East Coast and Changi beaches reopen

The beaches at East Coast and Changi will be reopened for water contact activities, according to a written statement issued by the National Environment Agency (NEA) on last Friday.

The agency said that the water conditions at these coastal areas have returned to normal although some small tar balls might still be appearing along the shoreline.

Contact with the tar balls will not cause any harm and can be removed with soap and water.

Over 7km of beach and rock bunds along the east coast were affected by an oil slick after about 2500 tonnes of crude spilled from a tanker damaged in a collision in the Singapore Strait slipped out of a floating cordon.

Members of the public can contact the NEA 24-hour call centre at 1800-CALL NEA (2255632) if they have any queries.

Recall raises questions about promotional glasses

McDonald's recalls 12M 'Shrek' glasses over cadmium, raising questions about similar products

A recall of 12 million cadmium-tainted "Shrek" drinking glasses sold by McDonald's raises questions about the safety of millions of similar cheap promotional products that have been sitting in Americans' kitchen cabinets for years.

Only glasses produced for the latest "Shrek" movie are included in the voluntary recall announced Friday by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, but they were made by a company that McDonald's has worked with for 15 years. And many other companies make similar glassware with cartoon characters or other designs baked in.

Organic food is a 'waste of money'?

Do you believe in Organic? For me, I don't really believe that organic food hold much more nutritions as compared to commerically farmed produce. But definitely the pesticides and chemical fertilizer used in commercial farming cannot be beneficial to our bodies! But I do support organic farming for its role in sustaining the environment. Sometimes I wonder if the huge price difference is primarily due to the exorbitant cost of getting the farmland certified organic.

Consumers who opt for organic foods often believe they are improving their health but there is currently no strong evidence that organics bring nutrition-related health benefits, a new research review finds.

A 'disappointingly small' number of well-designed studies have looked at whether organic foods may have health benefits beyond their conventional counterparts, according to the review by researchers with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Health in Britain. Moreover, they found, what studies have been done have largely focused on short-term effects of organic eating - mainly antioxidant activity in the body - rather than longer-term health outcomes.

Most of the antioxidant studies failed to find differences between organic and conventional diets. The review, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, adds to findings reported last year by the same research team.

In that study, the researchers combed through 162 articles published in the scientific literature over the last 50 years, and found no evidence that organic and conventional foods differ significantly in their nutrient content. For the current review, the researchers were able to find only 12 published studies that met their criteria for evaluating the health effects of organic foods.

'A surprising and important finding of this review is the extremely limited nature of the evidence base on this subject, both in terms of the number and quality of studies,' wrote Dr Alan Dangour and his colleagues. Of the 12 studies the researchers identified, 6 were short-term clinical trials that looked at whether specific organic foods changed markers of antioxidant activity in participants' blood.

While questions remain as to whether organic foods have any extra nutritional value, people buy organic for a number of other reasons as well. Organic foods are made without the use of conventional pesticides, synthetic fertilisers, antibiotics or hormones - which could potentially reap benefits for people's health and the environment. The current review, Dr Dangour and his colleagues point out, did not look for studies on the possible health benefits of reduced exposure to those substances nor did it address the environmental impact of organic food production.

Civilians take over fitness training at SAF

The days of the much-feared physical training instructor (PTI) of the Singapore Armed Forces are numbered.

The taskmaster in a white singlet who puts every chrome dome through punishing physical training will be replaced by civilians, as physical training throughout the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) is outsourced to commercial fitness outfits.

The PTIs, known as fitness specialists in the SAF, will be replaced by the end of next year. First its the UCI (Unarmed Combat Instructor), now the PTI. Which one will be the next to go? So, will the new PT consist of Body Combat, Spinning, Body Pump, & even Dynamic Yoga?

Does it mean that RT & IPT will be conducted by them too? If that's the case, can we go to their outlet for PT instead of the camp?

MacRitchie to Bukit Timah Trekking - 27 Feb 2010

Yes!! We did it! In 4hrs 30min over a distance of about 20km. Lucky for us, it was not raining & the weather was cool until mid day. Hope everyone enjoyed our little trekking trip & looking forward to our next in april.

27 Feb 2010 - MacRitchie to Bukit Timah Trekking

MacRitchie
We took the Pink route from MacRitchie (the starting point), than take the Blue/Orange route to the Tree Top Walk & continue back on Pink route to Bukit Timah.

