In conversation with Mother Nature

This is a new piece that I have created. It is untitled and not in my Exhibition.

In conversation with Mother Nature

We used to be very close to Nature, living off Nature and walking with Nature. Those were the days when people were living on landed properties, be they attap houses, zinc roof wooden huts or simply some mixed mesh of structure to provide shelter, and spent the days in the field, in the sea, farming for a living. The animals, pigs, goats, fowls, cats and dogs lived in close proximity with human beans, sharing the same common space.

In a highly urbanised lifestyle, it is not surprising that many children today did not know what a chicken or duck looks like. Their lives circulate from one concrete building to the next and revolve around modern gadgetry. The only chicken or animal they know are in small pieces on the dinner table. The closest they get to Nature is likely to be a walk in the rain.

I have been in conversation with Nature daily, in a way, through my art. My 7000 pieces of raw images of simply water taken with my camera will keep me busy for years trying to figure out what Nature has imprinted in them. Daily I will work on a few pieces, reviewing and manipulating them for an insight into the thoughts of Nature. Every frame of digital image that looks innocently bland and boring contains a hidden image or message, or many images and messages that are waiting to reveal themselves. Every picture or photopainting that surfaced is the end result of hours of negotiating with Mother Nature, attempting to understand what Mother Nature wants to show to the human world.

I spend many hours daily working with Mother Nature and talking to her, through her works that are deceptively concealed in the unassuming form of reflection and refraction in a pool of water. Sometimes I wonder if it is real, that Mother Nature could be behind all the photopaintings that came forth like a magician and his doves or pulling a rabbit from a hat. Sometimes I wonder if what I finally put into print is the ultimate image that Nature wanted. Sometimes I wonder if there is a message, a hidden message of some kind that Nature wanted to tell us.

Everytime I attempt to look at another perspective, a totally new concept and picture could appear that is entirely different in nature from my earlier interpretation. It is like trying to discover a mystery, to understand Mother Nature through her paintings. Through my photopaintings, Mother Nature is like being there with me, occasionally tipping me off with a little exciting shades and shapes that would lead to more fascinating ways of looking at something so common and unemotional, a reflection or refraction of nothing but light in water. This is going to be a long conversation with Mother Nature and is like an unending journey, as I have only taken my first step, a tip toe, into this wonderland of paintings out of thin air, or simply water.

 

Catching spiders, flying kites and PSLE

While many oldies reminisce daily about the good old days of catching spiders, flying kites and 5 stones, as if these were the greatest things to happen in their lives, and wanting the young of today to share their wonderful amusements of the past, do the young really appreciate or want to appreciate these primitive distractions of days of poverty? Would they care a dime or want to spend a second to ponder what the excitement was about?

What is really in their mind, what is really exciting to them is beyond the grips of the oldies. Their fantasies and passions today are things that were out of this world in the times of the babyboomers, unheard of then and still alien to many of them today. In their lips, in their sleeps, it is things like BoA, EXO K and M, TVXQ, and Shinee. Now what’s that? Not a clue.

These are the young sensations from Korea, the K pop generations. They are in town to perform live at the floating platform in Marina Bay. The young have been queuing 2 fortnights in advance for a front row seat costing many times more than a kite.

These young performers are earning real good money that comes with fame and a big following of fans. They are celebrities in their own right while in their 20s and could be making more money than our scholars. Who cares about PSLE? What is PSLE? Not that they did badly in their school days, but PSLE is almost irrelevant in their success.

Our young are only there to be spectators to their success, to pay to watch them, probably because of PSLE. They have no time, no passion for anything except PSLE while these entertainers are having a ball of a time, travelling the world, wowing their little innocent fans that probably have a few sheets of model answer papers in their bags while at the concert. And in their spare time the Sinkie young were enticed to visit the museums to admire the good old days of their parents, how great a time they had with little beads of seeds, match boxes to hold spiders, catapults, and what primitive little toys.

