Singapore raises swine flu pandemic alert from yellow to orange

According to Channelnewsasia:

SINGAPORE: Singapore raises its pandemic alert from yellow to orange on Thursday even though there are no human cases of Mexican swine flu in Singapore.

The Health Ministry (MOH) said it is upgrading its Disease Outbreak Response System Alert as there is a real possibility that such cases may surface in Singapore and the country must be prepared at all fronts to delay its spread here for as long as possible.

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said Singapore is preparing for the need to move the alert level to red. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has moved to raise the pandemic alert phase for the Mexican swine flu outbreaks from Phase 4 to Phase 5.

Read the full article at Channelnewsasia:

- The article goes on to give the following tips

  1. members of the public who are returning from other affected areas like New York, California, Kansas and Texas in the United States and the state of Nova Scotia in Canada are advised to stay at home for seven days upon return and check themselves for symptoms for Mexican swine flu. 
  2. They should practise social distancing and refrain from joining mass gatherings such as going to the cinemas, shopping malls or supermarkets. 
  3. Those who develop respiratory illness with fever of more than 38 degrees Celsius within seven days after their return should put on a surgical mask, call 993 for an ambulance. They should also disclose their travel histories to their doctors. 
  4. MOH is encouraging schools, workplaces and places of mass gathering to conduct temperature checks routinely. Those with a higher-than-normal temperature should be advised to seek treatment immediately. 

Let me add on to the list

  1. The reason behind the washing of hands is because when someone sneeze or the flu mucus touches his/her hands imagine what will be exposed in public? Railings? Lift Buttons? Anything that the public touches should be treated with extreme caution and wash your hands regularly before touching your FACE like eyes, nose and mouth.
  2. The flu bug can survive on anything hard surface up to 72 hours 
  3. Avoid crowded location if you are sick
  4. WEAR a damn mask will ya?
  5. When you sneeze or have flu, use your arm to cover your mouth instead of using hand because that way your arm won’t touches railings or public places to spread the flu bug.

I do have a friend that recently came back from Mexico and having flu for 2 weeks now but I am not sure if he is joking or not…but anyway I did met him yesterday and he claimed to be not Swine Flu and he knows it’s just normal stress related sickness…..

Well, I am not sick yet hence I think he is fine.

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Singapore ups swine flu alert level to Yellow

According to Channelnewsasia:

SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Health (MOH) has elevated Singapore’s alert level from “green” to “yellow” to guard against swine flu.

While there have been no known cases of human swine flu in Singapore, 17 cases have been referred for further medical assessment.

16 have been referred to the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC) and one case was seen at Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

Read the full article at Channelnewsasia:

YELLOW ALERT! This is almost like telling everyone to brace for impact and it seems so much quicker then SARS where there are still majority of the people ignoring any warnings even thou many people died.

This evening as my mum went for a massage at the (TCM) Traditional Chinese Medicine shop at Jurong East St 24 Blk 253 in Singapore, I saw like at least 5 coughing sick patients inside a clinic and one of them having serious flu like symptoms all of which did not don any N95 mask and coughing indiscriminately with their family members around them.

I tried my best to avoid them but I did happen to walk behind a elderly guy whom cough out and before I know it I was walking right into his path where he coughed.

Yes, I can’t prevent the above situation while I was not wearing ANY mask at all…and my fears is neither are the rest of the whole world whom DID NOT take any precaution due to fear of being laughed at wearing a stupid mask that cover all the important entry points of any flu virus.

I realized I need the mask and the news said the old mask that we had stored away since the last attack was “EXPIRED” as it’s usefulness only last 3 years…that means me and my family member have ZERO protection?

mask2mask

Last few months I had bough a few mask for other purpose such as haze caused by future burning of land in the region to clear land illegally and the following is both of them…but I think it’s kind of excessive…

 

Unfortunately the strap for the spray paint mask kinda broke off slighly but it’s still wearable and the ebay seller for the full face mask did not include the filter cannister and makes it unusable unless I buy the filter canister…which is quite rare in Singapore.

 

Obviously I am not going to wear like above in public hence I will choose to get a common N95 mask if given a chance but I heard they were sold out in Singapore phamacies as the people here buy in bulk and it was completely emptied within a day (Not verified but my friend told me so)

Seriously are we reaching the point where everyone is either too complacent or too panicky to cause a total meltdown in the society in a sense that those who panicked reduced the chance for the rest of the population to buy masks may cause even worst disaster by surrounding themselves with MORE chance of infected people walking without mask on.

