The Nano Car. An Environmental Nightmare !!

Last January India's Tata Motors unveiled its much anticipated USD $2,500 car which is equivalent to only SGD $ 3,200 an ultra-cheap price tag that brings car ownership into the reach of tens of millions of people. The NANO car is the answer to allowing every Indians into owing its own car, but critics worry the car could overwhelm the country's roads which is notoriously known to be congested and already chocked and create an environmental nightmare.

The NANO ultracheap price tag revolutionise our mentality and long standing perception of car ownership and overnight suddenly brings car ownership into the reach of tens of millions of people across the world instantly. Dubbed "the people's car", the Nano is projected to be the cheapest such vehicle in the world - Its makers promise it will revolutionize the way cars are bought, sold, and driven.

With a snub nose and a sloping roof, the world's cheapest car can fit five people if they squeeze. And the basic version is sparse: there's no radio, no passenger-side mirror and only one windshield wiper. It does not have any air conditioning to cope with the brutal summers temperature. While the price has created a buzz, critics say the Nano could lead to possibly millions more automobiles hitting the roads, adding to mounting air and noise pollution problems in many countries that already have poor environmental condition such as India, Indonesian abd Brazil. Another faction of critics said that that NANO sacrifice quality and safety standards to meet the target price.

Tato, the manufacture of the car however insists that the car meet safety standards and pollute even less than motorcycles, passing domestic and European emission standards and averaging about 50 miles per gallon (20 kilometers per liter).

Nevermind the cheap price and say we take it whole sale that the NANO meets the European Pollution standards, can you imagine the magnitude of problems that the car will caused if thousands and millions of people decides to abandon their bicycles to the seemingly affordable car. Tens of thousand and millions of cars will soon flood the streets that used to be occupied with less cars and hundreds of manually driven mode of transportation. No matter what the industry expert may say that the car is environmentally less polluted, pollution it will still cause, start doing your maths and multiple the number of pollution by ten or twenty folds.

It is no surprise that India is making their own version of cheap markets to rival that of Chinese made Geely which cost USD $ 4000.00. In a few more years to come, we will see the developments of cheaper car which will soon reach into the hands of every people. Governments should start thinking of looking at their road infrastructure to support the increasing number of cars on the road and the amount of CO2 emission that these cars will be emitting. One thing for certain whatever headway that we have gained thus far in reducing the CO2 emission and curbing global warming will be reversed and worsened.

To all of us, we better start saying goodbyes to the ice poles and caps and prepared to embrace for warmer days ahead.

Faith in God... Prayers in Heart

I was woken up from my sleep at 2.30 am by my mum, a rare occurance in my life. In the calmness of her voice and a tempered controlled of emotion she informed me that my elder brother is involved in an accident.

Still in between the realm of sleep and consciousness I tried to grasp what had been said. The few seconds that I took to comprehend what that had been said and to construct a meaningful comprehension of what was going on seems like an eternity to me. My mum then passed the phone to me and I answered it in my croacking voice. The person on the other end of the line was my niece, my brother's second daughter. Evident that she was in tears and was trying to control her emotion she told me in her broken voice that her father had met with an accident. I did not say much to her except asking her to get ready.

Fifteen minutes since the time that I received the dreadful call, my family and I embarked on the long and ardous journey to the hospital. The drive to the hospital seems like an eternity. The defeaning silence inside the car was only momentarily broken by the silent cries at the back seat.

We arrived at the hospital and was whisked towards the resuscitation room. Several enquiries and waiting, we were subsequently directed to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit of the hospital. It was almost two hours since receiving the call that my family and I got to see my brother for the first time. His mangle body from the impact of the accident was heart wrenching. We had to looked at his half covered face for several minutes before the realisation of what had happened struck deep into us. The tears that had been held back all this while, the anxiety of wanting to know what had happened all broke loose.

Wires and tubes were inserted in all the unlikely places that I could have imagine. A man in green robe and covered head with matching colours approached us silently from the back. His approached was measured and full of hesitatation as if to distrupt my family and I would be the biggest sin that he could commit. I turned to face him and acknowledged his presence. He identified himself in a whisper but the silence inside the room is defeaning enough that it carried his voice loud and across the room.

I asked the doctor of my brother's condition. He responded by showing me scans and x-rays films. I had lost interest in his explanation of my brother's condition partly as I my mind couldn't quite accept the explanation that was given. However the realisation of how serious my brother's condition hit me hard when I looked at the x-ray film of his legs. It then dawned on me that his condition is critical.

I dare not tell my family my brother's real condition. Now the healing begins. Let them remember him for what he is and hold on to the hope that he will recover. As for me my only place of solitude is in my faith in god. I can only bow my head and open my heart to the allmighty and with the hope that my prayers will be heard and answered by him.

The Water Engine Evolution. Is it fact or fiction?

The end of rising petrol prices doesn't seems to be ending anytime soon and like many other road users and drivers we are growing tired with the ever increasing pump prices which apparently seems to only be heading towards one direction, up. When will we even see the end of the rising petrol prices and the return to its previous more logically accepted oil prices only god knows. Oops.... let me rephrase that only OPEC knows.