Bukit Timah
After crossing the BKE via Rife Range Flyover, we continue on Rife Range road, cut into the Belukar Track towards higher land & cut into Catchment Path to Catchment Hut. Than we took the Green route to the Summit Hut. Than, all the way down!

Members of this trekking trip : Yanwei, Meiyan, Jeffrey, Riki & Myself

Lou Hei after IPPT

What's more rewarding other than a good meal after IPPT? Last year we had porridge buffet, this year, we Lou Hei at Hans.

Since today is the last day of CNY, I hereby wishes everyone a great year ahead. No worries of retrenchment, No worries of not meeting month ends, Everyday pocket full of money to spend, Everyday waking up feeling healthier, happier & younger like Benjamin Button.

A millionaire said this..

"Money is counterproductive – it prevents happiness from coming".

What's your say?

Austrian Karl Rabeder, a millionaire is giving up his £3 million fortune because he said they never made him happy. He who made his riches from his household accessories and furnishings business, said the sale of his luxurious villas and cars, among other things, will go to charities he had set up in Central and Latin America.

He said that he had the biggest shock in his life when he realised how horrible, soulless and without feeling the five-star lifestyle is. While having a hoilday, he had this feeling that he hadn’t met a single real person. All were just actors. The staff played the role of being friendly and the guests played the role of being important and nobody was real.

Are you unreal too?

Amazing Cucumber

This information was taken from The NewYork Times several weeks ago as part of their "Spotlight on the Home" series that highlighted creative and fanciful ways to solve common problems. Don't be suprise by how amazing cucumber can be.

• Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

• Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.

• Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa- like fragrance.

• Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

• Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles, too!

• Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!

• Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explores for quick meals to thwart off starvation.

• Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don't have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.

• Runs out of WD40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!

• Stressed out and don't have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber will react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown to reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.

• Just finish a business lunch and realize you don't have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phytochemcials will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

• Looking for a 'green' way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won't leave streaks and won't harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.

• Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!

H1N1 Flu Is a False Pandemic

A leading health expert said the swine flu scare was a "false pandemic" led by drug companies that stood to make billions from vaccines.

Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe, claimed major firms organized a "campaign of panic" to put pressure on the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a pandemic. He believes it is "one of the greatest medicine scandals of the century," and he has called for an inquiry. It's just a normal kind of flu & it does not cause a tenth of deaths caused by the classic seasonal flu.

An emergency debate on the issue will be held by the Council of Europe later this month. The Council of Europe covers 47 European countries and seeks to develop common and democratic principles between the nations.

The great campaign of panic we have seen provided a golden opportunity for representatives from labs who knew they would hit the jackpot in the case of a pandemic being declared. They want to clarify everything that brought about this massive operation of disinformation. They want to know who made decisions, on the basis of what evidence, and precisely how the influence of the pharmaceutical industry came to bear on the decision-making.

A group of people in the WHO is associated very closely with the pharmaceutical industry. The WHO recently reaffirmed its stance that the pandemic is not over. However, the number of swine flu deaths is dramatically lower than expected.

The vaccines were developed too quickly. Some ingredients were insufficiently tested. But there is worse to come. The vaccine developed by Novartis was produced in a bioreactor from cancerous cells, a technique that had never been used until now. This was not necessary & it has also led to a considerable mismanagement of public money.

Ikea recalls defective LEOPARD Children's High Chair

Furniture giant Ikea has issued a global recall of the LEOPARD Children's High Chair because of a defect.

The chair has been in the market since October this year. Ikea said snap locks that secure the seat to the frame can break, making it possible for the seat to drop. Children can suffer injury to the head and other parts of the body through falls. The detached locks also pose a choking hazard.

The company said that so far, it has received 11 reports of broken locks worldwide. There have been two incidents in Europe - one, of a child falling from the chair, and another where the detached lock was found in a child's mouth.

A spokesperson from Ikea Singapore said that so far, there have been no incidents in Singapore. Some 80 units of the product have been sold here. Customers can return the product to Ikea's Alexandra or Tampines branches. They will get a full refund.

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009

Congratulations to those who had completed the full 42Km race!

What was the feeling like after completing the full marathon? Happy? Tired? Guess most of the first timer who attempt the full 42Km will be feeling happy that he/she had did it, but at the same time, body feeling totally burn out.

Rest well runners, up next is the Adidas Sundown Marathon on 29 May 2010. Please note that adequate fluid intake is essential before, during and after the race even during training.

