Have an earth-friendly Halloween!

Just a lot of hot air?

I consider myself pretty environmentally conscious, though I'm no green thumb (my track record with house plants is literally to die for). I love the outdoors, studied geology and chemistry for fun, spent a summer investing in renewable energy projects with the World Bank, and even married a guy who's obsessed with aquatic wildlife (esp. those jellyfish in the Monterey Bay Aquarium), avidly watches Animal Planet, National Geographic and the Discovery Channel (aside from ESPN), and is more anti-sharks fin soup than I am.

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." - Mark Twain

I finally caught An Inconvenient Truth last night, Al Gore's global warming documentary jointly presented by Paramount and Participant Productions, Jeff Skoll's socially-relevant film company. If you haven't seen it, check it out. You may have doubts but at least you'll be a better informed global citizen and take heed when climate changes - causing devastating hurricanes, heatwaves, infectious diseases, wildfire - leave tangible, personal consequences.

What's the fuss about: Global Warming 101 for dummies


Who's to blame: A CSI on the PSI
We had one the worst hazes in Southeast Asia this year since 1997 - which was ironically when I wrote my first environmental news report in college. As with the haze and all bad incidences due to unsustainable development, guilt is often (wrongfully) assigned to:
Suspect 1: Demographics (Developing countries)
Suspect 2: Technology (Developed countries)
Suspect 3: Economics (Multinational corporations)

"Political will is a renewable resource" - Al Gore
Could the real culprit and the solution lie in politics?

What can you do?
Both individuals (the people) and governments have roles to play. Consider the actions listed in this link or in the clip below:

The best things in life are free

A dear, dear friend sent me this after we finally had the chance to catch up on the phone since I left the US several months ago. I feel incredibly blessed by our unlikely friendship - one that has blossomed between an Asian and an African in America since we were freshmen in college, many years ago.

The Free Hugs Campaign made me think of all the virtual friendships we have via online communities today, such as Live Journal or Blogger. So here's a *hug* from me to each of you too. Keep on sharing and inspiring, and pass it on!

Proud Smith pioneers

According to this Chronicle of Higher Education report, Smith College received 16 awards, the highest by any bachelor's institution for Fulbright Scholars in 2005. It's a testament to my undergrad alma mater that she attracts and produces women who are dynamic, cross-cultural, open and different - leaders in the very best way. Instead of only looking at college rankings, such as the one produced by the US News & World Report, this could be another assessment of the quality of education and the value of an institution in preparing others to serve in the world.

Go pioneers!

Music Downloads: Pirates—or Customers?

Internet downloading is quite a hot topic these days! On the heels of the Google-YouTube announcement and recent arrests of several illegal MP3 homeusers (not just distributors - for the first time) in Singapore, I stumbled across an HBS Working Knowledge Q&A article with this controversial premise: "Internet music piracy not only doesn't hurt legitimate CD sales, it may even boost sales of some types of music" with the right pricing and marketing strategies, given that most downloading is done 1) over P2P networks by those without access either due to location or money, thereby not directly causing "lost" sales, and 2) for sampling purposes, which if found favourable and sold "smart" ala iTunes, could even favourably impact sales.

If in fact the research is correct, the strategic implications for the music industry are profound. Instead of conducting a high-profile campaign against pirates, should the industry instead target "samplers" to encourage them to buy more music? Should the industry consider peer-to-peer services as marketing tools rather than the enemy? Should online pricing be different from in-store pricing? What happens when broadband makes it as easy to illegally download an entire CD as an individual track or two?

These questions are further discussed with one of the authors here.

The end of YouTube as we know it

I read the news of Google's US $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube today with some interest and trepidation. Geez. Who would (not) wanna be these guys? Co-founders Chad Hurley, 29 and Steven Chen, 27 talk about this "deal between kings" today.

The valuation on this deal is staggering. Did you know that we - YouTube's audience - are each worth US $32 per visit? Yet seeing that "Any sort of material that's posted on YouTube that includes music is in violation of copyright law," one can't help but think that's it for all those online replays, snippets and fan vids. Let's hope that we, YouTube's real "assets" don't get shortchanged for the sake of "shareholder" value.

For more info and press reports, see my original LJ post here.

What's on my N70?

I posted a short entry in my geek blog with some random mobile phone photos. Click on the images for the full text.

Home is a cosy apartment on the top floor of a condo atop a hill in the center of a tiny island called Singapore. This is the main entrance. We live in a conservation area between the oldest (Chinatown) and newest (financial/ business district) parts of the city.


You'll see lots of old shophouses in the midst of urban renovation here, such as this one. Our street, Club Street was the HQ for many big Chinese clan associations back then. These days, it's an expat zone, full of delectable bars, cafés, restaurants and start-ups.


This time every year, parts of Southeast Asia are plagued by haze from land-clearing fires in Indonesia. As a result, our living room has looked out at this view for several weeks now. When it clears up, you'd often see a cloudless blue sky and a cityscape which reminds me of New York City at night.

Our hazy 中秋节 (zhōng qiū jié)

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone! When I was a kid, we celebrated this by exchanging mooncakes (that you stuffed up on and then kept the remaining boxes in your fridges till at least year end) and walking down the streets with colourful lanterns. This is one of the biggest Chinese festivals, after the Lunar New Year celebrations, and revolves around the story of Chang'e, the Moon Goddess of Immortality. Who and why she ended up in the moon though is the stuff of legends (i.e. the reasons are many and vary over time!).

The festival became a national celebration in China after mooncakes were used to pass messages between rebels, such as "Kill the Tatars on the 15th day of the Eighth Moon" (八月十五殺韃子). This led to the fall of the Yuan Dynasty (Mongols) and the rise of the Ming Dynasty.

Meanwhile, celebrations this year were "clouded" by the haze from annual land-clearing fires in Indonesia that have plagued Malaysia, Singapore and southern Thailand. The Pollutant Standards Index today of 150 (unhealthy) topped Singapore's 9-year record but that was still lower than the 300+ (hazardous) levels over logging and agricultural-intense areas in East Malaysia and across Borneo. It's not surprising that the regional governments and populace are frustrated by their inability to resolve this annual environmental problem.

See here for more news on the haze. The scan on the right is from today's Singapore Straits Times in light of this year's hazy Mid-Autumn Festival.

BTW, remember the cleaning I have to do?

On to Plan B.

Mom's coming to town!

For the first time in - actually, EVER - we're having long term visitors in our new home. My mom and one of my fav aunts will be staying over for a few weeks. I'm looking forward to host my own family once again, esp. since I've rarely seen them in the past decade. Imagine, real home-cooked Peranakan food! A partner-in-crime for artsy plays and nature walks! More bridge all-nighters ... and maybe even some mom-and-daughter bonding, Ya-Ya sisterhood style! ;o

First things first. Make sure hubby is even more appreciated for sharing my joy in this and for putting up with the days to come.

Then, spring cleaning! Or rather, summer cleaning, since there's only one hot, humid and hazy season year-round. Plan A: Do it tomorrow. Plan B: Scramble by Tuesday. Plan C: Hire a maid. Plan D: Stuff all dust and "dirt" in that not-so-secret drawer under the bed. Hmm....

Lastly, info gathering on what's going on in Singapore in October. We'll probably get through 1% of my list but hey, I'm a "J" i.e. I'm a planner - with checklists, spreadsheets, calendar of options - and seriously (sadly?), I've too much free time on my hands these days.

Yayyy!