Heavily Pregnant Lady Leaning Dangerously on the Pole of a MRT Cabin

If you are a lady into pregnancy of 5th month or so, would you choose to sit or stand?

I think i would take the former choice.... that's the best opportunity to get a seat in the mrt
without having to fight for one or go to the last mrt station and turn back to get a seat. ;)

But the below pregnant lady chose otherwise which gets me thinking n scratching my head....

Heavily Pregnant Lady Leaning Dangerously on the Pole of a MRT Cabin

Are There More Depression Cases Surfacing Up in Singapore in Year 2010?

The other day, I was discussing abt the situation of mental patients with my retiree friend Nelson over a cup of coffee and  or beer.
Nelson told me nowadays there seems to be more vaga bonds , poor ones and mental people at his place in Jurong West area.

Examples of depression & or poverty cases that we have been able to see at his Jurong West coffeshop:

1. A young girl (~ 20yrs old) staring at the table and keep howering around as if she is lost or like what my friend says she is possessed and keep thinking the table is blocking here?   :?:  
2. A cocked-eye looking man keeps staring and pointing his fingers at people who clapped their hands at him >:<
3. A kind man who always come to us asking for S$2.00 but usually we joke to him that our "platinum club President" Mr Raja King is not here to provide the funds ... :D
4. Vagabonds repeatedly reserving seats at Senior Citizen Corners below his HDB flat in Jurong West St 42.
5. A man who keep talking and pointing to himself as if he is an actor. My friend Nelson found it rather entertaining during lunch/breakfast at Jurong West Hawker Center at Hong Kah Point.
6. A Malay man who keep following others and asking passerbys if they know who is Mr Mahathir?

People can been seen camping at some popular local Beaches, Shopping Centres and Senior Citizen Corners below public housings.

It made me wonder how can such highly-improbable things be happening in a "relatively rich" and "developed" country?

I also have been observing more of such cases occuring in this part of the island.
Begging, Sleeping on the Streets, Sick Ones, Home Alones, Depressed Ones, etc.

I would like to specially mention about the vagabonds who are making themselves
comfortable at the shopping cenetre here.

These vagabonds are really pitiful, i met one of them whom I wish to called  Mr D.P (his initials).
D.P has been sicked , jobless and lost his wife to cancer few years ago.
D.P is also an achoholic and went into depression after he lost his wife thereafter.

You can see D.P drinking his way from morning to evening, only filling his stomach
with some light food stuffs only during breakfast, skipping lunch and dinner altoghter.

D.P used to be a production manager in a local firm commanding a pay of abt SGD$5k-7k here but as to how he lost his job is also anthr question mark on my mind ...

He moved into this area for about a month and seeking accomodation with his fleshly sister at a nearby block.

But he is seen sleeping at the shopping centre here, it really make me ponder why when he has a 5 room flat in CCK and yet he chose to suffer on the streets here?

When i saw and tried to wake D.P last morning for Power Nasi Lemak & Teh-Ah-Lia (~2a.m.), I couldn't bear to do so bcos' he's alrdy deep asleep and his whole body is shivering curling up like a helpless shrimp.... he really looks pitiful when you look at how he sleeps without blanket, and so do the rest of "his companions" nearby.

Can the relevant authorities take care of such cases like providing accomodation and
simple meals for such ones?

Individaully, how can we reach out to such "poor" ones?
For myself i have been trying to look for suitable tenants for his flat
and providing some pocket money for his meals, hoping he'l not xchange for alcohol ...

Maybe its high time to take a hard look at how we can start improving hectic lives for the locals here  ;-?



SEE VIDEOS BELOW:

Latest mental case at Outram Park MRT on 1 June 2011.




An Indian Drummer near Boon Lay Hawker



ATM Begger Aunty near Boon Lay Shopping and Hawker Center



Depressed Woman Beating Herself at Boon Lay Coffeshop



Uncle talking to himself inside a SBS 335 Bus



This is the cocked-eye man who intimates passerbys
thru' his fingers-poking method and staring at you.

U just have to clap both your palms soundly
or unknowingly 'take a glance' at him, he will do that to you.... sigh -^ ***

~ to be continued.... ~

We welcome your frank comments as to how to improve people's life here....

Not The End Yet.

