Ice fishing

Posted on January 4, 2012 by mobile

“Sere” isn’t a word one would use often in my country, but it well descibes my husband’s: withered, dry, just after the solstice of an unusually snowless winter that leaves the brown grass naked. Even though it has been mild enough this year that a few clumps of vivid green grass remain along Milwaukee’s Root River parkway, the land looks like I feel – dry and withered.

While I hate being cold, I’m rediscovering that it’s the darkness and aridity of winter that I really can’t stand. One can always bundle up against the cold, as I did in my snowboarder/bank robber outfit used for cycling in up to six inches of snow. There is no defence against having the moisture constantly sucked out of one’s body by the air (having had Lasik a few months ago, I’ve also realised that a function of spectacles is to protect one’s eyeballs from the wind) nor against the gloom that sets in at four and lightens only at eight, especially since Americans still like those jaundice-colored incandescent bulbs. I lived here for eight years, but shoot me if I ever go for another winter holiday.

Leave it to wealthy Singaporeans and KLites to splurge on ski vacations to Korea or Colorado. Since my family’s first stint in the USA, I’ve associated winter with death. Images of brightly-clad children running about in the snow are a meaningless cartoon to me. Snow is what you stamp about in to clear a tiny space while I wait in the dark for a bus that never comes, and the breath freezes in my lungs. Gopal Baratham wrote that for people in the tropics, a dream of winter is essential. The converse has been true for me during my long schooling and apprenticeship, and for the last two weeks.

In the midst of all this I dragged him out for a walk – like a parent extracting a pledge of good behaviour for Christmas presents, I agreed to his buying Skyrim on the condition of half an hour’s exercise a day. And in the midst of all this death and dormancy, we saw this:

image

A weasel, or something from the weasel family at any rate, which popped out of the withered grass and turned its cool, beady gaze on us for a long moment before diving through a hole in the ice like a miniature seal. We stared amazed as the blebs of its exhalations traced a minute-long circle across the frozen creek, then it clambered out and disappeared back into the grass. We waited as the rustling of its movement continued, and were rewarded with a repeat performance shortly. Poor weasel, neither dive yielded fish nor frog.

In what I feel as the deathly cold and darkness, some not only survive but still hope for prosperity. Happy New Year.

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Why PAGE is wrong

Posted on November 3, 2011 by mobile

Written to a family friend who forwarded PAGE’s latest email bulletin.

Someone very close to me did his/her undergrad thesis on PPSMI. I am not at liberty to share it but I understand it was highly praised by people who know what they’re talking about. As far as I can tell (my brain goes blank when I see tables of multivariable analysis), the take-home messages were a) we don’t have enough data because there was never a full cohort that did their entire pri/sec education under PPSMI (thanks to our goverment’s premature-ejaculation style of implementation of policy) b) the negative effects are slight but real c) the positive effects are inconclusive. If you’re reading this, kiddo, PM me if I misrepresented you.

———————————————-

Hi Aunty,

I actually disagree with PAGE even though I’m from an English-speaking family. I feel that the improvement of English should be done by improving the English curriculum and not by hijacking science and maths. As science and maths at the primary and secondary school level are still basic, first of all they should be taught in a medium which is EASILY UNDERSTOOD for all students. The goal of science and maths lessons is to convey science and maths concepts, not polish English skills. Understanding of science and maths among the Malaysian public is lousy, just look at the kind of things that journalists and readers
write in the newspapers. Putting the basic education in a language that many find difficult will make it worse. Continue reading →

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The Budget and Its Shadow

Posted on November 2, 2011 by mobile

Talk by Teh Chi Chang (REFSA, Research for social advancement based in KL). Background from financial industry.
Book: “Budget: How the Government is spending our money” pub last year.

1st year tt Pakatan has come out w Shadow Budget,previously only DAP

Income: bottom 40% avg rm1500/mo
Majority 80% rm2500/mo
>1/3 of household heads employed in informal sector
70% SPM qualification or lower
Inequality among highest in Asia

Debt:
2010 end rm577bn total household debt = 77% gdp
140% personal dispo income (us 123, sg 105, thai 53%)

Competitiveness:
Only country in Asean w net FDI outflows

Rising cost of living.initiatives 2 help
Kar1sma aid program
Kedai 1 Rakyat Msia
Menu 1 Rakyat Msia

Graduates – high unemployment, low skills

Response by gov:
Expand subsidies & handouts
Mega-projects to stimukate demand
-corridors, MRT, Warisan Merdeka
Talent Cortp, ETP, EPP, NKRA…

Subsidies massive
Now 18% gov revenue
2000 rm2.6bn to 2011 rm33bn
Above does NOT include subsidies to industry eg power producers, petrol
Have expanded to include Kedai 1Msia thrift stores& Menu 1Rakyat Msia meals

BN view: hardwaredrives growth
Public-private partenerships
Rural minor infrastructue
Corridors
Langkawi
KL financial district
Even in education, focus is on constructing schools
- for Class F (bumi) constructors only
- fails to address literacy, numeracy, work skills

Coddling businesses
Fill gaps in pte sector directly, even where financial industry has not seen fit to fund
Eg venture capital for creative industry
Islamic finance
Bumi entrepreneurs
SMEs *and* “second chance” funding for failed SMEs
Bank bailouts!!!

Civil servant 10% of workforce, 1.2M civ serv to 1.7M taxpayers
GLCs are 50% of economy
Natl debt rm430bn = 14800/every Msian
Has doubled since 2004.

HOWEVER, revenue has exceeded budget since 1998 except during 2008/9 econ crisis
So why is gov in debt? Spending has also exceeded budget consistently.
Budget deficit has been conspicuously worse last 3y.

