Monday 11 May 2009 Came across this 2007 Augusto Boal interview on the Democracy Now! website: Augusto Boal, Founder of the Theater of the Oppressed, Dies at 78 (published 6 May 2009) in which he says: What we think sometimes, we don’t think that there is a difference between moral and ethics. Moral is mores. It’s customs. And it was moral in this country, my country—slavery. It was moral. It was moral to buy a human being. So I’m not moralist, because I know that in moral there are horrible things. But I am ethical. We need to create an ethos. In Greek, it means the tendency to some kind of perfection. It helps a lot in clarifying my thoughts about ethics and morality. Sunday 10 May 2009 I don't know who writes Unbranded Bread and Butter, but (s)he's come up with the funniest description of Thio Su Mien I've seen: "Thioliban spiritual leader Thio Su Mien Ph.D (Law) (London) (Gifted prophetic intercessionist) (Healer) (Feminist Mentor) (walking Tamiflu pill)" ( Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies …, 9 May 2009). Saturday 25 April 2009 AWARE Not being a woman, I can duck my head and try to ignore the AWARE saga that is unfolding. However, given the disturbing details of that mess and a nagging conscience, I can't sleep easy. I get the sense that something has died and is rotting and I fear that it is a church, not AWARE. What I read into the initial Straits Times report by Kim Hoh ( Unknowns knock out veterans at Aware polls, Straits Times, 10 April 2009): was that Nazar and some other long time AWARE Christian had very successfully gone recruiting among Christians for new members to increase AWARE's membership and to reverse growing support of the homosexual agenda at AWARE. I thought that Nazar resigned because she found it difficult to work with the new recruits elected to the board (fully six of which she nominated). The subsequent silence of the new Exco was because they were leaderless. Then came the reports of staff being fired and the locks being changed followed by a press conference where Thio Su Mien is there with the new Exco: Coup leader comes open (Zakir Hussain, Straits Times, 24 April 2009). Thio is called the mentor and she claimed that she started asking Christians to join as she was troubled over AWARE promoting homosexuality in its sex education programme in schools and about proposals to give men the vote among other things. She also claims that she was a founder member of AWARE back in 1985. The interesting part is this blog by Mathia Lee who is an AWARE sex education trainer and contradicts Thio's assertion that AWARE is actively promoting homosexuality in its programmes. On 10th April, she initially defends the new Exco and suspects that the government is trying to make AWARE controversial through the 10th April Straits Times article: The AWARE AGM 2009 — my personal take: beware of ST (11 April 2009). Then I find that someone has posted on STOMP (23 April) what (s)he claims to be SMSes and emails that circulated around to recruit Church of Our Saviour members to join AWARE: AWARE - The Hidden Hand. That the person posts multiple messages seems to suggest that they are more likely to be authentic. Church of Our Saviour appears to be the base community for Focus on the Family which has been actively supporting the Republicans. James Dobson and Focus on the Family seem to be actively trying to implement laws in America that conform to Christian doctrine (or their definition of Christian doctrine). See this Christianity Today article by Sarah Pulliam (24 October 008): An Obama administration, in the eyes of Focus on the Family Action. I would say that Focus on the Family delibrately distorts facts in their quest for legal power and I now suspect that the Church of Our Saviour people are doing the same. As worrying is the Church's claim that they have a gay and lesbian ministry. If so, I wonder, where are the results? From over 20 years of experience, I am used to seeing converts testify to their liberation from sins and leading (or at least playing an important part in) the charge against their former life. Does the Church have an authentic ministry or are they just creating facts for their cause? The individual facts taken together seem to suggest that the Church of Our Saviour may be going down the path to worshipping another Saviour, one more amenable to the establishment of a religious state. If that is true, God have mercy upon their souls.

Tuesday 17 February 2009 Sustaining Appreciation Crowds of photographers have been lining up to get shots of various rarities spotted around Singapore in this migatory season. This is a cause for concern as stories of photographer misbehaviour start multiplying. Of course, non-photographers have also been guilty of misbehaviour in the past. However, this time, the growing numbers of photographers has heightened awareness of the problem. Monday 16 February 2009 The question came up about which fern fiddleheads (the young unfurling frond) are edible. Wee Yeow Chin in his 2005 Ferns of the Tropics (2nd ed), gives a list of seven ferns of which two appear more commonly marketed. These are paku miding aka paku manis (Stenochlaena palustris) & pucuk paku hijau (Athyrium esculentum). Pucuk paku, a sun-loving fern, is said to be better-tasting & less slimy than paku miding, a fern of the freshwater swamps. According to this 16-19 July 2008 thread on the Makansutra forum, you can get the ferns at Geylang Serai, Tekka Market or Golden Mile Complex.

Sunday 15 February 2009 ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre I found that the most popular explanations on the Internet for the name ABC are Anchor Beer Company Alexandra Brickworks Community Both are wrong though the first is closer to the truth: ABC stands for Archipel Brouwerij Cie or Archipelago Brewery Company, a German company incorporated in Batavia. It opened a brewery here in 1933 to produce Anchor beer. The company is long gone, the brands Anchor and ABC being absorbed into Asia Pacific Breweries. But a ghost of the brewery lingers on in this neighbourhood.

Marina Barrage is definitely worth a visit. Sad that it's the cause of so much death.

Tuesday 10 February 2009 Dropped off at Tg Katong Rd to shoot a Datuk Kong shrine I'd noticed earlier and found a nice nasi lemak place: Ponggol Nasi Lemak Centre, 238 Tg Katong Rd. The selar kuning kechil was nice and crispy. My only quibbles were that the nasi lemak wasn't coconutty enough and I prefer the chilli to be sweeter (I love Indian desserts). Sunday 8 February 2009 Thaipusam Click on the above photo to view the full account.

