 points..

The only interesting character so far is Dr Manhattan (with the ability to bi-locate, teleport, reintegrate, manipulating objects and his god-like manner in analysing things),
The rest are more like "Kung-Foo" Buffs with not much of superpowers (except for that young handsome guy, who is fast (able to catch a bullet) and supposedly highly intelligence)

Mai Hiam Buay Pai Loh...

PS:
From the guts:

I think it was excellent! I read the comic novel, true, and knew the ending, or at least according to the book, but to see almost everything come to life on the screen, almost word for word from the book was awesome! No wonder they could only pull it off now, rather than before, cos the CGI and SFX is much more sophisticated today to allow the book to be turned to film.

The comic book was already groundbreaking when it was released, to be an anti-superherom initiative that only Alan Moore can think of. The dialogue was good, and above average in most scenes. The acting by all was pretty okay, but I like Roscharch's/Walter Kovacs the best. He acted better behind the mask than out of it.

Only worst actor award would be for Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman), she was so stiff. The best scenes with her was only when she was in action, fighting.

My ratings: 8/10.

Project UnLibrary

2009-03-03T23:59:00.040+08:00

I'm currently managing this 'library takeover' experiment in which a bunch of non-librarians were challenged to design an 'unlibrary' within the confines of a public library. Why 'unlibrary'? It's because we wanted to let non-librarians to take control of a library space and redefine it ways alien to librarians. :-)

For this prototype, the testbed is the library@esplanade [blog] and Alvin Tan of The Necessary Stage had agreed to be the iconic personality driving this endeavour, and we have 10 creative volunteers involved in the project team as well, overseeing aspects such as the design of a central installation, satellite displays, happenings & a secondary prototype dubbed 'unlibrary in your head', which is a meant to be a portable experience.

One of the challenges issue to the team was to ensure that the installation and satellite exhibits be capable of being influenced and evolved by visitors to this unlibrary space. At the end of the day, we hope that the final iteration would be meaningful enough for Alvin Tan and the team of volunteers to develop into a tangible outcome such as a script for a new play.

Some photos of the project team in action....

Session 1 (11 Feb 09)

First session at West End room, library@esplanade

PK - the resident librarian (right) giving a guided tour to the volunteers.

Alvin Tan - as deconstructed by the volunteers who heard his personal sharing.

Session 2: 18 Feb 09

Team members discussing the design proposals:

Session 3: 25 Feb 09

Breakout session for the sub-teams in charge of the central installation, happenings & the portable experiece:

Nothing feeds the brain more than hot pizza...

... and library books. This one is entitled Museum of Lost Wonder.

Presentation & discussion of design proposals:

Pieces of 8

2009-03-03T23:30:00.019+08:00

I usually buy 8 pieces of bird's nest a month (for my wife) at a Chinese medical hall, and the total sum would be about $140-$160. Imagine my shock when the aunty manning the shop told me that the total was $225.

I was puzzled. The price per kati was still $115, and the aunty explained that the promotional 10% discount was over. But that did not explain the difference of $60 to $80 for the same 8 pieces.

When I told the aunty that I'd pay a visit to other medical halls, she quickly told me that she could perhaps select 'thinner' pieces which would weight less.

BTW, for the uninitiated, bird's nest - as sold in medical halls - tend to look like those shown in the photo below. To the layman, one piece may be similar to any other, and one may sometimes believe that the people who pack these pieces would adhere to some kind of standard size or weight to make it easier for customers and cashiers working at the medical halls.

As it turned out, the aunty had to dig a long way into the tall glass jar before she could find the 'thin' pieces she promised me. I pointed out that prior to the economic recession, the thin pieces were usually placed at the top of the jar, and her colleagues could easily fish out 8 standard pieces which was within the range of $140 - $160.

As I walked home, I was reminded of a case study I read in Philip Kotler's marketing textbook back in my uni days: to increase usage of Ajinomoto MSG in an increasingly health-conscious marketplace, the manufacturer simply drilled larger holes in the bottle, so that each shake would see a 15% increase in the amount of MSG powder dispensed. (I rediscovered the story here). Looks like this medical hall may have borrowed a leaf from Ajinomoto, and placed the thicker pieces of bird's nest at the top. :-)

The Reading Brain

2009-02-24T00:04:00.000+08:00

I recently came across this book with an intriguing title at Kinokuniya during lunch time:

Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain
by Maryanne Wolf

but because I had to hurry back to the office, I could not browse it then and there.