Pakatan Rakyat basic framework:
Raise revenue bycurbing tax evasion
Spend money more effectively
Riase incomes by focus on soft infrastructure, not construction

GST not necessary yet -regressive tax bc currently only small % Msians pay income tax

Tax evasion:
APs: +1.8bn if auctioned, no extra cost to citizens.
Illegal trade: e.g. cigarettes 2bn. Gambling industry: illegal nearly same size aslegal

PR 220bn total spend same size as gov budget, but outcomes +20% by eliminating waste
Subsidies targeted to poorest 1/3(2M) households.
Current subisides: mainly petrol, rich benefit more
Kedai 1Rakyat – takes business from neighbourhood shops

Budget 2012 recd surprising amt criticism fr industry, 3rd parties eg Malaysia Rating Corp (MARC)

PR: reduce cost of living & business
Lopsided concessions & monopolies eg IPPs, tolls, lead to high costs.
PR proposes Unfair Public Contracts Act: create commission to review such contracts & can acquire/ expropriate.
Extend Competitions Act to all sectors – currently telcos, Astro, energy exempt.

Wages:
2 foreigners(documented and estimated undocumented) to 5 Msian workers. Mostly unskilled
Disincentive for pte sector to invest in raising worker productivity
Even Msians low education

PR proposals
Minimum wage rm1100
Reduce unskilled foreigners
Emphasise technical/vocational skills, make it a respected career path
Incentivise businesses

Facilitating entrepreneurship
Open procurement: rewards know-how, not know-who; reduce gov costs; reduce fees to middlemen
Current rank 113/183 countries in ease of starting business
Less red tape for rakyat eg filing taxes, renewing licenses.
Keep GLCs in key areas only. Too many GLCs not only reduce competitiveness, also cause conflcits of interest.(regulator vs business)

Gov “generosity” mainly benefits elite
7/10 poverty eradication progrmas failed due to overspending & not selective of recipients
PR: shrink PM’s Dept & reallocate $ to ministries & states

Resource use
Cap Petronas dividends
Better water management (savings, pricing) to avoid buidlding new dams
Improve transport infrastructure

Comparison:
BN budget overoptimistic on gov revenue & GDP, so even though both have similar deficits in $ and % of revenue, BN likely to run over.

Big picture: BN budget hands out plenty of fish for all, from the truly needy to Class F contractors.Shadow Budget plans to create a nation of skilful fishermen.
–end talk–

Francis Hutchinson (political economist) follow-up talk
Existential questions

Q1: does Msia need a new growth model?
GDP growth slowed after Asia econ crisis
Good overall enviro for business BUT a lot of other issues

Q2: new social model?
Poverty dropped tremendously over last 4 decades but Gini coefficient barely decreased
Worse than Phils, Indo, Iran, India, USA
Inequality leads to social problems

Q3: state-society model?
Accountability to ppl
Does Msia tax enough & aretaxes being used in productive way?
Most revenue from oil&gas revenue
How govts earn income v important for state-people r’ship: if revenue is from people, gov is highly motivated to make ppl prosperous, ppl are motivated to be engaged in gov.
(Our counterexample: imagine if Petronas Twin Towers, KLIA etcwere paid w income taxes.
Countries w large oil revenue assoc w weak democracy & rule of law

Q4: is Msia managing oil wealth responsibly?
In light of reserves soon to run out & growing population, should set aside some for future
Intergenerational equity

Gaps in 2012 budget: for industry
No help for manufacturing -needed for job creation esp middle class. High-skill sectors create relatively few jobs.
R&D: v littleexpenditure. Tied up in few niche institutes. Not enough in unis. Dispersed across pte sector
Sci & tech grads too few.
Infrastructure for innovation eg technical libraries, market info, labs & testing facilities.
Communication: not enough resources. SMECorp, SIRIM, NPC. Mostly concnetrated in KL

Social:
Best features probably expenditures for 2ndary education & abolishing school fees.
Civil svc: new salary structure, explicit promotion criteria. Increasescapacity, but what abt…
Size- vast expansions under Mahathir. Overlaps bet fed, state, corridor admins.
scope- gov intervention in too many sectors
accountability- e.g. water: until 2007, r’ship bet state gov & water provider direct. Now fed gov intervening, too many actors dilutes accountability.

Per capita fed gov spending is hugely disproportional for KL FT compared to states.

PR’s shadow budget: largely agrees w Chi Chang. Questions:
What sectors does PR gov want to invest in?
How to tackle inequality?
Are you happy w current tributary structure? – progressive taxes? Corporate vs income?
What relationship does PR see bet state & citizens?
–end talk–

Q&A session:

Q: Significant # of deserving poor/elderly/disabled etc not receiving assistance. But we don’t want to be stuck in welfare state, use some development programs eg Sg’s Workfare. Don’t go for cash transfer entirely.
TCC: there is not a proper database of needy in Msia. AG’s report highlighted aid misdirected to non-poor families. PR promises to consult w stakeholders on this.

Q(Barry Wain): 1. Pte investment supposedly surged last few years but I’m extremely sceptical, would like to ask you about this?
2.Govt providing cheap meals, who is being squeezed?
TCC:
1. Surge was starting from a low base. Gov figures are from MITI. Even with that surge, net FDI still negative.
2. 1Msia meals will most likely affect small traders. Eg coffeeshops, kedai runcit. Super/hypermarkets prob less affected bc catering to more wealthy.

Q/comment: 1. disagrees tt net investment outflow shows Msia not competitive. Could be showing tt Msian co’s competitive enough to invest abroad.
2. It’s a good thing tt Msia gov giving SMEs more chances.
TCC: 1. You may be right but issue is not whether Msian cos are strong or not. Question is why they are sending $ overseas? Eg passenger car mkt largest in ASEAN but automakers all moving to Thailand.
2. Issue w providing aid to failed SMEs is tt you end up socialising losses. How is aid structured? Ideally gov shd get investment back if it becomes profitable again. Also, gov shd b more conservative in stewarding taxpayers money. Not justifiable to invest in too-new/innovative product. Better to provide technical infrastructure tt can help whole industry.
FH: GLCs 50% econ, local SMEs only hv half the field to play in. To be viable they need to start exporting immediately.
2. In this part of the world, MNCs are much more profitable, SMEs do not want to b seen 2 have failed. Compare to eg Silicon Valley where failure is pt of career. If your co failed, means probably won’t work so shd not bail out SMEs twice.

