"LaoKokKok" 47-year-old man Wins Best Blog!

Source: News report and photo from Straits Times, 16th September 2009

Mr Chris Yew Weng Heng's blog at timesofmylife.wordpress.com won him the accolade of Singapore's best individual blog at the Singapore Blog Awards 2009

THIS nostalgia-themed blog is a favourite read of heritage buffs.

Writing under the online moniker of LaoKokKok (informal Hokkien phrase for old and crusty), Mr Chris Yew Weng Heng delves into the history of old buildings and streets of Singapore, records practices of yesteryear, or puts up pictures of items most people would have long thrown out on his blog.

His blog at timesofmylife.wordpress.com won the 47-year-old the accolade of Singapore's best individual blog at the Singapore Blog Awards 2009 on Wednesday night.

He was the oldest blogger to win as well, out of more than 1,500 entries in 10 categories received.

The awards, in its second year, were handed out by Singapore Press Holdings' bilingual youth portal omy.sg.

When he went on stage to receive his trophy, he received the loudest applause from the crowd, including a standing ovation from people of his generation, such as SPH's chief executive Alan Chan and Cultural Medallion winner artist Tan Swie Hian.

Foreign Minister George Yeo was the guest-of-honour at the event.

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Mr.Keropok's Thoughts:

Wah Seh!!!! Mr LaoKokKok here is really an inspiration!

Age was never a barrier for him when it comes to engaging the cyber space. Though many may comment that his blog content are rather "old-fogey" stuff about heritage, but there's no doubt that this 47 year old guy dared to take the leap of faith and jumped out of his tech-sphere!

Seeing such an inspiration model re-ignited my long lost dream once again. I remembered 5 years ago when I started blogging, I envisioned that I would be one of the popular bloggers in Singapore, being an influential role model to the youths in this digital generation. However, that dream soon died as the busy schedule of life squeezed in...

UNTIL TODAY! It's time to resurrect my dream again!! ROAR!!!

Time to silence phones, game consoles and headsets on trains

Source: News article from TODAYonline | Voices

Letter from Sam Ang

THE SMRT has taken action against commuters eating and drinking on MRT trains. However a more annoying and pervasive daily problem is not about eating and drinking.

When I take the train to work in the morning, it is very common to hear irritating noises and music coming from electronic gadgets like handphones and handheld game consoles.

There are those who listen to music so loud that all those around them are forced to listen to it. The bigger audio headsets often give off loud noises and these should be banned. The worst scenario is to be seated next to someone wearing them.

Ring tones, too, can be loud but at least telephones do not ring all the time. On the other had, one can be sitting near or next to a someone listening to music that is blasting away non-stop for half-an-hour or more.

As in the case of eating or drinking on the trains, most of this noise comes from teenagers and young adults.

This problem is getting worse because the culprits have been getting away with it. It is time the SMRT takes strong action to stop this nuisance. The culprits should be fined because, as in case of eating and drinking, warning them is not good enough.

Everyone would like to sit in a quiet train in the morning and concentrate on the day's work ahead.

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Mr.Keropok's Thoughts:

To a certain extent, I share Mr Sam's sentiments. Honestly, it's really hard these days to see anyone today while on board public transport whom is not "plugged in" to something.

MP3 player, PSPs, Mobile phone bluetooth earpiece....etc. You name it, they've got it! Nothing wrong with that... but it gets especially disturbing when these behavior get out of hand and become a social nuisance.

What happened to those days when we could have some peace and quiet?

In this aspect, we should really learn from the Japanese. They may be plugged in most of the time, but they exercise social responsibility in not disturbing the people around them. If there's a spark of noise coming from your gadget, you will be stared upon fiercely by fellow commuters!