Sunday 1 February 2009 Soap The Malay word sabun (soap) is used in local Hokkien (sap boon = 塞文) to mean soap. Sabun came from Arabic and is often used as an example of Malay words of Arabic origin. In Cantonese soap is fan kan (番枧) & in Mandarin, it is 肥皂 (fei zao). So, when my Teochew teacher mentioned on Thursday that the old for soap here was pia ioh [yoke] 饼药, I finally took the time to seach for the original word for soap & traced down the root character to 皂 (zao). For the full story, click here to read it. Wednesday 28 January 2009 初三鸟鼠娶某 (chuay sa niao chu choa bor) is what my mother said her grandmother used to say of Chinese New Year's third day (农历新年初三). You're supposed to turn off the lights and go to bed early tonight because this is the night the mouse (鸟鼠 (niao chu)) gets married (娶某 (choa bor) meaning take a wife). Instead of 娶某, you can say 娶新娘 (choa sin niu which means take a bride). Bor is [女亩] (or 亩 since the computer character set does not have [女亩]) in Teochew. In Mandarin, the saying is similar: 初三老鼠娶新娘 (chu san lao shu qu xin niang). The difference is that Hokkien does not use the term 老鼠 (lao chu in Hokkien) but 鸟鼠 (niao chu). Wednesday 14 January 2009 This piece in the New Yorker seriously shook me: Letter From the Grave. On a more optimistic note, WWF is looking for a consultant to lay the research groundwork for a sustainable seafood campaign. The ad for the contract position which should run from Feb to April is up on Siva's website: Terms of Reference. Final piece of web trivia is a cute website, Save the Words. It features words dropped from dictionaries as obsolete. However, the site has a cute audio feature that becomes rather annoying after a while. Saturday 10 January 2009 Chickenpox Diary It's been several days since my last entry. Still got a cough but little phlegm. Enough energy to take a late afternoon walk by the beach. It was a low tide @ 4.26pm (0.2m) which is always an interesting time to beachcomb. As usual, click on the photo to read more. Wednesday 7 January 2009 Chickenpox Diary I don't know about you, but I think the aftertaste of phgelm is reminiscent of instant noodle soup base. On the illness front, most of my pox is scabbed over or the scab has already fallen off. The newest are scabbing over and I don't see any new ones forming. Still coughing though less serious than yesterday. Hoping this is it. At lunchtime, went out to Bedok Canal and spotted a Changeable Hawk Eagle soaring. I know it continued to stay around the area for about an hour more as I could hear it calling. Hamas has gotten what it wanted: an Israeli reinvasion of the Gaza Strip. Seems that Hamas (Harakat al-Muqāwamat al-Islāmiyyah) is unable to function without Israeli military support. The Israeli military is at a severe disadvantage here: popular opinion at home wants the Hamas rockets to be stopped; but given that the rockets are for all practical purposes, homemade fertilizer-filled iron pipes, how do you find the launchers among 1.4 million people of whom 40% support Hamas?

Tuesday 6 January 2009 Chickenpox Diary Still coughing and still no sore throat but think might be a bit better. Most of the old pox are scabbed over. Spotted at least two fresh pox marks though. Spent the afternoon updating the Nature Society website and sorting out my backlog of photos.		Monday 5 January 2009 Chickenpox Diary Coughed this morning and had green-yellow phlegm. Got worse during the day. No sore throat though. Wondering whether it is a secondary infection or the virus endeavouring to spread itself. Finished the Aciclovir. Think it did help with the infection.
Sunday 4 January 2009 Chickenpox Diary ...I would have to think further but I don't recall anything happening today cept that I opened my last blister pack of Aciclovir. My cough is, I think, a bit more severe.		Found out that there are monitoring services for providing website statistics: check out Quantcast. I think they have some kind of limitation though - they can't do Nature Society (Singapore) website statistics. There is another service which can: Website Outlook.
Saturday 3 January 2009 Chickenpox Diary Pain in the throat is gone but am coughing now. It's only a mild cough that I suspect is the virus trying to spread itself. May still have a bit of fever but perhaps might just be the result of staring at a computer for too long - I've been reading online comics. Among the comics I've been reading is Goblins. It's the story of a Dungeons & Dragons adventuring party - except that the party consists of goblins. The group get tired of having their village repeatedly slaughtered by level one adventurers and go out to gain experience and levels in order to protect their village better. Good and evil are overturned with the adventurers and their treasure-lust being seen as evil for once while the low-level humanoids that are usually used as experience fodder becoming heroic defenders of hearth and home.		Funny, but the churches that campaigned against D&D probably did the game a favour. Prior to the campaign, gamers just went out and killed dragons, defeated demons - typical good sterotypes trashes evil steerotypes. There was no questioning the assumptions of who was good and who was evil. With all the fuss, the D&D world developed to look at what exactly is good and evil. The evil gods and their clergy became more fleshed out with lawful evilness. Then came the idea of the good dragon races of Krynn and the capability of individual monsters and demons to be good (Drizzt Do'urden the drow being one of the most notable). Without rejection by those churches, D&D would probably have continued to sterotype good and evil. This way, freed of religious influence, it can explore the question of good and evil more freely.

Friday 2 January 2009 Chickenpox Diary Throat distinctly less painful and the fever is now quite mild. A couple of the nodes are also scabbing over. Getting optimistic that I can go back to work by midweek. However, I think more spots are also appearing, particularly on my face. Also got a photo of my spots for the record: Interestingly, on other types of skin surface, no visible sign of a spot appears. The only reason why I know there are spots in such places is the pain I feel when those surfaces are pressed.

Learnt something new today - the heresy of idolising the Bible or making the object of worship is known as Bibliolatry. It occurs when one becomes directed towards worshipping the Bible instead of worshipping God. What does the Bible mean by Lo tirtsach? Do not murder? Do not kill? Well, neither apparently. Murder is ratsach and kill is harog while yirtsach translates as unintentional killer (manslaughter). Tirtsach is a word that does not fit neatly into English. The best read on the topic I've found to date is "You Shall Not Kill" Or "You Shall Not Murder"?: The Assault on a Biblical Text‎ by Wilma Ann Bailey (2005). A significant portion of Bailey's discussion on the Hebrew meaning of the word can be found in Google Books. In another religion, I just finished a book on 观音 [guan yin]. It's Yü Chun-Fang's Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokiteśvara (2000). Her work on 观音's feminisation and sinification in the 10th to 12th centuries is so comprehensive, it's going to be difficult for anyone else in this generation to surpass. Sorry, only the National Library has a copy, not the public libraries. Not in bookstores either - only Amazon.