Q: 1. Global labour market about 1/2bn people who are cheaper than Msia, how to deal with it? How much requires a political shift vs fiscal shift? 2. Institutions in Msia hv become diluted in last decade, how much do you think this plays in lack of competitivness?
TCC: 2. Foreign companies don’t trust judiciary, want disputed to be arbitrated in Sg. Other – police.
1. Productivity in Msia is low. Eg delivery of goods inefficient and tardy- drivers don’t have GPS. Bosses don’t care bc salary & fuel cheap.
Wain: many institutions simply don’t work, terrible situation when companies don’t trust courts.
Elephant in room: bumiputra policy. How much of a drag on economy is NEP(and its abuse)?
FH:
I look at electronics sector in my research. Ppl v worried about your #1 point in 2000-04. Co’s recruited to relocate from Penang to China. Worry has receded somewhat for managers wages, remains somewhat at lower skilled workers level. China problems: IP protection, labour unrest. Co’s don’t want to put all eggs in 1 basket. Msia also has few decades of developed capabilites. Manufacturers don’t want to pull out of established commitments. New front: Indonesia.
TCC:
As a result of misdirection, various inefficiencies in bumi policy perpetuated. E.g. APs distributed for free to bumi “entrepreneurs” (only 100-odd people) who did not import cars but simply sold them to the real car importers. Reason why auto industry reluctant invest in Msia.
NEM was to roll back some protections but right wing groups eg Perkasa protested, NEM has now been quietly shelved.
Prime tracts of land alienated to certain GLCs. Eg MRT project still doesn have cost estimate but has been given away.
FH:
Pg and Johor are centres for electronic industry but gov support is not oriented to manufacturing. Is given more to food&bev – disjunction.
Linguistic- older ppl in industry is a lot Chinese, not fluent in BM, English but most programs are in these languages.
Gov training programs give human capital but not social capital – focusing on certain ethnic groups only creates a barrier to growing those industries.

Q: subsidies per household quite substantial compared to income. By cutting down, why can’t Pakatan balance their budget? 2. AG’s report shows massive overspend, more room to cut.
TCC: can’t cut subsidies immediately. Will be retained for 1 year while working out how to proceed.

Q: what do you think of brain drain, Najib’s incentive of flat 15% tax for returnees? What else can be done? 2. What do you think of Iskandar?
TCC:
1. Don’t agree bc incentive for Malaysians to go abroad 1st to get low tax. Also, taxes not only thing driving Msians abroad. 6 years ago, similar initiative got substantial # back but only 1 left now. Other things: edu system, employment for talented.
2. Iskandar conceived in 2008, 3y later still planning? A lot of construction but hardly any institutions hv come in.
FH:
3-4 y ago Prof. Rajarasiah tried, horror stories on trying to get work permits & tax breaks (he’s the sole survivor of tt program).
Iskandar good if you are large co. & just need land, can integrate w Sg. If u r small & need investment, universities, other tech resources, no.

Q: are the overseas Msians tt gov is trying to get back from a certain demographic?
TCC: Talent corp not targeting any race. Across the board, successful Msians overseas incl bumis doing well & recognised in their work, don’t want to come back. If return to Msia, face stigma that “you’re here just bc you’re bumi”.

Q: one-line summary of 2 budgets?
FH: BN budget like American dessert, too sweet. PR budget like Japanese dessert, doesn’t hit your palate but you enjoy later.

Q(Ooi Kee Beng): when you study PR budget do you get a sense that it’s well integrated or just trying to grandstand?

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Nature Society of Singapore 2011 conference

Posted on October 22, 2011 by mobile

Again, on-the-fly unedited notes.
Papers atthis conf will be published in 2012.

Woke up late cos moved hse yest anddidnt want to pry selfout of bed.. came in ard noon, Prof Cheong Loong Fah speakingon insect conservation.

Saproxylic = feed on dead wood. Precarious existence bc depend on stochastic events, ie treefall. Many extinctor gg ectinct in Sg. We hv good knowledge of what was here hsitorically bc of Wallace’s collection.

Longhorn beetles as indicator sp for saproxyluic insects. (Shows photos,I’m stunned by how pretty some of them are. Also funny bc spent long time in USA wherte Asian longhorn beetles are bad invaxisves.

Q&A;
Q: what are the benefits to insects of the Eco-Link?
A: hard to predict. SX insects track treefall acrosslarge areas. On the other hand, someinsects live in successional areas but not deep forest.

Anuj Jain; Butterfly Trail @Orchard

How did it start? Aug 2008. Connet Botanic Gdns to Ft Canning Pk. Fesibility studies 2008-9.

Sponsored by Far East, UPS, Ricoh, SingPost. Several agencies & edu inst as partners.

Planting still in progress, abt half done. Official launch June 2010. Students from NIE & other sch helped.

Many Sg butterflies extinct & eco roles not undetrstood well.

Want 2 show tt buttefly gdn not like home gdn. E.g. Penang Road space has abt 40 sp plants, 200 individuals.
Sp: Grass Demon, turmeric
Common Rose, aristolochia (lost habitat in most Sg)

Dhoby Ghaut: Peacock Royal, uncommon in Sg but spotted here v often.

Buttefly Connector frm Istana Pk to Pg Rd bc lack of existing plant cover there.

Volunteers conduct surveys w/photography
Public guided walks & photography wkshop

Breeding > 12 spp, most often Plain Tiger, Autumn Leaf. Also uncommon, wud not b there ifnot 4 plantings.

Biodiversity: Orchard Rd rich habitat bc Botanic Gdns & Ft Canning
Baseline 28
Now 52
Uncommon in urban 11
Uncommon in Sg 9

Steady increase in diversity since mid 2010 at Pg Rd open space. Seasonal.

Q&A:
Q Prof Lai: any plans to expand to HDB? Isuggested yrs ago when I was in HDB, rejected on grounds tt residents wud complain abt caterpillars.
A: Limited by lack offunds.
Other audience member: I also sugested as part of South-West community. Think have to keep updating them (HDB?) on progress.
Other audience member: (Ho Hua Chew?) If you tell us what kind of plants to plant,we will consider. What we found when wking on Alexandra Hosp, u can hide host plant bhind flowering plant, ppl won’t see caterpillars. Single most impt, we shd stop fumigating bc kill eveything incl mozzie predators. NEA understands alredy, tryingto convince pte conttactos, condos etc.
Lastly don’t forget the Istana, it’s huge. Talk to the president.
Anuj: we want buttefly trail 2 bcome biodiversity trail so taking suggestions on incl endangered ferns etc.