It just take a single 8.30 am MRT train load of infected ones to spread to the whole country in a day and many more within buses load with nobody wearing mask and many coughing indiscriminately.

While I am writing this, I felt light headed and feverish…probably due to the fact that I spend 30 minutes in a extremely cold bus 185 with a extremely wet shirt due to “excessive” sweat due to the warm weather of Singapore just now…but I am not sure.

Time will tell…I guess.

I will be going reservist tomorrow to CMPB and they don’t seems to have any fever detection equipment there at the guard house….do they? I am not sure…I guess I have to don a mask tomorrow and I hope the guard won’t mind.

I have a couple of none N95 standard mask which supposedly expired…What should I do now? Feel free to comment if you are still there.

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Swine Flu Pendamic Overview

Let me track back the beginning of this coming Pendamic that may wipe out half the human race…or not? Is this just another SARS scare or is it a biological weapon created on purpose or by accident?

August 2, 2008 

Chrainard.blogspot.com - Mysterious Deaths, Microbiologist, DNA Experts, Scientists

April 3, 2009

Voxy.co.nz warns of a “Apocolypse Now” mentioned  Outbreaks such as Great Swine Flu, Lassa and H1N1 regularly occur and then disappear only to return more virulent.

April 4, 2009

DigitalJournal.com –  H5N1 Avian Virus Adapting to Pigs, Closer to Human Variation but it’s not clear whether or not the H5N1 virus has truly adapted to swine or not.

April 18, 2009

The Post Chronicle -  NY Weschester County (New York) HS Hit With Mystery Illness – 160 Violently Sick

April 20, 2009

NewYorkTimes - Avian Flu Cases in Egypt Raise Alarms

April 22, 2009

  1. ajc.com & CNN reported that the CDC alerts doctors about swine flu cases in two California children but both recovered.
  2. FierceCaccines.com reported that a New swine flu strain appears in San Diego – “While we have a low index of suspicion that this is a pandemic…”
  3. Reuters reported that Egypt’s 25th bird flu death

April 23, 2009

  1. The Canadian Press - Swine flu cases ‘deja vu all over again’ for scientist who studied 1976 outbreak

April 24, 2009

  1. killtv.com - Swine Flu Reported in TEXAS
  2. cn.reuters.com - World Health Organization warned of a deadly swine flu that has killed as many as 60 people in Mexico, raising fears the infection is spreading across North America.
  3. blogs.computerworld.com - In just the last couple of weeks, a brand-new, never-before-seen strain of H1N1 swine flu has emerged in Mexico.  It is an avian/swine/human hybrid that no one has ever seen before.  It is suspected of infecting nearly 1,000 Mexican people, and has possibly killed 60.
  4. CNN.Com - CDC confirms 7 cases of swine flu in humans
  5. CKWSTV.Com - Close to one thousand cases of Swine Flu has been reported in Mexico

April 25, 2009

  1. metronews.ca - Mexican authorities have confirmed 20 deaths, believe more than 40 more may be linked to the outbreak and have reported more than 1,000 suspect cases in three areas of Mexico.
  2. chron.com - Mexico declares national emergency amid outbreak as the new virus — a stew of various swine, bird and human influenza strains — has killed as many as 81 Mexicans and sicked more than 1,000 others in recent weeks

Well, what are you waiting for? Go buy some precautionary mask!

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Russia sees no need for oil cuts as shortage looming

According to Yahoo!News:

MOSCOW, April 22 – Russia believes global oil output cuts will have a short-lived effect and made no sense given a looming global supply shortage in the medium term, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said on Wednesday.

“According to various estimates, there will be a serious shortage of oil supply, maybe in one, maybe in two-three years,” Shmatko told reporters.

“It will coincide with the end of the global economic crisis and will lead to serious instability, including in the pricing of oil,” he said. “A simple cut in production can, in our view, have only a short-lived impact.”

Read the full article at Yahoo!News:

- Russia to predict this as the beginning of the OIL SHORTAGE AKA PEAK OIL EFFECTs to impact the whole world in 2 to 3 years time!!!?

What does Russia knows that most people on the streets don’t?

