Quark's Ramblings

遇到的人

2007-10-13T23:45:00.000+08:00

[一] 遇到人生中的贵人时，要记得好好感激，因为他是你人生的转折点。

[二] 遇到可相信的朋友时，要好好和他相处，因为在人的一生中，能遇到的知已不多。

[三] 遇到匆匆离开你人生的人时，要谢谢他走过你的人生，因为他是你精采回忆的一部分。

[四] 遇到曾经和你有误会的人时，要趁现在解清误会，因为你可能只有这一次机会解释清楚。

[五] 遇到曾经恨过的人时，要微笑向他打招呼，因为他让你更加坚强。

[六] 遇到曾经背叛你的人时，跟他好好聊一聊，因为若不是他今天你不会懂这世界。

[七] 遇到曾经爱过的人，记得微笑向他感激，因为他是让你更懂爱的人。

[八] 遇到曾经偷偷喜欢的人时，要祝他幸福唷！因为你喜欢他时，不是希望他幸福快乐吗。

[九] 遇到你真的爱的人时，要努力争取和他相处下去，因为当他离去时，一切都来不及了。

[十] 遇到现在和相伴一生的人要百分百感谢他爱你，因为你们现在都得到幸福和真爱。

When 1+1 = 11

2007-10-10T18:35:00.000+08:00

From ST, Review

By Chua Mui Hoong

KV Stanly and ML Parashu were young rookie reporters in Mysore, India, when they met a prostitute who changed their lives.

They were in a park for a photo shoot, for a story on the harsh life of the city's horse-cart workers. A lady standing under a tree derided them. 'You're wasting one day's earning by taking this picture,' she told the cart workers.

'These reporters put you in the newspaper so they get a byline. Tomorrow, they will move on to another story and you will still be struggling here.'

She challenged the reporters: 'Why don't you write my story?'

Disturbed by the encounter, they looked for her the next day to hear her story.

She took them to her 'home' - a strip of pavement where her son sat studying.

Mr Stanly wrinkles his nose as he tells me: 'She had been sold to a brothel by her husband. After a few years, the brothel also threw her out. She's stinky and drunk. Her clients are the lower class and poor labourers. All she wanted was to make sure her son has a decent life.'

For Mr Stanly and his friend Mr Parashu, that was a defining moment. They pooled funds to take the woman and her son off the streets into a spartan home.

Her next challenge for them: 'You are helping me but I am an old lady. What about all the other young girls in the brothels?'

Their consciences pricked, the two young men started Odanadi Seva Samsthe, a group that helps rescue girls from prostitution. They went on to build a shelter to house, school and train these women.

'I also trained in therapy, so I could do psychotherapy for the women and help them recover,' Mr Stanly told me over lunch.

He was one of 200 young leaders attending the Asia 21 Young Leaders' Summit held in Singapore over the weekend.

I asked if he ever got into trouble with criminal gangs that run the brothels and he nodded matter-of-factly. 'It's a fact of life. I've been hospitalised several times.'

Today, Odanadi, which means soulmate in the Kannada language, has rescued more than 400 girls from prostitution. It organises an advocacy group for prostitutes and has helped rehabilitate hundreds of women into mainstream jobs. A few were married in well-publicised ceremonies, helping to remove the stigma against girls forced into prostitution.

The organisation received a special award last Saturday from the New York-based Asia Society, which organised the summit.

As I spent the next two days among the participants, I would learn that stories like Mr Stanly's are common among this unusual lot of people, activists who did not stand by in the face of injustice, but rolled up their sleeves to change their respective corners of the world.

Mr Ravi Krishna, a lawyer trained in Pennsylvania, America, had a comfortable state counsel job in India. He often accompanied his frail mother to hospital and grew incensed at the way patients were dying en route to hospitals because there was no proper ambulance service.

He got together with friends to set up an ambulance service.

Called 1298 - Dial for Ambulance, the service uses technology to overcome the challenges of navigating the back lanes of Mumbai.

GPS (Global Positioning System) and RTS (Realtime Tracking System) track the location of 24 vehicles every moment of the day and night. Mr Krishna wants to use Google Earth maps to help in navigation - with ambulances sending back pictures of uncharted back lanes to widen Google Earth's future coverage.

To do so requires each ambulance to be fitted with a laptop computer. Problem: Traditional laptops which are fan-ventilated and run on hard discs are vulnerable to damage in Mumbai's treacherously bumpy, dusty environment.

Solution: Mr Krishna is talking with Taiwan company Via to use its fanless computers that do not run on hard discs.

As Mr Krishna told his story over dinner, Mr Faiysal AliKhan peppered him with questions.

Turns out Mr AliKhan, a logistics professional by day, runs a foundation devoted to rural development in Pakistan. 'We have the same problem about having no ambulance service and we're thinking of setting one up,' he said.

After dinner, the two caught up with each other and promised to get in touch. Despite the periodic tension between the two countries, development work knows no boundaries when activists like these are bound by a common zeal to improve the lives of those around them.

Many of those at the forum had incredible stories to tell - of how they moved beyond self, work and family to do something for others.

There was Filipino military commander Dennis Eclarin, who decided to build lives. He started a microfinance foundation to reach the highland and most remote parts of the Philippines.

Then there was Mr Mitchell Pham, who fled Vietnam in a rickety boat when he was 13, with 65 others or so. The boat ran out of food, then water and fuel.

A cruise liner passed them by - with clueless tourists waving and taking pictures of the refugees in their dire straits. The next ship was an oil tanker, whose captain rescued the refugees.

'That was my leadership moment,' said Mr Pham. 'I learnt that even if you are in business, carrying on with your life, you can choose to ignore others' call or you can choose to make a difference and help. The cruise captain chose one, the oil tanker captain chose another.'

Mr Pham stayed at an Indonesian refugee camp for 1 1/2 years before settling in New Zealand, where he now runs an IT company and is active in business and community organisations, having chosen not to ignore others' problems.

Closer to home, there was Ms Eileena Lee, who started an online support group nine years ago for gay and lesbian people in Singapore. She now runs Pelangi Pride Centre, a resource centre on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues.

'I never saw myself as a leader. But I suffered in my own journey when I came out as a lesbian woman, and if I can do something to help others on that journey, I felt I had to.'

As a panellist at a discussion put it, it is about starting small, and making one plus one equal not two, but 11.

Listening to stories of these activists' 'leadership moments', learning what spurred them to act, I was humbled into silence.

I am a columnist but for once I have no point of view to offer, nothing but these stories from those who make a difference.

You know what's great about Alzheimer's?

2007-10-03T13:27:00.000+08:00

From Slashdot comments

by quokkapox

You make new friends every day!

Haha, "New friends every day." Get it?! LOL.

It's not so funny when it happens to you or your family. Wait until someone you know gets it. You won't be laughing anymore.

Haha, that guy has a limp. Haha, that woman is blind. Haha, that kid is retarded. Hahaha. Fucking hilarious.

Whatever you do, don't get Alzheimer's disease. It sucks.

My grandmother just turned 94 and has advanced Alzheimer's disease. She can barely walk anymore. I devote a few hours of my life every single day to caregiving. If you've never known someone like this, you really have no idea what's involved. Yeah, we could put her in a home. We could watch her die sooner that way, wearing diapers and ceaselessly, hopelessly calling out for someone to please take her home. As it is now, she wears diapers, but at least we always change them. In nursing homes, they don't.

Have you ever had someone you know and love, who helped raise you and even changed *your* diapers and then helped teach you how to count and how to read and how to do puzzles and math and typing and how to play games, who taught you the names of the plants that grow out in the back yard? And now she can smile and say "Hello", and tell you to get the hell out because she don't know who you are a moment later?

That's Alzheimer's. You can be helping to manage her most intimate financial affairs completely honestly, you can be doing her laundry and getting her medicine and bringing her groceries and cooking her meals and washing her dishes and vacuuming her floors and helping her get to the doctor and even wiping her ass, when she cannot do it herself anymore, and yet she'll still tell you she loves you one night, and the next morning she wants you to go away, go to hell, or just please, please take her home. Because she doesn't know what home means anymore. She's already at home, and she doesn't know who you are anymore.

She knows what she knew in 1920 or 1930 sometimes, funny stories she can still tell sometimes, but she mixes up everyone's names; she doesn't know who is who anymore. She used to speak three languages, English, German, and French. But now she often speaks gibberish, a weird combination of whatever words she still can recall. She can't always understand simple sentences. She's like a kid who cannot learn.

Alzheimer's sucks; nursing homes suck. Go visit one someday if you doubt me. My grandmother's genes and her circumstances allowed her to outlive two of her children. She never got cancer, but that's what killed her elder son at 50. She had a heart attack thirty years ago, but she didn't die of heart disease. That's what killed her elder daughter at 60. Yet my grandmother lives on, as her mind slowly disintegrates.

She still likes to watch children playing, or to meet a drooling baby, maybe a child of someone who helps care for her, brought over to visit. She still likes to pet her cats and smile and watch them roll on the floor with catnip at her feet, she still can interface with her two grandchildren, she still has a sense of humor that we all can understand and sometimes laugh about together.

She doesn't know what year it is or what day it is, and sometimes she can't remember how to properly hold a spoon (or she'll try drinking from it like a straw). But she especially likes bananas and squash and sweet potatoes and chocolate chip cookies. I know this because I'm there sometimes to remind her to take another bite. She says "This is good, thank you!"

And sometimes when you help lift her into bed at night, she'll tell you she loves you. I guess that helps make it all worthwhile.

Anyway, this is what will happen to you if you don't die of anything else or get hit by a bus before your brain starts to degrade. I suppose it hasn't been all bad, I have learned a lot caring for my grandmother. But she is no longer able to offer her opinion.

Problems Are God’s Way Of Tapping You On the Shoulder...

2007-10-01T14:09:00.001+08:00

By Adam Khoo

I just completed one of my final Introductory Seminars for my Patterns of Excellence Program and am happy to report that my next Intake 5-8 April is Almost Full. However, I want to relate to you an interesting experience I has with one of the participants who
signed up last night.

He told me that the reason he chose to sign up eventually (he heard about my program 3 years ago, but never took action) was because his problems has become so severe that he could not take it anymore. His wife decided to leave him, he lost his job and suffered a mild heart attack just a few days ago. All this pain finally drove him to do something to change his life.

He told me that he wanted to come to the program to learn how to make all his problems go away. he said he wanted to be a successful and happy person like me who seemed to have no problems. He will only be happy if his life was free of problems and he believed that I could help him achieve this.

That's when I stopped him and said, 'You have got the WHOLE WRONG IDEA!' 'I cannot make your problems go away!' In fact, I believe that the more successful you are, the more problems you will have. Everyone has problems at any given point of time in their lives. In fact, I would bet that Bill Gates (the world's richest man) has his own set of problems and I can tell you that his problems are a lot bigger than yours and mine.

The only people without problems are those lying in the graveyard. So, if you want to have no problems, then GO AND DIE (of course I did not say this...he would have slapped me and not signed up).

But the question people always ask is why must life be full of problems? Why can't everything go the way we want? Why must things be so difficult? Why do some people get hit with such big problems in life sometimes? (e.g. kids run away, wife leaves them, diagnosed with cancer, business failure).

Well, I believe that whenever a 'problem' arises in our life, it is God's way of tapping us on the shoulder and telling us that we need to learn something or change our thoughts or actions.

If we keeping falling ill, it's a tap on the shoulder that we are not eating right, not exercising enough or thinking of negative thoughts (emotional stress is the number of cause of physical illness). If our kids don't want to listen to us, it's a tap on a shoulder that we are not listening or spending enough time with them.

If you receive complaints about your work, it is a tap on the shoulder that you are not putting enough effort or you are doing things the wrong way. If you keep getting into arguments with your partner, it is a tap on the shoulder that you doing what is required to sustain a good relationship.

When we acknowldege God's taps, learn the lesson and take positive action, we will move closer towards our goals and dreams in life. The trouble with most people is that they IGNORE the taps by justifying, avoiding, denying, giving excuses or blaming someone
else for the problems arising. They say things like 'The stupid boss is just finding fault!', 'the clients are just unreasonable', 'my kids are so ungrateful and defiant', 'these chest pains will go away', 'I wish my wife will quit nagging...just ignore her'.

So, what does God do when you don't learn and do something to his taps? He starts tapping EVEN HARDER! This is when your problems start getting worst! Your business starts losing clients, the chest pains get worst, your kids start arguing and shouting back, quarrels with your partner gets more and more frequent.

And if you continue to IGNORE these taps, God will do whatever it takes until he gets his message across to you that you need to change your thoughts and actions. He will HIT YOU ON THE HEAD WITH A BRICK. This is when those major problems whack you in life... Your partner leaves you, your kids run away from home, you suffer a heart attack or you go bankrupt.

Some people will finally get the message and start changing their life for the better. Unfortunately, some people will always continue blaming, get depressed and give up completely. How are YOU dealing with God's shoulder taps now?

Makan places in Penang

2007-10-01T14:05:00.001+08:00

BREAKFAST: Pulau Tikus

Pulau Tikus Market Daytime Food Centre (right next to the pork butchers), Jalan Pasar: Char kway kak, 7 to 11am
Van with registration plate PDX6343 parked outside Marble Arch mall, right next to Pulau Tikus Market: Halal putu mayam, 7 to 11am
Outside Sin Hup Aun Coffeeshop, 10m in front of the putu mayam van: Halal nasi lemak and curry puffs, 8.30am to 11pm
Kwai Lock Coffeeshop, 295B Jalan Burma, 5.30am to 2pm daily except on the first day of Chinese New Year, tel: (02)016-404-1434: Apom balik, 7 to 10am daily; Hutton Lane soup kway teow, 7am to 12pm daily
Stall outside the Sin Hwa Coffeeshop, right opposite Pulau Tikus Police Station in Jalan Burma: Char kway teow, 10.30am to 5pm daily

BRUNCH: Tanjung Bungah

Assorted fruit and vegetable fritters and gooey battered tee kueh, 12pm to 5pm daily except on the eve and first day of Chinese New Year.