No one seems to know why the oil prices went sky rocketing beyond human apprehension. Industry expert contributes the rise of the oil prices to six reasons:

1. Summer demand,
2. Price of crude
3. Price of ethanol
4. Transition from MTBE to ethanol
5. Refinery problems and finally
6. Demand that's not seasonal

As oil prices rise, the quest for ways to replace fossil fuels or at least improve the mileage of modern vehicles becomes increasingly urgent. All around the globe, scientists and inventors slave away in an attempt to squeeze the last few percent of efficiency out of the conventional internal combustion engine because they know that even small improvements can have a big benefit to an auto-maker's bottom line.

At the same time, legions of "garage mechanics" are also working on ways to improve the mileage of your car. with all kinds of crazy devices flooding the market shelves with the promise of slashing your fuel bill by improving your mileage, or maybe even completely eliminating the need to buy gasoline at all.

As we drivers lamented helplessly on how it ache our heart whenever we visit the petrol pump stations and how it hurts deeply our pocket the moment we inserted the nozzle into the tank, there now seems to be a light at the end of a very very long tunnel.

A Japanese company Geneplax recently announced to the world in much hype which has caught everyone like a tidal wave that they have invented an electric-powered and environmentally friendly car that it says runs solely on water. Genepax unveiled the car in the western city of Osaka saying that a liter (2.1 pints) of any kind of water—rain, river or sea—was all you needed to get the engine going for about an hour at a speed of 80 km. The car will continue to run as long as you have a bottle of water to top up from time to time

What makes the water engine technology apart from other inventions such as the CNG and the Electric Car was that it does not require the build up an infrastructure to recharge your batteries. The water technology works once the water is poured into the tank at the back of the car, the a generator breaks it down and uses it to create electrical power.

However before all the hype and fanfare had died down, there now seems to be a different school of thoughts that are gaining momentum on the internet. Many have begin to debunct the water engine technology as a scam.

Sounds almost too good to be true doesn't it? And what is it they say about things that sound too good to be true?

Let's take a closer look at those HHO "hydrogen fuel cells". They are actually nothing more than a simple electrolysis device that uses electricity to split water into its constituent components -- two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen and technologicaul invention process that's been around for a very long time.
The gases generated by the electrolysis of water which is also known as Brown's Gas are recombined by way of combustion to release energy. Unfortunately the first law of thermodynamics clearly states that the energy generated by recombining the hydrogen and oxygen through combustion can only ever be equal to the amount of energy it took to separate them.

The delivery of it to the electrolysis cell and then the combustion process, actually resulted in far less recovery of energy from burning the hydrogen than it took to create it. Thus the devices which is said to free us up from the use dependency of bio fuel will actually caused us to use *more* fuel to heat the water in the electrolysis cell and the wires that lead to it.

The introduction of hydrogen and oxygen into your engine's intake can also lead to the car's computer incorrectly adjusting the air/fuel mixture to the point where fuel consumption either worsens further, or damage could be done to your engine.

As usual in the wonderful world of physics, there are no free lunches. But a little scientific fact is not about to stand in the way of those who think they can make money from the current energy crisis, there are still many who insist that we can increase our gas mileage by sucking power from your alternator and using it to create hydrogen.

On hindsight, even if the water techology does work what is stopping to say that water one of the world's natural commodity will sonner or later be as expensive as oil is. We may soon have water carter instead of oil cartels and speculators and traders that will push the cost of water up.

Will the water engine technology join its predecessors of invention, the electric car down the path of silence oblivion. Only time will tell.

Top 10 Most Expensive Cars

Bugatti Veyron $1,700,000

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 is the most powerful, most expensive, and fastest street-legal production car in the world, with a proven top speed of over 400 km/h (407 km/h or 253 mph). It reached full production in September 2005. The car is built by Volkswagen AG subsidiary Bugatti Automobiles SAS and is sold under the legendary Bugatti marque. It is named after racing driver Pierre Veyron, who won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1939 while racing for the original Bugatti firm. The Veyron features a W16 engine—16 cylinders in 4 banks of 4 cylinders. According to Volkswagen, the final production Veyron engine produces between 1020 and 1040 metric hp (1006 to 1026 SAE net hp), so the car will be advertised as producing "1001 horsepower" in both the US and European markets. This easily makes it the most powerful production road-car engine in history.

Ferrari Enzo $1,000,000

The Enzo Ferrari, sometimes referred to as the the Ferrari Enzo and also F60 is a 12-cylinder Ferrari supercar named after the company's founder, Enzo Ferrari. It was built in 2003 using Formula One technology, such as a carbon-fiber body, F1-style sequential shift transmission, and carbon-ceramic brake discs. Also used are technologies not allowed in F1 such as active aerodynamics. After a maximum downforce of 1709 pounds (775 kg) is reached at 186 mph (301 km/h) the rear spoiler is actuated by computer to maintain that downforce.

Pagani Zonda C12 F $741,000

The Zonda C12 F debuted at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show. It is the most extensive reengineering of the Pagani car yet, though it shares much with its predecessors including the 7.3 L V12. Power is increased to 602 PS (443 kW/594 hp) with a special clubsport model producing 650 PS (478 kW/641 hp). The company promises a 3.2 second sprint to 60 mph (97 km/h, a top speed over 374 km/h (225 mph) and it will be the queen in braking from 300 km/h to 0 (186 mph to 0). The Zonda F clubsport has a power to weight ratio of 521 bhp/ton (384 W/kg) . Compare, for example, the Enzo Ferrari which has a power to weight ratio of 483 bhp/ton (356 W/kg).