Horseshoe Crab tracking studies: Permanent residents or foreign talent? Ng Ham Hua.

Associated w romance cos most often seen in mating pairs! Malays say “macam belangkas” of couples.

Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda last known Sg breeding populations @ Kranji, Lim Chu Kang. Decades ago used 2b @ Changi but no more.

Unknowns?
Philopatry
Move to open sea
Travel along Tebrau Strt
Homing instinct (whether can be relocated or will run back 2 site of capture)

Electronic acoustic tracking objectives
1. Monitor movements along Strait of Johor
2. Explore homing instinct

Receivers: waterproof, attached to fish farms in the area. Download data monthly.
6 SURs about 1km intervals along Strt
2m depth, work better in deep water. Can be interfered by other animals eg snapping shrimp.

Equipment what used on Limulus study in USA.

Site A Kranji no nearby pts to hang recievers, Marine Authority quoted $30k for a buoy!
Only detected 3mo later, 6.5km away at pts 5,6
Site B LCK, detected within few km.

Obj 2: captuee & relocate, switch A&B
Stayed at release sites

Prelim conclusions
Philopatric, stay within 3km capture site
No homing
Did not leave for open sea
Did not discern movment patten incl monsoon (compare to HSC in temperate zones which hv seasonal migration)

Problems
Short pd study
Lack of volunteers in some mths
Transmitters fall off when hsc molt.
Receivers biofoul w barnacles v fast.

Discussion
Different fm temperate spp?
Fish farms as food source causing them to hang ard?
Water quality in strait

Further
Active tracking from boats
Hsu Chia Chi & volunteers looking for HSC breeding sites

Call2 action:
Only 4 spp in whole world,2 in Singapore!
Protect entire NW coast Sg, extend Sg Buloh weland reserve
Fishermen say leases for alll factories in Kranji area end in few yeares, dunno wat gov plans 2 do w it
Want to make entire area Ramsar protected

Lunch

Wild Animals and Birds Act,Vinayagan Dharmarajah

Applies to outside of nature reserves (those under Parks & Trees aCt)
Covers mammals, birds, maybe reptiles. Terrestrial only.

Originally intended 2b 4 poachers. But, we now notice harrassment of wildlifealso a problem
Chasing/touching/molesting
Feeding
Flash photo & lasere pointer
Luring birds wrecorded calls, bird-liming

Should WABA move fm protecting to supporting?
Habitats,nests, foodsources (eg in USA, Endangered Spp Act, offence to destroy things the naimal feeds on)
SPecial prosecution 4 offences under other acts eg pollution tt hv impacton wildlife
Not just reward public for reporting offences, but also deputising eg ACRES, other NGOs andvolunteers

Charismatic/flagship spp
Eg hornbills, otters
Shd we increase penalties?
Problem: “freakonomics”; unintended consequences. Eg if u increase penalties onpoaching those spp, u increase their mkt values!

Vulnerable spp
Special threats: wildlife trade
Special needs: young individuals, small, slow-moving. E.g. Malaysia “mother and child law” higher penalty for taking primate mother w/young

Marine mammals & reptiles
Not covered by WABA!!

Non-traditional animals ie invertebrates
Corals: covered by different Act which is limited in its provisions
Are coverd within protected areas eg nature reserves…but the UNIQUENESSand VISIBILITY of someof these animals call that approach into question. Eg HSCs.
Visibility: shd we protect butterflies outsidenature reserves

Migrants
“Foreign talent” paradox: as with humans – As Sg urbanises, it will becomme less attractive to migrants, even as we need more migrants to keep it viable.
Sg a “black hole”?

Wildlife vs pests
Eg clearing landattracts cobras
Human-animal conflict

Alien spp, shd owners be prosecuted?

Can wild animals be killed?
Current WABA: 2 circumstances – threat to property and…
Others: threatening human safety, euthanasiaof sick/injured, scientificresearch

Shd we proescute employers of blue collar workers?
Many offenders blue-collar workers, do not have money to pay fines, ignorant, do it in inaccessible places
Make employers be the educators & take responsibility

Update: Common Myna one of 6 killable birds but is no longer common!

Low penalties, max $1000, not much deterrent.

Botanical status of mangrove forests in Singapore, CR Sheue (Natl Chung Hsing U, Taiwan)

Singapore~70000ha, mangroves ~700ha=1%. Slight improvement from 1990s.
Assets mainly on offshore islands, Tekong & Ubin. We shd focus on Ubin- 1 of few places w ENTIRE mangrove ecosystem from freshwater w 0 ppt salt to seawater w 35 ppt salt.
150ha Tekong, 100ha Ubin
P. Tawai: a model for Sg to emulate

About 35 spp mangroves, we hv only lost 1 (Brownlowia argentata)

Brugueriaa hainesii only 180 trees in the world! 1 of 2 INTERNATIONALLY endangered mangroves. 4 individuals in Sg (compare whole Vietnam only 2.
1 was destroyed during search for Mas Selamat
2 on Ubin. Found by Ali Ibrahim in 2000′s.
1 at SBWR, biggest,discovered by Ria Tan 2011

Mangroves not protected as heritage trees,maybe can push forthose tt hv beem listedby IUCN

Kandelia candel: last treein Sg lost!!! Died due to disturbance
Looking for propagules at SBWR – washed over from Johor. Also can actively collect and replant- currently no nursery but suggests to set one up.

B. sexangula and B hainesii
Sg has 5/6 Brugueria spp in d world.
Sexangula : propagules collected fm mother tree on Ubin. Good to source locally to preserve genetic makeup. Ubin, SBWR, Pasir Ris

Additional problem w Kandelia: missing pollinator.

