Friday, January 30, 2004

GR Search n Rescue: update

Stephanie, the ASD member staying in Bukit Panjang just SMS me, saying that her boyfren just spotted the Golden Retriever wandering near 864, Upp Bukit Timah Rd. that's near Bukit Panjang, just outside Fajar Sec School. the two of them are on site now searching for the dog.

Thursday, January 29, 2004

Last Samurai: review

just came back from watching "Last Samurai". overall verdict: quite watchable, even Robina agreed. some minor spoilers ahead. I won't go into details, just general impressions but still be warned.

overall grade: 6.5 out of 10. would have given 7.5 if they focus on Katsumoto and the Satsuma Rebellion than on Tom Cruise. but tough luck since Cruise is the producer!

good cinematography. lush landscape (but it's mostly NZ not Japan!). good action sequences. in particular, the ninja attack. very fast paced and tight editing. cinema audience held their breathe!

Ken Watanabe was superb! his nomination for Best Suporting Actor in the Oscars is befitting (but I don think he will win, sadly). Hiroyuki Sanada as Uijo, Katsumoto's lieutenant was just as compelling and convincing. a martial arts expert himself, he coached Cruise with the swordplay (like in the film!) and even choreographed the action scenes.

now for the critical parts:
the film was laying it on thick with the Samurai-noble warrior romanticism. the last stand cum sucidal charge was one of this aspect. u can try watching Kurosawa's "7 samurai" for a more balanced look at the samurai-peasant angles.

trying to juxtapose traditional vs modernisation was one thing, but losing historical perspective was another. for one, the Satsuma rebels did use modern weapons (they'r rebels but they'r not nuts!). for another, samurai has been innovators throught their history. they have keenly adopted new military technology when they can get their hands on it. Samurai took to muskets quickly after they were introduced by the Portugese. The japanese developed the rolling volley (one rank fires, then the other follows while the 1st rank reload) even before the europeans. Many samurai even adopted European helmets and curaiss armour as part of their armour.

Wednesday, January 28, 2004

GR rescue

while going to work yesterday morning in my colleague's car, we spotted two dogs wandering amongst traffic at the junction of Bukit Panjang Rd and Pending Rd. one was a Golden Retriever (male, w/o collar, looks emaciated and skinny); the other is a black local crossbreed (female with a black collar).

the GR was wandering aimlessly on the busy road, a recipe for disaster. my colleague and I got off the car to try to get them off the road and if possible bring them to our office. all that time, my mind was running thru the possible ways of dealing with a GR. can we dump the dog with a colleague (our resident shrink has 2 jack russells)? if I bring it home will Sally flip?

unfortunately, the GR was very shy. even though I managed to pet it for a while, it scooted off when I tried to catch hold of it. the GR was following the black dog and the two dogs were last seen crossing Bukit Panjang Rd.

although the GR looks skinny, I knew it would be picked up and kept by someone. my only worry was that the dogs might be run over by cars. I suspect that GR was abandoned, especially since this is the CNY holiday season.

activated Action for Singapore Dogs (ASD) when I got back to office. Jen Ong, their volunteer responded quickly and promised to circulate the APB. I also posted an alert on the ASD list. one of their members mailed me later that she lives in the area and will keep a look out.

this is the second time in recent memory that I had to attempt a rescue amongst on rushing traffic. the previous instance was trying to rescue a kitten from becoming roadkill on Ghim Moh Rd. the kitten was frantic and I myself was trying to dodge cars! two cars even drove over the kitten w/o flattening it. I managed to toss my camo scarf over the kitten to calm it and avoid to scratched to ribbons. then caught hold of the kitty and made it safely offroad.

Sunday, January 25, 2004

Sally the African Hunting Dog (wannabe)

after being cooped up at home for two days due to rainy weather, Sally was a nervous wreck. we decided to bring her down for a long walk after returning home from CNY visiting.

we brought her to an open field behind my block. the field was huge, about the size of 2 soccer fields. usu there are people flying kites but thankfully it was deserted due to the coming rain storm. we let Sally run off-leash to let her expend all her pent-up energy. before u knew it, Robina received a phone call from her colleague, Angela who's living across the road. she spotted us from her living room window. we were invited to go to her place and let her daughter play with Sally. we didn't let Sally go into Angela's place since Sally was slightly damp and muddy. it was quite funny to see Angela (she's afraid of dogs) while her hubby and 3-yr old daughter luv to play with dogs. after a round of MS-sing (mister or miss sociable) with Angela's family and even their neighbour, we left to bring Sally to walk around the neighborhood.

