7 Awesome Home Treatments for Healthy Hair

Almost everyone has some issues with their hair. It could be hair fall, thinning, dry hair, balding, dandruff, just to name a few. Researchers attribute these issues to hormonal imbalances, physical or emotional stress, allergies, nutritional deficiencies, wrong use of wrong hair care products among other factors.

It is true that there is a huge range of shampoos and conditioners available in the market, but hair products and treatments are very expensive these days. They may make your hair look lustrous and voluminous, but only for a short while. Moreover, one is never sure about the long term effects of that chemical on your hair and scalp.

Actually, there is no need to go for expensive treatments and products when there is a variety of home and natural remedies available right in your home! You not only save your time, money and efforts, but are also likely to achieve better results. The best thing is that there are no risks as these remedies are completely natural.

Bananas And Honey

Egg

Lemon Juice, Neem And Olive Oil / Coconut Oil
 

Strawberries And Mayonnaise
 

Aloe Vera

 

Potatoes And Onions
 

Hot Oil Massage

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Foraging in the wilds of Singapore

Foraging, or the act of searching for wild edible ingredients, is catching on in the urban landscape of Singapore. Food Correspondent Rebecca Lynne Tan susses out the foraging scene here. -- PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM RAZOR.TV

The mircrogreens that garnish dishes such as scallop ceviche, from wood sorrel to pennywort, can be found in less developed areas around the island, as well as in areas as urbanised as Dempsey Hill.

Mr Bjorn Low, 34, founder of urban farming consultancy Edible Gardens, who has a strong interest in local plants, takes The Straits Times on a hunt for plants that include peperomia, a wild pepper varietal that grows well in shaded areas, and the herbaceous and startlingly bitter King Of Bitters, an inconspicuous shrub with dark green leaves.

During low tide, one can also forage for clams and mussels along Kranji Beach. There, while digging and trudging the mud flats with foraging enthusiast Nigel Lian, 26, a communications executive, The Straits Times found native horseshoe crabs, clams, and mussels.

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A beginner's guide to foraging in Singapore

Purslane

Butterfly Pea

Spanish Needle

Foraging may sound like an impossible task in concrete jungle Singapore, but edible plants are still wildly available if you know where to look. Former kampongs  (villages) like Sembawang and Lim Chu Kang, for example, are good places to start.

Foragers are strongly advised to study and research a wild plant before they consume it. Some plants may be very similar in appearance, but they could be very different species altogether. Some parts of an otherwise edible plant may actually be poisonous.

My grandmother who fought in World War II and lived inside Singapore’s thick jungles for two years surviving only on foraged plants has this tip for me: always observe what the animals are eating. If they appear fine after consuming it, chances are, you will be fine too. (However, they did once have a bad bout of wild tapioca poisoning that rendered all the soldiers sick for days -the bitter variety of tapioca has so much cyanide in it, it turned out, and needs to be soaked, fermented and cooked over high heat before it is safe to be eaten.)

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China's World’s Largest Telescope

Update 26 Sep 2016: China begins operating world's largest radio telescope

An aerial view shows the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in the remote Pingtang county in southwest China's Guizhou province. (Liu Xu/Xinhua/Associated Press)

The world's largest radio telescope began searching for signals from stars and galaxies and, perhaps, extraterrestrial life Sunday in a project demonstrating China's rising ambitions in space and its pursuit of international scientific prestige.

Beijing has poured billions into such ambitious scientific projects as well as its military-backed space program, which saw the launch of China's second space station earlier this month.

Measuring 500 metres in diameter, the radio telescope is nestled in a natural basin within a stunning landscape of lush green karst formations in southern Guizhou province. It took five years and $180 million US to complete and surpasses that of the 300-meter Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, a dish used in research on stars that led to a Nobel Prize.

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China starts up world’s largest single-dish radio telescope

The five-hundred-metre aperture spherical radio telescope (Fast) on its first day of operation in Pingtang. Photograph: STR/AFP/Getty Images

The world’s largest radio telescope has begun operating in south-western China, a project Beijing says will help humanity search for alien life.

The five-hundred-metre aperture spherical radio telescope (acronym: Fast), nestled between hills in the mountainous region of Guizhou, began working about noon on Sunday, the official news agency, Xinhua, reported.