= = = = == = = == = === = == ========  = == = = == ==  = == =  === = ==

Rene Furterer Paris Melaleuca Hair Care Products Review

My dear readers,

Yestrday, I happened to stumble upon this range of excellent France products by Rene Furterer (in short RF) while I was on my way to Mustafa.  They are doing a 7-days road show outside of Metro level 1 entrance, at City Square Mall - see how to get here in City Sq Mall link .

A chronic seborrhoeic dermatitis sufferer for more than a decade, I found much relief after using their Melaleuca shampoo this morning. Surprisingly no more itchy scalps for me.  Hurray ! ! ! 

According to salesgal, RF's range of shampoo and hair care contains 12 kinds of essential oils and 11 types of plant extracts in various composition. Some of the plants can actually suppress itch and stop dandruff. Examples: Melaleuca essential oils aid in antifugal anti stress,  Cucurbitaceae plant extracts regulates excess sebum secretions, etc - see brochures below.

The only setback is there are chemicals being use in their products, example: Sodium Lauryl Suplhate - SLS discussion (why some are avoiding sls)

The importer for Rene Furterer is: Color Play Enterprise Pte Ltd. 

Address:  220 Tagore Lane, #03-13, Liberty Warehouse, Singapore (787 600)

Tel: +65 6453 4955 , Fax: +65 6453 9455    see map link 

Road-show period: 25 Oct to 31 Oct 2010 (Sun).

Usual Price: 1 botte of 150ml for SGD$ 39 +

Sale Now:  3 bottles of 150ml for SGD$60 only ! ! !


The China Salesgal told me if you buy more than SGD $100 worth of products, you are entitled for a free hair care treament at their salon or something like that. Details you have to check from the sales-people at the road show.

The China salesgal told me if I like what I bought and still want more of their products can go to
Watsons or Guardian Pharm after this promotion but the prices will revert back to the nomal
prices of SGD$39+ / 150ml bottle .

They are only conducting 1week promotion in City Square Mall till 31 Oct 10'.

Brochures Pictures:
Click pic to enlarge if you can't see properly

~END ~

Review on Aiptek S5W Water-Proof Digital Camera (3meters,10Ft)

Aiptek S5W Digital Camera Specs
see quality of images, pictures and video taken by this camera at bottom of this page below

With a price tag of SGD$149, I have not much complains about this digital camera as similar models of other branded camera may costs up to a heavier tag of SGD$400-$500.  Its not easy to find a underwater digital camera that costs below SGD$400 in Singapore! Below are a summary of the pros and cons of what i thgt of this S5W digital camera.  Enjoy your reading!!!



Similar model : Olympus U Tough series

(anthr similar model:  Olympus U Tough 6000) 

Pros:

• Cheap and low price tag of SGD$149
• Aiptek S5W is a light weight camera 110grams which most primary school kids can handle comfortably.
• Capable to take images and videos in any fish tanks and swimming pools of Singapore, max depth Aiptek S5W camera can withstand is 3 metres of underwater.
• Great imaging tool for taking videos both above and under water during vacations (ex.  P.Redang Island, Malaysia)
• The rubber buttons are user-friendly and easy to read illustrations on it (not much need for reading an instruction manual to understand basic and advanced key functionss)
• Large 2.7" LCD for easy review of pictures and videos taken.
• Use 3 x AAA batteries (easy to find)
• Accepts SD/SDHC Card up to 16GB (mass storage) 

Cons:

• No usb ports to link up to pcs - have to use a card reader to retrieve pics/videos from sd card into my pc
• No shock-proof feature - i dare not try to drop it on the floor but i think most products are made to withstand certain shock abuse
• No sounds of video during playback in camera - videos' sound can be heard only during upload to website like YouTube or playback in your pc
• No brand camera -some of my friends call it "AH PEK" -uncle in hokkien language, so if you are not brand conscious or do not mind friends' jesting, this is the camera for you   ;D ...lol... 
• No internal memory - if you ran out of sd card memory, you have to delete some of the old ones to make way for new video s/ images
• External SD card slot of S5W can only accept up to 16GB, i thought can go to 32 GB will be wonderful ! ;)

Read more detailed specs of S5W after the screen-shots pics below


Screen-Shots of my Aiptek S5W Camera
(click images to enlarge)

dimension: 95mm x 60mm x 24mm (fits into most of our hand palms of adults)
weighs 110 grams (excluding battery and card), body is made of plastic material light weight!
Operating temperature: 0 to 40 Degree Celsius

use 3xAAA batteries which can be bought easily anywhere,
card slot accepts up to 16GB SD/SDHC Cards (above battery slot)

the easy to use rubber buttons next to the 2.7" lcd

bottom of camera for tripod and macro/landscape mode selector on the side

underwater taking video of my ranchu goldfish, can go down to 3metres max
and
do not leave the camera in the water for more than 60 minutes.

