Our leaders need to walk the talk on haze.

 

                                           Downtown near MBS - visibility is hazy  

The last 3 - 4 weeks, Singapore has been engulfed in smoke billowing from a nearby country. The combined effect of both the El Nino (Christ Child) and annual slash and burn of agricultural and plantation owners has led to this woeful state of the environment

Our minister in charge will only offer N95 masks. And cheap healthcare costs in the event residents and citizens need to see their GPs from respiratory illnesses and the like

This is not acceptable. This is a joke, if we are deemed to be a First World Country, yet living in 3rd world environment. All the so called takes like Carbon Tax and the like will be rendered toothless and hypocritical if we cant even enact a law to protect our citizens from the dangerous activities leading to thousands or even millions of people contracting long term breathing and lung issues !

                                      Outside Raffles City facing Victoria Street

The Transnational Haze Boundary Act has been set up in 2014 for the primary reason to 

a) seek out evidence of where the origins of these fires are (there are the usual suspects)

b) Take appropriate actions against the perpetrators (huge fines, debarment of listing their vehicle companies in the Singapore Stock Exchange, and possibly legislate some jail time for the stakeholders of such companies).

And ever so often, this haze happens every 3 - 4 years like a bad dream. So, the Act is nothing but a toothless tiger. 

We pay our Ministers millions of dollars. In this regard, they have barely responded in tackling the issue at the root cause level.  It is not the first time. Since 1996 when it first happened, it has happened at least a couple of times each DECADE. There were serious haze last in 2015. That lasted unbroken for 14 days from 23 Sept to 7 October 2015.   

I really hope this doesn't repeat itself again. Where is the action from the so called Best Government in the World ? 

And this is the response to the situation ?  Giving out free N95 masks ? 

Come On. 

After a certain age, health issues crop up and the slope down is steep. Be prepared and thankful

After my recent eye surgery (I am still recovering, from Macular Hole Surgery just 2 weeks ago), I realized that after a certain age (this age is not a fixed number but it varies from person to person practising the following habits and also owing to a multitude of factors) health issues will crop up fast and furious. The pace and seriousness of these health issues, no one can predict with any degree of accuracy. 

The multitude of lifestyle factors I list below in no order of importance but having all or most of it would be what I would deem as good lifestyle habits.

1. No smoking

2. No alcohol (a tipple here and there ? apparently no.)

3. Sleep minimum 7 hours a day.

4. Eat unprocessed food as much as possible. A diet of leafy greens (most), protein (beans, tofu, lean meat) kael, all seafood are all encouraged, (with the exception of molluscs). Eggs are back in fashion. 

                                       At the Valley of the Kings (and Queens) 

5. Avoid carbohydrate or keep to a minimum

6.  Exercise 3 times minimum per week of 45 minutes each

7. Do load bearing weight training.

8. Move your bowels at least once a day 

9. Minimise stress (low level long term continuous stress can be deadly, so maintain a very positive attitude) 

Even with all these defence mechanisms (lifestyle habits), there will be illnesses which will crop up silently. I list the following, which many people are aware but choose to ignore them or just hope they go away.

1. Metabolic syndrome

2. Diabetes

3. High Blood Pressure (stroke and the like)

4. Cardiovascular disease

5. Cataracts, Age Related Macular Degenerative Disease and Glaucoma

6. All forms of cancers ; 

So. After my recent brush with this dangerous illness, which if left untreated can lead to permanent blindness, I realize that 

a) Life is truly fleeting and fragile 

b) Be in the now, be mindful

c) Do what I have to do, now. 

  

Thankful for AI - ever ready to assist for medical and non medical emergencies.

I had a medical issue the last 2 weeks, and I am very grateful to many people stepped up to assist me, in my time of need. They are my immediate family, a close cousin, some very close friends, as well as 3 of my staff who performed exceptionally to 'cover' for me in my absence. To them, I am truly grateful and I will remember. 

I would like to highlight this fact. In this age of AI agent, I used it very effectively to 

a) isolate and identify my symptoms

b) narrow down the root causes.

In this instance, AI DID help me tremendously, in the above, and then all I needed to do was to seek the proper assistance AS FAST AS I COULD. 

I also am very grateful for a very good friend Albert Ee who had something very similar recently and it triggered me to immediately seek my opthamlogists's assistance.

I will pen more of my experience the coming days.

Million years old fossil wedding present from my long time German friend.

 

We were given this (see video) present from my good friend Heinz Strobel whom I have lost touch since the early 1990s. He is a lovely man who lived by himself in Balingen Germany very near to the Black Forest separating Germany and France. 

My wife and I went to visit him in 1993 during our honeymoon, and I will one day post those wonderful pictures of us, cycling and walking in the Black Forest. Heinz had a dark green Wolkswagen (people's car) and it came with a convertible roof so we had lots of fun posing with the car and Heinz.

He gave May and I this and I have always wondered what this was. I managed to find out only today, as Microsoft Bing decided to show this on their wallpaper these few days.

This, my readers and friends is an ammonite fossil, from the (drumroll) Jurassic Period.

They are an extinct group of marine mollusk animals closely related to modern day octopusses,squids and cuttlefish.

Their most distinctive features are the tightly coiled spiral shells divided into chambers (see the rings on the video), which often display intricate beautiful patterns or suture lines, where the chamber walls meet the outer shells.

These molluscs appeared around (drum roll) 400 million years ago and went extinct alongside the dinosaurs.

Cool information huh ?

Why perform Environmental Testing ? This video explains it in 3 minutes.

 

A video explaining the need for environmental testing and the most common types of environmental chambers manufactured for various industries all over the world.

In the next posts I will go more into the details of the 3 most important parameters of environmental chambers and what are the differences between the simulation of the environment and the stimulation nature of environment stress screening.

For more detail, please visit :

https://www.com.sg

E     : qrasales@qra.com.sg

         mark@qra.com.sg 

Environmental Testing services - ASTM F 1980 - 21 and ISO 11607 - 1

 

QRA International is the dedicated test service centre for all your testing needs. See the video above and visit our website for more details :

We will serve you and your interests speedily, applying our many years of industry experience to give you unparalleled satisfaction. Our clients range from local Singapore MNCs, to Asian clients all the way to Europe and Australia.

Email us at :

E :  mark@qra.com.sg

      qrasales@qra.com.sg

https ://www.qra.com.sg

My goal for the next 1 month - learn basic French to converse properly.

 

As I am resting at home from a surgery for a month, I have decided I need to re-aquaint myself with the smooth language of French. It sounds classy and there is the nasal twang to it which makes the language rather 'cool'. 

As I have learnt and relearnt the language over more than a decade, I need to find French native speakers to converse in else the language becomes redundant and its like something which I keep in the closet and never use.

I have finished the 'holiday French' of words and pledge to learn basic French to achieve a vocabulary of 500 and some proper grammar use by end of this year.

Having goals is wonderful.

The trick is to make it into a good habit.

Cue - Routine - Reward.

Cue (some French business associate is arriving in 1 month's time)

Routine - spend up to 1 hour practicing it at home and in the spare moments in office.

Reward - Once the language is learnt, I can travel to France, and most of Europe armed with 2 of the most recognised languages in the continent (Spanish being the third).

Carpe Diem