After my meeting had ended, I did a check on Amazon.com and here's an excerpt from the Washington Post review which caught my attention:

Anyone who reads is bound to wonder, at least occasionally, about how those
funny squiggles on a page magically turn into "Bare ruined choirs, where late
the sweet birds sang" or "After a while I went out and left the hospital and
walked back to the hotel in the rain." Where did this unlikely skill called
reading come from? What happens in our brain when our eyes scan a line of type?
Why do some of us, or some of our children, find it difficult to process the
visual information held in words?

Another review by a certain Dr R. Petty elaborated the central idea further:

She focuses on three fundamental principles that operate throughout the human
brain:
1. The capacity to make new connections among older structures
2. The capacity to form or appropriate regions of the brain that are specialized for
recognizing and extracting patterns in a mass of information
3. The ability to learn to recruit and connect information from these regions of the brain As a rider to the last point, the recruiting and connecting of different areas of the brain occurs automatically. If you think about someone you will usually be able to associate a visual image of him or her with a sound, smell and emotion. This associative process usually happens without conscious effort.
Maryanne's work indicates that these three principles of design provide the neural machinery essential to reading, and she spends some time explaining the evolution of what she calls the "reading brain."

But why the strange title? Dr Petty later elaborated that:

... Maryanne uses the French novelist Marcel Proust as a metaphor. He believed that reading gives us access to countless different realities that would otherwise be sealed from us. The squid is to pay tribute to the creature who has given so much to neurological research.

Interesting stuff, but would I borrow or purchase this book? I guess not. If I have little time for left for reading comics, I am not sure I could find time to read this book with over 300 pages.

BTW, this title is available in the form of books and audio-CDs at NLB's public libraries:

Title: Proust and the squid : the story and science of the reading brain
Author: Maryanne Wolf
Publisher: Thriplow : Icon, 2008.
Call No.: 612.82 WOL -[HEA]
Available at AMPL, BEPL, BIPL, CCKPL, QUPL, TPPL, WRL & YIPL

and:

Title: Proust and the squid [sound recording]
Author: Maryanne Wolf.
Publisher: [Minneapolis, Minn.] : Highbridge Audio, p2008.
Physical Description: 7 sound discs (8 1/4 hr.) : digital, stereo ; 4 3/4 in.
Call No.: AV 612.82 WOL -[HEA] pt. 7
Available at MPPL, QUPL & TPPL

Silly question: Where got recession?

2009-02-16T14:43:00.008+08:00

I was attending a lunch function at The Line restaurant at Shangri-La Hotel yesterday, and the place was packed.

As I was waiting for the crepe stand for my crepe to be done by the chef, I casually asked her if the economic recession has started to affect business. She smiled and said it was business as usual, adding that there were over 400 pax for the Valentine's Day dinner last Saturday.

When I told my wife about this, she looked around and saw a lot of expat families (mostly caucasian) seated near us, and echoed, "Where's the recession? I thought most of them in the finance industry would have been affected some time ago?".

And then, I saw this article in The New Paper today:

The Electric New Paper :

In the face of the economic crunch...
Condos still hot property
DESPITE the recession, demand for condominiums is still high, going by two recent launches.
By Elysa Chen

16 February 2009
DESPITE the recession, demand for condominiums is still high, going by two
recent launches.

At Caspian, next to Lakeside MRT station in Jurong, condo units were selling fast.

Within the first two hours of the public launch yesterday, 38 of the 712 units there were sold.

At 8am, there were already six couples queuing outside the showroom.

When The New Paper on Sunday visited the show flat at 4pm, it was so crowded, it was difficult to move around. Visitors had streamed in from 9.30am.

At another development, Alexis on Alexandra Road, at least half the 293 units were
sold during preview sales which started on Thursday. Prices range from $850 per
square foot (psf) to $1,100 psf.