Is NUH Still Safe?

The National University Hospital (NUH) is being sued for medical negligence. A cancer patient and the family of dead NSF each seek $500K for their negligence.

The first suit was filed by a 79 year old cancer patient, who has alleged that a botched medical procedure required her to undergo open heart surgery later. She claims she is now unable to work as a result.

The second case has been taken out by the family of Derrick Peh, a national serviceman who became paralysed following surgery for a shoulder injury. Corporal Peh died of pneumonia on July 29 this year, three years and four months after the incident.

Is NUH still safe? I notices that NUH has alot of new doctors in their A&E department. Did they just graduated from medical schools? Recently, my Mother-In-Law had a bad fall & broken her bone at the side of her foot. Upon checked by an A&E doctor, she was asked to be plaster casted from her foot all the way to her kneecap. Don't know why she need that, but we didn't question further as they are the doctors.

Few days later when we went to the Orthopedist at Clinic B, the doctor there was caught by surprise why the plaster casting was done all the way to the kneecap. After looking through the X-Ray, the specialist ordered a duck shoes plaster casting for her instead.

This lead me into thinking that all the patients that visited the A&E had become volunteers for those fresh graduate to experiment and learn. No wonder I was once told that for critical cases, most patients don't want to NUH. This is not only happening at NUH, the other time when I brought my Mother to check up at TTSH A&E also encountered similar issue. The doctor kept asking another doctor for advise with regards to my Mother's High BP issue. End up we stayed many hours at the hospital.

A Friend Has Departed...

To all fellow friends of Alvin Tan Chuan (BPSS), he was seriously injured in the head earlier last week & was in the ICU @ TTSH for 2 days before he departed on Friday 16 Oct. Our hearts sink when we heard the news on Friday morning & hurried down to see him. We were told that his BP is too low for the doctors to perform any operation on him, from than, its all on his will to live.

Alvin's wake was held at Sing Ming Funeral Parlour for 1 day only on 17 Oct & was cremated on Saturday 17 Oct. I fail as a friend, as I didn't pickup his distress signal when he needed most. We did helped him along the way, but guess its not enough. A friend in need yet we had little time for him when he took all the trouble to arrange a meetup for just a short karaoke session just weeks ago. As I was on the Catholic Engaged Encounter weekend retreat for my wedding preparation, I unable to attend his wake & cremation.

Now that he has left us, I hope that he finds the peace he wanted. I'll update again when his Urn is in place. Lets pray for him.

Parou Parou Parou!!

Are you feeling stress and tired at work or whatever you are doing today? If yes, than you have every reason to have a good laugh and set the mood back to happy before calling it a day. Don't bring the moody face or the stress at work home with you.

Happen to see this YouTube video whereby Brazilians were being pranked by the TV host by shouting loudly "Parou" at them. They turned really violent when they are pranked! Hope the host is alright.

Oh by the day, you may be wondering what "Parou" means.. Well, it means "Stopped". Parou is what Brazilians say when a watch is not working anymore!

A Visit to the Sembawang Hot Spring

Home to many kampongs in the past, the road today is most sought after for the only Hot Spring in Singapore. Sembawang Hot Spring (三巴旺溫泉) is the only natural hot spring on Singapore mainland and is famous for its curative powers. The spring is within Chong Pang Camp which lies off Gambas Avenue near the junction of Sembawang Road and Gambas Avenue, along Jalan Ulu Sembawang.

Minerals presence in the water from Sembawang hot spring believed to have healing powers which draws visitors keen to test its rumoured curative powers, but it could also be the key to Singapore's untapped geothermal power potential.

The spring is open to the public from 7am to 7pm daily. All you need is to bring your own towel along.



While we were there, an uncle came over & offered his help to ease the blue black on my wife's leg, as she had a really bad fall on Friday. He seems really helpful & the blue black really subsided after 30min of rubbing with the hot spring water. But some part of her skin on the blue black were also being "Rubbed Out" which we didn't notice until later. As we were leaving, we went over to say thanks & to our shock, he asked for a payment of $20 for his service. Although we are willing to pay, but we didn't bring any cash along.

So if anyone happen to be first timer there, please watch out for this uncle. There's no free lunch! Furthermore, there are warning written behind where we are sited that say "Beware of fake Tui Na". Think its referring to this uncle, but we only saw it as we are about to leave the place. So people, you have been warned.