Let me put up various assumptions

  1. The Russian knew about peak oil way longer then I do
  2. The Russian already knew a pending war in the Gulf is about to erupt?
  3. Russian use reverse psychology to give investors a great scare to boost the price of oil without cutting oil supply…hmm
  4. Russia forcing OPEC to cut more instead so to earn more without sacrificing it’s own output.

Well, Israel is still hot on Iran’s dateline for Nuclear Plant “activation” and possibly strike BEFORE it’s activation date but who knows? It can be next week…2 days from now…tonight…now?

The problem is nobody is fully prepared for such event to happen and seriously it seems Russia is prepared for the very possible oil shortage in the medium term…1 to 3 years time…which is VERY FREAKY close to the end of the world date “2012″…or is it just a myth? Y2K anyone?

Well, I think we will all die one day but I want to die a happy man…with someone that I care or love to be with by my side hugging and smiling (Scene in the movie “Knowing”).

What can we do? I am not sure, Singapore seems to be experiencing heat wave & sudden gush of storms lately…not sure about the rest of the world…but I feel maybe the storm is coming…the real storm that will flood the world in few hours…the real event of ELE (Extinction Level Event).

The ice coming down into the ocean from greenland in a big SPLASH to create a MEGA TSUNAMI so huge…it will make many small countries disappear overnight…leaving a whirlpool of nothingness.

The sun may erupt into violent solar storms that caused great electrical distabuance in the whole world…massive blackouts, stalled vehicles, crashing planes, derailment of trains and the great migration of refugees from frozen wasteland or desert land that no longer have electricity for months and months ahead…even with working generators…some electronics might not even work after the solar storm…causing great confusion and panic.

Massive numbers of people will jump to their death when their favorite video sharing site crashed and loses ALL data forever and unable to reboot…they can’t surf the internet anyway.

Many have to learn how to scarvenge or loot their way to survive as millions or billions will no longer able to work without computers.

Of course the above scenario are not a reality now hence we have to feel blessed to be alive now rather then in the future…

Popularity: 2% [?]

Coming Updates!

I had been slacking off on this site lately and I had been busy setting up an iPhone Review Site and it’s been crazy last few days.

While working on the new site at http://www.appleappreview.com I had learnt lot’s of new stuff that I can implement to this site.

So potentially I can upgrade this site to a more readable form and possibly interactive…but all these will have to wait until I finished the “more comprehensive” FAQ that will insult anyone’s intelligent.

I had tested the iphone review site with 2 of my close friends and both failed to even post a video up the site…and even tried to upload a full VCD up the site…with many failures.

I guess more can be done on the “instructions” or I have to “auto detect” the size of upload…and give proper instructions on how to do it or make the interface much more user friendly.

Once all these is done…I will then migrate this site…to a new theme but the URL will remain and so does the RSS.

Israel still hawkish and Iran not backing out from the nuclear enrichment program hence the future is still very bleak.

Oil prices got their roller coaster ride as predicted and without much fan fare…but I bet many high rollers are gambling their companies away…in a hurry.

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Israel primed to strike Iran nuclear sites, says report

Prepare for the real holocaust!

Prepare for the real holocaust!

According to Channelnewsasia:

LONDON : Israel’s military is preparing so it could launch major aerial attacks on Iranian nuclear sites if ordered to by the new government, a British newspaper said on Saturday, quoting Israeli defence and intelligence sources.

“Israel wants to know that if its forces were given the green light, they could strike at Iran in a matter of days, even hours,” an unnamed senior defence official told The Times.

“They are making preparations on every level for this eventuality. The message to Iran is that the threat is not just words.”

Read the full article at Channelnewsasia:

- Yes, this is the red alert “media” broadcast and this is not a drill…or not? There had been several false alarm lately but it seems to me that they are waiting for each other to “spark” the war in any time!

Slight Increase In Oil

Slight Increase In Oil

While the Sabre rattling continues, oil prices inched up a little on last Friday not sure if it’s due to the above report or the “rumor” of possible strike on Iran causing the “roller coaster” wave of oil price recently.

The finger might be the positive US earnings which gave many “analyst” that tingling feeling to indicate this as the cause of oil price to spike 35 cents on Friday but obviously it’s just too early to know if it’s a technical rebound or just another “wave” of speculative movement by big players worldwide.

While all these are pure speculations as you can see from the “volume” of last Friday shown in the chart on the left is clearly lower then normal making the high spike another technical rebound by small number of high rollers or investors.

