e-Books, lucky draws... by the public library

The public libraries are getting more innovative in their service offerings. It is quite interesting to read that the library offers an 'digital books borrowing' service. I think that is a great initiative. Well I do have an account, but let me try to recall my password first :p Their website featuring the many different titles do look attractive. Now I wonder if I should buy a Sony Reader to read books on the go. The different versions with 5" to 7" sells for between S$200-S$350. Quite expensive for a 'book reader' I would say. Maybe at the next IT show there will be discounts.

Other than the digital library concept, I've also seen a number of lucky draws where borrower of 4 books would be entitled to a lucky draw ticket. Nope I didn't win anything from the draw. The Marine Parade branch even have trading card games to give away should the person borrow 4 books (no I didn't get any).

Going to the library is indeed a hip thing to do, and yes they do need more seats and tables. Couches and quiet reading rooms would be great!

Confusion on the Statistics About New Citizens, Employments, and Flats

I was reading the various transcripts by the political leaders about new immigrants, employments and housing. Quite frankly the statistics do not add up properly to tell a convincing story.

Firstly, from PM Lee's speech on 15th 2009 we have the following paragraphs (extracted from PMO website) that 7,000 more jobs were created for Singaporeans, i.e. employment from the 1st half of 2009:

When the economy turns down, the foreign workers provide us a buffer. This year has been a very bad year. Everybody knows the economy has shrunk. We have not a bad year like this for a very long time. But in the first half of this year, not many of you would know in fact the number of Singaporeans working has gone up. Local employment actually increased, not much - 7,000 more jobs - but in this environment to have more Singaporeans at work is amazing. And why did it happen? Because the impact was absorbed by the foreign workers and the shrinkage in the workforce was taken up by the foreign workers. We have 20-odd thousand foreign workers (net) who lost their jobs and they buffered us from the impact. Therefore, I think that the foreign workers do a good job in Singapore, for Singaporeans.

During the same few days in Sep 2009 we have another news release, also from PMO website that 20,513 people took up Singapore citizenship in 2008:

Last year, 79,167 foreigners became PRs and 20,513 took up citizenship - more than the 63,627 PRs and 17,334 new citizens in 2007.

Thus if we make the assumption that majority of the new citizens should be working personnel, i.e. gainfully employed in one way or another, that means the so called '7,000' employments for Singaporeans are largely due to those working PRs who became Singaporeans? If the rates (20,513 and 17,334) are indicative for this year's statistics, that means half of the year would amount to 8,600 to 10,000 Singaporeans 'employed' as a result of them converting to Singaporeans? Hmm wouldn't that be more than the 7,000 mentioned in PM's speech? Thus, discounting these new immigrants, the pool of working Singaporeans actually decreased isn't it?

Another point about the confusing statistics is the housing data. We have largely heard that HDB will build enough flats to manage demand. What is interesting in that piece of news is that about 8,000 new flats will be rolled out. From the earlier PMO news release, we know that we have 79,167 new PRs and 20,513 new citizens that adds to a total of 99,000 plus people needing a palce to stay. If we add in the new marriages, the number of people needing housing will surpass 100,000.

8,000 new flats and more than 100,000 people needing housing. So that simply means people who need a palce to stay will need to consider private property. I seriously have doubts that private property will be within reach of many new PRs or newly wed couples. So I guess that explains why the HDB resale, as well as private property, have been experiencing a rising price phenomenom in this weak economic situation (i.e. 2008 and early 2009).

Lala Clam Ate a Small Crab!

We were ordering chili fried seafood, including lala clams, sotongs (squids), as well as stingray at one of the coffee shop by Circular Road. The food were generally good, with big portions and just right spiciness.

I was prying to open one of the lala clams when I notice a particularly big 'garlic' stuck to the open shell. That got me curious since this 'garlic' seems to have some hairy bits sticking out of it. (inside the red circle of the picture below)

Then it dawned upon me (upon closer inspection) that is is actually a small baby crab!

