Head down for lunch, fun, games and a bargain today at the Assisi Hospice Charity Fun Day 2013

The fund raising carnival at the Assisi Hospice Charity Fun Day 2013 is in full swing now with lots and lots of food, drinks, games and several flea market-type stalls with great bargains!

This is the sixth year “Adrian Loo and friends” have set up a second hand sales stall to work tirelessly along side other volunteers, to sell items to raise funds for the Assisi Hospice.

A few of us were exhausted and wanted to rest this year, but Adrian found the strength when the hospice sounded the call. So our stall is alive today and making a contribution! Good job Adrian!

Adrian Loo already made a sucker buy today – we buy from our own stall at higher prices than the public so its good!

We aren’t professionals so our items are in pretty good condition and were sourced from friends who used the opportunity to de-clutter impulse buys. We have even acquired a reputation amongst some professional flea-market bargain hunters!

We aren’t always fussy about prices – I remember Ivan Chew selling a young couple an entire encyclopaedia set while they had thought they were bargaining for the price of one book. He said he realised their need was great. They were surprised and happy (I still remember the look of wonder), we were glad the books would be used and we added a little of the kitty in the process!

Airani usually initiates fire sales to start selling items for lower prices because we don’t have space to store the stuff for next year. Only at a fair like this will we have a large enough crowd to sell our goods.

Lim Chen Kee initiated into the sucker buy tradition this year!

Adrian says the loot collected for resale for Assisi Hospice was significant this year, because new people ransacked their houses to release decent items for sale today.

An important secret weapon acquired since 2011 is aunty-killer Kok Min Yee who ensures we raise decent prices for the good quality bags, clothes and shoes we always have to sell (2013 quote: “Bags are like kryptonite to women”). A fussy shopper himself, he isn’t going to part with good items for lame prices!

Aunty Killer Kok Min set up shop early today – lots of good stuff to sell
and a great need to wrangle money for charity!

Ivan Chew tucking in to some lontong this morning

It isn’t all sales, we wander off every now and then to spend out fun fair tickets at various stall which sell some wonderful food! So go down, have lunch, spend recklessly and help the Assisi Hospice keep running providing compassionate care to those in need,.

Friends meet friends! The Yews and organiser Karen Poon

I am away in South Korea this year for a marine debris workshop, so am glad kakis are going down to help out at the stall or just to makan and be part of the wonderful atmosphere of caring people having fun together.

All the best to friends managing the stall and and providing support this year – Adrian Loo, Ivan Chew, Kenneth Pinto, Kevin Lim, Kok Oi Yee, Lim Cheng Puay, Lim Chen Kee, Ng Kai Scene, Yew Chee Chien, Pauline Yew & family, Jennifer Kee, Amy Choong.

Thank to Adrian, Kenneth and Kevin for the photos I used in this post.

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Postscript – Adrian makes a sale over LINE!

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Links

• Adrian’s photo set on Flickr.
• Kenneth’s photos on Flickr
• Kevin’s photos on Flickr

Sat 15 Jun 2013: 3.00pm, talk at Select Books on “Pulau Ubin: The Last Kampung” – A photoessay by Nurfasihah and Nur Shafiqah

Email from: Select Books Events

Select Books is pleased to invite you to a talk by two student photographers, Nurfasihah Binti Abdullah and Nur Shafiqah Binte Md Abu Bakar, on their photography project and exhibition at Select Books, titled:

Pulau Ubin: The Last Kampung – A photoessay by Nurfasihah and Nur Shafiqah.

The talk will be held at on Saturday, 15th June 2013: 3:00pm at Select Books, 51, Armenian Street, Singapore 179939 [Facebook event page].

Nurfasihah and Nur Shafiqah will share their reflections about why an island like Pulau Ubin is a treasure for our national and natural heritage, and why the unique way of life on the island needs to be preserved despite rapid modernization.

Nurfasihah Binti Abdullah, 17, is an Arts student at St. Joseph’s Convent. She has practiced photography since 2008. She quotes Soren Kierkegaard, a philosopher from Denmark, who said, "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forewards" and adds, “To me, keeping the wild and nature alive, we have to understand how Pulau Ubin lived through the years. And as the photographer, I shouldn’t be indifferent to things that may be extinct.”

