ashira v3.0b

Hermit mode --> activate.......

2011-05-23T10:45:00.000+08:00

No, I'm not moving into the Naruto ninja universe.... Just need to stop meeting up with people at shopping centres..... Why? Read on.... *peeks into bank acct* This divejunkie is soon-to-be broke.... Class 3 lessons should be wrapping up within the next couple of months (hopefully with me passing my TP before my PDL expires), and that has already taken up a gd chunk of moolah.... Next step is to consider a 2nd hand car.... haven't really planned out how to squeeze out extra cash for this yet but it's in the works....

Also, LASIK soon, and even with the interest-free installment plan, still $$ bye bye TT_TT PLUS Bali trip in Aug, so will need money for that too....

So in conclusion, it's time for me to be antisocial and hide in my little hermit hole so that I would not be spending quite so much on dinners and outings..... (*dang* with all the nice movies coming out soon.... guess I'll hafta consider skipping a few meals to watch them....) No more meet-ups for me, unless they're at coffeeshops/food centres ;p

Night spent re-visiting a childhood icon....

2011-05-06T15:19:00.001+08:00

Last night marked my first visit to Marina Bays Sands, and it was to catch Thriller LIVE, a 2h 20min tribute concert to the music of Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5.

We got seated just in time for the start of the show. It started with a couple of familiar tunes, as well as a summary of MJ's hits and chart toppers... and then came the Jackson 5 songs. So tickled by the costumes and the amazing voice of 14-year-old Kieran Alleyne. Pity that the crowd was either not quite warmed up or were not quite as familiar with the songs... Felt like I was one of the few who were swaying n synching along to "ABC" :( First half covered hits until the 80s (I think. Not THAT huge a fan that I know which era the songs came from, just enough of a fan to sing along to the the chorus, at least, for most of the songs ;p)

After the intermission, we were treated to hits that I remember hearing over the radio or from my uncle's stash of music while growing up. Such nostalgia~~ To be treated to live rendition of "Smooth Criminal", "Dirty Diana", "Beat It", "They Don't Care About Us" etc. And as more and more familiar tunes came along, you could tell that the energy and excitement was spreading from the stage to the audience (*yay!*)

Ricko Baird's another name to remember from the cast, with his spot on performance of MJ's classic dance moves, and as one of the four main onstage "MJs". By the time they got to my #1 favorite, "Heal the World", everyone (onstage and off) were really enjoying themselves, and THAT'S when the HUGE faves came up! "Bad" and "Thriller"!! With the crowd grooving on their feet (and some of us joining in with the Thriller zombie moves ;p) the 2h 20min tribute concert came to a close :'( Thought it would feel long, but when it ended on such a high, I couldn't help but hope that it could go on for *just* a wheeeee bit longer....

Other little details that I liked about Thriller LIVE was the effects and vids on the display screens. The precise timing of what's on the screen and the real life dancers was really superb! Also, I love how they also remind us about the hardworking team doing all the jamming and fast fingerworks on the guitars when the screens part or the few times the guitarist(s) took centre stage for a while. *thumbs up* Certainly felt like a big party/jamming session that we were all part of, rather than *just* another stage performance ^_^

Here's what some of the audience at one of the earlier shows had to say about it:

I'm not a fan of MJ per se, not with the scandals and troubles that plagued the latter bit of his life, but I know I'll be digging out my collection of MJ's hits to listen to it all over again, in pure celebration of MJ's music ^_^ Just 'coz his music is still mighty amazing!

So, join in the fun and catch Thriller LIVE for yourself!

Updates galore!

2011-04-12T15:41:00.003+08:00

Apparently last year's blog reboot didn't quite make it. Coming up with new thoughts, stories etc to share needs some kinda inspiration I guess, and a special form of energy that seems to be absent in me right now.... On to some updates directly.... Actually, more like updates on how far I have gotten along in completing the goals I have set for 2011....

(1) *points to pic above* Life Saving 123 class is over and we have all passed! Thanks to Jeremy for bringing us through, and to the other ULC folks who have helped us all along the way! Half a 2011 goal done (marks with half a tick) Hope to see all the new friends I've made at BM class! ;p It has been an interesting semester that kinda started from here...

(2) After my second trip to the Similan Islands, have completed my Divemaster training ^_^ So that's another goal down for 2011.

(3) FINALLY started Class 3 lessons. Long overdue, considering my diving certifications and my ~~damn white elephant~~ PPCDL... Sucking out quite a bit of time and money but I WILL GET MY LICENSE BY THE END OF THE YEAR!! (anybody wanna contribute to my "Buy Juan a car fund"? ;p)

(4) LASIK.... 4+ years of putting in eyes and taking them out when I dive (and with the increasing kinda of water activities I'm doing) it makes sense to go burn my eyes... Target is to get this done in November, after BM and after MY dive season has closed... Bad news is that it's another hole in my pocket, good news is interest-free installment payment (meaning it'll be many little holes eating in my pocket instead)

Guess that's it for major updates. Need to get back into the groove of bloggin before this site is gonna make any semblance of sense again...

Bon voyage~~

2010-10-26T18:48:00.000+08:00

So I should have posted this yesterday when you left, but I had a mini-crisis with my contact list/address book syncing between Google-MBP-iPhone.... Kinda miss our chitchat sessions in cabs ;p But am sure you'll have tonnes of stories and (hopefully) wisdom to share when you get back.

Here's wishing my friend, fellow nature adventurer, and neighbor tonnes of fun during the two months onboard Fujimaru!

Wondering why SJ's in ethnic costume? The SSEAYP participants hafta put up a performance/play whilst onboard. A few of us were fortunate enough to get invited to their pre-departure concert, and it sure was entertaining enough. ^_^

Starting the work day with a smile! :D

2010-09-14T11:43:00.002+08:00

Sometimes friends/acquaintances ask me why I can tahan working on an island (no, they are NOT referring to Singapore) and despite the extra travel time (and the occasional risk of being stranded), I can say that my work place is pretty special. Whilst literally living the island life (living in an island city state, working on a small island off the "mainland" ;p) I sometimes do lose track of the uniqueness of our workspace, and today we were pleasantly surprised as the boat berthed at St John's Island......

As usual, most of us were catching our 40 winks on the boat, and as the boat was coming alongside the jetty, someone exclaimed "Dolphins!" "Huh? Where?" The few of us who were awake quickly looked out the window to try and spot theses charismatic marine mammals, and sure enough, we saw a sleek grey body breaching the surface of the tranquil waters. And then it was gone again. And then it appeared, further away. Not much surface activity but at least we saw one or two of these strong swimmers as we arrived at work ^_^ Who else can boast of seeing WILD DOLPHINS greeting them near their workplace every once in a while? Unfortunately, they were a bit far for my C905 to be of any use so no photos from me. Will update if I come across any colleagues who managed to take any.
Have marked out on this Google Map the rough location of this sighting.

Click on my "dolphins" tag on the left to read about some of my previous sightings (or just click here)

Re-boot!

2010-09-13T21:16:00.003+08:00

After last Thursday's PCG, I've felt the conviction of reviving my journal. (No, journal most definitely ≠ blog) It's PRIVATE, though if there are relevant bits that I feel are OK to be aired publicly here, I will put them here too. I've been keeping a journal/diary regularly since primary school until 2005 or so when it started getting sporadic before I stopped entirely in May 2007. There have been some overlaps with this blog, and even entries here have been few and far between since 2009. Guess I'm posting this here as a resolve and reminder to myself to keep on writing...

8... 4... 2... 1? XD

2010-09-08T21:19:00.000+08:00

So what do the numbers in the title mean? 8 of us went for this.... And then there were 4..... Fast forward to 3 years later, and as of last weekend, I finally took the plunge and went for my rescue course ^_^

And if it wasn't clear enough, the title's referring to the number of people in the dive courses that I have taken ;p Too bad I forgot to take a group photo with our instructor. Must have been too long since my last course XD

First time on a LOB, and first time ever visiting SAF Yacht Club @ Changi.

Boy was it a nice comfy trip to Pulau Aur. Yummy Thai food, great fun company... Not to mention the kayaking Hello Panda!

Course aside, it did feel good to be diving in Malaysia, after approximately a year. ^_^ The usual suspects were up and around, but as with every divetrip, there would be some pleasant surprises... Like this HUGE hermit crab we saw during the night dive. It was in a volute(?) shell that was as large as a rugby ball!

Even the most commonly seen nudibranch, Pteraeolidia ianthina, can still surprise me. Despite seeing them on just about every reef that I've been to, this is the first time I'm seeing it's egg ribbon ^_^

Unfortunately, not all is well with the Malaysian reefs. Most of the corals have recovered from the bleaching earlier in the year but quite a few of the anemones we came across were either fully bleached or partially bleached. Only time will tell if the reefs will fully recover from this bout of bleaching.

And with this, I bid you goodnight, and until the next adventure that awaits aboard MV DiveRACE~~

For....

This sign on the door of the saloon says it best, doesn't it? ^_^

Baybeats 2010

2010-08-31T14:46:00.001+08:00

August has been a relatively interesting month for me. We wrapped up the mass natural shores guides training; YOG has come and gone along with the torch that went past my house, alma mater(s) AND workplace; went for kayaking certification; tried my hand out in greening; and went for Baybeats ^_^ Many thanks to the many friends who were with me (or in the case of the YOG related stuff, jio-ed me) during these events. Definitely made August 2010 rather interesting and special! Oh, especially you guys who were roped into coming along to Esplanade to catch David Choi ;p (You know who you are! And no, you haven't seen me in proper fangirl mode yet. Would like to think that I have already outgrown that phase, and am now a supporter instead of a fangirl. Heh!)

So to celebrate the last day of the eight month of this year, I break away from my series of photo-filled nature related posts and present to you a short video of some of the action I managed to capture ~~on film~~ during the 2nd Day of Baybeats 2010.
Wonder if I should start doing more videos. The editing can be quite fun! ;p

Terumbu Pempang Tengah - TPT

2010-08-16T22:38:00.001+08:00

Yes, I am uber behind on my posts.... But since I did promise that my next entry would be on the visit to TPT, here goes nothing....
15 July 2010 - Was lucky enough to join a smallish team of 6 to explore one of our submerged patch reef. It has been a while since I last visited any of the patch reefs (while on a walk or whilst diving), and it was nice heading out with my cab-pool kaki since we also had a chance to do some catching up ;p

It was still dark when we arrived, but soon the skies brightened and we off we went! It was certainly quite an expanse of shore to cover but with all of us heading out in different directions, I think between the six of us, we managed to cover most of it ^_^ Here's some close-up of critters I came across. Can you figure out what they are? (p/s. click on the pics for the larger image and what it is)

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For more photos, feel free to check out my Flickr album.
Read more from Ria's posts on Darat and Tengah.

GSS02 - No, 'tis not the Great Singapore Sale

2010-07-21T16:40:00.006+08:00

15 July 2010 - Since my camera didn't have any battery during the 1st training, no pics for that one >.< But it was all charged up and ready for the second session mass training workshop for our shores ^_^ All this after an early morning spent at Terumbu Pempang Tengah! This is gonna be a photo-centric entry as it sure was a long day.....

Unlike earlier LeafMonkey Workshops, the aim's to reach out to more people in a session. So the usual menagerie suspects turned up early at the Singapore's Scouts Association HQ to set up registration desk, info desk, chairs, projector etc.

Ria kindly brought down coffee table books for the early comers to browse, as well as extra Southern Shores guidesheets to give away.

For this second training session, we were lucky enough to have papaJeff introduce coral reefs to our would-be guides. But alas, there was way too much ground for him to cover in such a short session that he wasn't able to cover coral rubble as well! Glad to see that there were lots of related questions for him but we had to break into groups for the role-playing portion of the workshop.

Based on feedback from the session, we decided to do something different this time round and sent one group down to the Programmes Room, and see if it really helped with noise control. Guess who's group was the lucky one? ;p

For this part of the session, participants are split into discussion groups tasked with different combinations of visitors and shorelife to talk about.

Armed with little factsheets and iPhone(s), as well as "free access" to facilitators, the groups pieced together their little mini-skits. It is good practice for preparing scripts when guiding at any shore. Know the facts about the wildlife that you'll be talking about, angling it....

And once that was done, it was time to share with the others their little skits! We had some rather creative representations of our "die-die-sure-can-see" reef critters... Click on the photos to see what organisms were represented ^_^

Too bad I was already zoning out after the breakout session to take anymore photos.... Will try and remember for this week's session! ;p

And we also welcome SJ back from Trengganu ^_^ Our resident naturescouter has been busy running all over the globe, so it was good to have him back in SG. At least until October....

p/s. Next post to come up *should* be the TPT one!

Ghostly encounters and a little fisher

2010-06-05T19:24:00.000+08:00

First off....
HAPPY WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY EVERYBODY!!!

Am starting to feel that I'm getting too old to be doing intertidals for a stretch of 5 consecutive days and heading to work immediately after.... And it sure doesn't help that the sun has been utterly relentless for most of the mornings this week! So here's a couple of highlights from my week of mornings spent in the sun~

(1) Horned-eyed ghost crabs (Ocypode ceratophthalmus)
Generally more often seen at night/dusk/dawn but the ones at St John's Island were rather active during the day! The first few ones that we came across were half buried and very well camouflage, and we literally stumbled upon them as we were walking around. Here's one "winking" at/for the camera even!

The ones higher up on the shore were busy digging out their little burrows, popping out every once in a while to throw out a messy pile of sand. The little black dots scattered around the burrows are actually little Casuarina fruits.

And a closer view of these little ghostly critters. Guess it's a good thing that we saw quite a few adult individuals scurrying around, as well as a number of smaller holes with the same messy "thrown sand", even though there's regular beach cleaning around the area?

For more information about these crabs:
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/crustacea/crab/ocypodoidea/ceratophthalmus.htm
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/crustacea/crab/ocypodoidea/ocypode.htm
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/crustacea/crab/ocypodoidea/ocypodoidea.htm

(2) Collared kingfisher (Halcyon chloris)
There were also at least 2 collared kingfishers out and about with us on almost all the days. Feel so lucky that I managed a quick shot of one of them perched on the pipe, and the next shot on the right even shows a small fish that it caught! Usually only manage to catch them while they're perched up on one of the trees on the island.

For more on this commonly seen kingfisher:
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Halcyon_chloris.htm

Do click on the photos if you would like a look at the larger sized images.

Perspectives.....

2010-05-20T17:08:00.000+08:00

My kayaking trip at Ubin has stirred up a series of personal reflections for me... No, the photo below has no relation to the topic XD It's just that I'm more trigger-happy than a camera whore and I don't really have candid shots of me.

Have never really been a sporty person but it seems that ever since undergraduate days, I have been becoming more and more of an outdoorsy person. It is through books that I slowly grew to learn about nature, and some of the biodiversity around us. And it is with that that I develop an interest in some outdoors activities. First there were the intertidal guiding, then came diving, then treeclimbing, cycling (yar, I didn't learn how to cycle until a year or two ago), powerboating and Sunday's kayaking. It really does seem serendipitous how things have been working out in my life so far, yet I can't help but feel that it was all planned out.

It's not only the wonder of how I've come to the role in which I have with regards to nature and biodiversity but also the actual miraculousness of nature that has gotten me thinking. And it seems that now I am starting to see and open doors to new areas and perspectives of experiencing and connecting with nature. How so?

I only went to take my OW and AOW diving certification so that I could have another angle on my FYP. One thing led to another, with me learning LIT methodology, and even helping to conduct ReefCheck training for others! I know that quite a few of my diver friends picked diving up as something unusual to do, caught the bug and have been scratching the itch to get underwater every once in a while. And depending on their instructors/diving kakis, they would gradually start appreciate the marine wildlife and its environment. Yet for me it's the opposite. So from day one I was more in awe of the different kind of milieu that I found whilst diving rather than the actual diving itself.

The same thing happened with tree climbing. This time, taking the course with a bunch of fellow intertidal enthusiasts, and again, it was the chance to be up close and personal with the trees that actually got me interested in the course. Still can't tell if I'm much of a convert to tree climbing though, but this is largely due to my sporadic fear of heights. ;p

And this brings me to kayaking. Decided to give it a try as one of those "Why not?" things to do. But the trip down the mangroves did show me yet another way for me to explore the great outdoors. Not in the adventure sense, but getting close to some of the trees without the usual sloshing walk, and with the chance to just drift and listen to all those different bird calls.

And it strikes me that all one has to do is to slow down for a moment, take a deep breath and just take it all in. Especially for those of us who are blessed to be in Singapore. Just look at the amount of urbanisation and development we have had here in land scarce Singapore. Yet we have managed to keep enough of our nature spots (i.e. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve, Central Nature Reserve, etc.), as well as have park connectors (that act as green bridges between out fragmented forests on mainland). There is still much nature around us. Maybe more in the form of urban biodiversity than actual wildlife in forests. Every once in a while I lose sight of this fact, and yet I am reminded of it time and again. What better time to have this readjusting of perspective but in the middle of the International Year of Biodiversity, eh? So, the next time you find yourself outdoors, don't be so caught up in the activity you're doing but also take time to look around, take a deep breath, and spot critters in the vicinity.

Totally off topic but seems like next year is to be the International Year of Forests! Hmmm.... So what does a divejunkie do then? XD

Kayaking @ Ubin

2010-05-17T22:05:00.005+08:00

Whilst Ria and company were out at Sekudu in the wee hours in the morning yesterday, I went for my very first kayaking trip to some of the mangroves around Pulau Ubin.

Having missed out on the chance to try my hand at kayaking when I missed OBS in Secondary School, I never did understand the draw of kayaking..... Initially wasn't sure if I wanted to join in the trip but figured that there was no harm giving it a go since I'm generally a sea-person ;p

There was a quick briefing on how to maneuver the paddles, and off into the water we went. Newbies like me were paired up with our experienced friends (in my case, a WAY more experience friend, so I was in good hands... erm, paddles) while the rest went off in their one-man kayaks. And then there was a repeat briefing in when we were all safely adrift.

Then it was off to the mangroves!

At the parts of the river that were narrower, we had a bit of a kayak jam. Didn't count the exact number of kayaks but I think there were a good 20-odd people in total. Good thing that this trip was during the high tide, otherwise I couldn't imagine how we would be navigating through some bits!

Didn't take photos of the mangrove plants but did have fun pointing out the blooming sea hibiscus and various examples of vivipary on the mangrove plants. It was just such a novel experience looking at the mangrove life from a different perspective. And NOTHING can beat the sense of peace and tranquility there. And the surround sound bird calls were splendid! Just floating along..... And of course, taking photos at the wider portions of the river. Pity that with so many of us, we probably were intruding on the wildlife quite a bit....

After the sojourn into the mangroves, we cruised off to a rock at one corner of Ubin. Arms were busy, so no photos ;p Once I picked up the rhythm/groove of paddling, it was actually rather soothing to chat with our neighbouring kayak as we went along. Just that I can't really steer, so my seascouter friend behind was doing most of that!

As with all things, our little adventure in the sun and sea came to an end, and it was back to land to wash up.

"World Atlas of Marine Fauna" - First Impressions

2010-04-13T22:41:00.003+08:00

First thought that came to mind when I first saw it on Friday during ADEX. That is a HUGE whopper of a book! Next thought after getting a copy from Ivan to do a review... This is a freakingly heavy book!

According to Amazon, this book weighs 7 pounds (approx. 3.2kg)! For a single book! o.0 Definitely worked out my arms getting this volume home!
From the weight alone, it does give a "reference book" kinda feel, and the impression that it's no featherweight like those handy field guides that are more commonplace.

Opening the cover reveals a world map with red dots indicating selected photo locations used in the book. What's thrilling to me is that SINGAPORE has a red dot on it! Now I have to go through every 725 pages looking for the photos taken here XD

With the marine animals being organized by Phylum (and depending on the organism, sometimes Class/Order/Family), it does give the layman an insight to the taxonomic relationship between the animals. Nice systematic way of putting things. In spite of the book's title being "World Atlas of Marine Fauna", it's skewed towards the non-sessile aka mobile animal groups. The sessiles such as bryzoans, sponges, and cnidarians (refers to a large number of organisms such as soft and hard corals, jellyfish, anemones, hydroids, sea fans etc.) are covered VERY briefly in the introduction and not elaborated on. Do wish that there would be a separate volume on them too! Just like the companion volume "World Atlas of Marine Fishes." Being a single volume reference book targeted at non-experts/non-scientists, it does make sense to cover the more attractive (at least to the run-of-the-mill diver/snorkeler) marine animals.

Would probably only have the opportunity to do a more thorough reading of this World Atlas over the weekend....

Good Friday on St John's Island

2010-04-06T09:21:00.002+08:00

Sorry that this post is coming way late. The coral workshop is some what logistically challenging and there's not too much free time for me to do up this post. Least ways not after I have grabbed my photos and gotten some off other photographers. >.< Boy was the beach on St John's crowded on Good Friday! My Geography teacher from secondary school, Mrs Chua, contacted me about arranging for a guided nature walk for her friends and their family. Interestingly enough, Mrs Chua also facilitated my first ever visit to St John's Island for a geography fieldtrip. That trip stuck in our memories mainly due to the fact that after visiting the mangroves, we were caught in a rather heavy downpour at the rocky cliffs. At least this time around we had better luck with the weather.