Despite the recession, Mr Cheang Kok Kheong, chief operating officer of development and property at Frasers Centrepoint, the developer of Caspian, expects demand for condominiums to increase.

He said: 'Financial difficulties would be most felt by those in the upper echelons of society, who would have investments worldwide. This is why the high-end property market in Singapore has been hit very hard.

'However, many HDB upgraders are less exposed, and would still be interested in buying property now.'

An estimated 2,400 people visited the show flat during the first day of its public launch yesterday, most of them HDB upgraders, and, of the 550 units that have been released, 430 have been sold.

Although the launch of the 99-year-lease condominium came as property prices seemed to be heading south, Mr Cheang said the demand wasn't unexpected.

Based on surveys among residents in Jurong, Frasers Centrepoint had found that there was pent-up demand for condominiums in the area, he explained. 'People would buy a condominium here if the price was right.'

More affordable for HDB upgraders Mr Cheang said they had catered to that demand by making some units 'more affordable for HDB upgraders'.

During preview sales held last week, all 350 units released were sold, at an average of $580 psf.

Yesterday, some three bedroom units were selling between $700,000 and $800,000, around $620 psf.

Other reasons he cited for the launch's success were the proximity of the condominium to the MRT and the development of the Jurong Lake District.

With Jurong being touted as the second largest commercial space outside of the central business district, with hotels and a new science park, Mr Cheang estimates some 60,000 jobs will be created in the area.

He said: 'People who work in the area may want to establish their homes here as well. When we bought the piece of land, we saw the potential of the Lakeside area. The Chinese and Japanese gardens will be refurbished, and this area is a green lung - an asset that's rare in Singapore.'

Mr Cheang said that although the area was earmarked for several new developments, 80 per cent of it is still an 'attractive green space'.

Mr Yip, 45, an engineer who had visited the showroom with his wife and daughter, said: 'It's an interesting project. From some of the units, you can even see the Jurong lake. I'm an HDB upgrader, and I find the price very reasonable.'

Design director Chin Ser Jong, 45, also liked the design and quality of the units, adding that it was 'rare' for condominiums targeted at HDB upgraders to have bathrooms with marble tiles.

Looks like the water is only starting to boil...

Ask A Stupid Question A Day

2009-02-16T14:16:00.004+08:00

I started a new Cause on Facebook on 6 Feb 09 called "Ask A Stupid Question A Day", as a proof of concept for one of the projects I'm doing at work.

I was new to the Causes application, and when prompted to key in up to 5 position statements, I wrote the following guidelines:

Supporters of this Cause are encouraged to do the following in their own time & place:
Supporters should strive to submit at least one "Stupid Question" a day to the Wall, Discussion Board or Media Board.

If you have 'asker's block' on any day, please ask your friends, colleagues or family for ideas.

If you really can't think of any "Stupid Question" at all, try posting a solution or answer to any of the posted questions.

Please do not to post questions or solutions which are offensive or inflammatory!

For more ideas, go to: http://blogs.nlb.gov.sg/invent/asqm/

What was heartening was the better-than-expected rate of growth in terms of membership. This Cause now has 54 members (after 10 days of existence), and what's better is that most of the members are outside of my own circle of friends in my Facebook.

What I hope to see growing is the number of Stupid Questions submitted. Here are some of the Stupid Questions posted by members so far:

What if you can create a 100% 3D marine theme park and interact with 3D dolphins without capturing and imprisoning real animals?

How can you create a personalized pool whereby you can adjust the pool temperature and change the surrounding environment to onsen, wakiki etc according to your mood?

What if a library is on or in the water?

What if we play soccer on water?

What if my business name cards are like fortune cookies?

What if my office is like home?

How do I get slimmer & healthier without exercising?

What if a electric fan can generate more energy then the amount required to turn it on by the rotational speed of its propeller?

If you are keen to join this Cause or to find out more, go to: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/210696/44690774?m=cc366e79

The Last Stand (game)

2009-02-10T14:27:00.011+08:00

Recently, my colleagues & I were asked to explore the use of casual games to promote library programmes virally, and the spirit of the game was to spread the message of 'die die must go library', i.e. there's a strong compulsion to visit a library for our programmes or exhibitions.

