Woody Boogie

Woody Boogie - Baltimora. 

Athlete Test Chamber Doha Qatar

Test Chamber for 1 Athlete and Observer. 

Its over 3 years since my company QRA International embarked on the international sales route to promote the Athletic Chamber. To date, we have done reasonably well and the first one outside of Singapore is as shown above. This chamber was fabricated and installed under 5 months for use to simulate some extreme weather conditions like desert, or cold and dry conditions for purposes of scientific research for athletic conditioning as well as sports rehabilitation for athletes.  

Test Conditions are from 10 to 50 deg C and relative humidity from 30 to 90%. The products under test are highly conditioned athletes, and hence we need to put in CO2 scrubbers to remove the CO2 expelled from these athletes once they start doing rigorous exercise in these chambers.

The chamber in Doha Qatar is able to perform some very extreme conditions such as 

18 C 40% rH 

20 C 50 % rH

40 C 40 % rH

50 C 50 % rH

The control panel 

The purpose of installing CO2 scrubbers is to reduce the amount of CO2 in the chamber to an acceptable level. For some this is 2000 ppm or parts per million when using the chamber for 1 to 2 hours. The sizing of the scrubbers is critical based on number of athletes, observers as well as the intensity of the exercise being conducted in the chamber as well as the test condition. Most chambers need to be able to run at 18 C 40% rH. and to take away the CO2 speedily enough so that the CO2 level does not reach levels which are considered hazardous to the people using the chamber. 

For those interested in this technology and field, we would be most pleased to take any enquiries worldwide. Please do visit : www.qra.com.sg and for further followup, please send sales enquiries to  qrasales@qra.com.sg or mark@qra.com.sg

Our friendly and professional sales staff will be happy to oblige you with a quote once the specifications are determined at your location. 

We must get on with life ; Football, Sports, Dining, Socialising and Travel

Two of my favourite all time Wolves players Adama Traore and Raul Jiminez 

We are only at maybe the 30% point of this global pandemic. However, the COVID 19 lockdown fatigue has begun to set in. Already, people are out and about buying food, doing groceries and running in parks, on the roads and trying to get back to some normalcy in life.

Governments the world over have to struggle with this conundrum. Once the curve is flattened, then what ? Let business operations and society try to get back to some kind of normal routine.

Its been almost 2 months now, of the Circuit Breaker. We have had not been able to go to school, to work sites, to food and drinking establishments, to our gyms, clubs, yoga, personal training sessions and to socialise. We do it all in the name of the greater good and to break the cycle of transmission.

Slowly, the Government is allowing schools to reopen, some 30% of businesses can restart with SafeEntry and social distancing measures in place. It has been tough, but I always remind myself that this is for the betterment and health is at the top priority of us all.

However, the economic 'hit' from this lockdown has yet to fully impact us on a daily basis.

Al Dente Spaghetti at Seta Milan Mandarin Oriental 2017

This was one of the most impressive eating establishments we have tried ever. And that says a lot to someone who is married to a Cantonese picky eater ! Well it did have a 2 Michelin star rating no less.

Seta Restaurant Mandarin Oriental has a waiting list of 6 months, so I was pretty lucky just to get a lunch on a Monday afternoon barely 2 weeks beforehand. We were lucky and very impressed as this restaurant is rated 2 Michelin Stars. The hotel is unpretentious and the restaurant even more so. So we got there right on time 1pm on 4th December 2017 for a truly unforgettable lunch. We ordered the Executive Set Lunch (if I recall correctly), for a total of (for 2) EUR 120 (S$ 200) but this is a small price to pay for excellent food, wonderful service and quiet ambience only top restaurants can achieve. 

There was 3 courses plus dessert, with a number of free dishes courtesy of the kitchen thrown in to impress these 2 'mid lifers'. And suitably impressed we were ! 

The spaghetti is 'al dente' or has bite with a single prawn, in tomato sauce, with a sprinkling of broccoli and something which looks like an olive (I am a horrible foodie, sorry). She says the spaghetti in many places lack the 'al dente'. Only in the land which gave us this pasta is it done correctly. 

Lamb Roulande 4 Dec 2017 

The Lamb Roulande also was exceptionally tasty, I recall it was very tender, flavourful without the gamey taste which accompanies lamb dishes.

The sweets were truly outstanding. Please take a while to feast your eyes on it. Breadsticks, and sauvignon blanc topped up the beautiful lunch almost 3 years ago in Milan. 

Lucky Non Foodie eating good grub. Shiok Ah ! 

Breadsticks, Ciabatta bread, Sauvignon Blanc , Garlic and Heart Choking Butter

Once this pandemic is truly over, we must go back for another memorable gastronomic experience. 

Mandarin Oriental, Milan

Via Andegari 9

20121, Milano

MI

Italy.

Sweets to end an excellent meal 

  

Our Response could be better to COVID - 19.