Thursday 1 January 2009 Chickenpox Diary Happy New Year! So far am enduring the incarceration relatively well. Just taking a lot of panadol (took three tablets today). Only bad part is the pain in my throat whenever I try to swallow. Think is a single pox on the back of my throat that's causing it.

Finished reading Watchmen, a DC Comic series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons that originally ran in 1986/87. My brother bought the bound volume (2008) for my Christmas. It's of a depressing, nightmarish world where superheros really exist, America won the Vietnam War, and Watergate never happened. The movie version by Warner will be released this year if the Fox lawsuit to ban the movie fails. Warner's movie was directed by bloodfest's Zack Snyder. A clip of the movie is on YouTube.

Wednesday 31 December 2008 Chickenpox Diary Woke up this morning and felt little pinpricks of pain when I soaped myself in the shower. Took a look in the mirror and found my chest and upper arms covered with reddish spots. Doctor confirmed it's chickenpox and handed me a 12 day MC - 12 days! Am taking Aciclovir but it doesn't really do much - like most viruses, chickenpox just runs its course. Sigh, am going to be bored and stark raving mad by the time I'm released from my room. The incubation is 10-21 days which means that I got infected sometime between the 9th and the 21st. Ws feeling sick and had what I thought was the flu just before Christmas. Had phlegm so maybe it was really the flu. Anyway, the phlegm went away around the 27th and instead was feeling really tired with backache on the 28th. 29th noticed a scab in my hair but thought I must have hit something in the forest. Now have aching bones, slight fever and sore and/or pain spots around my body. Found out that chickenpox belongs to the herpes family which means that it'll hide in my spine and reappear occasionally as shingles. Didn't realise that I could have gone for a vaccination which would have prevented all this unnecessary suffering.

Tuesday 23 December 2008 The often heard cry at temple ceremonies is 發啊 (huat ah)! 發 or 发 (fa in Mandarin) simply means growth. It is a much broader word than 福 (hock) which means good fortune. 發 represents beginnings. Standing in contrast is another word, 法 (huat in Hokkien or fa in Mandarin). Pronounced the same way, it has a totally different meaning: law, doctrine, punishment. In many ways these two phonetically similar words represent opposing concepts: the restraining and confining 法 versus the growth and potential represented by 發.

I never knew that to run, 走 (chau), in Hokkien; is to walk, 走 (zou), in Mandarin. Seems that the word 跑 (pao) is a modern word found only in northern Chinese 白话 (Mandarin). I'm searching for how 跑 entered the Chinese language. My suspicion is that it is a foreign loan word pronounced like 包 (bao) when it was introduced. It was then represented by joining the 足 (zu) or foot radical to the 包 (bao) phonetisation to form 跑. What is kia or walk in Hokkien? 行 (pronounced hang in Mandarin). What does this all mean? It means that, like all other languages, Chinese languages have been evolving and that Mandarin is one of the youngest in the Chinese language family.

Monday 22 December 2008 The term 'remembering one's religious heritage' was recently used. Made me realise that 'religion' is what helps one make sense of challenges and how to handle them while 'heritage' is the memory of what the past was like. Religious heritage is thus the memory of how the past used religion to make sense of and deal with challenges. Sunday 21 December 2008 Spotted this House Shrew (Suncus murinus) wandering out in the open near Braddell MRT during the day. No idea whether it was sick, just evicted or what. Got some photos of it: Heaven and Hell Some musing on my understanding of the Christian ideas of heaven and hell.

Saturday 20 December 2008 A new automobile freighter, Auriga Leader, which uses solar power for its crew quarters, has been touted as the 'world's first solar cargo ship'. This is obviously corporate hyperbole given that the solar power generated by the system is only 40kW while the ship's propulsion system needs 20 MW to drive it. However, it is a step in the right direction. What I'm wondering about is the system's efficiency. I understand that the best solar energy systems can operate at 40% efficiency. If the Auriga Leader's system at 100% efficiency can only produce 100kW, it is obviously a dead end. If the system installed is only at 10% or 20% efficiency, it would have more potential for development.		To me, there seems to be two cultic tendencies in any religion: or any belief system for that matter. One is the tendency to enshrine rituals and laws which ends up trapped in language, semantics and a rigid subculture. The other is a reaction to the first: to rebel and end up worshipping a value or value system that is the polar opposite of an enshrined legal or ritual system. Both tendencies enshrine human constructs as deities. In simple: one group enshrines and worships the law while the other worships rebellion.
Sunday 14 December 2008 Muntazer al-Zaidi is a broadcast journalist with a sense of appropriate theatre: he's just hurled his shoes at President Bush during a press conference in Iraq. Muntazer al-Zaidi is with Cairo's Al-Baghdadia channel. The press conference was to announce the withdrawal of US troops by 2011. I checked and the most original titles around seem to be by Newsweek: 'Sole Survivor', Reuters India: 'Two-shoe salute for Bush', and PEJ News: 'The Shoes Drop on Bush'. Surprised I didn't see any puns like 'Shoe'ing Bush or 'Soul Kiss'.		On a more serious note, was at service this evening and Wesley was doing child baptisms. Realised that the current order for the sacrement includes the following line: "Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?" I checked and it wasn't in the 1985 edition of The Book of Discipline of the Methodist Church in Singapore.

Tuesday 9 December 2008 霹靂壇 [pi li tan] Tentage @ Bedok North On my way home from work, I detoured to briefly visit a tentage at Bedok North by Blk 517. It was the last night for the tua's celebration for the Laughing Buddha, Maitreya, the next day being for the dismantling of the tentage. Tonight was listed as being for the crossing of the 平安桥 [ping an qiao] (Peace Bridge). Click on the photo to see the full story.