What lies ahead
Climate change – sea level rise
Why so few aerial plants? Eg epiphytes, mistletoes, climbers. Mangroves in other countries many air plants. Eg Rhizophora host for Hydnophytum. More in P, Tekong bc of military presence = less manmade disturbance. Artificiallyrestored mangroves are lacking.
Water managemen: what happens when you manipulate rivers, creating freshwater reservoirs? Eg Sg Punggol: Avicennia dying bc high salt adapted. Rhizophora, Brugueria are “back” mangrove spp, doing OK.
WIth PUB and NParks wrote book “A Selection of Plants”
Increasing # of albino propagules yellow/pink, indicator of oils/organics pollution

Green Engineering
Mangroves sequester 50X more carbon than terrestrial forests. We can’t expand terres. nature reserves bc surrounded by condos. But hv 280km coastline
Hardy sp that cantolerate disturbance, ship traffic, some pollution: R. stylosa
P. Tekong: replanted in rice cylinders, collaboration bet. Engineers & ecologists.

Call for help: 4 spp abt 2 extinct in Sg
1. Merope angulata, in Mandai.
2. Cassine viburnifolia. V hard to germinate, may be hormonal. Need research $
3. Aegiceras corniculatum – need propagation programme
4. Avicennia marina – need conservation measures

Hybrids
R x lamarckii (avicennia x stylosa
1 more icoudnt write fast enough

Xylocarpus rumphii – not found in mangroves in Sg but in other countries eg Thailand

Making a Difference for Wildlife with Kids/Schools/Families, Vilma D’Rozario (Cicada Tree)

Often with kids from underprivileged backgrounds

Each lesson focuses on a certain animal
Acitivites – game, slide talk, drawing, viewing live or musuem specimens, nature walk, arts & crafts

Educate on human-animal interaction eg why we shouldn’t feed monkeys.

Student teachers help w lessons & occasional shows eg puppets, wayang kulit

Outreach – go other sites like ECP

Sea turtles: adults made a sand sculpture of laying turtle, kids throw in pingpong balls & count until 200 “eggs”

Show photos of captive & eaten wildlife to discuss wildlife poaching & human-animal conflict

Free nature walks for low-income kids funded by Lee Foundation

Kindergarten level “Young Eco-Explorers”
Part 1 classroom lecture & game on “what not to bring”
Part 2 trip to SBWR
This year Min of Edu engaged them to do kindy lessons, reached abt 500 kids. Condcuted @ Pasir Ris Pk. Show live specimens & do beach cleanup.

Collab w NParks

Musang Watch collab w NUS Toddycats, NSS Edu Grp, NIE, NTU students. Discuss human-civet conflict.

(Note to self: ask CA if we can hire CT to do a school holiday event for LA)

J Vanitha: Importance of contact with wild nature: insights from NSS HSC project

Majority of bio education is classroom based, 2D
Field and museum trips essential bc stimulate our senses, firsthand experience
Kids get excited, learn to be OK with getting dirty/small cuts
When asked to handle HSC initially v apprehensive but acclimate

Also important for kids as future decision-makers- experiences shape choices/preferences

Vicente Reyes (NIE)
Study on life pathways of students: disturbing downtrend in volunteering, civic agency, environmental responsibility
Value of education seen as getting high-paying job

HSC project opportunity to nurture love of environment. Volunteer teacher trainees organised. Kids from sec sch, JC, pte schools,NIE helped to capture, measure, mark, cleanup

Reflections:
Said experience unforgettable
Asked to submit written relfections: amazement, overcoming fear of animals
Teachers appreciate opportunity to conduct integrated learning

Margie Hall: Ecotourism in Singapore in relation to biodiversity conservation
“Eco” is just bunged on the front of everything these days.
Ecotourism should be different from other forms of tourism, as conservation not profit is the goal.
(Other things besides biodiversity- manmade artifacts & traditional ways of life)

Visitor management strongly emphasised to prevent tourists from destroying the things being conserved
Strict limits on location and timing eg gorilla-watching 40 min.

Financing: how much can we charge to cover costs but not chase people away?

Visitor education

Sustainability
No fancy foods, facilities
Follow local lifestyle & use local materials

Support local people & way of life
Provide alternative livelihood anf support choices for own way of living.

Conservation can be achieved in many ways – in Sg primarily by gov funding
Conserved areas can be visited by individuals or by guided groups, without it being ecotourism. (Eg going for a birding tour led by volunteer)
Abuse of the term eg building a resort and spa in the forest, misleading.
We don’t have ecotorusim in Sg because torusim money is not going into conservation, areas are protected by gov & by pte sponsorship.

There are ways in whcih principles of ecotorusimare used in Sg:
Visitor management by NParks eg limiting walking paths in SBWR; limiting visitors to Chek Jawa
Visits, projects, education may lead to more areas being conserved – but less direct connection.

“Ecotourism” branded (but not really) projects:
“Monkey Island” project: a pte company proposed to develop P Tekukor as a tourism site but tak jadi
Southern Islands project: St Johns Island etc. Would NOT have been ecotrousim bc proposed 5 star huge hotels. Built causeways to connect islands even though projecteventually fell through
Mandai Road “Nature” project: actually will b disturbing regenerating areas ard Mandai Road.
Sungai Pulai, Johor: 9000ha Ramsar site, already reserved in 1923. Again, will NOT be ecotourism bc will be disturbing rather than conserving a site.

Pulau Ubin as a Haven for Wildlife. Robert Teo, asst director of Ubinm, NParks

Only 1 paper on botanical aspect – Turner 1992. Most of original vegetation had been cleared in mid 20th century for rubber & cocoa plantations

Birds: many common Malayan lowland forest spp NOT found.