Koenigsegg CCX $600,910

The Koenigsegg CCX is the latest supercar from Koenigsegg. CCX is an abbreviation for Competition Coupe X. The X commemorates the 10th anniversary of the completion and test drive of the first CC vehicle in 1996. The CCX is intended to be more suitable for the U.S. market and thus engineered to comply with US regulations. The CCX is powered by a Koenigsegg designed and assembled, all aluminium, 4700 cm³ DOHC 32-valve V8 based on the Ford Modular engine architecture enhanced with twin Rotrex centrifugal superchargers with response system, 1.2 bar boost pressure and an 8.2:1 compression ratio. The engine produces 806 hp (601 kW) and 678 lbf.ft (920 Nm) on 91 octane (U.S. rating) gasoline, 850 hp (634 kW) on 96 octane (Euro rating) gasoline and 900 hp (671 kW) on biofuel.

Porsche Carrera GT $484,000

The Porsche Carrera GT is a supercar, manufactured by Porsche of Germany. The Carrera GT is powered by an all-new 5.7 litre V10 engine producing 612 SAE horsepower (450 kW). Porsche claims it will accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62.5 mph) in 3.9 seconds and has a maximum speed of 330 km/h (206 mph), although road tests indicated that in actuality the car could accelerate from 0-60 in under 3.5 seconds and to 0-100 in 6.8 seconds and has a top speed of 335-340km/h (209-212.5mph).

Mercedes SLR McLaren $455,500

The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren is a sports car and supercar automobile co-developed by DaimlerChrysler and McLaren Cars. It is assembled at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, England. Most people presume "SLR" to stand for "Sportlich, Leicht, Rennsport" (German for "Sport; Light; Racing"). The car's base price is £300,000 or $455,500. The SLR has a supercharged 5.5 (5439cc) litre dry sumped 90 degree V8. It produces 466.8 kW at 6500rpm (626 hp) and 780 N·m (575 ft·lbf) torque at 3250 - 5000 rpm.

Maybach 62 $385,250

The Maybach 57 and 62 were the first automobile models of the Maybach brand since the brand's revival by DaimlerChrysler. They are derived from the Mercedes-Benz Maybach concept car presented at the 1997 Tokyo Motorshow (which was based on the Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan). DaimlerChrysler attempted to buy the Rolls-Royce/Bentley marque when Vickers offered the company up for sale. When this attempt failed (they were outbid by BMW and Volkswagen respectively) they introduced the Maybach as a direct challenger in 2002. Both models are variants of the same ultra-luxurious automobile. The model numbers reflect the respective lengths of the automobiles in decimetres; the 57 is more likely to be owner-driven while the longer 62 is designed with a chauffeur in mind. The engine is a Mercedes-sourced 5.5-liter twin-turbo V12, generating 550 hp.

Rolls-Royce Phantom $320,000

The Rolls-Royce Phantom is a luxury saloon automobile made by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, a BMW subsidiary. It was launched in 2003 and is the first Rolls-Royce model made under the ownership of BMW. It has a 6.8 L, 48-valve, V12 engine that produces 453 hp (338 kW) and 531 ft·lbf (720 N·m) of torque. The engine is derived from BMW's existing V12 powerplant. It is 1.63 m (63 in) tall, 1.99 m (74.8 in) wide, 5.83 m (228 in) long, and weighs 2485 kg (5478 lb). The body of the car is built on an aluminium spaceframe and the Phantom can accelerate to 60 mph (100 km/h) in 5.7 s.

Lamborghini Murcielago $279,900

The Lamborghini Murciélago is a GT and supercar automobile made by Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. and designed by Luc Donckerwolke. It was introduced in 2002 as the successor to the Diablo. The body style is a two door, two seat coupé. The LP640 version was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in March of 2006. It features a 6.5 L engine, now producing 640 bhp, improving performance substantially. There were also a few minor external changes, primarily to the low air intakes.

Aston Martin Vanquish $255,000

The Aston Martin V12 Vanquish is a supercar manufactured by Aston Martin since 2001. It rose to fame after being featured as the official James Bond car in Die Another Day, the twentieth James Bond film. In the film, the Vanquish has the usual Bond film embellishments, including active camouflage which rendered the vehicle virtually invisible. The Vanquish is powered by a 5.9 L (5935 cc) 48-valve 60° V12 engine, which produces 343 kW (460 hp) and 542 N·m (400 ft·lbf) of torque. It is controlled by a fly-by-wire throttle and a 6 speed 'paddle shift' or semi-automatic transmission. A special V12 Vanquish S debuted at the 2004 Paris Auto Show with the power upped to 388 kW (520 hp) and 577 N·m (426 ft·lbf).

What if ?

If you could ask God any one question, what would it be? - I would ask what the hell was he thinking in creating women.

If you could be a super-hero, which one would you be? - Definitely not superman... so cliche and furthermore his latex suit seems so uncomfortable especially at the cul de sac.

If you could be an animal, what would you be? - A bird, I love the feeling of flying up in the air provided it is not raining that is.

