Singapore got wildlife, meh?

It's a question that anyone involved in nature outreach in Singapore is bound to encounter someday. Yes, despite this country being a small island that has undergone lots of development, lots of wildlife still survives or even thrives in Singapore! If you've ever pondered this question yourself, here's a video that was first screened at last year's Festival of Biodiversity.

Pulau Ubin: Explanation, and Final Remarks

A house at Kampung Melayu, Pulau Ubin;
(Photo from TODAY)

After the kerfuffle over the last few days, with lots of voices of indignation and outrage being expressed on many different platforms, and even an online petition, there's finally a clarification about what was thought to be plans to evict some of the residents on Pulau Ubin.

I am glad that there is finally some explanation, and even happier that it was not the worst-case scenario that many of us had feared. Still, in light of all this information, there are some points to be made.

Should we care about Pulau Ubin? Seeking views and comments

One of the houses at Kampung Melayu, Pulau Ubin;
(Photo by Pod Boy)

Yesterday's post on the planned eviction of some of the residents on Pulau Ubin received a lot of attention. I haven't been able to keep track of what others are saying about the whole matter, especially on Facebook and various online forums, but I'm glad to see that a number of people care about what happens to Pulau Ubin.

Eviction of residents at Kampung Melayu, Pulau Ubin: What's happening?

Kampung Melayu, Pulau Ubin;
(Photo by Ria)

Pulau Ubin is often described as the last remnant of a Singapore that has all but vanished everywhere else, a place bypassed by the decades that feels as it must have done in colonial times.

Of course, this is largely a myth: the Ubin I now visit on a frequent basis is quite different from the Ubin I visited as a child in the 1990s. Change is constantly taking place on Ubin, even if we're not always immediately aware of it; familiar faces vanish, buildings change hands and exterior decor, and trees fall as a result of both storm and chainsaw.

But sometimes, there are signs of even greater upheaval lying in wait, hints of policies that some fear will destroy or irrevocably alter the Ubin that so many of us have grown to love and appreciate.

Hello from Singapore! (@HellofrmSG)

If you've been spending time on Twitter lately, you might have seen the rise of a new phenomenon known as rotation curation, in which a Twitter account sees a change in the person tweeting (or the curator) on a regular basis (usually weekly).

A word of thanks

I'm really pleased to see the support that Monday Morgue has received from many people, especially in the Singapore Blog Awards 2012. Although I did not have high hopes at first, I'm now able to count myself as one of the top three currently leading in votes for my category.

Earthkeepers 101

Timberland Singapore is organising a blogging contest, in conjunction with their upcoming involvement in Rhythm with Nature as the Official Apparel Sponsor.


(Click to enlarge)

The fun of Storify

On 23rd May, I attended U@live Louis Ng: Speaking Up for the Voiceless. Featuring Louis Ng, Founder and Executive Director of the Animal Concerns Research & Education Society (ACRES), it was an interesting insight into the motivations and personal journey of one of Singapore's foremost champions of animal welfare.

Catching up with the Festival of Biodiversity

If you missed the Festival of Biodiversity, you can get a glimpse of the fun and festivities through the many blog posts and photo albums that have been uploaded so far. Jocelyne has helpfully compiled them all over here on the Festival of Biodiversity blog.

Storify is turning out to be an excellent tool to collate information from many different online platforms, and Gladys and I worked together to create this Storify of the entire Festival of Biodiversity:

Vote Monday Morgue!

Me in my element: Guiding as a volunteer with the Raffles Museum Toddycats!.
(Photo by Boh Zuze)

It's been such a fun and fulfilling weekend at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, sharing interesting stories about Singapore's wildlife and wild places with members of the public. And I'm really pleased that my talk about the importance of documenting dead animals was very well-received. I'll write about my weekend soon enough, but now that the fun and festivities from the Festival of Biodiversity are over, it's time for Monday Morgue to focus on another significant event: the Singapore Blog Awards. If you recall, I'm currently a finalist in the Sold.sg Best What-the-Hell Blog category.

Voting opened on Monday, and everyone can cast one vote per category every day until 30th June. I hope that I'll be able get more support, not just from friends who are familiar with this blog, but also with new readers. A big thanks to Crystal and Jerome, who are finalists in other categories, and who have shown their support for Monday Morgue!

In the meantime, while I prepare a nice blog post to show you all about what happened at the Festival of Biodiversity, here's a short interview for the Singapore Blog Awards:

Yet more shameless self-promotion

Monday Morgue is a finalist in the Singapore Blog Awards 2012!

Yes, my spin-off from this blog is currently a contender in the Sold.SG Best What-the-Hell Blog category:


(No offence intended to fellow finalists in the same category)

First time playing with Storify

Earlier this week, I attended the U@live session featuring Professor Leo Tan. As usual, I live-tweeted the event, and decided to use Storify as a medium to curate and organise my tweets. The result is this.