After the initial containment of the COVID -19 by shutting our borders, our leaders were slow off the mark to look into the most obvious (in hindsight) hotbeds of the community spread. In the dormitories of the foreign workers.

So now, we have hit over 30,000 cases. While most of them are mild cases, and only 20 remain in ICU, the fact of the matter is our leaders missed the opportunity to show the world that we had the disease under control. Several countries have shown that by stringent lockdowns, the pandemic can be halted. Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and Vietnam are hailed as models for this disease control.

Singapore, well, we have to wipe the mud off our faces. We had the virus by the theoretical scruff of the neck, but did not give it a good beating. On the contrary, it turned around and gave us a good slap in the face. My 2 cents worth to our leaders as a loyal and disappointed citizen : 

Never be too complacent and smug. Speak well of your neighbours and your citizens and do not belittle them as 'xia sway'. It only makes you look like the 'xia sway'. 

Having been paid huge amounts to run the country, I think it is time to reflect whether truly you are deserving of that high pay. 

This video is so sad and yet so uplifting at the same time. Salute all the heroes featured here !

This video hits me hard, because it shows how it is at the end of some people's lives, it is no more about going with dignity, but in fact fighting for every breath taken, with no one beside them at their last moments.Just one plunge into a dark abyss. 

Is is so sad that so many people had to die needlessly, and in such as undignified way. It is more sad to see the bodies being stacked like in some supermarket or storage area and identified by their zones and height levels without any chance of a proper burial and grieving for their closest kin and loved ones.

It is so sad watching the morgue assistants handling body after body in a never ending wave of death. At the end of the clip, it shows the end for Dr Teddy Lee's father who was in the St John's Episcopal Hospital for 4 weeks and went downhill and finally his sad demise. He was the energetic 74 year old owner for the Sunset Deli who probably came in 40 odd years ago to find a new life in the U.S. of America. How can we possibly process and try to empathise those who have lost their families and loved ones after having done so much good for the people in society ?  Justice has not been served equally and creates tremendous unhappiness and inequality in the so-called  richest nation in the world. 

Then, comes the uplift. It is so inspiring to see the true heroes in every country, the healthcare providers ranging from the nursing assistants, the ambulance drivers, the morgue assistants, the staff nurses and finally the ER doctors who fight this deadly pandemic day in day out. They are physically, emotionally and mentally drained at the end of the day trying to fight through medical means for the lives of each and every of on those who come in through the ER doors.

Ethical, moral and logistical problems stress them because they have to face hard and very painful issues, they are limited in manpower, medicines, PPE, beds, and have to make critical decisions so many times a day. Do they save the 95 year old or the 42 year old if they only had 1 spare ventilator and even though the 95 was there earlier and needed it more urgently ?

It is so uplifting and motivating to see the blind patient being wheeled out by the head nurse to his family member, that he can go home and he is still so positive and happy that he recovered from this COVID - 19 disease. Of course the recovery can and is terribly long and arduous for many people, as it not only affects the lungs, but the brain, the heart and kidneys too :(

The virus is a terrible bitch.  

Humanity is such that when we come together as ONE people not Americans, Chinese, Asians, Australians or Europeans and cooperate with our shared know how for finding effective vaccines, best possible treatments and recoveries  we can and must surely overcome this pandemic once and for all.

Human race has overcome countless viruses and bacterial plagues for thousands of years. 

This is one tough disease but it will be beaten. Medicine and technology have improved by leaps and bounds over the last 100 years. 

The Black Death in the 14th century killed perhaps 40% of Europe's population before herd immunity developed some 3 years later , this one will pass and I estimate perhaps 1% max of the world's population will succumb to it before a vaccine is truly universal and effective is found and administered - thats a huge 70 million. 

SBC TV Debates 1984 ; Semi-Finals ; NTI vs NUS

This was my big moment as the first speaker for the proposition, the motion was 

"that the introduction of Non-Constituency Members of Parliament will strengthen the democratic processes of Singapore" 

We were against the heavyweight NUS team which comprised  of (currently) , a Deputy Public Prosecutor and a full parliamentary Minister.  Those days, as undergraduates their team comprised of 3 law undergraduates and a medical undergraduate.Then, we were all engineering undergraduates who (by implication) could not converse our ideas well. 

The format of the debates were as such below :

Each speaker had 4 minutes, and the Proposition started first, so I stood up to speak in front of 200 odd people in the studio. The Opposition first speaker then stood up to speak.And so it went on like this.

After the third speaker, the debate was open to the floor for anybody who was present to stand up and say his piece. Their final speaker a certain Vivian, then had to wrap up the debate for the Opposition and the final speaker was our 4th speaker Jaspal Singh, following which there would be a recess of 15 minutes before the judges verdict and the winning team was announced.  

Our team were ousted though we tried and did our very best. It was not to be.

Have a listen to the younger me, 36 years ago. (Reality check !)