November 2007 – miyagi.sg

Completely useless Christmas gifts: felt pebbles

Reader Lesley threw these my way. They’re felt pebbles, going for as little as US$14 each. There are six different ones, and are “useful as simple decorative objects (a collection of them looks great in a bowl) or when used as a pincushion, etc.”

So they’re not entirely useless, and are only slightly less useful than real pebbles because you can’t use them as paper weights. In fact, if you buy them, you’d be supporting local craftswomen in Johannesburg.

And if you flung these at people, they won’t hurt a bit. Unless of course you were using them as pincushions. Or if you flung the bowl with them.

Link

Technorati Tags: felt pebbles, christmas

Completely useless Christmas gifts: Taser C2

OK, this is so not “completely useless”, I hear you say. Especially since the UN has defined the Taser as a weapon of torture.

It is, however, dangerous, because it’s such a nice looking gadget (“available in four designer colors”), and one that is likely to be mistaken for a new fangled electric shaver. The basic C2 model starts from US$350, has a range of up to 15 feet, so your would be assailants can turn into once were would be assailants at the touch of a button.

Light up your Christmas with one now!

Via engadget

Technorati Tags: dumb, taser

Terror on war: worst disguise award

Either no one told suspected Iraqi insurgent Haider al-Bahadli that Halloween was over, or he was gunning for the World’s Worst Disguise Award. He and his “groom” were picked up at a security checkpoint who suspected something was amiss with the “wedding convoy”, because the convoy carrying the “wedding party” were all men, bar al-Bahadli, who was dressed up as the bride, complete with veil and stubbly facial hair.

I suppose they thought the Americans could be fooled.

Link

Technorati Tags: war on terror, Iraq, dumb

Hello, fine snack, please to meet you

We visited a newish mall called The Central, not to be confused with Central Mall, a couple of days ago, because unbeknownst to us, Liang Court was being renovated when we went there to take dinner.

It’s absolutely ok if that was the clunkiest sentence you’ve ever read, because at The Central Not To Be Confused With Central Mall, there are signs to read which are just as bad.

First, we saw the sign outside the Sun With Moon Japanese Restaurant & Cafe:

We weren’t careful, so we went in and ended up eating at the restaurant. Thank goodness it was a decent meal. But you’ve been warned before about these doors, so don’t say you didn’t know.

But because we were late in leaving the house, there wasn’t much time to browse the shops, but it seems it’s a pretty good place for friendly food:

Yes, Japlish does meet Singlish at The Central, and there’s a shop in the basement that sells all manner of Japanese snacks which are fun because from the names, you’re never sure what they’re made of:

Technorati Tags: food, Japlish, Engrish, Singlish, The Central, Singapore, malls

The librarian tried his darndest

The Ask The Librarian service emailed me with his team’s findings, and found the most likely site of Tan Seng Poh’s mansion:

You might find this useful.

Excerpt from:
Title: One hundred years’ history of the Chinese in Singapore / Song Ong
Siang ; introduction by Edwin Lee.
Author: Song, Ong Siang, Sir, 1871-1941.
Publisher: Singapore : Oxford University Press, 1984.

“Tan Yeok Nee’s mansion was the last of the four residences built in
typical Chinese architectural design and style. The earliest was Tan Seng
Poh’s in Hill Street, erected in 1869 and for many years used as the
Chinese Consulate and now the site of the block of shophouses facing Hill
Street and Loke Yew Street.” (p. 335-6)

I think this would be the “Seng Poh’s new building”. Looking at SLA’s
streetmap website(http://www.map.gov.sg/StreetMap/), I think the building
would be the one with the address 30 Hill Street.

View Larger Map

On streetdirectory.com, it says it’s the former Malaysian High Commission building, but there’s no indication what the site is now used for, and I can’t be arsed to drive there to find out yet. I’ve put the google map of the place up instead of a streetdirectory.com one because, you know, the friendly folk at streetdirectory.com used to take offence at people copying and pasting their maps, and may take such action that may render me lying at the back of Seng Poh’s new house smoking a pipe.

Also, according to the librarian, the building’s probably been demolished, but that’s no surprise.

Thank you, Mr Librarian.

Technorati Tags: NLB, singapore, tan seng poh