Built at a cost of 1.2bn yuan (£138m), the telescope dwarfs the Arecibo observatory in Puerto Rico to become the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope, with twice the sensitivity and a reflector as large as 30 football pitches.

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China launches FAST, the largest radio-telescope in the world

“It’s like a big iron wok,” one local said. Image credits Liu Xu / Xinhua

FAST, the five-hundred-meter aperture spherical telescope, measures 500 meters in diameter. This makes it almost twice as big (195 meters wider) as the previous largest device of its kind, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico — and more importantly, it will be almost twice as sensitive. It didn’t come cheap: Xinhua reports that the telescope cost US$184 million to build — although that seems rather modest given its size — and required the displacement of 8,000 people from the area to create a 3-mile wide radio silence zone around the dish.

But all this array will be put to good use. Like its counterparts around the world, FAST will be used to study the Universe farther away than anything else we have at our disposal. It’s going to be much more powerful than the rest, however, enough to pick up on things that they miss. Things such as mapping the shape of the Universe, or the behavior of molecules in other galaxies. It will also be on the look-out for pulsars, the imploded cores of stars which emit huge levels of radiation, and other-worldly radio signals. In one test, it picked up on radio waves emitted from a pulsar 1,351 light-years away.

FAST will become the place to be for “observation of pulsars as well as exploration of interstellar molecules and interstellar communication signals,” Xinhua reports.

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China's giant telescope may lead to "discoveries beyond wildest imagination": U.S. expert

Photo taken on Sept. 24, 2016 shows the 500-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in Pingtang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province. The FAST, world's largest radio telescope, measuring 500 meters in diameter, was completed and put into use on Sunday. (Xinhua/Ou Dongqu)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- China's 500-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) may help better understand the origin and structure of the universe and accelerate and even revolutionize the search for life beyond Earth, a renowned U.S. alien intelligence expert said Saturday.

Douglas Vakoch, president of METI International, an organization promoting messaging outer space in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, noted that astronomers worldwide will be invited to use the facility through a competitive review of observing proposals.

"By opening FAST to use by the broader international community, China is demonstrating its commitment to fostering astronomy as a global scientific enterprise," he told Xinhua, saying it may lead to "discoveries beyond our wildest imagination."

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Built to detect alien existence

About 10,000 people in China will be relocated to make way for the world’s largest radio telescope, which is built to detect alien existence.

Built in the south-western Guizhou province, the 1.2 billion yuan (£128 million) project is part of the country’s ambitious hunt for aliens.

To do that effectively, state-run Xinhua news agency reported that officials will “evacuate” all homes within three miles (5km) of the radio telescope.

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China to relocate 10,000 people to make way for telescope

The 500m telescope will dwarf the world's current largest in Puerto Rico

China is preparing to relocate nearly 10,000 people to make way for the world's largest radio telescope.

Residents will be moved from their homes in the south-western province of Guizhou to prevent interference with the telescope's electromagnetism.

The project's lead scientists told China's state news agency that the telescope would further the search for intelligent life in the universe.

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Thousands to be relocated in China to make way for world's largest radio telescope

The five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical radio Telescope under construction in Pingtang county in southwest China's Guizhou province Photo: EPA

More than 9,000 people in China will be forced to leave their homes to make way for the world's largest radio telescope as part of the country’s ambitious hunt for aliens.

Authorities in south-western Guizhou province will relocate the families to make way for the launch of the world’s largest radio telescope.

The 1.2 billion yuan (£128 million) project is designed to detect signs of extraterrestrial life.

related: China's moon landing: the space race with India

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China’s giant radio telescope reveals astronomical ambitions

The 500m aperture telescope under construction

China is building the world’s largest radio telescope with a 500m aperture in a project that demonstrates the country’s growing scientific ambitions.

Decades of high-powered growth have given China the means to invest in “prestige” sciences such as astronomy that are normally out of the reach of all but the richest nations. China hopes to land a man on the moon around 2025, matching a feat achieved by the US nearly 60 years earlier.

