Bradley's Old Fashioned Weblog

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  • My Cat Ripped A Lizard’s Tail Off

    This is the first time I’ve ever seen this actually happen in person so it was pretty neat for me.

    I was sitting on my bed, playing with my cat when she leapt off and ran towards the door.  I looked to see what she was doing and she was chasing a small lizard around the room.  Next thing I know, she’s swatting at a flopping, pale looking thing on the floor.  I took it away from her and it turns out it was the lizard’s tail.

    The tail kept flopping around on its own for about five minutes.  It was kinda creepy.

    The lizard itself hid in a corner.  I grabbed it with some tissue and put it outside.  It’s probably too traumatized to come back in the house so I’m sure that’s where it wanted to be anyway.

  • Mini Marble Is Getting Spayed

    This is a much later image of (not so) Mini Marble, from March 2012. The original file was lost when Posterous shut down its service.
    This is a much later image of (not so) Mini Marble, from March 2012. The original file was lost when Posterous shut down its service.

    I’m not sure if I’ve ever posted photos of Mini Marble here but she was picked up tonight to be taken for spaying.

    You see, Mini Marble is a stray cat, a community cat, here in Pasir Ris. She’s a small kitten of about 7 months and we see her every day as we walk from the MRT station back to our place.

    We first noticed her a few weeks ago and she won us over with her playful attitude. She also helped us to make some new friends. So, we carry a small amount of kibble with us to give to her to make sure she stays fed.

    Mini Marble’s sterilization will be paid for through donations. It’s dangerous for unsterilized cats to wander around housing estates in Singapore. When they go into heat they may become noisy which often provoked uncompassionate residents into filing complaints. I say uncompassionate because the resulting ‘solution’ is that the cat or cats are often rounded up and sent of to be killed.

    So, this is a good thig for her. It’ll help keep her out of the crosshairs of idiots and overzealous estate managers.

    She’ll be laid up at the vet for a week and she’ll then be taken back to her usual territory. Hopefully everything goes well for her.

  • Aoba Ramen

    Manpuku at Tampines 1 has a stall called Aoba Ramen (I think) that sells some really kick-ass dishes.  I hadn’t noticed it before, probably because I always associate ramen with that cheap, instant stuff I’m used to seeing in grocery stores.  After reading some blogs about Japan though, I stopped to give it serious consideration and decided to try it out.

    My wife and I both fixated on the shoyu ramen that had pieces of pork set on top of it.  It was a great choice!  I didn’t have my camera on me so I snapped some photos with my iPhone.

    Aoba Ramen

    We also got a side order of gyoza with our ramen.  I think there was a discounted price that day so we decided to give them a try.  They were also very good.

    Aoba Ramen 2

    We finished the meal off by trying the green tea ice cream, which was listed as ‘macha’ ice cream.  It has a unique taste and is pretty good.  I think the taste would get old if I ate it too often.  It can also play games with your stomach, so be careful of that.

    Aoba Ramen 3

    Looking at the picture of the ramen, blurry as it is, makes me hungry.  I think I’ll try to convince my wife that we should go back there soon.

  • Almost Time For Chinese New Year’s

    If you don’t know, Chinese New Year’s is going to fall on February 14th this year.  That’s right!  Right on Valentine’s Day!  So, now you can spend the day on a date with your significant other and then spend the night celebrating at the parade.

    Also, if you don’t keep up with the Chinese year’s and what animals represent them, this lunar year will be the Year of the Tiger.  If you’re in the US and there’s no Chinatown close by, just eat some cornflakes and share a smile with Tony the Tiger to celebrate.

    Chinese New Year’s Decorations are already on sale:

    Chinese New Year Decorations

  • Avatar Used To Justify The Belief That 9/11 Attacks in NYC Were Staged

    Avatar Used To Justify The Belief That 9/11 Attacks in NYC Were Staged

    “In September 2001, the World Trade Centre was attacked allegedly by terrorists. I am not sure now that Muslim terrorists carried out these attacks. There is strong evidence that the attacks were staged. If they can make Avatar, they can make anything,” said Dr Mahathir during his speech at the General Conference for the Support of Al-Quds here. Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem.

    For those of you that don’t know, Dr Mahathir was the Prime Minister of Malaysia from 16 July 1981 to 31 October 2003. He gave this statement, and others that will be in this entry, on January 20th, 2010.