before returning home to hose down Sally, we let her off for another round of running in the field. Sally, despite being a lap dog and well-pampered pooch, was off like a lightning blot chasing after pippits (a small brown bird common in grassy fields). they fly very low and drop back into the grass after a short distance. for some reason, Sally really hates birds, ranging from mynahs, crows and even egrets. now she's going after the pippits with a vengence. she was sprinting at full gallop, sometimes even with four short pudgy legs off the ground. her floppy ears streaming in the wind, flapping behind her. she will twist and turn, trying to corner the birdies. but the birds did not co-operate. as one drop out out sight, another will take off after being flushed by Sally. soon Sally was chasing after an endless stream of birds. her chase brought her in a series of crazy zig-zags and loops around the field. she had a good run, oblivious to Robina and me calling her back to us.

I managed to catch hold of Sally after she was totally exhausted and can barely trot. her tongue nearly reached the ground. we brought her for a stroll to let her cool down before bringing her home to bathe the muddy pooch.

here's Sally recovering from her chase...

CNY Open House I



this is the 1st CNY since we moved into our Punggol flat. we decided to invite our frens over to see our new place plus have CNY gatherings to yabber over food and good company. to avoid slogging till both of us drop, we also planned to spread out the sessions over two weekends.

this afternoon, we kicked off the 1st makan gathering with my colleagues. next week will be mainly slackeroos plus Robina's and my classmates. for this session I ordered bihun goreng and curry puffs from Airani's aunty. we enjoyed Aunty Kamariah's curry puffs for the New Year gatherings at HV. the recent NY gathering, I must have stuffed myself with at least 10 curry puffs at one go! needless to say, the curry puffs received rave reviews. due to a surplus of curry puffs, we have to ask our frens to bungkus some back. there were little resistance :-)

Sally also had a fun time. she was excited to see so many people visiting. more promising was the prospects of scavenging and begging for food and goodies.

Saturday, January 24, 2004

A Good Way to Lose Subscribers...

A Good Way to Lose Subscribers...
Thu January 22, 2004 08:44 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - A hiking magazine apologized on Thursday after it published a route plan that would have sent walkers striding into thin air off the north face of Britain's largest mountain, Ben Nevis.

The magazine, Trail, missed out a vital bearing needed to guide climbers off the summit of the Scottish mountain in bad weather.

Anyone who had followed the magazine's directions would have plunged down a sheer cliff into nearby Gardyloo Gully.

Editor Guy Procter, himself a keen hillwalker, said that Trail published 200 routes every year and had never made a similar mistake before.

"I should have picked it up at the final proofreading stage, but unfortunately it slipped through," he told Reuters. The error was spotted by the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, which published a warning about the "dangerous bearing" on their Web Site.

Procter said he was confident his readers always carried maps while hill-walking and would therefore immediately notice the error.

----------------------------------------------------

quite amusing (morbidly) that a "proof reading error" can potentially send someone flying off a cliff. on this topo-related theme, I remembered that when we used to train students in basic topo skills before an expedition, we asked the zoology honours class where is "north", a certain student replied that north is in front!!!?? needless to say, we nearly fainted. I guess we were glad that we found that out before we sent them out into the field.

in Singapore, quite a few "lost in forest" cases happened to supposedly experienced groups from adventure clubs. one such group wound up walking in circles in the Catchment Area and ended up eating rattan seeds. there was one case in Mt Ophir when some idiots went off trail, at night without a compass. incidents happen when foolhardy and overconfident people decide that they can navigate without map and compass.

Thursday, January 22, 2004

Magpie Robins poached


ST reported today: "The magpie robin, which was believed to have all but disappeared from Singapore, has been spotted in the Peirce Road area, according to a Straits Times reader who saw the birds making nests in his garden and the immediate neighbourhood.

However, their return may be short-lived.

A professed nature lover, Mr Christopher Lim Tien Lock, has noticed bird trappers setting up nets to capture the wild birds in the past six months.

He said ruefully: 'This has happened five to six times and, without fail, the wild magpie is caught. I have reported the matter to the AVA but no solution has emerged. I am now at my wits' end how to protect these beautiful birds from being harmed.'

