Virus of the Century - Covid

 

I am tested positive of Covid Omicron virus. 2.5 years after Covid virus was first detected in Wuhan.

The details of my infection are as follow:-

Day 0 - ART negative.

Day 1 - Rashes started to appear on my right and left arm

Day 2 - Sneezing, soar throat, slight fever (37 to 38 degree Celsius), headache, runny nose. All are rather mild symptoms, which are consistent with Omicron variant. My 2nd dose of Pfizer vaccine was injected in Nov 2021. Some 7 months later, I have the real virus infection.

Day 3 - ART positive. Went to see a doctor and was prescribed with a few medicine to treat the symptoms.

Understand that sneezing is unique only to those who had taken the vaccine. Strangely, I have no lost of taste and smell. Food continues to taste good.

The question is whether a booster is required after natural infection. My view is probably yes, but to be taken at least 5 to 6 months later after the last day of ART positive. 

I am 99% certainty that the virus came from a family member who was also infected. In a home setting, the removal of mask poses a higher risk.

Under current protocol, I am required to isolate myself for 3 days and do a ART again. If negative, I am able to resume my normal activity. If positive, continue with isolation.

What I am worry now is the prevalence of Long Covid among infected patient.

28 Years of Work

 

28 years ago, just fresh from University, I began my working journey. 

After 5 companies  later, I am finally hanging my working shoe.

The shortest I had been with a company was about 3 years and the longest, close to 10 years.

The 28 years duration was a long journey, accompanied with guidance from 贵人 (well knowledge person) and challenges from difficult person(s). The journey has one regret, the lost of 1 life, arising from a safety accident. 

I am looking forward to the next stage of life.

1 Apr 2022 - Causeway Reopens to Private Cars/Motorcycles

 

   1 Apr 2022 Causeway

On 18 Mar 2020, I wrote that it was a historical moment that the Causeway between Singapore and Malaysia was closed due to Covid pandemic. E21S: Historical Moments - Coronavirus COVID 19

On 1 Apr 2022, after more than 2 years of pandemic, the Causeway between Singapore and Malaysia is finally open to land transport (involving private cars and motorcycles). Another historical moments to remember. Possibly once in a lifetime event. The connection allows families to reunite and tourist travel to take place with ease.

Long Live Singapore and Malaysia!

A Pleasant Surprise on an 'Investment'

 

Commodities (including Coffee) on display in Museum of American Finance in NYC

In 1989, when I was a young man serving National Service, I made an investment in commodity trading, via a fellow serviceman. It amounted to SGD$6000.

I was making good progress in the 'investment' and it produced positive profit for a few months. The 'investment' was through high leverage on purchase of coffee commodity mainly. Then out of a sudden, I was informed that the boss of the trading firm ran away and it became clear that the firm and 'investment ' were scam. A report was made with Commercial Affairs Department of SPF. There was no update nor closure from SPF. The episode taught me to be extremely careful with investment. In fact, up till this day, majority of my asset is in cash, which is a low return low risk asset.  I had learnt that preserving the value of an asset is important through avoiding all risky 'investment'. I had totally written off the SGD$6000.

On 14 Mar 2022, some 33 years later, out of the blue, the fellow servicemen came knocking on my door, after loosing contact for a third of a century. It turned out that he had hunted me down since 2006 when he made resolution to repay, out of his own pocket money, those who had trusted him and invested in him. 

It was a pleasant surprise. Looking for a person is not easy, not to mention the determination needed and the personal loss of the money returned.

I was given the sum of SGD$12000. I suppose for him it is a closure of an event that had happened when both of us were young. A proof that a good character goes a long way. 

Thank you!

Pfizer Vaccine

I had my first dose of Pfizer Vaccine in July 2021. The first dose has side effect. On the same night of the injection, there was chest pain. The chest pain was substantially felt for 3 days. After 3 days, the pain began to subside. But it didn't fully go away. In fact, after 3 months, I still feel slight discomfort.

Due to the chest pain, I was in Hospital for observation, had ECG done that showed my heart was pumping normally, as the fear then was whether myocarditis had set in. During my short stay in hospital, I noticed that there were other patients who had the same chest pain. The questions then wer why was this not massively publicized? And why it happened?

The first answer is probably due to the strategy to encourage a large population to be vaccinated. More publicity of negative side effects would lead to fear among people. As to why it happened, I read that mRNA vaccine creates antibodies as a immune response. As part of the properties of these antibodies, they would attack the virus if found. Concurrently, they would also attack healthy cells, thus causing inflammation. This would likely be the reason why chest pain was felt. 

