21 Jul 2011 – … vs Tiger Mother

Some time ago, Linn commented about Amy Chua’s book- How to be a Tiger Mother, and that she could relate to some of the pointers – ie not being allowed to attend a sleepover! Read the book during my first week here in OSL as Linn gave May a copy. Just a so-so read but she sold many million copies because of the publicity she received for her comment about how Chinese parents are better at raising kids than Western ones!  Here is an educational link-

http://www.stanford.edu/group/confucian/cgi-bin/blog/?p=165

It is interesting how she managed to bring out the difference of raising children from and in different cultural backgrounds. Disagree to say which is better. Having been raised from an Asian background but lived and integrated over 35yrs in EU & USA tend to make one see things differently. To stereo-typed is an easy way out but that is NOT what life and about. If you need to ask what life is about, then you are not living it to the fullest 🙂

U.S. news anchor Katie Couric tweets: “Wow wendy murdoch giving whole new meaning to the term tiger mother…insanity!.”

Was it just acting, mere attention seeker or sincere care and affection? After reading the comments from the site below make one think twice about people’s intention and motives. The best comment in FB from CHENG Chee Hoew- hands off of my meal ticket! Being out walking in the woods does strange things to the mind, so on second thoughts and playing the devil’s advocate, could they have paid this guy to stage the attack?? Unfortunately the same words from yesterday came to mind- corrupt, greed and power! Then the saying about money is the root of all evil proves true again in so many cases 🙁

http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/20/murdoch-testimony-puts-focus-on-wife-wendi/

20 Jul 2011 – … gets global audience

Hacking and spam are inevitable and even more so in our high-tech world. Before high-tech, it was call spying or hiring private investigators. Is this then an issue of wanting to know other people’s business and if that is so, then why is it so?

In the case of this ongoing highly publicized notw for News of the World, the Murdoch publication, where media abuses their power by invasion of privacy is deplorable. But then people are hungry for sensational news and are willing to pay to read it.  Have common sense, decency and self-censorship somehow lost the battle to corruption, greed and power?? If not, it will still be a never-ending vicious circle of the struggle of good and evil. Does objective good journalism exist and are there any uncorrupted politicians???

With those questions, words like objective and uncorrupt will need more specific definitions. So many questions but are there any answers and if so they will probably be complicated 🙂

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/07/19/uk.phone.hacking.world.media/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

… It’s really more than just a plain media story,” said Mallary Tenore, associate editor at Poynter.org, the website at the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit school for journalists. “It’s expanded far beyond that because of the legal implications of it and the fact that it involved police being paid for information and journalists not following ethical standards.” …

… “What’s interesting is the power of the press and how it can be soiled and compromised,” Hernandez added. “It’s really important to have good, solid journalists to hold politicians accountable and how it’s important to do journalism through ethical means. It’s a shame that it has to happen: It’s a little bit of bloodletting. You have to purify the process.” …

18 Jul 2011 – … Mainly for Food!

Absolutely beautiful Sat in the woods snacking on wild blueberries. Similar scenes to Thu hike.

To my delight,  Isbilen=The Ice Car was in this neighbourhood when I got back from the short walk. A mobile van stocked with frozen foods for sale. How convenient for people like me who does not have a car! It announces itself first by a text message on the mobile phone and then it plays in a musical-box style tune when it is driving around the neighbourhood. Grieg’s Norwegian Dance No2 H264 is used here, which was and still is the music for a TV documentary named Norge Rundt=Around Norway (started 1976) which shows and teaches about Norway. Educational and highly recommended!

Sun:  started as a nice red sky in the morning. Got on the first 08.21hrs bus into OSL Bus Terminal where you can find a bus to take you to just about anywhere you can connect to EU. Interesting wood carving on the wall.  Exterior bridges (good idea if these bridges can be closed during bad weather days!) connecting to OSL S/the train station. Who in the world would name their cafe such? An attention seeker and unforgettable name incase you need to meet someone in that area 🙂

OSL S is under renovation, looking forward to seeing it when completed. Remember it as a grand old yellow building and hopefully they will managed to combined the old and new without destroying the old. The new section is connected to the Opera House by an overhead bridge.

Met with M&B at OSL S@09.30hrs. Drove S to E6 by passing Moss, over Vansjø Lake, inland E to the Swedish border and to Nordby Shopping Center (1hr 30mins drive from OSL). It is 4km from the border and the nearest Swedish mall to Norway; 110 shops on an area 83,000m² as compared to that of Sandvika Shopping Mall which is NO more Scandinavia’s largest shopping mall with 190 shops in the area of 60,000m². Just read that it has been overtaken by another shopping mall in Bergen!

Like any other mall, the weekend crowd was awful but thank goodness we started early. Certain stuff there are cheaper. Lunched on fast Turkish food. M&B ended with a baby stuff, food and paint (half the price as compared to Norway but limited choice of colours). As for my purchase, it was mainly foods and washing detergents, nothing exciting. Looks like the small bedroom in the house will be painted to a Basilika green sometime soon!