The design of the 500m aperture spherical radio telescope (Fast) allows it to scan a greater area of the sky than the 300m Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, current holder of the largest telescope crown — although at any one time only 300m of its aperture can be deployed. It will be used to sense hydrogen gas and pulsars, in a search for clues as to the origins of the universe, although it will also have the potential to pick up signs of life outside our solar system.

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China puts finishes touches on world’s biggest radio telescope

Engineers have finished two-thirds of the panels of the gigantic radio telescope in Guizhou province as of Saturday. JIANG DONG/CHINA DAILY

Scientists carried out the last step in testing a key component of China’s gigantic radio telescope on Saturday. After its scheduled completion in September, it will be the largest such telescope in the world.

A team successfully tested the installation of the telescope’s “retina”, a mechanism weighing 30 metric tons and suspended 140-160 meters above the half-finished reflector dish which will collect signals from the universe.

The telescope, 500 meters in diameter and usually known as FAST, is composed of 4,500 mostly triangular panels with sides measuring 11 meters that create a parabolic shape or hemisphere. The motion of the panels alters the collective shape of the antenna, which is capable of reflecting radio signals from the universe to a focal point, where the receiver dome sits.

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China Joins Ranks of Moon Explorers

A Chinese man takes a photo of his son in an astronaut suit, locally known as taikonauts, at the Science Museum in Beijing, Dec. 1, 2013. Photographer: Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images

China landed an unmanned rover on the moon, making the Asian nation the third country after the U.S. and the Soviet Union to touch down a spacecraft on the lunar surface.

The probe, carrying a rover dubbed Jade Rabbit that will survey the moon’s geology and natural resources, landed at about 9 p.m. Beijing time yesterday, the Xinhua News Agency said. China’s achievement comes 47 years after the Soviet Union performed a soft landing of its Luna 9 spacecraft on the moon.

The launch is part of the Asian nation’s growing space exploration ambitions, an effort which has seen the country spend billions of dollars even as other nations cut back. For its next step, China wants to land a lunar rover and return it to Earth in 2017, according to Xinhua.

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Update 15 Sep 2016: China launches Tiangong-2 "Heavenly Palace" to pave way for space station

Tiangong-2 lifts off on a Long March 2F-T2 rocket from the Jiuquan launch centre on at 22:04 Beijing time, September 15. (Photo: Xinhua)

China has successfully launched its Tiangong-2 space lab, marking a crucial step towards establishing a permanently crewed space station.

Tiangong-2 was launched by a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre at 22:04 Beijing time (14:04 UTC) on Thursday, taking just under ten minutes to enter orbit.

The 10.4 metre long, 3.35 wide spacelab will be visited in October by two astronauts aboard the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft, to conduct a range of scientific research and set a national record for mission duration.

related:
A comprehensive guide to China’s space activities in 2016
China's space program


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Singapore's 72 National Monuments

THE NATIONAL HERITAGE BOARD GAZETTES CHANGI PRISON ENTRANCE GATE, WALL AND TURRETS AS SINGAPORE'S 72ND NATIONAL MONUMENT

Exterior View of Old Changi Prison Entrance Gate and Wall

Singapore, 15 February 2016 – On this day in 1942, Singapore was surrendered to the Japanese during World War II. Today, the National Heritage Board (NHB) gazettes the Changi Prison Entrance Gate, Wall and Turrets as Singapore’s 72nd National Monument in remembrance of Singapore’s wartime experience and as a grim reminder of this dark episode in our history.

Designed by the Public Works Department, Changi Prison was completed before World War II in 1936 and became operational on 4 January 1937. It was designed as a maximum security prison, with turrets serving as watchtowers and a high surrounding wall deterring escapes. During World War II, Changi Prison and its surrounding barracks formed the principal Prisoner-of-War (POW) camp in Southeast Asia. This chapter in the prison’s history remains one of its most poignant and is also an important part of Singapore’s World War II history.

Other World War II-related National Monuments include the former City Hall (1992), the former Cathay Building (gazetted in 2003), the former Ford Factory (2006), the former Command House (2009), the Esplanade Park Memorials (2010) and the Civilian War Memorial (2013).