Image Sensor
5 Mega Pixels CMOS Sensor (Max 12.0M via interpolation)

Lens
Type: Fixed Focus (F3.2/f=5.2mm)

Digital Zoom
Still Image: 1x~5x; Video Clip: 1x~5x; Playback:1x~8x

LCD
 2.7" TFT LCD

Focusing Range
Normal: 1.2M ~ infinity, Macro: 20cm

Shutter Speed
Normal: 1/2sec-1/2000sec, Night Scene: 3sec-1/2000sec

Flash Mode
Auto, Fill-in Flash, Flash off

Metering
Multi, Spot

Sharpness
Soft, Normal, Vivid

Effect
Normal, B&W, Sepia, Negative

White Balance
Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Flourescent, Tungsten

Voice Recording
Yes, also supports Voice Memo under Still Image

Shooting
Single Image, Continuous Shooting, AEB

Self-Timer
2sec,10sec,Double

Scene Mode
Auto, Smart, Portrait, Night, Program, Landscape, Transform,
Backlight, Auction, Sport, Underwater, Smile Shutter

Image Size
12M (via interpolation) , 5M, 3M, 1M

Storage Media
Supported media cards: SD/SDHC Card (up to 16GB)
Internal Memory: N/A

File Format
Still Image: JPEG (DCF), EXIF 2.2, DPOF 1.1
Video Clip: MJPEG, AVI Format with Audio PCM
Voice: WAV Format

Playback
Single Image, Thumbnails, Slide Show, Video Clip, Voice Clip, Rotation

Interface
Digital output connector : No USB port; Built-in Microphone; Buzzer out

 Power Source
3xAAA alkaline or Ni-MH batteries (rechargable)

Dimensions (WxHxD)
95mm x 60mm x 24mm

Weight
110grams (without batteries & card)

Mass Storage
No USB Port

System Requirement for Windows
Pc with processor better than Pentium II (500Mhz)
Windows 2000 Professional (SP4)/ ME/ XP (S2)/ Vista/ Win7
Min 51MB or more
SD Card Reader
800 x 600 pixels, 24-bit color display compatible monitor

System Requirement for Macintosh
Power Mac G4 or later
Mac OS 10.0 or later
Min 512 MB or more
SD Card Reader

CONTENTS OF CAMERA SET

PICTURES

Macro view of paper chicken (JE) 

Food stall taken at 5x zoom (~20m away)

Landscape view of hazy conditions in Boon Lay

VIDEO

Video clip of my hyperactive Ranchu Goldfish taken underwater in a 1ft deep fish tank

(can go up to 3meters/10ft deep and immerse in a bucket of clean water for 1 min after that)

YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kyP5Fa8hHE

~ End ~

Dead Pigeons in Boon Lay Blk 210 and 215

Hi Boon Lay RC (Facebook),

I noticed there are many pigeons flocking betwn Boon Lay Blk 210 and 215 this morning.
There are also 2 dead pigeons birds lying on their road leading to the multi-storey carpark .

Few months ago, I have already feedback to Stomp about the population of pigeons flocking here,
but it seems that there are no actions taken by the Boon Lay RC or the AVA.

Taken on the morning of 14 March 2011 (Mon)
The birds are still there... hope the authorities can transfer them to P.Ubin or some Kampong



There are concerens about hygience since there are many children playing near the playground
where the pigeons feed and hang around. The exposed dead bodies can spread germs
and their droppings can be a health concern for the children there.

We wished that the relevant authorities in Singapore can seriously look into this matter.
The haze already making people sick and we do not want anther health issues coming up.

See pictures and videos below*

*Note:
The pics of dead birds are very gross, with intestines exposed.

Smashed another pigeon spotted on 8 Sept 2012

Video clip of pigeons congregating at the hard court

between Boon lay place Blk 210 & 215!!

