Critical Inquiry

While the Samsung Galaxy S2 is still out of stock in many places, I have managed to secure a set thanks to a prior indication of interest I registered with Starhub. For once, I am happy with the Starhub customer service for the set will be delivered to my home at a day/time of my choice. Doing a re-contract of the phone and a trade-in of my current smartphone, the Galaxy S2 will be costing me around SGD300 plus. This will be one of my most expensive phone purchases ever as I have typically kept my phones to be below SGD200 and frequently tap the 2nd hand phone market while changing phones. While there had been long queues at Apple stores for the iPhone, there has not been such visible and high profile occurences for the Galaxy 2. However, that is not to say that the Galaxy S2 is any less popular for, based on on forum rumours, stocks that are made available in the stores are snapped up swiftly and people are going around in vain hunting for this latest desirable gadget in M1Shop, S

Finding places to visit in Singapore is always difficult for the island is small and there are limited options for those of us whom stay here permanently. When looking for options recently, I visited both the Singapore Zoological Gardens and Jurong Bird Park (JBP) on different days and refreshed my experience with our local tourist attractions after decades. A quick assessment of the 2 will be that make the Zoo a first option and the Jurong Bird Park a lower priority visit. The entrance fee for the Singapore Zoo and Jurong Bird Park is comparable but the experience of the visits is vastly different. Singapore Zoo is a top option because of the scale of the reserve. I spent almost a full day there but did not manage to cover the entire park. There are also very family friendly facilities there and a huge area for kids play in wet or dry playgrounds. The animals are put in extremely beautiful enclosures that replicate their natural habitats and moving around the park is relatively co

For many Singaporeans, when rain falls, the instinctive response was to do a mental check if the laundy hanging out to dry for the day had been retrieved. However, in recent years, the immediate response has started shifting to wondering if there is any flooding occuring. The most serious case of flooding in Singapore occured in Orchard Road in 2010 when the cross junction at Orchard ION and Wheelock Place became totally impassable and the basement levels of surrounding malls got inundated. The Tessarina in Bukit Timah also made headlines with its basement carpark severely flooded and residents' cars becoming write offs. The Minister for Environment, Yaacob Ibrahim, then called the event a "freak" event that occurs once in 50 years but yet more flooding occurred after that though not in Orchard Road, leading many to comment that many 50 years have gone by. Fast forward to 2011, and flooding occured again today near Orchard Road with "waterfalls" being expe

Joanne Peh and Nando's got into the spotlight after she supposedly stormed out of its Tanglin Mall outlet complaining of bad service. The incident apparently started from Nando's not serving water and that S$3.90 was to be charged for a cup of warm water. Yet, the unhappiness according to Joanne Peh is not about paying for the water but more of the restaurant staff collectively clapping when she left the restaurant. I have eaten at Nando's before and went ahead to order a beverage when water was not served. It is not hard to appreciate the business model of Nando's whereby some of the main courses do get quite spicy and waiters may have to keep refilling glasses for customers whom cannot take the heat. While Nando's is rather well reviewed, I personally found the chicken a little on the dry side but still like the seasoning for the extra kick. Personal palate aside, I cannot see the reasoning behind making a big fuss out of small change for the drink when the