LUNCH: Penang Road and Burma Road

Kek Seng Coffeeshop, 382-384 Jalan Penang, 8am to 5pm daily except on the first day of Chinese New Year, tel: (02)016-402-3069: Lor bak, asam laksa and durian ice cream
Stall with the sign Teochew Chendol in Lebuh Keng Kwee, outside Joo Hooi Cafe, 475 Jalan Penang: Chendol, 10am to 7.30pm daily, except when it rains heavily

TEA: Padang Brown and Swatow Lane

Jalan Johor-Dato Keramat food junction: Popiah, 2 to 7pm daily, except on Thursdays. Pasembur, 2 to 6pm daily
New World Park foodcourt, Swatow Lane: Ice kacang, noon to 8pm daily, except on Wednesdays

DINNER: Little India

Restoran A Dawood, 61 Queen Street: Nasi kandar and teh tarik, 10.30am to 10pm daily

SUPPER: Lorong Baru

Perimeter of Wisma Central, at the junction of New Lane and Jalan Macalister: Chee cheong fun, 7 to 11pm daily, except during the first day of Chinese New Year

10 myths, truths about atheism

2007-10-01T14:01:00.000+08:00

By Sam Harris

1. Atheists believe that life is meaningless

On the contrary, religious people often worry that life is meaningless and imagine that it can be redeemed only by the promise of eternal happiness beyond the grave.

Atheists tend to be quite sure that life is precious. Life is imbued with meaning by being really and fully lived. Our relationships with those we love are meaningful now; they need not last forever to be made so. Atheists tend to find this fear of meaninglessness - well, meaningless.

2. Atheism is responsible for the greatest crimes in human history

People of faith often claim that the crimes of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot were the inevitable product of unbelief. The problem with fascism and communism, however, is not that they are too critical of religion; the problem is that they are too much like religions.

Such regimes are dogmatic to the core and generally give rise to personality cults that are indistinguishable from cults of religious hero worship. Auschwitz, the Gulag and the Killing Fields were not examples of what happens when human beings reject religious dogma; they are examples of political, racial and nationalistic dogma run amok.

There is no society in human history that ever suffered because its people became too reasonable.

3. Atheism is dogmatic

Jews, Christians and Muslims claim that their scriptures are so prescient of humanity's needs that they could only have been written under the direction of an omniscient deity.

An atheist is simply a person who has considered this claim, read the books and found the claim to be ridiculous. One doesn't have to take anything on faith, or be otherwise dogmatic, to reject unjustified religious beliefs.

As the historian Stephen Henry Roberts once said: 'I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.'

4. Atheists think everything in the universe arose by chance

No one knows why the universe came into being. In fact, it is not entirely clear that we can coherently speak about the 'beginning' or 'creation' of the universe at all, as these ideas invoke the concept of time, and here we are talking about the origin of space-time itself.

The notion that atheists believe everything was created by chance is also regularly thrown up as a criticism of Darwinian evolution. As Richard Dawkins explains in his marvelous book, The God Delusion, this represents an utter misunderstanding of evolutionary theory.

Although we don't know precisely how the Earth's early chemistry begat biology, we know that the diversity and complexity we see in the living world is not a product of mere chance. Evolution is a combination of chance mutation and natural selection. Darwin arrived at the phrase 'natural selection' by analogy to the 'artificial selection' performed by breeders of livestock. In both cases, selection exerts a highly non-random effect on the development of any species.

5. Atheism has no connection to science

Although it is possible to be a scientist and still believe in God - as some scientists seem to manage it - there is no question that an engagement with scientific thinking tends to erode, rather than support, religious faith.

Taking the US population as an example: Most polls show that about 90 per cent of the general public believes in a personal God; yet 93 per cent of the members of the National Academy of Sciences do not. This suggests that there are few modes of thinking less congenial to religious faith than science is.

6. Atheists are arrogant

When scientists don't know something - like why the universe came into being or how the first self-replicating molecules formed - they admit it. Pretending to know things one doesn't know is a profound liability in science. And yet it is the lifeblood of faith-based religion.

One of the monumental ironies of religious discourse can be found in the frequency with which people of faith praise themselves for their humility, while claiming to know facts about cosmology, chemistry and biology that no scientist knows. When considering questions about the nature of the cosmos and our place within it, atheists tend to draw their opinions from science. This isn't arrogance; it is intellectual honesty.

7. Atheists are closed to spiritual experience

There is nothing that prevents an atheist from experiencing love, ecstasy, rapture and awe; atheists can value these experiences and seek them regularly. What atheists don't tend to do is make unjustified (and unjustifiable) claims about the nature of reality on the basis of such experiences.

There is no question that some Christians have transformed their lives for the better by reading the Bible and praying to Jesus. What does this prove? It proves that certain disciplines of attention and codes of conduct can have a profound effect upon the human mind. Do the positive experiences of Christians suggest Jesus is the sole saviour of humanity? Not even remotely - because Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and even atheists regularly have similar experiences.

There is, in fact, not a Christian on this earth who can be certain that Jesus even wore a beard, much less that he was born of a virgin or rose from the dead. These are just not the sort of claims that spiritual experience can authenticate.

8. Atheists believe there is nothing beyond human life and human understanding

ATHEISTS are free to admit the limits of human understanding in a way that religious people are not. It is obvious that we do not fully understand the universe; but it is even more obvious that neither the Bible nor the Quran reflects our best understanding of it. We do not know whether there is complex life elsewhere in the cosmos, but there might be. If so, such beings could have developed an understanding of nature's laws that vastly exceeds our own.

Atheists can freely entertain such possibilities. They also can admit that if brilliant extraterrestrials exist, the contents of the Bible and the Quran will be even less impressive to them than they are to human atheists. From the atheist point of view, the world's religions utterly trivialise the real beauty and immensity of the universe. One doesn't have to accept anything on insufficient evidence to make such an observation.

9. Atheists ignore the fact that religion is extremely beneficial to society

Those who emphasise the good effects of religion never seem to realise that such effects fail to demonstrate the truth of any religious doctrine. This is why we have terms such as 'wishful thinking' and 'self-deception'. There is a profound distinction between a consoling delusion and the truth. Still, the good effects of religion can surely be disputed.

In most cases, it seems that religion gives people bad reasons to behave well, when good reasons are actually available. Ask yourself which is more moral: Helping the poor out of concern for their suffering, or doing so because you think the creator of the universe wants you to do it, will reward you for doing it or will punish you for not doing it?

10. Atheism provides no basis for morality

If a person doesn't already understand that cruelty is wrong, he won't discover this by reading the Bible or the Quran - as these books are bursting with celebrations of cruelty, both human and divine. We do not get our morality from religion. We decide what is good in our good books by recourse to moral intuitions that are (at some level) hard-wired in us and that have been refined by thousands of years of thinking about the causes and possibilities of human happiness.

We have made considerable moral progress over the years, and we didn't make this progress by reading the Bible or the Quran more closely. Both books condone the practice of slavery - and yet every civilised human being now recognises that slavery is an abomination.

Whatever is good in scripture - like the golden rule - can be valued for its ethical wisdom without our believing that it was handed down to us by the creator of the universe.

Did I Marry the Right Person?

2007-10-01T13:59:00.000+08:00

During one of our seminars, a woman asked a common question. She said,"How do I know if I married the right person?"

I noticed that there was a large man sitting next to her so I said, "It depends. Is that your husband?"

In all seriousness, she answered "How do you know?" Let me answer this question because the chances are good that it's weighing on your mind. Here's the answer.

EVERY relationship has a cycle. In the beginning, you fell in love with your spouse. You anticipated their call, wanted their touch, and liked their idiosyncrasies. Falling in love with your spouse wasn't hard. In fact, it was a completely natural and spontaneous experience. You didn't have to DO anything. That's why it's called "falling" in love... Because it's happening TO YOU.

People in love sometimes say, "I was swept of my feet." Think about the imagery of that expression. It implies that you were just standing there; doing nothing, and then something came along and happened TO YOU.

Falling is love is easy. It's a passive and spontaneous experience. But after a few years of marriage, the euphoria of love fades. It's the natural cycle of EVERY relationship. Slowly but surely, phone calls become a bother (if they come at all), touch is not always welcome (when it happens), and your spouse's idiosyncrasies, instead of being cute, drive you nuts. The symptoms of this stage vary with every relationship, but if you think about your marriage, you will notice a dramatic difference between the initial stage when you were in love and a much duller or even angry subsequent stage.

At this point, you and/or your spouse might start asking, "Did I marry the right person?"

And as you and your spouse reflect on the euphoria of the love you once had, you may begin to desire that experience with someone else. This is when marriages breakdown. People blame their spouse for their unhappiness and look outside their marriage for fulfillment. Extramarital fulfillment comes in all shapes and sizes. Infidelity is the most obvious. But sometimes people turn to work, church, a hobby, a friendship, excessive TV, or abusive substances. But the answer to this dilemma does NOT lie outside your marriage.

It lies within it. I'm not saying that you couldn't fall in love with someone else. You could. And TEMPORARILY you'd feel better. But you'd be in the same situation a few years later. Because (listen carefully to this):

THE KEY TO SUCCEEDING IN MARRIAGE IS NOT FINDING THE RIGHT PERSON; IT'S LEARNING TO LOVE THE PERSON YOU FOUND.

SUSTAINING love is not a passive or spontaneous experience. It'll NEVER just happen to you. You can't "find" LASTING love. You have to "make" it day in and day out. That's why we have the expression "the labor of love." Because it takes time, effort, and energy. And most importantly, it takes WISDOM. You have to know WHAT TO DO to make your marriage work. Make no mistake about it. Love is NOT a mystery. There are specific things you can do (with or without your spouse) to succeed with your marriage.

Just as there are physical laws of the universe (such as gravity), there are also laws for relationships. Just as the right diet and exercise program makes you physically stronger, certain habits in your relationship WILL make your marriage stronger. It's a direct cause and effect. If you know and apply the laws, the results are predictable... you can "make"
love.

Love in marriage is indeed a "decision"... Not just a feeling.

丁野与和尚之谈

2007-10-01T13:51:00.000+08:00

我一直在跟你说话，一直在跟所有众生说话，但是你和众生不想听。

现在你想听，一定不会听不见，谁想听都能听见。

只要我说的道理是真的，是你幻觉还是真的佛意，又有何分别呢？

为什么人世间有这么多苦难？

人世间的悲惨事，且听屠房夜半声，人间苦，冤憎会，亲别离。

人和人又是什么？

百世修来同船渡，千世修来共枕眠。

我和我身边的人将来会怎么样？

欲知前世事，今生受者是，欲知未来事，如今作者是。

Flea markets: someone's clutter, your cool find

2007-10-01T13:50:00.000+08:00

Far East Square Flea Market
Far East Square, 26 China Street

What: 40-plus stalls mostly set up by retired senior citizens. Founded and organised by Madam Neo Poh Choo eight years ago, the market now turns into an open-air karaoke corner at 7pm when amateur warblers belt out evergreen Chinese songs with accompanying line dancers

When: Every Saturday, Sunday and public holiday; noon to 10pm

Wares: A range of second-hand goods, from jade jewellery to crockery to hardware

Price range: From $1

Stall rental: $10

Who you might see there: Bargain-hunters sniffing for household items on the cheap, collectors hunting for genuine vintage articles and bored senior citizens looking for companions to chat with

Zouk Flea and Easy
Zouk, 17 Jiak Kim Street

What: 70 stalls

When: One Sunday every three months; 2 to 7pm

Wares: A mind-boggling mix of second-hand CDs, clothes, bags, shoes and accessories

Price range: From $1

Stall rental: $20

Who you might see there: Much like the clientele of Zouk's nightclub scene, posers and fashionistas abound. The only difference is that instead of nursing a drink in hand, many nuzzle a little pooch

China Square Central Flea Market
China Square Central, 18 Cross Street

What: 80 stalls spread over two levels with the first floor concentrating on usual bazaar fare like clothes and accessories and the upper floor on South-east Asian antiques

When: Every Sunday; 10am to 6pm

Wares: An eclectic range of goods from vintage tin toys to Teresa Teng vinyl records to trendy clothes

Price range: From 50 cents to $5,000

Stall rental: $38

Who you might see there: Antiques enthusiasts and the occasional local celebrity hawking his or her friends' wares. Organiser Michael Poh has several photographs of himself and artistes like Carole Lin framed beside his shop at China Square Central

Tanglin Mall Second-Hand Fashion and Jumble Bazaar
Level 1 covered walkway of Tanglin Mall, 163 Tanglin Road

What: As its name suggests, a range of second-hand goods is offered by 59 stall-holders

When: First and third Saturday of every month; 3 to 11pm

Wares: Knick-knacks from mugs and hair accessories to clothes and household items, depending on which sellers are there

Price range: From $1

Stall rental: $70

Who you might see there: Expats, youths and shoppers afraid of the weekend Orchard Road crush

Flee!@Gas Haus
Gas Haus, 114 Middle Road

What: Organised by three young women - Joanne Lim, Aveline Chan and Rachel Lim - the 27-stall strong flea market started out as a meet-up session for members of an online trading community to which they belong

When: Infrequent, Oct 14 next; noon to 6pm

Wares: Predominantly second-hand clothes, accessories and bags

Price range: From $2

Stall rental: Between $14.40 and $22, although a new bidding system in place may push rents up

Who you might see there: Young women between 16 and 24 on a shopping rampage

Shopaholics Aristocrats
Graze, 4 Rochester Park

What: Chi-chi flea market with champagne cocktails and finger food, housed in a casual-chic restaurant

When: Twice a year, to be confirmed; 11am to 5pm

Wares: A funky range of high-street fashion and designer clothes from America, Europe and Australia; jewellery, shoes and homeware. Unlike most flea markets, however, new stuff outstrips the old here