Wednesday 3 December 2008 A release from Focus on the Family, Letter from 2012 in Obama's America, infuriated me at first. But it set me thinking - why does God allow such things to creep into the church? Then I realised that it is part of the cost of grace. We are a fellowship of the fallen, not of perfect beings. We are forgiven for what we are - immoral, idolatrous, hating, jealous, ambitious, envious, etc., but that does not mean we are immunised against sin. Those who see Christianity as another religious legal code to be enforced will lead many astray - especially those that still worship the law. But that is how many, perhaps most, end up in hell - by their own choice and conviction. Javert in Les Mis I suppose is the image that comes to mind - unable to live in a world of forgivenesss, he choses to reject it through suicide. Tuesday 2 December 2008 Tea For those who've visited India, ever wondered why they say chai instead of tea? Well, in China, the word for tea, 茶, is pronounced differently depending on the language of the region: the Mandarin-speaking north calls it cha while my ancestral language, 闽南话 (Southern Min), calls it tay. The 闽南 (Southern Min) people are the ones who settled in Southeast Asia which is why the Malay word is teh. The Dutch apparently picked up their word, thee, from the Malays; and from there, the English tea. The northern Mandarin name for tea, cha, is more widespread: it can be found in Urdu as early as the tenth century. It also travelled overland to Russia. The Cantonese, who speak 粤 (Yue), pronounce it the same way as the northerners. That is why the Portuguese, who occupied and traded through Macao, ended up with chá. Friday 28 November 2008 Musings on Evil I can hear them screeching outside the window: Phobos and Deimos, the gods of panic and fear, the sons of Ares and Aphrodite, the consequence of adultery between war and desire. The obvious intent of the Mumbai attacks are to provoke further violence, and I suspect also to try and push India into war with Pakistan. Fear, hated, anger, it is natural to believe in the laws of the Prince of this World and his host, for does the Prince not favour his own ways? Yet why does the Prince then tempt then turn around and accuse? One tradition I've heard is that he does not believe humans are fit to exist. It has been suggested that this contempt for humanity is one of the reasons for the Light-bearer's rebellion against God. Come, calls the Good Shepherd, come to My land where the Prince has no power. Come, and bring any that will follow.

Saturday 22 November 2008 A flight of beautiful Plain Tigers (Danaus chrysippus) dropped by my garden in the morning. They were nice and fresh - probably having just emerged. Wednesday 5 November 2008 Kuala Lumpur Holiday I headed up to Kuala Lumpur for a short trip away from the daily drudge. One major target was the Muzium Kesenian Islam (Islamic Arts Museum). Ever since it opened in December 1998, I've heard good reviews. However, KL's not on my list of cities to visit because of the traffic and air quality (or rather, lack thereof). It had to be combined with a revisit to the Quartz Ridge at Klang Gate (I was there in October 2005) plus birding at Sungei Perdik and Taman Rimba Ampang. Click here or on the photo for the story.

Wednesday 5 November 2008 American Presidential Election I can almost hear the world pause although nothing seems to have outwardly changed. Virtually all Singaporeans are glad Obama won and not a few are amazed that a black can be elected in a white country. To me the air seems laden with expectation - a promise of new things to come... but it's still only that - a promise, a potential. Only time will tell whether this brings better times or will only remain a fact of historical interest.

This will inspire minorities the world over to dream afresh of change. Whether this bodes well or ill I do not know. However, at least it appears that the threat of imperial America will recede. I also know that the thousands who served on the underground railway can now rest in peace. Their work is done. The future is for others to build.

Friday 24 October 2008 Seaside Shrines Going through my backlog of old photos, I just realised that the seaside shrines at Kranji and Labrador are probably how Loyang Tua Pek Kong started out in the 80s. Click on the photo of the seashore offering at the right of the page to read on: On a totally unrelated matter, I'm a proponent of a Southeast Asian Inter City Football League. We can start with eight teams playing against each other twice in the season for a total of 56 games - that's 28 weekends of games if there aree two games every weekend. The starting eight city teams would go something like this: Bandar Seri Begawan, Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta, KL, Manila, Phnom Penh, Singapore. After that various large cities that have enough of an economic base to support a team can join in - perhaps another four to eight teams? I would suggest cities like Bandung, Ho Chi Minh City, Ipoh, JB, Medan, Palembang, Penang, Phuket, Surabaya.

Thursday 23 October 2008 A comment made me think about how people treat the idea of religious affiliation. I can see four possible stances: Religion is Ethnic The idea is that religion is tied to ethnicity & ethnic identity. Religious affiliation should therefore be determined by ethnicity. State Religion Religion is determined by the State. Religion is Individual Choice Religion is Wrong

Stemming from this, the state therefore has the following possible attitudes towards religion: Control Regulate Negotiate Neglect Prohibit

Wednesday 22 October 2008 Au Yue Pak 区如柏 [Ou Ru Bo] Chong Wing Hong 庄永康 [Zhuang Yong Kang] Goh Ngan Hong 吴彦鸿 [Wu Yan Hong] Han Tan Juan aka Han Shan Yuan 韩山元 [Han Shan Yuan] Hsu Yun Tsiao 许云樵 [Xu Yun Qiao] Kua Bak Lim 柯木林 [Ke Mu Lin] 冯玉珊 [Feng Yu Shan] 王振春 [Wang Zhen Chun] 曾铁忱 [Zeng Tie Chen] I was looking for Chinese works giving histories of local places and origins of street names and found the following authors: Am giving their English names where I can find it (apologies if I got any wrong).