Mr Lim has tried to confront the trappers on several occasions. He said that once an old man he stopped turned abusive, and he was forced to call the police.

So far, no one has been caught for trapping the birds."

------------------------------------

the beautiful bird with melodious song has disappeared from Singapore mainland due to poaching. nowadays u can only spot this bird in Sungei Buloh or Pulau Ubin. The territorial nature of the male bird makes it easy to trap. poachers usually put a decoy bird near the trap. the resident male will fly down and chase away the "intruder".

I understand that it is be difficult for AVA and NParks to enforce the law. Like the recent exhange of letters in ST Forum abt falling tree branches, we cannot expect AVA or NParks to station officers there all the time. Airani and I had played a small part in blowing the whistle on plant poachers previously. we spotted some suspicious characters removing aquatic plants from the nature reserve. I took digital pics of their "getaway vehicle" and reported the incident. Airani appeared to "testify" against the cultcripts who ended up with a fine.

so just keep a look out for not just magpie robin poachers, there will be people up to "money business" in nature areas. like the chopping down of the Changi tree. it's good to have a camera around to document evidence. just exercise your initiative as a citizen and report these cases.

Monday, January 19, 2004

doomed to a watery grave

this was the fate of some stray dogs on Taiwanese military outposts on distant islets in the South China Sea and along the China coast.



a Taiwanese serviceman (they go thru NS like us) emailed a Taiwanese online paper in Dec last year about what he experienced on a Taiwanese-held island in the Spratlys . recently ORDed, he revealed that stray dogs ranging from puppies to full grown dogs, both the sick or healthy had been routinely brought out to sea, tied up and tossed overboard to drown. He had witnessed more than 20 dogs disposed during the one year he was posted there. only one managed to swim ashore. this lucky fella's life was spared.

he attached a heart-breaking series of "RIP" photos of the dogs and puppies. most had an ominous caption of "drowned at sea". (better don't show Robina, or she will cry buckets!)



apparently, most NS boys on the outpost were outraged and had complained to their CO, who ordered the drownings. but their CO "explained" that food resources on the island was scarce and not enough to feed the dogs. the informant said that the left-over food thrown away daily was more than enuff to keep the dogs alive. He argued that vets can help to sterilised the dogs to prevent over-population rather than the inhumane method of drowning. He added that even rubbish on the island was burnt and buried. recyclable items were even ferried back to the Taiwan. but the dogs had to face a cruel fate.

this post sparked off a fury of emails. many posters recalled similar incidents on the various island miiltary bases they were posted to during their NS days. these ranged from recent to 10-20 yrs ago. One journalist even recountered that he was ordered to throw a dog off a seaside cliff. he was traumatised till now by that incident. The newspaper tried to follow up by tracking down the CO mentioned in the earlier email but they were repeatedly stonewalled.

I still pay close attention to news about strays in Taiwan because Robina and I adopted one such puppy from Taiwan. we brought Sally back home with us to Singapore. but we often wondered about what happened to her brothers and sisters back in Taiwan (we were told Sally was picked up with her litter-mates). Taiwan has a bad rep amongst animal rights groups for inhumane treatment of strays in government-runned shelters (in some cases more like Nazi holocaust camps), illegal fishing of whale sharks and smuggling of exotic pets like Orang Utans and gibbons.

BUT before we get self-righteous, things aren't exactly hunky-dory in Singapore either. See the quiet culling of stray cats and dogs under the auspicies of "Singapore OK" hunting season during the SARS period. That was despite a sterilisation programme for stray cats runned by volunteers from the Cat Welfare Society. Singapore is frequently cited by international NGOs as a traffic centre for illegal timber and exotic animals. Apart from shipping and exporting, we are still a big consumer of sharks fin along with HK and Taiwan.