Since I was in the middle of the SECORE workshop, and we made the arrangements in less than a week, it was a rather informal affair with Abby (who also happened to be on St John's for the workshop) kindly helping to guide half the group. It was nice sharing to a group of enthusiastic family group. Lots of questions asked, and a couple of them were also pointing out some of the raptors that were flying around the vegetation on the rocky cliff!

The group kept us pretty busy with their zeal for nature, and we were constantly talking and sharing stories with the group, so much so that I actually didn't take many shots of the organisms.

In fact, we stayed out until the tide was starting to look like it would cut off our route back! Some of the group was still heading further along the rocky shore at this point, and we had to quickly start ushering people back to the entry point.

But of course, spending Good Friday out at the shores would call for a group shot, and Abby was quickly loaded with an assortment of cameras to help with that. Really couldn't resist sneaking in a shot of her managing at least 5 cameras!!!!!

At the end of the walk, Mrs Chua and another geography teacher took over for the geography portion of their outing. The students in the group did a little exercise in beach profiling while Abby and I headed back to TMSI to check on the preparations for the first night of expected coral spawning before the group came up to TMSI.

Dr Michael Laterveer (Rotterdam Zoo) was kind enough to do a quick presentation for the group, introducing them corals, mass spawning, and the work that we hoped to get done during the ongoing SECORE workshop.

The visit was wrapped up with a quick peek at more marine life in the TMSI touchpool before the group headed back to the beach for a picnic lunch. ^_^

It's also heartening to read that the visit to St John's turned out pretty well in spite of the rushing here and there! Certainly hope the group would come back to St John's for another visit!

SECORE workshop - setting up

2010-04-01T12:18:00.006+08:00

A continuation from my previous post, the folks involved in the our first ever coral spawning workshop aka SECORE workshop here in Singapore came over to the Tropical Marine Science Institute facilities on St John's Island yesterday, and Manon has done up a real quick photo blog of yesterday's orientation and settling in.

Settling in including having a quick intro to TMSI, as well as round 1 of talks/presentations by the various partners. Dr Paul Erftermeijer (Deltares) gave an intro to some of the research that Deltares does, as well as the research areas that Singapore Delft Water Alliance covers. Dr Mary Hagedorn (Smithsonian Institution/HIMB) followed that with talking about some threats to coral reefs and how freezing coral sperm may help in preserving some genetic diversity. Dr Michael Laterveer (Rotterdam Zoo) wrapped up the series of talks with a summary of what was done in the previous 4 SECORE workshops that were conducted in Rotterdam and Puerto Rico.

So on to today.... Or at least the first half of the day. Our shopping crew headed back to mainland Singapore to get piping, hardware, tubing, liquid nitrogen, more drinks and snacks, etc. that would be required to tide us over the long Easter weekend as we get busy with the spawning. Here you can see one of the DBS students in discussion with Michael on setting up rearing bins for the coral babies. Our many thanks go out to Abby, Ned, Mark, Roy, and Juward who spent the morning rushing around for the stuff that we needed, especially for getting everything in time to meet the mid-day ferry back to St John's!

The other (luckier?) team went out to Kusu to get some coral colonies for spawning in the tank. (Yes, Jamie's in the back of a vehicle again XD) Hopefully Mei Lin or Siti would share what happened during the dive. We should find out further tonight if the colonies we have in the tanks spawn. Can't wait!

And what about the rest of us who stayed on at St John's? Here's Dr Mary Hagedorn looking pretty cheery as she prepares for the talk on coral reproduction and spawning that she's currently giving as I'm quickly finishing up this post. And me? I was hoping to get this out before lunch in between troubleshooting here and there. Time to give today's talks my full attention, and we still need to sort out the dive roster!

It's that time of the year again....

2010-03-29T15:23:00.005+08:00

I know, it's been AGES since I last put up any entry but life has been busy ;p Anyways, it's coral mass spawning time again here in the waters around this sunny island of Singapore!

Well, or at least we're expecting it to be over this coming Easter weekend. In addition to the usual tagging of spawning colonies (done by the NUS Marine Lab in DBS), there's also our first ever coral spawning/breeding/reproduction workshop that's gonna be held at the Tropical Marine Science Institute facilities here on St John's Island! This workshop in Singapore is organized by Michael Laterveer (Rotterdam Zoo, the Netherlands), Dr. James Guest (National University of Singapore), Dr. Eric Borneman (University of Houston, USA), Mark Schick (John G. Shedd Aquarium, USA), Mike Henley (Smithsonian National Zoological Park, USA), and Dr. Mary Hagedorn (Smithsonian Institution, USA) with the kind sponsorship of EcoShape.

There's an official weblog for the workshop, but since I'm part of the supporting crew of the workshop, will try and post little snippets here as well! ^_^

The Cove - environmental espionage?

2009-09-12T12:59:00.014+08:00

Yesh, I'm slow. Just managed to catch "The Cove" with sonnenblume yesterday. It was also kinda apt that I was just reading the news on how Day 1 of the hunt at Taiji was slaughter free, whilst I was on my way to meet her at PS. And am kinda glad that I'm "re-activating" this blog by discussing this docu-movie.... Was supposed to put this up last night but Delphine (that's my 5 year-old IBM) wasn't cooperative... So glad I was still able to capture some of my immediate thoughts on my trusty Touch ^__^

My first impressions when I heard about this movie was that it was gonna be kinda another Sharkwater.... Albeit about dolphins instead of sharks. But alas, first impressions are just that. First impressions. The Cove came out more balanced (in terms of view points), as well as seemingly more objective than Sharkwater. Why seemingly? Mainly because it *is* still mainly a Western perspective of the issues at stake.... But definitely more balanced than Sharkwater. Not that I'm slamming Sharkwater or anything. Sharkwater definitely helped in increasing the awareness on the sharks' plight, even if I felt that their approach was a bit too aggressive and extreme. OPS on the other hand, toed the law (possibly broke quite a few) to get video and sound footage to show the world what was happening in Taiji. This small town in Japan's Wakayama prefecture has been making headlines (at least to me) every year on the dolphin hunt. Would say that every year, without fail, I would be watching depressing Youtube footage of these hunts. But those were random snippets of what was going on there. Nothing quite so coherent as what the OPS team and Ric O'Barry risked life and limb for.

Where Sharkwater did a head-on almost head-to-head confrontation with the shark finning industries, The Cove was more of an adventure into stealth and espionage. The snippet on their FB page puts it really succinctly:

Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, The Cove follows a high-tech dive team on a mission to discover the truth about the international dolphin capture trade as practiced in Taiji, Japan. Utilizing state-of-the-art techniques, including hidden microphones and cameras in fake rocks, the team uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide.

The Cove exposes not only the tragedy of dolphin slaughtering in Japan, but also the dangerously high levels of mercury in dolphin meat and seafood, the cruelty in capturing dolphins for entertainment, and the depletion of our ocean’s fisheries by worldwide seafood consumption. We also see how the mandate of the International Whaling Commission has been manipulated by the Japanese Fisheries Agency for its benefit and its subsequent effect on the rest of the world.

That is inherently what The Cove is all about. It is NOT about showing the world the cruelty of these Japanese fishermen, the inhumane slaughter. Part of it is. Kinda. Especially after the intro about Ric O'Barry's days on the Flipper set, and how he turned activist after being on the "darkside" (aka dolphin trainer). BUT, more importantly, I like how other angles of the issue were explored. Like how IWC only covers large ceteceans, and how the issue about bio-accumulation of mercury in ceteceans was generally ignored....

So at least the "killing" section of the hunt seems to be on the winning end... What about the captures for oceanariums/aquariums/dolphinariums? In some ways, they are kinda "necessary evils". Like zoos and the like. How else would the general public get a chance to be up close and personal with these animals? To touch base. To have the same sense of space. And from there, feel for them and their plight. Personally, I wouldn't even think too much about aquariums being too small for large pelagics like whales and dolphins and whale sharks,if not for encountering them in the wild. And yes, I mean the little bit of "wild", that's right here in SG.

Taken off Semakau in June 2009. Courtesy of Karenne Tun.

However, the show is not without it's flaws. The main portion that I really felt was kinda skewed was the section on the interviews they carried out in Tokyo, about whether other Japanese are aware of what's going on in Taiji. I may be wrong, but the logic of those interviews came across as "How can dolphin hunting be a tradition if the rest of Japan doesn't know about it?". Two main issues I have about that. (1)Tokyo is the epitome of modernized Japan, and as with most of the modernized world and countries, there would definitely be some lost in knowledge of culture and traditions. (2)Taiji is a SMALL fishing town/village. Many rural villages have their own local traditions and customs that other parts of the country may not know about. Furthermore, it appears that whale hunting etc. HAS been the villagers' way of life for centuries. At this point in time it would probably be difficult to check with the town if the hunts are truly remnants of their traditional past, as this is gonna be a really touchy issue, with all the bad publicity and all.....

But all in all, it IS a good watch, and definitely a wake up call. At least for those of us who feel that they have a connection to the sea. How many of you out there actually stop to think about how and where do we get our animals in zoos and aquariums? And about how captivity is like for them.... Just my thoughts and all.... Docu-movies like The Cove and Sharkwater ARE a dose of reality amidst all the other run-of-the-mill movies that transport us into the world of story telling....

Taken off Semakau in June 2009. Courtesy of Karenne Tun.

Not even sure if I covered what I wanted to be said and shared... But if you're wondering what YOU can do, firstly, if you haven't caught the movie, go catch it. Preferably bring a friend too. Blog about your thoughts. Write in to you local Japanese embassy (but do be polite!) Read more on the official movie website or here. Write into OPS and/or Ric O'Barry to give encouragement and/or thanks. Sign to petition to WAZA. The list goes on. If this has made some sort of impact to you, get creative and do something positive for the dolphins! ^__^

Pink dolphins put on a performance at Semakau~~

2009-06-10T20:31:00.002+08:00

(Excuse the photo-less post but such exciting events have JUST gotta happen when there are NINE divers onboard the boat, with only ONE camera... the rest of us just got desperate enough to try using our cameraphones but alas....) Anyways, if you're still interested in a photo-less account of our day out at sea with our local dolphins, do read on! Photos and vids will be posted once K! has sorted them out ^_^

We were back to using Dolphin Explorer 2 instead of the air-conditioned Explorer 1. This proved to be a good thing since Mel was shouting "Dolphin!!!" as we were approaching the nursery site at Semakau. ^_^ Open-cabin boat means that snoozing divers (such as yours truly) get the chance to shock themselves awake, look up just in time to see 1, 2, THREE!!! greyish (aka juvenile) pink dolphins just off the starboard bow of the boat! After realising that they were hanging around the area, we were kinda playing hide-n-seek with our newfound delphinium mammalian friends for an our or so. It really was a special treat for the 5 Hons. students who were out with us for their check out dives. Plus it was my third time seeing dolphins in local waters (and second time at Semakau)! ^_^ My first delphinium encounter was near St John's Island, and the second was at Semakau.

After the de-gearing and lunching, we were just starting to head back to mainland SG, and it being a nice and sunny day, the usual chit-chatting and catching up was done whilst drying off in our swimwear. Can't even remember what I was talking to Mei Lin about when I saw a grey fin pop in and out of the water. Dolphin!!! My turn to do the sudden shout! Hee~ This time the 3 (or 4) dolphins (likely to be the same ones) seemed to be riding the waves and/or boat wake. Much more playful behaviour than in the morning. They were even jumping out of the water, and "waving" to us with the flippers at some point! Pretty brilliant performance! Who needs to go for the Dolphin Lagoon show when dolphins are showing off like this in the wild. Real amazing stuff!!! Mwahaha! (apologies but I can't resist gloating~~~ ;p) And the reason why we saw dolphins TWICE in a day? Because we were on Dolphin Explorer 2!!

Oh yes. For those curious about the dive, it was relatively crap vis. Was supposed to locate and retrieve one of my missing nursery tables but we couldn't find it at all >_< Came across this drift net that went over the coral nursery, the floating nursery, coral transplant site, and all the way to the breakwater.... caught all over the corals *bah* kept having to untangle it. k! wanted to take photos/videos of it for documentation but the boatmen appeared to retrieve it before she could do so. D and I swam the entire length of it and the good news is that we only saw 5 fish (1 dead big-eyed fish, and 4 live fish - threadfin(?) butterflyfish, soapfish, common damsel, ~20cm Bleeker's parrotfish) caught in it. Bad news was that we didn't release them before the boatmen came along since we wanted k! to take photos of them....

We *did* have some excitement at the nursery as we had two young cuttlefish mothers gently laying their clutch of eggs in one of the larger Acropora sp. corals. ^_^ Kept distracting me from what we were supposed to be doing~~~ But again, no photos... It really is true that you see soooo many interesting stuff and photo chances when you DON'T have a camera....

Biodiversity Photo Contest by ACB (22 May-30 Aug 2009)

2009-06-03T09:26:00.003+08:00

Zooming in on Biodiversity, the first ASEAN-wide Photo Contest on Biodiversity.

The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) has announced that it is now accepting entries to the First ASEAN-wide photo contest “Zooming in on Biodiversity” during the International Day for Biodiversity 2009 (IDB 2009) celebrations at the SEARCA Auditorium, Los Baños, Laguna on 22 May.

Conducted in partnership with the European Commission (EC), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (AIJC), the photo contest seeks to popularize biodiversity among its stakeholders and the general public through the medium of photography.

“Among environmental issues and concerns regionally and globally, biodiversity Conservation is among the least known, yet one of the most important. Unfortunately, only a small fraction of the global population, mostly scientists and environmentalists, understands the key role that biodiversity plays in Humankind’s survival. This lack of knowledge often translates to the lack of care for the very environment that nourishes us,” ACB Executive Director Rodrigo U. Fuentes told about 100 scientists, ambassadors, students, and media practitioners who participated in the IDB 2009 programme.

He added that there is an urgent need to popularize biodiversity. “One effective way to accomplish this is to use the power of photos. An old cliché but still very true, a picture paints a thousand words. By translating biodiversity and its relationship with health, food security, Climate change and other everyday human issues into powerful images, we can generate a greater awareness for this often-difficult-to-grasp concept,” Fuentes said.

For his part Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines Delegation Ambassador Alistair MacDonald said the contest "is an excellent means of increasing public awareness on the importance and beauty of biodiversity. One's photographic eye can encapsulate a very complex issue in a single image."

The contest, which will run from 22 May 2009 to 30 August 2009, is part of ACB’s key thrust to promote regional public awareness on biodiversity conservation. It was also designed to increase the involvement of media practitioners, professional and amateur photographers, young photography hobbyists, and the business sector in generating awareness for biodiversity conservation.

Open to all residents of ASEAN Member States Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam, the contest welcomes entries which are exclusive to the contest, unpublished, and not submitted to previous contests.

Entries should capture various images related to biodiversity (plants, animals, marine life, ASEAN Heritage Parks) or the many benefits that biodiversity brings to human beings, its importance, the threats biodiversity face (deforestation, climate change), or how biodiversity affects lives. Photos showing initiatives to protect biodiversity resources such as plants, animals, and marine Species are also welcome. Entries can also depict: biodiversity as source of food (food and agriculture); biodiversity as source of medicine (health and medicine); biodiversity as source of shelter; biodiversity and climate change; the aesthetic value of biodiversity; biodiversity as source of livelihood; and biodiversity and ecotourism.

For more details on submissions etc., please click here:
Zooming in on Biodiversity

Invasive Aliens in Singapore....

2009-05-22T14:34:00.006+08:00

So after a two month long blog drought, juan's finally inspired to blog ;p Just got back from Prof Peter Ng's lunchtime talk on Invasive Alien Species in Singapore, and I was live twittering since I had my trusty iPod touch whilst on wireless@SG. First thing I learnt was that twittering's a little tough when you're basically typing with two fingers instead of ten, and secondly, with a touch screen you can look away from the keyboard whilst typing..... First time I did live twittering of a talk, so there were typos here and there, as well a bit of incoherency. Just hope that the folks who were following my twitter page got the gist of the talk. There's a screen-cap of my tweets as well as the relevant replies that I got during the talk..... It's arranged in chronological order so you can get a gist of the ~~ramblings~~ tweets whilst the talk was going on....

Otterman also put up a quick post on the Biodiversity Crew blog on the live twittering. I do hope that most of the stuff that I posted up's accurate, seeing that I was furiously pounding away on my iPod during the talk!

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY DAY!!!

p/s. To help you make sense of the ~~ramblings~~ tweets, here's a link to Ria's very nicely done summary of the talk (with photos too!) ^_^

Off to Manado!!! (09-16 Mar)

2009-03-09T04:40:00.002+08:00

divejunkie's long awaited dive trip is here ^_^ Flying off to Manado later, for a week of fun diving at Bunaken and Lembeh. Plus a one day visit to Tangkoko Nature Reserve.

(Photo taken by Jens Petersen, Wikimedia)
With some luck, we should be able to pop by Kasawari Resort and say 'hi' to Tony Wu and the FiNS gang ^_^ Pretty excited about the entire trip as: (1) it's the first time I would be diving out of Singapore/Malaysia, (2) been 2.5 years since I last flew, (3) it's MANADO!!! (more especially LEMBEH!!!) How can I not get excited?!? Didn't manage to get a new laptop before the trip, so even if there's decently charged internet access there, won't really be online.... So I'll see you guys when I get back next week ^__^ Meanwhile, check out Tony's blog as he tries to update from there, as well as the photos he has on Flickr~~~

After the rain....

2009-02-25T23:10:00.002+08:00

This year's monsoon has certainly been a bit awkward with more days of bright sun than heavy rain, probably contributing in part to our recent bushfires.... The past few days has marked the return of the rain, and as the rain abated a little on the way home today, this was the sight that greeted me.

A double rainbow!!! Yar, I know, there's only one really obvious rainbow, with a really faint one just above it. Was taking this from the train with my trusty SE C905 as the train was pulling into the station. Quite a few of the other passengers were giving me queer looks but another guy at least was doing the same thing! ^_^ Was too slow to get a full shot but the more obvious rainbow was a full one! Reaching across the horizon, and the faint secondary one was partial, and fading really fast.....
And here's another one from the bus. By then the secondary rainbow faded out quite a bit, and when I showed this to mum, she thought it was just a reflection!

Just got so excited that I posted the photos directly from my hp and they hit the web before I even got home!!

So how to double rainbows come about? Most of us probably know that a rainbow results from the bending of light as it passes through suspended water droplets, resulting in our run-of-the-mill seven coloured rainbow. The colours come about due to the different wavelengths of different coloured light that actually blend together in the visible (to human eyes) spectrum. On rarer occasions, a fainter secondary arc can be observed, with the order of the colours reversed. (I know this isn't really obvious in my shots since it looks more like a shadow of a rainbow rather than an actual rainbow....) The detailed explanation seems to be here. But from what I can understand, as the sunlight passes through the water droplets, it is sometimes REFLECTED aka mirrored after it has been REFRACTED aka bent, resulting in the mirror image secondary rainbow. Cool eh? Probably need to do some tinkering with the image contrast to make it more visible ^_^

The quick Wikipedia search also made me realised that the rainbow has certainly captured the hearts of many people across cultures and heritages. Seems like just about every civilisation seems to have a story or two in their mythology or religion that involves rainbows. The most commonly heard one is probably the one about the leprachaun's pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (which is in fact impossible to find since a full rainbow is basically a circle). Though the one that I am most familiar with is the one from the Bible, where God uses the rainbow to indicate his promise that there would not be another flood like the one Noah survived. (Genesis 9:13-15) It's a good reminder for me even as the recent rumblings of climate change and sea level rise threaten to put me in a frenzy.... That there's still hope ^_^ Interestingly enough, the Epic of Gilgamesh, a poem from Ancient Mesopotamia, also seems to indicate that the rainbow has similar promise of sorts with regards to a great flood....

Here's the links to the original postings:
(1) TwitPic
(2) Facebook (think only friends and friends of friends can see this....)

World Wetlands Day 2009 - SBWR photo exhibition

2009-01-30T17:36:00.005+08:00

Following hot on the heels of his joint exhibition at one of the libraries, Yangchen presents to us this exhibition on ~~birds~~ flying critters ~~of our very own Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve~~. The exhibition runs from 30 January 2009 to the end of March at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

Getting to see many of his really enjoyable photos (both for him and us viewers) everyday in office never diminishes the respect I have for him. Really creative shots and he goes the whole mile to get *that* perfect moment. Pretty much one of the most amazing photographers I know personally. And to top it all off, most of them have a focus on nature! Here's a peek at his portfolio on his Flickr site. Do go down to SBWR and get another look at the "Unpredictable Flying Objects"!!

EDIT: Seems like I've provided some mis-information. Not all the photographed subjects are on birds, and not all were taken at Buloh. Just makes me even more curious as to what's gonna be there. Here's what Yangchen commented on the cross-FB posting:
"Thanks very much Juanhui for your message and for doing me such a huge favour publicizing these events. I don't think I deserve such exultation but I'll try my very best to live up to it!

Note: the photos on exhibit at Sungei Buloh include subjects other than birds, and only some were taken at Sungei Buloh. For those who visit this wonderful wildlife sanctuary, I hope my exhibition adds some colour to your experiences there.

Thanks!"

Reflections - 2008, the Year of the Frog....

