Under The Angsana Tree: February 2018

28/02/2018

No Full Moon in February 2018

This Year’s Lunar Calendar Is Pretty Uncommon

There's been a lot happening in space lately. OK, so I guess there's probably always a lot happening in space, but recently, there's been a lot happening up there that we here on Earth can actually see — and it's been pretty cool. You've probably already heard about the super blue blood moon that rose in the early morning hours of Jan. 31, but what you might not realize is that said cosmic phenomenon (which is really a mash-up of three individual phenomena: a supermoon, a blue moon, and a blood moon aka total lunar eclipse) is going to shake up the lunar schedule for February 2018 too. So why is there no full moon in February? Allow me to explain.

In order to really understand the absence of a February full moon, you first need to have a firm grasp on the definition of a blue moon, which we're (uniquely!) experiencing in both January and March of 2018. Prior to all this talk of the super blue blood moon, I thought that "blue moon" was just a funny part of the expression used to describe something that happens very rarely — "it's once in a blue moon!" — so I understand if you need the background too.

According to Time and Date, a blue moon is what we call the second of two full moons to rise within the same calendar month. Usually, we experience 12 full moons over a 12-month period — one per month — and a blue moon constitutes the 13th. The first full moon of 2018 rose on Jan. 1, which means that when the second one rose on Jan. 31, we had ourselves a blue moon. And while blue moons aren't totally routine (there is some logic to the "once in a blue moon" saying), they do happen approximately once every two or three years, per Time and Date.

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Why no full moon in February 2018?

Photo of a winter full moon rising, by Bob King, aka AstroBob. February 2018 won’t have a full moon

In the Americas at least, 2018 features an unusual sequence of full moon dates: January 1, January 31, March 1, and March 31. There are two full moons in January, none in February, and two full moons again in March. This isn’t a unique occurrence. It happened in 1999 and will happen again in 2037, at intervals of 19 years, an interval called the Metonic cycle by astronomers.

There’s no scientific significance to having two full moons in a month or a February with no full moons. It is simply a quirk of our calendar.

The average time between two full moons is about 29 1/2 days. Most months of the calendar are longer (30 or 31 days) and February is shorter (28 days, 29 in leap years). Therefore, it’s possible, from time to time, for any one of 11 months to contain two full moons … but not February. In fact, February can have no full moons, as in 2018. And when this happens, both January and March will have two full moons each. Nowadays, the second full moon of a month is called a Blue Moon.

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2018 Full Moon Calendar

The moon shows its full face to Earth once a month. Well, sort of.

In fact, the same side of the moon always faces the planet, but part of it is in shadow. And, in reality most of the time the "full moon" is never perfectly full. Only when the moon, Earth and the sun are perfectly aligned is the moon 100 percent full, and that alignment produces a lunar eclipse. And sometimes — once in a blue moon — the moon is full twice in a month (or four times in a season, depending on which definition you prefer). [The Moon: 10 Surprising Facts]

The next full moon will be a Blue Moon — the second full moon of January — on Wednesday, Jan. 31. To casual observers, the moon will still appear full the day prior and after the peak. Like January's first full moon, the second full moon will be a "supermoon" as the moon arrives at perigee close to reaching its fullest phase. There will also be a total lunar eclipse during the Blue Moon, which some are billing as a rare Super Blue-Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse. Such a Blue Moon total lunar eclipse has not occurred for 152 years, our skywatching columnist Joe Rao has found.