Some of the inputs I received were a bit simple, and involved shelving books (which I'm not sure would even attract librarians) or playing space invaders (hard to make a link to what we are doing) or being a human cannonball (which could be OK, but lacks the compulsion bit).

One day, I came across a professional looking zombie-shooter game called The Last Stand 2, which is one of the highest rated in the zombie games network site, and I could understand why: apart from the mindless shooting & weapons switching, players also need to strategise how best to escape to the border within 40 game days, so they have to search the towns & cities for supplies to move on from city to city, plus allocate 12 hours of daylight between various tasks like repairing the barricades, looking for survivors to increase firepower (but will eat into supplies) and searching for better weapons.

So if our mini-game can alternate between the mindless fun of arcade games and the part about going to libraries to look for stuff loosely tied to PX progs & exhibitions, it will be a more balanced game. I hope the vendor can pull off something like that. :-)

How to be a Singaporean - part 2

2009-01-12T11:37:00.005+08:00

NLB uploaded a second video on YouTube to promote the "Singapore in 5 Minutes" competition:

Enjoy! :-)

How to be a Singaporean - part 1

2009-01-05T10:11:00.007+08:00

NLB uploaded this video on YouTube to promote the "Singapore in 5 Minutes" competition:

"What question did you ask today?"

2008-12-22T11:28:00.001+08:00

I just read this article about the Ministry of Education hiring a group of experts from the Israel Center for Excellence through Education to train "hundreds of Singaporean educators teaching in dozens of schools selected by the Education Ministry" to implement the Excellence 2000 Abroad program to encourage creativity and independent thought among students in Singapore, at an annual cost of $10,000 (in USD, presumably).

And here's what Hezki Arieli, the chairman of the Center for Excellence, said about this new intiative which is likely to herald the next wave of education in Singapore:

"I asked the Singaporean education minister why they wanted to buy our educational program when their students reach the top spots in international tests. He explained that education in Singapore is characteristic of revision for exams, memorization and practice, but the students lack the creativity, independent thinking and entrepreneurship that would prepare them for life. The minister told me they hold Israeli excellence, that is expressed in high-tech, science and technology, in high esteem."

This article reminded me of a speech given by NLB's former Chief Executive, Dr Christopher Chia, at one of the Staff Forum sessions when I first joined as a Librarian in 2000. If I recalled correctly, he was narrating an anecdote about education in Singapore (though I have forgotten the context for doing so), and it goes something like this:

When a child comes home after school in Singapore, his parents are likely to ask, "What did you learn today? How did you do for your tests?". In contrast, an Israeli parent is more likely to ask, "What questions did you ask in school today?".

All these years, this story stayed in my head, from the time I spent as a librarian manning the information counter, to my involvement in the Ask Stupid Questions innovation programme.

Recently, when I recited this little anecdote to my colleagues as we brainstormed about ways and means to expand the ASQ Movement into phase 2 in 2009, I was asked by Prabhjit if there was any factual basis for it. A fair enough question, since this might go into our published marketing collaterals, I thought, but I left it on my back burner. Until today.

So I put on my research cap, and eventually narrowed the results (mostly anecdotal) down a Powerpoint presentation which attributed the famous anecdote to the 1944 Noble laureate in physics, Isidor Isaac Rabi (1898–1988). I then dug a little deeper and found his anecdote about asking questions in two books:

Teaching for Intelligence
By Barbara Z. Presseisen
Published by Corwin Press, 2007
ISBN 1412955556, 9781412955553
Note: This title is not available in NLB libraries, but the NIE Library has 2 copies.

, from which I cite this passage:

My mother made made me a scientist without ever intending it. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school, "So? Did you learn anything today?" But not my mother. She always asked me a different question. "Izzy," she would say, "did you ask a good question today?" That difference - asking a good question - made me become a scientist.