Why are our young so imprisoned in a small and uncreative world of books and PSLE and ancient toys and not aspiring to be world beaters on their own, to be provocatively creative and exploring the new frontiers like Gangnam or K Pops? If the young Koreans can do it and be such an international success without PSLE, why the obsession for that piece of paper as the end all of living happily and having a good time?

Would our little ones be inspired to new challenges and not be bounded or trapped by the PSLE forever, and complaining about stress that is not worth it? I would suggest that all the parents bring their young to the Marina Bay and see a different facet of life, of living life, of creating something new beyond old mindsets and be emancipated, and to set their young free on a course of discovery and finding new meaning in life.

China's "Positive Influence" on ASEAN growth

China becomes 'positive influence' on ASEAN growth

Updated: 2012-11-06 17:59

( Xinhua)

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VIENTIANE -- With its inevitable rise, China has become a "positive influence" on the economic growth and cooperation of its neighbors in Southeast Asia, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Tuesday.
The PM made the remark with a group of foreign correspondents on the sideline of the Ninth Asia-Europe Meeting Summit in the Lao capital Vientiane.
He urged ASEAN countries to actively engage with China. "With its inevitable rise, China can be a positive influence in terms of economic development particularly in this part of world."
As a major global player, China has been providing impetus to the economic development of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the bloc's members like Laos is getting a lot of injection of Chinese capital for developing the region's hotspots like the Mekong area, said Najib.
"If you look to this part of the world, they see China as a strong and benign economic force."
As for China's role in facilitating Europe's economic recovery, Najib, who once served as Malaysia's Minister of Finance, said European countries hope that China could rebalance its economy, put less emphasis on export but on boosting domestic demand.
The two-day event, the ASEM Summit, the biggest international conference the country has ever hosted, gathers heads of state, government as well as ministerial officials from its 51 members. Global economy and financial situation top the meeting's agenda.
Within the frameworks of ASEAN, ASEAN+1, ASEAN+3, ASEAN Summit, among others, said Najib, there is enough "collective will" to ensure that ASEAN and China could work in a very cooperative way.

Emergence of alternative elite

When a storm is brewing, the little creatures will stir, be they in the sea or on land. They are able to sense the coming of a major climatic change. They are more sensitive than any human made instrument or gadget to detect weather or geological phenomena. A political storm is in the making that will bring about great changes in our national landscape. Some have sensed it coming and have started to rise from their slumber.

The last GE saw the surfacing of many new faces that are professionals in their own right, very credible people, to stand for election as an alternative to the present govt. We are now seeing a continuation of this movement, with more elites standing up to offer alternative views that are equally cogent and coherent and sound. This group comprises mainly the ex civil servants or ex establishment. The latest candidate is in Yeoh Lam Keong, the ex Chief Economist in GIC. He has joined the ranks of Lim Chong Yah, Tommy Koh and Ngiam Tong Dow. The earlier batch of ex’s is already in the political parties, the likes of Tony Tan, Hazel Poa, Benjamin Pwee, Tan Jee Say and Tan Kin Lian.

It is still a trickle and it may not be long before the tap flows at its full capacity. Every notable that stepped forward will be an inspiration for more to follow. They will also beat a path for their peers, friends and fans to walk through.

There were criticisms that many of the ex’s have come out too late, that they should have done so earlier, or said what they are saying now when they were in the establishment. This may be a bit unfair as the situation has changed in the last decade or so. The ruling govt was the darling of the people in the past when the ex’s were in service. The ex’s must have contributed the good stuff and the failing fortune of the ruling party today must be due to the absence of the ex’s in some way.

I have noticed another development, still in its infancy. Some elites in the establishment are appearing to be wavering or feeling uneasy. They are not making their feelings felt too noticeable yet but are starting to question the wisdom of the establishment in a polite way. Some are starting to acknowledge alternative views as sound and reasonable. Maybe they are waiting for the flow and will go with the flow when it changes course.