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Chinese Lunar Calendar

Full Moon on 1st Jan 2018 in Gregorian calendar & on 15th Nov 2017 in Chinese calendar

Full Moon on 31st Jan 2018 in Gregorian calendar & on 15th Dec 2017 in Chinese calendar

Full Moon on 2nd Mar 2018 in Gregorian calendar & on 15th Jan 2018 in Chinese calendar

Full Moon on 31st Mar 2018 in Gregorian calendar & on 15th Feb 2018 in Chinese calendar

Full Moon on 30th Apr 2018 in Gregorian calendar & on 15th Mar 2018 in Chinese calendar

Full Moon on 29 May 2018 in Gregorian calendar & on 15th Apr 2018 in Chinese calendar

Full Moon on 28th Jun 2018 in Gregorian calendar & on 15th May 2018 in Chinese calendar

Full Moon on 27 Jul 2018 in Gregorian calendar & on 15th Jun 2018 in Chinese calendar

Full Moon on 25th Aug 2018 in Gregorian calendar & on 15th Jul 2018 in Chinese calendar

Full Moon on 24th Sep 2018 in Gregorian calendar & on 15th Aug 2018 in Chinese calendar

Full Moon on 23rd Oct 2018 in Gregorian calendar & on 15th Sep 2018 in Chinese calendar

Full Moon on 22nd Nov 2018 in Gregorian calendar & on 15th Oct 2018 in Chinese calendar

Full Moon on 21st Dec 2018 in Gregorian calendar & on 15th Nov 2018 in Chinese calendar

Chinese calendar, a lunisolar calendar, is formed on the movement of the moon.

Full Moon occurs on every 15th Day of the Chinese Lunar Calendar.

There are 2 Full Moons in January & March but no Full Moon in February 2018.

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Solar and Lunar Eclipses Worldwide – Next 10 Years

Featured Eclipses in Coming Years

Find Solar Eclipses, Lunar Eclipses, and Planetary Transits Worldwide from 1900 to 2199

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related:

Hunter’s Moon 2024

First supermoon of 2024

Final supermoon of 2023

2 Supermoons Rising In August 2023

The 8 Phases of the Moon

Strawberry Moon Lights Up Singapore Skies
Pink Moon - The Largest Supermoon of 2020

Full Moon August 2019

The first Blue Moon of 2018

No Full Moon in February 2018

The Second Blue Moon of 2018

Supermoon 2016
Blood Moon 2014
Ultra Rare 3-In-1 Moon Phenomenon
‘Blood moon’: Longest total lunar eclipse of the century

Blue Moon 2020
Blue Moon 2023
Blue Moon 2026
Blue Moon 2028
Blue Moon 2031
Blue Moon 2034
Blue Moon 2037 (Jan)
Blue Moon 2037 (Mar)
Blue Moon 2039

27/02/2018

Difference Between Term and Permanent Life Insurance

A term life insurance plan is one with a limited coverage period. When purchasing this type of plan, a policyholder typically chooses a set period of time (or term) that they want to be covered for and commits to paying a premium for that period. If you decide to purchase a 10-year term life insurance plan, you will be given the choice to renew your coverage at the end of 10 years, or you can let the coverage end. This is the most basic type of life insurance and is often the preferred option as it is low-cost and easy for most people to understand.

The most important thing to remember about this policy is that it has no additional cash value, and will only be paid out upon the policyholder’s death. If the policyholder dies before the end of the term, there is a payout under term life insurance, but if they die after, their beneficiaries get nothing at all. Because of this trait, it is life insurance in its purest form – it only exists to insure people against loss of life, and all premiums paid are used to cover this cost.

Premiums are based upon an applicant’s age, health, and life expectancy and can vary between different insurers. This explains the common wisdom of purchasing life insurance when one is young, as premiums are often lower and one is allowed a longer term at a fixed rate. If a policyholder wishes to renew their policy at age 40, it would cost more than if they had bought a 30-year term at age 25.

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26/02/2018

Ex-CHC Chew Eng Han Attempts To Flee Singapore In A Sampan

Kim Huat: Don't Use Sampan

Former CHC leader Chew Eng Han arrested at sea while trying to flee Singapore

Chew Eng Han and his sampan adrift in sea of puns

City Harvest former fund manager Chew Eng Han was arrested for trying to leave Singapore on 21 Feb 2018. Photo: Casandra Wong/Yahoo News Singapore

On Thursday, Chew was charged with attempting to leave Singapore illegally while Tan was charged with abetting Chew in the offence.

