The Leaning Pine

The leaning pines are probably planted too close to the apartment block.

Trees naturally grow well with a uniform roots around the tree.

The slope aggravated the problem which caused the root system to become one-sided and unbalanced.

And the pines, scientific name - Araucaria columnaris need sunlight to grow well, so they began to lean outward for sunshine.

The common name is New Caledonia Pine, or Cook pine.

Many human beings are becoming crooked.

Like the pines they leaned away from morality, from growing straight.

The pines need sunlight. The crooked humans need money.

Christmas

What is Christmas without the carols.


Adolphe Adam, born 24 July 1803 and died in Paris on 3 May 1856.
Adam wrote "O Holy Night" in 1847.

Katherine Davis, born 25 June 1892 and died in Massachusetts on 20 April 1980. Davis wrote the song "Little Drummer Boy" in 1941.

Franz Gruber, born 25 November 1787 in Austria and died on 7 June 1863. Gruber wrote the most sung Christmas carol "Silent Night" in 1818.

Jester Hairston, born 9 July 1901 and died in Los Angeles of natural causes on 18 January 2000. Hairston wrote the song "Mary's Boy Child" in 1956.

James Pierpont, born 25 April 1822 and died in Florida on August 5 1893. Pierpont wrote "Jingle Bells" in 1857.

Irving Berlin, born 11 May 1888 in Russia and died in New York 22 September 1989. Berlin wrote "White Christmas" in 1940.

Fred Jay, born 27 July 1914 in Austria and died 27 March 1988 in Connecticut.

Friedrich Jacobson, his birth name wrote the lyrics "When A Child Is Born" in 1974 to the original melody, "Soleado" composed by Italian Ciro Dammicco in 1972.

 

Healthy Cuppa

Makers of stainless steel bottles use food grade 18/8 stainless steel.

18/8 is a commonly used stainless steel term and contains 18% chromium and 8% nickel.

This steel is also known as 304 in America, while in Europe it is 1.4301.

Some cutlery uses '18/10' which is purely a marketing ploy as the "10" does not indicate an actual higher Nickel content.

So instead of drinking hot coffee from a plastic bag invest in a stainless steel bottle for the health benefits.

Skyville @ Dawson

Finally it has reached 35 storeys.

SkyTerrace Bridge

The bridge, also known as the garden terrace is being lifted into position, joining block 92 and 93.

The lifting procedures is somewhat similiar to the sky park at Marina Sands.

Sadly on 24 October, a 30 year old man died after falling 26 floors at block 62B Strathmore Avenue. This block faces SkyTerrace block 92 and 93. You can read the full story.

A soccer game is being played oblivious to the progress of construction of SkyTerrace at Dawson.

Man Terrain

 


Joseph C. Wilson in 1906 founded Haloid Company in New York. The company became Xerox in 1961.






Apple Computer was founded on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

In 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen formed a partnership called Microsoft.

Yahoo begin life in a Stanford University campus trailer. It was founded in January 1994 by Jerry Yang and David Filo.






Google began in March 1996 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University, in the heart of Silicon Valley.













On February 4, 2004, Mark Zuckerberg launched "Thefacebook" during his second year at Harvard University, Massachusetts.





YouTube was created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim. It began as a venture-funded technology startup situated above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California.




Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey who attended the Missouri University of Science and Technology and subsequently at New York University, where he first came up with the idea for Twitter.




Amazon started as an online bookstore by Jeff Bezos in July 1994 in Seattle, Washington.

eBay was founded in San Jose, California, on September 3, 1995 by French-born computer programmer Pierre Omidyar. It was meant to be a marketplace for the sale of goods and services for individuals.

Adobe Systems Inc begin in 1982 by John Warnock and Charles Geschke, who formed the company after leaving Xerox. The pdf format hit the market in 1993.

Ladies. Where Art Thou ?

Bonnie M

The dance craze band of the 1980s.

Liz Mitchell born 12 July 1952.