Price range: $10 for home-made honey, to $1,500 for a Balenciaga bag

Stall rental: $200 to $300 per stall, depending on size required

Who you might see there: Tai tais in training

Amrasa Spas Organic Flea Market
Bishan Park II, off Ang Mo Kio Ave 1

What: About 10 booths with stuff purportedly good for your body. Organised by Amrasa Spas to complement its philosophy of organic living - that is, free from harmful chemicals

When: The event was held for the first time last Saturday, and may be held monthly; 8am to 7pm

Wares: Furuna coral (a bird's nest substitute) with organic bean sprouts; shower-heads with health properties

Price range: $2 to $140

Stall rental: Free. But the organisers may charge around 20 per cent commission on stall takings once the event takes off

Who you might see there: Joggers, qigong aunties and former model-actress Jazreel Low, a co-director of the spa

MAAD
Red Dot Traffic Building, 28 Maxwell Road

What: About 30 vendors housed in a 600 sq m area

When: Every Sunday; 11am to 6pm

Wares: Original T-shirts, handmade toys, jewellery, paintings and sculptures

Price range: $19.90 for an iPod skin to $500 for a painting

Stall rental: $35 per day. Must commit to four Sundays in a row

Who you might see there: Bohemian artists and casual fashionistas with their pets

This and That Bazaar
Clarke Quay, 3 River Valley Road, at the central fountain square

What: 45 vendors over 3,000 sq ft

When: Starting Oct 28 and 29, thereafter last weekend of every month (for example, Nov 25 and 26), and Dec 9 & 10; noon to 9pm

Wares: From jewellery to high-end clothes and handbags. Children's toys, home furnishings, electronics. Two free tables reserved for women's rights organisation Unifem

Price range: $19 for jewellery; over $200 for a necklace

Stall rental: $600 for the weekend, for a 2m by 1m table

Who you might see there: Tourists and young professionals

Flea Day
Last two held in Timberlux centre (326 Havelock Road). Looking for new venue

What: About 200 vendors

When: Next one will be held early next year; noon to 7pm

Wares: Services like henna painting, manicures, home-made accessories. Stalls awarded on a ballot system. You have to e-mail a picture of yourself and your goods a month before the event

Price range: $5 for a T-shirt to $100 for a vintage dress

Stall rental: $30 to $45

Who you might see there: Hip and happening types; expats. Fashion editors have been spotted helming stalls there

Sunday@Holland Village
Opposite Holland Village Shopping Centre

What: 40 stalls selling warehouse stocks of clothes and cosmetics; second-hand personal effects

When: Every first and third Sunday of the month; 4 to 9pm

Wares: Second-hand clothing and plastic toys

Price range: From $1

Stall rental: $20

Who you might see there: Filipino maids, residents, expats and nurses living in nearby hostels

Sungei Road Thieves' Market
Pitt Street, Larut Road and Pasar Lane. Boundaries marked by Jalan Besar, Weld Road, Sungei Road and Kelantan Road

What: As many as 488 vendors

When: Daily; 1 to 7pm

Wares: Second-hand jeans, baby clothes, socks, watches, lawn mowers, vacuum cleaners, rice cookers and toilet seats

Price range: Jeans as cheap as $1 a pair, watches for less than $5; bargain, bargain, bargain

Stall rental: No rental cost, but on a first-come, first-served basis. Must be Singaporean; no new products

Who you might see there: Bangladeshi, Chinese and Indian foreign nationals; tourists; backpackers

Japanese Language Courses

2007-10-01T13:48:00.000+08:00

Aoba Language Centre

Location: 1 Selegie Road, #06-26 Paradiz Centre Singapore 188306 (Tel: 63340123 / Fax: 63342664)

Registration Hours: Mon to Fri: 12:00pm - 9:30pm; Sat: 10:30am - 5:30pm; Sun & Public Holidays: Closed

JLPT4: Basic 1, 2, 3; 36 x 3 = 108 hrs; S$285 x 3 = S$855

JLPT3: Intermediate 1, 2, 3; 36 x 3 = 108 hrs; S$305 x 3 = S$915

Bunka Language Private School

Location: 402 Orchard Road #05-15/16 Delfi Orchard Singapore 238876 (Tel: 67373601 / Fax: 67375080)

Registration Hours: Mon to Fri: 9:30am - 8:30pm; Sat: 9:00am - 4:00pm; Sun & Public Holidays: Closed

JLPT4: Elementary 1, 2 + Intermediate 1, 2; 24 x 4 = 96 hrs; S$200 x 2 + S$210 x 2 = S$820

JLPT3: Intermediate 3, 4; 24 x 2 = 48 hrs; S$230 x 2 = S$460

Hougang Japanese Language School

Location:

Hougang School: Blk 204 #04-113/119 Hougang Street 21 (Kovan MRT station of the North East Line) (Tel: 62827590)
Alexandra School: Blk 123 #04-82 Bukit Merah Lane 1 (Just in front of Queensway Shopping Centre) (Tel: 62738434)

Registration Hours: Mon to Fri: 1:30pm - 8:00pm; Sat: 1:30pm - 4:30pm; Sun: 11:00am - 3:30pm

JLPT4: Beginner 1, 2 + Intermediate 1; 40 + 44 + 32 = 116 hrs; S$190 + S$220 + S$170 = S$580

JLPT3: Intermediate 2 + Advance 1 + JLPT3 Preparatory Class; 44 + 38 + 40 = 122 hrs; S$220 + S$200 + S$210 = S$630

Ikoma Language School

Location: 350 Orchard Road, #12-07 Shaw House, Singapore 238868 (Tel: 62380288 / Fax: 62380233)

Registration Hours: Mon to Fri: 9:00am - 10:00pm; Sat & Sun: 10:00am - 7:30pm; Public Holidays: Closed

JLPT4: Basic 1, 2; 60 x 2 = 120 hrs; S$520 x 2 = S$1040

JLPT3: Intermediate 1, 2; 60 x 2 = 120 hrs; S$580 x 2 = S$1160

Pyaess Language School

Location: No.2 Finlayson Green #11-05 Asia Insurance Building, Singapore 049247 (Tel: 63271377 / Fax: 62515744)

Registration Hours: Mon to Fri: 2:00pm - 10:00pm; Sat & Sun: 10:00am - 6:00pm; Public Holidays: Closed

JLPT4: Elementary 1, 2, 3; 30 x 3 = 90 hrs; S$200 x 3 + S$15 x 3 (Textbooks) = S$645

JLPT3: Elementary 4, 5; 30 x 2 = 60 hrs; S$200 x 2 + S$22 + S$24 (Textbooks) = S$446

Yano Language School

Location: 141 Cecil Street, #07-03 Tung Ann Association Bldg, Singapore 069541 (Tel: 62206884 / Fax: 62260286)

JLPT4: Elementary 1, 2, 3; 36 x 3 = 108 hrs; S$225 x 3 = S$675

JLPT3: Intermediate 1, 2, 3; 36 x 3 = 108 hrs; S$270 x 3 = S$810

Love Match

2007-10-01T13:36:00.001+08:00

What do dating agencies offer and how much does it cost to join? And just how do you meet your perfect mate? Find out in our handy guide.

It's Just Lunch

20, Raffles Place, Ocean Towers #14-01. Call 65360100.

Targets: High-flying executives. The company has close to 500 members in its database since it opened last June. About 40 per cent are expatriates.

Costs: $1,400 buys you membership for 12 months or 14 dates, whichever comes later.

How guy meets girl: Clients are interviewed for more than an hour by agency staff, who try to form a picture of the ideal mate. They arrange a lunch date or after-work drinks at one of the company's 15 affiliate restaurants and night spots such as Gusto, Hibiki Restaurant and Sake Salon, Ocho Spanish Restaurant & Tapas Bar and Amici Italian
restaurant.

Drinks At Eight

30, Raffles Place, Caltex House #23-00. Call 6233 6863.

Targets: People who enjoy the high life. The newest agency on the block started operations in March and has some 85 members.

Costs: $680 for eight dates of your choice. In addition, enjoy a bottle of 2003 Sauvignon Blanc or 2002 Pinot Noir on the house (for this month only).

How guy meets girl: Clients fill up about 10 pages of forms describing their ideal dates. Agency staff throw in shopping companionship and offer grooming tips to clients for their dates at fine-dining restaurants such as Senso, Fuenti and Le Bistro. There are also wine appreciation yacht cruises.

Two To Tango

30, Robinson Road, Robinson Towers #03-01C. Call 6225 4465.

Targets: Executives, entrepreneurs and expatriates. Launched last June, Two To Tango has more than 500 members.

Costs: $960 for 12 pre-screened dates in a year.

How guy meets girl: Couples are paired off after screening by the agency. Clients get discounts on various activities. Image consultants also give lessons on grooming and etiquette at discounted rates. There is a Pets Dating Programme, where two pet lovers who do not want to leave their pets home alone can double date with pets in tow.

Lunch Actually

24, Raffles Place, Clifford Centre #21-02. Call 6532 0010.

Targets: White-collar professionals. Set up in June last year, 90 per cent of its 600-strong database comes from the professional sector, including lawyers and accountants.

Costs: $850 for annual membership package, including 12 introductions; $580 for half-year membership, including six introductions.

How guy meets girl: Couples are e-matched according to their stated profiles, physical and personality preferences as well as analysis of their handwriting samples.

Red, White And True

Nagarathar Building, 5, Tank Road #02-03. Call 6737 9239.

Targets: Anyone yearning for that special someone. Since its opening in January this year, the agency has registered close to 200 members.

Costs: $55 for each match, no registration fees. From next month, the first date will cost $80 (inclusive of a registration fee of $55), while subsequent dates cost $25 each.

How guy meets girl: After meeting an agency staff for an assessment, a match is found and phone numbers exchanged. When the company has enough people on the database, it is planning to organise Speed Introduction, singles parties, self-help workshops and seminars.

www.gomoviedate.com

Targets: Those in their late 20s to early 40s. Set up in November last year, it has more than 900 members today.

Costs: Free of charge for women. But men have to buy a gold membership at $19.90, $39.90 and $59.90 for three, six and 12 months respectively. The platinum membership costs $39.90, $69.90 and $99.90 for three, six and 12 months respectively. Those who sign up for the platinum membership have higher chances of finding a match.

How guy meets gal: Both parties sign up online and are matched by a computer system. The guy invites the girl to a movie. Tickets are hand-delivered to their homes. The couple simply turn up for the movie. Upcoming plans are for bowling dates, swimming dates, clubbing dates and coffee dates.

Osaka Hai Jinks

2007-10-01T13:33:00.001+08:00

Eats In Osaka

Most people I know who have been to Osaka have left impressed by the dining scene there. 'The food there is great,' was the general response when I mentioned that I would be going there.

And no wonder. Osaka, the second most important city in Japan after the capital Tokyo, can boast of being ichiban when it comes to certain kinds of food.

Do you know, for example, that it is the city of okonomiyaki (a pancake that contains shredded cabbage and yam) and the deadly blowfish? Or that it is where the founder of Nissin invented the first instant ramen in the 1950s? Or even that the ubiquitous plastic food replicas which adorn the windows of Japanese restaurants had their origins there?

Restaurants that have been around for more than a century still stand today. While some have grown into multi-outlet chains, others are content to stay pretty much unchanged, happy to focus on maintaining quality rather than quantity.

Most eateries are tiny, though that is no indication of how good they are. Food seems a healthy obsession with the Japanese, and Osaka is a good place to satisfy that craving.

A recent four-day eating trip to the city left me impressed with the variety of food available. And contrary to expectation, you do not have to pay very much even at the famous, albeit small, eateries.

Fugu

Fugu, or blowfish, is famous for being poisonous, and it is not uncommon in the past to hear of people dying from eating it.

But such cases are rarer these days and usually involve people who are not trained to prepare it. A 1958 law in Japan requires all chefs who prepare fugu to have a licence, so go to a reputable place. You should feel perfectly safe in Zuboraya, one of the most popular fugu restaurants in Osaka with six branches.

The one at Dotonbori, a busy street mall near the Namba underground station that is packed with shops, cinemas and restaurants, is the main branch. The narrow, five-storey eatery is right in the middle of the mall, and you spot it by a giant replica of a puffed-up blowfish above its entrance.

Fugu has a crunchy texture and the best way to savour that is to eat it raw. To make it easier on your jaw, the meat is sliced so thin that it's translucent. Dipped lightly in ponzu sauce, the flavour is light and refreshing.

The sashimi set (1,600 yen or S$25.50) also includes strips of fugu skin, which has the firm texture of chilled pig's skin. For the main course, opt for a nabe set (2,650 yen), which is a Japanese hotpot that comprises chunks of the fish as well as cubes of tofu and vegetables.

Once cooked, the meat becomes less crunchy but remains firm and smooth. Add another dish of grilled fugu with mayonnaise (850 yen) and you will have enough food for two persons.

Zuboraya Restaurant
1-6-10 Dotonbori, Chuo-ku
Tel: 06-6211-0181
Opening hours: 11am to 11.30pm

Whale Meat

Knowing that the rest of the world is aghast at the idea of eating whale meat, this speciality restaurant, which has been around since 1967, has put up a website in English declaring that the meat it serves is approved by the International Convention for the
Regulation of Whaling (ICRW).

According to the eatery, the ICRW 'mandates that as much as possible all whales taken for research under Article VIII be processed and the proceeds dealt with as the permitting Member Government (in this case, Japan) directs.

'Therefore, after the scientists have examined the whales and taken the data they seek, the meat and blubber from whales are sold to defray the high costs of research.' Even if your conscience is soothed by that piece of information, not everyone will take to whale meat.

Tokuya's speciality is hari-hari nabe (4,200 yen), which is whale meat in hotpot. The sliced meat, which looks like beef, is coated with water chestnut powder. When cooked, the powder forms a slippery coat over the chewy meat, which is tough like beef but has a slightly fishy taste.

Besides whale meat, the nabe also comes with lots of mustard leaf shoots, called mizuna. They look like dou miao (peashoots) but have the distinct bite of mustard. There are also small pieces of Mexican chilli pepper to add some kick to the broth.