Chew had been scheduled to begin his jail term of 3 years and 4 months on Thursday for his part in the long-running CHC saga.

Since Wednesday, the online space has been brimming with jokes and memes revolving around the humble sampan and Chew’s “fishing expedition”. And so let the puns begin:

Another failed Crossover project.
Why use a sampan? If you were truly faithful, you’d walk across the water.
Maybe he used a motorised sampan because he hoped Jesus would take the wheel.
He claimed he was fishing but the police didn’t take the bait.
He is trying to fish using all the $50 notes as bait.
I think he is fishing lah. Don’t jump to conclusions! 年年有鱼
CHC is full of people with conviction.
I hope the sampan can be part of this year’s NDP
Chew Eng Han (CEH) = Caught Escaping Halfway
His escape attempt failed hook, line and sinker.

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Singapore City Harvest megachurch leader Chew Eng Han 'tries to flee by sea'

Chew Eng Han and five others were convicted of misappropriating millions of dollars from the megachurch

A Singaporean man convicted in a megachurch fraud case was caught trying to escape by sea before starting his prison sentence, police say.

Chew Eng Han was found in a small boat heading towards Malaysia, police say, a day before he was to turn himself in after exhausting the appeals process.

He and a second man in the boat say they were on a fishing expedition.

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Chew Eng Han Attempts To Flee Singapore In A Sampan, One Day Before Jail Term Begins

City Harvest Church’s Chew Eng Han Arrested At Sea After Trying To Escape Singapore In A Motorised Sampan

If you recall, one ex-leader of City Harvest Church (CHC) was granted a final jail deferment to spend Chinese New Year with his family.

Turns out, he had other grand plans in mind — a great sea escape via a motorised sampan. No doubt a timely attempt to evade his 3 year 4 month stay in prison, just one day before it was slated to begin.

But it seems like even the heavens weren’t on his side for this one.

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Ex-City Harvest Church fund manager Chew Eng Han arrested for trying to flee Singapore by boat

Former City Harvest Church fund manager Chew Eng Han was arrested on Wednesday morning (Feb 21) for attempting to flee the country in a sampan, the police said at a news conference.

The 57-yr-old, one of 6 church leaders convicted in 2015 of misappropriating S$50 million of church funds, had been out on bail and was due to turn himself in on Thursday to begin his jail term.

Another man, 53-yr-old Tan Poh Teck, who was piloting the motorised sampan, was also arrested.

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City Harvest Church convict Chew Eng Hen nabbed after attempting to flee Singapore on a sampan

Former City Harvest Church fund manager Chew Eng Han was supposed to start serving his jail sentence of three years and four months tomorrow after the court approved his application to delay it to spend Chinese New Year with his family.

Unfortunately, the convict tried to make a run for it today. Or rather, he sailed away — the 57-year-old attempted to flee the country on a motorized sampan this morning, according to the police at a news conference held this afternoon. Channel NewsAsia reported that Police Coast Guard officers arrested him at about 8:47am today, seizing about S$5,000 in cash, a couple of phones, and some fishing equipment found on the boat.

Chew is one of the six former City Harvest Church figures who was convicted in 2015 for misappropriating S$50 million in church funds. Unlike the rest of his cohort who surrendered themselves to the authorities on Apr 21 last year, he has yet to start serving his jail term (for criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts). Also unlike his conspirators, Chew represented himself in High Court and tried to challenge his conviction, but failed both times. In the end, he asked to defer his sentence for one last time to spend the Chinese New Year holidays with his family and was due to turn himself in tomorrow.

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Ex-City Harvest Church fund manager Chew Eng Han arrested after trying to flee Singapore by boat

Former City Harvest Church fund manager Chew Eng Han was arrested on Wednesday morning (Feb 21) for attempting to flee the country in a sampan, the police said at a news conference.

The 57-year-old, one of six church leaders convicted in 2015 of misappropriating S$50 million of church funds, was due to turn himself in on Thursday to begin his jail term.

In a split decision by the High Court last April, Chew had his original six-year jail sentence lowered to three years and four months. Chew is the only one of the six who has not started serving his jail term for criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts.

