200,00 hits - thanks to Edison Chen

This blog cross the 200,000 hits mark this morning. Much thanks to the many curious folks out there searching for Edison Chen’s sex scandal photos. Just look at the evidence above from a screen grab of yesterday’s web stats for this blog.

Thank you for Haze again Indonesia

I woke up at around 12 midnight with irritation to my throat and nose. Due to my sinus, I am very sensitive to climate changes and the air we breathe.

It’s now 2am and I still can’t sleep because my breathing feels irregular and dry.

My mom came into my room at around 1am,. Apparently, she’s having the same problem and is having difficulty sleeping too. At first, I thought it could be the poor ventilation in my room because of the condominium construction going on nearby. Hence I decided to take a short stroll outside to get some fresh air and then come back and sleep again.

Alas, the air outside is even worse! My breathing felt even heavier after strolling for about 10 minutes. I quickly turned back, return to my room, switched on the air-conditioner and humidifier.

That’s when I suspected it’s the bloody HAZE again! Did a quick check on the Internet, and this is what I found:

Picture from NEA’s website

Haze is back…sooner than expected

Tania Tan in Singapore & Salim Osman in Indonesia
Straits Times 26 Feb 08;

ILL winds are blowing the haze towards Singapore again, as farmers in the Sumatran province of Riau have begun clearing undergrowth by setting it alight earlier than usual.

Singapore’s Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) readings hovered in the ‘moderate’ range last week, and hit 56 on Sunday, the year’s highest so far.

The weekend’s slightly hazy conditions are expected to last over the next few days, said the National Environment Agency (NEA).

But yesterday’s afternoon showers helped clear the air and put it back in the ‘good’ range.

At 4pm, western Singapore registered 44 on the PSI, followed by the south with 35. The central, northern and eastern parts of Singapore clocked readings of between 23 and 33.

Readings varied through the day. A check by this newspaper found Ang Mo Kio and Bukit Timah hazy at 3pm, and the Central Business District largely clear during the lunch hour.

Last week and through the weekend, however, dry weather and variable wind conditions over Indonesia worked together to send over haze particles from the fires set by the farmers, said the NEA.

But it expects stronger winds to pick up and push the smoke haze away, so better air quality can be expected ‘in the coming days’.

Rain also fell in central and southern Sumatra yesterday, which helped douse some of the fires.

Provincial officials told The Straits Times that they were confident the fires could be controlled if rain continued over the next few days.

The head of the Riau government’s environmental impact committee, Mrs Arbaini, said: ‘We have mobilised all our resources to fight the fires. We don’t want smoke from forest fires here to travel to neighbouring countries.’

Riau provincial government spokesman Surya Maulana, calling the rain ‘a godsend’, noted that the meteorological station had not predicted a wet day for the area.

The slash-and-burn clearing of forests usually starts in late March, but north-easterly winds often blow the haze away from Singapore. In September 2006, Singapore became enshrouded in a choking haze as a result of dry weather and winds that blew the smoke in this directio

Damn it! It’s Indonesia again! The PSI Index tomorrow morning surely damn jialat one. Trust me, my nose is super sensitive to the PSI index.

Sigh…

Guess I will be suffering from respiratory irritation for the next few weeks to come.

Thank you again for the Haze again Indonesia.

Technorati Tags: singapore, indonesia, sumatra, riau island, haze, forest fire, respiratory problem, nea, psi, pollutant standards index, national environment agency, surya maulana

Interviewed by kids from Creative O

Last week, group of children from local preschool, Creative O came to visit us at our workplace, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) News Centre.

We can hear them once they stepped out of the lift lobby. Kids, being kids, they were a noisy bunch. They are here with a mission - that is, to interview people who work in the local newsroom and hand in an assignment based on their interview findings.

I had the honour of being one of their interviewees.

Their teacher brought a bunch of them to my desk, and got them to sit down quietly on the floor. A little boy was then assigned to do the interview.

He stood up and froze for quite a while. After some coaxing from his patient teacher, the boy then gathered his courage to ask the first question.

Here’s how the interview went:

Shy boy: What is your name?

Me: Alvin

Shy boy: How you spell?

Me: A - L - V - I - N (following that, all the kids scrambled to copy my name down on their assignment sheets)

Shy boy: Where you stay?

Me: er…. Singapore (some of the kids started laughing)

Shy boy: ok (keep quiet)

At this point another more talkative girl sitting at the back raise up her hand and asked me: Why you have so many toys? (referring to the decorations on my work desk)

Me: oh… I like toys.

All the kids roared into laughter. I supposed they think it is funny?

Talkative girl: What is your age?

Me: 28 (sheepishly)

Talkative girl: What you do at work?

Me: I do marketing. I sell the website, omy.sg.

The whole session lasted no more than 15 minutes. Following that, their teacher did an excellent job, explaining to them in detail, what marketing was about since I was finding difficulty trying to explain the concept to them.

The little kids then proceed to get my name again, and begun to write it down onto their interview sheets for those who haven’t done so. They also drew sketches me.

Their teacher got them to thank me and then the little journalists were on their way to their next interviewee.

A little girl saw some of the Alvin and the Chipmunks merchandises on my desk, and turn around to ask me if I am a chipmunk before she smiled and left.

Technorati Tags: creative o, alvin and the chipmunks, alvinology, preschoolers, sph, news centre, school excursion, singapore kids