Natural Calamities

at about  1815 hrs this evening, powerful tremors shook several buildings & homes in various parts of singapore.

It happened immediately after an earthquake struck Sumatra in Indonesia. It was reported the earthquake was a destructive one, measuring  7.9  magnitude  & 75 precious people perished.

temors lasting from 2 to 3 mins shook my home twice in the previous year. . i live on the 25th level of an apartment & when it happened the last time round, Milky being very alert & sensitive barked very  loudly. ( She hardly barks in normal circumstances). i felt the tremors too & quickly hugged her.  only both of us were home.

on a second occassion, mum was affected by the tremors & felt  severe dizziness when the apartment  swayed. At that time, i was working on an assignment overseas. she was so frightened. When I rang her from Italy, she told me about the experience. She found out  about the quake in indonesia from my neighbours . i felt bad  for not being around. it was a traumatic moment for her.

however, this  evening, i did not feel the tremors at all. my girlfriend who works in the financial district , was being evacuated to ground level . the comercial building she works  in, is one of the tallest here. She sent me a message in the night & asked if my home was affected. That was the moment i knew of the quake.

 the tremors are getting more & more frequent  ....... ... buildings on the island are getting taller & taller.  Right opposite where i live, a building project of 5 blocks of apartments, each measuring 50 floors is almost completed. These cluster of apartments are  the tallest & by far, the most expensive government built apartments on the island due to its proximity to the financial district

how can i prepare my family , both physically & mentally  for another round of tremors? i am really unsure ( sigh)......... 

having  to leave for 3 more overseas assignments in the next 3 months .... is worrying.

The sudden  departure of my dog, Milky at the hospital on 3rd Aug has been devastating.

I did not even get a chance to say goodbye to her. it is like losing a good friend , a buddy I have know for 14 years,

Still miss her so much. ...  infact everyday

Last nite, I was overjoyed having met Terence Yin. His presence has been comforting & that wonderful film had made me laughed a fair bit.....the first laugher ever after Milky's death.

I guess the pain will never go away. But anyhow, Terence.... thanks for coming to singapore!

Enthralling Blog

Reading Terence's blog  is an enthralling encounter.....especially  when he put forth this  question of "How to keep the match burning?" it weighs heavily on my mind for the last couple of days.... I am happy to share my thoughts with him.

The first known use of matches was in 577 during the siege of a town in northern China. Women in that village used sticks coated with a mixture of chemicals to start fires for cooking & heating.The details of this technique were subsequently lost....

Olive

reflections after reading Terrence's blog posted on 2nd May................

 What match stick am I?

It was not  until 1826, when an English man, John Walker invented the first "Friction Matches". Walker's matches were ignited by drawing the heads through a folded piece of paper coated with grounded glass. But he encountered a problem. It was difficult to light. It failed.

Then, came along a French man, Charles Sauria. He developed a match that used white phosphorus. These matches were known as "Strike-Anywhere-Matches" and were much easier to ignite. However, this seemingly +ve characteristic,  caused many unintentional fires as it was too easy to ignite.

 White phosphorus was highly toxic. Workers in the factory who inhaled the fumes often suffered from the degeneration of their  jawbones.

In 1844, a Swedish man, Gustaf Pasch had a proposal. Place some of the match's combustion ingredients on a separate striking surface rather than incorporating all of them into the match head. Cautious act. This will avoid accidental ignition.

Wow, it makes me think. What match stick am i......."Friction match", "Strike-Anywhere-match" "safety match", "storm match"" noiseless match" ( invented by a Hungarian) or.......

Olive....