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Former City Harvest Church leader Chew Eng Han had been ‘praying hard’ to prepare for jail before failed escape bid

Former City Harvest Church fund manager Chew Eng Han was arrested along with another man at 8.47am on board a motorised sampan. The Straits Times

With three weeks to go to his prison term, former City Harvest Church (CHC) fund manager Chew Eng Han said earlier this month that he was going to “pray, pray, pray” to prepare himself for jail and that he was relieved the legal process was over.

In WhatsApp messages to The Straits Times on Feb 1, shortly after a court hearing that confirmed that he would have to serve three years and four months for criminal breach of trust, Chew, 57, insisted that he was innocent and that the truth would prevail one day.

Chew said if he truly felt he was guilty, “it would be easier to serve the sentence”.

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Sources Reveal Chew Eng Han’s Sampan Escape All Part of God’s Plan

Yesterday afternoon, City Harvest Fund manager Chew Eng Han was caught fleeing in Singapore in a Sampan

When the news broke, everyone on the internet mocked him for being a moron.

But is he? It seems all too simple. Why would a church with infinite money use Sampans? Who is the anonymous ‘tip-off’? Who the hell makes their escape from Pulau Ubin? If he really wanted to run, why didn’t he just pray for Jesus to teleport him away like a normal person?

Something is amiss here and we are not seeing the bigger picture.

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FORMER CHC MEMBER CHEW ENG HAN TRIED TO ESCAPE S’PORE BY BOAT ILLEGALLY BUT WAS CAUGHT

had a really good laugh when I was told to write about this. In fact, the entire office laughed so hard that we couldn’t function for close to 5 minutes.

Maybe we should make the criminals from CHC pay for our loss of productivity. Pretty sure they still have a lot of money sitting at home, you know.

In case you have no idea who Chew Eng Han is— since most of us only know Kong Hee, Serina Wee and Sun Ho— here’s an image of his face.

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City Harvest leader Chew Eng Han arrested at sea for trying to leave S’pore in sampan

25/02/2018

The Way You Eat Prata Says A Lot About You

Forget what Myers-Brigg personality type you are, or whether you’re from Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.

Prata, or how you eat it, will tell you everything you need to know about yourself.

While there are a plethora of ways that one can enjoy Prata (some better than others, of course), everyone has a preferred method that they swear by.

Authentic AF

Basic AF

Swimming Pool

Crazy Hot

Just a Touch

Sugar-head

OTT (Over The Top)

Plain AF

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24/02/2018

Bai Tian Gong 拜天宫 2018

Hokkiens’ New Year 福建人的新年 9th day of Chinese New Year

An Unignorable Tradition of The Hokkiens

Red Turtle Cake（红龟糕）

Huat Kueh（发糕）

House of Jade Emperor（天公座）

Sugar cane（甘蔗）

Kongming Lanterns（孔明灯）

Sugar cane, roasted pork, red turtle cake, ritual money, the house of Jade Emperor, fruits……Mr. Gooi and his family members were busy preparing for Bai Tian Gong on the eve of celebration, which was the 9th day of the first month in Chinese lunar calendar.

Bai Tian Gong is a meaningful celebration for the Hokkiens since their ancestors emigrated from China long time ago. No matter which state they are staying now, they still inherit this tradition to their descendant. This cultural continuity can be seen on Mr. Gooi’s family.

Mrs. Gooi and her daughter woke up 6 am on the eve of Bai Tian Gong. It was because they were going to the market to buy the offerings which were needed for the celebration. The necessities of Bai Tian Gong including a pair of sugar cane, red turtle cake, huat kueh, pineapple and several fruits. Fortunately, the seller of sugar cane provided home delivery service, so that they could get rid of the burden of carrying the long sugar cane to next destination.

related:
The Legend and Significant of Bai Tian Gong
Bai Tian Gong（拜天公)
The Necessities and Expenses of Bai Tian Gong
Sugarcane is a “MUST”
Decoration of the Offering Table
An Unignorable Tradition of The Hokkiens

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23/02/2018

#SG Budget 2018

Hongbaos and taxes: 8 things you need to know about Budget 2018

Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat ended his 2018 Budget speech on a "prosperous" note with the handing out of a one-off SG Bonus to Singaporeans, but he also warned of coming tax hikes that are needed to finance the country’s greater spending in the next decade.