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Changi Prison Gate, Wall and Turrets

Changi Prison was designed to be a maximum security prison to house up to 600 criminals sentenced to long-term imprisonment in British Singapore. The remaining structures of the original prison – the entrance gate, wall and turrets – stand as an enduring symbol of the suffering of those who defended Singapore and the tumultuous years of the Japanese Occupation (1942-1945).

The Incarceration Systems of Early Colonial Singapore - Two decentralised systems of incarceration co-existed in Singapore between 1825 and 1873 – the Convict Prison which was supervised by the head of the Public Works Department and the Civil Prison which was managed by the High Sheriff. The Convict Prison at Bras Basah housed convicts who had been transported from India and the Civil Prison at Pearl’s Hill held local offenders awaiting trial. By modern standards, prison discipline was lax, allowing for infractions such as jailbreak.

Reforms were introduced after 1871, when a Prison Discipline Commission was convened to review prison issues in various British colonies. The commission published a report in 1872 which laid the foundation for a more organised prison administration. This translated to improvements in Singapore’s prison system, such as the Prisons Ordinance of 1872, which established the office of the Inspector of Prisons to oversee all jails in the colony, formalised regulations for prisons management, and established a more rigorous framework for prison discipline.

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No lock-up for Changi Prison's historic 'face'

'ENDURING SYMBOL': Changi Prison's entrance gate, wall and turrets were gazetted by the National Heritage Board as a national monument yesterday. The 180m stretch of prison wall that goes back to 1936 is now hidden by a tall fence. The area in front of the monument will be redeveloped to give the public a better view from the road. (ST PHOTO: SEAH KWANG PENG)

THE Singapore Prison Service will redevelop the area in front of the historic Changi Prison entrance gate and wall over the next few years to make it more visible to the public.

The newly minted national monument, gazetted by the Preservation of Monuments Board yesterday, is now hidden by a tall fence and barely visible from the road.

A carpark for the modern Changi Prison Complex lies in between the fence and the structure.

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Parts of Changi Prison gazetted as national monument

The entrance gate, wall and turrets of Changi Prison, where about 76,000 prisoners of war were marched through for their internment, have been gazetted as Singapore's 72nd national monument.

This was announced by the National Heritage Board's Preservation of Sites and Monuments division yesterday, on the 74th anniversary of the fall of Singapore. The monument serves as a reminder to treasure the peace and harmony we have today, said the board.

Two days after the fall of Singapore on Feb 15, 1942, European civilians were rounded up and marched to Changi. Inmates there suffered from diseases such as malaria, with many malnourished and emaciated at the end of the war.

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NATIONAL MONUMENTS

Abdul Gafoor Mosque

Al-Abrar Mosque

Alkaff Upper Serangoon Mosque

Armenian Apostolic Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator

Bowyer Block

Cathedral of the Good Shepherd

Central Fire Station

Changi Prison Gate Wall and Turrets

Chesed-El Synagogue

Chinese High School Clock Tower Building

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National monuments of Singapore

National monuments of Singapore are buildings and structures in Singapore that have been designated by the National Heritage Board (or NHB) as being of special historic, traditional, archaeological, architectural or artistic value.

The NHB is a statutory board within the Government of Singapore, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, and it has so far gazetted 72 buildings and structures as national monuments.

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Other national monuments in Singapore

The Fullerton Building Singapore's 71st national monument

Jurong Town Hall 'a baby' among national monument

The Istana Kampong Gelam was declared a national monument on Aug 7 this year

Alkaff Upper Serangoon Mosque gazetted as national monument

Sri Thendayuthapani Temple joins 66 others on list of Singapore's national monuments

Chung Cheng celebrates 75th anniversary

Civilian War Memorial gazetted under newly named division

Tanjong Pagar station a national monument

Singapore Conference Hall a national monument

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National Monuments of Singapore

Singapore's 74 National Monuments
Singapore’s 73 National monuments

Singapore's 72 National Monuments

Singapore's 71 National Monuments

Singapore's 70 National Monuments

Singapore's 69 National Monuments

Singapore's 68 National Monuments

Singapore's 67 National Monuments

8 Singapore national monuments get a Lego makeover
NHB: Restoration of 3 National Monuments
Finding Joy in a space in which 'Joy' was bottled

Would You Die For Singapore

I Will Not Die For Singapore

Watch Video

There are many of us who are tired.