If you could be invisible for a day what would you do and why? - I will sneak myself inside the women's toilet, always wonder why the hell they took such a long time to pee.

If you could change one thing about your spouse or significant other, what would it be? - Hmmm, can I change her for another?

If you could choose how you were going to die, what would you choose your death to be? - I want to be placed in a boat filled with flowers and be floated down the river. But make sure the river has no damps or waterfalls. Have I not suffered enough?

If you could commit any crime and get away with it, what would you do? - Hmmmm I will give George Bush a slap? You guys figured it out why. If you could go anywhere in the world for a holiday, where would you go? - Morocco, love the beautiful place.

If you could have any car you wanted, which car would you choose? Would it be practical or flashy? - I would choose a Bugatti Veyron which cost a whopping 1.7 USD. If i want practicality I would choose a Nissan March for god sake.

If you could solve the problem of hunger in the third world or repair the ozone, which would you do? - I will solve the problem of hunger. As the saying goes stomach is the way to a man's heart. To repair the ozone, is going to be a neverending task.

If you found a suitcase full of $1,000,000, what would you do? - Only an idiot will return it back.

If you had to choose between a wonderful romantic relationship that would end after only a year, or a so-so relationship that would last your entire life, which one would you choose? - Why have a lifetime of misery when you can a moment of joy.

If you were given a choice between being given great wisdom or great wealth, which would you choose? - Great wealth please . I can buy my way through rather then having to think my way out.

If you were God, how would you transmit or let people know your message? - SMS, and make damn sure I keep records of my transmission so that you people cannot turn around and say I never say so.

If you were going to a deserted island and could only take three things with you, what would you take? Why? - I will only ask for one thing. A boat. Why should I remain deserted when I can travel on the boat. Duhhh !!!

If you could be God, what would you do for humanity? - Make them less human.. as it is you people are bothersome lots.

Is life that Simple ?

I remembered when I was young back then when my friend and I would sit ourselves in a circle at a beach, the bench on a park or the seats in a restaurant and ponder to ourselves on life and what it could have been. Back then materialistic gains have always been the central topic of our discussion. What if we are rich? What if we have a beautiful girlfriend? What if we drive a Porshe?

The "what if" questions have been our favourite topic of discussions where we would ask each other a question and you are expected to answer it either through the creative mind of imagination of the factual mind of logic.

Life has never been that complicated back then, we are not burdened down by the hassle of relationships or the concerns of bills. We are not concerned about what tomorrow will bring us but instead what we will bring into tomorrow.

But as we wisened up and add the months and days to our age, we are no longer concerned with "what if" instead "what is" We no longer afford ourselves the luxury of imagination and the freedom of thoughts but instead anchored ourselves steadfast to the realm of reality. Are we so caught up in the problems of now that we no longer allow ourselves to be with the possibility of tomorrow?

Have we wondered what makes our life as complicated as it is now? Are we the victims of the natural evolution where life as it is, is being aided by machines and technology, and bills and responsibilities or are we the victims of our own decisions?

I remembered back then in my secondary school years, going out is as simple as putting a pair of pants and a shirt and any shoes that lay strewn infront of your house, now it is no longer that simple. Going out meant colour matching your pair of jeans to your shirt and deciding what is the best look that you would like to go out in, whether to unbutton the top of you shirt, to tuck it in or to let it loose. Either to wear a long-sleeve casual or collared. Whether to go for the smart casual look or the rugged rusty look. And I have yet to begin on the hairstyle, the accessories and the shoes. I spent 2 hours infront of the mirror perking up when I only spent less then 5 minutes back then doing the same thing.

So are we the victims of our own decisions? Don't we have control of our life? This question will remain unanswered for many years to come. The advent of technology and computerisation is aimed at making our lifes more simpler, to rid ourselves with the cumbersome burden of daily work and routine chores and to mechanised it. However I suspect that as our life get simplified by technology it is will get more and more complicated.

For now at least, I will relive my "What if" life...

Unexpected Hero !

Let us faced it... no matter how much you hate animation movies and the number of bad experiences that you had with past movies, watching Kung Fu Panda would change your perpective to a certain extend and relive your expectation of what an animation movie should be and could have been. Personally, after watching countless number of animation movies, I would surely place Kung Fu Panda as one of the movies that I would not mind watching again.

Critics would ask the timing that the movie is launched in the climax of the Beijing Olympic. There are some who said that the movie is a propaganda effort in promoting China and the game. But for me... who cares. I am not even bothered if the whole plot is being written by the Communist Party.

"There is no charge in awesomeness or attractiveness" that is the catch line that brought me to tears in laughter. The movie began with Po's dream of a battle that he fought with thousands of enemies. Po is a chubby panda who works in a noodle restaurant owned by his adoptive goose father. He dreams of becoming a kung fu master, however his dreams are impossibly hampered by his weight and clumsiness. Po's adoptive father had also hoped that he will take take over the noodle restaurant from him one day. The tortoise Master Oogway had a premonition that the evil snow leopard warrior Tai Lung , the former student of his own protégé, Red Panda Shifu, will escape from prison and return to threaten the Valley of Peace. Oogway then ordered a formal ceremony to choose the mighty Dragon Warrior who can defeat Tai Lung. Everyone assumes that one of the Furious Five — Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Viper and Crane— a quintet of supremely skilled martial artists trained by Shifu, will be chosen for this honor.