Other titles which referenced I.I.Rabi's story include:

Why Are School Buses Always Yellow?: Teaching for Inquiry, Pre K-5
By John Barell
Published by Corwin Press, 2007
ISBN 1412957338, 9781412957335
[Story in context]

The Five Faces of Genius: Creative Thinking Styles to Succeed at Work
By Annette Moser-Wellman
Published by Penguin, 2002
ISBN 0142000353, 9780142000359
Call No.: 658.4 MOS -[BIZ]
Available at Ang Mo Kio and Toa Payoh Public Libraries
[Story in context]

So for those of you who are parents, don't forget to ask you kids, "What questions did you ask today?". For those of you who are supervisors or employers sending your staff to our workshops, don't forget to ask them, "What Stupid Question did you ask today?". Better still, ask them every week or every day. :-)

Comics: Dead Of Night: Devil Slayer (Marvel MAX imprint)

2008-12-19T17:37:00.020+08:00

I followed this comic mini-series without knowing that "Devil Slayer" was one of the old Marvel superheroes. You can read the synopsis for each issue here.

My thoughts about this series? Plot-wise, it seemed to have borrowed bits of the plot from the 2005 Constantine movie which starred Keanu Reeves:

- factions within Heaven/Hell are impatient for Judgement Day, and are taking things into their own hand to hasten it
- the archangel Gabriel as a villain

Some leaps of logic in the 'reinvented' Devil Slayer story:

- If all the old devil slayers and their mentors (or magi) are dead, who will train this new hero?
- Unlike other heroes in devil-slaying films (e.g. Buffy or Supernatural) who have supporting infrastructure like hidden arms caches, hideouts, hunters' network, etc., this new hero has almost nothing. He's treated as a murdering deserter by the US Army and has limited weapons and no training.
- How did he know so much about the other devils & demons in other parts of the world? Not from Google, I hope. :-)

Seems that the creators didn't put too much thought into their mini-series.

The Librarian vs. the Retail Guru

2008-12-19T16:37:00.014+08:00

I saw this interesting opinion piece in ExploreHoward.com, which is linked to the Baltimore Sun newspaper and contains weekly editorial content various newspapers:

Library needs experienced librarian, not retail guru
Posted 12/18/08

Like many other patrons of the East Columbia branch of the Howard County Public Library, I was so disappointed to hear that acting branch manager Herb Malveaux was passed up in favor of an outsider who comes from a retail background rather than from one of library sciences.

Mr. Malveaux is just what our library needs, a dedicated professional who has worked hard for 15 years to make inroads and build bridges into the surrounding community and local schools.

Apparently, the big new thrust is to shake things up, to make the library more like a Borders bookstore. Our library system is nationally recognized because of dedicated specialists like Mr. Malveaux, not because of spiffy retail window dressing and mocha lattés.

We do not need another Borders. We need a great library.

If I want something more like Borders, I'll go to Borders. Or, more likely, just stay home and surf over to Amazon.

David Hobby & Owen Brown

I was rather surprised that a library user would actually comment about an official appointment, and how the 2 chaps who posted comments actually discussed whether the former acting Branch Manager was the ideal candidate or not.

At the heart of this little debate is not whether change is desirable or not, but rather whether the change was done well. Fortunately for Singaporeans, the organisation I work for did rater well when a former IT guy took over in the mid 1990s, though some may have thought otherwise back then.

But in the long run, libraries need to be libraries, or risk losing their place, mission & soul.

The Yamato Fallacy

2008-12-16T17:55:00.025+08:00

Do you remember the time of your life when you realised that Santa Claus isn't 'real'?

Well, I had a similar realisation yesterday when I read a book I picked up at the library:

Title: Imperial Japanese Navy battleships 1941-45

Author: Stille, Mark.
Publisher: Oxford, UK ; New York, NY : Osprey Pub., 2008.

Call No.: 940.545952 STI

Since I was a kid, I had this notion that the Japanese super-battleship Yamato had a semi-mythical status, thanks to the Star Blazers anime and to me & my brother's childhood hobby of collecting Tamiya scale models which included the 1:700 scale model of the IJN Yamato.

Imagine my surprise when I read the Introduction of the book, which summed up the performance of the ten Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) battleships as such:

"Japanese pre-war strategy still saw the battleship as the final arbiter of
fleet action. Held in reserve for the expected decisive fleet engagement, the
Imperial Navy's battleships saw relatively little service during the early and
middle parts of the war. Eventually, all of them were committed to stopping the
US advance, and all but one was destroyed by the war's end."