Sunday 5 Oct 2008 The Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) population in Singapore is a bit complex. After sighting the Woodleigh Park pair, I went to Upper Seletar Reservoir Park to look for the ones there which are said to be Northern Oriental Pied Hornbills (Anthracoceros albirostris albirostris). Well, I spotted two and while one was a northerner with clearly bicoloured undertail feathers (bird B in image above), the other was a bit curious: one undertail feather was all white while the other was bicoloured! (bird C). It's likely that the Seletar population is interbreeding but I still need to find out whether the Woodleigh and Seletar populations are separate or not.

Wednesday 1 October 2008 I went to pay my respects to J B Jeyaretnam at Mount Vernon this afternoon then headed into Woodleigh Park to see the Variable Squirrels (Callosciurus finlaysoni). Right at the beginning, we heard a harsh cry and spotted a pair of Southern Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris convexus) in the trees! These days, Oriental Pied Hornbills have been sighted all around Singapore - even at Mt Emily (30 Aug 2008 by Matt Taay & reported in the BESG blog) which is virtually at the centre of Singapore's downtown core. Emails confirm that they have been seen around Woodleigh in the past few years. There have been other reports from the Bt Timah area as well. However, reports don't seem to differentiate between Northern and Southern Oriental Pied Hornbills (Northerners are not found in the southern part of the Peninsula and would be feral escapees while Southerners are native to Johor). If you see this hornbill, note whether the underside of the tail feathers are all white like this one or whether the feathers are black with white tips only.

Today was also the anniversary of 玄天上帝 (Xuan Tian Shang Di) 得道 (attaining the Way) and there were events all over the island. I briefly stopped at one tentage in Toa Payoh where a dinner was being held by 新興壇 (新兴坛 [Xin Xing Tan]).

Also not forgetting that it is Hari Raya Puasa, the end of the fasting month, Ramadan. Unfortunately, I only managed to make it down to Geylang Serai only once for this year's Ramadan. Bad Ass Texas Rabbit Spotted this really cool clip. Must be a relative of General Woundwort. Who is General Woundwort? He's from Richard Adam's Watership Down. There is a good Wiki article on him. To understand the bunny switchblade comments, visit the Sluggy Freelance website. The introduction to Bun-Bun and his switchblade is at 6-12 Sept 1997.

Tuesday 30 September 2008 Heard the news this morning while on my way to work - JBJ has passed away. A toast to a man who has fought long and hard to do his duty. May he rest in peace now. Requiescat in Pace Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam Judge, Ombudsman, Opposition Leader 5 Jan 1926 - 30 Sept 2008

Sunday 28 September 2008 八月十九 (8M29) Nine Emperor Gods (九皇爷) Festival Tonight, Hougang Tao Mu Temple (后港斗母宫 [hou gang dou mu gong]) is fetching the Nine Emperor Gods from the old kang kar (foot of the river or river mouth) at the end of Serangoon Road like they do every year. Going up Serangoon Road to get to the temple, I passed a long queue of foreign workers queuing up outside a Western Union outlet. It seems that the Western Union shops have by far the longest foreign worker queues.

Along the road at the kang kar site, I spotted the remains of a fire and a broken porcelain Kuan Yin (观音) among the ashes. Must have been a ceremonial fire to dispose of unwanted deity statues. The ceremony at the riverside (with reclaimation, it is no longer the mouth of the river but rather a sedate pond) took an hour.

Saturday 27 September 2008 Grand Prix Got some photos of the track and the road diversions from my office window:

Sunday 21 September 2008 Sungei Buloh Got a few decent shots including a series of a sunbird foraging. Also got the St Andrew's Cross Spider (Argiope sp.). This species has a yellow-topped abdomen.

Saturday 6 September 2008 Photos of 19-20 June 2008 Visit to 黄岡山 [Huang Gang Shan] Managed to stay home this morning and do up some of my 福建 (Fujian) trip photos. Posting the account of 黄岡山 (Huanggang Shan) now and perhaps more to come later. Click on the photo of the peak on the right of the page for the story: Sunday 31 August 2008 Well, it's the end of another Seventh Month (1-30 Aug this year). Last night, I managed to visit some of my usual spots around Bugis & Shenton Way. As always, lots of young people making offerings around Bugis Village. Common places aside from the HDB void deck: loading bays, hotels, restraunts, food centres, pubs, bus depots, workshops, factories, construction sites. One question that struck me is what proportion of those in landed property make offerings versus HDB heartlanders? I surveyed 40 landed properties. For HDB blocks, afraid that the only way to determine the percentage is to do a door-to-door survey: there are a lot of people burning at the foot of every HDB block but a lot more families in each HDB block. I can say that condo-dwellers are definitely less likely to observe the Seventh Month based on my observations.

Sunday 24 August 2008 End of Olympics Singapore finally got it's Olympic medal in table-tennis. Aside from the talent and determination of Li Jiawei, Feng Tianwei & Wang Yuegu, we also have to thank Association President Choo Wee Khiang for his successful foreign talent scheme, Anthony Lee's management, the coaching of Liu Guodong... oops! Sorry. No longer politically correct.

We are looking forward to the 2012 Olympics when PAP MP Lee Bee Wah's table tennis team wins an Olympic medal for Singapore. The current team is to be fired or retrenched. And you wonder why people leave Singapore. I suppose it is a smart move on Lee's part - she has publically established that she can fire anyone who offends her.

Sunday 17 August 2008 Seventh Month Noticed this very discreet offering to the hungry ghosts:

Saturday 16 August 2008 Seventh Month Lunchtime Seventh Month ceremony.

Friday 15 August 2008 Seventh Month Row of cups filled with water rice wine water (finally settled it by dipping into a cup myself). Flags, joss sticks, candles and in this case wine are lined up to guide the Hungry Ghosts to offerings.

Another type of buring - smokers lining Bugis Village pavement. Smokers lining the sidewalks around the Bugis area is a daily sight.

Sunday 3 August 2008 Musing on the differences between the words/concepts believer & follower. Believers follow the god while followers believe in the religion. There are believers who are not followers & vice versa while yet others are both believers & followers.

