Noise barriers - finally!

LTA is finally doing something about the noise from MRT trains. Noise barriers will be installed along a certain stretch at Bishan Station. I wonder when they will tackle the noise from the highways. Some residential flats are extremely close to the highway, and with the road-widening, I'm sure complaints will increase. 


"For now, the LTA said the train noise is within 80dB to 85dB, which is like listening to loud music in a room. The barriers are expected to reduce noise by at least 5dB - to within 75dB to 80dB- which would be like listening to someone practising on the piano, said LTA.

The 2m tall barriers will stretch 180m and are insulated with materials such as rockwool, which absorbs noise. They will extend at least 25m into the tunnel." Extracted from Today paper


My concern with the noise barriers is why only reduce 5dB? Why not more? Why such a low barrier? I recall seeing barriers in other countries which are a lot taller than 2m and some are enclosures.

Toy gun from cardboard

Homemade rubber band gun using
cardboard boxes and popsicle sticks.

Recycling Flashmob!

I met someone who took part in this. I wonder how long it took for the bottle to get into the recycling bin! Great idea.   :-)

Recycling my bag to....

I have, or rather had a bag and the straps snapped. I couldn't fix it. Decided to take everything apart, straps, zips and all.  The first thing I made was a belt from the straps. Happy with the result and wore it today!

The bag

OpenNet

The contractor came to install the cables at our flat as part of Singapore's all-fibre ultra-high-speed broadband network. Everyone is supposed to get it installed. It's up for free now, so, why not? Well, I was thinking why I would want to have a 1Gig/sec data transfer when my current broadband speed is sufficient? More movies? More music? I'm not sure....


But perhaps the environment would benefit? Maybe video streaming so we'll know real-time which parts of the island are flooded (tongue in cheek).


Check out the pics of the heavy storm on Sunday. It was literally a downpour from 730am til noon. Football was a no no - poor hubby! 

Beginning of the storm

It got heavier....

.... and the men got bored....

Food additives

So, we had another food recall in Asia. This time it was products from Taiwan, including the fruit concentrates used in bubble tea, and the really nice jellies. I was rather surprised because I had the impression that they had high standards, and the Taiwanese products I buy have ISO and HACCP certification labels on them.   Anyway, a plasticizer DEHP was added to the products . Why add this ingredient when it's for industrial use? WHO says that it is not immediately threatening even though it does cause cancer and damage to the reproductive systems.   My thoughts is try to stick to products that are wholesome and haven't been processed. Even if the remove the plasticizer, is another additive going to take its place?


PS - additives are everywhere. Take a look at this video on the "blueberries" that are in our cereals and muffins.

Recycle but not reduce :-(

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - the 3Rs. That's what our kids learn at school.  I was trying to reinforce it to my little boy and he was very excited about it. He was so eager to put things into our recycling bag. Then I said that it's good to get hand me downs too - toys, clothes and books. And that's when he frowned and said "Mummy, I don't like reuse or reduce. I only like to recycle".  Maybe we should emphasise a bit more on the reduce and reuse, especially when the UN has announced that the Earth's population is growing faster than they had expected - 6.9 billion to 9.3 billion by 2050!! 

Recycled Scrabble Tiles

Jubilantwares collects old Scrabble tiles from garage sales and thrift stores. I'm not sure how many she has to go through to get all the letters of the alphabet, but she sure is creative! She made some great bracelets out of them!  Check out her site!