A more dramatic change will come when the old oak tree falls. That could mark the real change to come when some in political office would stand up to be different, to want to be their own men and women, with a viewpoint of their own that have been suppressed in the name of conformity and party. When this happens, it will be the culmination of all the little changes that have been taking place, to start a new chapter in our political history.

The trickle has started. A tornado can have its origin in the flutter of a butterfly in the Pacific Ocean.

Powdered coffee 'creamer' isn't food, it's processed chemicals

May 6, 2012
(NaturalNews) Every day, millions of Americans add powdered coffee "creamer" products to their morning cups of joe because they falsely believe that these substances are somehow healthier than real cream. But little do they know that most coffee creamer products contain no actual cream,
or food for that matter, as they are really nothing more than a crafty blend of toxic chemicals.

When powdered coffee creamers first came onto the scene back in the 1950s, they actually contained real dehydrated cream and sugar, which made them a convenient, non-perishable source of cream
for coffee. Over time, however, manufacturers began to phase out the cream, and replace it with
things like processed vegetables oils, stabilizers, chemical sweeteners, and other additives that
were less expensive and that more easily dissolved in coffee.

Today, the average canister of so-called "creamer" substitute contains not a trace of actual food,
at least not food in the technical sense of the word. Take the Coffee-Mate brand of coffee creamer,
for instance. The original powder flavor contains corn syrup solids, hydrogenated vegetable oils,
and a handful of stabilizing, emulsifying, and flavoring chemicals (http://www.coffee-mate.com).

Not only is there no "cream" of any kind in Coffee-Mate's Original Powder, but there are also no
natural food ingredients whatsoever. This is why some countries actually require that powdered
coffee additives be called "whiteners" rather than "creamers," since they do not actually contain
any real cream.

Corn syrup solids and hydrogenated oils are highly-toxic 'non-foods'

Though both are derived from real food, corn syrup solids and hydrogenated oils are not technically foods themselves. To produce corn syrup solids, corn kernels are first transformed into corn starch, which is then chemically treated with hydrochloric acid, a highly-corrosive, industrial chemical solution that is also used to make plastic materials. The resulting liquid goo is then processed again and dried to form dried crystals -- delicious, eh?

And hydrogenated oils are produced using a similar chemical process that involves subjecting already heated, pressurized, and highly processed oils to various chemical catalysts and metals such as nickel and platinum that change its density and molecular structure. The final product is the definition of a trans-fat, which are linked to causing heart disease and death (http://www.naturalnews.com/027445_fat_fats_trans.html).

Then, there are ingredients like sodium caseinate, a milk derivative; mono- and diglycerides;
sodium aluminosilicate; and artificial flavor, all of which are non-foods as well. Sodium caseinate,
for instance, is derived from a milk protein known as casein using a chemical extrusion process.
The chemical alteration is so significant that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not even consider the final product to be a dairy product.

And sodium aluminosilicate is an anti-caking, flow agent chemical additive produced specifically for use in processed food items, laundry detergents, and other dry, powdered products. Like its name implies, sodium aluminosilicate contains toxic aluminum, which is linked to organ and tissue damage, bone disorders, gastrointestinal problems, Alzheimer's disease, cell damage, and other problems (http://www.angelfire.com).

If dairy is problematic for your dietary needs but you still want to add creamer to your coffee,
it is important to always read ingredient labels and carefully avoid all powdered creamer products
that contain artificial ingredients.

Some great non-dairy alternatives to conventional creamer products include liquid coconut creamers like those made by So Delicious (http://www.sodeliciousdairyfree.com), for instance. Fresh coconut cream or milk (http://www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com) and homemade almond milk (http://georgiapellegrini.com/2012/03/07/recipes/homemade-almond-milk/), are several other useful options as well.

Sources for this article include:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-dairy_creamer
http://www.naturalnews.com/z035784_coffee_creamer_hydrogenated_oils_HFCS.html