WORMROT 🇸🇬 - singapurska machina do rozpierdalania mózgów! Widziałem ich na żywo i to jest coś, czego się nie zapomina! Ściana miażdżącego grindcore'a na światowym poziomie!
One of my more successful attempts at taking mid-air shots of a male White-cheeked Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa aestuans) at Bukit Gombak Park, Singapore, on 14 Oct 2023. It was patrolling its territory and would return to hover at the same area, so it was a matter of pre-focusing on a spot and hope for the best. These turned out okay.
"Tourists to Japan from Singapore and seven other Asian countries will soon find it easier to pay for their purchases using their local QR code wallets under a new joint payment scheme.
[...]
The countries are Singapore (SGQR), Malaysia (DuitNow QR), Indonesia (QRIS), the Philippines (QRPh), Thailand (Thai QR Payment), Cambodia (KHQR), Vietnam (VietQR) and India (BharatQR)."
One of the saddest things about leaving Singapore for the U.S. is, not only does McDonalds suck they also don’t have curry sauce. Which makes it impossible for me to eat nuggets
🧵 A flurry of execution notices have been issued these past few weeks. It is of course horrific every time a notice is delivered to a death row prisoner and their family, but what’s especially troubling in these cases is that all these prisoners are currently party to a joint application to the court, filed even before the first execution notice was issued.
"JOHOR BAHRU: Under a pilot initiative launching in June, Malaysians travelling to Singapore on factory buses will be able to clear immigration through QR codes at both of Johor’s land checkpoints."
I was added to a 400 person queer women in Singapore group chat; a fair number of people on there were my exes; many more had dated or were dating my exes; 3 people offered to bring me sambal and spices when they visit San Francisco next; and I got an offer to help me publish a photo zine. The rest of them were younger people I never met.
All within the first 12 hours! (Of course, I was added by someone whose heart I unfortunately broke, during my fuckboi era)
A Chocolate Pansy (Junonia hedonia) spotted at one-north Park: Fusionpolis South, Singapore, on 29 Sept 2023. One of the most common butterflies locally but usually skittish, so getting shots is not so easy.
One of my very good friends is researching #internet#freedoms in #singapore and elaborated this survey for expat content creators in the country. She would really appreciate it if it reached the niche target it focuses on. @academicchatter @academicsunite
A few brave Singaporeans unfurled this banner between the towers of Marina Bay Sands, in a country where any public protest is illegal without prior approval and approved protests are only allowed at one park (and the authorities already said all registered protest applications relating to Gaza will be denied)
If they were foreigners they would almost certainly be deported. As citizens they’ll definitely see some legal action
Speaking of recent restaurant growth in Singapore, I just looked at a tiny sliver of the downtown area and there is now: a Slavic restaurant (Kapitan), Colombia (Bacatá), Peruvian (Araya), S African (Tamba), Irish (?? Tilly's), vegetarian omakase (Ki Su)
And thousands of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai restaurants, on top of the tens of thousands of Singaporean / Malaysian / Indian restaurants and stalls. ;/
I just really miss that density and variety for food
I always look forward to going back to Singapore to eat because, other than the 'street' food, the mid and fine dining scene has really exploded in the past couple of years.
For example, a Tamil take on 'omakase', a restaurant called AMMAKASE
A sliver of old Singapura survives at the eastern end of West Coast Park off a now largely sandless Pasir Panjang. Here, the survivors of an extinct archipelago gather their wits and wounds to claim a tiny fraction of the space they once roamed, a weekend refuge from which they can launch their bodies from the confines of the mainland into channels, reefs, fairways and shoals that are mapped into their minds and forever buried in their hearts.
Cafe Monochrome, with a 2D illustration style that looks great & surprising when stepping in. The whole cafe is covered in white with black lines made to look like a sketch. 3D objects such as furniture & lamps are also flattened. Edges of objects are covered with lines that makes them blend into the illusion.
Pretty cool experience.
A Mantis Shrimp (order Stomatopoda) spotted in an aquarium at the seafood restaurant at Kuala Sepetang, Perak, Malaysia on 28 March 2024. Fascinating looking creature.
From 2010 to 2017, there was a thing called #AseanCitizen that we Aseans started as a grassroots movement. We were all bloggers from across, well, #ASEAN or South-East Asia.
Some of us joined together to produce one of the best multi-authored regional blogs. We talked about our cultures, write about what makes the region awesome. As well as, try to address the oftentimes silly and sometimes heated debates.
It's all gone now. Forgotten. The blogs dead or offline. We all grew up, got busy with our personal lives, and moved on separately. And the important reason? We lost interest in it as we started to see ASEAN was, is, and will never be for the grassroots.
That was the end of what was once a vibrant grassroot ASEAN Citizens effort. We did it all voluntarily. Without a single recognition from the top-down organisation that is ASEAN.
But today? ASEAN is still a top-down organisation. They kept trying to get the grassroots involved, but they are always failing. Why? Because it is a top-down organisation, as simple as that. They will never understand until they shift their mindset and approach to bottom-up.
(P.S I want to restart this grassroots movement, but I just no longer have the spark. Give me a very good reason why I should give it another chance. Or, at least, guide the new generation.)
@ubi Haha, true! It is 99% impossible to get ASEANs to use the fediverse. We can forget the fediverse, just Threads itself is being ignored even though Instagram is very popular in the region.
It's only Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Plurk, in that particular order. ^_^
The reasons for this are (at least based from experience and observation):
Family connections.
Fandoms + official accounts of their idols
Government accounts.
I am hoping that Threads can make fandoms and those official accounts to create Threads with Fediverse. Theoretically, it can be helpful in getting a huge chunk to move to the Fediverse
(Unfortunately, there is an anti-fandom vocal minority in the Fediverse, who's trying to gatekeep the network. /facepalm)
Another one that's good are government accounts with fediverse enabled.
But, until those happen, those 5 SNS platforms will remain.
As for language, except for the #Philippines and #Singapore, English is not an official language in the 8 member Nations (even though English is the official language of the organisation itself). Many can speak English, but it's more natural for them to speak in their local languages.
There are ASEANs in the fediverse network, but in the grand scheme of things… we're still few and a minority.
I learned lots of things from this video about Katong laksa. My fave stall is the Janggut laksa people also featured in it. They do have a very distinct rempah (spice mix)
If you’ve missed Academia.SG ‘s junior scholar seminar w/ Joshua Tan & Wayne Soon on the roles of the CIA, exiled Chinese intellectuals & the People’s Action Party behind 🇸🇬’s Nanyang University, often thought of as a leftist bastion, watch it here!