While the Five demonstrate their skills at the ceremony, Po finds himself late for the ceremony and locked outside the palace square. As a last-ditch attempt to get in, he makes a chair out of fireworks, which sends him flying into the center of the arena and landed right infront of the old master. Inspired by this sudden appearance, the old master designates Po the Dragon Warrior to everyone's shock. Despite Po's protests and Shifu's pleas to reconsider, Oogway stands by his decision.

Revolted at having Po under his tutelage, Shifu attempts to make him quit by berating and humiliating him. The Five similarly dismiss Po as a worthless interloper. Although he becomes aware of Shifu's true intentions and is deeply hurt by his heroes' disdain for him, Po endures their abuse willingly for the dream to become something more than the failure he thinks he is. Master Oogway, still certain that Po is the right choice, gives him sage advice to believe in himself.

Eventually, Po endears himself to the Five with his tenacity, good cooking, and corny sense of humor.
In the Valley of Peace, Oogway passes away, his final wish that Shifu train Po. However, upon learning of Tai Lung's return, and realizing that he has to face Tai Lung, Po attempts to flee. Shifu stops the panda and promises to train him if he is truly destined to be the Dragon Warrior. When Po confesses his deep self-loathing due to his obesity and his belief that he may never be a match for Tai Lung, Shifu is at a loss for a solution. After a long night of pondering, Shifu discovers the following morning that Po is capable of impressive physical feats when motivated by food. Realizing that he has found the right focus for the panda, Shifu leads Po to the countryside for an intensive training regime in which Po is offered food as a reward for learning his lessons properly. Po excels in his training with food as a motivation and swiftly becomes a skilled combatant.
Shifu decides Po is ready to face the villian and gives him the sacred Dragon Scroll, which promises great power to the possessor. When Po opens it, he finds nothing but a blank reflective surface. Stricken with despair at the scroll's apparent worthlessness, Shifu orders his students to lead the villagers to safety while he stays to delay Tai Lung from pursuing them for as long as he can.

As Po helped the vi;;agers in the evacuation, he met his father who tries to cheer him up by telling him the secret ingredient of the family's noodle soup: nothing. He explained that things become special, because people believe them to be special. Realizing that this truth is the very point of the Dragon Scroll, Po rushes off to help Shifu. At this time, Tai Lung attacks Shifu for the dragon scroll but was angered when he realised that the Scroll is gone. But he before can kill his former mentor, Po arrives to challenge him. Although Tai Lung scoffs at Po's abilities, the ensuing fight proves Po to be a formidable opponent.

Po tries to explain the wisdom of the scroll to Tai Lung, but the frustrated Tai Lung tries to subdue Po with his nerve strikes. The attack proves useless on the panda, as his nerves are difficult to find due to his body fat. Emboldened, Po counter-attacks with an improvised combat style that takes advantage of his girth to absorb and deflect the force from Tai Lung's attacks back at him. In the end, Po uses the Wuxi Finger Hold on Tai Lung (which he claims to have "figured out" on his own), and destroys him with a devastating explosion that ripples through the valley.

The Five return to the valley to investigate the cause of the explosion and find a slightly dazed but triumphant Po. Impressed at Po's victory, Tigress leads the Five to acknowledge the panda as a Kung Fu master. The villagers follow suit and hail Po as a hero. Po remembers that his teacher is wounded, and rushes back to Shifu, who is now finally at peace. At first, he appears to be dead, but it turns out that he is only resting after such a trying battle.

Through out the movie it is filled with catchy lines and humour that will not fail to tickle the funny bones in your body. At the end of the day, the moral of the story is, .........................it pays to be fat. So why bother to keep fit then.

The one word of wisdom that struck me deep and still lingers deep in my thoughts after watching the movie was what Master Oogway said to Shifu when the latter was lamenting that it is impossible to train Po. He said "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is the the Future whilst today is a Gift that is why it is called the Present" How true such spoken word is. In life we are so worried with the past that it paralysed us from what we could do and we are so engrossed with the future that we have forgotten what the now and here presents to us.

Is Caring for the Environment a Shared Responsibility

Wednesday is "Bring Your Own Bag Day" - BYOBD yet another acroymn in a long list of other acroynms that we have to constantly remember. In an effort to reduce wastage of plastic bags and promote resource conservation shoppers are encourage to bring their own shopping bags. Whether the campaign is motivated by environmentally altruistic policies or prompted by the realisation that Singapore's last land fills in Pulau Semakau is fast being used up, 'BYOBD' is yet another effort by the government to go green.

A campaign was launched on 11 February 2006 and took a step forward on 18 April 2007 with the launch of the monthly Bring Your Own Bag Day (BYOBD) every first Wednesday of the month. Shoppers are encouraged to bring their own shopping bags. Otherwise, if you are a plastic bag addict or has fetish for plastic bags, you can purchase reusable bags available at the participating supermarkets or voluntarily donate 10 cents for each plastic bag taken at the checkout counters. Shoppers are also encouraged to decline plastic bags when purchasing only a few small items.