My room:

Tuesday 29 July to Friday 1 August 2008 Semarang Templing This was an intense four day trip doing nothing but templing. Wish we could have made the time to visit nearby Demak. Ah well, perhaps next time. Being seriously backlogged with my photos and at work, I'll have to make this a short posting. Besides, I doubt if many would want to see photo after photo of Semarang temples.

Thursday 17 July 2008 I watched 赤壁 (The Battle of Red Cliff) at Marina. It was gripping enough that I didn't notice over two hours passing. However, leaving the cinema, I felt that something was missing though I couldn't put a finger to it. One gripe I had I knew was personal: the 20 minute battle scene in the second half was too long. Ten minutes worth of that battle was just a display of choreography and cinematography which didn't advance the plot. I suppose it was needed to please the John Woo fans. Another was Vicki Zhao as 孫尚香 (Sun Shang Xiang) - her more northern accent stood out, espeecially against her brother 孫權 (Sun Quan) played by Chen Chang. It was Maggie Lee's article on the Reuters website that pinned it down for me: somehow, the main characters don't come alive..... perhaps because there's too much cinematography? Whatever. It's still a must watch. Monday 14 July 2008 Another road rage case by a taxi driver in the New Paper. I noticed that the taxi driver just started a month ago. Afraid that the stress of working as a taxi driver got to the man - aside from enduring the traffic all day,, taxi drivers have to contend with hostile passengers and also worry about earning enough in fares to cover the petrol and rental. In fact, I wonder how many try the job then drop out because they can't make enough to cover their costs or can't manage the emotional stress. Sometimes, being a regular taxi user, I can feel the built up tension in the driver. Bush Again Talk about brazen - President Bush's farewell gesture at the G8 Summit was to punch the air with the words "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter!" Andrew Grice of The Independent called it "a two-fingered salute" (Click here to read on.....) Thursday 10 July 2008 It's been quite a long silence but finally managed to write a posting after many months: These days, Northern Chinese are becoming more and more visible in Singapore: workers in hawker centres, students wandering the malls. Their height and distinctive Mandarin inflection are noticable. But the migrants are not behind the improvement in spoken Mandarin. Rather, the improvement in both English and Mandarin is due to their becoming first and second languages. In the past, English and Mandarin were alien languages introduced to standardise Singapore's linguistic diversity. Standardisation was needed for factories to communicate easily and effectively with their workers. In the 70s, English was a second language to the vast majority of Singaporeans with Mandarin a third or even fourth language. With Mandarin being so alien, even non-speaking me could tell that local Mandarin grammar was nonexistent. Today, as more grow up in an English/Mandarin environment, language fluency is almost there. One interesting note as the Seventh Month and its accompanying getais approaches: getai emcees use a mix of 闽南话 (Southern Min) and Mandarin that I'd like to dub as Mannan. As a footnote of sorts, National Day decorations have been up for some time now. However, I haven't yet had the time to take any photos this year.

Monday 28 January 2008 Woodpecker! Yet another bird! This time, the Sunda Woodpecker (Dendrocopos moluccensis) is responsible. I never knew before that this is fairly common urban bird. I saw it pecking along the trunk of the Bottlebrush (photo on right).

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Sunday 27 January 2008 Bedok Canal Nights Again This time I spotted something that doesn't seem to be a Grey Heron - it's too small (see photo on right). Night Heron? Doesn't seem quite right either. Am wondering if it is an egret... it seems about the right size for a Little Egret.

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Saturday 26 January 2008 Chinatown Chinese New Year Managed to make it down to Chinatown to experience the crowds. While it was still really squeezy, the crowds are no longer anywhere as tight these days. Click on the photo for more shots of this year's Disney theme, puppet theatre and bak kwa of course.

Tuesday 22 January 2008 Birds Everywhere! Somehow I just can't stop noticing birds these days! Here's a shot of a patriotic-looking Javan Mynah (Acridotheres javanicus) on the right and a migratory raptor below: Black Baza (Aviceda leuphotes) methinks.

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Sunday 20 January 2008 National Museum's Kingfishers The bird kick continues with Collared Kingfishers (Halcyon chloris) in front of the National Museum of all places. Click on the photo for the full story:

Saturday 19 January 2008 Sparrows OK, I seem to be bumping into baby birds these days. Maybe they are getting the baby bonus too? This one's a sparrow's nest (Passer montanus) in the eaves of a HDB block pavement shelter. The pavement is right outside a coffee shop too! The two birds aren't fledged yet I think - they were chirping away and there was a third sparrow hanging around outside.

Monday 14 January 2008 Bedok Lunch Having lunch in Bedok with all the Javan Mynahs (Acridotheres javanicus) hanging around looking for food as usual, I spotted this smaller, younger mynah squaking away next to a meaty bone. Eventually, a parent came over, plucked a piece of meat, and fed the fledgeling. I'd never realised that fledged birds learnt even basic skills only after they left the nest. In fact, I just spotted another mynah following its parent around the day before: when the parent hopped, the kid hopped behind it - Kawaii! as the Japanese would say. I think the Javanese Mynahs may have just ended their nesting season - I'm not the only one who has recently sppotted parents being followed around.

Sunday 13 January 2008 Fort Canning Hill Here are a pair of shots I really like from a morning of photography round Ft Canning:

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2) Painted Jezebel (Delias hyparete) emerging from its cocoon.

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1) Plantain Squirrel (Callosciurus notatus) in mid-leap: I've always found Plantains hard to capture because they are always so hyper. The squirrel's white and black racing stripes are diagnostic.

Saturday 5 January 2008 Post-Fraser's Hill Party Not a bad way to turn the year: first a trip to Fraser's then a party right after. There was even an AV show of the trip though it seems that Gan's collection of butterfly photos over the years drew more interest.

Wednesday 26 to Sunday 30 December 2007 Fraser's Hill After Christmas is Fraser's Hill time again! The seven of us who went up found quite a few interesting species - cllick on the butterfly to see some of the photos I took.