Nur Shafiqah Binte Md Abu Bakar, 17, is a Malay Language Major at St. Joseph’s Convent. Her interests include photography, arts and languages. She finds education and family as the most important things in her life. Shafiqah has practiced photography since 2009 and continues to enjoy it. “It helps me to relax and I learn a lot from my surroundings when I’m engaged through photography.”

This debut exhibition by the two young photographers also features selected pieces from guest photographers Dr Chua Ee Kiam and Marcus Ng, and is curated by Debby Ng. It will be held till 30 June 2013.

Yes, that “International Edition” can be used and sold in the US (says their Supreme Court)

When students buy a textbook published by a US company in the NUS co-op, they may have to fork out something like $60 for a copy.

The same book, sold in the US, may cost between $150-$200. The difference? The book cover! Holey-moley!

Well, also, the copy you buy in Singapore will be labelled “International Edition” or, in the past, “Not for sale in the US” or both.

Solomon, Berg & Martin’s Biology (2011, 9/e)

So alert Singapore students heading overseas for studies should do their book shopping at the NUS Co-Op and make large savings.

Is it illegal? Publishers frown on this, but there is no law preventing this. Anyway, students purchases are negligible compared to the large US market so this has not really been an issue

Then Thai student Supap Kirtsaeng studying in the US, had family and friends ship him the cheaper international books from Thailand. He resold them in the US at higher prices and pocketed the considerable profits – close to US$1 million).

This dedicated operation won the ire of publisher John Wiley & Sons Inc. They took him to court and initially won their case in US district and appeal courts.

But on 19 March this year, the previous decisions were overturned by the US Supreme Court.

So it has now been made clear to all that you are free to use, import and resell copyright works in the United States even if they were produced outside of the US. In other words, the US Copyright law’s “first-sale doctrine” does not exert geographic limitations.

Amongst the relieved appear to be US Librarians as well – they can “loan the 200 million foreign-made titles on their shelves without seeking permission from copyright holders or fearing a lawsuit” (“Libraries Can Lend Foreign Books,” by Ry Rivard. Inside Higher Ed, 20 Mar 2013).

To combat this vulnerability, US publishers may decide to sacrifice the smaller profit market of International Editions in Asia, for example, to protect their much larger and lucrative US market.

This would mean my students in Singapore would only see US edition texts in the co-op. They are not going to fork out $150 for a single module text book and I would suggest alternatives.

But I needn’t begin looking for alternatives, there already solutions – custom print and e-books. The latter are already available for most new books and new editions. Happily, this will also lower student’s costs as they are cheaper than text books.

Students are more likely to buy and read a cheap, mobile copy of a recommended text rather than a heavy text book. And that will make their lecturers happy.

And happy too be will the publisher’s representative – lecturers should talk to them if in doubt about your recommended texts. They respond quickly and help with solutions. They don’t want to see $150 textbooks in the co-op either, it’ll mean the death knell for their line of work.

I almost regret the solutions. Using alternative resources for first-year biodiversity from multiple papers and resource webpages would be good training for our first years. But perhaps in later years.

First, they need to learn to read.

Read

• “Libraries Can Lend Foreign Books,” by Ry Rivard. Inside Higher Ed, 20 March 2013.
• “Supreme Court Gives American Consumers Victory Over Copyright Owners in Kirtsaeng vs. John Wiley & Sons,” by Gary Shapiro. Forbes.com, 20 Mar 2013.
• “Kirtsaeng and the First-Sale Doctrine’s Digital Problem,” by Clark D. Asay. Stanford Law Review, 07 May 2013.
• “How Supap Kirtsaeng’s Textbooks Idea Led to Supreme Court,” By Greg Stohr. Bloomberg, 26 Oct 2012

You can’t just give up – indeed!

Holland Village MRT construction, 30 Aug 2009.

Daryl Chan to ride 170km on his Brompton for Hair for Hope – join him part way?

*20130608, update – Daryl has set up a Facebook Events page for this.

An old cycling buddy of mine, Daryl Chan is participating in Hair for Hope this year once again, and will try to raise $2,000 for Children’s Cancer Foundation in the process.

Daryl says,

“I believe that participating in the event will provide the children with an additional source of strength that they are not alone in the battle against childhood cancer, but that the Singapore community is with them.”

He decides to do a little more his year:

“I will challenge myself with a 170km Round Singapore Ride on 27 July, aiming to return to Vivocity in time for my scheduled SHAVE.”