Singapore is not the first to introduce such a campaign. Hong Kong implemented its first No Plastic Bag Day (NPBD) in April 2006 and claimed it as a success, with a reported 62% of shoppers bringing their own bags and a corresponding reduction of 80% of checkout bags issued. It now has a monthly NPBD since June 2006, with almost double the number of participating retailers and participating outlets, compared to the start of the campaign.

Even though plastic bags do not pose a threat to the environment in Singapore, it is still wasteful to use plastic bags excessively with Singaporeans consuming 2.5 billion plastic bags a year, which is equivalent to 625 bags per person annually. With such a figure, Singapore must be a nation of plastic bag junkies. The campaign increased awareness among shoppers on the need to reduce wastage of plastic bags. However, the proportion of shoppers using reusable bags is still in the minority with only 2% of shoppers bring their own bags. Apart from Singapore and Hong Kong, many countries had implemented their own 'BYOBD' such as UK and Canada and China being one of the few new entrants to the global efforts.

A National Environment Agency study revealed that Singaporeans use about 2.5 billion plastic bags each year which is equivalent to 19 million kilogrammes of waste in just plastic bags alone. As plastic bags could not be recycled, they are being incinerated thus producing some 2,900 kg of carbon dioxide the same gas that is responsible for global warming. If we a charge 5 cents tax for each bag that we used, the Government would add an additional $125 million a year in the national coffers. With such an amount, maybe we can consider stopping the GST increase and halting the introduction of more ERP gentries and instead just capitalize on our plastic addiction.

However how has the campaign sink well with Singaporeans? An article in the New Paper recently reported of how a female patron of a supermarket dumped all her groceries and walked out of the stall fuming when she was told that she had to pay for the plastic bags that are being used. Supermarkets cashiers shared of how they sometimes experienced customer displeasure whenever it is 'BOYBD'. Some patrons complained that the campaign has caused much inconvenience to them as they are not able to remember the day due to their busy schedules. In an effort to make the campaign more successful, the 'BOYBD' which was originally slated once a month has been extended to every Wednesday. Several months and many plastics bags later, how successful has the campaign be?

Will this campaign end up short of its intended desire like our own Courtesy Campaign? Truth be known, old habits die hard and it will be difficult to change the mindset of Singaporeans who are so used to be carrying back loads of platic bags after their daily groceries shopping. What makes the campaign less effective is the fact that it only happens once every week. Singaporeans being Singaporeans couldn't possibly remember the significance of Wendnesday being 'BYOBD' till we are at the doorstep of the shop, hacked I dont even remember what I am supposed to be doing tomorrow?

Whether the intent was to cut down on the number of plastic bags used by us, we have began to feel the crunch in the availability of plastic bags at home. The same plastic bags there were used by us on a regular basis to bag our waste before throwing them down the chute. The unintended consequences to this campaign that the government may not have realised that it goes again the earlier campaign of encouraging us to bag our waste.

As we complain of how life is getting more complicated, it will be good for us to ponder ourselves whether caring for the environment is a shared responsibility. Everyone contributes to pollution through sewage, waste, fuel consumption and other activities, so everyone must participate in cleaning it up. Some in the community have argued we should pursue zero waste generation, but that is an unrealistic goal that even the most environmentally advanced countries cannot achieve. Instead, we need to invest in solutions that will minimise the amount of waste requiring disposal in landfills and increase landfill space, namely: increase waste recovery and recycling, develop integrated waste management facilities, extend the life of existing landfills and build new landfills.

Whetever the end result would be, we should play our small part for the environment.

A Gracious Society... Decades to Come !!

Is Singaporean truly gracious? I have been to Bangkok recently the second time in two years and immerse myself in the cultural diversity and lifestyle of the Thais. Though the rapid wave of modernisation has caught up with the people of Thailand in the form of ultra modern skyscrapers and lifestyle it amazes me to observe that Thais still value the simplicity of life and the graciousness of civility which sad to say is missing in us.

There has been many articles in the newspaper of how badly Singaporeans behave in public. There are incidences of elderly being punched just for asking another person to keep the voice down in a public transport whilst talking on the phone, how youths were beaten up for the seamingless innocent incident of looking at another or the usual complaints of not giving up the seats in the MRT or public transport to the elderly or the more needed. Are we Singaporean's just unkind? Are the Asian values of humility and respect loss in the wave of globalisation and modernisation?

The National Courtesy Campaign was launched on 1 June 1979 by Lee, Kuan Yew, the then Prime Minister of Singapore with the aim of creating a pleasant social environment where Singaporeans are considerate and thoughtful of each other's needs. The campaign began as an initiative to encourage Singaporeans to be more polite and friendly to tourists to support the tourist industry in Singapore and the government had thought that the target to build a courteous and pleasant society could be achieved over a period of 10 years. But almost 30 years to the date and 20 years passed the 10 years marked, could we say that we are more courteous than we are back then? Can we say that we are truly a gracious society?

The person behind the campaign himself, Mr Lee Kuan Yew had said during ISEAS 40th Anniversary on January 8, 2008 that Singaporeans will never be a gracious society at least not in his lifetime. Singaporeans are still a long way to develop and mature culturally as a people.

We still have residents peeing inside the lifts as if by doing that they are contributing to the environment but not having to waste water in flushing down the toilet. We have drivers honking their ways around and changing lanes without signalling and realising that they have driven in a inconsiderate manner instead of putting up their hand up as a gesture of sorry decided to show their middle finger, the universal finger of "Bite Me".