2009-01-23T20:59:00.003+08:00

This may seem to be coming a year late, but being an intertidal critter, I follow the lunar calendar ;p Plus I realised that I have not posted any entry on frogs in 2008! o.0 So here's a little tree frog bidding farewell to the Year of the Rat....

OK, so in this photo it looks more like a "cupboard frog" than a tree frog but I assure you that it *should* be a juvenile-ish common tree frog aka four-lined tree frog (Polypedates leucomystax). Probably one of the more common frogs around in Singapore, though the only other live frog I've actually seen in the wild is the Copper-cheeked frog (Rana chalconata).

So back to why it's on a cupboard and not a tree.... My colleague spotted this fella amongst his (my colleague's, not the P.leucomystax's!) many many potted plants at the back of our office building at SBG. By the time I got called over, it was "exploring" our tool shelves nearby. Oh well. But it does go to show that even in a rather disturbed environment like the Botanic Gardens can still play host to some wildlife!

蛙の歌が...
聞こえてくるよ...
チンチロ、チンチロ、チンチロリン...

(Eng ver.: Little Froggie sing a song...
singing, dancing all day long...
*croak* *croak* *croak*)

+++++++++

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!!!!

650 diving without dj TT_TT

2009-01-12T10:26:00.004+08:00

Yes. This was the Hantu dive my A650 went to without me. Why? Because the MS camera went kuku..... And dj was stuck at home.... *lol*

Oh well. Hantu sure never fails to deliver, even if it's almost 0m vis and 24 deg! ^_^

FREE - SciAmEarth 3.0 issue

2008-12-19T19:49:00.004+08:00

It really seems to be the season for giving. Other than the Project Seahorse free ID e-book, Scientific American is offering their Earth 3.0 special issue for free download ^_^ Catch is that you are only allowed one download per email address. But then again, how many times would YOU need to DL it? Brilliant idea to guard against hotlinking! The file size is 25.7 MB (97 pages), which might be a bit taxing on those who have a slower connection.... From the content page, it sure looks like a promising read!

Listing of contents/main articles:
(1) COVER STORY: ENERGY Can Nuclear Energy Compete? by Matthew L. Wald
New reactor designs could reduce global warming and fossil-fuel dependence, but utilities are grappling with whether better nukes make more market sense.

(2) ENVIRONMENT China's Energy Paradox by David Biello
A firsthand look at how China's relentlessly expanding use of dirty coal may offset its equally forceful push for cleaner cities and renewable power.

(3) NATIONAL AFFAIRS The Need to Lead in Clean Tech - A conversation with Thomas L. Friedman by Steve Mirsky
The best selling journalist discusses why national security and economics, not just environmentalism, should drive the U.S. to get green aggressively.

(4) URBAN PLANNING Chicago Goes Green by Josh Boak
Can the legendary gritty Windy City really remake itself into a model of sustainable urban living?

(5) CLIMATE STRATEGIES Carbon Cowboys by Ashley Ahearn
Ranchers in Montana get paid by polluters to let the grass grow.

(6) BIODIVERSITY Sharking Guadalupe by Jim Cornfield
Ecotourism has become the unlikely protector of an unexpected endangered species: the great white shark.

(7) HABITAT Regrowing Borneo, Tree by Tree by Jane Braxton Little
To save orangutans, biologist Willie Smits is restoring a rain forest - and creating new livelihoods for the Indonesian families who help him.

"Do one thing for nature this Christmas..."

2008-12-19T14:19:00.002+08:00

It's Christmas season and we spread the festive joy to our family and friends, how about sharing a little of the cheer with the critters around us? This is basically a UK/BBC initiative called "Breathing Places", in a bid "to help you get friendlier with wildlife and give you lots of ideas on how you can do just that." With the current economic downturn and all, guess a number of us would be cutting down on overseas travels, so why try out some of the ideas with connecting to nature instead? Would certainly give us a more cost effective alternative to try something different. The suggested ideas are also categorised to "quick", "simple", and "adventurous" so no worries about biting more than you can chew. ^_^ How I wish more of these suggestions are applicable here in sunny SG.....

More details here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces/

Sentosa with the SWA folks ^_^

2008-12-16T16:10:00.003+08:00

While the usual bunch were having their overnight at St John's Island last weekend, divejunkie was ~~kidnapped~~ asked to help guide a bunch of Scouts at Sentosa's intertidal.

Not sure about the details of why they were here in Singapore for a few days (naturescouter was the one who got me into this spot of unplanned guiding ;P), but it's a nice cozy of group made up of 3 Thais, 1 Malaysian, and 3 Singaporeans. EDIT: Did a quick search, and this small group of Scouts were exploring Sentosa's intertidal as part of their 3 day Scouts of the World Discovery Workshop, with them focusing on the environment. Seems like it's a rather large international award for Scouts, though I seem to be only starting to know about stuff like this ~~via diffusion~~ from SJ.....

Sentosa's rocky shore is quite a but of an adventure to explore. And we certainly had fun exploring all the naturally eroded caves and holes, even posing for some "refugee" shots! ^_^

Even trying out some creative poses with the scenery ^_^ Real glad that the weather held up despite the overcast sky that evening.

With the algae in full bloom, some of the parts were tricky, and slippery, so it took a bit of teamwork and hand-holding (with a few minor slips) to get us through the entire route.

Here's some of the critters we saw....Didn't snap all, most of these were taken after we met up with SJ at the hunter-seeking area where he and Jerald were looking for critters for the Scouts to see.

First off, 2 differently coloured egg crabs, as well as a swimming crab.

The last time I was at Sentosa, it was octopus frenzy, with a number of small octopus(es) all venturing out as the sun set, and on Sat, we were also fortunate enough to come across at least 2!

And of course, me favouritest of all.... the sluggies!! The one on the left is the Jorunna funebris aka chocolate chip nudibranch/Oreo cookie nudibranch. They seem to be in season at the moment and are regularly seen on our local intertidals, and in recent months, the young 'uns seem to be venturing out and about! The one on the right is a first intertidal spotting for me, well, actually my first in Singapore. Usually see this Phyllodesmium briareum while diving. It's been spotted by some of the other local divers before at Hantu, whilst I have been seeing them at the Tioman and Dayang dive sites in Malaysia.

Of course, since the Scouts were there as part of a workshop, they had to do a report of sorts, so many of them were armed with cameras (of course, for taking fun people shots too!), and at least one of them had a notebook to take down the names of the critters we came across. Notice that there's also a plastic bag full of stuff. No, we weren't collecting anything for a dinner BBQ. One of them actually had spare plastic bags for collecting trash, so we also did a little bit of a shore clean-up as we trooped along. Good thinking, dude!

More photos on Facebook:
Jun's shots
Scouts' photos

New Seahorse ID book available!!

2008-12-13T22:24:00.004+08:00

Project Seahorse and TRAFFIC North America have come up with an e-book on seahorse identification. Kudos to I-NSC for the heads up ^_^

"The new guide is being distributed to Customs agents around the world to help them implement the new listing of seahorses on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). It is also available here as a single PDF file."
It's a free e-book so do head over to DiveBooks.Net download your own copy too ^_^ Our local species Hippocampus comes and H.kuda are also inside, so this is definitely yet another valuable resource for guides and would-be-guides to have! dj here is all tuckered out after a relatively packed week of intertidal and underwater activities, so the book review would hafta wait until next week. Do stay tuned and get your own copy now!

EDIT: Seems like there's a bit of unwarranted direct linking to the download (without directing net traffic to the I-NSC website, so the "product page" has been taken off for now. Netizens can't seem to read in detail.... In the meantime, while waiting for the I-NSC mirror to be up again, here's the original distributor, Project Seahorse.

EDIT2: The I-NSC link on Divebooks.net is up again ^_^ Thanks once again to Ivan!!

《城市生命线》City Footprints - the Marine Champions episode!

2008-11-25T22:04:00.004+08:00

It's been a while but it's time for another installation of dj's quick-n-rambly local nature documentary synopsis/review ^_^ This time tackling a Mandarin programme produced by threesixzero productions!

It starts off by introducing the three "stars" (and intertidal veterans) Chee Kong, Sijie, and Siti, as the protectors of our sea. First portion of this episode is spent tracking the Star Trackers on a monitoring trip to Cyrene reefs. SJ mentions a bit about ~~the insanity of~~ intertidal enthusiasts going out in the wee hours of the morning (like 2am at times!) since we can't choose the timing(s) of the tides.

Note that this trip out to Cyrene coincided with showers of blessings, and as the show indicates out 1h-or-so wait on the boat, SJ explains the hazards of going out to the intertidals whilst it is pouring. Other than getting a thorough soaking, one would also be risking lightning strikes....

A quick introduction to Cyrene's locality (middle of all those petrochemical industries and shipping lanes), and how it is still full of biodiversity (e.g. the new seastar record, Pentaceraster mammilatus we had earlier this year), and it's off the boat for a quick hour's worth of star tracking! The challenges faced are certainly highlighted. First, the temperament of the weather... Then the missing transect marking poles (likely washed away with the tides/currents)..... Taking GPS points, measurements and photographs in a race against time as dusk falls and the tide rises..... (Though the episode *did* leave out the sometimes tricky amphibious landing and boarding...)

And as we are treated to the dusky Cyrene, we are introduced to the second section featuring Siti and TSG.... This time with a fieldtrip to Tanjung Rimau at Sentosa. They have a slightly longer working window than the Star Tracking trip but are still pressed for time. TSG is one of the few groups that collects "scientifically sound data" through transect and quadrat studies.... Some useful insights that came up where the concerns of family members on pursuing marine biology in Singapore. Also, TSG work *doesn't* stop at the data gathering (well, for the bulk of the volunteers it probably does) but the data needs to be analysed, and samples of seagrass also need to be identified and/or deposited at the Singapore Herbarium at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Unlike the Star Trackers who focus mainly on Cyrene, TSG actually covers a number of shores, so for the third, and final portion of the show, we are whisked away to Chek Jawa (situated on the eastern side of Pulau Ubin), where all three of them are out for TSG monitoring session. It's no surprise to see Chee Kong and Sijie there since they are one of the first few that joined TeamSeagrass as volunteers! (Yet again demonstrating the multi-hatted facet of many of the shore enthusiasts. How else do you think we get to know each other? ^_^)

On this particular trip, around half the volunteers were TSG and/or CJ virgins, making it easy to link to the need for sharing and training. Capacity building is absolutely necessary for out local NGOs to continue doing their job of sharing and caring for our marine environment. Saving the environment is certainly not a individual's job. General support from the public is needed to make things happen. Just look at how the planned 2001 reclamation of Chek Jawa was postponed for 10 years (and hopefully indefinitely) from the efforts of a group of nature enthusiasts who created a ripple effect, causing everyday Singaporeans to start speaking up for our shores.

And the episode ends on this note. On how the limitless zeal and love these three young people have resulted in them walking the path of shore volunteers, and that their stories have only just begun!

Liveblogging from the "Star-Studded" Echinoderm Workshop ^_^

2008-11-07T19:33:00.005+08:00

dj is making an attempt at live blogging from the first of a series of intertidal guide training workshops organised by Leafmonkey. Ria's certainly not making this easy since she *does* tend to go on rather fast but will try my best-est to update this blog.... All the basic (and at times boring) technical bits being squished into 30 minutes, no wonder!! (Did I just hear Ria say that the seastar tube feet kinda do a ballerina-like thing when moving?)

Adelle is being my photographer since dj is busy keeping track of things here.... *heh* Thanks girl! Anyway, the turnout is a little less than the sign up number of 25. Good that we have a good mix of guides from different groups like BWV, NHC, RMBR, NParks, TSG, etc.... Nice to see unfamiliar faces from RJC in addition to the regulars who also happen to be the multi-hatted folks ^_^

Okies... Need to try and pay attention here. Part 02 of the live-blogging would have more information for those who are unable to join us ^_^ Thanks once again to monkey and Ria for getting this series of much needed training up and running!

all bags go to heaven?

2008-10-17T13:40:00.002+08:00

Have just retired my bright yellow field backpack that I have been using since year 1, and has since then, dutifully gone with me for my terrestrial, intertidal and diving fieldwork the last 3 years. My faithful yellow United Colors of Benetton Hi-Ke backpack has officially been retired as of 16 Oct 2008, with it's last trip out being Star Tracking at Cyrene.

Which brings to mind the question: "What do you do with retired bags?" Or rather... What do you do with old bags? Of course, the best thing to do is to think of some way to give them a second lease of life instead of just throwing them out with the rubbish without a second thought. Since my yellow bag is still largely intact and in good condition with just a few tears in the inner lining and a tear at the top of the right strap, I actually have a few options that are in-line with the timeless 3Rs (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle). So here's the result of a quick brainstorming... One option is to donate it to some 3rd world country charity so that kids there can have a chance of getting nice bag to bring their school. Personally I feel a bit bad about doing this since the bag IS starting to fall apart.... So on to the next few options.

Mum likes to do patchwork and various handicrafts, so she has kinda volunteered to try and convert it into a smaller (and possibly) sling bag, meaning a new(ish) bag for me ^_^ Extra materials needed for this endeavour? None. Since Mum actually has a stash of scrap cloth and other random odds and ends.... Only catch is that Mum (like me) has a number of projects in progress, so this may actually take a while..... Failing which, I can always cannibalize my bag and keep the straps and odds and ends for quick repairs to my other bags since I tend to use my stuff until they run aground.... Anybody have any bright ideas on how to fully utilise a scrapped/to-be-scrapped bag?

p/s. dj still needs a field backpack, so got an Osprey atmos 25 that had it's first day out at with me at Kusu during this month's ReefWalk ^_^
Though I'm now wondering if I should have gotten the 35 instead... Then can double up for backpacking but then again, it might actually dwarf dj... *lol*

Happy Cephalopod Day!!

2008-10-09T15:45:00.003+08:00

Greetings from the cephlopods!

What better day than to "launch" my new blog/website ^_^ Why have I started *yet* another blog? (The proper Cephlopod Day post is over there...) First reason being that ASHIRA started off as a personal blog, and as my life turned towards being more nature foray orientated, this blog naturally evolved into a sort of nature blog ^_^ But it's because of this that it feels that there's lack of organisation or structure here. 《海楽園の旅人》 (Umi Rakuen no Tabibito aka Traveller of the Ocean Paradise) would be my attempt to organise and present my marine outreach efforts in a more informative manner. ASHIRA would still remain my primary blog about the things I am up to, as well as anecdotal accounts of trips and all.

Secondly, it also gives me the chance to play about with Wordpress. At this point in time, I don't yet see a need to actually migrate wholesale to Wordpress. The stuff there is just gonna be less diary styled *I hope*.

Motofuji Hiroshi & Co. perform @ the Promenade

2008-10-05T17:48:00.004+08:00

Happened to be down at the Central yesterday with Nam and reached in the middle of a taiko performance by Motofuji Hiroshi (茂戸藤浩司) and crew.

First time I actually got to watch a more "modernised" way of taiko, and I must say that it just fits in perfectly for me. Especially since I dig hiphop music with a strong rhythm ^_^ It's a small performance crew of three, but I just love the energy that they exuded, and their expressions whilst performing are just so interesting!

Just found out that there's a full concert Raffles Hotel tomorrow evening, and it's free admission. Too bad it's already full T_T Why is it I find out about these things late? Below's the quick bio for Motofuji-san that's on the Embassy of Japan, advertising the concert:

"Hiroshi Motofuji is one of Japan’s premier taiko drummers, who has charmed audiences with his captivating and energetic performances. He has also a great reputation for his fusion of Japanese drums and Western music. Immerse yourself in the fascinating world of both traditional and new style of TAIKO.

He performed in “PRIDE”, a fighting sports event and participated in the making of the soundtrack of Japanese animation “Naruto – the Movie”, a gaming software “GENJI” and Japanese TV Drama “Oh-Oku, War of the Belles” and other events and collaborations. Catch him live!"

For some reason.......

2008-10-02T07:45:00.002+08:00

....this is constantly one of my top viewed photos on Flickr.

The other persistently most viewed are below, and all of them are interestingly from the same Kusu ReefWalk.... Does this mean that the rest of my photos ain't as interesting? T_T Weird.

Registration for 18 Oct ReefWalk @ Kusu is now open!

2008-09-30T20:39:00.007+08:00

It's the last day of September and unfortunately, our lovely Blue Water Volunteers website is currently down due to some IP issues. However that does mean that we're not having our usual activities! Intertidal ReefWalks @ Kusu island and Reef Check surveys with ReefFriends are still ongoing!

Sign up details are under the cut ^_^
1. Kusu ReefWalks on 18 Oct

The evening Kusu Island ReefWALKs are back. The next walk will be on 18 Oct 08 (Sat) 5.30pm - 9pm and it cost $15 per participant. To register, please email reefwalk@bluewatervolunteers.org and provide the following details:

Name:
Contact Number:
Email:
Number of participants:
Ages of children (if any):
Emergency contact details:

Should you have any queries (or would like to join us as volunteers), please email reefwalk@bluewatervolunteers.org.

Cheers,
ReefWALK Team
*****************
The last two walks for 2008 would be on 15 Nov 08 (Sat), and 14 Dec 08 (Sun). Registration details would be posted up nearer the dates.

EDIT: if you have problems contacting us with the above email, try reefwalk@gmail.com

2. ReefFriends surveys

For those of you who dive, and would like to lend a hand in collecting scientific data for the monitoring of our local reefs, please email reeffriends@bluewatervolunteers.org for more details on joining. We would be glad to have you onboard the team!

EDIT: if you have problems contacting us with the above email, try reeffriends@gmail.com

p/s. Three cheers for blogs and RSS feeds that can act as our backup(s) when things go wrong with the main site ^_^

Woodpecker feathers?

2008-09-26T20:17:00.002+08:00

Would probably need some help from the local birders here. Was finding these feathers (one at a time) at the Botanic Gardens yesterday, at the base of one of the stairs. Our in house bird conservationist says that it's from some woodpecker, and a quick Google search seems to agree (at least to a noob like me, where the distinctive white spots seem characteristic)...

Three of the four feather found have the nice yellow colouration on the left side of the feather, and I'm hoping that it won't fade over time. All four also have a slightest blue tinge on the mid-rib(?) section. They're all about 7cm or so in length. The stairs that I kept finding them is situated under a rather tall tree (which unfortunately I cannot identify either...). Could these be from the Sunda woodpecker?

Unfortunately, when I looked up the tree, I wasn't able to spot any birds. Didn't hear any bird calls either. I know that there are resident magpie robins in the vicinity (besides the usual assortment of crows and mynahs and pigeons) but these mysterious feathers don't seem to have come from them. Don't quite fit the colouring of the Sunda woodpecker either (though I could be wrong)... And it's unlikely that somebody dropped these "specimens" (no signs of breakages on any of the feathers) since I found them throughout the day, and only one feather each time I walked past those stairs.... Strange isn't it?

Arashi [嵐] - One Love

2008-09-23T11:48:00.004+08:00

So after the ABBA madness (I know I didn't post about Mamma Mia!, actually I did but at the forums instead of here), now it's on to Arashi ^_^ Only the third Japanese "boyband" that I'm actually interested in (after SMAP and KAT-TUN)... Orange Range doesn't count since they're more rap in nature (plus Wikipedia puts them as alternative-rock) so I don't categorise them as a boyband, and the other groups I go for specific songs rather than the group... Anyways, this song is the theme for the Hana Yori Dango. Have yet to watch the movie but have heard this a number of times over Japanese section of 96.3FM, and it's one of those songs that just grow on you..... Lyrics are under the cut.

伝えたくて伝わらなくて
I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't
時には素直になれずに
Occasionally, before I became meek
泣いた季節を越えた僕らは
The us that passed the season of crying
今とても輝いてるよ
Now are really shining

それぞれ描く幸せのかたちは重なり
Each of the forms of happiness we'd painted are overlapping
今大きな愛になる
Now they've become a big love
ずっと二人で生きてゆこう
Let's go on living together, always

CHORUS
百年先も愛を誓うよ
Even if it were a hundred years past, I swear my love
君は僕の全てさ
You are my everything
信じているただ信じてる
I believe, I just believe
同じ時間(とき)を刻む人へ
In the person with whom I carve out a common time
どんな君もどんな僕でも
No matter what you're like, or even what I'm like
ひとつひとつが愛しい
Every little thing is loved
君がいれば何もいらない
With you around I don't need anything
きっと幸せにするから
Because we'll surely be happy

雨の中で君を待ってた
I waited for you in the rain
優しさの意味さえ知らず
Without even knowing the meaning of kindness
すれ違いに傷ついた夜
The wounded night where we passed each other by
それでもここまで来たんだ
Even then, we've come this far

かけがえのない　出逢いは奇跡を繋いでく
Our irreplaceable chance meeting, I connect it with a miracle
思い出重なりあう
Our memories overlap
はじまりの歌鳴り響いて
The song from our beginning reverberates

どんなときも支えてくれた笑い泣いた仲間へ
To the friends who have supported us through thick and thin, and laughed and cried with us
心を込めてただひとつだけ贈る言葉はありがとう
I put just one thing into my heart, the words I send are "thank you"

百年先も愛を誓うよ
Even if it were a hundred years past, I swear my love
君は僕の全てさ
You are my everything
愛しているただ愛してる
I love you, I just love you
同じ明日約束しよう
Let's make a vow on the same tomorrow
世界中にただ一人だけ僕は君を選んだ
Just one person in the entire world, the you I have chosen
君といればどんな未来も
Because if I'm with you, no matter what the future is like
ずっと輝いているから
It'll be shining always

ラララ〜
La la la ~

"Make It Happen" so did NOT happen.....