Further reading indicated that like any inter-war navy, the IJN had assumed that the battleship would be the Holy Grail of naval defence and had built their naval strategy around it. Secondly, emphasis was placed on spotting and engaging enemies at a range beyond the enemy's gun range. However, the US Navy soon shifted focus to the development of aircraft carriers and carrier aviation, and battleships proved useless without adequate air cover.

Apart from this strategic flaw, Japanese warships tended to fare poorly in terms of quality, compared to those of other navies. For instance, the Yamato had chinks in its armour which made it vulnerable to enemy shells. And the way the major pieces of armour were laid made it impossible to replace its engines should any of them fail.

Come to think of it, it wasn't too longer ago that everyone assumed that bonds would be the safest form of investment... :-)

Books = Unpopular Gifts (in Australia)

2008-12-15T09:45:00.012+08:00

I saw an article in yesterday's issue of The New Paper, similar to this one below. I'm not sure if the research survey was detailed enough to explain why the 38% of boys surveyed hated to receive books as Christmas presents. For instance, did the adults who bought the books buy titles which did not suit of taste of teenagers? More surprising to me was the fact that only 1 in 3 parents thought that books made good gifts for their teenage sons. Again, the article did not mention what the other two-thirds of the parents thought would make good Christmas gifts.

The penultimate paragraph mentioned that "The researchers said the survey's findings pointed to a miscommunication between different family generations as well as a lack of time to devote to Christmas shopping". Perhaps the best way to reach the economic equilibrium (i.e. supply meeting demand) is to get the gifter and the receiver to go shopping together?

Oh no Grandma, not underwear again for Christmas!
SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - Thinking of giving your loved ones socks, underwear, scented bath oil or maybe a non-stick fry pan for Christmas? Think again, especially grandparents.

A survey by Galaxy Research found 72 percent of Australians regularly receive a Christmas gift they don't like even though 69 percent of 1,242 respondents rated their present buying ability as above average.

The online survey, commissioned by the bank NAB, found the most unpopular but regularly received gifts included body and bath products, books, dressing gowns, slippers, socks and underwear.

Grandparents were rated as the worst gift-givers in Australia with 37 percent of respondents complaining about their gift buying, followed by mothers at 20 percent and fathers at 14 percent.

But it worked both ways. The survey also found 68 percent of grandchildren rated photo frames to be good gifts for grandparents but 44 percent of grandparents rated frames a "nice thought" but not something they would really want.

Teenagers particularly hated receiving clothes chosen by their parents, with 53 percent of teenage girls opposed to their parents buying them clothes although 70 percent of parents thought clothing was a good gift for their daughters.

One in three parents, or 36 percent, thought books were a wise choice for teenage sons but 38 percent of boys gave books the thumbs down.

Wives and girlfriends most disliked getting kitchen appliances from their partners -- but they were also rated the most difficult to group to buy gifts for, getting 53 percent of the vote.

Fathers were left yawning at yet another pair of socks.

The researchers said the survey's findings pointed to a miscommunication between different family generations as well as a lack of time to devote to Christmas shopping.

It found 74 percent of respondents expected to be shopping the week before Christmas.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE4B10WV20081202

Singapore Soup Kitchen

2008-12-10T15:02:00.002+08:00

I received this appeal for help via the Green Volunteers Network newsletter:

HELP NEEDED....

Sorry thought my last email would have been my last update to you but something came up that needs our help. In 2009 some friends and I are going to start a new programme to serve free meals to the homeless/destitute, old and needy around the Sungei Road, Jalan Besar and Rowell Road area.

In affluent Singapore you’ll be surprised how many people live below the poverty line. You’ve seen them, it’s the very old aunty nearly bent double with age and hard work collecting used cardboard boxes or the old uncle who calls the void deck of a H.D.B. flat home.

We need volunteers to help prepare food, serve, clear tables and wash up. If you want to help, please send me an email at grant@singapore.com (Note: Not sure if this is a valid email address) with your mobile number and when you can help ie weekdays, weekends etc. We are still finalising plans but will probably start with one meal a week until we get more experience and then increase the frequency.