Tokuya Restaurant
1-7-11 Sennichimae, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi
Tel: 06-6211-4448
Opening hours: 4 to 11pm; opens at 2pm on weekends and public holidays. Closed on last Sunday of February

Okonomiyaki

This pancake made from flour, egg, shredded cabbage and yam is so popular in Osaka that there are many restaurant chains specialising in it. Chibo is one of the most popular, with 50 outlets. Its biggest branch is in the Dotonbori shopping area.

You can choose all sorts of stuffing for your pancake. Try the special, called Chiboyaki (2,100 yen), which has a mix of beef, pork, squid and shrimp. Or try something more unusual with cheese and corn.

The killer for the okonomiyaki here is the sweet sauce and mayonnaise that are squirted on top, before being covered by a heavy blanket of bonito flakes.

Chibo Restaurant
Chibo-Dotonbori Bldg, 1F-4F, 1-5-5 Dotonbori, Chuo-ku
Tel: 06-6212-2211
Opening hours: 5 to 11pm, closes at 10pm on Sundays and public holidays

Udonsuki

Udon cooked in a hotpot may not sound very exciting, but you'll be won over after a single slurp of the thick noodles in Mimiu. Udonsuki has been the restaurant's trademark since 1928.

Neither too firm nor too soft, the noodles are cooked in a clear but tasty broth. Those who want a bit of kick can add a dash of minced ginger and spiced radish to the cooked noodles.

The set (4,000 yen), which is enough for two, comes with a starter of sashimi, a skewer of grilled meat and sherbet before the suki (another name for hotpot) is brought to the table.

Besides udon, other ingredients that go into the pot include beancurd skin, mushroom, Japanese yong tau foo and some very sweet clams. You also get a single live prawn that comes inside a small lacquer box. The meal ends with dessert, which was oranges and strawberries with whipped cream when I was there.

Mimiu Restaurant
4-6-18, Hirano-macho, Chuo-ku (near Honmachi subway station)
Tel: 06-6231-5770
Opening hours: 11.30am to 9.30pm

Sushi Bars

No foodie should visit Osaka without hunting down Yoshino Sushi Restaurant, a tiny sushi bar that has been around since 1841. It was renovated just a year ago though, so it does not look its age.

Current head chef Oyama-san, 69, has been working there since 1962, and many of his regulars - corporate bigwigs with offices in the area - have been patronising the eatery for almost as long.

It is famous for its unique Osaka boxed sushi. Cooked rice is first pressed into a small, open wooden box and pieces of marinated fish are placed on top. A flat piece of wood is then used to press it down lightly.

The square slab of pressed sushi is cut into neat rectangular bite-sized pieces before it is served. The rice, which comes studded with mushroom and vegetables, is flavoured with vinegar while the fish is well-marinated. The resulting sushi is so tasty that there is no need for soya sauce or wasabi on the table.

A serving of eight pieces of assorted sushi topped with fish, prawn or egg costs 2,500 yen. Another specialty here is the senbajiru (400 yen), a fish and radish soup. The secret is in the water, which comes from the area and gives the soup a clear, sweet taste.

Yoshino Sushi Restaurant
3-4-14 Awaji-machi, Chuo-ku (near Exit 1 of Honmachi subway station)
Tel: 06-6231-7181
Opening hours: 9am to 9pm (closed on weekends and public holidays)

Fish Market

Unless you're catching it yourself, where can you get fish fresher than at a fish market? Which is why sushi fans should seek out the sushi restaurants next to the Osaka Wholesaler Market.

The market is where the catch of the day is auctioned every morning. If you can get out of bed at 4am, join in the action.

But try to get a guide who can explain what is going on. Otherwise, the proceedings may not make much sense to you as bidding is conducted through hand signals and eye contact. What's better is breakfast at one of the eight tiny sushi restaurants next to the fish market.

These are where the market workers go after their morning's work, but many Japanese celebrities have been spotted tucking into the delectable fish and rice too. Check out eatery No. 3, Endo Sushi. It is 100 years old this year and there is good reason for its longevity.

The sushi comes in a set of five pieces for 1,000 yen. One piece is topped with tuna belly or toro, the most expensive cut of fish, but the rest are a mix and match of whatever the chef lays his hands on.

My set comprised toro, hamachi (yellowtail), tai (seabream), uni (sea urchin) and unagi (smoked eel). The rice is not pressed as hard as the Tokyo version Singaporeans are
more used to, but what's more unexpected is that it is slightly warm. This is the warm sushi Endo is famous for. It came about because business here is so brisk that the chefs cannot afford to wait for the rice to be cooled.

There is no wasabi in the sushi and instead of dipping the sushi in a dish of soya sauce, you merely brush the sauce lightly on top of the fish. That is all it needs.

Endo Sushi Restaurant
1-1-86 Noda, Fukushima-ku
Tel: 06-6461-7773
Opening hours: 5am to 2pm

Snacks

If you love those prettily packaged Japanese pastries with red bean paste, you have to drop in at Tsuraya Hachiman, a cake shop-cum-cafe. It was established in 1864 and moved to its current location, just a five-minute walk from Yoshino Sushi, in the 1960s.

It is famous for monaka, a square rice-flour wafer encasing some very sweet red bean paste. The shop sells an average of 2,500 pieces of these a day at 160 yen each. If these are not to your liking, you can choose from 3,000 other types of pastries.

Many of them are also filled with red bean, though prices vary. The shop manager explained that the beans come from different places, thus the difference in prices. The pastries make good gifts with their beautiful packaging. Or you can enjoy them with a cup of tea at the cafe at the back of the shop.

Tsuraya Hachiman Restaurant
4-4-9 Imabashi, Chuo-ku
Tel: 06-6203-7281
Opening hours: 8.30am to 7pm

Red Bean Shop

The tiny Meoto Zenzai seats only about 10 people at three tables, so be prepared to squeeze in among strangers. It is in a lane off one of the street malls in the Dotonbori area next to the busy ancient Hozenji Temple.

It serves only red bean soup with a single mochi (glutinous rice ball) in it. The hot dessert is perfect when you need to take a break from your shopping on a wintry afternoon.

A set of two bowls of the soup costs 500 yen and includes a cup of green tea and a piece of salt-encrusted seaweed that you chew on in between sips of the dessert.

Meoto Zenzai
1-2-10, Namba, Chuo-ku (along Hozenji Street)
Tel: 06-6211-6481
Opening hours: 10am to 10.30pm

Don't Panic

2007-10-01T13:32:00.001+08:00

What are the warning signs of some of the world's natural disasters and how should you react?

Thanks to a geography lesson, 10-year-old British schoolgirl Tilly Smith saved the lives of at least 100 holiday-makers on Phuket's Maikhao Beach on Dec 26. She raised the alarm after recognising signs of a tsunami, and the beach cleared out before the waves hit.

Here's how to spot brewing natural disasters and survive them.

Avalanche

What is it: A large mass of snow, ice and other debris that suddenly slides down from a mountain slope. This can be caused by a rise in temperature or an earthquake. It is prevalent in the European Alps.

Warning signs: If the snow beneath you collapses or sends cracks across the ground, get ready to flee. Watch out also for heavy snowfall and strong winds.

Survival tips:

Call for attention and discard all equipment.
Grab on to trees and rocks and stay on the surface of the avalanche by using a swimming motion. Work towards its side where the force is the weakest.
As the avalanche slows, kick to the surface while cupping your hands over your face to create breathing space. Thrust an arm towards the surface so that rescuers can find you quickly.

(Source: Canadian Avalanche Association - www.avalanche.ca)

Blizzard

What is it: It is a severe weather condition where strong winds of more than 56km per hour bear a great load of snow, reducing visibility drastically.

According to the National Weather Service in the United States, most blizzard-related deaths are caused by traffic accidents on icy roads or hypothermia - low body temperature - due to prolonged exposure to cold. Blizzards occur in Northern Europe, North America and Japan.

Warning signs: Strong, sustained winds and a lot of snow, which reduces visibility.

Survival tips:

Stay indoors with a heat source, but don't put on too many layers of clothes as overheating can cause you to perspire and subsequently, feel chilly.
If you're out in the open, set up a shelter to shield yourself from the wind. But don't eat the snow unless you melt it as it will lower your body temperature.
If you're in a vehicle, run the engine for 10 minutes every hour for heat and leave the window slightly open to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning.

(Source: The University of Illinois Extension Disaster Resources)

Bushfire

What is it: Bushfires start when fuel, in the form of leaves and wood, is ignited by a lightning strike, a flame or, in some cases, spontaneous combustion. Also known as wildfires, they can spread as quickly as 20km per hour. The speed depends on the kind of fire - grass fires spread more quickly than forest fires.

Warning signs: If you encounter persistent hot and dry weather in fire-prone countries like Australia, get set to face the heat.

Survival tips:

If you are in a house, turn off the gas and close all vents, windows and doors, blocking gaps with wet towels.
As the main fire-front approaches, enter the house and wait away from the windows. The fire takes five to 15 minutes to pass.
If you are on foot, cover all exposed parts of the body.
Move away from the fire-front and find open or already burnt ground. Don't try to outrun the fire.
If you can't avoid the fire, get into a dam or stream, or lie face down under a bank, loose earth or in a hollow.

(Source: Emergency Management Australia)

Cyclone

What is it: Also known as hurricane or typhoon, the tropical storm causes winds that hit speeds of 119km per hour or more, according to the US-based Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema). They are common in countries such as China, Japan and the Philippines, as well as in America's southern East Coast, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Warning signs: Hurricanes also spawn tornadoes and trigger off floods. As they approach, the skies will darken and winds will gain speed. The best defence is to check the weather forecast before going on a trip as typhoons can be predicted at least a day in advance.

Survival tips:

Leave low-lying areas, especially beaches, since strong waves may flood the coastal regions.
Enter a building and protect yourself from flying glass by taping up the windows.

(Source: Fema and Mr Lam Keng Gaik, Changi Airport's chief meteorological officer)

Earthquake

What is it: Tectonic plates which form the Earth's outer surface are constantly pushing against each other. An earthquake occurs when the stresses caused by these movements are released and the plates move violently.

According to Geoscience Australia, 80 per cent of all recorded earthquakes occur around the edge of the Pacific Plate, including New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Japan, Canada, the US and South America.

Warning signs: Although modern equipment can predict where an earthquake is likely to strike, there is no method to determine exactly when. The theory that animals can sense earthquakes is still unproven.

Survival tips:

If you are in the house, hide under a sturdy table away from windows.
If you are outside, stand away from buildings, trees or any object that can collapse on you.

(Source: Associate Professor David Higgitt of the National University of Singapore's geography department)

Hailstorm

What is it: Hailstones are formed when raindrops pass through a belt of cold air on their way to earth. These raindrops freeze into small blocks of ice as they fall, but violent updrafts push them back into the higher and colder portions of the cumulonimbus clouds, causing more layers of ice to form. The hailstones start falling when they are too heavy to be supported by the air currents.

Hailstones can occur in tropical Singapore, too. In 2003, residents in Tampines and Sembawang experienced falling ice chips during a 15-minute hailstone shower. However, the hailstones that fall here are unlikely to cause much damage as they are usually softer and smaller.

Hailstorms can hit anywhere with thunderstorms, particularly the mid-western US, China and Australia.

Warning signs: There are no concrete signs although in some cases, the sky is seen to turn green prior to a hailstorm.

Survival tips:

Umbrellas can ward off most hailstones.
Seek shelter in a building.

(Source: Singapore's Meteorological Services Department)

Lightning Strike

What is it: Anybody can be struck by lightning while out in a thunderstorm - and Singapore has one of the highest incidences of death by lightning strike in the world. Records from the National Environment Agency here show an average of 1.7 deaths per one million people, compared with 0.6 in the US. Singapore's location near the Equator, coupled with the hot and humid weather, give rise to lightning-producing thunderstorm clouds.

Warning signs: There are no definite signs. But since light travels faster than sound, you will see lightning flashes before you hear thunder. If less than 30 seconds pass before you hear its rumble, take shelter immediately as this indicates that lightning is drawing close.

Survival tips:

Take shelter in a house, large building or car.
In open areas, seek shelter in a low area such as a ravine; in a forest, hide beneath a thick cluster of small trees; and on a golf course, put down your clubs, take off your spike shoes and crouch into a ball on the ground.
Don't use electrical appliances indoors or hold metallic objects such as umbrellas outdoors.

(Source: Singapore's Meteorological Services Department)

Sandstorm

What is it: Caused by strong, dry winds blowing across a desert. Intense desert heat creates strong convection currents which often trigger the winds. In some cases, the combination of heat and an approaching cold front can create tornado-like conditions with winds exceeding 16km per hour.

The leading edge of sandstorms, which can reach 1,500m in height, often appear as a wall of dust. Visibility is often poor. Sand and dust storms are often whipped up in deserts or places where the topsoil is loose and dry.

Warning signs: The only warning is the appearance of the storm, sometimes described as a brown smudge, on the edge of the horizon.

Survival tips:

Wet a cloth and put it over your nose and mouth.
Coat your nostrils on the inside with a layer of petroleum jelly to prevent it from drying out.
Move to higher ground (unless you are in the middle of a thunderstorm where you might be struck by lightning) since sand grains do not bounce high off the ground.

(Source: The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht)

Tsunami

What is it: A series of waves caused by an underwater disturbance such as an underwater earthquake. Tsunamis can originate hundreds or even thousands of kilometres away from coastal areas, like Dec 26 showed.

Areas at greatest risk are those within 1.6km of the shoreline, which will be affected by flooding and scattered debris, and those located less than 15m above sea level, as striking waves can range between 15m and 3m in height.

Warning signs: A clear sign is sudden low tide and exposure of the ocean floor. The ground may also shake and as the wall of water nears the shore, a loud roar can be heard.