2008-09-12T00:19:00.002+08:00

Back from JP, and Make It Happen was a bit of a disappointment as compared to the trailer... think the trailer just about showed most of the best bits.... The ending dance sequence, assumed to be the best that Lauryn can showcase, didn't pack the *oomph* that I expected it too. Largely due to it being a mishmash of moves she picked up from Ruby's and the street breakdancing.... Only cool bits was how she made use of props all over the stage, which is a bit unbelievable since her audition's like the first time she's hearing the music Russ rus(s)tled up for her, plus she didn't exactly prepare an audition piece.... Plus, monkey, MS and I kept wondering what happened to the articles of clothing that were "carelessly" thrown off the stage since the actors/actresses showed no sign of collecting them as the scene(s) end with them like heading off... Was even telling them that Lauryn probably forgot all abt the iPhone too! The burlesque theme was nice, though its influence could have been played up more.... To sum it all up, this is pretty much a dance version of Coyote Ugly (all down to the country-girl-goes-to-big-city-to-fulfil-dream-that-is-also-mum's-not-quite-fulfilled-dream idea) but minus the character chemistry that made everything have that extra razz... Plus, since it's already been a tried and tested plot, no real "high" points for me.... Guess I'll just stick to hiphop-ish dance movies from now on. At least I know I would probably enjoy the music and the sassy attitude, and likely the dancing... Wonder if I'm too old to pick up hiphop? Hmmm....

Non-MiH stuff....
Great hanging out with fellow "Westie" volunteers ^.^ We had a great time chatting and laughing over dinner and expensive kopi. All 3 of us had a great abs workout by taking turns cracking each other up... Mainly through talking nonsense! Can't remember half the things we crapped about but yar, nice relaxing, despite MS trying to confuse both monkey and fish at times.... Speaking of which, we realised that MS probably has the most number of monikers amongst the buncha us.... From MS to orang asli to stonefish (and for awhile, mola) to tree to "kool khoo" (in all the various styles of pronunciation) to lego (so he claims some basketball girl called him) etc... Too many to count!!! This fella simply has way too many names!

dj-fish here also splurged a whole bunch on DVDs. Ghibli stuff and a couple of english movies. Pretty sure that only ONE of them is an official DVD while the other 3 are BOOTLEGS!!! Especially since I do have an official Ghibli DVD (Howl's Moving Castle aka Hauru no Ugoku Shiro) to compare! *sigh* but they're rather cheap, so what to do?

Yet another dance flick to watch! ^^

2008-09-09T12:07:00.005+08:00

So after checking out Step Up and Save the Last Dance, mainly after urchin_kaka's recommendation, it seems like I've gotten hooked on this particular genre of movies. So when I found out that Make It Happen's currently showing, dj here got rather excited. Probably be catching it this week with monkey. Interestingly enough, the show's co-written by the same person who brought us SU and StLD! Should be somewhat interesting despite the lukewarm reviews online. Seems that this movie's gonna deviate from the previous hip-hop themed ones, but I do hope that it would still deliver!

Wild Ocean @ Omni-Theatre

2008-09-06T20:10:00.006+08:00

September is generally the "slack" month for the intertidal volunteers in general, with the tides not being quite low enough for decent guided walks, so September's generally our training month so to speak. But what else do the volunteer guides do when off the shores? We party, of course! And watch movies! So this fish found herself back at our Science Centre with sunflower and lizard of our local wildlife menagerie to catch the latest IMAX movie. The catchphrase of Wild Ocean, "where Africa meets the sea", sums the show up nicely. The focus of the film is the annual sardine run that occurs on the south-western coast of Africa (around the Wild Coast) during their winter months. Nice amount of info and outreach/awareness packaged into a 40min show for the general public, including family groups with young children. We get a quick 101 course on ecology and the food chain, on how the combined interactions of warm and cold currents push the sardine shoals further up north along the east coast of South Africa, as well as closer to shore.

The film starts off by a quick overview of fisheries all over the world, about the decrease in catches, and how this part of Africa is still rich in sardines. Also leads to the point about how much more land have been delegated nature reserve status as compared to marine protected areas. The film doesn't bring up the more complex issues of regulating and enforcing laws and all in the protected areas but I guess the first issue to address would be to actually increase the protected marine environments on paper before even tackling the problem of managing the protected area. The closest that Singapore has to a "marine" protected area would be Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and Chek Jawa, but these are more intertidal in nature than being actual marine environments....

My heart goes out to those many many many sardines as it seems that every year during their sardine run, there are just SOOOOooooooo many predators coming from all directions to feed on them. Hundreds of dolphins, sharks, fur seals, penguins, and gannets all lying in wait for the appearance of humongous shoal of sardines. *shudder* Just glad this particular fish ain't a sardine.... The chaos is somewhat felt as I watched predators sweeping into the bait ball, and the shoal behaviour just reminds me of my undergrad days when we were discussing modelling and herd "intelligence". To put it simply, this "intelligence" arises from the collective behaviour of each individual sardine, each reacting to the movement of it's neighbour, each trying to get to the "safest" place of the shoal (which is assumed to be the centre), in a strategy to avoid predators. This chain effect is surprisingly good and, to a certain extent, result in some sort of collective intelligence!

Since these super large shoals of sardines are being pushed into shallower waters, the communities living along the eastern coast of S.Africa also benefit from the abundance, so the show's not just about wildlife. There's also some inter-dispersion of the human effects along the coast. How the fishermen look out for gatherings of dolphins and gannets that indicate the arrival of the sardine, meaning a feast for the two-legged ones as well. I particularly like the ending portion when there's a sand sculpture of a sardine can, and kids lying inside, just like little sardines! The film ends on a note that there is hope yet since NZ and S.Africa seem to be leading the way when it comes to designating marine protected areas, and that if each country is able to set aside a portion of their sea(s) to be protected, we might still be able to the immense action and numbers that are still seen at Wild Coast.

My Thoughts
(Man, why am I making this sound like some school reflection thing?!) Firstly, I am just so glad that I have never really liked to eat sardine. After seeing the poor little fellas being chased by so many natural predators, seeing them squished into a teeny can ain't really that appetizing..... However, I would have to be more conscious of my seafood choices. I do love seafood, sashimi and sushi, so I am definitely part of the cycle that is causing the depletion of global fisheries. I am unlikely to stop eating seafood altogether but I will definitely cut down on eating roe and some of the more "exotic" seafood (spider crab, lobster, marlin....), and as far as possible fish in general. You may think this is not much, but if everybody does the same, the demand for seafood (especially the rarer marine critters) would decrease, and with a decrease in demand, the stress on fisheries can be lessened a lot. Won't say that this movie impacted my life greatly since I have already been exposed to many more in-depth documentaries, as well as the fact that marine conservation and related stuff has been pretty much part of my life since uni. What I actually took home with me is the sheer scale of the bait balling and the marine life just off the African coast. To me, the mention of Africa has always brought to mind savannahs and lions, pretty much a Lion King kinda thing. Nice visuals that try to sneak in little take-home messages, and rather enjoyable, especially in view of some of the exhibitions at the Science Centre itself. Do give it a try, especially since there is a promo bundle price for the Omni-Theatre and Science Centre entry! The 3 of us have certainly enjoyed ourselves there, and we were there the entire day!

Some randomness to start Sept ^_^

2008-09-01T12:05:00.007+08:00

It seems to have been a while since I have done any online quizzes, so here'a a series of them ^^ Still on some random high after slacking the weekend away ^^ Skip the post if you're not interested... all quizzes under the cut...

(1) Commonly Confused Words

Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test...

English Genius

You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!

Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it!

For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.

Take The Commonly Confused Words Test at HelloQuizzy

(2) Geekiness

Your result for How geeky are you?...

Laboratory Geek

You scored 63% Geeky, 86% Cranial and 43% Introverted. You are quirky, intelligent, and like to fly solo. You're too curious to live a hermit's life and would much rather be working on some sort of interesting project though be it alone.

You might find it hard to connect with other people or you might have anxiety in social situations. It may be easier to avoid people as much as possible, but this will only limit the possibilities in your life. The world needs the contribution of people with brains like yours! So what to do? Baby steps. Whenever something feel uncomfortable socially, it's usually the right thing to do. Step outside your comfort zone a bit, take a deep breath and don't be afraid to ask the people around you for help.

Take How geeky are you? at HelloQuizzy

(3) Left/Right Brained-ness

Your result for The Right Brain vs Left Brain Test...

Center Brained!

Much like Goldilocks, you have gone the middle way.

Slighlty less typical, you could consider yourself center brained. Center brained people are neither left nor right dominant, but rather exhibit equal qualities of both. If you are center brained, you are likely both logical and creative, excel in the maths and sciences, and also art and philosophy.

Take The Right Brain vs Left Brain Test at HelloQuizzy

(4) Funny Test

Your result for The 3 Variable Funny Test...

the Comic

(43% dark, 31% spontaneous, 47% vulgar)

your humor style:
VULGAR | COMPLEX | LIGHT

Yours is the most versatile and also the most popular kind of humor. You'll crack a joke about just about anything, but you're not
mean-spirited or intimidating, so you can get away with it--even when, for example, you bust on Mexicans.

You appreciate a good dirty joke as much as next person, but, over all, you've got a brainier approach to humor than most. Now just go out there and write up a routine; it's likely you'd be good at it.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Dave Chappelle - Rodney Dangerfield

The 3-Variable Funny Test!

- it rules -

Take The 3 Variable Funny Test at HelloQuizzy

Forestle - the greener version of Google?

2008-08-27T12:06:00.003+08:00

I know that I mention more marine/intertidal related stuff on this blog but Forestle is a nifty way to do your Google searches (they use the same algorithms apparently) while generating donations to the Nature Conservancy's adopt an acre programme. And if you use Firefox and its built in search tool-bar like I do, there's even a plug-in that you can install so you would use it automatically for searches!

Unfortunately I can't take full credit for stumbling across this search engine since I would it on the bioephemera blog while waiting for the DSN folks to finally enlighten us on their BIG NEWS. I must say that the green themed interface is quite a change from the usual Google one that I am used to. Here's a more detailed write-up on how this entire thing works:
http://forestle.org/_lang/en/how_it_works.php

IYOR coverage on Zaobao - 20080812

2008-08-12T15:57:00.010+08:00

I-NSC mentioned that the Zaobao coverage of IYOR is on today's Zaobao, and here it is! Just one day after the Star Tracking article in My Paper, and divejunkie here is once again translating an article from Chinese to English once again. This coming after years of under utilising my Mandarin.....

Creating a Coral Paradise in Singapore Within 10 Years
Members of the International Year of the Reef (IYOR) Singapore Organising Committee have a dream, and that is to create a coral paradise in Singapore within the coming years.

Professor Chou Loke Ming (Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore believes that even though it would be difficult to achieve the aim of "Singapore, Coral Paradise 2018", it is not impossible. If this dream can be achieved, Singapore's marine life would be revived, with all kinds of fish returning, allowing us to become a diving hotspot.

He expressed these thoughts during the launch of the International Year of the Reef (IYOR).

IYOR is celebrated once every 10 years, and the first IYOR was launched in 1997, with the aim of raising awareness about the destruction of coral reefs. At that time, various groups from over 50 countries were involved and more than 100 research publications arose from the event.

The various groups and organizations taking part in this year's IYOR are equally enthusiastic and passionate, and comprise of many NGOs, water activity interest groups, individuals, as well as the National Parks Board.

When interviewed, the chairman of the IYOR Singapore Organizing Committee, Mr Francis Lee, mentioned that, "The protection and conservation of Singapore's green spaces has been done very well, and air quality has been managed adequately. However, when it comes our marine heritage, too little has been done."

Development of the Blue Plan
With this aim in mind, the committee drafted a Blue Plan 5-6 years earlier, with the hopes of being able to work together with the government in conserving Singapore's marine life.

This year, the committee will once again draft out a new Blue Plan, including discussions/suggestions on how to allow ordinary people to treasure the ocean, as well as to share the knowledge of marine ecology with fishermen and divers alike. For example, if a caught fish is deemed too small, the fishermen could release them back to the sea.

The Chairman of the Blue Plan cluster, Mr Farid Hamid, states that the committee aims to submit the Blue Plan to the government by the end of this year, and have various discussions with the government, including a proposal for marine protected area(s), similar to Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve, situated on mainland Singapore.

Situated in the south of Singapore, Sisters' Islands and Pulau Hantu are both within the consideration of the Blue Plan. These two islands are established offshore leisure grounds.

The committee members also aim to organize the existing database of our coral reefs, as well as to update the information, with the eventual aim of setting up a national database of Singapore's coral reefs.

60% of our local coral deaths due to reclamation works
Professor Chou also notes that the Tuas-Jurong area of Western Singapore originally possessed a large area of coral reefs but is now reduced to 40% of its original area.

Sedimentation reduce photosynthesis
Around 60% of Singapore's coral reefs have been destroyed between the 1970s and 1990s, with the main culprit of this destruction being sediments resulting from reclamation works.

Some of these sediments assumulate on the coral reefs, smothering the hard corals, and reducing light penetration which in turn decreases photosynthesis within the corals, leading to the eventual death of these coral colonies.

In addition, when the sediments settle on the seabed, they would also cover any coral larvae (and gametes) present, preventing the growth of new coral colonies.

Mr Ivan Choong, an avid diver who dives frequently in Singapore, said that the silt accumulating in on the seabeds of local waters can be as deep as a human's arm length, and the visibility of local waters are generally low. He notes that when diving locally, visibility is usually around 3-5m, and that he can only see the vague shadow (lacking a distinct outline) of his dive buddy.

Having just returned from Christmas Island, Ivan observed that in comparison, the waters there are still crystal clear even at depths of 30-40m.

Decrease in population but diversity still maintained
Even though Singapore's coral reefs have decreased in numbers, the types of corals that have persisted are largely intact. Professor Chou said that despite having experienced so many years of harsh conditions, only one out of the 251 species of hard corals found locally has gone extinct. This is a pleasant surprise, giving hope and confidence in the dream of a local coral paradise.

Little facts about hard corals
Corals are animals, not plants
Many individual coral polyps form a single coral colony
The intestinal cavity of individual coral polyps contain unicellular sumbiotic algae (zooxanthellae). These algae make use of sunlight that penetrates the water for photosynthesis, and their waster products act as nutrients for the coral
Corals absorb calcium that is present in seawater, secreting this calcium in the form of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) skeletons
Coral mass spawning occurs annually in Singapore on the nights of full moon during the months of March-April
Coral reefs are natural habitats that support one of the greatest number of plant and animal species on earth, and are thus, of utmost importance to biodiversity

The original article can be found online here:
"http://travel.zaobao.com/pages4/spore080812.shtml
More information on IYOR in Singapore (as well as the organizing committee) can be found here at their blog:
http://iyor08singapore.blogspot.com/
Ivan Choong (other than being a IYOR Singapore Organizing Committee and NSS member) is also a field editor with Scuba Diver Australasia magazine, as well as a supplier of marine books at his I-NSC website. He is also involved in the Flying Manta Project started in Aug 2006. (disclaimer: I am NOT trying to be biased here... It's just that I can't seem to find a bio for Ivan on a single page like I could for the rest of the folks mentioned.)

Was initially waiting for the pdf softcopy of the article to be sent to me before posting this entry but it's a little late in coming. Will just place it on Flickr when it comes.

Star Tracking on My Paper (Part 02)

2008-08-11T23:04:00.002+08:00

Here comes the main translation. chimck beat me to doing the translation, so this is just a more-or-less cut-n-paste job (with his permission of course!) from the Star Tracker blog, with minor modifications ^_^
We all have a name and IC!
Two days ago, 24 local seastars were each given a name, becoming unique stars in the ocean.

These seastars, belong to a species commonly as the "Knobbly Seastar" as well as the "Chocolate Chip Seastar", were adopted by the public for a minimum sum of $50 donation at the International Year of the Reef event.

These seastars are not only unique in name but are also unique in the number and arrangement of knobs on the body surface.

Twenty-four knobbly seastars and at least 162 other individuals currently inhabit a local southern reef known as Cyrene Reefs. They can have their own "IC" (Identification Card) due to the hard work of two young men.

Since May this year, Chim Chee Kong (31 years old, research assistant) and Tan Sijie (26 years old, education and outreach officer) have visited the Cyrene Reefs six times, took photographs and measurements for each seastar.

They have taken 220 photographs, of which 186 were recognised as individuals, including 55 juveniles.

Most of the seastars have five arms, although a few have only four arms, some of which were due to injury. In addition, the body may be of different colours, which consist of different shades of red, brown, beige etc.

The Knobbly Seastar is a locally endangered animal and the juveniles of this species are rare. This research project is extremely important to Chim Chee Kong and Tan Sijie, as it helps Singaporeans to better understand that we have these "lucky stars".

Two people started "Star Chasing" in May this year
Chim Chee Kong is a research assistant with the Tropical Marine Science Institute and Tan Sijie is a education and outreach officer with the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research. Both have strong interests in marine life.

Chim Chee Kong said "Seastars are charismatic animals, as demonstrated by their presence in many advertisements that promote the tropical island feel. Nonetheless, many do not know that Singapore has seastars, and related research are also few."

Chim Chee Kong and Tan Sijie started "star chasing" in May this year at Terembu Pandan, which makes up one of the Cyrene Patch Reefs.

The Cyrene Pathc Reefs also consists of two other smaller reefs.

They said that even though the Knobbly Seastar is also found at local sites such as Pulau Semakau, Chek Jawa and Changi Beach, the number of individuals are not as many as in Cyrene Reefs, and that is the reason why the ecology of the Knobbly Seastar population at the Cyrene Patch Reefs is worth investigating. "Although the Knobbly Seastar was classified as endangered in 1994, the Cyrene Reefs is inhabitated by a large number of adults as well as juveniles, and is possibly the only sustainable population that remains locally.

Because the Cyrene Reefs is submerged by 3m of water during high tides, they can only survey during low tides, with the help of boatmen.

They hope to have a long-term study on individuals regarding their growth rates, movements, ontogenetic change in morphology etc.

The bottom series of text is basically an explanation of how the tracking is done, as explained on the blog.

Star Tracking on My Paper (Part 01)

2008-08-11T16:32:00.003+08:00

Having been tipped off by SJ on Sat, divejunkie here made sure she was early enough to beat the crowds to get a copy of today's My Paper. Sure enough, the front cover of the Chinese portion had the Star Tracking efforts as the headlines. Well done!
Haven't had the chance to post the main article online, let alone do a rough translation of it but here's a rough translation of the headlines plus the little snippet. (DISCLAIMER: divejunkie is NOT known for her Cheena prowess, so these are very loose translations for those even more Mandarin-challenged than her.... Feel free to correct)

This one is of the portion above:
Issuing ICs to Seastars
180 odd seastars on our country's Southern shores now have an identification number, all thanks to the dedicated tracking work that 2 conservation volunteers have been contributing to their research.
Full article on page B3

And here's the rough translation for this snippet found on page 2:
Tracking, Touching
Taking note of something is generally a touching action by people who care.

Because there is the need to not let things die out by themselves, because of the fear that things and feelings of value would be forgotten, thus the need for keeping records.

We record history, scenery, feelings and emotions, everything that's happening around us, they chose to track seastars.

Two young people with a passion for marine life, tiredlessly going to Singapore's southern reefs in search of a type of Knobbly Seastar, taking photos, taking body measurements, giving identification numbers, such that these seastars are no longer just a population of seastars but unique individual seastars.

Having given these seastars an identification code of their own, these seastars are now like the humans around us, needing long term concern and care.
page B3 We all have a name and IC!

Will try and tackle the main article when I get home after swimming, unless someone else has already done so by then! Meanwhile, the less Mandarin-challenged can checkout the article on My Paper's website.

For firsthand accounts from the StarTrackers themselves, check out their blog here:
Star Trackers

Have yourself an auspiciously happy national day!!

2008-08-08T21:11:00.002+08:00

.
This year the shores of Singapore would like to celebrate National Day with everybody through celebrating the reefs!
A number of us were down at the Singapore Botanic Gardens' Botany Centre (at the Tanglin Core, near Gleneagles Hospital) this afternoon for the official launch of the International Year of the Reef here in Singapore, and the turn out was much better than expected ^^ Everything went smoothly and a few of the knobblies got adopted too! *yay* Much cause for celebration, yar? Realised that I took way too many photos to blog about it proper today... Well, today was just a preview of sorts, so do come and join us (again, if you came today!) for more fun and activities! Sorry to the few families that appeared today, not much for the kids to take part in but we have planned activities for tomorrow! As well as a series of talks throughout the day! Click here for more details on what to expect.

Listing of Ocean Blogs

2008-08-05T16:04:00.003+08:00

Was going through my Google reader feeds, and Rick MacPherson has nicely put together a list of (Great!) blogs that feature the ocean(s). Nice to see that a number of our local SG nature bloggers making his list ^^ How apt that he has done his done up this blog listing in the week leading up to our IYOR launch! He even has our IYOR-Singapore blog in his links too!

