Tag: Singapore

Not a picture of the Haze, but anti-mosquito fogging that made me panic and think it was the Haze

How bad can the Haze get? Not half as bad as in Kuala Lumpur apparently, but then, things are always worse in Malaysia.

The good thing about the Haze, the worst since 1997-98, is that you can pretty much attribute everything to it.

Not feeling well? The Haze, lah.

Not getting your work done? The Haze, lah.

The boss on your case? The Haze, lah.

Not having a good day? The Haze, lah.

It got so bad yesterday and today that Harrah’s and Keppel Land pulled their bid for the Sentosa Integrated Resort, some schoolkids had food poisoning, and the Prime Minister asked for “responsible journalism which will help improve the lives of people”.

It is downright awful to be outdoors today – the PSI peaked at 130 at 10am this morning, a reading the NEA describes as ‘unhealthy’, and that it causes, among other things:

transient symptoms of irritation eg. eye irritation, sneezing or coughing in some of the healthy population.

Then I saw on the NEA’s website, a link to a ‘Haze Action Plan‘ page, and I thought, cool, we’re saved, they’re gonna do something about the Haze. But it’s not a page about what they’re gonna do about the Haze. It’s a page about what you, the general population, need to do after you have read the NEA’s PSI readings for the day – like staying indoors all day to check the NEA website for the PSI reading of the day.

So what’s being done about the source of the Haze, you indoor readers may well ask?

CNN reported that:

The fire chief in the Sumatran provincial capital of Palembang said his team of 20 men and three trucks were working nonstop, with villagers also helping the fight.

This alarmed me until I read later that more than 200 firefighters in West Kalimantan were trying to douse the fires, which, according to the Singapore Met Service, currently number around 200 in both Kalimantan and Sumatra. That’s slightly under one fire for each firefighter, and that’s pretty much manageable, cos I’ve put out several fires in my lifetime myself.

iTunes is playing an illegal copy of We Didn’t Start The Fire from the album “Greatest Hits Vol. III” by Billy Joel of which I have the original CD.

Technorati Tags: fire, Haze, Indonesia, Singapore

$400! Yay!

After today’s Budget Spitch, you might want to either wail about not getting any goodies, or you might want to hail having some cash perk you think you’ve always deserved.

Well, you really can. The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports has this unit called The Feedback Unit, which does all these feedbacky things. And they want your feedback. This Unit also especially wants overseas Singaporeans to feed them back regarding today’s Budget Spitch, and to that end, there’s been some chat session thing set up for Monday (Asia/Europe | Americas).

So, get to it. Whaddya waiding for? Go talk to your FB unit!

Technorati Tags: Budget 2006, feedback, singapore

I’d tell you who is just as culpable. Your friendly neighbourhood broadcaster.

For accepting NKF monies to produce toopid charity shows. (I don’t blame any of the artistes, such as Tay Ping Hui, who are on a contract with our friendly neighbourhood broadcaster and as a result, are obligated to walk on wires wearing only stilettos and a g-string for the shows, being made to believe that these are called ‘dangerous stunts’.)

I haven’t read the 400+ page report so I don’t know if it reveals how much money went to the broadcaster for their infernal annual NKF shows. But let me remind all youse residents of this good country: You pay Television & Radio Licence Fees. $110 per household. Additional $27 for motor-vehicles. Per annum.

So even if you didn’t begrudge our broadcaster(s) for continuing to receive advertising revenue on top of licensing revenue, you’d at least be asking how much money they asked from a charity to do a charity show.

They can’t tell us like we tell readers, ‘Don’t like, don’t watch’, because we’re obligated to fork out the fees. C’mon, fellas, we know the UK has licensing fees too, but at least they have the BBC.

Liddat can already! No need to do stunts one. Besides, this chick looks better in heels than Tay Ping Hui does!

Technorati Tags: NKF, mediacorp, singapore