Not everyone who had taken the vaccine have the same side effect as each body is differently built.

Due to the chest pain, I had to visit a cardiologist and had a Stress Test done on my heart. The Stress Test is to assess whether my hear is functioning properly by increasing the heart rate to 143 bpm. Fortunately, it is healthy. I was given my second dose of my Pfizer Vaccine in November, more than 3 months since the first dose. Other than a slight headache and tiredness on the following day post vaccination, there was no major chest pain. 

The endemic approach would mean that vaccination is a solution to reduce the risk of illness and death due to Covid 19. 

Rotring Rapidograph 0.35

Rotring Rapidograph

The Rotring Rapidograph 0.35 technical pen. I just brought this pen in Singapore, but the ink was all dried up. I have purchased the ink cartridge waiting for delivery. I am interested in this pen due to historical reason. Back in 1980s, probably around 1983, I was working in my Father's office, in Kallang Avenue Industrial Centre, when I noticed this strange pen. As a high school student, I was familiar with ball point pen, pencil and marker. But this pen had unique pen nib that was rigid and it was not a fountain pen. At that time, there was no ink in the cartridge and I had pretty bad impression of the pen performing the function of writing due to its rigid nib. The colour was red. 

Only much later that I realised that it was a Rotring pen, meant for technical drawings.

Fast forwarding 38 years, I managed to buy this Rotring pen. Strangely, it had a "W. Germany' engraved on its pen clip. As we know West Germany was unified with East Germany in 1990, hence, I suspect the pen is from 1980s era, which further reminisces my childhood. The cap requires turning in order to assess the pen nib. It is a fine pen. Loving it especially the deep maroon red.

General Anaesthesia

I went for a surgery yesterday under general anaesthesia(GA) to remove a lump on my body rear.

This was not my first GA surgery as I had a pneumothorax and wisdom tooth removal done under GA.

The standard practice under GA is still the same after all these years:- 1) intravenous injection 2) placing a mask over my nose/mouth and 3) inhaling the GA gas (which has a smell now) 4) knocking out in less than 10 seconds.

The unconscious state under GA has no feeling, no recollection, no dreams, no colours, no sense of time, no meaning, no attachments. Nothing. It just allows me to appreciate what death is about which has equivalent emptiness. Applies to pre-birth. 

Body and mind have no meaning. 

A stark reminder that while life matters, death doesn't. Death has no meaning.

Mars Perseverance Landing

Nasa Mars Lander Perseverance is landing in Mars today after flying for about 6.5 months in space. I wish Nasa all success in the landing mission. Also wish orbiter/lander of other countries that have sent their probe to Mars, China and UAE, a great success in their quest for scientific knowledge.

Looking forward for more photos of planet Mars.  It is significant step for mankind.

Game & Watch - Nintendo

 

Game & Watch Super Mario Bros

When I was in Primary School (circa 1978 to 1980), the Game & Watch was a popular digital game. There were Octopus, Parachute, Helmet, Ball games. Subsequently, there was Donkey Kong. Friends had all these digital games as they were from relatively rich background. I did not own these but had the opportunity to borrow and play, thanks to them.

It was not until in December 2020 that I bought a Game & Watch from the USA. This digital game is to celebrate 35th anniversary of the Super Mario game. Other than 2 sets of Super Mario games, it has the game of Ball. It reminds me of my childhood and a time when there is no wifi and no internet. This machine does not connect to the Internet which I think is unique and relates to a time when there is no reliance on internet and no software virus. 👍

The game has a similar colour and feel of the original set (eg size). The screen is however coloured LCD. Battery is internal battery with a USB cable, instead of LR44. 

Loving this retro game!

Astrophysics / Blackholes / Light - Gravity Hypothesis

Recently due to the pandemic, I was watching Youtube videos on Astrophysics.

Blackholes are massive stars that have collapsed towards its end of life. When they collapsed into smaller and smaller size, the gravity of the stars still remain as enormous. There comes a point when the gravity is so greatly concentrated into a small area that light fails to escape, forming blackholes.