    Now that you have some background on this guy, let’s dive right into the heart of the matter. This guy is either senile, crazy, or both, but he’s most obviously a racist and should no longer be allowed to get near a reporter or microphone. How the hell can you say that because the US can make a 3D movie, we were capable of staging the September 11th attacks that killed around 3000 people? It’s absurd. Guess what, Dr Mahathir? Those holes in the ground in NYC aren’t special effects. They’re real. The people that died weren’t extras that shared a beer and laughed about the film later. They were real too. And they’re dead. Al’Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack. The last time I checked, Osama Bin Laden wasn’t the Commander in Chief.

    And, as if this weren’t enough, he went on to make plenty of off-color comments about the Jewish people and Israel.

    “The Jews had always been a problem in European countries. They had to be confined to ghettoes and periodically massacred. But still they remained, they thrived and they held whole governments to ransom.

    “Even after their massacre by the Nazis of Germany, they survived to continue to be a source of even greater problems for the world. The Holocaust failed as a final solution,” said the outspoken Malaysian leader who was noted for his anti-Western and anti-Zionist stand while in power for 22 years, until October 2003.

    Nice job projecting your racist views about Jews onto the entire European population. He seems to imply here that all Europeans wanted to get rid of the Jews all along and that, given the opportunity, would have sanctioned their mass extermination. I must have missed that page in my history book, and I certainly don’t recall World War II playing out quite that way.

    The only sensible thing to come out of his mouth was what he had to say about Obama:

    “Well, I am a bit disappointed because so far none of his promises have been kept. He promised to get out from Afghanistan but he ended up sending more troops there instead. He promised to close down Guantanamo but he has not closed down Guantanamo. Even other things he has not been able to do.

    “It is quite easy to promise during election time but you know there are forces in the United States which prevents the president from doing some things. One of the forces is the Jewish lobby, IPAC,” he said.

    I wonder why he went easy on him? It might be because he feels like Obama is a fellow Muslim being oppressed by supposed Jewish powers in Washington.  This guy’s paranoia runs deep.

    There should come a point in all of our lives, famous politician, rock star, or whatever, where we realize that we’re no longer competent to speak to the public. If we can’t see it in ourselves, someone should tell us, because obviously Dr Mahathir’s time has long since come and gone.

  • Singapore’s First Wendy’s Is Great, But Why Lau Pa Sat?

    Singapore’s First Wendy’s Is Great, But Why Lau Pa Sat?

    We’ve known Wendy’s was here in Singapore for quite a few weeks but we just never took the time to get out to it.  The reason is that it’s not situated in a very easy to get to area.  It’s way out in Lau Pa Sat.  First off, that’s a good distance away from where most anyone lives, and it’s not a major thoroughfare like Orchard Road either.  It’s sitting off by itself, near Raffles MRT station.  It’s not easy to find if you’re not familiar with the area and it’s not a place you can stop to eat at while window shopping.

    If you look at this map, you can see that it’s not even close to the MRT station. Zoom out twice and you’ll see Raffles MRT a bit north of the location.  The reason this is bad is that this is the first Wendy’s in Singapore.  It has to make a name for itself, and it’s not going to be able to do that effectively where it’s located.  Besides the fact that it’s hard to get to, it’s been stuck in with a landmark food court that sells local dishes.  That makes it a hard choice, even if you went there specifically intending to go to Wendy’s.  My wife and I almost passed on it to eat the satay that was being served right next to it.  This restaurant would fare a lot better in a mall at the least, and on Orchard Road somewhere for sure.  I suppose what it does have going for it is that a lot of foreigners likely work in the surrounding area, but even so it could have been better situated.

    Mobile Photo 19-Jan-2010 AM 04 13 58

    That aside, it was nice to see that familiar Wendy’s logo.  When I lived in the US I rarely ate there.  I just didn’t care for the burgers that much and I still don’t, more so than ever after watching Food Inc.  So, in the US I would usually pass them up for Arby’s or Subway or Chinese or Mexican.  You get the point.  If this were the first Wendy’s in a US town I wouldn’t have even cared.  But, since I’m an American in a foreign country it was worth the trip just to have a small taste of home.

    Mobile Photo 19-Jan-2010 AM 04 14 22

    Despite the location, many people were making their way out there to eat.  The line stayed consistently long the entire time we were there.