“The Round Singapore Ride will start and end at Vivocity and will be on my Brompton Bicycle, instead of a road bike, in a bid to touch/inspire more people to make a donation.”

Alright Daryl!

I hopped over to his Hair for Hope page to chip in.

I’ve marked the date and hope to ride with him part of the way – on a mountain bike with slicks, else I’ll not be able to catch up with him; he is very fast!

His current estimated check points are:

• 0km Start point: Vivocity 6.00am
• 20km Farrer Road MRT Station (towards Lornie Road) 7:15am
• 40km Mandai Shell 8:25am
• 60km Clementi Road (Fong Seng) 7-11 9:30am
• 80km NTU Entrance at Jalan Bahar 10:30am
• 100km Kranji MRT (towards Woodlands) 11:30am
• 120km End of Yishun Dam (Junction to Punggol Island) 12:30pm
• 135km Outside NTUC Chalets (Pasir Ris) 1:30pm
• 153km East Coast Pack (NSRCC End) 2:00pm
• 163km End of East Coast Park (Fort Road End) 2:30pm
• 170km Vivocity

Daryl Chan is a cycling buddy from about a decade ago, rising before dawn to ride the pre-work Marina South rides. Marina South was very different then, and a lovely bicycle route to do before breakfast.

On the way back, we’d ascend Mount Faber and Vigilante Drive along the Southern Ridges, and sometimes both! Daryl would race away and I’d plod along, but eventually we’d reach the top. I loved those rides!

This photo is from 11th May 2005, the first time Joelle rode up Mount Faber on her bicycle. Caron Chan is on the right.

We must have been chatting about photos that morning, for I was demonstrating iView Media Pro setting up a gallery of the morning ride.

I was comfortable having my iBook in my backpack, for it was a sturdy companion. A rambling blog post recorded the event.

It’ll be nice to ride with Daryl once again. Join him and chip in for the Children’s Cancer Foundation in support of the ride!

Sundown Charity Ambassador Neil Humphreys is running for Children’s Cancer Charity; go Neil!

Let’s encourage the man! Just hop over to GiveAsia and drop in a pretty penny!

He says,

“Hello all you wonderful people, I am proud and humbled to be a Sundown Charity Ambassador.

My wife’s best friend died of cancer. As a tribute to her, I took part in the In Her Shoes Charity Concert, meeting many brave sufferers who refused to be victims. Their bravery was both humbling and inspiring.

That’s why I’m running for the Children’s Cancer Foundation at the Sundown Marathon. Do join me or throw a couple of bucks while I stagger around the course. Neil.”

Enjoy the run Neil!

The feeling of freedom in the morning!

Today I pretended to be a bike commuter. What was it like riding with traffic to campus in the morning?

The moment I got on the bike, that magical feeling stole over me. The same feeling you get every time you are one a bicycle – freedom!

I was no longer trapped in the commute. But I was not on a weekend ride. I stayed away from roads, remembered I was not my mountain bike, kept my speed slow and didn’t race with traffic.

I stopped at the coffee shop in Dover because I felt hungry, and wondered where else I could weave in on the morning ride to take in breakfast along the way. Such idyllic thinking!

I was riding my Brompton, a neglected creature since it was presented to me. It was in its element today, a short urban ride avoiding traffic, hugging low-traffic pedestrian walkways, and it was good. Unobtrusive, manoeuvrable and self-contained.

And it helped when I took on “the gap” – this is the small margin left for pedestrians over the AYE towards the NUH junction. I name it ironically after “The Gap“.

It’s important to maintain momentum as you fling yourself through the narrow opening else you’ll scrape concrete on either side. Melodic concrete tiles sing to you if you are spot on, and soon I was on the pleasant stretch along Kent Ridge Road.

On a slow ride with the bike, I was able to observe plants and insects more closely, eyeballed a sucession plot with great interest for an ecology practical and listened to kingfishers proclaim.

I also watched commuters on their daily grind. sympathetically.

No wonder the bicycle commuters are adamant about cycling – to feel this freedom of the ride daily is such a liberation.

It’s great I was able to weave away from traffic, but not ideal. if more cyclists take to the streets A pity since NUS is so near the Ghim Moh – Ulu Pandan PCN but that last stretch to campus could kill me.

