Homer's Illyad

I am listening to the audiobook by the Greek Poet Homer. Set in 340 BC, it tells of the challenges the gods of Greece had and their squabbles amongst themselves (Zeus,Apollo,Athena and Achilles to name but a few) about glory and honor. I can't help but chuckle at how human like they are just like the bickering humans, amongst husband and wife and also of their subjects. The gods were supposed to be immortal and their children if they were consumated by ordinary humans were mortal. So Archilles knew he was mortal and was not going to live long. So he aspired to live a glorious life and die fighting. 

Surely these gods were created  again by the overactive imagination of Homer, who wrote this epic Illyad about the fight over a woman, Helen, who was the wife of one Agememnon, the king of Greece. Helen had eloped with her lover, the pitiful Paris to Troy and that started the war between the power hungry Greeks and the peace loving Trojans.

This story highlights the Trojan Horse idea where the enemy gives the opponent a 'gift' which is actually a decoy to get into their home ground and ultimately lead to the sacking and conquering of Troy. 

Achilles died in that fight, being shot first in the heel by Paris, and then more times by Paris.

  

What Values Made Singapore what it is today - answer from Mr. LKY

I am currently listening to an amazing audiotape of the book Up Close with Singapore's 1st Prime Minister after separation, the brilliant Lee Kuan Yew.

When asked in the late '80s about what made Singapore what it was then and now (I would assume) he simply stated these 4 values ; so simple yet so profound :

1. Good Governance.

2. Meritocracy

3. Anti-Corruption

4. Pragmatism.

In 4 points, he encapsulated so brilliantly Singapore "TODAY" to the person who asked him point blank.

A foreign reporter.

Singapore was very blessed and ridiculously fortunate to have such a leader of immense stature, iron will and vision.  

We should not let his legacy down. 

Dante Aligieri - Divine Comedy

Stalactites in Guilin Cave 

The Poet Dante Aligieri in his magnus opus Divine Comedy writes about a man who followed an angel into the 9 caverns of Hell, I listened to the audiotape with interest and can conclude that this guy has an overreactive imagination, but it makes for good reading and listening. He also lists the 7 deadly sins which are considered worth an eternal damnation. They are :

a) Gluttony

b) Pride

c) Lust

d) Envy

e) Sloth

f) Greed

g) Wrath

Of course these are all the human emotions which sometimes we are not aware of. The logical mind in me would raise the following doubts ; 1. When you are a child, you would not know that these are evil, and if you had the misfortune of not having parents, or a broken home, or worse still being caught up in armed conflict, then your actions cannot be faulted, if to save your life. Can they ?

2. We see all these acts in many forms in society today. The streets of USA are a battleground of wrath and anger for an innocent black man being choked to death at the hands of the Minneapolis Police force. So, do 2 sins make a right ? Obviously not !

3. Prideful people are everywhere, show -offs, greedy people, people who eat till excess and the list goes on. How does a person know where the limits are in life, if he so unfortunately ends up with the 'wrong crowd', born in a place of armed conflict and he or she has to do any or all of the above just to survive. 

I would say, that we must keep all these emotions under control. However, circumstances sometimes override our emotions that we may be caught up in a 'Fight, Flight, or Fright' situation and wrath unfortunately gets the better of us.

To err is human. But to forgive divine.

One More Time this Year End ; I have 3 more left in Me.

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.