Friday, January 16, 2004

Did you win a Larry Jewelry voucher?

my fren Anand Balan just emailed me and told me that he spotted a "Alvin Wong" in the lucky draw winners list he saw in yesterday's New Paper. he asked me whether that's me. even noted that NRIC number was starts with "69": i.e. my year.

yes, it's me. the Larry's sales guy happily called me to inform me of my "lucky strike". I bought a xmas gift for Robina from them. He had told me that the 1st prize was a $10K rock. but alas it was not to be. only $800 voucher! so it's just another invitation to spend more $$

back to our fren. Anand has this uncanny ability to pop up eveywhere. Various frens and myself have spotted Anand in various locations and occasions. He's like "Where's Wally". or the black-backed jackal that u spot in ANY african wildlife documentary. next time watch carefully, the lions might be tearing apart a wildebeest in the centerstage, but there will be a jackal nonchalantly sauntering past in one corner.

once when taking the NEL at Little India station. going down the escalator, I saw this Singtel advertising board about their phone card. one of the mamas featured in the ad looked exactly like Anand. I even told Robina who was with me. the fella had the same wild-eyed look :-) this was later confirmed by the man himself. check out that ad at Little India, the next time u'r there. look for the guy holding the phone. that's Anand!

it turns out that he's also the fren of my colleague's wife. Anand is very pervasive and he apparently scans lucky draw name lists :-P

preparing them for the world

read in yesterday's Zaobao about how a GP's daughter is running thee hawker stalls before leaving for her medical studies in Melbourne. Her parents wanted her to experience the real world and prepare her for hard knocks.

19 yr-old Shi Yun, singled-handed run wanton mee, chicken rice and chinese rice stalls in a Geylang Rd kopitiam. Her doctor father subsidised her stall rentals. Her two other sisters (in JC and Sec4) would help out after school. she has been doing this for three months. She even plans to open a restaurant or food business in Oz to raise her tuition fees.

now Shi Yun can roast char siew and chop up chickens professionally. and she has the battle scars to prove it. the reporter went through the list of cuts and burnt marks on her.

I'm really impressed by Shi Yun's parents and the pluck and sensibility shown by their daughters. I think there are few parents who are prepared to "educate" their kids in this way. rather than sheltering their kids like plants in a green house, they are introducing them to the world out there. by letting children interact and experience the tough and sometimes, unpleasant aspects of life, they will be stronger and more adaptable. They will grow up with their head screwed on right and with a good dose of humility and some cow sense!

the lessons they learnt will be valuable and cannot be found in tuition classes. however, their upbringing and parents' thinking showed that they are probably in the right track in the first place. they are probably "trained" from young to be independent and self-reliant. the amount of molly-coddling and pampering dispensed to the kids nowadays is unbelievable. it's good and reassuring to know that sensible parent begot sensible kids! there may be some hope yet...

Thursday, January 15, 2004

Battle Star Galactica resurrected



those who are not a child of the 70s will probably have no recollection of BSG. in 1978 it was the biggest Scifi series on TV. this was just after Star Wars in 1977. its rousing theme gave John William's SW theme a run for its money. rather than a cheesy rip-off from SW (it isn't), the original BSG series gathered its own set of rabid fans. but sadly, the series was canned after 15 episodes. fans still recalled fondly characters like Commander Adama (the stern and serious father figure played by Lorne Greene), Apollo (Richard Hatch) and the cigar-chomping, MCP, rogue ladies' man Starbuck (Dirk Benedict).

the new BSG series, just started in Dec 2003 in the US has some controversial new changes. Starbuck is now a female character. Lt Boomer, originally a Black male character is now a Korean female. Plus a new female humanoid Cylon cyborg, Number 6 (like 7 of 9 from ST:Voyager?). does that mean no more shining metallic Cylon enemies with glowing "eyes"?

Wednesday, January 14, 2004

last Samurai: not Tom Cruise



Tom Cruise's lastest movie is based on Saigo Takamori. Takamori (his character is played by the superb Ken Watanabe in the movie) is the epitome of bushido and loyalty to the Japanese. He's probably second only to the "47 Ronin". He played an important part in the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji restoration. However, when the Japanese government moved to strip the samurai of their right to wear swords and abolished the samurai class altogether, he was forced by his followers to lead the rebellion against the Meiji government. The reluctant rebel died in battle together with most of his Satsuma clan disciples, ironically, against the modern conscript Japanese army that he helped to create. Katanas against rifles.



Cruise's character is fictional; there were no America military advisers in Japan at that time (1870s) and almost certainly none on the side of the Satsuma rebels. The Japanese army and their education system was based on the Prussian (German) model while their navy was based on the British.

saw the trailer in cinema. my first reaction was: not another "Shogun" (a TV miniseries based on James Clavell's book, starring Richard Chamberlain), not another "gaijin civilising the natives" movie. many critics panned Cruise's acting (or lack thereof). positive factors: the backdrop is stunning! filmed in NZ! land of Lord of the Rings. that explained the greener than green, lush landscape and tree terns in the background. if u look hard enuff, some locations reminded me of Xena or Hercules locations :-). Even the critics and reviewers lauded the performance of the Japanese actors. still thinking whether I should risk my $8.50...