Before more can enjoy this dose of morning freedom though, plenty needs to be done. I am certainly looking forward to the maturation of the National Cycling Plan.

The Avian Influenza A (H7N9) virus has my attention!

As a co-ordinator of several undergraduate modules and an organiser of a variety of events including the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore, I routinely keep track of local and international health news through twitter (notably @healthmap), international and local news and health agencies, and alerts by savvy friends on twitter.

In the event of a threat of an epidemic, most large organisations including educational institutions like the National University of Singapore will initiate measures to reduce risk and ensure operational continuity as far as possible.

In NUS, this will include e-learning to replace lectures, reduction of cross-faculty travel and non-critical events, contact tracing after lab classes, strategies to reduce contact during field trips, new site parameters in the risk assessment, temperature checks, exam management, etc.

A recent epidemic which has moved a notch up on everyone’s radar soon after its discovery in China is the Avian Influenza A (H7N9) virus.

The Chinese CDC report of 31 Mar 2013 states:

“The three confirmed cases presented all with acute pneumonia whose symptoms include acute fever onset, high fever, cough and respiratory tract infection symptoms at the early stage of the disease. Five to seven days of disease onset, the patients developed severe pneumonia i.e. breathing difficulties and some progressed rapidly into acute respiratory distress syndrome and death.”

A stream of detection reports from China have been helpfully mapped by the South China Morning Post:

The cluster on the map is Shanghai, which has closed three markets and banned all live poultry from other parts of China from entering the city.

Thankfully, China is sharing reports quickly this time, but this virus does not kill chickens. This makes detection more difficult and the disease may be more widespread than reported. John Oxford, a professor of virology at Queen Mary, University of London, says he is “cautiously worried“.

As of now, the CDC (US) states,

“This is a “novel” (non-human) virus and therefore has the potential to cause a pandemic if it were to change to become easily and sustainably spread from person-to-person. So far, this virus has not been determined to have that capability. However, influenza viruses constantly change and it’s possible this virus could gain that ability. “

Well, yes, the virus could mutate and before we know it, appear at our doorstep in Singapore, seeing how air travel from China (and other countries at risk) is voluminous and common.

Clinicians (probably everywhere now) are advised to be on the look out for respiratory illness and appropriate travel history. So if you are coming from China with any of the symptoms, be prepared for scrutiny.

China’s closest neighbour, Taiwan, is certainly aware and vigilant. Earlier this evening, the Taiwanese CDC just cleared all their eight suspected cases of H7N9. They seem confident about being able to contain the disease if that time comes:

“We are also now practicing strict infection control and surveillance measures, raising vigilance in three major areas: ports of entry, families and communities and hospitals,” he [CDC Deputy Director-General Chou Jih-haw] said.

The Ministry of Health in Singapore too has been alert, and are already roused by action to preempt the recent SARS-like coronavirus. Health Minister Gan Kim Yong commented, at the recent SARS commemorative ceremony on 20th March 2013 that

“The ever-present threat of infectious diseases remains a concern worldwide … surely it will come one day.”

“In our highly globalised world, where cities are well connected by air travel, the transmission of infectious diseases has become much harder to control.

There is a real risk of epidemics or outbreak of a new infectious disease spreading to Singapore, given our global connectivity.”

We’ve all been served notice.

Update: MOH’s media release, 06 Apr 2013: “Ministry of Health closely monitoring the influenza A (H7N9) situation” [link].

Do read the overview articles below which include some basics about the biology of the virus, and update yourself from now on. Let’s hope this fizzles out!

Links

Articles providing an overview

• “The New Virus on the Block: H7N9 Case Counts, Explanations and Updates,” by Anna Tomasulo. The Disease Daily, 05 Apr 2013 [link].
• “The New Bird Flu: How Dangerous Is Avian Flu H7N9?” By Melanie Haiken. Forbes, 06 Apr 2013 [link].
• “Health leaders lay out their concerns about the new bird flu,” by Helen Branswell. The Canadian Press, 04 April 2013 [link] (with biological detail)
• “Novel bird flu kills two in China,” by Declan Butler. Nature News, 02 April 2013. Scientists are racing to assess the pandemic potential of H7N9 flu virus. (more biological detail) [link]
• “The New Bird Flu, and How to Read the News About It,” by Maryn McKenna. Wired, 05 Apr 2013 [link].
• “How to Stop the Spread of a Pandemic Flu Virus.” WikiHow, date unknown [link] Nicely illustrated simple hygiene guide.