Survival tips:

If you are on a boat in a harbour, either dock it quickly and move to higher ground. You can also take it out to sea as far as possible since tsunamis only cause damage when they move from deeper to more shallow waters.
Get away as fast as possible from the coastline and seek higher ground.
Be aware that the first wave may not be the largest in a series of waves.
If you are near a high-rise building, head for its upper levels to avoid the water.

(Source: Eddie Bernard, director of the Pacific MarineEnvironmental Laboratory)

Tornado

What is it: A tornado is a violent windstorm marked by a twisting, funnel-shaped cloud. It is spawned by a thunderstorm and occurs when cool air overrides a layer of warm air, forcing the warm air to rise rapidly.

Damage is wrought mostly by high wind velocity and flying debris. Tornadoes are common in southern US states such as Florida during spring.

Warning signs: According to the US Storm Prediction Centre (www.spc.noaa.gov), the sight of a swirling rotation amid a bank of clouds or whirling dust or debris on the ground beneath storm clouds signals an impending tornado. There may also be hail or heavy rain followed by either a dead calm or a fast, intense wind shift.

Survival tips:

If you are outdoors, seek shelter in a sturdy building. Or lie flat and face-down on low ground, protecting the back of your head with your arms, and stay as far away as possible from trees and cars that could be blown into your path.
If the tornado is visible from far and traffic is light, drive out of its path by moving at right angles to it. Otherwise, park the car quickly and seek shelter in a sturdy building.
Seek shelter on the lowest floor, in the middle of a building, or in a hallway with no windows to avoid flying glass. Cover yourself with some sort of thick padding such as a mattress or blankets in case the roof or ceiling collapses.

(Source: The US Storm Prediction Centre)

Volcanic Eruption

What is it: A volcano is essentially a weak spot in the Earth's crust that issues magma - or liquid rock - and gases. Explosive eruptions occur when gases are trapped within the thick magma and force their way out.

Dormant volcanoes can also erupt, as vacationeers found out last June when Indonesia's Mount Bromo exploded, killing a Singaporean schoolboy and an Indonesian youth.

Warning signs: The most reliable sign is earthquakes near the volcano. There may be gas emissions, and the volcano's surface may crack from a build-up of pressure in its magma hamber.

Survival tips:

Watch out for falling rocks, trees and debris. If you are caught in such a shower, roll into a ball to protect your head.
If you are caught in the path of lava, don't try to out-run it. Get out of its direct path instead.
Move indoors and to a higher floor and close all doors and windows. Do not sit or lie on the floor as it could be filled with volcanic fumes, especially carbon dioxide.

(Source: The survival handbook by Piven and Borgenicht)

10 lessons on how to make your marriage last

2007-10-01T13:30:00.000+08:00

Make quality time for each other. Take a romantic holiday together every now and then.
Be honest with your partner. Communicate your needs, wants and feelings.
Respect one another.
Accept and appreciate. Pay attention to the positive things your partner says or does instead of harping on his/her bad traits.
Share enjoyable activities together as this helps to strengthen your relationship.
Give each other the space to do your own thing.
Support one another's goals and achievements.
Learn to compromise with each other. Think in terms of 'us' instead of 'me'.
Try not to bring up the past. Instead, learn from experience and concentrate on improving the future.
Be positive. Even couples in the best marriages experience conflict. Don't give up and continue working on your relationship.

How to have fun for Free

2007-10-01T13:29:00.000+08:00

Make a Big Splash

An attraction that made big waves decades back, Big Splash at East Coast Parkway is slowly wooing back the crowds by offering free admission. The aquatic complex retains its trademark water slides and swimming pools even till today. Ready to get wet? Surf its website at www.bigsplash.com.sg

Please Play me a Song

Dedicate a song to your beloved husband/boyfriend/dog at the Suntec City Fountain of Wealth. A DJ will read out your dedication and play your request every night from 7pm for free.

And on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, eve of public holidays and publicholidays, from 8pm to 9.30pm, you can ask for a laser text message tobe projected for free on the water screen at the fountain.

Yoga by the Beach

Housewife Jessie Liow, 58, wants to spread the virtues and wonders of yoga and meditation to as many housewives and greying folk as possible. Her brainwave: Teach them the art (of yoga and meditation) for free,as such classes are usually priced out of their reach.

It all started some seven years ago, when she was practising yoga by the beach in Pasir Ris. Some passers-by were so impressed they asked her to teach them. She agreed. And the size of the group just kept expanding.

Madam Liow's yoga lessons are held every Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and meditation classes are on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from 7.30am to 9am. You can call Madam Liow on 9450-5859.

Oooh, Andy Lau!

If you have strong legs and don't mind standing for hours, you can catch some blockbusters for free. Just stand outside the numerous VCD shops in the heartland and watch the movie they are playing.

And don't worry about being the only cheapskate 'moviegoer'. The last time we checked, there were at least a few ah peks hovering around the giant TV outside an Ang Mo Kio VCD outlet.

Tamil Movie Mania

Into Tamil talkies? If you don't mind sitting on the grass, you can join the hordes of Indian workers on the open field in Weld Road, Serangoon on Sunday at 8pm. From oldies to recent hits, the free flicks are part of the Sunday Market initiative organised by government agencies and non-profit groups to entertain foreign workers and to relieve the 'human congestion' in Little India.

Go Fish

Get a hook and line, and some bait of course, and head for Bedok Jetty, Sungei Api Api in Pasir Ris, or Punggol Jetty.

Go Fly a Kite

Relive those kampung days. Go fly a kite in any open space. Marina South is especially popular.

Watch People

From people with little taste indulging in PDA (public displays of affection) along Orchard Road, to kids playing under the dancing fountain at Bugis Junction, to 'ladies of the night' parading their wares - one is never short of amusement if you just open your eyes on the streets of Singapore.

Go on a Hike

Climb up Singapore's tallest hill - Bukit Timah Hill - or trek through the forest in MacRitchie Reservoir and get friendly with the monkeys (Just don't feed them). Or check out the new tree-top walk at MacRitchie. The free-standing suspension bridge is 25m above ground and brings you eye to eye with the birds.

Farm Fresh

Join a farm tour at Kok Fah Technology Farm in Sungei Tengah to see how kai lan, spinach and other greens are grown. Call 6762-3160 for more information.

Or if you like fish gazing, make your way to Qian Hu Corporation in Choa Chu Kang to see ornamental fish such as elephant nose, pigeon blood discus and the 'good luck' arowana. Admission is free, unless you demand a guided tour. And there's even a free shuttle service to take you to the farm from various MRT stations on weekends and public holidays. Call 6766-7087 for more details.

It's Tiger Time

Head for the Tiger brewery in Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim for a free hour-long guided tour of its factory and a swig (or two) on the house at the end.

Do note: Skipping the sightseeing to head straight for the drinks is not allowed! Plus, a maximum of two cold ones is apparently the unstated norm. Call 6860-3007 for details.

It's on the House

Pack in the women and the men will follow. That's the idea behind ladies' night at various watering holes in town that offer free booze to the fairer sex on some nights. At Carnegie's at Far East Square, women get free flow of champagne on Wednesdays from 9pm. Wednesday is also ladies' night at China Jump, Chijmes. Women get free flow of house pours and standard drinks from 6pm.

Dance the Night Away

Join aunties and uncles (and we see young folk too) grooving to the beat of country music at public parks on weekend nights. Got two left feet? Don't worry, crowds of 300 to 600 ensure your boo-boos are not likely to be noted. Check out schedules at www.nparks.gov.sg

Work that Body

No money to join a gym? Hit these outdoor exercise corners at Housing Board estates and public parks. Do chin-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups. There's no air-con or fancy equipment, but it's better than nothing.

Parking for nothing

Look out for free parking space after 5pm on Mondays to Saturdays and the whole day on Sundays and public holidays, at certain public carparks in areas like Serangoon, Balestier and Jalan Besar.

The HDB says there's free parking at more than 1,400 of the carparks it runs from 7am to 10.30pm on Sundays and public holidays. Just look out for an orange signplate at the entrance of the carparks.

Pre-flight Fun

Leaving on a jet plane but got eight hours to kill in transit? Fret not. From free Internet access to free movie screenings to a free sightseeing tour of Singapore for transit passengers, Changi Airport has a host of activities and facilities to keep travellers occupied.

Hop on a Free Ride

Okay, so you don't have a car and you're not a frequent flier. And your legs can't take you any further after a full-day shopping spree? Hop onto one of the free shuttle bus services around town, for example, the shuttle from City Hall MRT station to Suntec City.

Model State

Drop by the Singapore City Gallery at the URA Centre in Maxwell Road to catch a bird's-eye view of Singapore's central area. The recently revamped venue showcases Singapore's planning efforts and houses a giant Central Area Model, which has been updated to include the latest plans for Marina Bay, Orchard Road, Kampong Glam, Little India and the Bras Basah and Bugis area.

Take in the View

You probably need to pay an arm and a leg for a great city view. And most of us, working class folk, probably can't afford to do that. But the next time you are in the city area and need a breather, head for the Esplanade's Roof Terrace. From the top of the 'Durian', you can see almost the whole skyline of the Central Business District, bumboats tugging up and down Marina Bay and even lovebirds snuggling up close.

The Best Show in Town

Get National Day Parade tickets. Catch the nation's most spectacular performance with fireworks and all that jazz for free. Until recently, you had to be prepared to queue overnight for the highly sought-after tickets for the big bang on Aug 9; now all you need is luck to win a ticket through balloting.

Bring a Stool

If you can't get the National Day tickets, there are other free shows in the heartland at about the same time. While ghouls supposedly roam the earth during the Chinese Seventh Month, we humans too get to enjoy the getai shows designed to placate the spirits. These song and dance performances, usually a repertoire of Mandarin and dialect ditties, are a hit with the heartland crowd. Look for those makeshift stages in your neighbourhood around August.

Gaming for Free

Don't even want to pay 50 cents for an arcade game? Try out the hitsfor free with any of the 30 Xbox consoles placed in the common areas on the five levels of Funan the IT Mall. Games are changed regularly and shoppers there can have a go at bestsellers such as Halo 2, Dead Or Alive Ultimate and Rallisport Challenge 2.

Surf Wireless

Free wireless Web access is available in these relatively early days of wireless Internet. While some places may charge $3 an hour, you just have to head to places like Funan the IT Mall, McDonald's restaurants and Novena Square with your wireless device and you can check your e-mail, surf the Internet or even go shopping online.

Meet Miss Right

The Land Transport Authority has set up free notice boards at various bus shelters and covered linkways. Ads these days include home owners seeking tenants, match-making agencies offering the chance to meet a prospective Miss Right and garage sale alerts.

Fun Messages

Grab one of the free postcards at food and entertainment outlets and write to a friend. In the age of e-mail and SMS, snail mail is surely a welcome change for those who still carry a pen with them.

Find out What's On

Pick up a free magazine like IS, Juice and The Finder - found at coffee chains, eateries and entertainment outlets - and keep up with the latest happenings and trends in our island city.

Help your Health

What is the value of a healthy body? Priceless. Even better if one doesn't have to pay to be checked by medical professionals. For example, the Singapore Cancer Society offers free screenings to detect breast, cervical and colorectal cancer. Call 6221-9578 for more information or check out their website at www.singaporecancer society.org.sg

House a Homeless Pet

Take Snoopy the beagle or Manja the cat home. Each month, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) takes in more than 1,000 abandoned dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters and guinea pigs. Four out of 10 of these animals are unwanted pets, while the rest are strays. And about nine in 10 are put down, while the lucky ones are sent to the SPCA pound.

Adopting a homeless animal at the SPCA pound is free, but you have to pay for compulsory medical expenses which include the cost of sterilisation and vaccination. However, before you rush out and grab a free pet, SPCA's executive officer Deirdre Moss cautions: 'Owning a pet comes with a lifetime of financial responsibilities and commitment. 'It's not something you buy on the spur of the moment because it's cute. Having a pet is not unlike having a child.'

Learn the Lingo

'How much do you charge? I want to buy some chicken wings.' Seniors can now pick up basic conversational English at the Woodlands Community Club for free on Thursday nights. Call 6368-9938 for details.

Thanks for the Music

Stressed out? Bored? Take a break from the daily grind by checking out the free concerts and performances around town. The offerings range from a capella acts to indie rock bands. Besides scanning newspapers and magazines listings, you can check out these websites: www.nparks.gov.sg, www.esplanade.com and www.nac.gov.sg

Alternatively, head down to HMV at CityLink Mall and The Heeren to test their collection of pop, jazz, rock and classical tunes on display.

Book a Nice Time

Pick a good read at the library. From the latest bestseller to travel guides to self-help tips, the National Library Board (NLB) has more than four million titles, and that's just in English alone. Then there are the Chinese, Malay and Tamil titles.

Singaporeans can borrow up to four books or magazines for 21 days with their identity card at no charge. You can rest your bums on armchairs and read right there in the library, if toting a book home doesn't appeal to you.

Locate the nearest library to your home at www.nlb.gov.sg. You can also head to the browser-friendly Borders and Kinokuniya, where some bookworms spend virtually all day reading.

Camp under the Stars

Spend a night outdoors camping on the beach. Go out and pitch a tent at the Changi Beach Park, East Coast Park, Pasir Ris Park, Sembawang Park or West Coast Park. Now, you don't need a permit to camp at these parks.

Durian's Offerings

Singapore's $600 million 'Durian', the Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, holds a treasure trove of freebies and that's why it makes this list twice. There are monthly free concerts on Sundays at its stunning concert hall, free lunch-time concerts on the last Tuesday of each month, and free performances every Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings at its outdoors waterfront stage.

Plus, there are workshops, exhibitions, meet-the-artist sessions, talks and more, which are often free. Find out what the 'Durian' has to offer at www.esplanade.com

Window Shopping

In this haven of air-conditioned malls, a national hobby is, not surprisingly, window shopping. Bonus: You can also check out what other window shoppers are wearing.