Mad Cow in the US of A

check out this funny animation about the US' handling of the mad cow case. Mark Fiore's other political cartoons are satirical sendups of American politics. highly recommended!

Sunday, January 11, 2004

the truth about Ramly burgers...


read the ST article about the popularity of Ramly burgers hitting Singapore's pasar malams and the fact it's illegal given the AVA ban on Malaysian beef and beef products.

I must say that I LOVE Ramly burgers. I gobble them up whenever I visit Malaysia. there's nothing like a piping hot Ramly Special (beef pattie wrapped in egg omelette) on a cold night in Frasers' Hill....yummmy...

yes, I can attest to the appearance of Ramly burger stalls in pasar malams recently. Both Robina and I have quaffed a few burgers in our neighborhood nite markets.

a few years back during Graduate Student Congress in Dept of Biological Science, NUS, I asked a Malaysian grad student who was presenting a paper on meat products about Ramly burgers. I told her that I often makan Ramlies in Malaysia and asked her what went into the burger patties. She replied that she too enjoyed Ramly burgers but you don't wanna know what went into them...

there was a moment of silence from the audience (shocked?) and then a burst of conspiratorial and knowing laughter...

well, I'm still eating Ramly burger bcos they are so sedap (delicious!) and shiok! most importantly, what u don know (and pretend not to know), will not hurt you! but don say I never tell u!

now Salmon also cannot eat??!!

more good news folks! another food scare in the offing. results from a paper in the scientific journal, "Science" published on 9 Jan showed that Atlantic salmon raised on fish farms in Europe have the highest concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a group of known carcinogens. salmon from fish farms in North and South America also show higher levels than wild Pacific salmon.

It says that consumption could slightly increase the risk of cancer, although also warned warned of a far wider spectrum of threats, particularly to pregnant women and young children.

what's more alarming to me is that the study recommended that consumers limit themselves to as little as a quarter-serving (one serving is approx 100g in cooked weight) per month of farm salmon from Europe, to a half-serving per month of Vancouver farm salmon, based on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines. does that mean that u should not eat more than a mouthful of farmed salmon???

now for those of u who stuffed yr face with smoked salmon, salmon fillet during x'mas buffets and parties will prob be tickling yr throats by now...

who do u know actively check food labels in supermarkets to see whether yr salmon came from Canada, Norway or NZ. or if the mince beef, sukiyaki beef came from US, NZ, Oz or Brazil. or whether the Orange Juice carton to see if it's "pure OJ", "made from real oranges", reconsituted from concentrate etc (now that's another story, don get me started!)

well, u better start reading labels. u can check the web for more info on food safety, food additives. quite a few consumer groups and NGOs have been campaigning for donkey years for more stringent food safety standards.

I think even the phrase "living on sunshine and fresh air" will become invalid. too much UV in sunshine, no more fresh air due to pollution. red meat cannot eat, white meat also got problems (chicken got salmonella bacteria, fish got mercury or PCB).

veggies might not be entirely safe (pesticides residue or GM implications). used to visit Cameron Highlands where most of veggies Singapore imports come from. u can see that the farmers keep their own plots of veggies for their own consumption. these they don whack with pesticides!!! but over the years, Singapore consumers (more specifically, the aunties and housewives) have become more savvy. they now look for caterpillar bites and damage on the leafy greens. if have, then it means no pesticides.

Wednesday, January 07, 2004

retribution

just a thot. looking at the buddhist concept of cause and effect, could the whole string of "calamities" that hit the world since last year, ranging from SARS, BSE in US, unsafe mercury levels in fish be nature's backlash to man's screwing up the global environment. to put it crudely, how can u not expect to fall sick if u have been piling rubbish and shitting in your own front yard!



are we indeed reaping what we sow? from consuming exotic wildlife (SARS has been linked to civet cats, hog badgers and racoon dogs), grinding up farm animals to feed other farm animals, feeding diary calves "artificial milk" made up of powdered cow blood and burning fossils fuels (that released methyl mercury into the environment. as the ultimate consumer in the food chain, all these harmful effects finally boomerang onto us.

remember Agent Smith's disgust at "humans" in the Matrix? are we a virus that infects the earth and plunder its resources in order to replicate?