Note:
This post has been written since Oct' 2010 - and pigeons are still a great crowd here.PDF File taken from NUS The Raffles Bulletin - Haemoproteus Columbae Infection Of Feral Pigeons Yr 2002.

Pls click on pdf file below:



~ End ~

NEA Server Often Down NEA Should Provide SMS Service on PSI Readings

Dear NEA Officer,

I tried to access your NEA sever on the 18 Oct 2010 after my trip from Hong Kong.
Wanna to find out about PSI readings

But huh, between these periods of 18 to 20 Oct , your server is either often down or too busy.
Very jia luck... i thgt my pc can't work... almost threw it away...

I then called your officers to enquire on the P-S-I readings,
I dun know why sometimes I cannot hear them properly
Or
my ears are playing trick on me often mistaken PSI of 98 for 88.
Or
maybe my old lousy Nokia 3100 handphone cannot make it liao.
Or
perhaps I am getting old and hard of hearing , time to buy a coffin . :D

I watch TV also neber see your PSI reading display on the screen even though my kaki friend
told me its alreading 108...
wow! i thgt my share price increase.. good mood man can blanjah supper for him,
... so i took a nice long walk out into jurong park
with my new refurbished bicycle from the rubbish dump.

I  thgt it was a romantic view + the beautiful neon foundtain can shot water upz leh,
and wonder if it is winter alrdy, when did Sg become so beautiful huuh....

I wander wander around but not many joggers can be seen here...
then i wonder whats going on...
i realise its time to buy supper for my kaki friend liao....
i cycle slowly this time but the incoming taxi neber sloz dwn, want to beat red light
almost bang into my bicylce...

i told uncle cabby i poor old man liao, no job to do ,... cannot afford a good meal now...
pls drive carefully leh...
my cpf payout little surving only $10 per day.. pls take pity on me.

Daughter onli support $12/day...
she have her family to support dun know how long wil she give me $$$.

Shhh....  dun tel anybdy i also moonlight doing part time selling 3M masks huh...
wait the incoming-taxi pple come ask me drink kopi at Novena Square...
i dun like shopping malls coffee expensive and sucks...
i onli like jurong west one ... they hot hot and cheap cheap.

So I kindly request you to bring back the excellent SMS service that updates
on the hourly PSI readings which we once had gotten from you NEA once upon a time.

Pls help me this "old man".  :)

Your kind deeds will bring many blessings to whole of Singapore.
Upz  ;)

Before you go huh, pls take 2 seconds to fill up the form below
and
take at look at the responsese of people who wanted this sms service..

Singapore boleh! -> nah ... see here Survey Poll
Or
check on the boxes below, dun tick wrongly huh...

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Kum sia for leeding huh

Sayonara

~End ~

Shenzhen Hua Qiang Bei Lu 华强北

 After sitting on the train for more than 40mins, I and my friend finally alighted  from the KCR train to cross the border of Hong Kong into Shenzhen's Luo Hu Commercial Complex (LHCC). This checkpoint serving Hong Kong and Shenzhen is so full of commuters that you can see loads and loads of human traffice every 3-5mins.We thought of waiting for the crowd to thin away but it just didn't work out, so we chose to go in with the crowd instead.


packed KCR train to Luo Hu


KCR train commuters waiting on the opposite side 

  


never ending crowd coming down from the train

The usual long queue at the ladies before going into Shenzhen





filling up your wallet before going in, ATM charges will cost
SGD$5/ transaction for POSB/DBS bank.

You can save time and money by cycling in Shen Zhen,
this cyclist told me he spent about HKD$5,000 for this foldable bike

faster clearance at the gates of Shenzhen's checkpoint 





filling up of the arrival card on before going into Shenzhen

Immediately reaching LHCC, a stanger man targeted and followed me from behind. He tapped my shoulder lightly and ask if i needed any "bao bao" (branded bags and wallets). I quickly told him nope and we were looking for latest model of HuaWei handphone U8800. 

I was "caught" by this middle-aged man  and brought me to 1st mobile-phone shop. 

  This stanger man immediately said he has the source and quickly signalled us & 'pulled' us to a mobile phone shop that is about 50metres away. When we reached the 1st shop, we found out they do not offer such phone models my Singaporean friend wanted me to buy for him. 