Our featured SG bloggers are as listed:
(1) The Annotated Budak
(2) The Hantu Blog
(3) TideChaser blog
(4) MantaMola blog
(5) TeamSeagrass
Encouraging isn't it? That some of our local nature blogs are being read internationally, and recognised as GREAT blogs! ^_^ Interestingly enough, Wildfilms nor BWV was included on the listing.... We definitely have quite a number of folks that provide the voices for Singapore's natural habitats! Some of them are linked directly from my blog, while others are listed in our little network of nature bloggers that Monkey set up.

On a side note, photos are crawling up on Flickr again. Still not quite up-to-date yet but getting there slowly ^^

Launch of IYOR in Singapore!!

2008-07-30T19:53:00.006+08:00

Whoppee! Singapore's finally gonna officially launch the International Year of the Reef, and on our National Day (9th Aug) too! And guess what, Singapore's very own coral nursery would also have a display area as well ^^ Mainly gonna be a slight update based on our ADEX exhibition booth earlier in April this year. Don't worry, it's not going to be just a 2D display of poster panels, there's also gonna be some things for visitors to look at and touch for themselves! ^^ So do come down and join us at the Singapore Botanic Garden's Botany Centre (just above the Taman Serasi foodcourt)on National Day! Hope to see you guys there! Ria has done up a nice summary of the day's events and activities here @ the IYOR-Singapore blog (http://iyor08singapore.blogspot.com). There's gonna be talks, children's activities, sharing our shore (and marine!) stories, star adoptions, and so on. So why not make this 43th National Day a special one and join us as we bring out shore life to SBG? =^-^=

What Fish Are You?

2008-07-18T08:58:00.005+08:00

I'm juanicths and
I'm a Swordfish.
"juanicths, based on the results of the quiz, the fish you're closest to is a Swordfish!

You are a large and powerful migratory fish that can be found in oceanic regions worldwide, including the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. You are cold blooded and have special organs next to your eyes that warm your brain and eyes to improve your vision. You are often identified by your sword, a long flat bill that helps you swim faster, hunt for food, and defend yourself. You can weigh as much as 1400lbs, eat mostly squid, fish, and crustaceans and use your sword-like bill by stunning your prey. You prefer to swim and hunt alone.

You were once a very popular restaurant entrée, served at restaurants around the world. While chefs, supermarkets and people have agreed to not eat as many swordfish, you still face overfishing in many parts of the world. It is also difficult to track and manage your population because you tend to swim across international borders."

divejunkie here's supposed to be the fish of the SG nature bloggers/lovers menagerie but I never did figure out what fish I am supposed to be. Oh well, this WWF quiz puts me as a swordfish ^_^ Sadly not seen in SG....

Haiku spammed on Flickr~

2008-06-26T16:32:00.002+08:00

divejunkie here is back from her unannounced hiatus ^_^ Photos are slowly being updated on Flickr again (yesh, KS n zhu-ge, I *still* owe you guys quite a few shots....) And it seems the budak is on a roll today! Using his words, I have been "haiku spammed" on Flickr~~ Probably the first day I'm receiving so many comments on Flickr! Here the the photos and haikus (all done by the the duck since I am most definitely not so literally gifted.... Overall I like the light-hearted spin on my recent intertidal trips to Cyrene and the RF refresher at Hantu ^_^

WARNING: All haikus are presented in their entirety, so be prepared getting a taste of duck's sense of humor and outspoken-ness..... Some don't really make sense w/o the original captions so click on the photos to get to the original Flickr photo pages ^^

=======

your star comes up short
it went for a nip and tuck
and now moans its luck

don't count your sea stars
before they hatch to harbour
evil schemes that suck

the humanity!
can't stars have sex on the beach
with some privacy?

see this sordid scene
it costs just a sand dollar
you shameless fella

you sure tis the spot
to bake and burn our bodies
under the hot sun?

five folks in a boat
plus a fishy friend with cam
who forgot the ham?

i deem this pic foul
it flatters not what's in truth
a fine feathered fowl

what a bad morning
to have herps hounding your day
with flashes of ray

your dull little star
might be a knob or two short
of its set of chips

emo is nemo
for soon he'll wake to find
he's now a she-mo

you having fun guys?
aren't you too young to engage
in tentacle porn?

is that a hole there
in the bottom of the boat?
oh we are so sunk

my stars and garters!
i forgot to bring along
my hat and putters

finger me not sam
or you shall taste the flavour
of sand-blasted ham

SoulJa - Sotsugyo [graduation]

2008-06-11T01:50:00.003+08:00

歌：SoulJa 作詞：SoulJa 作曲：SoulJa
遊んだあのブランココンビニ前待ち合わせの場所
初めて告白した人思い出詰まったあのグラウンド
川辺に沿ってくあの道思い出せば歩いてた毎日
昔暑い日にした水遊び夏休みの終わりの祭り花火

君とまいた花の種実り色あせないため心に
大事にするmemory 誓い無くしたくない so離さない
未来のことこれからのこと何が起こるかわからないけれど
扉のむこうに待つ景色の方へと歩き出そう

僕たちはこれからどこへ行きそこでは何を見る
今までのこと今までの顔忘れずに前を進む

いつの間にか時は流れた過去の日々はどこへと消えた
短いようで長かった日々が流れるのが早すぎた
少年時代の夢は無限大広がる世界に希望がいっぱい
この気持ちneva wanna say"good-by"
My一生涯忘れたくはない

休むことなく地球は巡るその上で僕たち前進む
それを見る太陽道照らす夜には月が僕たち励ます
これから会う明日よ君は僕たちとともにどこへどう導くだろう
過去よ今までマジありがとう

僕たちはこれからどこへ行きそこでは何を見る
今までのこと今までの顔忘れずに前を進む

僕たちはこれからどこへ行きそこでは何を見る
今までのこと今までの顔忘れずに前を進む

僕たちはこれからどこへ行きそこでは何を見る
今までのこと今までの顔忘れずに前を進む

The Legend 太王四神記 [태왕사신기]

2008-06-04T20:41:00.003+08:00

I don't really do drama reviews in general but somehow after blitz-watching Tae Wang Sa Shin Gi, I can't help but have this need to try and make some sense of all the thoughts floating around in my head at the moment (or maybe it's all part-n-parcel of sleep deprivation...)

WARNING: Plenty of spoilers ~~and psycho-analysis~~ ahead, mixed in innocently amidst the rambles.... Read at your own risk though I will try to organise the mess of thoughts as best I can.

(1) Mixing fantasy with history....
Tae Wang is loosely based on the reign of the 19th monarch of Goguryeo (ancient Korea), Gwanggaeto aka Go Damdeok, with elements of the four guardian beasts gods (Baek-Ho 白虎, Jujak 朱雀, Hyeon Mu　玄武, and Cheong Ryong　清龍) brought in as well. (The wikipedia entry on this MBC 2007 series states that this "addition of fantasy to a Korean historical drama (사극) makes this series unique and distinguishes itself from its predecessors in Korean television series".) Well, it's actually the mention of these 4 guardians that pipped my interest, especially reading about them in Chinese and Japanese manga and books. (Respective Chinese and Japanese names corresponding to the Korean ones - Bai Hu/Byakko, Zhu Que/Suzaku, Xuan Wu/Genbu, Qing Long/Seiryuu). Not sure about the Korean 4 guardians but the Japanese and Chinese ones are definitely referring to the same 4 celestial guardians (having Chinese origins) that rule/protect the 4 compass directions.

The ending in the drama series really diverts from the actually demise of Damdeok where he "dies" around his mid-20s after he breaks the Heavenly Bow. The real life benevolent ruler died of an illness in his 40s. Was a kinda abrupt ending, when he kinda just left in that white light. I was expecting some slightly more reluctant expression since he's yet again separated from his beloved Sujini soon after their reunion...

(2) main characters...
I must say, Bae Yong Joon did a good job on acting out Damdeok. Wasn't impressed by his acting in Winter Sonata but at least Tae Wang here left me with a good impression. He acted Hwanoong in the earlier episodes as well but I guess portraying a god means that you just need to look cool and majesty (and tear on demand too) but Damdeok really demonstrated a number of dimensions, making the character even more believable. This wise, merciful, peace-loving ruler actually CAN make mistakes (and also spends a hell lot of time grieving on his mistakes), yet still does his bestest to keep true to his naively idealistic beliefs. Unlike the two semi-villains (Kiha and Hogae, will talk about the good guys first ^_^). He actually made my heart melt in a few of the scenes, so NOW I finally understand why he's so popular with ladies.... Slow, aren't I? But yar, the way he treats every single of his subjects lives as important, and some of the really wise decisions makes me think of Juuni Kokuki. Such a brilliant ruler should be allowed to live and maintain peace and prosperity for like a few centuries if possible! What I like is how Damdeok judges tense situations and relieves the tension by saying something playful and light-hearted, putting his followers at ease. Really charismatic leader,and from the drama it is easy to see how and why history remembers him as one of the great rulers.

Next, we have the 4 guardians of the 4 symbols - Hyeongo (Hyeonmu), Chero (Cheong Ryong), Jumuchi (Baek-Ho) and Kiha (Jujak). Each of them is endearing and loveable in their own way (yes, even Kiha, though I only liked her before she went batsy after Damdeok's dad's death...). Oh Kwang Rok's portrayal of the blurblur-cannot-really-fight-but-real-good-at-strategising Hyeongo is just perfect! Him as the slightly-out-of-it fatherly village elder, as well as Sujini's guardian just reminds me of a gruff teddy bear, really nice grandfatherly figure. A tad bit too insightful at times, he also comes across as clumsy Gandalf, especially when his Hyeonmu symbol (in it's staff form) reacted to Damdeok's "dark rage" and bright light shined forth (in LOTR2 fashion, just that Hyeongo had no white horse to charge forth on!) Easily my favorite of the lot!

Chero (played by Lee Phillip) is the brooder of the guardian quartet. Guess that's what being behind a mask for 17-18 years can do to one. Looks great in his blue aura and blue-themed armor. ^_^ But still think he lacks expression, even when he recalls Cheong Ryong's memories of Sae-Oh and looks like he's at least half in love with Sujini.... *resists urge to give Chero a nice big hug* How to describe this character? Would appear to me that his heart was frozen since that fateful day his father plunged the Cheong Ryong symbol into his heart in a desperate bid to protect it from the clutches of the Hwacheon. And after Damdeok came and broke his "curse" by retrieving the symbol, his heart slowly thawed (with the help of the ever lively Sujini)....

Park Sung Woong acting as Jumuchi some how just reminds me of Abe Hiroshi in TRICK. They don't look anything alike but... Could it be the facial hair and the "I'm tall big and kinda stupid" look on their faces? ^_^ Still, to see such a big, strong, courageous fighter be reduced to a blubbering idiot in front of his lady love is kinda cute, yar? And to see all his friends rally around him and creating opportunities for the couple is just as sweet~~

Which brings me to Kiha (played by Moon So-ri). Really didn't like her as the war-crazed Kajin but her Kiha is really complex. I place her in the semi-villain category because you can see her constantly wavering between good and evil, much like many of us in our daily lives. Of course, we don't have such a heavy burden or curse or power resting on our shoulders but still. Am pretty amazed that she didn't turn completely insane after she recalled her childhood memories that were sealed by the Hwacheon. Betcha she would have turned entirely evil by the end of the series if not for her recalling her sister and her mother's last words. Am also pretty amazed that she wanted a chance to fall in love with Hogae in her next life. Would say that the two of them are perfect for each other, as two people played out by fate/destiny, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, and slipping down the slope of darkness.

And since I've brought up Hogae, the other semi-villain, let's discuss him next. Just to get this off my chest. Yoon Tae Young looks so hot in the last few episodes in his beard and shorter wavy hair, just like some Spanish pirate of sorts! Too bad it was just for a couple of episodes *dang* With that fangirl moment outta the way, yes, I would say that Hogae deserved better. He was so endearing and cute as a kid (before his mum died. stupid woman, so power hungry and desperate for her son to be king....). Pity he let his vengence drive his life from that point in his life. Personally, I think either Damdeok or Hogae could have been the next Juushin king. Look at their inherent characters and qualities as little boys at eleven. Just that Damdeok had a more "normal" upbringing prior to his dad being crowned king, whilst Hogae was basically THE prince in everybody's eyes. Too cosseted for the blow that was dealt when his mother's death. Must have felt like a double betrayal since he's cousin and close friend Damdeok was actually playing the fool in front of everybody at that point in time. Since then the bitterness, in addition to his reckless hotheaded nature..... Poor kid. If he and Damdeok were on the same side Koguryeo would truly be a prosperous country.

Last but not the least, there Sujini (Lee Ji-Ah), the incarnation of Hwanoong's love, Sae-oh, and Damdeok's second love. Also, the sister of Kiha, which is probably what brought some balance to Kiha's unstable existence with/against the Hwacheon. Sassy, brave, outspoken, streetsmart, forgiving, loving, charming. The kinda heroine I like! Can't stand those porcelain "princesses" who just know how to look pretty and be bitchy. Sujini is truly a real beauty, and it certainly was fun seeing the love blossom between her and Damdeok. Especially when (they reunite years later and) Damdeok finally admits that she is where his palace is. *melts* She's just one of those characters that brings the sunshine and cheer into a scene. Kinda difficult to believe that Tae Wang is LJA's debut drama. Looking forward to see how she fares in Beethoven Virus when it starts airing next month. Pity she spent most of the series with short hair. She looks way better with her long locks!

(3)some bloopers caught on screen...
Despite the general praise I have for the series, there were also a number of bloopers that made it on air. What's the editing and post-production team doing?! Pretty sure that these aren't the only ones present, especially since I tend to fastforward during the slower moving scenes....

First one that got me cringing, the scene where Hwanoong's teaching Sae-oh how to control the power of the "Eye of the Pheonix". He asks her to hold the pendant in onw hand (she uses her left), while he raises her right hand to direct the fire power. The wide angle shots shows her left hand constantly on the pendant BUT the close-ups of Hwanoong lifting her right hand show that her left hand's actually still hanging by the side of her torso! Obviously taken in a few different takes but must the editing and checking be so sloppy?

Still in the time-frame of 2000 years ago, when we see Kajin pouting over the loss of her power, her shoulder tattoo and single strap on her dress seem to change sides as they like when the camera shows her front and back views......

Fastforward to the scene when Damdeok and his followers are confronting Hogae in the streets of Khitan, Chero launches an attack and and in the closeup of him on the ground, you see him wearing black woollen gloves(?!) when the scene started with everybody in their bare hands..... Hmmm.....

The last blooper that I noticed was in the scene taking place at the Hoyeon minister's place. Where it's like 8-9 years later and Sujini is basically doing some hiding from Damdeok and co. You see her at a doorway observing Damdeok, and the next thing you know, there's one of those big grey woolly microphones doing a little peek-a-boo behind her.

Pretty sure that there are even more slips as I only notice these "mis-adventures" upon re-watching, so it's either this were just too obvious, or those parts of the story made me bored that I started to notice all these random things. Seeing how much I like the show, think it's more of the former than the latter.......

Pictures taken from http://wiki.d-addicts.com/

「きみは愛されるため生まれた」 당신은 사랑받기 위해 태어난 사람 (You were Born to be Loved)

2008-06-03T11:51:00.007+08:00

My blog ~~stalkers~~ readers must think I am mad. I go without any updates for ages and ages and suddenly I put up 2 entries in a row. Stumbled upon this song on Bookbinder, and as I read the lyrics, I felt my eyes tearing... It's just such an encouragement to me since I have been feeling somewhat blue these past few weeks (yar, I know it doesn't show but...) Such a poignant reminder that yes, I am born to be loved, and the one up there is kinda giving me a loving hug in the form of this song. Yes, I am sitting here typing this with tears in my eyes (no, they have yet to fall, so jiejie don't call me a crybaby!). Yes, the one that was put up is in Japanese but I found out that it's actually a Japanese version of a Korean gospel song, so I'm putting up both versions. I don't know how close the lyrics are since I don't know Korean. Here's the English translation for those of you who don't know Japanese or Korean.

You were born to be loved
And you are receiving that love through your life.
You were born to be loved
And you are receiving that love through your life.
The love from God that started since the beginning of your birth
Becomes connected with us meeting each other.
You were born to be loved
And you are receiving that love through your life.

きみは愛されるため生まれた
kimi wa aisareru tame umareta
きみの生涯は愛で満ちている
kimi no shougai wa ai de michiteiru
きみは愛されるため生まれた
kimi wa aisareru tame umareta
きみの生涯は愛で満ちている
kimi no shougai wa ai de michiteiru

永遠の神の愛は
eien no kami no ai wa
われらの出会いの中で実を結ぶ
warera no deai no naka de mi wo musubu
きみの存在が
kimi no sonzai ga
私にはどれほど大きな喜びでしょう
watashi ni wa dore hodo ookina yorokobi deshou

きみは愛されるため生まれた
kimi wa aisareru tame umareta
今もその愛受けている
ima mo sono ai uketeiru
きみは愛されるため生まれた
kimi wa aisareru tame umareta
今もその愛受けている
ima mo sono ai uketeiru

(Korean lyrics and the pronounciation taken from here)

당신은 사랑 받기위해 태어난 사람
Dangseenun sarang badgi wehae taeonan saram
당신의 삶 속에서 그 사랑 받고 있지요
Dangseeneek salm sokeso gu sarang badgo eetchiyo
당신은 사랑 받기 위해 태어난 사람
Dangseenun sarang badgi wehae taeonan saram
당신의 삶 속에서 그 사랑 받고 있지요
Dangseneek salm sokeso gu sarang badgo eetchiyo

태초부터 시작된 하나님의 사랑은
Taetchobuto seechakdwon hananomeek sarangun
우리의 만남를 통해 열매를 맺고
Uroeek mannamrul tonghae yeolmaerul maechgo
당신이 이 세상에 존재함으로 인해
dangseenee yi saesang-eh chonchaehamuro eenhae
우리에겐 얼마나 큰 기쁨이 되는지
uro-eh-kehn orlmanakun geebumee duwochee

당신은 사랑 받기 위해 태어난 사람
Dangseenun sarang badgi wehae taeonan saram
지금도 그 사랑 받고 있지요
chigumdo gu sarang badgo eetchiyo
당신은 사랑 받기 위해 태어난 사람
dangranun sarang badgi wehae taeeonan saram
지금도 그 사랑 받고 있지요
chigumdo gu sarang badgo etchiyo

@@@@@@@
Also, this guy kindly put up the chords for the song too!

News for the day - fish live birth fossil!

2008-06-03T09:33:00.007+08:00

This is probably the most interesting thing in my Google reader this morning. Amazing how the occurrence of live birth in fishes was at least 375 million years ago or so! Pretty amazing, isn't it?
(Image as posted on REUTERS from handout by Museum Victoria, Melbourne)
This marks the oldest fossil record of live birth, and who's to say that laying eggs has to develop first and is a more "primitive" way of procreation? Interestingly enough, this particular species of armour-plated shark-like fish has been named Materpiscis attenboroughi ("materpiscis" meaning ‘mother fish’) in honour of Sir David Attenborough, my personal wildlife hero. He has been given this honor since he drew attention to the Gogo fossil sites in Kimberley, North Western Australia in the Life on Earth (1979) series. The fossil was discovered in a 2005 Museum Victoria expedition, and amazing that soft tissue such as the umbilical cord and york sac have actually been fossilized. (Soft tissue generally rots away the fastest, before fossilization can occur, which is why most fossils are bones and hard tissue)

This is just too exciting! Makes me itch to get myself on a plane for Down Under!

Links to some of the news articles:
Museum Victoria (Do check this one out as this has a nifty video showing how the tail-first birth may have occurred)
REUTERS
Physorg
Discovery Channel news

On the way to work....

2008-05-16T10:03:00.005+08:00

Getting a bit sick of spotting mistakes in the Chinese section of the free newspaper, MyPaper aka 我报. Given my standard of Chinese/Mandarin, it has to be a rather in-your-face, blatant error for me to actually spot it....

Today's glaring errata is in the article on the winner of the recent "Executive Look" with Raffles City being stated as "来福士城" which is in fact WRONG. The Chinese/Mandarin version of "Raffles" is supposed to be "莱佛士城". Geh. Guess not everybody would know that but it IS the name of our country's founder so it's a bit shocking to see it as an errata.....

EDIT: After Boon pointed a good point about CapitaLand possibly intentionally changing the Chinese name for fengshui or whatever other nonsense (please refer to the comments if you don't know what I am talking about), I did some more google-ing on the China Google site, and realised that reporter is correct after all. Apologies to MyPaper and the reporter in question. As ridiculous as the "new, modern" version seems to me, it's official. TT_TT 来福士城=莱佛士城 Apparently it's to standardise the name between the Shanghai Raffles City and the Singapore Raffles City, as well as to add a modern twist (and confusion in our already deplorable state of Mandarin here in Singapore) to it. And I'm not the only one that finds this name change a bad taste in my mouth... Lanyu already blogged about this last year (I feel so outdated), and here's the Google translated entry for all you kantangs out there... Though the Google translation puts "来福士城" as "Volkswagon" for some weird reason so the Google english version is a little garbled... LOL... Thoughts from the rest of you? I still prefer the original name as much as the new name is rather tongue-in-the-cheek but how many of the younger generation actually realise this?

OT: Mr Chrysopelea has been deposited at RMBR, in the process of thawing. Will try to be present when they start doing the pickling....