We also need sponsors and donations to help get us started. Ideally we would need NTUC supermarket gift vouchers so we can buy exactly what we need. Secondly you can start a food drive in your school or office.

We need stuff like canned food, rice, cooking oil, noodles, milo, horlicks, syrup and medicated soap and shampoo to hand out with the meals.
As I’ll be without an office when I come back on the 6th January, please hold on to your donations till I get back. NTUC vouchers can be mailed to me at Block 503 Pasir Ris Street 52 #02-237 Singapore 510503, please write your email and name on envelope.

I look forward to your generous spirit to make this soup kitchen happen. Individually we might not be able to do much but collectively we can move mountains.

Cheers
Grant
Thai mobile: +66 806 702705

Life as light as a feather
Duty as heavy as a mountain

P.S. I'm not a member of GVN but I thought there's no harm in posting this online....

Earthquakes

2008-12-07T14:28:00.016+08:00

I recently set up a news alert via Google Alerts after a major earthquake in Indonesia, so as to prepare myself for local aftershocks because I'm not that sensitive to tremors.

I was a little surprised by the unexpectedly high frequency of earthquake or tremor related news pouring in on a daily basis. Consider these recent ones:

Powerful quake rocks East TimorDILI, East Timor
TMCnet - 54 minutes ago
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-top-asian-news-130-am-gmt-/2008/12/06/3838675.htm

Southern California hit by 5.1 earthquake
Wikinews - 1 hour ago
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Southern_California_hit_by_5.1_earthquake?curid=117746

Quake rocks Timor Leste
United Press International - 10 hours ago
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/12/06/Quake_rocks_Timor_Leste/UPI-46471228579179/

5.5 earthquake rattles Basin
Hi-Desert Star, CA - 13 hours ago
http://www.hidesertstar.com/articles/2008/12/06/breaking_news/doc493a07995ee46012929999.txt

Light Earthquake Jolts Bulgaria's Blagoevgrad Region
Sofia News Agency, Bulgaria - 15 hours ago
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=99571

Few people felt earthquake jolt in Gotse Delchev
Focus News, Bulgaria - 16 hours ago
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n162098

Magnitude 5.1 earthquake hits near Ludlow, in San Bernardino County
Los Angeles Times, CA - 16 hours ago
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-quake6-2008dec06,0,6283591.story

Quake hits Mojave Desert in Southern Calif.
The Associated Press - 20 hours ago
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5juF9iptVmhe4dwRJBI3hp3Lnou-gD94T1H882

Minor earthquake in Saskatchewan
Winnipeg Sun, Canada - Dec 5, 2008
http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Canada/2008/12/05/7644566.html

Moderate earthquake shakes northern Japan
AFP - Dec 5, 2008
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5isWGDEFhByqbWzLFrdCKK13iyNHA

Earthquake shakes OKC area
Tulsa World, OK - Dec 2, 2008
http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/articlepath.aspx?articleid=20081202_12_0_OKLAHO980844&allcom=1

Powerful earthquake strikes Taiwan
The Associated Press - Dec 1, 2008
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jG5hZlCCO3i3V4jYnlNrmMShKbrAD94QB3JG0

Earthquake of Magnitude 6.2 Strikes Off Northern California
Bloomberg - Nov 28, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a10l5R33hwvs&refer=us

Magnitude 2.2 Earthquake Hits Near Malvern
KATV, AR - Nov 26, 2008
http://www.katv.com/news/stories/1108/573115.html

Indonesia hit by strong earthquake
MSNBC - Nov 22, 2008
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27856306/

Indonesian Earthquake Kills 2, Damages Homes
Voice of America - Nov 17, 2008
http://voanews.com/english/2008-11-17-voa8.cfm

And just when I thought that was bad, here's more disturbing news:

Another Large Earthquake Off Coast Of Sumatra Likely
Science Daily (press release) - Dec 4, 2008
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081203131042.htm

Seismologists study desert earthquake ‘swarm’
Inland Empire News, CA - Dec 2, 2008
http://www.inlandnewstoday.com/story.php?s=5293

Major Quake in US Midwest Might Kill 6000, Study Estimates
Bloomberg - Nov 21, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aF0joSBcUfDA&refer=home

Time to stay home this Christmas?