Sha 2002 updated land use map
Some areas reforested bet 2001-10. Esp since quarries stopped & residents left

Agencies managing sdiff areas: SLA (long-term aquaculture), NParks (designated as Pulau Ubin Recreation area, but NParks does not have exclusive control), OBS, NPCC.
Residents: few kampungs, 1 resort

NOT a nature reserve, classified as park. But NParks manages it along lines of NRs.
Monitoring, inventories
Habitat mgmt incl creating/restoring some habitats
Species recovery
Outreach
Community involvement
Visitor managment

Turner: ‘flora of Pulau Ubin is clearly depauperate” only 200 spp in 1992
Current 565 native spp; about 70 from main Sg intro by NParks

Some rare plants
Jamba/Common Nieweldia v rare orchid, trying to tissue culture
Robiqueta spathulata- successfully propagated by TC, hope to replant
Collared Fig common on Tekong but only 4 on Ubin. Looks like frangipani but has figs
Seashore Nutmeg rareelsewhere but common on Ubin. Easily propagated & replanted

Tekong & Ubin only places with *forests* of nipah – other places in Sgf only individuals or small grps.

Mammals, reptiles, amphibians: 1st survey 1993 found 37 native spp
2011: 73
Camera traps useful to find animals not seen in transects

Wild boars: colonised Ubin starting 1980s
Become friendly bc difficult to dissuade residents from feeding them, 2 even kept as pets
Sometimes collide wcyclists but so far no attacks

Palm civet v common
Smooth-coated otter made headlines in 1992 when Mah Bow Tan visited, 1st record. Currently 10-12 & approach NParks office, restaurant
Small-clawed otter
Greater mousedeer. Young ones found, breeding.
Sunda pangolin
Lesser false vampire aka Malayan false vampire. 4 roosts on Tekong, 2 on Ubin
Long-tongued nectar bat:no roosts found but known in mangroves

Reptiles
Bronzeback, whip snakes, shore pit viper (whacks tail agst branch warning sound), marbled sea snake, dogtoothed cat snake

Birds
134 native spp in 1992
Current 205,incl migrants
Red junglefowl
Stronghold for big owls

Butterflies
Jumped from 42 to 151 spp after recent survey

Dragonflies/damselflies
Number didntgo up that much after survey, need help from experts

Habitat restoration:
Reforestation
Jelutong Campsite: created butterfly park
Ketam Mt Bike Park: former quarry, replanted w grass & shrubs

Alien Invasive Species, Bian Tan
Examples of invasives FROM Singapore: gelam trees in Florida, brown cat snake in Guam
NParks definition of invasive “..negative impact…” human value judgement involved.

Impact
Displace native sp
Reduce biodiversity
Interrupt forest succession
May harm human health

Characteristics
Fast growing
Rapidreproduction
Larg no. offpstring
Tolerant of wide rnage of enviro conditions
These chars are shared w “pioneer species”
How do we determine invasiveness?
Cost-benefit analysis on introducing a species
Behaviour in similar habitats elsewhere
Invasiveness of related species (eg dandelions in temperate countries related to mile-a-minute plant here)

Actions
1.. educate
2.observe & record, keep lookout for potential invasives
3. Strategise – identify most serious invaisve & plan mgmt
4. Implement. Most involve manual removal bc pesticides & biocontrol likely harmful

(After that talk I gave up taking notes because I was really tired. There were 3 more)

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Mat Salleh pun tahu sejarah Malaysia

Posted on October 1, 2011 by admin

I was showing my husband (American) this video and explained to him that Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah is a long-standing UMNO member who was on the wrong side of Mahathir during a conflict in the 1980s.

“He was on the B Team right?”

“Team B. But I’m really impressed you know that!”

“I’m learning slowly, dear.”

I really am impressed. I think most of our generation who, like me, were in kindergarten or embryos during that time won’t even know what the hell the 1988 constitutional crisis was about. It was one epic, operatic drama that pretty much wrecked law, justice, and politics in our country, but went largely unnoticed because the bureaucracy was left intact so life kept humming along as usual – except for those who were swept up by Ops Lalang.

Anyway, watch this video, it’s pretty awesome. If you’re over 21 and have not registered to vote yet, go to the nearest post office and do it. It’s free and only involves filling out a 1-page borang. At some post offices in large cities they can actually scan your IC and register you automatically without the borang.

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CMC

Posted on August 30, 2011 by admin

We’re supposed to be validating some plaque and immunofocus assays from our USA side soon, and hopefully streamlining them as well as the overlay media sound like they’re from 1950s virology (yeast extract, WTH?). My supervisor found himself at a loose end the other day and decided to try cooking up different concentrations of carboxymethylcellulose and Avicel (brand name for proprietary blends of CMC plus insoluble cellulose) in the autoclave. CMC has been around for a while but Avicel, usually used in oral medicines and foods, came to virologists’ attention with this paper full of pretty pictures of flu immunofocus plates.

Matrosovich 2006 Fig 4

Parallel plaque assays in 6-well plates under agar overlay and overlays containing 1.2%, 0.6%, and 0.3% of Avicel RC-581.

“Wow, that looks crunchy.”

“I always expect Avicel to be white and lumpy, but the CMC looks….caramelized.”

The higher concentrations of Avicel were crumbly, whereas the CMC was an immobile gel with nasty burnt bits around the chunks that hadn’t been completely suspended. One really wouldn’t think, intuitively, that a 2% solution of anything in water is enough to turn it into a solid, almost, as I said, crunchy, mass. Long chain carbohydrates are pretty amazing, but maybe I’m easily entertained by silly crap because I’m not a chemist.

Tilting one of the CMC bottles back and forth, I recalled something from its glossy wet shine. “D’you know what they make out of CMC?”

“What?”

“Lubricant.”

“Really?”

“In case you’re wondering why it looks familiar.”

“I never had to use that stuff.”

“Really?”

“I choose wisely.”

At this point I started blushing because my supervisor’s wife is also our VP for clinical development…remind me not to try to out-embarrass him any more.

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AWARE roundtable on Technology and Gender

Posted on June 16, 2011 by mobile

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It’s been years since I blogged regularly and I’m trying to get back to writing by having installed the WordPress Android app on my phone, but am still finding myself lazy to write. This and the previous post on the Nature Society‘s Green Corridor briefing were typed on my HTC G1 and I have not cleaned them up, hence the abbreviations and typos, and truncation of the meeting itself when my phone ran out of battery. Some relevant hyperlinks were added later.

******

Very rough unedited notes on the meeting. This is the 1st time i have attended an AWARE event of for that matter any gender-related NGO event. Will be following my cousin to Pink Dot on Sat.

