TV haze broadcast of 1 hr reading is NOT in PSI

Many are not aware that there is a difference in PSI reading and ug/m3 (microgram per meter cube). This is because the health warning levels are different.

NEA 24 hour average reading is in PSI. However NEA 1 hour average reading is in ug/m3.

S'pore official health advisory is based on 24 hours average PSI reading. For our personal health concern, we should base our activities on 1 hour real time reading ie to stay indoor or not, when to use face mask.

Table 1 : Health advisory by NEA in PSI for 24 hour averaged reading:
0 -50        Good
51-100     Moderate
101-200   Unhealthy
201-300   Very Unhealthy
above 300 Hazardous

Table 2 : Health advisory by NEA in ug/m3 for 1 hour averaged reading,
0-55        Normal
56-150    Elevated 
151-250  High
above 250 Very High

Table 3 below is the previous descriptive reference from NEA website from past years which is no longer found in their current site :

Table 3:
Index Category           PSI            24hrPM2.5 ug/m3
Good                           0-50          0-12
Moderate                   51-100      13-55
Unhealthy                101-200    56-150  
Very Unhealthy        201-300     151-250
Hazardous             above 301     above 251

As there is no safety limit given for 1 hr reading, we could take the unhealthy range level as 56 ug/m3 and above.

For the haze reading broadcast over TV provided by NEA, the 24 hr data is in PSI. But the 1 hr data does not have a unit a measurement attached to it - this may mislead the public into thinking it is in PSI. We can see from Table 3 - unhealthy level is at 56 ug/m3.

NEA is not helping the public as they could have easily converted the reading into PSI which the public is familiar with. They could have also used the same descriptive for both 24 and 1 hour data. Public may not understand that 'elevated' is 'unhealthy'.  


NOTE : 

1) US EPA adopts 35 ug/m3 as unhealthy limit for 24 hrs PM2.5 which is a more stringent standard than S'pore.

2) For real time 1 hourly data on haze please refer to : aqicn.org  - which provides air pollution Air Quality Index (AQI) for more than 60 countries in the world. AQI descriptive :

0-50                 Good

51-100             Moderate

101-150           Unhealthy for sensitive groups

151-200           Unhealthy

201-300           Very Unhealthy

301-500           Hazardous

Huawei running fake promotion or ...???

Did Huawei run a fake promotion for publicity gimmick ?  Or was it a very badly planned and executed promotion ? If not how can handsets be sold out in some outlets even before they open for business on the very 1st day of the promotion ?  Notice was put up to redirect customers to bigger outlet which either never even open for business or ran out of phones.  Then police were call in due to the people lingering outside the store and for outlets with large crowd - safety became an issue.

Huawei ran a widely publicized promotion over media of their phone model Y6 Pro 2019 which is selling for $54 instead of the normal retail price of $198. This is to celebrate S'pore 54th national day and give recognition to seniors as only those age 50 and above are eligible.

It is also stated the each person can buy 2 sets. You can buy for an eligible senior as long as you have the his/her IC to show to the sale staff at the 27 concept stores and selected retailers. This promotion offer is to last for 3 days (26 to 28 Jul).


It is reported in the media that Huawei announced at 1130 that some of the stalls will be closed for safety reasons. It was also reported that only about 20 to 30 sets are available for the promotion for stores at Jewel, Vivo, Nex and Toa Payoh. While customer at Yishun was told only 10 sets available and was directed to North Point.

Looking at the timing of the announcement and the number of sets available - Huawei is neither sincere nor serious in their phone promotion . They are not new kids on the block but experience and should know what to expect if they run a promotional offer with large discount.  It is very irresponsible of them to inconvenient the public and cause safety problem in public spaces due to large crowd gathering.  As police were roped in at a few outlets - it only confirm how badly run was the promotion was.

Then they have the cheek to announce there is another promotion on Saturday for their Mate 20 at Challenger outlets.  This is a more costly phone though also comes with large discount.  So is this Y6 Pro 2019 publicity gimmick to pave the way for Mate 20 promotion ?  It was said that the Mate 20 promotion is cancelled. Could it be due to police cautioning them of the public nuisance they have become ?

Culling of pigeons should be done humanely

The recent case of a pigeon culling video at Aljunied Hougang Town council, which ACRES described as "an outright case of cruelty" - is the common practice used by pest control companies engaged by all Town Councils in S'pore.  Culling is normally done regularly every 3 months.