Snake-in-a-parcel...

2008-05-15T19:59:00.006+08:00

Mum's a little annoyed with me at the moment, and if she ever watches Nodame, she would probably be accusing me of setting up my own 変態の森.... All for the simple reason that there's now a paradise tree snake (Chrysopelea paradisi) in the freezer!!
Image taken from http://www.flyingsnake.org/
Mum's being extra paranoid after all the HFMD and bird flu outbreaks, so Mr Chrysopelea is in a-ziplock-wrapped- in-newspaper- in-a-plastic-bag- in-yet-another-ziplock- in-a-plastic-bag-placed- in-a-box-with-aluminium-foil- in-a-third-plastic-bag. A bit of an overkill in my opinion, and the wrapping process probably could have stopped after the 2nd ziplock but since the fridge and the kitchen is my mum's domain, anything to make her happy.

The snake was brought to the office after one of the guys came back from his lunchtime jog around the gardens. It was already (freshly) dead when found, and a rather pristine specimen. Have never been much of a snake person unlike chimck and SJ, and the only species I am comfortable with (dead or alive) is the dog-faced watersnake (Cerberus rynchops). Considering my last serpentine encounter was with a live spitting cobra (Naja Sumatrana) behind office just after our big move, I wasn't too keen on giving the snake a photoshoot. (Robin did take a couple of shots though). I must say that the paradise tree/flying snake IS a rather pretty snake, and looks rather graceful when it glides from tree to tree.

So how did it end up in my freezer? It's actually en route to RMBR at NUS, where we have our critter specimen repository. Would be dropping over at the museum to pass over some other stuff, so am acting as snake courier......

Meet Hermie, the not-so-naked hermit crab....

2008-05-13T22:08:00.004+08:00

Finally done processing my Sedili photos (yes, I'm the tortoise of the group...) What better way to spend my birthday than outdoors, nua-ing in nature and chilling with friends? Many picture perfect moments and fun with fellow guides and friends, and we got to meet some hermit crabs like Hermie here! Like most hermit crabs that this fish attempts to befriend, he shies into its shell. However, the friendly vibes seem to have gotten across to Hermie here and he slowly ventures out, even giving me curious looks! After realising that I neither wanted to eat him nor steal his shell, he even posed nicely for photos. Pretty amazing how he manages to reach out and get just enough grip on the substrate to turn the shell over. Bet he can beat most of us hands down when it comes to sit-and-reach!

Want to see more of Hermie and the fun we had over the Labor Day weekend? Here's my Flickr set.

Here's more photos from the rest, even some of the paparazzi-ish shots of me with my birthday cake (Thanks for the cake and plushies, guys! Though not for the moment of flashes...):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peisan/sets/72157604876831954/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilmare77/tags/sedilitrip0103may08/
http://flickr.com/photos/ivantsj/sets/72157604889458072/

divejunkie goes to Cyrene!!

2008-05-08T22:34:00.005+08:00

After last night's frenzy while I was basically taking my room apart to find my track pants (which is still MIA), was kinda in an un-excited frame of mind when I woke up this morning for the trip. Considering the pre-dawn meeting time, the entire bunch of us were rather chirpy albeit a little nonsensical with our brain (synapses?) not fully functioning yet.

No photos for now since I am slow in my photo processing flow TT_TT But I thought I would just quickly post up some thoughts about my first time doing an intertidal on a patch reef ^^ (Especially since the rest are churning out their picture/video packed entries one after another!) Have been hearing and reading quite a bit about the Cyrene reefs, from lab seniors and fellow volunteers, and she certainly hasn't failed to deliver. From when we were still on the boat, waiting for the smaller boat to fetch the 2nd batch of us over to the landing area at the sandbar, a (eagle?) ray just leaped out of the water! It was one of those split-second-suspended-in-time kinda thing. Happened so fast yet so clearly! Seems like Cyrene was welcoming us back to her shores!

Told CH that I wanted to see the Melibe sp. opisthobranch, and she promptly spotted one and hollered for me. *yay* Having seen one in real life, I managed to spot a smaller one all by myself too! While making my way over to the Melibe sp., was distracted by the many many knobblies (Protoreaster nodosus), and Kenneth even spotted one that looked like a uberly pale version of the Pentaceraster mammillatus aka evil star that was in the news recently. Though after showing the photos around and some discussion, this pale yellow one may turn out to be yet another species! Dr Lane has been contacted, and we eagerly await his response to this unique star we saw. Too bad none of the dark "evil" P.mammillatus were seen.

There's another trip out tomorrow while I'm out on a dive and I hope they would see even more things that they can share with us ^-^ I will try to put up a more detailed entry with photos some time soon! Stay tuned!

EDIT:
this divejunkie of a fish is stuck at Semakau landfill for most of the weekend (and yes, I do mean MOST since it's an overnight), likely to be back with even more photos *geh* so the proper Cyrene blog entry and photos would only appear late next week after I do a summary of the Sedili weekend... Gomen-nasai for being so slow with the photos....

Sherman's Sharkfins Saga....

2008-05-06T20:57:00.006+08:00

This series of strips appeared in my inbox courtesy of K! (Though Monkey beat me to putting it up on her blog.) Sherman's Lagoon has just done a series of dailies showing the plight of sharks, and in this case "What if Sherman got finned?!" (If the words are a little difficult to read, click on the image to go to my Flickr page and get the full-sized image) In Sherman's case, he gets back his fins and there's sorta a "happy ending" but unfortunately, this won't be possible for our real life sharks out in the oceans. It's a one-way trip to the pearly gates for them.
Hilarity and jokes aside, seeing that SL is a series that is pretty wellknown (and appears in our local papers as well), it is great that Jim Toomey is making use of the comic's popularity to share about shark finning, even having a conservation message on the SL site! Monkey has included quite a number of links about sharkfins on her blog post over here. It would be great if the demand for shark fin as a delicacy can be reduced. I have sworn off shark fins for a few years now, and am still trying to convince my grandma not to serve it during CNY anymore.... Just the sharkfin soup stock with bee hoon inside would pretty much taste the same... Care to join me in taking a stand for our oceans' sharks?

divejunkie on divejunkie ^^

2008-05-05T23:20:00.005+08:00

Geh~~ Am on the the Dive Junkie ADEX2008 flash banner on their main page!!! In case you're wondering, DJ's a brand of tops that combines scuba and clothing, so divejunkies like me get to bring some of our diving cheer on land too! My main reason for stalking their booth at ADEX was to try and get the "nudist" tee but alas, it's only in guy sizes and the larger ones too.... But I did get a yellow eagle ray polo ^^ Wonder if I should contact Cavin for the photo he took of me and mich....

p/s. more reasons for me to love DJ. They have linkies to WildSingapore and HantuBloggers!!! Way to go guys!

ReefAlert 2008 @ Dayang

2008-04-30T20:58:00.016+08:00

To wrap up this month of April, I bring you photos from last weekend when moggi and I went with the SMUX divers to Dayang to help facilitate this year's ReefAlert. The theory sessions were conducted at the SMU campus last Monday to Thursday. (photo courtesy of Moehadi) Would love to do my usual long babbling long entries with details on all we saw but that's gonna take too long, and I'll be up early tomorrow to head over to Sedili Besar with a group of fellow volunteer guides..... So without further ado, here's a slideshow of the entire ReefAlert process from training to the actual surveys to the fun we had in between. New friends made, new knowledge gained, newly inspired budding volunteers..... Do feel free to click on the photos and head over to my Flickr set to comment and all.

What more can you ask for? The sun, the sand and the sea.... Marine critters galore, and dive enthusiasts being inspired to do their bit in monitoring the state of the reef at Dayang. Do hope that some of them end up joining RF in doing our local surveys too! Was also lucky enough to catch a solitary Goniastrea colony spawn (nope, no mass spawning when we did the night dive last Sat), and observe a Chromodoris coi doing the nudi version of the can-can with the constant "skirt flipping".... With a number of friends planning to go for dive courses, and me doing my rescue some time this year, guess will be back at Dayang soon enough. Until then~~

===================================================
More photos here:
taken by Moehadi
taken by Zach

ReefAlert 2008 training (part02)

2008-04-24T23:50:00.004+08:00

So with 2 days of training under their belts, the SMUX divers still weren't scared off by us, and continued to come back for ~~more punishment~~ the evening classes we had last night and today. Last night sessions saw us completing ID training, with the fish survey. The "module" that took away all my marks when we had our RF training and test last year. moggi can be kinda a nag at times but he does go through the fish survey methodology in detail and shares all his little stories with us too! First on the importance of fish in the coral reef ecosystem, that fish and coral are inter-dependent on each other. Then some tricky things about fish surveys. You need to be able to estimate 3D distances, then those little buggers keep moving (not to mention hide in cracks and crevices)... and to top it all off, you need to be able to estimate a numbers in one huge school as it swims across the survey "corridor"! (yesh, I know I'm supposed to be juan-fish, do like fish both in the sea and on my platter, but I don't really appreciate the finer points of actually doing a fish survey... *bleah* And to further complicate matters, only certain fish are supposed to be counted. So in that short period of time that you detect a fish, you need to (1) ID it, (2) count the numbers, (3) judge if it falls within the survey area, (4) look into hidey-holes for more fishies, and (5) still follow the methodology of waiting for 3-5min every 5m, swimming/trudge the 5m taking at least 30 seconds... All underwater where your reactions tend to be a bit slower already... Talk about multi-tasking and challenging! So of course, you would need to do more detailed readings. These are all great fish reference books to help. The Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide is more of a general introduction to all sorts of marine life. The Reef Fish Identification - Tropical Pacific is spendidly detailed, with the fish categorised according to where they are normally found (bottom dwelling, pelagic, etc.) and their overall typical bodyshape. My favorite of the lot! Reef Fish in a pocket is basically a super condensed version of the Fish ID book, and is actually waterproof so you can keep it in your pocket for quick reference when you go diving/snorkelling! Don't like the Marine Fishes book at the far end of the table as it only contains drawings of the fish (no photos), plus "groupers" are spelled as "gropers" (can't imagine those grumpy looking little fishies turning ecchi and molesting divers/snorkellers....). Just goes to show how common names can be troublesome when there's no standardization... Armed with the books, our insipid students were assigned groups to find out differences between snappers-emperors, groupers-sweetlips, rabbitfish-goatfish, butterflyfish-angelfish, and parrotfish-filefish... Of course, with a little help from moggi, our resident fish expert ^^ Realising that the obvious traits (except for the usual exceptions) are easy to remember, though not always easy to spot, everybody's all smiles. ^_^ We're almost there, guys! So today, after a re-cap of the different surveys we need to carry out for RC, it's exam time! And we're glad to say that everybody passed and we're all set for the actual thing at Dayang!

New 7 Wonders of Nature

2008-04-23T22:56:00.002+08:00

Hi folks!
Just found out about this from my friend in Philippines. Not sure if it has been in the news. Seems like after voting for the new 7 wonders of the world, there's some ongoing voting for the new 7 wonders of nature. Singapore's Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is one of the top 77 nominees at the moment, and we're currently ranked 45. Quite decent isn't it? Maybe we could publicise this a bit more since online voting is opened until 31 Dec 2008, when the final 21 nominees would be put up for voting. Let's see if we can get BTNR into the top 21 ^^ With the number of really strong contenders in the running, getting into the top 21 would already be quite a feat in itself!
Also, at least a couple of us have also put up Chek Jawa as an other nominee, so please vote for our beloved CJ as well when it appears on the voting list!
Click here to vote!

ReefAlert 2008 training (part01)

2008-04-22T23:42:00.006+08:00

This is certainly a busy busy period~~ First with ADEX, EARTH DAY(!!!), coral spawning, various intertidal activities, and I find myself involved in training up and bringing a group SMUX divers for their annual ReefAlert at Dayang. Think this is their 3rd year heading to Malaysia to do ReefCheck surveys, and Gill Divers has been organising these annual ReefAlerts and getting BWV ReefFriends involved as well. They had their pool session on sunday, and the RC theory started last night and would continue on until Thursday before we leave for Dayang on Friday night.

papajeff kicked off the series of theory sessions with a quick introduction to our local waters and reefs, as well as an overview to the different tasks buddy pairs would be assigned. Followed by a quick demo on tape laying, or as much as can be demonstrated on land, with the usual 'do's and 'don't's like keeping the tape straight, don't let it twist about etc. Then it was time for the students to try it out for themselves, with the classroom furnishings acting as pseudo-corals and various reef structures. Seems rather easy on land, doesn't it? Wiat til you try it out while diving, and at an actual reef where it's more complex environment than what chairs and tables can provide! And for some reason, moggi's amused but all that's happening, even while holding on to the clothes pegs that we use to secure the transect tapes to the reef... Simple straightforward introduction for the first session. Tonight's session was a little more mugger-ish with the list of mobile invertebrates (aka backbone-less critters) and benthic codes to remember and identify. While waiting for the latecomers to make their way in, moggi starts with a quick re-cap with more tips on tape laying. It really is quite simple once you get the hang of it but (to use moggi's words) sometimes divers leave their common sense behind on the boat.... Things happen, such as shallow and deep transects crossing despite the fact that they are supposed to be approximately parallel and laid at a constant depth. And also how we need to deal with the not-so-classroom-perfect real world where the reef is non-linear and/or the reef profile is extremely bumpy with many crevices and boulder corals. Good for the fish and other critters but can be a pain for us humans trying to make sense of the larger scheme in life. And since tape laying is basically the backbone for any kind of reef survey, you need to get it right. (or end up delaying everything since the tape needs to be relaid....) E1 continues by introducing the 7 mobile invertebrate groups that the folks at RC HQ are interested in, namely, sea urchins (Diadema, collector, pencil), crown of thorns (Acanthaster planci), giant clams (Tridacna sp.), tritons, sea cucumbers (prickly red, greenfish, sandfish, cowfish), banded coral shrimps, and lobsters. Then I had a go at going through the biotic (hard coral, soft coral, nutrient indicator algae, sponges, others) and abiotic (rock, rubble, sand, silt/clay) codes for the benthic portion of the survey. Quick sum up by moggi and we're done for the ~~day~~ night. Hope we didn't scare off too many of them since we still have to go through the fish groups tomorrow, and have they take the "final exam" on Thursday!
And on a totally irrelevant note, I get to collect my regulator set tomorrow. Can't wait!!! ^_^

ADEX goodies ^_^

2008-04-22T10:08:00.001+08:00

Decided to separate this from the main ADEX post since it's just to feature my haul of goodies that I now have to find space for in my already full room..... Too many to take a proper shot of, so here's *most* of my stash, well, missing new regulator and octopus set that basically ate up quite a bit of my wallet. Would be collecting it tomorrow~~ And of course, the lucky draw goodies ^^ Anybody wanna buy a new mask from me? It's an Oceanic one!

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!

3 full days of ADEX

2008-04-22T01:20:00.005+08:00

*phew* survived the weekend spent at ADEX. Other than the usual madness that follows setting up and dismantling of the coral nursery display, it was great fun seeing familiar faces at both the Eco-Village and the main booths all over, as well as getting to know some of the prominent but-not-so-familiar (as in not introduced) faces in the dive industry. Had to be there early on Friday since there was an opening ceremony, and we did up the little coral nursery corner of the Keppel booth at the ADEX Eco-Village. All with time to spare as the exhibitors of the cozy little Eco-Village area settled in while the opening speeches were made. Well, compared with the IT show that took place earlier in the year, the turnout at ADEX was a little dismal, even more so at the Eco-Village since we were almost tucked away from most of the action. ADEX is known in the dive community more for its deals on gear, trips, books, magazine subscriptions, etc. so the bulk of the visitors hardly spent any time at our Eco-Village. Our busiest periods were usual before and after the lucky draws/dollar auctions (Singaporeans being Singaporeans only appear when there's any announcement of free/cheap stuff), as well as when school groups were brought round on Friday and Saturday. Definitely had our hands full at times, and am thankful for the Keppel volunteers who signed up to man the booth, especially those who came for more than one shift, and the gungho few who have yet to have any first hand experience with deploying the tables or maintaining them. Everybody was all smiles to share with visitors about what the nursery is all about! Other than sharing with visitors, these Keppel volunteers were also charged with the task of helping roll up a set of 5 posters on Singapore's biodiversity, so that we could give them out to visitors. A couple of the dive shops actually took stacks to give out at their shops too! Here's two of them posing very happily with the 2 marine posters. Our nearest "neighbor" were the folks from Kon-Tiki dive centre in Thailand, and we spent time chatting with each other over the 3 days. They seem to be involved in a number of projects, from Project AWARE to CoralWatch to ReefCheck and some stuff on monitoring butterflyfish as a gauge to reef health, as well as some beach cleanups. Rather heartening so see that there are dive centres that are trying to do their bit for our seas. (To the hardcore pessimists, yes, it IS good commercial sense considering that there's a "Let's go green" bandwagon at the moment but if it helps the cause, why not? Everybody's happy) Would like to be able to head up to Thailand to visit them as well~~ They were even having an art contest every few hours of so. You just need to draw your favorite marine life, and you stand a fish ID DVD from Kon-Tiki. There's even a category for adults so we also took a break from the poster rolling and the booth manning to join in the fun~ And our masterpieces. Even includes a really special looking "lion-fish" (nope, it's NOT a merlion...LOL) as well as our local critters (courtesy of CH). Do excuse the smudge marks, had to get rid of personal particulars. One of the Keppel volunteers even won! Hope you put that ID guide to good use, girl! As with all things, the 3 days came to an end all too soon. In the midst of all the packing, managed to grab hold of some of the TMX folks for a quick shot. Some of the (not-quite) behind the scenes people, making things smooth for all of us, including the man behind the voice we've been hearing over the 3 days! Hope the Boat Expo this weekend goes as smoothly for you!

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Other posts about ADEX 2008:
(1) 10 year plan to make Singapore coral paradise
(2) Roving reef exhibition debuts at ADEX
(3) Shore volunteers reach out at ADEX
(4) Hantu Blog reaches out at ADEX

Reef critters in action!

2008-04-10T11:45:00.003+08:00

Flickr has just ~~gone the way of Photobucket and~~ launched video hosting, so I decided to give it a try with some of my better underwater videos of our local critters in action. Quality's not too shabby, so may consider this as an alternative for my shorter videos. Stuff more than 90 seconds ~~short~~ long would still need to find their way to Youtube.
First up is this video of a banded sea krait hunting in the shallow of Hantu waters. How did I end up there? Got distracted while in the middle of searching for my buddy's lost mask during RF training early last year.

Don't blink lest you miss it! More feeding in process. These are barnacle feet grasp tiny zooplankton from the waters. Yesh, those feathery things that keep popping in and out are barnacle feet, while the barnacle's head is firmly burrowed inside the calcium carbonate skeleton of this Galaxea sp. coral

また雨の季節かな...

2008-04-03T16:41:00.002+08:00

今、シンガポールで毎日夕立が出てる...　気持ち悪い。　太陽さん、何で朝だけくる？　春雨がちょっと好きけど、夕立と大雨は...　窓でてるてる坊主ちゃんが書いた、太陽さん早く戻ってください～～
日本人と雨

Review: Nudi books

2008-04-01T21:02:00.017+08:00

Being the nudist (meaning 'seaslug lover' NOT 'exhibitionist'!!) I am, I am a *somewhat abashed* owner of THREE nudibranch books!! (amongst other nature books) And for those of you who know how much they cost and how I tend to build my own personal library of sorts, you probably can "value" my really messy room. ^^ The latest addition being the Nudibranch Encyclopedia by Neville Coleman. Having a spot of free-ish time now (before the April-June) ~~madness~~ busy-ness descends, so shall do a quick and rough comparison between (and a somewhat review of)Coleman's latest and his previous 1001 Nudibranchs book. The covers look pretty much the same but the first difference is in the thickness and weight. 1001's a mere 144 pages and soft cover, whereas NE's nearly 4 times that at 416 pages and hard cover. A tad bit hefty for a field guide, especially when your dive gear already takes up so much space and weight (not to mention your cameras and other assorted barang-barangs). Plus, most divers are more of generalists than nudists per se, meaning if they wanna bring along their ID books, it would be for quite a few critters... So the new ~~kid~~ book on the block suffers the first blow of being less portable, but how does it do content-wise?

Firstly, the section describing the main features of the different seaslugs now has labeled photographs instead of diagrams to indicate the names of the different anatomical portions of the sluggers. Much less detail as compared to 1001 that even includes the type of cerata. Guess quite a few of the features are difficult to see in the field, and the general audience wouldn't be so concerned with knowing where the seminal groove is or how the abulmen gland is wrapped round the digestive gland.

Not much changes were made to the section on habitats, well, except that in NE, the portion on open ocean opisthobranchs is omitted, and even the part on zoogeography was taken out. And on the other hand, the portion(s) on nudibranch behavior has been expounded upon. More details and insights into the 5 senses of opistobranchs, respiration, locomotion, defence strategies, and the topic we all love to hear about, sex. I like the change in the section on feeding where more photos of slugs in action instead of static shots of their known food. Stuff like what we observed at Hantu recently. Sections in 1001 that I miss having are stuff like the details on the slug look alikes like flatworms, lamellarins, onchs, allied cowries, etc.; as well as the section on associations from slug hitch-hikers to parasites. Also the not-so-relevant-but-fun/nice-to-know section on photographing nudis is also gone. Well, considering the number of good photos that plague Dr Rudman on the seaslug forum, guess most of the nudists already know the basics.