********
Big surprise, when I signed in I saw one of my colleagues’ names on the attendee list. The colleague is a westerner.

1st speaker: Shirley, doing PhD thesis on Singapore’s “Intelligent Nation 2015″ campaign.
ICT is highly gendered, biased toward male by history of science and technology development.
iN2015, Sg’s 5th IT plan. Sets goals for IT use in all fields. Also futurological document setting out vision. “Freedom to connect, innovate, personalise, and create.”
IDA (infocomm dev authority) is a govt stat board.
Imagine Your World 2015 YouTube video farking hilarious, has every stereotype.
Discussion: girl buy bday present for mum, boy creates
Me & speaker: Chinese family normative, white professionalexpat, Malay taxi driver. Mod comments: Taxi drivers often complain left behind by technology (cost). Elder member says : although in NUS a lot of the IT technicians are Malay women; girls also dominate in polys.
That was the 2006 video, the 2008 one is worse. Technology looks like its gone backwards from touchscreens to remotes.
Wife#1 in 08 video is homemaker/shopper, wife in 06 video is professional.
Although technology is shown as enabling 2nd woman to integrate work/life also.
Protagonists in both vids are animators, why? Maybe they didnt hire a scriptwriter haha.

Speaker: Positive (can do stuff) vs negative (noninterference) freedoms: men are empowered by tech to do more things but women are merely freed from some drudgery.
Technology promoted as leading merely to a consumer utopia
IDA specifically mentions young homemakers & fertility.
[me to Singaporean friend] “Becky, quick! Get pregnant, it’s your duty!”
“They have to give me an iPad first.”
Funny consersation btwn old white lady and middleaged white lady about vacuums and washingmachines ensues. “Are you serious? You had to sprinkle tea leaves on your carpet?”

Global issues: UNDP report o womens empowerment (2007/8?)
Internet responsible for 21% of gdp growth in G8 countries over a 5y period.

Sg: enrolment in tertiary computing course abt 33% female. Emploment in infocomm 29% female in 2010.
Females nearly caught up as technicians/associate profdesionals but lag behind 2x as managers.
NS for men; armed forces have been computerizing heavily.

Quoting Cockbrun : look at the environment offered to women. Absence of woemn from world of technoscience stems from rejection of masculine values assoc with technology.

Using tech biases us to think of everything as a technological problem, including problems of social justice.

2ndspeaker: 2006 video has been taken down, replaced with flash anim w/ tweaked characters. Personal asst avatar is male, boy takes bus home, expat is married & wife works. Apparently video has poor feedback?

Neoliberal philosophy where moral value is linked to capacity for self-care.
Militarisation:”Total Defence”, network-centric warfare, use of modified computer games for training. Motivate & engage a games-savvy generation of soliders, recruiting tool.
WiMAX in maritime industry (15km from Sg coast range).
Tie-ups with NTU, Nanyang Poly. Not only crate software but also using poly students to test appeal of military games to youngsters.

Number of characters who are animators in IDA promo vidoes NOT a coincidence – its to encourage viewers to take it up.
Ministry finding that studnets, INCLUDING females, enthu abt use of tech in military & calls for girls to do NS hv increased.

Audience comment : iused 2b a commodities trader, nowadays its all done by machine, humans are not allowed to do certain things.

Mod comment: the idea of utopia since 1950s was that ppl wud not hv to work. But in reality those who have free time & cognitive surplus are the unemployed.

Audience member: i think the 2 presenters are a bit negative toward technology..
If eg you choose not to have a FB acct there are a lot of losses.
I think the military thing is a bit farfetched. Ppl go into army not because of tech but because it’s a system and they can survive in that system.

2nd speaker: I am a bit negative but its in reaction to the overwhekming positive attidue toward technology in Sg. Ppl ostracise u if udun hv FB.

Other aduience concur – you do get left out of a lot.

Shirley: technology allows women to break out of biological definition.
But we have to be critical (not same as anti-technologyx0. Sg is run by technocrats, tend to reduce everything as technicla issues. Eg poverty recast as “digital divide”. The ones who are left behind have to catch up.

[at this point my phone was nearly out of battery so I stopped typing]

In conversation after the formal discussion some other audience members (including the one who had pointed this out previously) and the moderator expressed their frustration that both speakers were somewhat anti-technology – IMHO the second one who explicitly said that she avoids using the Internet, Facebook, and smartphones as much as possible is simply not a good person to talk about the effect of IT on people’s lives given that she doesn’t blardy use it! The moderator is a programmer and she said that she loves the way that you can use it to solve problems – I would have liked to hear this person speak more, especially since the overwhelming numerical dominance of men in IT was something that came up early in discussion.

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Singapore’s dream of a Green Corridor

Posted on February 24, 2011 by mobile

The reason why the below is sort of incoherent is because I was taking notes on my G1 phone during the meeting. I have chosen not to edit it for authenticity =) I’ve added hyperlinks; some subsequent comments are in square brackets. Obviously, I ran out of battery halfway through.

*****

I’m attending the NSS “Conservation Chat” on the proposal to keep the KTM railway land [PDF file], soon to be returned to Singapore, undeveloped, and to make it into a Green Corridor – essentially a giant park connector with bike and pedestrian trails and community gardens. I’m a big supporter of bike paths, not least because I cycled from my workplace near NUS all the way to NSS HQ here tonight.

[It's in Lorong 28 Geylang, about 16 km. I stopped at Clarke Quay Central for a burger, and discovered that the damned mall, like most in Singapore, doesn't have a bike parking rack, so I had to go all the way into the basement and lock it to a ladder in the motorcycle parking area. Also, after dinner I found I had a slow puncture in the rear tube and had to stop every few km to reinflate.]

They’ve put on a lovely slideshow of a walk along the abandoned Jurong Line from a few months ago (I missed the walk, unfortunately). [Independent blogger's post about her and her friends' walk to Bukit Timah along the railway.]