News reports

• “Shanghai bans entry of live poultry.” Xinhua, 06 Apr 2013 [link].
• Suspected H7N9 flu cases cleared of infection: CDC,” by Alison Hsiao and Lee I-Chia. Taipei Times, 06 Apr 2013 [link].
• “Expert ‘cautiously worried’ over China’s H7N9 bird flu strain.” AFP, 05 Apr 2013 [link]; with comments by Prof John Oxford.
• “China Escalates Its Response to Outbreak of Avian Flu” by Andrew Jacobs. The New York Times, 05 Apr 2013. [link]; with comments by Prof John Oxford

Singapore’s preparedness

• “Threat of epidemic is ever-present, Gan warns,” by Tan Weizhen. Today, 21 Mar 2013 [link]
• “World is ‘not well-prepared’ for next outbreak,” by Tan Weizhen. Today, 21 Mar 2013 [link] (Phone interview with Dr Isabelle Nuttall, Director of the Global Capacities Alert and Response department at WHO)

Health agency (source) announcements

• World Health Organisation (WHO) FAQ: “Frequently Asked Questions on human infection with influenza A(H7N9) virus, China.” WHO, 05 April 2013 [link]
• “Questions and Answers about human infection withA(H7N9) avian influenza virus.” Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 31 Mar 2013 [link].
• CDC Health Advisory: “Human Infections with Novel Influenza A (H7N9) Viruses.” CDC Health Alert Network, 05 Apr 2013 [link].

“Defiance has a name: Lieutenant Adnan”

When Circle Line as newly opened, Pasir Panjang MRT Station (CC26) featured a movie banner which declared, “Defiance has a name: Lieutenant Adnan”! That sent shivers down the spine of the Pasir Panjang Heritage Guides and we eagerly look forward to the movie.

Photo by Kenneth Pinto on a CCL jaunt with John Larkin

Despite our eager anticipation, we saw no sign of the movie anywhere in Singapore! Kenneth Pinto who first alerted me about the banner was just as puzzled when nothing more was heard of the movie weeks later.

Eventually we realised the banner was a “Art in Transit” contribution by filmmaker Ho Tzu Nyen. We were certainly taken in!

“At the Pasir Panjang station, for example, the artwork features Lieutenant Adnan bin Saidi, a war hero who led Singapore in the Battle of Pasir Panjang against the Japanese in 1942. Images of Singaporean actor Aaron Aziz, playing Lt. Adnan, are used to create a mock movie poster about the war hero.

Injecting a bit of humor into an artwork about a grimmer period in Singapore’s history, the poster offers a tribute to Lt. Adnan’s bravery during the Japanese occupation in World War II.
…
The tribute to Lt. Adnan was the work of Singaporean artist and filmmaker Ho Tzu Nyen, who represented Singapore at the 2011 Venice Biennale.”

- “Slow Down and Enjoy the Art, Singapore,” by Shibani Mahtani. Wall Street Journal, 11 October 2011.

The MRT station is located across from Pepys Road, along which lies the former Opium Factory which gave Bukit Chandu its name.

We won’t get to see the movie, but hope that thousands of Singaporeans will pause to remember, like I do, each time I am at Pasir Pajang MRT station.

“Defiance has a name: Lieutenant Adnan”

Indeed.

Don’t just trash it, recycle!

Singapore ships the ashes of our trash to Pulau Semakau for disposal. That cost us plenty – coral reefs and mangroves were destroyed to make way for an ash heap.

We certainly need to be making an effort to recycle our waste, reuse what we can and cut down on acquiring waste in the first place.

At Starbucks just now, the barista, who is also their Organiser for the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore, asked me where my tumbler was. I’ve not been carrying my bottles these past few weeks as I’ve only been drinking at shop premises.

But cold drinks are dispensed in plastic cups, so the reminder was a welcome one.

These cartoons are part of a series drawn by Kelvin Lim of Raffles Museum for the first Semakau Workshop for Teachers I organised in 2000.

I must stitch this together with the rest of the drawings and pen a story. And then share this story with International Coastal Cleanup Singapore participants. We all need reminders to pursue an ethical lifestyle.

For my lunch kakis!