Culture Vulture

So you might not know Van Gogh or anything about the Ottoman Empire, but that's what museums are for: to impart knowledge. The Singapore History Museum and the Asian Civilisations Museum offer free admission on Friday from 7pm to 9pm. Likewise, you can walk through the doors of the Singapore Art Museum free on Fridays from 6pm to 9pm.

Sights, Sounds, Smells

Put on your walking shoes and explore sights, sounds and smells ofLittle India, Chinatown and the other ethnic and culturally-rich quarters of Singapore. Say a prayer at some religious buildings here like the Thian Hock Keng temple at Telok Ayer Street and Sri Mariamman Temple in South Bridge Road.

Yes, a Free Lunch

If you can afford it, buy or cook your own meal. But if you can't, help yourself to the vegetarian fare at the Singapore Buddhist Lodge in Kim Yam Road, off River Valley Road. The temple faithfuls don't check your wallet, nationality or religion, but dish out a yummy spread from breakfast time to dinner. A sample of the menu: curry vegetables, braised mushrooms, steamed tofu and mock meat in sweet-and-sour style. Plus fruit, coffee and tea to wash those calories down.

Mr Lee Bock Guan, president of the Lodge, said there are 'regulars' who trot in daily for the free meals for decades, and even 'stray dogs and cats come to eat our free food'. Said Madam Roseita Gomez, 65, who has been taking her three meals at the temple for the past four months: 'I'm very broke, so have to look for free food. No work, no money, what to do?' As we said, it's free. But, hey, spare a thought for those who are hungrier.

Help me, Doc

Likewise, charitable outfits such as the Thong Chai Medical Institution at Chin Swee Road and The Singapore Buddhist Free Clinic go to the rescue of the poor sick. These organisations provide free medical consultation and medicine, mainly for those down and out. Still, there are the wealthy who turn up and don't get turned away. Staff members say most donate money to the outfits after seeing the doctors.

Call Thong Chai on 6733-6905 and the Buddhist Free Clinic on 6748-7292 for more information. The Buddhist Free Clinic has six branches islandwide but there's a $1 registration fee.

Free to Help?

Are you still with us? How about giving something back for the 38 freebies you just found out about? Find out how you can help those less fortunate than you. Go to the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre website at www.nvpc.org.sg

Get into volunteer work. And do something good for someone. For free.

Travel like a VIP on bus

2007-10-01T13:21:00.001+08:00

Five Stars Tours
5001 Beach Road, #01-27, Golden Mile Complex, Tel: 6392-7011
Super VIP Coach: 12 daily departures (first one at 7.30am, last one at 10pm)
Price: $23
Pick-up point: Golden Mile, arrive at Pudu Raya Bus Terminal

Grassland Express & Tours
5001 Beach Road, #01-24/26, Golden Mile Complex, Tel: 6292-1166
Super VIP Coach: 12 daily departures (first one at 7.30am, last one at 10pm)
Price: $28
Pick-up point: Golden Mile, arrive at Pudu Raya Bus Terminal

Gunung Raya Travel
5001 Beach Road, #01-13, Golden Mile Complex, Tel: 6294-7711
Executive Service: Nine daily departures (first one at 9am, last one at 7pm)
Price: $23
Pick-up point: Golden Mile, arrive at Pudu Raya Bus Terminal

1 Kim Seng Promenade #01-35A Great World City, Tel: 6733-1311
Super VIP Coach: Three daily departures (7.30am, 3.30pm, 9.30pm)
Price: $25
Pick-up point: Great World City, arrive at Imbi Bus Terminal at Pasar Rakyat

Konsortium Express
5001 Beach Road, #01-52B, Golden Mile Complex, Tel: 6392-3911
Super VIP Coach: Twelve daily departures (first one at 7.30am, last one at 10pm)
Price: $23
Pick-up point: Golden Mile, arrive at Pudu Raya Bus Terminal

Nice
214 Dunearn Road, Copthorne Orchid Hotel, Tel: 6416-3948
Nice 1: Fourteen daily departures (first one at 7.30am, last one at 9.30pm)
Price: $37
Nice 2: Five daily departures (8am, 9.30am, 3pm, 5pm, 6.30pm) and additional one at 1pm from Fridays to Sundays
Price: $47
Pick-up point: All pick-ups from the hotel, arrive at the STMB Railway station

Sri Maju Express
5001 Beach Road, #01-17, Golden Mile Complex, Tel: 6294 8228
Super VIP Coach: Six daily departures (first one at 8am, last one at 10pm)
Price: $23
Pick-up point: Golden Mile, arrive at Pudu Raya Bus Terminal

Transnasional
Lavender Street, Tel: 6294-7034
Executive Class: Three daily departures (9am, 5.30pm, 6pm)
Price: $35
Pick-up point: Lavender Street, arrive at Malaysian Tourism Centre, Hentian Duta Terminal
Economy Class: Eight daily departures (first one at 8.30am, last one at 11pm)
Price: $25
Pick-up point: Lavender Street, arrive at Pudu Raya Bus Terminal

Transtar Travel
5001 Beach Road, #01-15, Golden Mile Complex, Tel: 6299-9009
First Class: From now until Oct 19, two daily departures (8.30am, 6.30pm);From Oct 20, five daily departures (8.30am, 11.30am, 3.30pm, 6.30pm and 11.59pm)
Price: $56
Executive Class: Three daily departures (7.30am, 2.30pm, 11.30pm)
Price: $39
Pick-up point: All pick-ups from Golden Mile, arrive at Imbi Bus Terminal at Pasar Rakyat

Animal Planet

2007-10-01T13:16:00.001+08:00

A growing number of holiday-makers here are going on vacation to observe wildlife, birds and plants.

Instead of sight-seeing in cities, they are exploring eco-tourism spots in places like Indonesia, Malaysia, Africa, India, Madagascar, Christmas Island and Australia.

As a result, travel agencies like Country Holidays, Atrium Travel, Chan Brothers, Fascinating Holidays and Globetrotters Holidays have seen a 10 to 50 per cent growth in their eco-tourism business over the past year.

Country Holidays has experienced an annual increase of 15 to 20 per cent of its eco-tours, which makes up almost 50 per cent of its business, says Mr Chang Teng Hui, its managing director.

Atrium Travel saw a 50 per cent jump in its eco-tour business in the last year and expects its business to grow by 30 to 40 per cent over the next year, says Mr Andy Yeo, its director.

Eco-tours comprise 50 per cent of his tour business.

Chan Brothers Travel has enjoyed a 10 per cent hike in eco-tour sales, says its executive director, Ms Chan Guat Cheng.

'Singaporeans are now looking for more in their holidays than just shopping and sight-seeing. Adventure and interaction with nature are fast becoming popular among these discerning holiday-makers,' she says.

Her agency will include more of such eco-activities in its new itineraries due to positive feedback about its Australian packages, which include feeding animals in wildlife parks, viewing corals in the Great Barrier Reef and exploring forests.

Enterprising travel agents are always on the lookout for new eco-tourism spots to entice travellers.

Fascinating Holidays plans to launch a new tour later this year to a new property, Pelunas Beach, on one of the Riau Islands near Tanjung Balai, off Batam.

It offers jungle trekking, ocean canoeing, fishing and mountain-biking.

Mr Alfred Chia, 44, is a project manager and avid bird-watcher who travels to Sulawesi and Sumatra in Indonesia to see birds once or twice a year.

'My favourite bird-watching spot is Sulawesi as it has many birds which are found only on that island, like the large hanging parrot, the knobbed hornbill and lilac-cheeked kingfisher' says Mr Chia, who spent 10 days on the island two years ago with his son, Avian, 16.

He has also been to Kersik Tua Kampung in Sumatra to see the Salvadori's pheasant and blue-tailed trogon which are native to Indonesia.

Another eco-spot he visited twice in the 1990s was Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.

'I saw the migration of red crabs on the island. It happens once a year during December and the sight of them migrating from the hills to the beach is a spectacular sight indeed,' he recalls.

Going green: Bird-watchers in Sulawesi, Indonesia, can catch a glimpse of large hanging parrots.

Mr Jimmy Chew, 67, a retired engineer and photography buff, goes on eco-tours two to three times a year.

His favourite spot is Madagascar, off Africa, which he visited three years ago.

'The island has many plants and wildlife which are native to the island. One of them is the baobab tree, which looks like an 'upside down tree with roots in the air'. Some people call it a bottle tree,' he says.

'Even the traveller's palm that you see at the Raffles Hotel here comes from Madagascar,' he points out. 'There's also a special animal on the island, the lemur, which can jump from tree to tree like a monkey.

'The largest of the lemurs is the Indri Indri Lemur, which has a haunting early morning call, which can be heard from far away,' he says.

But there's more to eco-tours than just observing wildlife and plants.

Mr Chang of Country Holidays points out that eco-tourism is all about the preserving of the fragile eco-system of the destination.

He and Mr Yeo of Atrium Travel have some tips for eco-travellers:

When you go camping, minimise the use of firewood and select a tour operator which runs tours using lodges which have proper waste disposal system instead of those which dispose of the waste in the river.
Pick lodges which use chemical toilets or toilets which use chemicals to dispose of the waste or take the waste out of theenvironment for disposal.
Go to a company which preserves the environment. One example is the Conservation Corporation of Africa, which has properties like theLondolozi Safari Game Lodge in Kruger Park, South Africa.
Do not remove corals in the sea or damage the environment by breaking off stalagmites in a cave.
Respect the environment, people and culture of the place you are visiting. When you visit a longhouse in Sarawak, for example, respect the Ibans and do not ask them to dance for you as if they are part of a variety show.

Here are some eco-tours offered by various travel agents here:

Atrium Travel (tel: 6536-9282)

Feeling adventurous? Try the eight-day In Search Of The Bengal Tiger tour to the national parks of central India. Prices start from $2,086 (twin-sharing). Other tours include a seven-day Rainforest And Reefs Of Papua New Guinea trip at $2,900 and a 12-day The Wild South-Patagonia package at $5,296.

Country Holidays (tel: 6334-6120)

Try a 10-day Rajasthan Camel Safari And Biking holiday in India at $2,195 each (twin-sharing), which includes a visit to the Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary and the Sariska National Park, or opt for a 13-day North Vietnam Trekking And Kayaking Adventure trip at $1,795.

Chan Brothers (tel: 6438-8880)

A nine-day package to the Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne includes animal feeding in Queensland and a visit to the Penguin Reserve on Penguin Island from $2,238 each (twin-sharing). You can also opt for a seven-day Perth And Scenic Southwest package from $1,538, which includes a visit to the Valley of Giants to see some of the largest trees in the world. Book by Thursday and travel by the end of October.

Fascinating Holidays (tel: 6735-5511)

It has a two-day Rainforest Resort package to view fireflies and nature in Kota Tinggi, Johor, from $225 each (weekdays) and $245 for weekends (Saturday, eve of public holiday and public holiday) for two to three persons. There is also a five-day Taman Negara Resort package at $238 each (twin-sharing).

Globetrotter Holiday (tel: 6221-9610)

Take a 12-day eco trip to Madagascar and Mauritius, organised by the Nature Society (Singapore), at $3,488 each (twin-sharing). The Nature Society is also organising a 10-day trip to Christmas Island at $1,988 each (twin-sharing). Non-members pay an extra $50.

SA Tours (tel: 6532-4111)

To visit scenic mountains in China, take an eight-day Romantic Huangshan, Jiangnan And Shanghai tour from $928 or an eight-day Jiuzhaigou Fairyland And Pools Of Immortals package from $938.

Chew on this

2007-10-01T13:05:00.001+08:00

THE jury may still be out on whether organic food is better, but knowing what exactly goes into every munch helps. Here are five books on mindful eating you might want to check out. They don't necessarily advocate organic food but sensible, informed eating habits:

The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Search for a Perfect Meal in a Fast-Food World
By Michael Pollan

You will never look at food so nonchalantly again after reading this.

What Pollan's done is to trace four of his meals back to their farm, factory and forest origins, with gut-wrenching results. Best of all is his clear, considered chapter on Big Organic. He comes away respectful of the few truly organic farmers, but also sceptical of the organic food industry in general.

It helps that this journalism professor at the University of California, Berkeley, writes luminously and with lots of heart.

Chew on This
By Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson

Schlosser's the guy who put many people off hamburgers for good with Fast Food Nation (2002), his meticulously researched expose of the United States food industry. He's back with a kid-friendly tome, which is a Son Of Fast Food Nation, if you will.

Chew On This tells kids such things as why there are 40 chemicals in the milkshake they're slurping. What's especially good is his chapter on obesity, which is a words-and-pictures tale of what eating too much does to bones and vital organs.

He's no organic evangelist, but an advocate of a diet as free from industrially processed food as possible.

What to Eat
By Marion Nestle

Nestle is a nutrition professor at New York University and one of the world's most respected experts in her field. In this fast-paced and funny book, she hunts for clues as to which foods are still healthy and satisfying these days, and takes a long, hard look at the perennially contentious term 'organic food'.

Laurel's Kitchen Caring
By Laurel Robertson

This slim gem nourishes tummy and soul. Nestled among Robertson's tips on teriyaki tofu and milk toast are poignant stories of comfort and care. With her clear, sweet guidance, cooking a nutritious, balanced vegetarian meal is a cinch. No surprise, since her first vegetarian cookbook, Laurel's Kitchen (1978), is legendary for having sold more than a million copies to date.

Real Food: What to Eat and Why
By Nina Planck

When witty Planck tells you butter, cream and lard are good for you, what she means is you should be eschewing industrially made food and eat as how your grandparents did in their youth.

The daughter of American farmers, she grew up eating only fresh food in rural Virginia and tasted her first processed food only in her late teens.

Some of her more off-the-wall takes on food's future may not sit well, but she is intellectually rigorous and gently persuasive.

Organic Shopping

2007-10-01T13:03:00.000+08:00

HERE are good places to get your organic food fix:

Brown Rice Paradise
163 Tanglin Road, #03-15/16, Tanglin Mall. Tel: 6738-1121

Selling point: An established store with a vast range of certified organic products from many countries.