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Friday 21 December 2007 Things don't look too good for taxi drivers - after Comfort raised its fares drastically (and the other small companies of course followed suit), people have drastically cut back on taking taxis. In fact, some drivers are quietly offering discounts on fares - especially to their regulars. From queues for taxis, it has now becomes queues for passengers. Where once it was impossible to get a taxi after 8pm from my office, I now get taxis slowing down to see if I want to hail them.

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Monday 17 December 2007 Pandan Gardens Accident Didn't see how it happened but I hope the driver and any passengers escaped.

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Heron in Bedok Canal Back in 2003 I reported that a Grey Heron was occasionally hunting at night in Bedok Canal. Well, with my new 200mm lens for my Pentax (but no flash), I finally got a shot of it.

Friday 14 December 2007 Jiak Kim Street Mangrove Where is this little mangrove creek complete with lobster mounds?

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Would you believe that this last remaining mangrove on Singapore River is only a stone's throw away from Singapore's hottest nightspot, Zouk's?

Unfortunately, this last remnant of the original brackish-water habitat is doomed - once the Marina barrage is completed, Siingapore River will become a completely freshwater habitat.

Thursday 13 December 2007 Bugis Village Tryng to clear leave and using the time to catch up with all the things I've been meaning to do. One of the things was to check on the alley corner where someone demolished the large 魁星 (Kuixing) statue earlier this year in order to open a fortune-telling shop. Well, the shop has closed down within a matter of months and all that is left is the four-face Buddha.

8 to 20 November 2007 Wien (Vienna) An opportunity came up for me to attend a course on the preservation of audiovisual material in the old imperial city of Vienna. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of the old composers - it seems that any composer who was anyboody went there to compose. Luckily, there were hordes of non-musical museums to keep me occupied and I even got to see that motif of Western literature, the Vienna Woods. Saturday 3 November 2007 Molière Magnifique! Tight script (actually an adaptation of plays written by Molière) and masterful acting. Better than the previous two movies about muses that I watched and liked: Shakespeare in Love & Moulin Rouge!. The movie is in French but dubbed. Catch it before it leaves!

Friday 2 November 2007 Chilli Crab @ Chai Chee Seafood Restaurant The sauce was a bit thinner today then when we first tried it last December. Sunset shot of Masjid Kassim on Changi Rd taken while on my way to dinner: Am not sure I appreciate the angular minaret that looks like an oversized nib. Apparently the number of ledges is also a major maintainance pain... sigh, architects.

Thursday 1 November 2007 On the Nalanda Trail Exhibition Launch I was at the launch of the Asian Civilisations Museum's exhibition, On The Nalanda Trail: Buddhism in India, China and Southeast Asia. The exhibition has a wide range of artifacts from India, the Silk Route, China and Southeast Asia with the highlight being the cache of Buddha bone relics excavated at Piprahwa. I spent a long time just gazing at the various exhibits and am probably going to be visiting there a few more times. Definitely recommended.

Tuesday 30 October 2007 Looked up the different voices in a chorus: there are generally said to be four basic voices but I've put in a few more subcategories: Soprano Mezzo-soprano Alto / Contralto / Countertenor (Falsetto) Tenor Baritone Bass-baritone Bass Basso Profundo

Saturday 27 October 2007 The world seems to be flirting with gay this week: the reference librarian list is discussing the earliest listing of the homosexual meaning of the word in dictionaries. I guess it arose because of Rowling 'outing' Dumbledore. On the home front, the recent Parliamentary debate on repealing 377A is still reverbrating through the blogsphere. Ted Young's article, Our Time Has Come, in Trevvy, a pink rag, has a good summary of the debate in Parliament. You can see the actual speeches at Channel News Asia's Special Report Video Archive. Thio Li-Ann's speech in Parliament was especially notable: her performace seemed designed to persuade people that the retain 377A camp belonged to another era and another country. I was reminded of a line from Macbeth about sound and fury... meanwhile, Charles Chong's speech was ignored as expected - it didn't fit with the popular stereotyppe of what a Christian should believe.

Fri 26 October 2007 Reading the Washington Post article, JK Rowling says wizard Dumbledore is gay (20 Oct 2007), I saw this line near the end: Rowling said she had read through a script for the movie adaptation of the sixth book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and corrected a passage in which Dumbledore was reminiscing about past loves by crossing it out and scrawling "Dumbledore is gay" over it. Wonder if the script is still around - it'd be worth a fortune if someone kept it.

Tuesday 23 October 2007 I looked up Malaya's contingent list for the 1946 Victory Parade in London (Straits Times Thu 25 Apr 1946, p.4). What struck me was the different rank composition of the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army list versus the other contingents: the MPAJA had 8 Cpts & 3 Ptes. In contrast, the Malay Regiment had listed 4 officers, 17 NCOs & 12 Ptes. I can't help wondering if that was an early sign of the CPM's eventual failure.

Friday 19 October 2007 Departure of the Nine Emperor Gods Click on the photo for the story.

Thursday 18 October 2007 I'm in the habit of throwing unusual seeds into my pot. This one came up last week as a straight spine and the leaves only just separated. I think it is probably the Salak Pondoh (see my earlier diary entry).

Sunday 7 & Saturday 13 October 2007 Geylang Seri During Ramadan No story, just some photos I took. Was going to make it down to Geylang Serai earlier in the month but before I realised it, the month was almost over - Hari Raya Puasa (Eid ul-Fitr) is on Saturday 13th. As always, please click on the photo to see more.

Tuesday 9 October 2007 I just came across this poem in a librarian's mailing list: The Touch of the Master's Hand by Myra Welch (1941)

Wednesday 3 October 2007 Start of Nine Emperor Gods Festival Seems like Defu Lane Hong San Temple is the first to invite the Kau Ong Ya (九皇爷) this year. I caught some shots of the invitation at East Coast beach. Click on the photo to see more.

Sunday 9 September 2007 Sungei Road Click on the photos to view a brief page about Sungei Road life.

