Jokes for the last day of 2008

Since it's the last day of 2008, lets end it with a laugh. My colleagues and I were sharing these jokes during break time.

Joke One
1. What is Happy's surname?

Lee. (Happily)

2. What is Happy's occupation?

Nurse. (Happiness)

3. Is Happy a male or a female?

Male. (Happy meal)


Joke Two
An ant, named Derek, was crossing the desert. Now, the question is why was there no foot print but there was a long line instead?

Cause he was riding a bicycle


Joke Three
Chelsea was about to open the door of a fridge but Alvin shouted,"There's an ant inside!" How did he know that?

He saw Derek's bicycle outside.


Hope you find them funny. Joe, you are good.

That Bag I Want

No, this is not a grammatical error. Thatbagiwant.com is a local website for designer bags rental. So what has this gotta do with environmental friendliness? (My girlfriend asked me this last night)

Now, one way of sustainable living is to reduce and to reuse. By sharing the use of the bags, you actually reduce the number of bags needed to be made. (Think carpooling and DVD rentals)What's more, these bags can be reused by another after one got tired of it.

At thatbagiwant.com, branded designer bags can be rented for a fee of around $40 to $125 for a week. Which means you do not need to spend thousands of dollars and end up with a bag you will probably use it for a month only. And you don't have to worry about how to dispose it.

A Prada bag renting at $125 per week at thatbagiwant.com

We do not need a fortune teller to know that the world is in a recession and things are likely to get worse next year. So at times like this, we really welcome such ideas.

Sporty Karung Guni Men

Whoever says sports and recycling don't go hand in hand should be at Woodlands last Saturday. National Junior College canoiests, in their bid to raise funds for the trip to World Dragonboat Championship 2009 in Czech Republic, went around collecting newspaper and old items for recycling.

NJC canoiests turned karung guni men

Trip to Hong Kong

Two weekends back, I took a trip to Hong Kong for a holiday with my friends. It had been quite a while since I last travelled there and wanted to take this opportunity to check out the Hongkies' enviromental friendliness.

Observation 1

While waiting for the bus, which never came, to fetch us to the hotel, I found quite a number of these notices in the carpark. Interestingly, the drivers did abide to this regulation, though not sure if it's out of concern for the environment or the costs of fuel or any other reasons. Whatever the case, we should applaud effort.

Notice at the carpark of Hong Kong Station

Observation 2

In Hong Kong, it is common to see people standing and eating by the streetside stalls. Famous Hong Kong snacks like the "Siew Mai" and "Yu Dan" need not be placed into non-biodegradable plastics and styrofoam containers before consuming. We simply dipped the stewered food into the sauce provided and... yum. This "buy, eat and go" trait is definitely good for the environment. Just imagine how many plastic bags and styrofoam containers can be saved.

Check out Wendy and Elise with their "yu dan"

Earth Hour

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney as a campaign for the Australians to get involved in working towards a sustainable future. The message is simple: "Everyone can make a difference." The action is simpler: "Off the lights for one hour." Interestingly, within a year, the event has grown tremendously such that around 100 million people across 35 countries took part. Earth 2009 promises to be a bigger bang, aiming to reach out to one billion people over 1000 cities around the world.

Earth Hour 2009 Video from WWFDan

Earth Hour Singapore 2009, organised by a group of volunteers from ECO Singapore, will be held on 28 Mar 2009, 830pm to 930pm. Keep it up, people.

Coffins recycled!

Whoever say that there is a limit to what can be recycled must be eating their words now. The guys from Coffin Couches has shown that you just have to be creative when it comes to going green. These coffins costing at USD3500 were not used for burials probably due to cosmetic inconsistencies or were used for display.

Source: Coffin Couches

I'm not too sure my mum will like it though.

China is top CO2 emitter

In a recent article released by Guardian.co.uk, China has toppled U.S to become the No.1 CO2 emitter in the world. The article claims in the EIA's, a U.S government body, latest round of global figures, China top the chart with 6.01 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2006, a 11% increase from the previous year. U.S is 2nd with 5.90 billion tonnes, dropping 2% from 2005. But can this be a case of U.S chanelling more of their manufacturing industries to China? See carbon atlas for carbon emission around the world

source: guardian.co.uk

Singapore stands at No. 33 with 141 million tonnes of CO2, up 5% from 2005. It may seems little in comparison to the big countries but what is shocking is the individual statistics. We are at a high of 31.4 tonnes per person , comparing to Malaysia at 6.7 tonnes and Japan at 9.8 tonne

Let's work on it, shall we?

Fine For Not Recycling

Residents in Gwinnett County, a suburban in Georgia could face a fine of USD500 for not recycling. Apparently, the move is in line with a state policy that local governments develop plans to reduce solid waste by 25 percent. With their "Greener Tomorrow" program, residents will be fined if they are caught throwing recyclables into trash bin or throwing trash into the recycling bin.

“We don’t intend for this to be the garbage gestapo, running around, looking in people’s garbage about what’s there and what’s not there,” said Connie Wiggins, executive director of Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful, which is administering Gwinnett’s waste disposal program. “I believe the fine applies to all categories, and certainly, if we saw excessive abuses of materials being thrown in the garbage.”

Now, who says Singapore is a "FINE" city...

Singapore Marathon 2008

Congratulations to the two members of Team TTH (Tri Too Hard) for completing the Singapore Marathon 2008! Chelsea Chan and Chin Leng, well done. Now for Sundown Marathon 2009 on 30 May.

Nice Christmas Gifts

Since we have a list of Christmas gifts which people do not want, now here's a list of websites where we can find nice Christmas Gifts.

1. Heifer International
2. World Gifts 3. Adopt a Tree Today

Heifer International and World Gifts fight poverty by helping people obtain a substainable source of food and income. They believe it is better to teach the people how to fish so they can feed themselves, than to give them a fish which can only feed them once.

Adopt a Tree allows you, through the comfort of your home, plant and own a tree. You can name the tree yourself and even visit it at the plantation. The choice of plantations are located at countries near us like in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, etc...

These "feel good" gifts can bring smiles to your friends and colleagues' faces(I hope), while doing a part to help others and the environment.

What's more, you can reduce the use of paper wrappers.

Top 5 Most Unwanted Christmas Gifts

The results are out.

The Top 5 most unwanted Christmas Gifts in Singapore:
*Survey was done with a group of working professionals (age between 23 to 35 years old)

Conclusion: Stop buying all these gifts to your friends and colleagues. They don't want them. It may be the thought that counts but it's not a good thought if these gifts are simply wasted, lying in the storeroom or even discarded in your neighbourhood rubbish bins. Think about all the resources and materials used to making these gifts. What is more environmental unfriendly than to create stuff to be thrown away. So let us try to make an effort and get gifts that our friends really need or enjoy using. Eh, I would love a Nokia E71. Anyone?