However, we know that light can be "bent" or refracted. When light passed through a medium, such as water or glass, the light is refracted. At certain angle when light passes from a denser to a lighter density medium, the light actually bends inward. This phenomenon is called, Total Internal Reflection. Light is not refracted out of the medium

We also know that light can be "bent" when it passed through an object with huge gravitational pull, such as the Sun. Light from distance stars has been observed to be bent by the gravity of the Sun.

Without any evidence or mathematical derivation, I would like to hypothesize that because of the great gravity in a blackhole, the light from the star is being "refracted" internally or inwards, such that no light can be seen from a blackhole. It is not the current belief that light cannot escape from the gravity. But light is being reflected due to gravity, similar to the observation in Total Internal Reflection.

This is just my hypothesis. Blackholes being very far away, I will have challenges in proving such a theory. Perhaps it will take more than a hundred years to determine if it is true. Of course, the hypothesis could be wrong and there are other reasons why light cannot 'escape' in a blackhole. 

Hypothesized in August 2020. 

Historical Moments - Coronavirus COVID 19

18 March 2020 - Morning 8am, Causeway Bridge between Singapore and Malaysia
First time in history since World War 2; there was so little traffic on Wednesday, a working day in Singapore. Any conventional working day would have seen long line of cars waiting to clear custom. This is because Malaysia has due to growing health concern on Coronavirus restricted all Malaysian from travelling abroad, including by land to Singapore. This is a historical moment.

On the same night, the DOW Index has dropped below 20,000 points from a high of more than 29,000 just a few weeks ago.

It just reminded me of a game I had played when I was boy. The mouse was eaten by the cat and the dog, the tiger and eventually by the lion. The lion was killed by the stampede of the elephant. But the elephant could be destroyed by the mouse. Similarly, humans are almost invincible but vulnerable to an invisible virus so small that we can't see.

A gentle reminder to regularly wash hand with soap and reduce the times that your hand and fingers touching the face. Basic hygiene that could save us from infection.

Star Wars - The Rise of Skywalker

Watched the film recently. This is the 10th (including Rouge One) films I've watched in s cinema since the first film in 1976. Some comments:-

1) Jedi can revive the dead. First time seen in Star Wars Series. If this can be done, the many Jedi purged during Order 66 would have been revived.

2) Zorii Bliss looks like a female Power Ranger.

3) Kyle Ren black Tie Fighter is very cool.

4) Incredible to see Han Solo, Leia, Luke Skywalker, C3PO, R2D2, Chewbacca and Lando again. All these characters are from the first trilogy. The major characters not present are Darth Vader and Obi Wan.

5) Awesome to see the X-wing fighter of Luke Skywalker.

6) A powerful Sith Lord like Palpatine, made the same mistake twice. First in Star Wars Return of the Jedi, where he used the trick of getting Luke Skywalker close to him and showed to Luke the failure of the rebellion attack plan, but was subsequently 'killed' by Darth Vader. Second in Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker where he tricked Rey close to him and used the same method of showing Rey the failure of Resistance fleet against the many Star Destroyers, but again was vapourised by Rey's Lightsaber. How could a master Sith Lord make the same mistake?

7) The storyline of how they make the death of Leia coincide with the death of Carrie Fisher in real life is nice and appropriate. Fantastic to see her shed tears in this last movie of hers.

8) Darth Vader was so much better in creating fear to audience than the old Palpatine.

9) Amazed by how things and bodies can be teleported a distance apart. Fight between Rey and Kyle Ren located at 2 different places mean that one person can teleport to another location to carry out assassination.

Solar Eclipse 26 December 2019

Solar Eclipse (technically called Annular Solar Eclipse) happened today at about 1:23pm, Singapore time. The moon covered the sun starting from midday. There was significant darkening of the sky.

The next annular solar eclipse in Singapore would have happened in 2063 (44 years later). I would have been 6 ft under earth.

Photos were taken by my youngest daughter, using a mobile phone camera.

Lee Iacocca Dies

Mr Lee Iacocca passed away on 2 Jul 2019 at the age of 94. I used to read his book Iacocca An Autobiography back in the late 1980s. He has given insight to readers of his formidable tenacity to manage a troubled car company, Chrysler and successfully brought it back to life.

Rest in peace.

SGD $2 Million

Back in 20 March 2015, I wrote that I had achieved a SGD 1 million status.

https://e21s.blogspot.com/2015/03/sgd-1-million.html

4 years on, I am pleased to say that I have achieved a SGD 2 million in financial assets, excluding property value, central provident fund (CPF) and monies in insurance.