In further gloomy news on Wednesday, OPEC cut its estimate for world crude demand again, arguing that a “devastating contraction” in consumption would keep prices under pressure in the months ahead.

OPEC estimated that demand would contract by 1.37 million bpd or 1.6 percent in 2009.

The 12-nation cartel, which pumps 40 percent of world oil supplies, holds its next production meeting in Vienna on May 28.

This means OPEC might actually decide to “CUT” production on May 28 …that may have a big impact on the oil price indeed or will they do the houdini trick again by canceling the cut just like the last meeting?

Maybe as the new government of Israel decided that the time is right….a future preemptive strike on Iran….may cause oil to goes sky high and world to collapse into pure anarchy.

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Homemade Indoor Hydroponic Aquaponic (Update 7)

YouTube Preview Image
18 April 2009

The video above is my latest update on my on going experiment on Indoor Aquaponic Growth System that supposedly able to grow vegetables indoor for personal consumption.

Observation is the “tea strainer” have have some problems letting the water through causing some flooding within the buckets, luckily my pump entrance is pointing upwards within the fish tank hence eliminated any kind of overflow in the above buckets.

The disappointing thing was the collapsed of multiple plants in the middle bucket that died in the “floods” and which I suspected to had melted away in the “tsunami” of water.

I had once witnessed a small dead molly fish being consumed by my “clean up crew” which are my healthy cherry shrimps within the fish tank, I think the molly fishes kept the population of the cherry shrimps in check but many of them now seems to be living happily with the fishes…weird.

I guess the molly fishes’ mouth are not wide enough to swallow an adult cherry shrimp hence leaving the shrimps alone…haha.

Next month after my reservist, I will probably move my experiments into the next level by making a MUCH more wider and Larger buckets hopefully to plant MORE vegetables enough to at least rotate the crops…and all indoors.

Pray hard, Iran won’t be attacked before I buy everything…or we can kiss our money goodbye….hyperinflation to come like “blink”…and WTF!

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How Vulnerable Is the Power Grid?

According to Time.com:

The attack could come when we’re most vulnerable — a blistering hot July afternoon or a freezing cold January night. Suddenly, vast sections of the U.S. power grid go black. The lights go out, air-conditioning (or heating) shuts down.

Once it becomes clear that this is no temporary brownout, the public begins to panic. At the power utilities, engineers can’t understand why the network shut off, and can’t get it to start up again.

It’s hours before the truth emerges: a terrorist group (or a hostile country, or some evil-genius hacker) has broken into the computer networks that control the power grid, bringing the U.S. to its knees.

Read the full article at Time.com:

Power Grid

Power Grid

- The article describe of hackers taken control of the utility power grid had actually portrayed in the blockbuster movie “Die Hard 4.0″ is generally “NOT GOING TO HAPPEN” which points towards fiction.

However, on the contrary I believe it may happen in our life time not by some cyber hacker but a more simple sohphicated method using the EMP (electromagnetic pulse) or NNEMP (Non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse) near power plants.

EMP caused by a nuclear device exploding above any power plant will not destroy all infrastructure but instead creating a huge electromagnetic wave that can virtually “overload” all circuits that are not protected by Faraday’s cage.

The idea is some hackers may be able to get their hands on certain NNEMP device and try it near any power plant with remote control activation via internet far away from ground zero.

The blackout may be temporary for this type of attack as any electronics can be replaced and repaired easily and the most the down time can be just weeks.

The worst case scenario is the source of fuel that power the generators of the power plant…if it’s the same of fossil fuel such as natural gas or crude oil…we are in a big trouble in the near future.

The choke point still points to the narrow straits of Hormuz where 40% of the world oil supply passes through this strait, conveniently IRAN happens to be in artillery range of these super oil tankers and very very vulnerable to their air to naval missiles.

The recent article about Israel thinking of striking Iran may be the “beginning” of global energy crisis and permanent black out in majority of the world that uses crude oil or natural gas as feed stock for their electricity power generation or face extreme inflation of OIL PRICES that may sky rocket to above $200 per barrel.

However, Israel President dismissed the talk about striking IRAN and downplay the tension like a musician artist stroking the tighten strings of the guitar.

So, back to how vulnerable is the power grid? We will never know…when the time comes you will find out about it via that insane heat or extreme cold that you will be feeling.