Saturday 1 September 2007 Salak Pondoh Got the chance to try this fruit. Click on the photo to learn more:

石牛洞 (Shi Niu Dong) Tentage Just a few shots and comments:

Sunday 26 Aug 2007 Food on the East One of the best nasi padang and Malay kueh restaurants in Singapore is said to be Hjh Maimunah's opposite Joo Chiat Complex (photo below). I've not had the chance to try the nasi padang yet (anyone want to organise an expedition?) but have tried the kueh - good but a bit too sweet for my liking. Thye apparently have a branch near Sultan Mosque too.

The problem with chilli crab restaurants is that they invariably drop in quality. I used to love the old Kheng Luck chilli crabs but it changed hands. No Signboard Seafood in Geylang is OK but somehow isn't memorable (perhaps the crowdedness is too distracting). My most memorable chilli crab is currently at Chai Chee Seafood Restaurant (photo above) on 359 Changi Rd. Perhaps I like it because it also does a good pepper crab and is halal which makes it easy for getting together a group of friends.

Wednesday 22 August 2007 Khong Guan Biscuit Factory Visit Click on the photo for the story and more shots:

Watched Royston Tan's 881: good musical but not much by way of storyline. The narrative is really just a device to set the mood of the Seventh Month, string the songs together, and also throw in local cultural references. I was especially tickled at the luck kong yau (601) reference. The film's website is hosted in Zhao Wei Films, the film company. I recommend visiting Zhao Wei Film's website - click on 'People' then click on the charracters at the right of the bar.

Tuesday 21 August 2007 Casa Merah condo construction site near Tanah Merah MRT station:

Sunday 19 August 2007 Dinner @ Lavender Food Square I noticed that there is a branch (分行) of MacPherson Barbeque Seafood at Lavender Food Square (photo below left). Even recognised the lady there - she used to work at MacPherson Barbeque Seafood itself (34 South Bridge Rd). Of course I had to try it. but though the food is fine, it's not quite 34 South Bridge Rd (it's near Riverwalk - just opp. Circular Quay). There are a few good stalls at Lavender Food Sq and it seems that Kok Kee Wan Ton Noodle (國記雲吞麵) is the most popular..... or at least has the longest queue (photo on above right).

From all my reading over the years, it seems that virtually all cultures start with the concept of the afterlife as a place where all end up permanently. Any distinctions in treatment there are due to one's social position or personal qualities. Only later do you get ideas such as reincarnation, heaven, etc.

Saturday 18 August 2007 Musings Funny how people tend to read into what you say their conception of you and of the world. Very few people can actually hear what you did say.

Night of Monday/Tuesday 13/14 August 2007 (7M01) Start of the Seventh Month Here is an account of my first night of the Seventh Month. I went around town as much as possible in order to get a sense of how widespread Seventh Month practices still are in Singapore. Click on the photo above to read my notes.

Friday 10 August 2007 I'm tired of calling myself a Christian. It seems to me that everybody in the world who isn't a Christian has an opinion about the word Christian... and is intent on trying to force me to believe in their version of my religion. Perhaps I should return to a descriptive name instead: I am a disciple of my Lord Jesus Christ. And I will follow my Master all the days of my life. Wednesday 8 August 2007 When I was younger, I would give advice to people, often unsolicited. It would worry me, irk me even, when people were obviously digging themselves into a hole. Now, as I get older, I being to understand that some things cannot be taught but must be learnt through experience - just like you must learn cycling or swimmming by trying. I have learnt that wisdom is sometimes not saying anything.

Saturday 4 August 2007 Opening of New Loyang Tua Pek Kong Temple (洛阳大伯公宫) I didn't catch the Loyang Tua Pek Kong (洛阳大伯公宫) procession bringing the deities to the new building at 20 Loyang Way but I hear it was quite the crowded and spectular parade. Click on the photo below to see the rest of my shots:

Friday 3 August 2007 Sunset Mass @ Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary I went to the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary @ 24 Highland Rd in Serangoon because it was said to have a Latin Mass. However, the Mass seemed typical. The place was impressive, particularly the free-standing bell tower in the centre (photo on right). Wish there were more Protestant churches built like this. PS One note: I didn't see mention of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the church. Everything said Immaculate Heart of Jesus.

Thursday 2 August 2007 Teochew Muay on Balestier Rd This is my favourite Teochew Muay stall, Teo Seng Teochew Porridge, because of their hum (cockles).

Wednesday 1 August 2007 南音@天福宫 (Nanyin Performance @ Thian Hock Keng) (Click on photo above to see more)

Wednesday 11 July 2007 Masjid Al Taqua 11A Jln Bilal Bedok Another building which I didn't photograph until it was too late. This used to be a small zinc roof mosque and was quite important in the social life of Malay Singapore. The older folk would pay a visit during Ramadan.

Saturday 7 July 2007 Chek Jawa Boardwalk Launch NParks has finally finished construction of the Chek Jawa boardwalk. Here is a little piece about the launch with photos of the boardwalk which runs right round the headland:

Thursday 5 July 2007 Printing Blocks Got a large collection of printing blocks donated. Much of it contains quite standard religious texts: Buddhist sutras & Taoist kiu. There is one surviving block representing the Confucian texts. Am now trying to find out whether these two religious texts are common, uncommon or rare: 正道公参 (Zheng Dao Gong Can) and 三教合據 (San Jiao He Ju). As you can tell from the titles, they are syncretic texts.

Wednesday 4 July 2007 Checking Uses For Properties Check the property area zoning on the Master Plan 2003. Use the tables starting on page 7 (page 11 of the document) of the Master Plan Written Statement to understand the acceptable uses for each zone. As an aid, you can find out which planning area/district each street falls under from this database: Street Name & Planning Area.

However, the zoning map shows current zoning only. You can apply to change the use a property is zoned for, particularly in the older areas. To check on the cost of rezoning applications, use the Development Charge Sector Map & Rates. To help assess whether a change in use application will be successful, use Search Electronic Development Register, "an electronic repository of all written permissions granted or refused by URA from Year 1995 onwards."