I guess the clam must have closed its shell when this baby crab walked too near it. Poor crab, but oh well I helped it took revenge by eating the clam. :)

LTA Land Transport Gallery

I had a chance to visit the LTA Transport Gallery some time back and the visit is quite informative. The admission is free and the Transport Gallery is located at the LTA office next to Little India MRT. The visit is interesting, especially for those who still recognized many of the ‘history items’ that are on display.

For example, do you recognise these bus guides (other than the latest versions)? In the past these guides were really named as SBS Bus Guides, and it was only much later that the name was changed to Transitlink Guide.

It was also pretty nostalgic to see the old bus tickets. I remember the days when I boarded buses and the bus conductor would walk around to ask the passengers for payment, then punched a slip of bus ticket. Unlike the later one – man coins operating system, the bus conductor actually gave change and there was no need to worry about having exact makeup of coins. Yes, all these would seem rather foreign to the younger generations who are used to the current contactless Ezlink card system.

There were other old items, pictures, and models to depict the history of our transport system. Here’s a picture of the pre-independence traffic controller, i.e. human traffic light! I wonder how it feels to be able to control traffic movement simply by the pulling of signboards. I guess it must have been a boring job to keep pulling left / right levers for the entire day.

Beyond historical developments, the Transport Gallery also showcased the current transport systems, with some models about the upcoming developments. Quite informational.

Those who are interested to visit the Transport Gallery, could give LTA a call at 63962550. The Gallery is opened from Tuesday to Sundays, except public holiday (yah it is quite different from other museums), from 9am to 5pm. The entire walk is about an hour or so, with slated tour group timing at 9am, 11am, 1pm and 3pm.

East Coast Lagoon Hawker Food - Stingray & Chicken wings!

We all have our own different favourite hawker food in Singapore. I would think some of the popular ones would be located at the East Coast Lagoon hawker centre.

The place is quite famous for the 民记 satay mee hoon. Often there are long queues and frankly speakign the uncles cooking the mee hoon aren't very fast either. What is very very surprising is that there are even people queing up for the food before the stall opens for business! I saw about 10 odd people queuing the last weekend we went there (those folks queing in front of the centre stall). Amazing!

The hungry me of course didn't queue and wait. I ordered the part chilli / part garlic stingray from the stall next to it (right most stall in picture above). I think that is a good decision! This part chilli (right part in picture below) / part garlic combination actually taste great. The garlic portion has both garlic and also bean paste, and gives a good contrast compared to the spicy portion.

We also had chicken wings, and yes the chicken wings were good. I think the food from the stalls at the East Coast Lagoon are generally satisfying. The satays are good, but we were too full to order any more food.

This is the stall that we ordered the chicken wing from (亚辉). Oh, it is also nice to have a full coconut to help wash down the oily food (nope no pictures cos' it is, well, just a coconut).

Overcrowded during the 'Hungry Ghost' month

The last couple of days I had the good fortune to wander around city area (i.e. on leave), and it was amazing to see crowds of people. Buses were frequently full, regardless of the hour of the day (at least for those that plow the city area). I couldn't find a coffee place to park myself and use my laptop.

This is the period of the 7th lunar month (hungry ghost month) where typically people would not stay out late that often, but nonetheless I still see crowds. I guess the concept and impact of Hungry Ghost month is not that apparent to the younger folks, PRs and tourists. In a way that is good for the businesses, since there are news articles (Straits Times, Asiaone) to say that even this Hungry Ghost month has not deter people from buying apartments. (Note: traditionally superstituion states that moving house, buying house, renovation etc should not be done during the 7th lunar month).

Orchard, Cityhall, Bugis Junction and Iluma, Suntec, Central (much less crowded during day time), NLB, Funan, Bras Basah, Parkie... etc are crowded, and I wonder where in the city centre can I find an oasis of peace for moments of thoughts. I think there are really too many people squeezed into this little red dot. We have a lot more new citizens these days, in the aim of reaching a far bigger population. Hmm perhaps there are still quiet Starbucks around somewhere.