Monthly Archive for November, 2006

Kayak Kleanup

Straits Times | Nov 27, 2006
Youngsters kayak their way to a green environment

MORE than 90 per cent of students are aware of environmental issues, but less than half would bother to volunteer their time to tackle them….

With this in mind, this year’s River Cleaning Project yesterday had students eagerly picking up litter - from their kayaks….

In four groups, they kayaked along the coastlines of Pasir Ris beach and into the mangrove areas along Sungei Api Api.

The result: 70 garbage bags filled with trash, mostly plastic cups and bottles as well as styrofoam boxes.

Guest of honour at the event, Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean, had come up with the idea.

‘I wanted the youth to do something different for the environment rather than the usual beach clean-up or park cleaning,’ he said.

The fun-way-to-clean-up session was a hit.

Said Tan Wan Wei, 17, from Meridian Junior College: ‘This clean-up will raise public awareness, it gives us a taste of what volunteering is like, and gets us interested. Kayaking is more fun than just picking up litter.’

*ahem*

Minister Teo may have thought of the idea, but he wasn’t the first.

The International Coastal Cleanup (Singapore) has been going on for ten years, and they have been engaging in wet operations for some time now.

These ST reporters and editors should do their homework.

Kudos to the Minister and all the youths who took part! Those who contributed the 70 garbage bags mostly filled with plastic cups and bottles… shame on you. We shouldn’t have to have kids (or cleaners for that matter) picking up after us.

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Yesterday once more

Blog Talk @ Queenstown Library

It was on this day last year that I stumbed upon goodmorningyesterday.

Since then, I got to know the blog’s author, Mr Lam Chun See. Over the weekend, while I was at the Singapore Philatelic Museum, Chun See was at the Queenstown Community Library giving a talk about blogging to senior citizens.

About 100 people turned up, and by all accounts, the audience loved Chun See’s and Ivan’s introduction to blogging. They even managed to inspire “Ah Lee”, who was among the audience, to start a blog.

Chun See made several points about why seniors should blog. I want to expand on his point that “Blogging… helps us to connect with the younger generation. It helps to bridge the so called ‘digital divide’.”

Blogging connects people.

It’s as simple as that. I wouldn’t know Chun See without blogs. I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of knowing the wonderful bunch at yesterday.sg too. Bloggers, you see, aren’t solitary, navel-gazing creatures. They may write for themselves. But as an open medium, blogs allow other with similar interests - young and old - to seek each other out. Bloggers are, in effect, saying to the world, “Hey, this interests me. If it interests you too, let’s converse.”

You never know where those conversations will take you.

Original photo by Ivan Chew,
modified from www.flickr.com/photos/ramblinglibrarian/305654839/, under a cc by-nc-sa 2.0 license.

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It’s Phil-a-telic Fun!

Say it with me: Phil-ah-telly. Or as it is spelt: Philately. What is it exactly? That’s what I discovered at the Singapore Philatelic Museum during their Open House last Saturday. It was held in conjunction with Explore Singapore!

Click on the photos, then ‘All Sizes’ if you need a close up view.

Philately is...

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Bishan | Blogging for Senior Citizens

Last week (approximately) marked the 20th year I’ve lived in Bishan. I’ve reflected about the changes I’ve seen since I moved to Bishan at yesterday.sg. If there’s something you want to share about your Bishan experience, please leave comment on the post. Better yet, if you have a blog, write about your memories!

Speaking of yesterday.sg, regular contributors Chun See and Ivan will be conducting an introduction to blogging for senior citizens:

Blogging for Senior Citizens
Date/Time : Saturday, 25 November 2006, 3.00 pm to 4.30 pm
Venue : Queenstown Community Library - Programme Zone
Subject : Education & Learning (English)
Admission : Free admission

Chun See runs Good Morning Yesterday, an excellent blog - always an informative and entertaining read - about his memories of Singapore. Ivan a.k.a. The Rambling Librarian is Chun See’s… err… sidekick for this programme. If you think librarians are drab and dull, read his blog. I guarantee you’ll want to get to know more librarians. (Sorry girls, this one is happily married.)

Just to prove a point which they will make during the session about the wonderful discoverability of blogs and their ability to bring people with common interests together, Ivan points out how a Dutch library blog has waxed lyrical about Chun See’s Good Morning Yesterday and that it’s inspired the Dutch blogger to start doing the same.

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Bishan Two Zero

National Day Parade Flypast over yet-to-be-completed Bishan
Collection of Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

This photo was taken in August 1985. It’s not every day one comes across a photo of their estate being built. In this photo, the flat where I now live has been constructed almost to the same level as my family’s apartment.

People think of Bishan as a ‘new’ estate, but I’ve lived here for nearly two-thirds of my life. About 20 years ago this month, my family shifted from Clementi to Bishan Street 13. We were one of the first people to move in to our block. In fact, I think we were probably one of the first 100 families to move into Bishan.

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