    Mobile Photo 19-Jan-2010 AM 04 14 53

    And also despite my desire for a small taste of home, I wound up loading two trays with my order for my wife and I.  My wife was downtown already and couldn’t wait so she got started with a cup of chili and a salad.  When I got there, I ordered some additional food.  Like I said, I never did care for the burgers so I didn’t bother to order one.  Instead I opted for the Grilled Chicken Ceaser Salad, which was good.  We also got a cup of chili, a chili cheese baked potato, sour cream and chives baked potato, two small Frosties and a medium Coke.  It’s more filling than it sounds.  It was all great, especially the chili.  I was surprised at how well it was priced, considering how much meat was in it.  I think it was only 3.50.  Or maybe 2.50.

    It’s well worth the effort of finding it and I’m sure we’ll be making another trip soon to enjoy the chili and Frosties again.

  • Malaysia’s Church Bombings A Disappointment

    “I think Singaporeans must have a care not to bring problems like this to themselves,” said DPM Wong at a community event in Singapore on Sunday.

    “We live in an inter—connected world, we cannot be divorced from what happens in other countries. But at the same time we must be rational, and examine: when we bring such problems to our shores, what are we trying to do? Are we trying to express sympathy only, or will doing so result in more problems for our own community?”

    Race and religion have always been seen as a potential minefield in Singapore.

    via Yahoo! News

    I’ve been following the news about the church bombings in Malaysia off and on and I think this guy’s message is pretty important.  It’s good to understand what’s going on in the world around us, as long as we don’t let it affect us so deeply that we begin to act on other people’s problems.  For all its ethnic and religious diversity, Singapore is probably the most peaceful country in the world.  It should stay that way.

    This issue in Malaysia is one that boggles my mind.  Who knew that some people could be so deeply offended by such a small thing?  The universe is large, and God, or Allah, created all of it.  Do we really think that he would be so concerned over such a petty thing as non-believers using the name typically reserved for himself (in Malaysia)?  And even if Allah’s anger was piqued by non-believers using his name to refer to another idealization of God, isn’t it up to him to mete out Justice?

    From my limited understanding of the use of Allah, it is typically used by Muslims when they reference God.  However, “Allah” is not a Muslim word.  It is an Arabic word, and as such is not subject to a monopoly by any certain group of people just as “God” isn’t subject to monopoly by Christians.

    “The Allah ban is unusual in the Muslim world. The Arabic word is commonly used by Christians to describe God in such countries as Egypt, Syria and Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim nation.”

    via cnews WorldWatch

    I also read that one argument against allowing the Catholic publication to use the word Allah is that it may confuse Muslims and lead to unwitting conversions.  That seems really weak to me though.  Do they have so little faith in people’s intelligence?  Or in their convictions?

    The most disappointing part of this incident is that it has led to violent reactions allegedly on the part of Muslims.  Violence isn’t an answer.  It’s not going to make anyone change their mind.  Not in this day and age and especially not with petty acts of arson.  If anything, these actions have galvanized public opinion against extremist Muslims and painted Christians as the victims, lending public and international  favor to the court’s ruling to allow them the use of the word Allah.

    On the other hand, this does is cast Malay Muslims in a poor light, even to other Muslims, since Islam as a religion is struggling to overcome international bias as a religion of war, terror and extremism.  There have been statements from the Malaysian government stressing that these actions are not condoned by the majority of Muslims in Malaysia.  There are also many Malay Muslims who have made contributions to have fire-bombed churches repaired, in a show of national solidarity against extremist attacks.

    The controversy has pushed locals to turn to the Web in a bid to rally support for the affected buildings. A blogger who started an Internet fundraising campaign for the Metro Tabernacle Church, which was attacked by arsonists, raised 8,467 ringgit (US$2,493) in four days.

    Mohamed Rafick Khan Abdul Rahman, 45, started the donation drive on his blog after learning about the attack in Kuala Lumpur. He said donations poured in nationwide, and from the U.K. and Europe.

    via ZDNet Asia

    I don’t pretend to understand Islam, since I’m not Muslim myself, but what I do know is that we as human beings should be able to settle our differences peacefully.  Any religion that purports itself to be a religion of peace can not, by definition, support violence as a mean’s to an end so committing violent acts in the name of Islam or Allah is contradictory.  People shouldn’t be so offended on religious grounds by a practice that’s already widely accepted by Muslims around the world.