How will Singaporeans and Singapore businesses be affected by the measures Mr Heng announced on Monday (Feb 19)?

Here is Channel NewsAsia’s quick guide to the major Budget announcements:

GST HIKE COMING
LARGEST BUDGET SURPLUS IN 30 YEARS
BUT SPENDING IS SET TO RISE
WHEN IT COMES TO TAX, IT'S NOT JUST GST
PREPARING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE
MORE GRANTS AND SUBSIDIES
HELPING BUSINESSES INNOVATE
HUAT AH! SG BONUS

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Budget 2018: Together, A Better Future

BUILDING A CARING AND COHESIVE SOCIETY

Budget 2018 is a strategic and integrated plan to position Singapore for the future. It supports our transformation into a vibrant and innovative economy, and a smart, green and liveable city. It also fosters a caring and cohesive society while ensuring a fiscally sustainable and secure future for Singapore.

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FY2018 Budget Statement

A. INTRODUCTION

A1. Mr Speaker Sir, I beg to move, that Parliament approves the financial policy of the
Government for the Financial Year from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019.

Economic Performance in 2017

A2. Riding on the global upturn, Singapore’s economy picked up last year.

a. Our GDP grew by 3.6%, up from 2.4% in 2016. This exceeded the Government’s forecast of 1% to 3% at the start of 2017.
b. Our productivity growth was 4.5% as measured by real value-added per actual hour worked, and 3.8% as measured by real value-added per worker. These are the highest figures since 2010.

A3. The good productivity growth has enabled firms to pay higher wages while staying
competitive.

a. Real median income for Singapore citizens rose by 5.3% last year.

A4. For 2018, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) expects growth to be more broadbased across sectors, but moderated from the high of 2017.

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Labour movement confirms it conducted poll last year to gather feedback on Budget issues, including taxes

Nearly three-quarters of the respondents in the survey said they did not think GST should be raised, and of these, 44 people said the Government should tax the rich in order to balance revenue & expenditure. FOTO: ST FILE

The labour movement has confirmed that it conducted a poll towards the end of last year to gather feedback from union leaders on issues such as training and taxes, ahead of the annual Budget.

Along with input gathered through focus group discussions & dialogue sessions, the feedback was used to inform the National Trades Union Congress workplan for this year & its labour MPs' positions. But the results of the poll were not presented to the Government.

The NTUC's Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute said this on Wednesday (March 14) in response to queries from The Straits Times, after a selection of tax-related questions from the poll were posted on sociopolitical website The Online Citizen on Sunday (March 11).

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Policies, politics and paranoia: Singapore Democratic Party chairman Paul Tambyah goes On the Record

He is referring to WP chairman Sylvia Lim being asked to apologise to the House earlier this year for alleging that the Government had floated “test balloons” before announcing an impending Goods & Services Tax hike. I put it to him that most ruling parties would consider it a natural instinct to defend their policies & make a point of it if they feel the other parties are trying to cast aspersions on their intentions.

“But still, there has to be some degree of balance because otherwise it’s going to backfire. The whole Sylvia Lim example, I think it won Sylvia a lot of sympathy points - the fact that people are trying to make her apologise for asking an honest question. You can say that the question is a stupid question, you can try to criticise her for that, but trying to make her apologise for asking a question seems to be a little bit like shooting yourself in the foot because it makes you come across like a bully.

“In a parliamentary democracy, if somebody asks you a question, you can make them look small or really silly, but to treat every question as an attack on your own personal integrity, to me, that's bordering a little bit on paranoia.”

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Full Coverage:

Lim Tean, Singapore Budget 2018 Response Video