Campaign after campaign, slogans after slogans, Singaporeans are still as what they are. If we are not worse off in our social graciousness we are becoming more and more discerning to the extend of demanding. To us, good courteous service is demanded of but as a consumer it is not expected of us to reciprocrate.

I remembered queing behind a lady at a supermarket recently who were dumping all her groceries on the counter causing a few to fall off on the floor. She then blasted at the poor girl for being slow. The cashier could only sheepishly afford an apologetic smile. Being a civil minded as I am, I told the lady off, instead I was awarded with a glaring look. If she can afford to shoot out rays out of her eyes she would have instantly obliterate me on the spot.

When I was in Thailand, what attracted me was the way the service provider will put their hands together and said "Sawadeekrap / kah" (depending on your gender), and this is their way of life. From the hawkers to the banker, from the doctor to the taxi driver from the sales assistant to the tut tut riders. In Singapore we just sent them off by saying 'next please'.

As the saying goes, 'I will not see Singaporeans being a gracious society in my lifetime" may hold some truth afterall. I just hope that at least in my lifetime Singaporeans will learn to be gracious.

Are We Hopelessly Hooked & Wired?

I woke up one Saturday morning in my sleeping shorts, with a hot cup of steamy coffee sprinkle with a slight dust of cinnamon and the Saturday's morning newspaper. I sat infront of my computer, cracked my stiff fingers, shifts my buttock to get the best seating posture possible and grabbed my trustworthy mouse. All prepared to connect to the world outside my window, i hit my Internet Explorer and waited for the page to load..

A second passed, two seconds, five seconds, nothing happened and when page finally load, the only thing that I could see was, "page failed to load". Panic stricken, I refresh the page countless times with the faint hope that the page would load successfully. Realising that it doesn't work, I check all my connection inside out. I stood fixed to the ground that I was standing when I realised that my modem was dead. The usually flickering of lights that would signal to me that I am connected to the outside world was silent. My whole world came crushing down. Several phone calls away to my service provider, (no help there !!) I soon realised that I am cut off from the rest of the world, I felt for a moment that the umbilical cord that connects me to the civilization out there has been suddenly severed without warning. I am alone !!

For the next few days, I was hopelessly lost. I stared blankly at my computer not knowing what to do with the piece of machinery. For a while the computer seems incomplete, a useless piece of machinery that does not serve any useful purpose. Are we so hopelessly hooked to the internet that without it our lives seems so hopeless? Are we part of the growing number of internet addicts? I rushed to the next available computer with an internet connection to it, my lifeline to the world outside.

As I do several times a day, I sat infront of my two computer screens (yeah believe it) with the knowledge that despite the countless documents from office that is crying for my attention and the endless school's assignment that needed to be done but for some reason I have to check my email, all four email accounts that I have, check my msn maybe someone left me a message and check channelnewsasia for any interesting new stories before I can begin my work. Even after I start working, I can easily be distracted by my television set or by a song playing on the radio that I must immediately download and while I’m downloading I will again check my email, msn, and channelnewsasia again to see if something have changed. Am I addicted to the internet or do I have the control to stop myself? In a world where we have access to so much at the touch of a keyboard we seem to constantly search for something whether it’s an email, a stock or a message on msn and yet we cannot stop. Is this addiction or is this normal? Is this normal or is this too much? Are we constantly on the internet because it is so accessible or is it so accessible because we want to be constantly on it? Would reading a newspaper ritualistically everyday during breakfast be more normal than checking the latest stories online? Has our world become so reliant on the internet that we cannot distinguish if we are addicted to the internet or not? What is internet addiction and how do we define it? Is internet addiction real or is it a fabrication?

Dr Jerald J Block, a psychiatrist describe internet addictions as a compulsive-impulsive spectrum disorder that involves online or offline computer usage and consists of at least three subtypes: excessive gaming, sexual preoccupations, and e-mail/text messaging. Someone suffering from internet addictions would exhibits any of the four behaviours;

• excessive use, often associated with a loss of sense of time or a neglect of basic drives,
• withdrawal, including feelings of anger, tension, and/or depression when the computer is inaccessible,
• tolerance, including the need for better computer equipment, more software, or more hours of use, and
• negative repercussions, including arguments, lying, poor achievement, social isolation, and fatigue.

The serious public health risks that exists from internet additions receive public attention after a series of 10 cardiopulmonary-related deaths in Internet cafés and a game-related murder in South Korea. On average the number of individuals that spends about 23 hours on the internet or computer each week has been increasing. The number of individuals that dropped out of school or stopped working to spend time with the computer has also caused concerns to many.

Aren't we being concerned of the inevitable? Modern lifes revolves around the computer and its technology. The past decade has seen the computer age influencing our daily lifes in an unprecedented way. Our social lifes has also increased around online social networking. We use the computer all the times, in our workplace, at home and in public places during our free time. We get stressed when a low battery stops us from messaging and would constantly buy new devices in a futile attempt to keep ourselves updated with the new technology.
The advent of internet age is unstoppable. We might not even be able to slow it at all as our life revolves and being influenced by it. However what we should do is to find a balance, an equilibrium in our life, striking a balance within the world wide web and the "world wide out there".