Bunalun
43 Jalan Merah Saga, #01-70, Chip Bee Gardens. Tel: 6472-0870
391 Orchard Road, #B2-01-3A, Ngee Ann City. Tel: 6735-2337

Selling point: A cosy grocery cum bistro in Chip Bee Gardens which serves breakfast and lunch till 4pm and also does takeaways. The Ngee Ann City branch has a range of products including jams and cakes.

Eat Organic
619H Bukit Timah Road. Tel: 6219-7156

Selling point: A wide selection of organic meat and seafood, and separate chillers for certified organic and non-organic vegetables so you can be sure of what you're buying.

Fire Flies Health Farm
62 Lot 75 Lim Chu Kang Lane 2. Tel: 6793-7875

Selling point: Thirty types of vegetables at reasonable prices. Plus, you are free to wander about the farm to see how the greens are grown organically. Note, though, that it is not a certified organic farm.

Nature's Glory
315 Outram Road, #11-03, Tan Boon Liat Building. Tel: 6227-1318

Selling point: Owner Peter Lim drives to Changi Airport every week to collect his imported organic produce, so there is no chance the goods can be tampered with or mixed by third parties.

NTUC FairPrice
Supermarkets around Singapore, including 12 which have dedicated shelves for organic food under its Simply Wellness line

Selling point: The Bukit Timah Plaza outlet has its largest selection of processed organic food, while its Tampines Mall outlet has the largest selection of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Super Nature
21 Orchard Boulevard, #01-21, Park House. Tel: 6735-4338

Selling point: Owner C.S. Chen is strict about selling only certified organic produce. Its cafe offers juices and a selection of soups, salads, sandwiches and stews.

The Organic Paradise
62 Temple Street, #01-01. Tel: 6220-8148
5 Koek Road, #01-25/27, Cuppage Plaza. Tel: 6736-2089

Selling point: Owner Lawrence Hoong absorbs the 5 per cent GST, and offers a membership scheme which comes with a 10 per cent discount.

U Say Marketing
Block 1 Wholesale Centre #02-03. Tel: 6872-4868

Selling point: The company was established in 1936, and current owner Low Say Eam supplies organic fruit mainly from New Zealand under the trusted Enza brand.

1000 Paper Cranes

2007-10-01T12:30:00.000+08:00

There was once this guy who is very much in love with his girl. This romantic guy folded 1,000 pieces of paper cranes as a gift to his girl.

Although, at that time he was just a small fry in his company, his future didn't seem too bright, they were very happy together. Until one day, his girl told him she was going to Paris and will never come back. She also told him that she cannot visualize any future for the both of them, so they went their own ways there and then...

Heartbroken, the guy agreed. But when he regained his confidence, he worked hard day and night, slogging his body and mind just to make something out of himself.

Finally with all the hard work and the help of friends, this guy had set up his own company..

You never fail until you stop trying. One rainy day, while this guy was driving, he saw an elderly couple sharing an umbrella in the rain walking to some destination. Even with the umbrella, they were still drenched. It didn't take him long to realize they were his girl's parents.

With a heart in getting back at them, he drove slowly beside the couple, wanting them to spot him in his luxury sedan. He wanted them to know that he wasn't the same any more; he had his own company, car, condo, etc. He made it! What he saw next confused him, the couple was walking towards a cemetery, and so he got out of his car and followed... and he saw his girl, a photograph of her smiling sweetly as ever at him from her tombstone and he saw his paper cranes right beside her...

Her parents saw him. He asked them why this had happened. They explained, she did not leave for France at all. She was ill with cancer. She had believed that he will make it someday, but she did not want to be his obstacle... therefore she had chosen to leave him.

Just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to, doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have. She had wanted her parents to put his paper cranes beside her, because, if the day comes when fate brings him to her again... he can take some of those back with him...

Once you have loved, you will always love. For what's in your mind may escape but what's in your heart will remain forever.

The guy just wept... The worst way to miss someone is to be sitting right beside her knowing you can't have her, see her or be with her ever again...

Find time to realize that there is one person who means so much to you, for you might wake up one morning losing that person who you thought meant nothing to you.

Learning Wisely

2007-10-01T12:28:00.000+08:00

Rely not on the teacher/person, but on the teaching. Rely not on the words of the teaching, but on the spirit of the words. Rely not on theory, but on experience.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. Do not believe anything because it is spoken and rumoured by many.

Do not believe in anything because it is written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and the benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

Lessons from Groundhog Day

2007-10-01T12:27:00.001+08:00

Groundhog Day is a tale of self-improvement, to look inside oneself and realize that the only satisfaction in life comes from turning outward and concerning oneself with others rather than concentrating solely on one's own wants and desires.

It's a Wonderful Life

2007-10-01T12:27:00.000+08:00

The movie is the story of the life of everyman George Bailey, as told to his guardian angel Clarence Oddbody, who has been recruited to save him in his moment of need.

Prologue

The movie begins on Christmas Eve as the multiple prayers of many people on Earth for a man named George Bailey are heard by people in Heaven. In the heavens, Clarence Oddbody, an "apprentice" angel, is told that he must help George Bailey in order to get his wings (which distinguishes him as a lowly apprentice angel).

One of the higher-up angels, Joseph, begins to tell Clarence the story of George Bailey in order to prepare him for his mission to help him.

George the boy

First, Joseph tells Clarence of how George saved his little brother Harry when he fell through the ice at the age of nine. Later, Clarence is shown when George worked at Mr. Gower's drugstore. Two little girls, Mary Hatch and Violet Bick, come in, and Mary pledges to love him until the day she dies. George also saves a child from being poisoned by tainted capsules ordered from Mr. Gower, who is disoriented after learning, by telegram, of the recent influenza death of his son. Mr. Gower is eternally grateful to George.

George the young man

Now, about twenty-one, George Bailey wants more than anything in the world to "leave this crummy little town" of Bedford Falls, and experience the world outside. On the night before he is to leave for a European vacation and his architectural education, George sits down to dinner with his father Peter, who expresses his anxieties about having his eldest son leave without going into business with him at the Bailey Building & Loan. George reassures Peter that he has nothing to worry about, especially considering the aggressiveness of mill owner and banker Henry F. Potter, a greedy slumlord who already owns half the city. In a tender moment, George reveals his deep affection for his father, then leaves to attend the graduation party of his younger brother, Harry, at the Bedford Falls High School gymnasium.

At the prom, George becomes re-acquainted with Mary Hatch, now 18, who has been brought to the event by her brother, Marty. After getting rid of Mary's annoying date, Freddie (Carl Switzer), George and Mary dance together in the big Charleston contest. Beneath the gym's retractable floor is concealed a swimming pool, and George and Mary are dancing on the long along which the floor splits when opened. In a fit of pique, Freddie activates the mechanism that exposes the water-filled pool. After moving to one side of the growing opening, George and Mary dance closer and closer to the edge before plunging in. The rest of the partygoers (including the school principal) gleefully join the couple in the pool.

Afterwards, George and Mary are walking leisurely home, with George wearing a football uniform and Mary a bathrobe, both "borrowed" from the school locker room. They harmonize on Cool White's minstrel song "Buffalo Gals" ("Buffalo gals, won't you come out tonight / and dance by the light of the moon?") as they stroll. En route to Mary's, George puts down the couple's wet evening wear and, in accordance with local custom, throws a rock through the window of 320 Sycamore, the old Granville place, a large, empty, dilapidated house, and makes a wish as it breaks the window. Mary has asked him not to break the glass, explaining that she loves the romantic house. Then she asks George about what wish he made. His enthusiastic answer:

I didn't make one wish, not two, but a whole hatful! I'm shakin' the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I'm gonna see the world: Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Coliseum. Then, I'm comin' back here to go to college and see what they know. And then I'm gonna build things. I'm gonna build airfields, I'm gonna build skyscrapers a hundred stories high, I'm gonna build bridges a mile long—

At this, Mary impulsively picks up a stone and breaks a window as well. George asks her what she wished for, but she enigmatically turns and saunters on, accidentally losing her robe in the process. Left holding the garment, a mischievous George humorously teases the mortified Mary, who has hidden herself in nearby hydrangea bushes.

Just then, Uncle Billy, Peter Bailey's brother and the Building & Loan's vice president, drives up and informs George that his father has had a stroke. Tossing Mary her robe, George rides urgently away.

Despite the doctor's best efforts, Peter Bailey dies.

Adult George

George, sacrificing the joys and rewards of vacation and an education in Europe, stays behind and helps settle the matters of the Bailey Building & Loan and his father's estate. He also pays for Harry to go to college first. Mr. Potter makes minor attempts to control the company, but the board puts down his attempts.

Harry Bailey comes home from college with a young woman in his arms and introduces her as his wife. Her father has offered Harry an excellent job—and, despite Harry's possible reassurance, George is sure that his dream of having Harry finally replace him at the Building & Loan so that he can take a bigger lot in life is dashed. Ma Bailey informs George that Mary Hatch is back in town, and that she "lights up like a firefly whenever she sees" George. George eventually makes his way to her house, where she girlishly plays games with him. George acts uncomfortable and as if he has been forced to come to her house, because, although he does love her, he knows that getting married to her means he will forever have to remain in Bedford Falls.

Frustrated by George's lack of response to her affectionate maneuvers, Mary smashes the record that she had put on just for him and demands that he leave. Then the phone rings. It's Sam Wainright, the friend who introduced George to Mary, and he informs her that George's previous tip about plastics has turned out to be excellent advice, but that he's still looking for a place to produce his goods. George advises Sam to consider Bedford Falls' recently closed factory, which, along with its former workforce, could suit his needs. George and Mary share the telephone earpiece as Sam tells George that his father wants to give George a job with generous pay and a prosperous future and that "It's the chance of a lifetime." George, utterly torn between two choices, shouts

Now, you listen to me! I don't want any plastics, and I don't want any ground floors, and I don't want to get married, ever, to anyone! You understand that? I want to do what I want to do. And you're—and you're—

At this moment, he realizes he must again make another sacrifice for love, and embraces Mary. At the same time, George also realizes that he must marry his love while at the same time denying himself the prosperous job. After all, the Bailey Building & Loan needs protection from Mr. Potter, and the Bailey Building & Loan needs to protect Bedford Falls from Mr. Potter, too.

Married George

George and Mary get married in a ceremony at his mother's home. They jump into Ernie's taxicab and are about to go to the airport where they shall embark upon a grand honeymoon when, to their dismay, they see people running through the rain to the Bailey Building & Loan. Resisting the urges of Mary, George goes over to see what's up.

There has been a run on the bank, and everyone's financial future is in jeopardy. Meanwhile, Mr. Potter has seized control of the City Bank, and calls George at the Building and Loan and tells George that he doesn't think the Building & Loan has enough money to stay in business, and informs him that if all of George's clients go to Mr. Potter, he'll refund their accounts 50 cents on the dollar. Without the Building and Loan, they would all be at the mercy of Potter, who cares little for them. George pleads with the people not to sell their shares to Potter at half their value: "Don't you see what's happening? Potter isn't selling; Potter's buying!"

Mary holds up the money that belongs to them, offering their $2,000 in honeymoon money to bolster the dwindling assets and satisfy the depositors, to tide them over until the bank reopens in a week. George sacrifices and throws away his last chance to leave Bedford Falls. The townspeople, although still fearful, trust in George's honesty and agree to withdraw only what they need to last the week.

Exasperated and tired, George, Uncle Billy, and the rest of the Building & Loan staff celebrate the two remaining dollars leftover. Suddenly, the phone rings, and it's Mary, informing him to "come home" to 320 Sycamore—the old house whose windows they once broke.

When George arrives there, he is welcomed inside to a leaking roof, drafty house, and posters of the South Seas and Hawaii covering up holes in the walls. As Mary kisses George, police officer Bert and taxi driver Ernie serenade them from outside. Embracing George, Mary whispers "Remember the night we broke the windows in this old house? This is what I wished for."

Cutting years later, George opens a development called Bailey Park, opening with the ceremony of poor Italian family the Martinis getting their first home in America. Sam Wainright stops by and tells George that he and his wife are off to Florida. George, furious that everyone else gets their dreams fulfilled except for him, kicks the door to his car shut.

Meanwhile, Mr. Potter is aware that the Bailey Park development is infringing on his profits, and he comments: "The Bailey family's been a boil on my neck long enough." George is then summoned to Mr. Potter's office, and is, strangely, congratulated for beating the old man. Mr. Potter offers him an insanely wealthy future: $20,000 a year salary, business trips to Europe and Asia... meaning the best things in the world for his new bride. However, George suddenly comes to his senses, realizing that he can't accept this temptation, because it would mean ruin for the good people of Bedford Falls. His voice rising with his increasing disgust, he tells Mr. Potter

I don't need twenty-four hours. I don't have to talk to anybody. I know right now, and the answer's no. No! Doggone it! You sit around here and you spin your little webs and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money! Well, it doesn't, Mister Potter! In the—in the whole vast configuration of things, I'd say, you were nothing but a scurvy little spider!

That very night, George comes home after dark while Mary is sleeping, and the words of his recent conference with Mr. Potter haunt him. The promises of wealth, happiness, and good clothing and home for Mary seem even more enticing, and George realizes just how much he has had to sacrifice during his life, and what meager material rewards he has gained from it.

His eyes drift from his sleeping young bride to the peeling paint on the walls, and to an old caricature of Mary drew of him as cowboy throwing a rope around the moon. He remembers the night he and Mary walked home from Harry's graduation, the high aspirations for the future that he expressed to her, how carefree and hopeful they were. Thus, George realizes precisely what he has missed out on by passing up Mr. Potter's offer.

Mary then sits up in bed. "George Bailey lassoes stork!" she tells him. George and Mary end up having four children in all.

The War; Christmas Eve

Afterwards, during a montage, angel Joseph explains to Clarence what happened to Bedford Falls during World War II. Harry Bailey went off to war, and his heroics saved a convoy of troops. Sam Wainright made a fortune off of plastic hoods for airplanes. Mary and other women in the town worked for the USO. Ernie and Bert also went off to fight in the war in Normandy. Mr. Potter takes control of the draft board. Uncle Billy sells war bonds.