She is still touring, billed as Boney M featuring Liz Mitchell.

 then

and now

Bobby Farrell born 6 October 1949.

After performing with his band the evening before, Farrell complains of breathing problem and died on the morning of 30 December 2010 in Saint Petersburg.

then

 the late Bobby Farrell

Marcia Barrett Born 14 October 1948.

After the group split in 1990, Barrett was recording and touring with her band Boney M featuring Marcia Barrett. Her present appearance was on 20 April 2013 in Novy Urengoi, Siberia.

Maizie Williams Born March 25 1951.

In 1994 she formed her own group, billed as Boney M featuring Maizie Williams and is presently active.

A blast from the past...

Oily Stuff

Our knowledge about oil originated in the age of dinosaurs, when vegetation and organism was buried over millions of years and subjected to high heat and pressure. Those extreme conditions transformed the hydrocarbons in vegetation into the hydrocarbons of petroleum.

The late Dr Thomas Gold, a scientist at Cornell University said "That's nonsense".

"There's not a shred of evidence from chemistry, geology, or any other science to support it” said Dr Gold who also theorise that other planets in the solar system have similar deep deposits of hydrocarbons, which are the stuff of oil and natural gas.

A reservoir of crude oil was discovered in the late 1960 producing about 15,000 barrels a day of high-quality crude oil. By the late 1980, production had slipped to less than 4,000 barrels per day, and the reservoir was considered pumped out.

Suddenly, in 1990, production soared back to 15,000 barrels a day, and the reserves which had been estimated at 60 million barrels in the 1970s, were recalculated at 400 million barrels. Similar results were seen at other Gulf of Mexico oil wells.

Dr. Gold strongly believed that oil is a "renewable, primordial soup continually manufactured by the Earth under ultrahot conditions and tremendous pressures. As this substance migrates toward the surface, it is attached by bacteria, making it appear to have an organic origin dating back to the dinosaurs."

Summer Holiday

Ramadan starts on Tuesday 9th July until Wednesday 7th of August 2013.

Thursday 8 August 2013 Hari Raya Puasa is a public holiday.

The Chinese Hungry Ghost Month falls on Wednesday 7 August 2013.
                   
Not a public holiday though.

Singapore National Day is on Friday 9 August 2013, a public holiday.

This translate into happy holiday for salaried people, Thursday through Sunday.

Here is The News

The Sun is a daily tabloid newspaper in the UK and is owned by Rupert Murdoch.

The top-selling British newspaper is the ninth-largest circulation of any newspaper in the world, at times hitting daily readership of 7.3 million.

The arrival of a baby boy for Prince William and his wife Kate triggered the creative juice in the newsroom and the editors decided to changed its name to "The Son" to honour the event.

In the event that some top civil servants who have fingers in the plunder of national resources, the mast head should read as...

It's Bloom Time

As if on cue, the handkerchief trees open up in unique fashion.

The tropical version, Maniltoa browneoides bloom in July.

The other version, Davidia Involucrata, common in China and the temperate countries is also called handkerchief tree.

The Davidia Involucrata bloom in May.

National Day Is Here, Again

Once again, the 9 August 2013 national day is near.

The annual parade display is being rehearsed today.

The Singapore flag is hoisted by a Boeing CH-47 Chinook.

The flag flying behind is the reserved flag, just in case.

 

 

The reserved Chinook and flag return to base once the fly past goes as planned.

Next the F-16D+ jets perform the aerial flypast with the awesome smoke trails.

The jets are part of the 70 F-16 Fighting Falcons in the RSAF.

The smoke trails are produced by injecting diesel into the 400°C exhaust from the jet engine, vaporizing immediately. Some aerial displays emit coloured smoke which are made by mixing dye with the diesel.

There will be another 5 rehearsals before the big day proper.

The rehearsals on 13 July, 20 July and 27 July are known as National Education Shows where all students from primary level through university must attend.

Launched in 1997, it is an exercise to develop instincts that become part of the psyche of every child.