Living Nerdy in Sydney

Oasis of the Seas Cruising in Asia Pacific and want to avoid the crowds, and avoid holiday pricing? Here's a helpful list of local public holidays and school holidays. Note that Hong Kong and China doesn't have a fixed school holiday schedule, but the approximation is when most school let their kids off. Hope this helps! Sydney, Australia Singapore Hong Kong China 4-Jan School Holidays Late Dec- 27 Jan 11-Jan 18-Jan 25-Jan School Holidays 1-Feb 8-Feb Chinese New Year 8 Feb - 9 Feb Chinese New Year  8 Feb - 10 Feb Chinese New Year 8 Feb - 13 Feb 15-Feb School Holidays 22-Feb 29-Feb 7-Mar School Holidays 12 Mar - 20 Mar 14-Mar 21-Mar Easter 25 Mar - 28 Mar Gd Friday 25 Mar School Holidays 28-Mar 4-Apr School Holidays 9 Apr - 25 Apr Ch

Source: catchthefire.com & AsiaOne  The haze has been a very big inconvenience in a health hazard particularly to do young, old and the sick. However, if faced with the very confronting question where would you rather be, in the haze all in the fire, I'm sure most would agree that being in the haze is much better. Living in Australia has made me realise the real perils of bushfire. In a bushfire one not only face the threat of smoke inhalation, but also the potential of losing your home, your family and even your life. On Black Saturday 2009, we saw the over 400 fires engulfed multiple towns killing 173 and injuring hundreds more. Whole families were found dead in their cars trying to flee the fire. Their cars no match for the speed the winds were spreading the flames. Out in open country, the fire service is largely voluntary. Water sources may even dry up in mid summer. Fire is indeed frightening. What causes forest and bush fires? There are many natural and

I love day dreaming. It brings me to the land of hypotheticals and fantasy. In the land of day dreams, nothing is impossible. (Source: Leadership Speak Freak) Here is me day dreaming about elections in Singapore. Mind you, I'm not accusing anyone or forcing on an idea, or even bad mouthing anyone. I don’t support any political party or promote one over another. It’s all a just me in a day dream… 1.       What if… the voting age was 18 instead of 21? After all, we expect our 18 year olds to be willing to be mandatorily conscripted and even face death if there was an armed conflict. 2.       What if… 20 years ago, PAP’s LKY faced a one-on-one battle with then SDP’s Chiam See Tong at Potong Pasir? 3.       What if… there was no defamation laws in Singapore? 4.       What if… Dr Chee Soon Juan became a MP in the 1992 elections? 5.       What if… we really understood how Town Councils and HDB are related, funded and managed? 6.       What if… there w

Is winning one or two Single Member Constituency (SMC) or even one Group Representation a Constituency a big deal? Picture Credit: Article 14 Till today the most ever a non-People's Action Party (PAP) has ever won is 1 SMC and 1 GRC. This translates to 6 seats or 6 seats for one opposition party and 1 for another non-coalition opposition party. In terms of it being a big deal in power, no it really isn't. Winning 59% of overall votes is a reflection of general opinion. However, what really gets you power is winning the majority of seats. If a party wins 51% of every seat contested, they get 100% of seats. The Singapore government is made up of  89 seats. The party with at least 45 seats will form government. Losing 6 seats isn't is a big deal as the government will have more than adequate number of votes even if a few members are away on other official duties. There is almost no way for a single opposition party with 5 of 89 seats to pass a bill if the govern