George Bailey is rejected from the draft board: after saving Harry from the ice as a young boy, he went deaf in one ear, and is therefore ineligible for the U.S. Armed Forces. He stays behind to fight "The Battle of Bedford Falls" against Mr. Potter.

The war ends; and Harry Bailey's heroics have landed him a Congressional Medal of Honor, announced in a banner headline across The Bedford Falls Sentinel. At the bank, with an envelope of $8,000 of Bailey Building & Loan cash to deposit, Uncle Billy is writing out the deposit slip when Potter is wheeled into bank. Potter is greeted enthusiastically by four bankers and then sarcastically by Uncle Billy, who, noticing a copy of the Sentinel in Potter's lap, boasts

Well, good morning, Mister Potter! What's the news? Oh, well, well, well: Harry Bailey wins Congressional Medal. That couldn't be one of the Bailey boys. You just can't keep those Baileys down, now, can you, Mister Potter?

However, in his joy, Uncle Billy inadverently wraps the envelope of cash in Potter's newspaper before returning it to him. Uncle Billy leaves; and Mr. Potter, having discovered the money, greedily and diabolically keeps it all for himself, aware that it means ruin for the Baileys.

At the Building & Loan, Violet Bick asks George for a loan to start a new life in New York City. George agrees to the loan, and consults Uncle Billy as a matter of protocol. He finds Uncle Billy in a state of distress over not being able to locate the eight thousand dollars he was supposed to deposit that morning. George searches in the obvious places in the office, and then races through the snow, hatless and coatless, retracing Uncle Billy's path in a vain attempt to find the cash. Enraged at Uncle Billy's forgetfulness, George, panicking, beats him, shouting "Where's that money? Do you realize what this means? It means bankruptcy and scandal and prison; that's what it means! One of us is going to jail. Well, it's not gonna be me!"

George is now depressed and distraught, and returns home to find his family joyous and anxious for the coming Christmas tomorrow. His daughter practices piano, while his sons decorate the tree with Mary. The now seemingly inane and stupid pleas of his family make him even more disparaged. He cries as he hugs his son Tommy, knowing that he himself will be the one who goes to jail, and will be to blame for all his clients' financial ruin. He is then told that his daughter Zuzu has a cold. Zuzu tells George that she didn't put on her coat because she didn't want to crush the rose she won at school. She asks her father to paste the wilting petals back on her rose, but they fall off in George's hand. He hides the petals in his pants pocket and returns the flower to her as if he'd mended it. Under extreme duress now, he blames her schoolteacher for not telling Zuzu to put on her coat, and George makes her cry.

Utterly desperate for a way out of prison and scandal and the suffering of his family, George asks Mr. Potter for help. Potter knows that Uncle Billy has misplaced $8,000 of the Building & Loan's money; he suggests that George has been gambling or having an extramarital affair, and taunts George:

Look at you: you used to be so cocky. You were going to go out and conquer the world! You once called me a warped, frustrated old man. What are you but a warped, frustrated young man? A miserable little clerk, crawling in here on your hands and knees and begging for help.

Potter declines to lend George any money, because the only collateral that he offers is a $15,000 life-insurance in which his equity is $500. In a bit of sinister, chilling humor, Potter says "Why, George, you're worth more dead than alive" and says that he will swear out a warrant for George's arrest on charges of malfeasance and manipulation of funds.

Realizing this is indeed true, George departs while Potter is still speaking, and drives to Mr. Martini's bar, where he drinks. He prays to God for deliverance from his woes. Mr. Welch, husband of Zuzu's schoolteacher, recognizes George and, irate that his wife cried for an hour after George yelled at her over the telephone, punches George in the face.

Feeling his life insurance policy in his coat pocket, George interprets this blow as God's answer to a man in need, and, sick with the way the world has been cruel to him for his entire life, is now on the verge of suicide. George has truly lost faith in the people of the world, and in God.

Clarence

George drunkenly crashes his car into a tree near a bridge, and stumbles out into the middle of the span. He looks down into the churning, frigid river, knowing that if he jumped in right now, the temperature and the rapids would kill him in no time. Contemplating suicide, and about to do himself in, George suddenly sees a stranger in a white nightgown jump into the river. George jumps in to save him, and the bridgekeeper saves them from the water.

The stranger introduces himself to George as Clarence Oddbody, Angel Second Class, George's guardian from Heaven, a reader of a damp copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer who recommends "the new book Mark Twain's writing now" and claims to have died in his old-fashioned undergarments. George is very skeptical, and the bridgekeeper leaves, thinking both of them are insane. Clarence attempts to convince George that he jumped in order to save George, knowing that George would rather save a life than take his own.

George, despondent and ruined, explains his situation to Clarence, who already knows all too well the plight of George and Uncle Billy. George claims "Everyone'd be better off if I'd never been born at all."

Clarence takes this statement to heart, and having conferred with his superiors in Heaven, grants George's wish: the world has never known of a man named George Bailey, and he truly has never been born.

Pottersville

They walk in this new reality past the tree where George crashed his car—but it is gone. There is not even a mark in the tree where the car had smashed the trunk in. They then go to Martini's Bar (now "Nick's") for a drink. Clarence hears the cash register's bell, and tells George "Every time you hear a bell ring, an angel gets his wings", garnering unfriendly laughter.

In the bar, Clarence (with characteristic child-like naïveté) is unafraid to discuss angels in front of a bemused Nick and others in the bar: "Why? Don't they believe in angels?" Clarence asks. Embarrassed by his slightly daffy companion, George tells Nick "He never grew up." Nick is less than amused. When Clarence, hearing the bell of the cash register, says that an angel has just earned its wings, Nick orders the two "pixies" out for "giv[ing] the joint atmosphere". As they are manhandled toward the door, Mr. Gower comes stumbling in. Nick calls Gower as a "rummy" and a "panhandler" and sprays him in the face with soda water. George is shocked by Gower's condition and hopes that his former employer will recognize him: but the reply is a mystified "No." Nick tells George that the former druggist Gower "spent twenty years in jail for poisoning a kid" and suggests that, to know Gower, George, too, "must be a jailbird".

George and Clarence are thrown out into the snow for "giv[ing] the joint atmosphere". Dismayed by the experience, but incredulous of Clarence's explanation, George interrogates Clarence, who assures George that he is his Guardian Angel. George ask what else he is: "A hypnotist?" Trying to assert his identity, he finds that, just as Clarence predicts, his wallet, all his identification, even Zuzu's flower petals, are gone from his pockets. Clarence remarks "You've been given a great gift, George: a chance to see what the world would be like without you."

In a horrific series of events, George shakes off Clarence and discovers the changed Bedford Falls—now called Pottersville. The main street has been transformed into a gaudy cavalcade of jitterbug dance halls, strip clubs, and taverns. George sees the Building & Loan has been replaced by a dance hall, while a pawn broker now serves the people of Pottersville. Violet Bick is now a prostitute facing arrest. Ernie and Bert are now callous and suspicious of everyone. The old house at 320 Sycamore is as dilapidated as ever, since George never lived there.

Ma Bailey still runs her boarding house. George insists that he is her son, but she claims she never had any children except for Harry. Peter Bailey had a stroke and died, she says, and Uncle Billy tried to control the company afterwards, but pressure from Potter forced him into madness and an insane asylum.

After running down the steps, George's horrified, confused, despondent face is viewed in a fantastic close-up. He seeks closure by trying to locate the Italian immigrant family, the Martinis, in Bailey Park, but is terrified to find a cemetery there instead. Clarence appears, and tells George he wasn't there to build any house for the Martinis.

In the first of three climactic scenes of the movie, George discovers Harry Bailey's name on a tombstone. It reads "HERE LIES HARRY BAILEY: 1911–1919". Clarence tells George that, because George never existed, Harry Bailey fell through the ice and drowned at the age of nine. George, thinking he's going mad, is convinced that he saved Harry, and that Harry went on to save the lives of an entire ship of men in the war.

Every man on that transport died! Harry wasn't there to save them because you weren't there to save Harry! You see, George: you've really had a wonderful life. Don't you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?

George's mind is now battling between what he thinks he knows and what is being obviously presented to him, and he demands to know what has become of Mary. He feels that if he can just find Mary, things will be back to normal. But he finds that Mary is an old-maid librarian: a plain, bespectacled woman, sad, lonely, and frightened of the world. George approaches her as she closes up the public library, pleading and begging Mary to help him. But she doesn't recognize him, and screams before running away from him. Bert comes to her defense, and tries to pry George from her. George, finally realizing everything Clarence has told him, knocks Bert to the ground. His fears deepened, George flees from the center of town, with gunshots ringing in his ears.

Faith renewed

Fleeing the horrors of Pottersville, George Bailey at last grasps the truth. As he once again arrives at the bridge, he finally realizes what Clarence has been trying to explain: that every man's life affects the world greatly. Forgetting himself and his problems, a humbled George pleads with Heaven to restore his existence and make the world as it was -- problems and all:

Clarence! Clarence! Help me, Clarence. Get me back. Get me back. I don't care what happens to me. Get me back to my wife and kids. Help me, Clarence, please. Please! I want to live again! I want to live again. I want to live again. Please, God, let me live again.

His prayer is answered: at the precise instant George utters the word "God", the blowing gusts die down, and snow begins to fall once more.

At once, George's lip starts to bleed. Bert's police car turns onto the bridge. Restored to life, George at first rounds on Bert angrily, but when Bert says his name, he euphorically asks "Bert, do you know me?"

Bert replies "Yes", leading George to jump and yell with joy. Bert demands to know where he has been, since the whole town has been looking for him. He then points out that George's lip is bleeding. Feeling for the blood, George gleefully cackles

My mouth's bleeding, Bert! My mouth's bleed—[He checks his pocket]—Zuzu's petals! Zuzu's—There they are! Bert! What do you know about that! I'm back! Merry Christmas!

George's eyes have been opened to the true wonder of living. All of the miseries of his Christmas Eve he now greets with humorous joy: he lauds the tree he'd crashed into, lovingly pats his dilapidated car with the door that won't stay closed, and, in the film's most memorable scene, runs ecstatically down Main Street, shouting hellos to the Bijou Movie House, Emporium, Bailey Building & Loan, and the entire city of Bedford Falls, the "crummy little town" he had come to hate. George's holiday greetings are even offered to Mr. Potter, who answers George's "Merry Christmas!" with "And a happy new year to you, too—in jail!"

George returns a home. The bank examiner, the sheriff, and two newsmen are there to arrest him; but he enthusiastically shakes hands with the examiner, who says "Mr. Bailey, there's a deficit."

Responding happily both to the examiner and to the sheriff's arrest warrant, George exclaims "Isn't it wonderful? I'm going to jail!"

Spying his children on the upstairs landing, George rushes up to kiss them. When he asks where their mother is, they answer that she has gone looking for him.

The richest man in town

Mary rushes in moments later, shouting "George, it's a miracle! It's—it's a miracle!" George's years of selfless investment in his fellow men now pay off with interest. The people of Bedford Falls, for whom George has sacrificed his dreams, now appear in his hour of need. One by one, then in a crowd, George Bailey's neighbors offer him their money—Mr. Martini, Violet Bick, Annie the housekeeper, Mr. Gower, the customers who had trusted him in the bank run. As each comes forward, George utters their names under his breath, lovingly. Even the bank examiner and sheriff offer money—and the sheriff tears up the arrest warrant. The money collected amounts to thousands of dollars, more than enough to save George from jail, the Bailey Building & Loan from ruin, and Bedford Falls from control by Mr. Potter.

Suddenly, Ernie shouts for silence so that he can read them a telegram: Sam Wainright, aware of George's peril, has cabled from London that his office is authorized to advance George up to twenty-five thousand dollars. Everyone cheers, knowing that the money should maintain the Bailey Building & Loan, and the homes and neighborhoods it has created, for years to come. The crowd bursts into "Auld Lang Syne", while cousin Eustace, the Building & Loan clerk, begins gladly tallying the contributions.

Someone shouts "Harry Bailey" and, unexpectedly, Bert the cop brings in George's brother, whom he has driven from the airport: "The fool flew all the way up here in a blizzard."

Still in uniform from his decoration in Washington and a subsequent event in New York City, Harry proposes "A toast: to my big brother, George—the richest man in town."

The crowd cheers again, and then resumes "Auld Lang Syne", this time accompanied by Bert on his accordion and Janie on the piano. Suddenly, a book appears atop the pile of money: Tom Sawyer. George reaches down and opens the cover; inside, he finds an inscription:

Dear George:—
Remember no man is a failure who has friends.
Thanks for the wings!
Love
Clarence.

A branch is shaken on the Christmas tree, and a bell on the branch starts to jingle. Zuzu cries out "Teacher says 'Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.'" George looks skyward and says "That's right." He winks. He knows who has received the wings.

As he stands in his beloved home, surrounded by his family and the neighbors he has come to love, George Bailey truly grasps how wonderful his life has been, and realizes that a human life—no matter how wretched—is always worth living, if lived for the sake of the people that one loves.

Motor Bi-cycle

2007-10-01T12:25:00.000+08:00

I was digging through some of my old rubbish when I saw this certificate of participation: Motor Bi-cycle. Has participated in the Young Designers Award Competition 1990. Wow... can't believe it. That time when I had this idea, I have never seen a motor bi-cycle around, at least in Singapore. The idea of attaching a motor to a bicycle for lazy people to save energy in cycling. But recently it is quite popular, you can see people riding on such a vehicle. It is either powered by a electric motor or combustion engine.

Wiki has an article on motorized bicycle. Of course, at that time I never thought of going to the library or looking for such a thing in an encyclopedia.

Blogging

2007-10-01T12:24:00.000+08:00

Sighz... wanted to have my own blog site, which is what you are seeing here. But it takes time to customize. So here I am, reading and finding out how to use it.