And now we get to the meat of the books. The slug parade!! The arrangement of the sluggie information is now alphabetically (family then genera then species) in NE instead of in decreasing complexity of the opistobranchs as it was in 1001. Furthermore, NE has around double the number of photos compared 1001!!! No wonder there was so much delay from the initial Christmas 2007 release date. Having the names arranged alphabetically does make things way easier to find, since we have had the alphabet ingrained into us from young. Figuring out and trying to remember the slug complexity hierarchy would easily give anybody a headache, and when you factor in the constant updating of species and all.... Also, in NE, the non-nudi opistobranchs are presented first, which is the opposite of 1001 where it was nudis first, other slugs later...

So aside from the new photos and new species recorded, what else is "new" in NE? ~~Larger photos to oogle at and glomp.~~ More details and descriptions on features of the species, and as far as possible, photos of juveniles and eggs are also included. Definitely moving away from being merely a field ID book to more of a proper reference book. Can't wait for the day when the encyclopedia would have expanded into a multi-volume set with all the down-and-dirty on seaslugs. That would be like putting the entire seaslug forum into print~~~~ Look! Even my plushies are intrigued by it! And nice and set to become nudists themselves!
Intrigued by nudibranchs but not so hot on getting the details on names and all? Here's another good read:
Both the Nudibranch Encyclopedia and the Nudibranch Behaviour books can be ordered from I-NSC. 1001 Nudibranchs is no longer available since it's supposed to be updated with NE. And no, I am not being commissioned for any of these books. They really are good reads!

Squirrel-proof birdfeeder.

2008-04-01T13:37:00.003+08:00

Since it's good ol' April's Fool, here's something entertaining. No tricks here. I kid you not! Really just too bad birdfeeders aren't all the rage over here. Would definitely provide for many hours of back yard entertainment! Have nothing against squirrels per se but this is just such an interesting way of keeping them out of the birdfeed. Now if we could have something similar for our macaques.... And here's one of a squirrel that seems to have at least as much fun as the viewers are. ^^

Coming soon to HBO....

2008-03-31T14:58:00.006+08:00

But before that, there would be screenings at the National Library and the Singapore Botanic Gardens. What am I talking about? Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. Insights and all about climate change and global warming. Given the current hype and all about global warming and all, it does seem quite apt that there are at least 3 public screenings prior to premiering on HBO on Earth Day 2008. 3 public screenings for those without cable ^^ Especially since the show was still largely unknown when it made it's first appearance in Singapore cinemas 2 years ago. There was also a couple of screenings at NUS in Feb last year, and am glad to see posters up around SBG today publicising the screening at our Botanic Gardens. Think this should be part of the the Earth Day 2008 activities, so be sure to catch it! I know this certainly left a huge impression on me!

19th April 2008 (Sat)
Time: 3-5pm
Venue: National Reference Library - Level 5 - Imagination Room
Details on the Wild Happenings blog

20th April 2008 (Sun)
Time: 11am-1pm, 2-4pm
Venue: Function Hall, Botany Centre (Tanglin core), Singapore Botanic Gardens
(advance screening invitation by HBO and Singapore Botanic Gardens, NParks)

22nd April 2008 (Tue) EARTH DAY!!
Time: 9-11pm
Premieres on HBO (StarHub Digital Cable Ch 60)

And for those who are still contemplating on whether to go or not, Monkey did a nice synopsis/summary thing prior to last year's screening at NUS on here Midnight Monkey Monitor blog here: http://leafmonkey.blogspot.com/2007/01/inconvenient-truth.html

Seems like the clear waters are here to stay!

2008-03-28T20:46:00.004+08:00

Well, at least for a while. ^^ With the invigorating leisure dive on sunday under my belt, we were back at Hantu on Wednesday for work. Namely, "rescuing" loose fragments of coral that would otherwise be smothered or damaged by all the wave action.... The visibility was still stunningly good (even today at the coral nursery where it tends to crappiness but that would be a story for another day since my UW camera casing is still drip-drying....), and there was new things to see as usual! We weren't as deep this time round, so the surge made things a little tricky at some points....

Just as I was reaching for one loose fragment, this young-ish reef cuttlefish was just minding its own little cephalopod business when a hand reached in its direction.... Like any sensible little cephalopod, it starts to act defensively by rearing up and flaring its tentacles, reminding me of an elephant trumpeting away.... And if I remember correctly, this one's probably a female since the "skirt" around the main body lacks a distinct margin right at the edge. And when some other diver goes too close for comfort, it starts to change color while easing itself away from us.....
Nearby, there were a couple of small but brightly colored flatworms as well. First time I'm seeing this particular pattern and coloration. The one of the right also looked like it was burrowing into the blue sponge that I spotted them on! Maybe they're some spongivore version of the coral acoel worms?
Am starting to think that this Tambja sp. has been assigned to be the hospitality i/c for Hantu. Just keep spotting it! Don't remember coming across it elsewhere yet....
Most unusual of all was this half-flatworm that was just gliding about. Looked like it got torn/eaten rather recently, with white guts(?!) dangling out as it went around its way... *yikes* Don't know about its chances of survival....

Power packed Easter at Hantu Blog anniversary!

2008-03-27T11:27:00.019+08:00

4 days after the anniversary, am still elated and energized from the series of dives we did on that day. Debby has already put up both a video log and photo blog entry of that day, and so has my bionic eyed buddy, CH. Now's my turn for my take of the day! *(^-^)*

The day started off seemingly like a regular day, with some of the guys reading the newspaper on our way to Hantu. Except that 7 guys and 5 girls were celebrating their Easter Sunday by going for a series of Hantu Blog anniversary dives!
Debby's blog entry shows photos of just how clear the water was on Sunday. That really was a HUGE and pleasant surprise for the 12 of us, with the storm the previous day and the overcast skies...

In we went, and how apt it was that the first critter sighting was this little Tambja sp.
The one we saw on Sunday
And guess what? I first saw this species during last year's Hantu anniversary dive!!! And with the same dive buddy too~~ Cool, eh?
Last year's one
Both CH and Debby have covered most of the things that we came across over the 4 dives done (plus this year was my turn to have my camera run outta juice), shan't talk too much about the stuff seen. Will just highlight what IXUS managed to capture before it died-ed....

First 2 dives yielded many many nudibranchs since our buddy pair plus guide made up the sexy seaslug seekers! Shall leave it to you to decide if the slugs or the trio of humans are the sexy ones ^^ Here's some of the other adorable sluggies we saw: One of the more unusual was this small Janolus sp. that was really very well camouflaged in with the sand, as you can tell from these 2 shots. Debby managed to snap a shot of it on a barrel sponge here, and you can see the features more clearly.
Facing the camera

And now fleeing from the onslaught of cameras
Other interesting nudibranch happenings included this Gymnodoris rubropapulosa being caught in the act of laying down its precious little ribbon of orange eggs. and another individual of the same species making a meal of a Chromodoris lineolata... The blue dragons (Pteraeolidia ianthina) were out in force as usual and this one was caught having a little "breeze" on a hydroid. Despite seeing a number of Hypselodoris emmas, this particular one really showed its mantle to us gigantic divers by giving me a quizzical look!
Testimony to the brilliant visibility (even at 14m!!) were these shots of gobies. Those of you who have encountered these bottom-dwelling fish would know how skittery they can get towards movement. But with the good visibility, I could stay a comfortable (for them) distance away yet manage to snap a few shots.

But the real star of the dives was this frogfish. First ever frogfish I've ever seen in ~~fish-ness~~ person, and it's while diving in our very own waters! No need for exotic overseas places! *w00t* Poor bloke was probably a tad bit traumatised byt all the excited divers taking turns to peer and oogle it~~ Do hope it continues to stay around!
We stopped on Hantu for a longer surface interval for lunch while Debby and a couple of strong men went back to get tanks for the 2 dives. This meant a much needed snooze time for a couple of tired young men while the rest of us ~~went wild~~ set out to do a mid/high tide intertidal walk.
No, no suicidal thoughts were entertained during this time. We're just divers who just can't get enough of marine life or the sea!
Here's also when Mr Sun started to peek out of the clouds. IXUS died-ed like 15 minutes into the 3rd dive, so I'll just end here with a shot of the gorgeous sunset we saw before doing the night dive. What a way to spend Easter Sunday! (Photo by JeeMee Goh)
Wanna see what I missed snapping? Here are the photos taken by:
(1) Hantu Blogger
(2) JeeMee (above water shots)
(3) CH

Once Upon a Tree: Tides and Coastlines Episode 06 - Hopes & the Future

2008-03-25T22:06:00.005+08:00

Oh no~~ We have reached the end of the series. Definitely a fast 6 weeks it has been! This very last episode starts off with Dr Nigel Goh talking about the role of NParks in the conservation of our wild places, such as to minimise the impact of development. All said in an orange and black wetsuit aboard a diveboat. Why? Because in this last episode, the audience is actually brought underwater into Singapore's wonderful murk! Times are changing such that there is a more proactive approach to conservation, as compared to the traditional method of protecting. The coral nursery project is one such example where we as humans are taking a more active role in (hopefully) reversing the damage done to our environment. Nigel takes on a really optimistic attitude that the coral nursery is setting the stage in preparation for the day when our waters regain some of its clarity that has been lost over the years of development. I certainly hope that this would actually happen!

Then comes a short mishmash interview of sorts of a group of children, all less than 10 years of age! How good it is to hear from the mouths of the babes on what they like about the sea and ocean, about what they think of sharks, crabs, octopus, killer whales and such.

Following which, BOTH hosts head over to Pulau Hantu where Debby shows them around. At the intertidals for Shawn, and getting wet by diving right into the action for Sue-Lyn! This is an extra thrill for me since I am still high from the brilliant series of dives we had at the Hantu anniversary on Sunday. ^^
(Photo taken by JeeMee Goh)
Not much surprise here since the filming of both portions were blogged about, but I do like the portion where Debby highlights the ecosystem services rendered by coral reefs, such as serving as a nursery ground for many marine animals, and acting as a natural coastal protection.

The ecofootprint reducing section did a quick sum up of all the previous 5 episodes, from reducing trash to taking the initiative to volunteering... And what's the message for this very last episode? "The future is tofu" (What the?!) Basically quickly highlights TofuTech that you can wear your tofu and eat it. Alternative resources for us to use, and the re-thinking of how we use natural products I guess. Shawn ends with a positive, forward looking note on how there's a legion of youth that's ready to go out there and share with others about the marine aspect of our natural heritage, and it's not just the earlier generations just reminiscing about times long gone of pristine waters etc. It does seem that Singapore has started on the road to becoming island people from the people that live on an island that we were. Do hope there really is a cascade effect and even if not everybody finds going out to wild places and sharing their piece of cake, even just reading up and being more environmentally conscious of your actions goes a long way!

Here's the pre-show blurb as usual on the WildFilms blog. And a special treat from me.... A sneak peek on some of the people behind the ~~scenes~~ camera and action. Kudos to these folks for putting in the many months of work to get this informative short series out!
Alvin and Yean filming from the back of the boat

And even from the top of the boat!

Am sure that anyone who has dived in Singapore before would agree with me in saying that it's no easy feat to film underwater with all the sediments floating around! Cheers to Alvin for the nice underwater footage!

Setting things up and all for the "easel scenes"... (Photos by Khoo Minsheng)

Discussing things over with the director (Photo by Khoo Minsheng)

Director, sound personnel, video guy all need to go down to the intertidal. With the equipment and all! (Photo by Khoo Minsheng)
And this was only a part of the outdoors filming. Goodness knows how many more hours were spent looking (and re-looking) at the footage, editing, and deciding on the final cut. And with this, it's a wrap!

Does this mean it's time to change my hp number?

2008-03-24T20:39:00.002+08:00

What is this?! Just got a call from a current student of ACJC, asking if I'm interested in buying Fun-O-Rama tickets. Is my alma mater SOOooooo desperate to sell tickets that it needs to lower itself to the tactics of telemarketing? I did not leave my number with the online OBA database thing so that some unknown junior can use it to get ticket sales. Yes, I am an ex-student and the money from the ticket sales is all for a good cause but wouldn't an email from the school admin be more official? No, I am NOT impressed by this. In fact, am tempted not to turn up for Fun-O-Rama.... Am pretty sure all the other former students would rather hear from friends/ex-teachers/school admin with regards to ticket sales.... Do hope that this is a one off thing. Am sorely disappointed, and this does not befit the cries of "The Best is Yet to Be"!! Anybody else get a random call from a junior?

Morning ramble at Pasir Ris

2008-03-22T22:36:00.005+08:00

This is gonna be more or less a photoblog entry of this morning's ramble. Why? Because I got up at 0500h this morning, and I NEED my rest before diving with the Hantubloggers for their 4th anniversary dive tomorrow. Thus begins the photos taken during yet another of my sporadic forays on land....

Some of the birds we saw...
Dragonflies and a damselfly...
Spider and bug...
Lizard...
Butterflies...
Plants...
Scenery that was all around us...
And of course, other fellow Singaporeans out enjoying themselves... Albeit in another fashion... Wakeboarding...

Talk about the regional wildlife trade

2008-03-20T20:02:00.004+08:00

Spent the end of the last workday of week listening to Chris Shepherd from TRAFFIC SEA share about a bit of his work and the effect of wildlife trade at this talk that was held at SBG. It was a full 1.5h presentation by Chris but he managed to keep me attentive for the entire session. Well done!

There was a little intro that was accompanied by pictures of many many dried geckos, semi-dissected mammals, bear paws etc. And a glimpse into the world and daily lives of the team of dedicated individuals from TRAFFIC as they do a bit of espionage in tracking down dealers of illegal trading (this part reminds me of the excitement and scariness of agents that try to bust drug trafficking, and am pretty sure many of the problems and issues they face are similar to that of illegal wildlife trade), as well as the capacity building aka training for local law enforcement units, and getting countries to strengthen their national laws on wildlife trade. Signing CITES is one thing but actually incorporation CITES guidelines and rulings into national laws and all is another....

To quickly sum things up, the main drivers aka push factors for wildlife trade are (1)medicine and superstitious beliefs, (2)the pet trade, (3)furs and skins, trophies, stuffed figures, and various other novel decorations/accessories, (4)for zoos, birdparks, and aquariums (shocking but true, some actually get the bulk of their animals through the shadier routes), (5)for mass releases.... Think I missed out some but these should be the main ones. With these in mind, it really is pretty much a fauna focused trade rather than a flora one since things that are large and move (thinkg tigers and elephants and slow loris) are way more charismatic than say a plant. Big money involved here and weighing the cons of illegal wildlife trade against those of drug trafficking, it's small wonder why so many animals and plants are still being shipped around the world in so many crazy ways. It really gets bizarre.... Especially when Chris started talking about the innovative ways traffickers hide their loot, especially when using air transport.... The tighter the security that these folks need to pass through, the more inventive they get....

What do I mean? How does hiding eggs in pantyhose that's somehow stuffed in you underwear sound? One fellow even got caught because one of the eggs hatched and the critter started making noises! Not gonna put any more examples here, so as to avoid giving people crazy ideas about how to smuggle some cute animal back from one of their overseas trips. Interesting to hear how forthcoming some of the petshop owners are when Chris goes around doing his surveys of what species are in the shops and how many etc., seems like people wanting exotic pets is pretty much run-of-the-mill for them, eh?

And how does Singapore fit into all of this? Given our strategic position in SEA (as we all get drilled about in social studies), it is not suprising that there is quite a number of shady movements of wildlife through our airport. International airport with many flights and many linkages between high demand countries like China and USA, and supplier countries in SEA. Momentary urges come at this point to join customs so as to get my hands dirty to nab these bad fellas who subject animals to crazy conditions when moving them in BULK from one country to another.... Despite my anti-affinity for reptiles of the slithering kind, seeing photos of the behind-the-scenes stuff makes my blood boil.

Besides, being ordinary people not living in the world of TV dramas, nabbing dealers is way outta our league. So what can we do as consumers? Firstly, we can reduce the demand for this poaching and trafficking of wildlife (whole, processed, or otherwise). Basics of economics, right? No demand, so no need for supply. Especially for medicinal products made from like deer, tiger, horns etc., as well as jewellery and other souvenirs made from animal parts. Secondly, when buying pets, know what you are purchasing. What species it is, is it protected under CITES, and where the petshop is getting their animals from. Doing a little more backgrounds research on your potential pet would probably do more good than harm since you also have more info on hand to *hopefully* make a better decision on whether you can manage a LONG TERM commitment of having a pet. Releasing an animal back into the "wild" (as defined by you) is likely NOT to be the best thing for you ex-pet or the animals already living in that habitat or area. Thirdly, you can spread conservation messages by sharing with family, friends, and love ones about being pro-active consumers. Do stop and spare a thought for where something comes from before going ahead with a purchase just because it is appealing at the point in time... Hopefully we can be even more creative than the dealers and traffickers in doing our part in curbing illegal wildlife trade. Remember, every little drop would help fill up a bowl, no matter how large it is!

How I wish Chris Shepherd would have talked to us while we were taking the conservation module back at NUS. Would have tied in nicely against the gloom-and-doom picture painted by our two profs by letting us know about some of the more positive changes in legislation and management of such trades... Anybody who wants to hear more about the talk and all, please feel free to IM me, visit the TRAFFIC homepage or even drop an email off to the folks at TRAFFIC.

Once Upon a Tree: Tides and Coastlines episode 05 - Lost Connections

2008-03-18T22:02:00.009+08:00

After a 2 week hiatus, the divejunkie review is back!! And this time round I even managed to catch the very very start of the show *beams* Even included a quickie history class by Sue-Lyn that started off with her in front of a Google map that had an arrow pointing to Raffles' landing spot.

In first section, we head down to Labrador Park and hear Prof Leo Tan, "marine guru" talk about the need to actively build this rapport and affinity for the sea. This affinity needs to start from young, so that the appreciation of nature can be ingrained, along with some national pride. Since it is "part and parcel of our home". And once we can appreciate it, "commitment will come when there is love". I think he spoke the heartfelt thoughts of all intertidal volunteers guides who guide the public at Kusu, Semakau, Chek Jawa, Sungei Buloh, Labrador Park..... How can we NOT agree with him? He really puts forth an eloquent, passionate stand about how we shouldn't loose our connection with the sea. Speaking of which, I need to admit that those photos of Labrador Park rocky shore was taken nearly 4 years ago when I first started my love affair with the shores when otterman got woceht and me to start of the Labrador Park blog. Things cropped up and I have long since retired from the blog but here's their first guided walk held earlier in the month, kindly posted by Justin.
The long-gone-days when 3 utterly blur undergrads were sent out to document the flora and fauna of Labrador's rocky shore
Then came the advert before we joined Sue-Lyn and Siti at the seagrass lagoon located next to our very own offshore Landfill!! Quotable quote to take home from this section "Wait, what's a photic zone?" "Excuse me, nerd talk..." Just SOOooo candid! And yes, when you talk to volunteers who also do research, there is a tendency to go into "nerd talk". ^^ Using the example of tape seagrass and needle seagrass, Siti explains about seagrass strategies on maximising limited space, and talks a little about the complexity of seagrass beds, enabling them to be areas of shelter and nursery for our little marine critters. And then a quick demo on the kind of monitoring that TeamSeagrass does. Type of substrate the quadrat falls on, percentage seagrass cover etc.... Am glad that the film crew managed to get shots of the seagrass submerged in water. They do look way more impressive! =^-^= Please correct me if I am wrong but was the thing that was labeled as a "marine worm" actually a synaptid sea cucumber? Only caught a glimpse as I glanced up from my mad scribblings.... (KS, do help me check when u watch the recording you took~~ Thanks!) After a quick discussion with the few other who caught the episode, that was a rather glaring mis-identification of a synaptid sea cucumber.... May some how have been confused with the collar worm aka Eunice sp. marine worm... Since the online photo of the worm looks a tad bit like the synaptid....
Yes, this is our synaptid friend of a cucumber that is common spotted in the seagrass lagoon at the Semakau intertidal.
Then it was back to Shawn and Labrador Park. This time focusing on coastal forest... Their uniqueness - ability to thrive despite being subjected to the drying effects of a constant breeze, the salt spray, and the thin soil cover. How we should really treasure and appreciate this habitat as we have little of it left, and some of the plants being really rare (didn't manage to catch the names that slided off Shawn's tongue...).

What I like best about this episode is actually the take home message in the "Reducing Ecological Footprint" section. It was done in the style of some rather old Mastercard (?) advertisement, placing a price on material things, and the price of memories being priceless.... Like getting a new handphone with an effective lifespan of 8 months would cost you $300-odd while an intertidal walk with BWV would cost $15 that would give you memories to last ages; cost of a game center and gaming compared to being a NHC volunteer.... Gosh! I really miss that series of ads! Drives home the message of how connections and memories and stuff that REALLY matters cannot have a price tagged onto it!

Words from the producer on the episode on the wildfilms blog.

So then, the last and final episode would air next week, featuring an intertidal walk with Debby of the HantuBlog and some diving action at our very own coral nursery!! Here's Debby's entry about the filming.