This is achieved through hardwork, investments, savings and inheritance.

In Singapore context, the quantum is still a small sum. Considering that a decent private landed house cost more than SGD 2 million.

Founding of Singapore - 200 Years

Sir Stamford Raffles arrived on the island of Singapore on 28 January 1819. Back in 1819, Singapore has an indigenous population of about 150 people.

Today is the 200th anniversary of Raffles arrival. Our population has grown to about 6 million people, crowded onto a small island. Raffles had set up a trading post in Singapore which allowed it to prosper given its strategic location between Europe, India and China, Japan. This is despite an absence of natural resources.

Dubai Skyscrapers Part 2

Dubai Creek Tower model at Dubai Mall

Not only is the Burj Khalifa not tall enough at 830m, the UAE is building another structure which is 1.2 to 1.3 km tall. It is known as the Dubai Creek Tower. The tower as shown in the photo above is a slender structure with cable like supports. It looks like a tall rocket that is about to blast off to space. Around the centre of this tower lies observatory decks.

Obviously, it doesn't come cheap. This is another project to showcase Arabs wealth.

While it is another engineering feat making the engineers laughing to the banks, it doesn't makes economical sense. The monies could be spent on research that could make human lives better, reduce the number of hunger death, reduce pollution, reduce climate impact, lower risk of terrorism, improve cultural appreciation etc.

It just reminds me of the Tower of Babel mentioned in the Book of Genesis of the Old Testament.

Dubai Skyscrapers

The quantity of skyscrapers in Dubai is amazing. There are so many construction works on-going in the city that one wonders whether there are real buyers to these real estate. They are building condos, hotels, malls and offices everywhere along the main spine (where the metro lies).

While there are attempts to go Green through the use of solar panels, this cannot be said for design of infrastructure, eg the volume of chilled water required for cooling space is tremendous. The volume of water needed to make the landscape looks green is huge. Otherwise it will just be desert sand. Dubai uses desalination techniques to extract water from the sea. Without energy (from petrol or gas), the malls, offices will not work. But there is a certain lifespan for energy even though it is available cheaply in this region. There seems to be an emphasis on extravagant, from artificial pool (in a desert), creek, reclamation from desert sand and massive tall buildings

Dubai is traditionally a trading hub. One can see in its Gold Souk and the spice trades. But trading should not give supernormal profits. While I understand that the government of UAE is trying their best to diversify to non-oil industry, there must be development in pace of demand. Expats will simply leave in times of economic crisis.

What I like about Dubai is the availability of cheap petrol and relatively cheap car prices. Eg Mitsubishi Attrage is about 36000 Dirham. There is 5% value added tax. Food prices are comparable to Singapore prices. Winter climate is fantastic.

Dubai Architecture

Other than the skyscrapers, Dubai traditional looking buildings do have certain architectural identity such as the cantilever protruded feature , the curve opening with Islamic details and the circular roof. These traditional design looks good on modern buildings and is unique to this region. I also notice that many buildings have limited opening/windows due to the possibility of sand storm. This impedes natural ventilation but nowadays they are cooled by air-conditioning.

Dubai Food

In the 5 days in Dubai, I have not eaten sufficient local dishes to give a conclusive comment on the food. But I notice that Dubai has a variety of food, mainly focusing on Arabs, Indians and Western dishes.  These are the food I have eaten and some little comments:-

Wimpy at Naif Street - This is the best street food I have eaten. It is simple Kebab which cost just 5 Dirham. The melon juice cost 10 Dirham which was one of the best melon juice I had. I believe the restaurant may have added milk into the juice. Simple and tasty meal near the Gold Souk. I would recommend it.

Indian Food - The first photo below shows Chicken Briyani. It was prepared with spices and yoghurt. It was well prepared and the chicken is tender and tasty. The food was purchased and served to us.  The second photo shows food taken from an Indian restaurant. It was beautifully prepared and tasty. It was of course expensive.

Iranian Food - The restaurant was recommended by a youtuber. There were many photos of celebrities and even royalties who had visited the restaurant. I had mutton kebab as shown which cost 32 Dirham. The food was a bit dry despite of the yoghurt which tasted too sour for my liking. Somehow, I thought there would be better dishes which I could order.

Kebab Fast-food in Dubai Mall - I guessed this was a Turkish kebab (but could be wrong). It cost me 23 Dirham. The accompanied sauce was good but there was no vegetables. They gave 3 dough which I could not finish.