Tuesday, January 06, 2004

SARS here again?

Even though the new SARS case in Guangdong, China has been confirmed, researchers are still puzzled by the source. news reports have either pointed the finger at the civet cat or the rat. The infected TV producer has told his doctors that he had not come into contact with civets but rats trapped in his apartment has been tested positive for SARS. but this does not mean a conclusive link between SARS and rats. reports on DNA work suggested that we might been looking at a new mutated strain of SARS.

but Chinese authorities has announced a mass culling of civets cats. this sad episode mirrors the culling of stray domestic cats in Singapore during the SARS crisis! instead of going after cats, whose link to SARS is tenuous at best, our town councils and authorities should be looking at our rat problem, which I think presents are more serious health problem than stray cats. anyone who's been to Holland Village would have seen rats the size of cats, frolicking in the open, even in broad daylight!

Sunday, January 04, 2004

All about Spider Holes

wow! just discovered that there was a hoopla on the net about "spider holes" just bcos Saddam was found in one. LG Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, had referred to Saddam's hiding place as a "spider hole." Actually, I think it's more befitting to call it a "rat hole".

u can google "spider hole" or see this MSN article. Apparently William Safire also joined in the fray in NYT.

Apparently the term has been used by US Marines in WW2 in the Pacific, referring to small one-man concealed holes dug by the Japanese snipers. This is basically a suicide position, the Jap soldier will wait for US Marines pass by and pop up behind them and shoot as many as possible before being despatched by grenades and flame-throwers.

similar tactics were also used by the Viet Cong against US forces in the Vietnam War (or American War from the Vietnamese POV).

A Cornell entomology prof and arachnologist (one who studies spiders) was somewhat perturbed by the linkage between Saddam and spiders. Spiders has been getting the short end of the stick when it comes to Hollywood portrayals and simply bad PR. Hey, wasn't there a eight-legged spidey monster in ROTK! (Shelob in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King)

do leave Jumping Spiders alone when u see them at home. they catch mosquitoes and flies. most ladies (and quite a number of men) will scream at the sight of the long-legged Huntsman Spider roaming your home at night but they are harmless and eat cockcroaches.

In Singapore's nature areas, u can still find the large Singapore Tarantula. we still have trapdoor spiders who actually construct well-camouflaged, silk-lined tunnels with hinged-doors. they wait quietly for their prey to stroll pass, then spring out and grab them. Much unlike Saddam who cowered inside his "spider hole", hiding from US troops who were trying to grab him.

Saturday, January 03, 2004

Open Mob

activated at 2pm. reached my camp at 3pm. told to bugger off at 4pm. extraordinary efficiency, I must say! if u have been watching TV, listening to the radio or was in the movies this afternoon, u would have seen/heard the mobilisation announcements.

compared to previous mobilisations when everyone had to wait for the whole bleddy unit to show up before being released, this first-in first-out system rewards those who report early. I was actually prepared for the long haul. brought in a book (a thick one at that!). loaded up on one-dollar coins for the vending machines. a can of iced coffee or coke is a must during these long waits.

u should see the faces of those who just showed up when we happily left camp!

while no one wants to come back to camp on a saturday afternoon, it was good to see familiar faces and exchange news. but everyone was glad to be with their family and frens ASAP.

Croc Man stirs up furore

just read that Steve Irwin the Croc Hunter did his croc feeding act while holding his one-month old son. turns out that plenty of irate parents and Aussie child welfare agency took noticed.

this strangely echoes MJ's dangling his baby over the balcony incident. but MJ's got bigger worries now :-)

I've always enjoyed watching Irwin's docu's. He's loony even for an aussie. he will be like, "hey! there's a huge croc swimming by" and will dive into the river and wrestle the croc. I mean the poor croc was just minding his own business :-)

Friday, January 02, 2004

the agonising first post

after wading through Bloxsom, iBlog and blogger, finally settled on this. seems simple enuff. WYSIWYG. plus no html...yippee!

after figuring out blogging, will need to re-discover web publishing on OS X. after the simplicity of Claris Homepage on Classic OS, my eyes glazed over Dreamweaver that require html (altho actually simple enuff).

wait for more ramblings and yabberings from the depths of Ponggol...

Name:
Alvin's spiel

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