The Flying Saucer At Sunset

Lenticular clouds (Altocumulus lenticularis) are stationary lens-shaped clouds with a smooth layered appearance that form in the troposphere, usually above mountain ranges. One was spotted in Singapore recently...

Eyes Of 30,000 Honeycombs

With 30,000 individual facets, dragonflies have the most number of facets among insects. Each facet, or ommatidia, creates its own image, and the dragonfly brain has eight pairs of descending visual neurons to compile those thousands of images into one picture...

A Kaleidoscope Of Colours, Shapes And Patterns

Spectacular and innovative in design, the Flower Dome replicates the cool-dry climate of Mediterranean regions like South Africa, California and parts of Spain and Italy. Home to a collection of plants from deserts all over the world, it showcases the adaptations of plants to arid environments...

Lightning Strikes, Not Once, But Many Times

Unlike light, lightning does not travel in a straight line. Instead, it has many branches. These other branches flashed at the same time as the main strike. The branches are actually the step leaders that were connected to the leader that made it to its target...

Are You My Dinner Tonight?

A T-Rex has 24-26 teeth on its upper jaw and 24 more on its lower jaw. Juveniles have small, sharp blade-shaped teeth to cut flesh, whereas adults have huge, blunt, rounded teeth for crushing bones. Is the T-Rex a bone-crushing scavenger?

Haze Is Here - Hide In Aircon?

Singapore
18 June 2013
Hazy

"PSI reading hits 155, air quality plunges to 'unhealthy' for first time in almost three years... at 10pm, the three-hour PSI was 155 - the highest since September 1997 when it reached 226. The last time the haze hit such levels was in 2006, when the PSI peaked at 150... Given the hazy conditions, the NEA has everyone else should limit prolonged or heavy outdoor activities." (TODAY, 18 June 2013)


(Source : TODAY)

The recent haze has made temperatures sweltering. With Singapore's PSI hitting 155 yesterday at 2200 hours, it's no wonder that more people are staying indoors.

Marina Bay today, where neither the port nor MBFC was visible...

A few posts on Merlion Wayfarer's Facebook revealed that people are rushing home earlier, not OT-ing, keeping their windows shut and turning on their aircons.

Merlion Wayfarer is no exception. From less than 2 hours of aircon usage per evening (a "necessity" as her West-facing house is like a sauna in the evenings), her usage skyrocketed to more than 10 hours, including dinner time.

Is this the correct solution for our planet?

Hardly. 

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) have widespread domestic and commercial refrigeration applications, for example, split system air conditioners. They have been found to pose a serious environmental threat. Studies undertaken by various scientists during the 1970s revealed that CFCs released into the atmosphere accumulate in the stratosphere, where they had a deleterious effect on the ozone layer. Stratospheric ozone shields living organisms on Earth from the harmful effects of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation; even a relatively small decrease in the stratospheric ozone concentration can result in an increased incidence of skin cancer in humans and in genetic damage in many organisms. In the stratosphere the CFC molecules break down by the action of solar ultraviolet radiation and release their constituent chlorine atoms. These then react with the ozone molecules, resulting in their removal. CFCs have a lifetime in the atmosphere of about 20 to 100 years, and consequently one free chlorine atom from a CFC molecule can do a lot of damage, destroying ozone molecules for a long time.

(Source : The Ozone Hole)

According to the Energy Market Authority (EMA), the electricity tariff for households is 26.70 cents per kWh (with effect from 01 April to 30 Jun 2013).

At this rate, an air-conditioner which consumes 800 W per hour and will cost approximately 43 cents for every 2 hours, or $12.816 per 30-day month.

Electrical consumption ($) = Rate x Time x Cost = 800/1000 x 2 x 0.2670 = 42.72 cents

In actual fact, this means, Merlion Wayfarer will be using $48 of power on air-conditioning alone to cool just one room this month. Uh-oh...
(Source : Quark Soup)

Merlion Wayfarer is stepping out of her house more today - 
to enjoy the air-conditioning in public spaces and reduce her carbon footprint in a small way.


(Source : Twin Oaks Computing)

For a list of hide-out locations, see "PSI 401? - Merlion Wayfarer's Guide To Hiding Out".
  

Sources

Megabugs Return! - Marvel At The Small Things In Life

Science Centre Singapore 
Jurong East, Singapore
June 2013

Singapore’s largest exhibition on insects, Megabugs Return! officially opened at the Science Centre Singapore (SCS) on 19 April 2013. Megabugs Return! is organised in partnership with Cityneon Events, P’ART1 Design and MediaCorp VizPro International and is held as a curtain raiser for Singapore Science Festival 2013.

The Megabugs Return! exhibition is on from 20 April 2013 to 18 August 2013. This exhibition aims to demystify the fear people have with insects by creating unique experiences for us to understand and appreciate these tiny creatures. The SCS first conceived Megabugs twenty years ago in 1994; since then, it has undergone chrysalis and reemerged with an updated exhibition filled with 14 animatronic insect machines as compared with 11 previously.


“Insects are all around us and they often get neglected with our preoccupation with modern comforts living within a sanitised bubble. This exhibition makes us stop and marvel at the small things in life, literally. Mother Nature made a multitude of insects with intricate details leading interesting lives.
It is time for humans to take a step back and relook at the splendour of insects.” 
- A/Prof Lim Tit Meng, Chief Executive, Science Centre Singapore

Wise words, indeed. This weekend, Merlion Wayfarer looks forward to seeing these bugs that she spotted in her nature treks in their mega-sizes and knowing more about them!


Tickets are priced at $16 (adult) and $13 (Child, 3 – 12 yrs old).
For more information, visit www.megabugs.sg.

|   "Facing The Super-Sized"   |   "Science For The Young And Young-At-Heart"   |
 

More photos are available on Merlion Wayfarer Goes Green's Picasa at :
Places - Science Centre

Sources

  • "Megabugs press kit" (12 June 2013), Science Centre Singapore.
     
  • "MEGA EXHIBITION ON INSECTS COMES TO LIFE ONCE AGAIN!". Media Release (19 April 2013), Science Centre Singapore.

50 Years Of Greening Singapore

Singapore
17 June 2013

After personally experiencing what 50 years of deforestation can do to the landscape ("Deforestation - Sichuan's Mountains, Mountains, Mountains"), at the other end of the Asian land mass, Merlion Wayfarer is glad to hear that Greening Singapore is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

Former Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, had a vision to make Singapore a distinctive and attractive place to live in. In 1963, he planted a Mempat tree at Farrer Circus, signifying the start of Singapore's greening campaign. 


Over the decades, various species of flowering trees and plants were introduced to beautify city Singapore. More parks and park connectors were developed, and they gradually evolved into quality green spaces with a wide range of amenities for the community to enjoy. What's encouraging is that the parks are not merely cemented gardens with some trees and flowers but green spaces with natural elements woven into their very structures. (Kudos, NParks!)


Yesterday, Minister Mentor Lee planted a rain tree at the Holland Village Park, continuing an unbroken 50-year tradition.

(Source : Straits Times)

This is one such momentous moment that made Merlion Wayfarer proud to be part of Garden City Singapore.



Sources