Left app 1300hrs against the traffic lines and more people. Word for custom/immigration is tull in Swedish, which means nonsense in Norwegian! The Norwegian word is toll and there was not a soul to be seen there! The sky opened up and it was pouring all the way back to Norway. Appreciations to M&B to yet another experience and tkx Bjørn for the portable grass-cutter. How considerate, especially when the last cutting was done by a pair of scissors! Blister on the finger to show but all is good as it is healed. Again to show that time heals all wounds but the scars will be there 🙂 🙂

Red sky at night sailors’ delight; red sky in the morning sailor’s warning, a saying that proved true for yesterday. A good week to everyone and as FB friend Jack commented, MGIM/my god, it’s Mon but before you know it will be TGIF 🙂 🙂 🙂

16 Jul 2011 – Food Glorious Food!

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_691349.html

Richard has been FB positing the most delicious seafood pix from HKG and got my salivary glands drooling like LokLok (Johnny’s Golden Retrieve in HKG). Since unable to taste all these until end of the year, might as well do a posting on food!

SIN Food Festival 2011 (15-24 Jul) officially opened yesterday. Guests of honour and a record turnout of 35,000, as compared with 30,000 on 2010’s opening day. Even as crazy as I am about food, will not deal with such a crowd! This year’s theme of Curry and Spices is a reflection to the multi-ethnicity of SIN cuisine and the evolution of local flavours with changes in society and culture.

Admission is FOC – guess what, it will be packed. SIN must be one of the best nations to sniff out for freebies!

Pix by Straits Time: Compiled By Priscilla GOI

Have a delicious weekend and bon appetit. Will disappear into the woods in the shade on this clear blue sky day to pick some wild raspberries and blueberries 🙂 🙂 🙂

The journey of a thousand pounds begins with a single burger – Chris O’Brien

15 Jul 2011 – Kolsås Top

The last time@the top of Kolsås (342m) was in 1984 with blurred memories. A luxury to be able to do a peaceful and solo hike yesterday. The convenience of being able to walk 3 mins from the house to the trail makes it easier to just take off when the weather permits.

Kolsås is a wooded mountain ridge in the municipality of Bærum. Geologically, Kolsås belongs to the Oslo Graben area. Its two peaks consist of hard rhomb porphyric lava covering softer rocks, forming steep cliffs to the east, south and west. The area from Kolsås to Dælivannet is a protected landscape area from 1978 (5 sqkm/5,000 acres) with 4 nature reserves. The area has abundant plant life.

Started the morning hike from the house, the trails (not the main trail) are well trodden on but ended on the first top – the lower one and it was not my intentions to be there. To get to the other top, had to find the path to cross another ridge to get there.

Got slightly diverted but on such a lovely day, with mobile on-hand and wild blueberries to snack on, no worries. These again are the size of my little finger nail, they are really blue inside and stains but yummy! Did not meet a single soul, but mozzies are in the air and the patches helped. Norwegian mozzies are big but are rather slow; the stains on the hand is not blood but blueberry!

Found the blue trail (after a few trials & errors!) which leads to the higher and official top with the tower. There were just a handful of people here. Lovely day and place to lunch, a delicious chicken salad made early in the morning to take along. Lunch with a view! Could even spot my house’s roof from certain angles. Hiked down the official trail/blue trail. Appreciations to Kris for having me over for dinner after a day’s hike!

Not being online the first week threw me completely off Jul special dates:

4 Jul – Very Belated Happy 4th to all my American family & friends

14 Jul – Happy Bastille Day & Happy Bday Keith WESTMACOTT – a recent location of a long-lost Dublin friend!

15 Jul – Happy Bday John BREDENKAMP/also known as Gadget on the AT

16 Jul – Happy Bdays Winnie LAM 

17 Jul – Happy Bdays Nancy McGEE-BOWMAN & CH CHENG

19 Jul – Happy 14th Wedding Anniversary Linn & Jeff HALL

20 Jul – Happy Bday David YEOH

21 Jul – Happy Bday Albert CHUA

22 Jul – Happy Bday Mette BACKER and
Happy 12th Wedding Anniversary Dika LAM & Mark BOROWSKY

23 Jul – Happy Bday Lucas YEOH

25 Jul – Happy Bday Winnie LEE

And also a new Bday sometime this month for grandchild #5!

My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing – Aldous Huxley

13 Jul 2011 – Man-Made Adventure with Safety-Strings Attached!

Thanks to CH for this adventure posting in FB. To answer my question for previous posting, there is LIFE in SIN. This really looks an exciting and fun thing to do. What a wonderful idea to be hoisted above ground, especially in the tropics where hiking is not that tempting due to the heat and humidity. Also hopefully to avoid the inserts and snakes!

Forest Adventure is an aerial course built through the trees comprising ladders, bridges, swings, nets, trapeze and giant zip lines!…

Equipped with a harness and a helmet and attached to a safety line, participants get to swing from tree to tree and zip across the Bedok Reservoir. Be ready for a real adrenaline rush with  4 giant zip lines – including the longest at 200 metres.

http://www.forestadventure.com.sg/
Must find out more about it when back in SIN. An excuse to arrange an outing with grand-nieces and grand-nephews! Must be at least 1.4m in height and weigh not more than 150kgs. Hmmm… wonder if there is a senior discount, LOL. But it says – Be ready for a real adrenaline rush! Might get a heart attack in the middle of it!! Now that my loose ends are more or less tied! ie will and red-tape paper works have been taken care of, so no worries 🙂

Have a great Bday bash there CH and do tell all about it after the experience. Will he be in his kilt???

I like all the adventure sports but I like to do them in a safe way – Catherine Bell