    In closing, it’s nice to see that while Singaporeans have taken in the news of religious strife in Malaysia, they’ve simply consumed the information for what it is and not let it affect the peaceful prosperity that Singapore is currently enjoying.

  • Chow Kit Wet Market, Kuala Lumpur (Pictures)

    Chow Kit Wet Market, Kuala Lumpur (Pictures)

    Just down the steps from the Chow Kit monorail station.

    The busy Chow Kit wet market.

    This photo was also taken in the Chow Kit wet market. The man is using a machine to shred coconut meat.

    A neighborhood in the Chow Kit area.  The houses seem to be arranged in such a way that some don’t front the street at all.  You can see the blue house in the background which only has access to the road using a driveway.

    Chow Kit street cats.

    I took this photo from a bus when we were on our way back from the Batu Caves.  Mangay’s.  I just thought it was an interesting sign.  We saw a McCurry and a McBath along the same road.
    I’m still very much looking forward to the next time we’ll get to visit Kuala Lumpur.  I miss the food and the excitement there.

  • Singapore’s January 15th, 2010 Eclipse

    I was looking forward to this solar eclipse.  I’ve never even seen one before and even though this wasn’t going to be a full solar eclipse it would still have been a first for me.

    Somehow, I managed to let it slip my mind, and at 4:20 I found myself staring at my computer screen, scanning Twitter.  Then I was making a mad scramble for my camera and I ran outside to try to get a photo or a video of the eclipse.

    Unfortunately, there was nothing but clouds.  It was a bit cooler out than usual.  It was also a bit darker than usual.  Well, not even that really.  It wasn’t much darker than on a normal cloudy day.  I took a photo of where the sun appeared to be with my camera.  Unfortunately, my camera and Ubuntu don’t want to play nice together, so later I snapped this picture of the cloudy sky with my iPhone to share.

    Mobile Photo 15-Jan-2010 PM 05 10 57

    It seems like every time there’s an eclipse, Singapore has cloudy weather that prevents me from enjoying it.  The last eclipse I tried to view was a lunar eclipse and it was cloudy that night as well.  Downfall of a tropical climate I guess!

    Hopefully I’ll get to see one sometime soon.

  • Cleaning Up After Yourself At Fast Food Establishments

    The past two years saw a similar campaign for food courts, but they were not well-received.”Encouragement has been done a lot, in schools, in army camps, in polytechnics, in universities, everywhere. But once they go to a food court, they have the habit of just (leaving the trays behind after eating), which I think is not very good,” said Sim.

    Six fast-food companies – McDonald’s, KFC, Mos Burger, Subway, Superdog, and Long John Silvers – will have stickers on their tables for the rest of this year to remind customers to clear the trays and make everyone’s dining experience a pleasant one.

    …

    “I guess if it’s in the CBD area, there’s a larger concentration of local yuppies, the expatriates who are more aware of the needs of the diner after them. In the heartlands, people are closer to home, and they are used to domestic help, so probably they are still in that mind frame that people will clean up after them,” said Chan.

    via channelnewsasia.com

    This is something that surprised me when I moved to Singapore. In fast food restaurants, people simply got up and walked away, leaving their mess on the table. It seemed horribly rude.

    I spent some time thinking about it and I realized that there’s really nothing that rude about it. If you’re in a restaurant, you’re there to be served. Part of the reason you eat out is that you want to enjoy a good meal and not have to clean up after yourself. That’s part of what you’re paying for.

    So, why is it that in the US we always clean up the trays after ourselves? There are no signs. It’s just what my parents did and what others around me did, so I did it too. There’s no bonus for cleaning up after yourself. No one will call the police if you don’t do it.

    I try to clean up behind myself most of the time, except in hawkers. Occasionally a cleaner comes by in a fast food restaurant and clears the table before I’ve gotten up to do it myself. It’s kind of nice, but at the same time I feel guilty.

    I just hope that this lazy attitude towards cleaning up after myself doesn’t stick with me after I leave Singapore, or I could find someone spitting in my hamburger at a fast food restaurant I go to frequently.

    One last thing I wanted to point out is that if this does go through here in Singapore, it may reduce the cost of meals in the long-run, but I doubt it. The chains will probably keep the prices high to increase their bottom line. On top of that, it will cause people to lose their jobs in a time when people should be thinking about how to create them, for the sake of the economy and the livelihood of families.