For me, I am resigned to the fate that I will still very much be dependent on the internet.

Sex...... I Just Couldn't Get It

I have just completed the final episode of the 6th seasons of Sex & the City. The series marathon started about two weeks ago when I managed to land myself on the complete 6 season series box. I realised that I am like 4 years behind with the final episode aired in 2004 resulting in thousands of upscale urban women grieving. But I supposed that it is better late than never.

Finishing the final episode in the 6th season where Carrie Bradshaw reunite with Mr Big, finally for god sake, I am forced to wonder what is the whole episodes all about. Apart from the raunchy sex scenes that seems to dominate one episode after another, I couldn't seems to fathom what the phenomena behind the whole show is all about that makes woman rush back home from work ignoring their boyfriend calls and pleas to meet or their husband's needs for attention. I supposed the only two group of people that would rush back to catch the show are the ladies and the gays who would love to see the sculptured and good to be true models.

While I would normally enjoy anything that promises explicit sex scenes and female nudity, Sex and the City is too much of a girly talk to sit through just for a chance to see 52 year old Kim Cattrall who played Samantha Jones naked. I almost dropped of my seat when I realised how old she is. Damn..... all ladies out there must get hold of her plastic surgeon address. I can just imagine how many yards of skin has been removed to make it tight or plucky.

I was googling Kim Cattrall on the World Wide Web and was flabbergasted when I realised that she had ever acted in one of my all time favourite movie, Star Trek - The Undiscovered Country. Thank god that she was fully clothed in the movie. I am glad that she is not in anytime soon ever going to appear in any of Star Trek movies, I dare not imagine what will happen if both the two fan bases were to collide, the result itself will cause the cosmos to collapse.

However, despite my criticism about the movie, I must admit that there are heart warming and lightening moments in the series. The backbone of the show was the eternal human dilemmas the four friends faced: the fear of commitment versus a ticking biological clock; the difference between being cherished and being consumed; the tension between pleasure and sacrifice. The characters struggle with whether worldly success had any meaning without Mr. Right. Even as true love eluded them, they provided each other the support needed to keep going— celebrated each other's love interests and sexual exploits and consoled each other through serial humiliations, sexually transmitted diseases, abortions, and loneliness.

The centuries old questions, Is it true that you're nobody until somebody loves you? Can women have sex like men? Can we be happy alone? seems central in the development of the whole plot. In pursuit of the answers the four characters changed sexual partners as often as I changed my underwear and disposed them off as easily as, hmmmm wait I was just about to say my underwear too, but I dont. Every relationship that the characters went through distant themselves from the emotional and economic securities and every failed relationship ended up the most convenient form of self-help, Shopping. A pair of shoes will soothed hurt feeling, broken heart could be mend by a handbag, powerlessness by a dress and the disappointment of love was replaced by the joy of Gucci. It is a society where everything is consumable.

But as we must, the characters in Sex and the City eventually had to deal with aging, babies that cannot be postponed any longer, illness, and death. For the characters to ring true, they had to face the questions that being human creates. And nothing else makes us more human than our decaying and aging bodies.

Albeit much that has been said, I am still as confused as I was with what the series is trying to portray, Heck it is not that I am saying that Sex and the City is a bad show, it was created by a gay guy for god sake, so how bad can it be?

Battle of the BULGE

Before you guys go on wondering what I was talking about... this is not an X-rated blog yeah....! Nope I am not referring to the bulge that many of us would very much like to flaunt in public, though there are laws here which make that an offence, alas. I am referring to the bulge from the waist up and the chest down.

There seems to be a phenomena going on here. Women wants to be skinny whilst men are just happy being fat. Let us face it, we men do not spent countless hours infront of the mirror looking at our body inside out, left to right, front and back trying to find all the minor imperfection that may or may not be there.

But I supposed that is changing now. I couldn't care less that I had a "small' tummy back then, ok... fine quite a prominent one, before I went for my 9 months training, but since lossing quite a substantial amount of weight, and seeing remarkably how my tummy has shrunk to the envy of many I couldn't help it but fall into the category of the 'Metropolitan SensitiveNew Age Guy' who wants to look good and 'fit'. And yeah, I am now taking a longer time dressing then a woman does.

Being fat is longer the sexy thing to be. Sporting a stomach in public is longer a fashion statement that you are prosperous. I couldn't help it back then to suck in my tummy whenever I am in public and letting go a sigh of relief once in a while when I think no one is looking.

I now run 4 km three t imes a week and 8 km once every 2 weeks just to keep that weight down. I supposed watching 300 and all those godly figured Spartan men has inspired me to a certain extend that if they can, I can too !!

It has been quite an ardous task to get my buddies and friends to run with me, most of them will give me the disgusted look like they heard me saying profanity for the first time whenever I suggest to them to come with me for a run. I have resigned to the fate.... I will always be running alone.

Rain or Shine, thunder or lightning you will see me braving the weather to fulfill my commitment. You used to have to push me off my bed and pull me on a leash to get me to run, now I am an addict to running. Without running for a week, I feel like as is I had put on 10 kg.

At least I rest with comfort on the knowledge that I may not be alone. Whenever I went for my running regime, I will see others hot on their heels. I supposed sweating it out gets my alderalin running and make me forget all the problems of the day.

So you guys.... come on fight the bulge.