Things that indicate the electric grid had gone down

  1. The insane heat in your house
  2. Your toilet bowl freeze up
  3. Your taps stops flowing from the national water treatment plants.
  4. Traffic lights gone
  5. Cell phone, iPod, iPhone, PSP and all electronics stops charging
  6. Internet connection disrupted
  7. Television no longer on standby but it’s off.
  8. Microwave Died.
  9. Total darkness not even street lamp, you can’t see your five fingers.
  10. Loud noise from neighbors screaming or shouting
  11. Police sirens or Ambulance sirens everywhere.

The above is just the beginning signals of a total blackout, if it’s permanent…you will get more symptoms such as chaos of lootings & mass crimes commited by ordinary folks just to surivive the crisis.

If there are no gun laws, the streets will become a war zone….if there are gun laws…the streets will be a knife zones.

The rest just watch movies such as “Die Hard 4.0″, “Mad Max 2 & 3″ and the book “The Road” to get the feel of what it will be like.

We are vulnerable regardless what you think but to me, everyday is a blessing and by knowing the end might be near….we will be better appreciative of every hour we are alive in this world…

Make your day the best day of your life and be prepared for any kinds of emergency that may occur in our life time.

God Bless.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Space scientists warn of possible disaster in three years’ time, 2012 Solar Storm.

According to The Electric New Paper:

A GRIM prediction of a world teetering on the edge of apocalypse has come, not from the lips of soothsayers or lunatics, but from space scientists. In a report funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) and issued by the US National Academy of Sciences earlier this year, space scientists warned of a massive solar storm wreaking havoc on Earth in 2012.

A solar storm – essentially plasma balls spewing from the surface of the sun – can distort the Earth’s magnetic field. A particularly big one can destroy the tens of thousands of expensive and hard-to-build transformers in power grids worldwide. This will plunge major cities like Singapore into blackouts, which are expected to last months, or even years, as new transformers are painstakingly manufactured.

Meanwhile, with no power, modern life grinds to a standstill. In the first moments of this catastrophe, trains will collide and planes will crash, as their communications systems fail. Satellites will crash back to Earth like meteors. Hospitals, with their life-sustaining support systems, will see some of the most urgent needs at first.

But eventually, millions may die from hunger and thirst. With no power, food cannot be processed or delivered. Water cannot be pumped from reservoirs into homes. Back-up generators will help, but only for a few days before their fuel runs out.

As sewage systems fail, diseases will break out. Horses will replace cars, the financial system will collapse and, in a silver lining of sorts, there will certainly be no more e-mails for you to clear.

- Read the full article at The Electric New Paper:

Yes, this is related to the solar storms that is currently causing some “warming” in many planets recently but predicted to peak in solar activities in 2012 as “planet x” passes.

Knowing

Knowing

What we can do is to find underground caves in desperate search for safety to be away from the burning sun just like the ending of the latest blockbuster movie “Knowing” or the best case scenario is global blackout for a few months pushing millions of people into 3rd world country in a concrete city like Singapore.

Those who cannot find food & water will simply perish easily in this kind of apocalyptic future with massive & immediate job losses (who will work without electricity?) and total chaos will erupt.

My hope is Singapore will band together and “prepare” for any contingencies by being as self sustainable as possible and buy ALL kinds of renewable energies available that is suitable for Singapore.

The government should not hinder the work of invention with patent laws & the inventions should not be profit driven but survival driven…this is a global disaster not just Singapore alone….and everyone have their parts to play…

Do you want to be the victim or the provider? You decide.

Popularity: 54% [?]

Arctic sea ice thinnest ever going into spring

According to Yahoo!News:

WASHINGTON – The Arctic is treading on thinner ice than ever before. Researchers say that as spring begins, more than 90 percent of the sea ice in the Arctic is only 1 or 2 years old. That makes it thinner and more vulnerable than at anytime in the past three decades, according to researchers with NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado.

Usually, younger, thin ice accounts for about 70 percent of the ice cover. This year it reached 90 percent, Meier said.

Read the full article at Yahoo!News:

- This is some alarming report on the situation in the arctic where the thin ice are now trapping more heat in Earth making all kinds of weird extreme weather changes all over the world.

According to witness reports in USA that the weather changes rapidly from warm weather to snowing within a day which is becoming very common now, this summer with less ice at the arctic…we can assume a more warmer sea that translate to a even bigger storms ahead.

If there are any kind of weird weather that you are experiencing now, feel free to comment it here!

Age Of Arctic Ice Comparison

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