China made Hua Wei latest model U8800 released in Jul 2010

 

Undettered, he then brought us to 2nd mobile phone shop that is on the opposite side that is on the 1st floor of LHCC, this time round we walked another 50 metres (that makes 100metres). This 2nd shop as expected also do not carry HuaWei U8800. So I asked about iPhone4. The salesman quoted me about RMB$4500 for a genuine iPhone (16Gb) while an imitation is around RMB$800.

I thoguht that was a good price but we intend to try looking at Hua Qiang Bei 华强北 where there are tons of mobile phones booths to offer us "good deal"(according to the guidebook of ShenzhenHao.com which i borrowed from the library in Singapore). It turned out that it was really the case. See below story in red.


Hua Qiang Bei Lu 华强北 is located 5 stations away from Shenzhen's LHCC  (1st station). Journey took us a couple of mins (around 10 mins). We paid RMB$3 each for the journey.


See map below:

For more details on the Metro system in Shenzhen, see HERE

Hungry stomachs groaning signal us to go for our late lunch its already 230pm and we weren't aware of our hunger. Now i know why some ladies can be so slim...

We pass by a Japanese restraunt on the 2nd floor of a building, there's a optical shop and Macdonalds below. The meal is very cheap and big enough to last you the half a day easily. Herbal double boiled soup plus a bowl of noodle cost us only around RMB$30 /set!

after lunch, we  decided to follow the ShenZhenHao.com guide book and look for the more reputable mobile phone shops at Gomez/Suning.  After looking around for more than 10mins, we end up in a shop with lots of handphone booths (air con) at this building below. Here you can find lots of mobile phones booths, we almost thought that we were at wrong place in a casino. Its diagonally opposite where we had our lunch.

One of the counters told us to buy imitation iPhone4 which they quoted me RMB$600 /set. The imitation set look almost like the real thing except the lcd screen is a bit shorter and contains only 4Gb instead of the original 16Gb /32Gb.

The sales man told me you can buy cheaper here and sell it off at RMB1,200-2,000 but I told him its not easy to sell them off in a "fine country" like ours (Singapore) tiny and lawful island -little red dot on the map. :D 

We were also told that there's no HuaWei phones sold in Hua Qiang Bei bcos' its an export set and so we left the place. Anyway got his namecard, may contact him in the future if there is a need to bring in iPhones.

Running short of time, we left the building, and quickly cross over the road to quite an old run-down buidling Wan Shang Dian Qi Cheng offering many second-hand mobile phones, batteries and repair centers.

Very soon, we realised one young chap was following us frombehind and asked if we want smuggled sets of iPhone?  He looked around suspicously and whispered to us tat he had only 2 sets left! I kept telling him i wanted something that's had warranty but he kept pestering for a few minutes. his offer is RMB 1800 where the shops are selling the real thing for RMB5500.  After entering the Wan Shang Dian Qi Cheng building, this young chap was never seen, probably looking for his "next prey".  :D

This Wan Shang Dian Qi Cheng looks more like a sweat shop to me. Its the place where you can repair your spoilt phones, trade in your old mobile and buy batteries. It seems to me that the batteries are also imitation... there are also OEM made batteries called "scud missile" 飞毛腿 which cost me RMB70/pc.  The OEM battery charger cost me RMB$20 after bargaining with the glib-tongue salesgirl at the previous building.

Total I brought down the price to RMB$160 (2 scuds + a charger) before coming to this place where you can also get a wide choice of "original batteries". I kind of got a bit confused with the terms used at this centre, can't really tell which is the original stuff unless you are the experts. There are 3 comoon terms used here: Original Goods (real stuff), Water Goods (aka 水货 or smuggle sets), Imitation Goods (copy sets)

After getting our stuffs and enquiring for Hua Wei mobile phones for which we conclude these are not popular here and are only export sets, we decided to head back towards LHCC (Luo Hu Commercial Centre).

Its around 540pm and getting very dark at such an early hours. The crowd can be seen hanging around and occasionally cyclists are seen ringing their bells to get your attention to make way for them. Everywhere is filled with humans!!!

LHCC

There are some shops at LHCC that we bargain for. the salesgirls claimed that today is Saturday and there are not many customers so we are quoting you a very low price just for you.

RMB70 -> RMB35 = half price?

Anyway just record on the ShenzhenHao book to remeber where to go back the next time.

 

To be continued ...