AVS (formally AVA) is well aware of the method employed as they are the one who approved this inhumane and cruel method of culling pigeons. SPCA is aware of it too but they believe AVS is working towards a more humane way of culling.  Unfortunately - their 'belief' never materialised as AVS sticks to this low cost quick fixes which they claimed is 'effective'. I thought ACRES is aware too - after all this bad practice has being going on for more than a decade with little result in controlling the pigeon population. This itself is evident that the method is NOT effective.

We understand the need to control the pigeon population in housing estate, but a more humane method should be used. It is very cruel to have them suffered so much pain first by poisoning then suffocation while being culled. It is extremely disturbing to see poisoned pigeons falling off ledges. Most of birds though unable to fly are still alive when they are thrown into bags. 

Those pigeons that did not ingest sufficient poison food, flew off and we often see dead birds the next two days at various blocks. If the cleaners do not spot them, the carcass will pose a hygiene problem.

AVS has tested out contraceptive feed method to reduce pigeon population at a mosque and a temple as I recalled for around 3 to 5 years. However AVS seems hesitant to implement it as it is more costly. This method has been found to be effective in other countries.

Sterilization of stray cats has been very effective, thus contraceptive method on pigeons would likely see fruitful results, which years of ruthless poison plus suffocation culling has not.

We are a developed nation, we should stop such cruel culling.  Besides the current method contradicts the spirit of the law of cruelty against animals. It also goes against our national kindness movement and compassion teaching in various religions.

Marine Parade TC committed an offence under cruelty to animal

Pet abandonment is considered as cruelty.  Thus, if a owner who abandon and release his/her pet at a food center - he/she is deemed to have committed an offence under the law and could be fined up to 15,000 and/or imprisoned for up to 18 months.

The recent case where Marine Parade Town Council (MPTC) gave instruction to abduct/steal 2 cats from a resident, Mdm Tan and later abandoned them by releasing them at Harbour Front food center is an OFFENCE. It is pet abandonment - only the offence is committed not by the owner but by MPTC.  One of the cat has been found dead. The other still missing, the likelihood of it being also dead is high.

MPTC has committed a very cruel act to both the pet cats and their owner. The cats are dependent on their owner for food and shelter, they must have suffered unimaginable distress to be abandoned  at an unfamiliar place and left to fend for themselves. Mdm Tan suffers mental agony of not knowing what happen to her pets. She has been searching high and low for her cats for more than 3 weeks.  MPTC has made matter worst for Mdm Tan by being evasive and not telling her initially what they have done to her cats.

Animal cruelty is an offence - thus MPTC should be answerable to the law. The Town Council has abused their power by removing the 2 cats without informing the owner or obtaining her consent.  They even took Mdm Tan's cage for their abduction.  This is stealing both cage and cats while the owner is not at home !!

Singhealth Data Breach - No Action Needed ??

It takes more than 2 months - from 1 May to 4 July 18 before the cyber attacked on Singhealth was discovered.  By then 1.5 million patients' non-medical data was breach.  Because of the late discovery - a further 160,000 patients' medical record was stolen between 27 Jun to 4 Jul.

Think the hacker(s) must be having a field time, first steal personal data, since no one notice go for medical record too.  Why does it takes more than 2 months before major attacked was notice?  IT security system limping weak or Singhealth IT dept sleeping on the job?

Then all these diversion tactics as usual on MSM to take the public focus away from the important questions.  Who attacked us?  What they intend to do with our data?  What is the govt doing to apprehend the hackers?  

We are not interested in how many sms were send out to inform patients their data are stolen or not stolen.  Neither do we find comfort that PM Lee and Mr Goh CT data was access - which the MSM seems to think so. We find it ridiculous that the MSM reported that Singhealth / govt should be 'lauded' for their handling of this cyber attack - which should not have happened in the first place!

They said it is a major attacked and they know who but can't tell us due to security reason. What the crap!  There is no mentioned at all of going after the hacker.  What is the point of forming a committee - so many committee have been form in the past whenever something happened.  Just like the SMRT issues - they still happened and have gotten even more serious after CEO Ms Saw departure.

They can tell us 'no action needed' in the sms. We are small fly - what can we do, BUT we expect concrete action from the govt.  Govt said breach is done by some big time foreign hacker(s) - if so do they steal for fun? Surely they intend monetize the stolen data.  So govt knows who behind it and yet not going after them?

Or can it be they are hiding something from us?  Everything is national security issue when they don't want us to know-  just like GIC, Temasek and our national reserve financial status.

Major cyber security breach and we are not given any details!  What are we to think?  Maybe for all we know it is a small time hacker and they need to save face for their limping security system.

SMART Nation with handicap security system which can't even protect public data.  What a joke!