Ezra, a teacher at the Min of Edu office at Bukit Timah, is giving a talk on outdoor education. Usually outdoor activities here are silly stuff like jumping off buildings. Actually, a number of schools are near the railway and could benefit. There are also 3 dedicated “Adventure Centres” namely Jalan bahtera, dairy farm, and labrador. There are 39 schools along the KTM rsilway, ranging from primary schools to junior colleges and 3 within a few hundred metres of the Jurong Line.

Schools could use the park connector for physical education and nature education instead of being limited to school fields. Currently many walking activities are stuck in a semi-urban environment, walkjing past HDB glats [Housing Development Board flats, public housing which over 80% of the population of Singapore lives in]. The connector would be sager as well as more pleasant. MOE planningf other activities but confidential.

Kids’ book called “The Curious Garden” anout a boy who watches a smoggy railway line turn a whole vcity into a garden. Last year conference about outdoor education here, over 400 people attended. Some policymakers in MOE would like to see the GC implemented.

Schools are free to choose/invent their own outsoor activities, just must do risk assessment.

Student from SOTA (School of the Arts): doing a project about the GC. Not just for class requirements but also personal interst. Would like to make more people aware of it, starting with their schoolmates. Notes that so far most activities have been physical e.g. walks, but would like to look at it from arts perspective.

Wai Hong (one of the planners for NSS proposal): PDF presentation about what the KTM railway is & show how it plugs into different places in Singapore. Kranji, Central Catchment area, Bukit Timah, Jurong. Will link together existing Park Connectors. Population centres: 1.2 million people live within walking distance!!! Highlighted “pit stops” where cyclists etc. Can get on and off the line easily – also goods for putting toilets and other facilities.

Small-scale agriculture: already along jurong line and some parts of commonwrealth.

Showed examples of how people use exisiting green space and park connectors.

Will be presenting @ National Library end of next month (26th March).

Some students at NUS have been doing a project on this, presented to the URA [Urban Redevelopment Authority]. URA tasked NParks [National Parks Board] to look into it; seems to be taking quite seriously.

Land to revert to Singapore on 1st July. Probably will not know anything concrete till then.

Economics: can prove that real estate value goes up when next to park, so even just from the money side, may have benefits over just building on top. Land is very narrow at some parts – not enough room for buildings + roads.

Porblem with exisiting park connectoras: not continuous, keep having to cross roads/ go up and down bridges.

Legal stuff: Right of way – even if some of it is developed, a passageway through is required. Precedents exist, e.g. some new shopping centres have 24-hour passageways.

Public support will be critical to government’s decision. May be easier to get if clear that we are not insisting on 0% buildings.

Senior citizens: Singapore’s greying population. Can place old folks’ homes along the line? Most of agriculture along Jurong Line is by senior citizens.

Example of property values and nature: There was a plot of land near Dover MRT that was about to be developed, residents successfully campaigned against it. Sensitive issues at the moment because election coming up, but could bring it up after?. A lot of rich people in Clementi and Bkt Timah areas.

Jurong Line taken over in 1999 but no develop,ent except for 1 factory. Shows authorities could have something in mind for preserving it.

Biodiversity: Habitat types: Forest/woodland, parkland, scrubland/grassland, marshland, mangrove. Clusters of trees around major road junctions provide crossing points important for wildlife, especially birds. Birds also use parkland to hop between forest patches. Marshy areas exist around Alexandra, Tanglin Halt.

Clementi Woods is an important large patch. Branching west along jurong line, you gfet Boon Lay woodlands. There are more marshy areas but river clogged at the moment.

Proceeding north you have TohTuck Gdns and Bukot TIMAH

*****

At this point my battery was about to die so I saved and shut down. That was supposed to be “Bukit Timah”, by the way.

After that another recent NSS member, a guy who lives in the Faber Heights area, gave a presentation about the birds in his neighbourhood and a threat they are facing. His house is on the abandoned Jurong Line which is a western branch of the KTM railway, included in the Green Corridor proposal (you can see the ribbon of greenery cutting the neighbourhood in half in the Google Maps view linked above). Unfortunately I can’t find his bird photos since they’re on a Chinese birdwatching website and I’m functionally illiterate in Chinese.

The LTA is planning to build a road through that stretch of the Jurong line to link to Commonwealth Avenue. Ostensibly it’s to relieve congestion in the area, but rumour has it that it’s to serve a new fancy condo development to be built over the chunk of forest between the AYE (Ayer Rajah Expressway) and the Ulu Pandan canal (the brownish river to the north of the Faber neighbourhood). Bird guy isn’t happy, needless to say, and while his neighbours, in his words, “think all birds are sparrows”, they’re not happy about the dust and racket that construction will raise either, with little benefit to them. According to him, congestion in that area only occurs during a brief window in the morning when parents are dropping their kids off at Nan Hua Primary School.

All the construction around that area – LTA is actually planning to put in a whole bunch of roads to connect the International Business Park, Tradehub 21, Commonwealth Ave, and the AYE – is going to suck for me and the other people who enjoy the Ulu Pandan Park Connector. We finally get a pedestrian bridge over the fork of the Pandan Canal, but not till all the construction is done 2+ years from now. And with all those roads, the tranquility and fresh air along that stretch of the park connector will be gone. Sigh…

Bird guy met with some LTA officials last Thursday, the day after the NSS meeting, to discuss his concerns, and it looks like at least one other person has written to the LTA and an open letter published in a popular daily. Let’s hope they listen…and let’s hope the Green Corridor proposal is implemented by the government, in whole or in part. Singapore has a great deal of riches that are not cash. You can always make more money, but you can’t bring back the rainforest.

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Android client test

Posted on February 10, 2011 by mobile

This is to see if I can upload posts from my G1 using the Android WordPress client.

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Back on the horse

Posted on December 25, 2010 by admin

No intro. No nuffin’.

I stopped blogging over a year ago due to being sucked in by Facebook, and also trying to finish up my Master’s, leave the USA, and find a job. After much nagging from the spouse, I’m getting back on the horse.

An anthropologist friend laughed at me when I referred to an 800-word essay as “long-form writing”. Well, it kind of is when all the non-work-related writing I’ve been doing for the last two years has been Facebook and Twitter updates.

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