Introducing our nudibranchs! 「シンガポールのウミウシ」

2008-03-16T17:15:00.004+08:00

Have been dragging out this post for like ages now, especially since I wanted this to be part of my IYOR mini-project series.... Guess that would have to wait (yet again), so that this entry doesn't end up being one of my to-be-blogged-but-never-made-it-onto-ASHIRA entries...

=======
Be it while walking the intertidals or while diving here in Singapore, the one organism that never ever fails to intrigue me (no matter how many times I see them) are the nudibranchs and their fellow seaslug relatives. Definitely WAY WAY WAY sexier than their landlocked slug relatives! The word "nudibranch" is a mix of Latin and Greek, meaning "naked gills". So these little sluggies that I love so much are actually just shell-less snails! In fact, thery ARE related to marine snails and some of their opisthobranch (Greek for "behind gills") relatives still retain some sort of shell. But to me, nudibranchs are pretty much butterflies of the sea. Their colorfulness, graceful swimming, and their widespread appeal to divers all over the world, just seems so butterfly-like. It's not surprising that I also find butterflies fascinating! =^-^= That's a story for another time... Let's get back to introducing some of these colorful critters found in our tiny island locale.

(1) Jorunna funebris ブチウミウシ Those who follow Neville Coleman's books on nudibranchs would know this bloke as the funeral Jorunna. I prefer to call it "oreo cookie nudibranch" - because it reminds me of many Oreo cookies with all their creamy goodness spilling out in a great big pool! These nudis are commonly found in tidal pools when the tide is out, as well as when diving, and there are times in the year when we are really lucky to see them in the process of procreating! While some people with more sensitive skin are allergic to sponges, this species FEEDS on blue sponges. Thinking of the spicules (glass-like pokey bits) found in sponges, I can only imagine how tough their mouth parts and stomach are!

(2) Glossodoris atromarginata キイロウミウシ Another species of nudibranchs that also feed on sponges is the black-marginated Glossodoris. Like the Jorunna funebris, it is also a commonly seen denizen of our coral reefs. A literal translation of its Japanese name can be taken to be "yellow colored nudibranch", and from the photo on the right I am sure you can tell why! The main body color ranges from a very pale yellowish off-white to the nice creamy butter yellow seen above.

(3) Pteraeolidia ianthina ムカデミノウミウシ Serpent Pteraeolidia, is known locally as the blue dragon, and can sometimes be mis-identified as a Flabellina sp. as they look rather similar at first glance. Unlike the first 2 nudis introduced above, this species of nudibranchs possess zooxanthellae, and can photosynthesize, just like hard corals and giant clams!! They are extremely common and as many as 15-20 individuals can be spotted in a single dive or approximately 40 minutes!! I kid you not!! Given that our local waters are NOT known for their sparkling clarity, you are probably wondering how they managed to proliferate if they just photosynthesize... Just like hard corals and giant clams, the zooxs are not the sole food source of the blue dragon. They also feed on the nasty stingy hydroids that a really a dime-a-dozen here. Sometimes we even spot some small juveniles that are mostly white, lacking the zooxanthellae (see below). That's all for now. Would definitely be back with more slug goodness!! More photos of nudibranchs and other seaslugs can be found here:
http://flickr.com/photos/juanicths/sets/72157602810022239/
http://flickr.com/photos/juanicths/sets/72157602811360563/

Happy (sunny) White Day~~~

2008-03-15T10:53:00.011+08:00

Way too pampered by the nice warm sun and all. The last week or so of rain has really made me all blue and gloomy. OK, so I'm literally blue most of the time but not gloomy~~ Yesterday's dive was great! Nice sunshine to warm up in while having lunch *q(^.^)p* Even came across many many many clumps of broad squid eggs amidst the gradually disappearing sargassum! Some fresh and clean, some older and dirtier looking, and even some empty ones..... Wonder if there was some massive laying or if this is one permanent nesting site for squids... ~~Can anyone tell me if these are cuttlefish or squid eggs? Thanks~~~~ Seems like sassy jiejie is right! These are squid eggs after all. These sacs look pretty much the same as these. Excuse my blurness since I am used to squid egg sacs looking smooth rather than bumpy.

The squid eggs swaying in the surge, good aeration for any developing embryos!
Speaking of sargassum, the disappearance of this macro-algae (which most people who dive locally dread, mainly due to the silt that collects on the leaves...) has resulted in a bloom in all the smaller algae like Mermaid's Fan (Padina sp.) and some other algae aggregations (think mess of many kinda algae) at the nursery table....

This is how sargassum looks like while diving in Singapore. On a GOOD day mind you!
Little critters spotted at the coral nursery:

This really tiny juvenile filefish. Only about a meager few cm in length!!Was playing hide-n-seek with my IXUS... Wish there were more filefish and rabbitfish in the waters to help gobble up the algal blooms... Sorry about the blur-ness, but a juvenile skitterish fish ain't the best photo subject...

Black-lipped conch, Strombus urceus. Rather commonly spotted at our intertidals as well, in fact, we just saw one last Sunday. Love looking at conches. Especially their oogly-googly eyes~~

And just as we were finishing up our work in the area, this school of razorfish (aka shrimpfish) just drifted by!! Have seen razorfish off and on but usually in pairs and not one swarm. This is a rather unusual fish from the Centriscidae family as their normal position is upside down with their snouts facing the bottom!! In this position, they can pass off convincingly as pieces of harmless leaves/twigs floating around in the water. But when startled they turn horizontal and scoot off pretty fast.
What a nice way to end a cold, rainy week. =^-^=

Yet another episode missed...

2008-03-12T18:29:00.004+08:00

This is getting to be a bad habit.... I SHALL NOT MISS THE LAST TWO EPISODES OF ONCE UPON A TREE 2~~~ Been thoroughly rained out this week. Not to mention still recovering from my Fri-Sun nature stints of diving and intertidal guiding at Semakau. Back from yet another really rainy, cold, wet dive.... And am glad to see my "lovely assistant" KS picking up the reviewing baton! Thanks bro~~ Especially since it was a kinda last minute arrowing at 2130h last night on MSN while I was still hunting down ID charts and various miscellaneous things for today's dive. Missed seeing Siva on TV. o(TT.TT)o

Here's Ria's usual preview summary,
as well as the review done by KS.

On a side note, I really need to clear this backlog of "should-blog-entries" about stuff. There's one on nudibranchs (as those following me on Flickr may have guessed from the influx of photos) that would hopefully come up over the weekend. Draft of the entry in english is done up but having a little trouble putting it into Japanese.... *koks own head*

Apologies....

2008-03-05T09:23:00.003+08:00

A big sorry to everybody who was expecting/waiting for my review on last night's episode of Once Upon a Tree on seafood. Don't know why I was so tired yesterday that I just KO-ed on the bed. Think that was around 9 or so... (Remember looking at the clock then and thinking that I won'd miss the episode) Whoops... Seems like the lure of seafood and seeing our very own ~~chatterbox of a~~ tidechaser at Changi wasn't enough to keep me awake... And after I told sassy-jiejie that I would.... Real sorry folks. Guess any comments and discussions of the show would have to go to the wildfilms' pre-show summary over here. Unless someone recorded it and I can still watch? If not, will just try and catch the 4th instalment next week..

On a side note, ashira made it to the top 100 on the nature blog network~~~ Thank you all for your ~~blog stalking~~ readership!

LEAP YEAR ENTRY!!

2008-02-29T16:07:00.005+08:00

Okies, so I am SLOW.... If not for Tony's blog entry, I would have completely missed this chance to post a once-every-4-year entry~~ So, yep. It's 29th February, it's a leap year, and it's the International Year of the Reef.... ~~And it's my zodiac year of the rat! My year!!~~ So here's a real quickie entry to mark today. Proudly presenting a selection of photos taken in the past 6 months or so of intertidal and marine wonderings in Singapore!! All just to mark this special day that only comes round once every four years. *q(^-^)p* Do click on the image below to see bigger sizes on Flickr. Looks much better full sized!

Also, not to forget that it's also the INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE FROG!! Poor little froggies tend to be a bit neglected since it's IYOR and Year of the Potato as well.

Read more about the Year of the Frog here at Monkey's blog. She has done a nice succinct write-up there.

So happy 29th Feb and see you in 4 years!!

Keep the Faith [KAT-TUN]

2008-02-28T19:34:00.008+08:00

Never really took note of KAT-TUN's songs despite them being around the scene for quite a while.... And honestly, have only heard of 2 of their members, namely Kamenashi Kazuya (亀梨和也) and Akanishi Jin (赤西仁), and of these 2 I can only recognise Kamenashi mainly due to dramas like Kindaichi, Nobuta wo PRODUCE and Tatta Hitotsu no Koi, as well as 1 Pound Gospel that's currently airing in Japan at the moment. There's just something about his features/attitude that intrigues me. Heh... So I guess it's because of him that I started taking note of the group? Speaking of which, this song is also the theme song for Yukan Club. Don't know about the show but found this song rather catchy. ^^ Pretty interesting seeing how far this group has comed since starting off as a dance support group for KinKi Kids' Domoto Koichi... However, despite the upbeat tempo, THERE WASN'T ANY DANCING in this PV.... Just loads of gothic attire posing... Haha..

わがまま　言ってたけど　
I had said many selfish things
ここなら You know, baby　居場所があったし
If you’re here, you know baby, I have a place to be
“信じること”　口で言えても傷つくから
Because even saying, “I believe” leaves scars
小さな声で優しさ探し歩き　
I walk, looking for kindness said in a small voice
疲れた羽根でしゃがみこんでいる
I’m crouching down with tired wings

No No No　You show me the faith
No No No, You show me the faith
必ず　I'll keep it for you
Definitely I'll keep it for you
一人じゃ明日見失うから　
Because alone we will lose sight of tomorrow
派手に叫ぶのさ　Keep the faith
Yell it out loudly, Keep the faith

敵無し不可能もなし
No enemies and no impossibilities
飛ばすぜ　燃え上がれ本能
Fire it up, let your instincts burn
つまらねえ　毎日抜け出すぜ
Sneak away from the boring everyday
固い約束さ　Keep the faith
My solid promise to keep the faith

間違いだらけの街
A town full of mistakes
何かが自分変えようとしても
Even when I feel like changing myself in some way
おびえないで　心の中は変えられない
Don’t be afraid, I can’t change what’s inside my heart
足りない言葉　消えぬ痛み抱え
Insufficient words, the clown carries its pain
作り笑い立ち尽くしてる
Faking a smile, I’m standing still

No No No　You show me the faith
No No No, You show me the faith
必ず　I'll keep it for you
Definitely I'll keep it for you
俺らが灯りをともすから　
Because we will light the lamp
一人泣かないで　Keep the faith
Don’t cry alone, keep the faith

その声離れてても　心はこの場所にある
Even if the voice goes further away, the feelings will be here
夢見て倒れて立ち上がれ　
Have a dream, fall down and get back up
全て賭けるのさ　Keep the faith
I’m betting everything on it, so keep the faith

誰も何も見ない振りで　君を傷つける
I hurt you by acting like I don’t see anyone or anything
俺ら側に感じるだろう　君をそこから救い出すよ
You may feel us close by, I will rescue you from that

Count down 開始　5 to the 4
The countdown begins, 5 to the 4
Don't touch センサー 3 to the 2
Don’t touch the sensor, 3 to the 2
I don't wanna change da style, keep da faith
I don’t wanna change da style, keep da faith
自分のpaceでrace これはGame
Race at your own pace, this is a game
そろそろ着火 Runaway 1, Lifeをかけた愛撫で Blahh...
It’s time to ignite, runaway 1, bet your life on a caress, blahh…

だから近くに… “Sweetie”
So nearby… “Sweetie"

No No No　You show me the faith
No No No, You show me the faith
必ず　I'll keep it for you
Definitely I'll keep it for you
一人じゃ明日見失うから　
Because alone we will lose sight of tomorrow
派手に叫ぶのさ　Keep the faith
Yell it out loudly, Keep the faith

敵無し不可能もなし
No enemies and no impossibilities
飛ばすぜ燃え上がれ本能
Fire it up, let your instincts burn
つまらねえ　毎日抜け出すぜ
Sneak away from the boring everyday
固い約束さ　Keep the faith
My solid promise to keep the faith

夢見て倒れて立ち上がれ　
Have a dream, fall down and get back up
全て賭けるのさ　Keep the faith
I’m betting everything on it, so keep the faith

Once Upon a Tree: Tides and Coastlines episode 02 - Old Singapore

2008-02-26T22:02:00.008+08:00

After a ~~day spent at sea, baking in the sun~~ hard day's work diving, this divejunkie of a fish grabbed a quick meal after a much needed de-salination. Following which, promptly sat down in front of the tv. This time with a notebook and pencil in hand to scribble things down (and hopefully make this week's summary and review a tad bit more coherent. Timing today was utterly impeccable since the screen came on mere seconds before the episodes theme/title came on...

Old Singapore
We are given a quick history 101 by Assoc. Prof. John Miksic (Dept. of South East Asian Studies, NUS) who specialises in coastlines. The few minutes given to him really was an eye opener for me. Hearing about Pulau Saigon (that has since long been absorbed into this large solid mass of land that is mainland Singapore), one of the islands that used to be in one of our rivers, how the size of our shellfish has decreased not so much due to overfishing but more to the overall decline in water quality..... The decrease in fish sizes and the long gone days of amazingly clear waters aren't news to me, largely due to the time spent on local boats, with elderly boatmen who are more than happy to share stories from their good old days. Good to know that a few more people in Singapore get to hear about this not-so-wellknown heritage we have. Liked how he summed up on the connection/outlet to the sea being important to the wellbeing of our modern society.

Focus then shifts to probably the most wellknown of our intertidals, Chek Jawa. Quick history on CJ for those who don't really know about it. Gazetted for reclamation in 1992, saved at the 11th (or maybe even the 12th hour) in 2001 due to public outcry, currently a protected area managed by NParks, status up for review in 3 years.... Zaki's acting as Sue-Lyn's guide this time. Don't know him, and haven't had the chance of meeting him but has a write-up on him here.

CJ being an utterly unique area that includes a number of ecosystems, they are kinda all mentioned in this portion of the episode. All with little stories about seahares, garlic bread sea cucumbers, horseshoe crabs (aka king crab), crab moults, and tubeworms woven together nicely.

Shawn brings us back to the presence of the past through a series of nostalgic reminiscence of times long gone when Singapore had pristine, clear crystallin blue seas. Times when Beach Road WAS at the beach, when Thian Hock Keng temple had the sea lapping it's steps, when Raffles Hotel attributed its popularity to having a beachfront.... All part of our UNwritten history. After hearing that the actual target audience for this series is actually 15-year-olds, this "hidden" history and heritage of Singapore feels even more important. Especially the need to preserve at least part of it to be passed down for generations to come...

This week's take-home message is to take notes (as detailed as possible with sketches, descriptions, colors etc.) instead of bringing an organism home.... Love to say this while guiding, and I'll say it here again. Take nothing but photos and memories, leave nothing but footprints. Also, taking notes and stuff also help in the learning process of understanding our environment (coastal or otherwise). Definitely of great help for guides-in-training and guides-to-be!

Shawn rounds things up with a story familiar to all of us. How as a child, a simple seashell would seem to hold the sea, beckoning to us.... "Tides give inspiration" How apt that is, even if tides also represent changes.....

Interesting how the episodes start off with an academic, then some form of guided walk at an intertidal area, and ends with a take-home message in the form of how to reduce our ecological footprints.... Super structured, and in a way good to know roughly what to expect when the advert ends. Here's to looking forward to the future with my Draco sp. friend form CJ, and may the tides continue to inspire us even as we reflect on the past that they have observed.... More to come next week!

Ria has also provided a quick sum up/preview at the wildfilms website here:
http://wildfilms.blogspot.com/2008/02/once-upon-tree-episode-2-on-26-feb-tue.html

Once Upon a Tree - Tides and Coastlines episode 01

2008-02-19T22:01:00.006+08:00

Just caught the first episode of the new season of Once Upon a Tree. Not that I ~~knew about~~ watched the first season that focused on Singapore's terrestrial environment.... Thanks to Ria for pointing out the screening of the first episode (as well as a synopsis)! How apt that the second season is on our marine and intertidal environment, especially with the International Year of the Reef and ADEX 2008 in Singapore.

~~I may have heard wrongly but I think~~ This new season marks the beginning of a 6 week journey with Dr Shawn Lum and Ong Sue-Lynn as they talk to people and find our more about our shores and intertidal life. A real quick 30 minute slot targeted at the general public with enough snippets of information on our intertidal and marine life, yet rich in messages. Way too general for the usual buncha intertidal/diving enthusiasts that I willingly squander time, sweat and whatever else with. But hey! This show's not aimed at us! In fact, a few of us are involved (or actually) in it!! Did try to memorise the scientific names of critters that flashed by on the screen but there were too many.... There's always my guiding notes for those anyway. ^^

Nice pacing from the start with Shawn introducing little links that tie our lives with the shore, as well as the quick sharing/interview with Dr Beverly Goh. Then we were whisked off to Kusu with co-host Sue-Lynn, to get to where the ~~action~~ life is. The intertidal flats!!! Kusu being one of my more frequented intertidal abodes, it was thrilling yet a little weird to see it onscreen. A quick introduction of the island (which I should take more from to weave into my guiding script...), and off she goes to meet YC, her guide for the day. ~~Interesting how he has this bag with all those interesting (and familiar) looking apparatus hanging that wasn't put to use.~~ Yet another guide that I can learn loads off. Pity they could only fit in a general introduction to anemones, marine snails, and hermit crabs. So much more that we can see!! But for that, I guess you'll have to join BWV on their next guided walk there. Hopefully there would be more critter introductions as the season progresses. Ria has also posted some feature articles on Kusu at the IYOR Singapore blog:
Isle of History
Isle of Shrines

We bounce back to Shawn in the heart of town where he hears a bit more about the marina barrage that is being built (and expected to be completed this year). Also introduces us to the shelled (and not shelved) life that's along Singapore river despite the canalization and all. That's before we end off with the take-home message of not littering and thoughlessly chucking out rubbish since ~~somehow~~ the trash all ends up in our waterways and sea....

See what I mean by rich in messages? Definitely hitting breadth (and as many issues as possible) instead of depth. Stay tune for the next installment next week!!

La Rose de Versailles [Nemesis]

2008-02-14T11:39:00.004+08:00

OKies, I can only understand a smattering of basic Korean phrases from dramas, so not much into Kpop let alone Krock. However, came across this MV and it is a rather attention grabbing song. Music just hits you and comes across as simply PRETTY!!! The MV is rather unusual and I just like the way the different scenes transit into each other. Now, if I could actually understand the lyrics.... (other the the "sarang"s that is...) Anyone who knows Korean interested in translating for me? ^^

잠들지 말아요 아직은 안돼요
Chamdulchi malayo achigun andaeyo
난 여기 있으니 눈을 뜨고 날봐요
Nan yakee issuni nunulkkuko nalbawyo
받기만 했어요 처음부터 항상
Padkiman haessoyo choumputa hangsang
갈 곳을 잃어버린 나로인해 물든 사랑
Kal kosum ilhoborin naroeenhe moldun sarang...

잠들지 말아요 아직은 안돼요
Chamdulchi maleyo achigum andaeyo
난 여기 있으니 눈을 뜨고 날봐요
Nan yoki issuhi nunul kkudo nalpayo
받기만 했어요 처음부터 항상
Pakkiiman haessoyo choumpuda hangsang
갈 곳을 잃어버린 나로인해 물든 사랑
kal kosul ilhaparin narueenhae muldun sarang
이젠 그대에게로
eechaen kudae-e kero.

언제나 함께할게요 이 몸은 당신의 그림자
Onchaena hamkkehalkeyo eemomun tangshinwi kurimja
그대와 함께했던 이곳도 이제는 세느강 저편으로
Kudaewa hamkkae haessdon eekodo eechaenun senukang chopyonuro

사람들이 원하는건 사랑보다 더 큰 변화
Saramnuli wonhanungon sarangpoda datun pyonghwa
다른 세상 그때엔 그대만 사랑할게 난
Darun sesong kutae-en kutaeman saranghalkaenon

미안해말아요 당신이 필요한
Meeanhaemal-ayo tangshini pilyohon
이곳에 남아서 조금만 더 견뎌요
Eekosae namaso chokumman do kyondyo-yo
그대와 함께한 행복했던 시간
Kudaewon hamkkaehon haengbokhaesston shidan
그 기억만으로도 괜찮아요 잠시면 돼
Kukionmakurodo kwaenchanhayo chamshimyon dwae
그댈 기다릴게요
Kudael kidarilkaeyo

사람들이 원하는건 사랑보다 더 큰 변화
Sarangpuree wonahnungon sarangpoda dokun pyonhwa
다른 세상 그때엔 그대만 사랑할게 난
Darun sesang kudae-en kudaeman saranghalkaenan

잠들지 말아요 아직은 안돼요
Chamdulchi malayo achigun antaeyo
난 여기 있으니 눈을 뜨고 날봐요
Nan yaki issuni nunul kkuto nalpwayo
받기만 했어요 처음부터 항상
Padkiman haessoyo cho-umpoto hangsang
갈 곳을 잃어버린 나로인해 물든 사랑
Kal kosul ilhoporin naroinhae mooldun sarang
이젠 그대에게로
Eejaen kudae-e-kero