Abandoning parents an emerging issue in Singapore

5% of the elderly at Bright Hill Evergreen Home have not seen their children for some time. 90% of some 140 elderly in the home have children who are unable to support them. Many of their children would cite reasons such as being busy with work, being ill or that they are having family problems to avoid visiting them & most importantly, paying the ward fees. Some never came even once.

Nursing homes are becoming more like a dumping ground. If this sounds like a prescription for disaster, it is. More and more report of such cases now filled the local papers. This is a social problem that bounds to happen and I feel that it will not end even with government intervention to legislate filial piety. Although surrounding factor plays a major part here, but being filial at heart is also important. If you really have no choice but to send them to Nursing home, please visit them frequently.

Sometimes seeing those Ah Ma and Ah Pek in coffee shop working and you will feel that what is this country? A First world country with a third world salary? All the lands are state own and people are being stuffed into HDB cubicles. Families become compartmentalized and there's no space left for old people. You can see from the HDB upgrading projects, are those floor tiles elderly friendly?

Youngsters nowadays are seriously in debt the moment they graduate. From having study loan to clear, to getting married, to getting house and renovate, to having kids. By the time everything is done, the person is around 30-35 years old and pocket already has a super duper big hole. By this time, parent should be coming to 60 years old and if they are jobless, where to find extra money to support?

Sometimes I don't know if we should blame the kid for unfilial or should we blame the way things are being run here. Although I can barely managed, some social welfare program are just full of stupid policies that does not help anyone. How I wish Singapore can learn from Scandinavian countries, or like Macau where children are a blessing to the country, everything is paid for rather than the half-hearted thing here.

Paranoid by Little Jotham's Action

Breathing hardly & making funny noise while feeding. This is what made us all paranoid & all 6 pairs of eyes are watching him closely. We end up sending him back to the hospital again.

At the A&E, everyone was at ease finally when the doctor said he's normal after doing the routine checks & tests. But still, the doctor has advised to let the baby stay for the night to monitor the condition. Everything seems well after that. Before we left, its already 1.30am

Yesterday afternoon, without any further medical issue, little Jotham is now back at home again. Looking back at this incident, I'm wondering if I'll be as paranoid as them or even worst when it comes to my turn to be a father? Will you paranoid too?

Surgery @ The Age Of 12 Days

My poor nephew Jotham is only 12 days old & is undergoing surgery today. Lets pray for him..

A Day @ Tan Tock Seng Hospital

Spent almost the whole day at TTSH yesterday as my mother was admitted due to high blood pressure. Her BP went up as high as 230, but after taking the medication, it has stable down to 168. The last check shows that her BP went up again to 219 after 3hrs of rest, but doctor still discharge her with 2 days MC & 2 weeks supply of medication. The last test result & reading was not even indicated in the outpatient slip.

While we were in the observation ward, many of the patients are actually waiting for a bed as the nurse told them that the Hospital is full. Before we left, only 2 has gotten their bed. The rest are still waiting. There's this lady who was so scare that she will be make to stay in the hospital & she kept making calls to her friends to come bring her home. We overheard her conversion & she was worried that she had no money to pay for even a day stay despite her condition was bad tho.

Her situation has make me feel that all the insurance coverage which I have bought worth every cent spent & its really give me a peace of mind. The importance of insurance should not be overlooked as its the vital parts of any good financial plan. If anyone need, I have a handful of good financial planner to introduce.

Worker found death in NEWater (新生水) Tank

Madam Susan Ang became worried about the whereabouts of her husband when dinner never came last Thursday night. By the next morning, with still no word from the 65 year old engineer, Madam Ang decided to visit his employer Keppel Seghers at the Ulu Pandan NEWater Plant.

On hearing of his disappearance, Keppel Seghers and national water agency PUB mounted a search immediately for Mr Michael Choo Quee Hock. At about 3pm, staff who had been combing the Ulu Pandan Water Reclamation Plant, where the NEWater plant is located, found Mr Choo floating in one of the water tank.

Civil Defence were immediately summoned & when the officers pulled Mr Choo out of the water using a ladder and ropes, he showed no signs of life & also appeared bloated. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. Mr Choo was last seen going for lunch around 11am and returned at about noon. After that, he was not heard from again. The police have classified the case as an unnatural death and are investigating.

Although 5% of our current drinking water is from NEWater Plant, but I still think its safe to drink. No Worries..