 

Many of us who are cynical about this country.

 

There is something that we know is missing.

 

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the mrbrown show: I will not die for my country

Stuck at home, on MC for food poisoning, Kim Huat taps into his gastritis and laosai, and from his pain, shares his word for the nation.

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Would I Die For Singapore? No Thanks!

The worst thing you could do during Chinese New Year was to ask Singaporeans about death.

Sibei pantang.

I remember a friend’s son who worked in the Civil Defence. When he wanted to get married, he suggested using an SCDF ambulance as the bridal car because he thought it was cool. He almost got disowned.

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‘Majulah’ video creator wants video to be rallying point for young Singaporeans

Who would’ve thought that an eight-minute video of a talking head with some words appearing for emphasis would get some 6,800 likes, more than 11,000 shares and more than 400,000 views on Facebook in two days?

The clip, featuring Singaporean former radio deejay Divian Nair, provides a rallying cry for citizens to band together, and perhaps to be inspired to “die for our country”.

Published on this year’s Total Defence Day (15 February, also the 74th anniversary of the day Singapore fell to the Japanese in World War II), the slick production, hosted on a Facebook page entitled “We Are Majulah”, ignited our curiosity to get to know the people responsible for it.

related: We Are Majulah video gets parodied by Kim Huat, a.k.a. mrbrown

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Netizen Responses Are The Best Thing About That Majulah Video

Most of us grew up here in Singapore — we understand Singlish, we have our favourite hawker stalls, and we all like to complain on Facebook when the MRT breaks down.

However, former 987 FM DJ Divian Nair wonders what exactly unifies us Singaporeans.

And what prompted him to make the video was a single question: “Would you die for Singapore?”

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Majulah Singapura, I also say!

THERE’s a group in town which is determined to make a difference. I applaud these people. I think it’s wonderful that people are concerned about more than just accumulating wealth or doing better than their neighbours. That people have decided that whining and griping isn’t the solution to any problem at all. They’ve produced a video with the objective (at least as I see it) of rallying Singaporeans as one united people.

As the video says, people are cynical. That’s damn right. There’s not a thing you can say online these days which is not misconstrued or misintepreted. It becomes so divisive that you might want to declare your race, age, gender, place of birth, religion, occupation before typing an opinion. Too many times have I added this line “lighten up”! In fact, even the video has been met with cynicism – that it was too slick, not sincere…and the background music is maudlin…

The video is spot-on with its tagline – I will not die for Singapore. Immediately, you think it’s a rant about why Singapore is not worth dying for. You click on it and you discover that it’s about living for Singapore. Actually living for Singapore is as easy or as difficult as dying for Singapore. After all, would you live in Singapore if you know you are going to die in/for it?

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‘Shut the eff up with the propaganda,’ one commenter tells ‘Majulah’ video’s Divian Nair

Divian Nair and his team from ‘We are Majulah‘ have produced a video which suggests that ‘Singapore has a problem’. He said unlike the Americans who had ‘freedom’ to bind them, and unlike the French who are held together by their belief in ‘liberté’, we do not have a ‘glue’ to hold us together as a nation.

Divian than introduces a word ‘majulah’, which is the first word in the title of our national anthem, to suggest that it is this word which should be the glue that holds us together.

He said ‘majulah’ is not a Malay word, but is a unique word because it is formed with the input of two other cultures (Chinese and Tamil), and also because the word calls us to action. ‘Majulah’ means ‘let’s go forward’.

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Why this Singaporean once said he will not die for Singapore

A video titled “I Will Not Die For Singapore” has gained traction on Facebook since it was posted on YouTube on Monday.

Published by social initiative called “We Are Majulah”, the 8-minute video features a monologue by former radio deejay Divian Nair, who spoke about what he believes should symbolise the Singaporean identity. He said that the right word to represent the Singaporeans identity should be “Majulah”, which means moving forward.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the video had garnered more than 10,000 views on YouTube and more than 300,000 views on Facebook.

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S’poreans ask: Will S’pore die for me?

Singaporeans from all walks of life, who believe in asking hard questions because letting things slip is for weaklings, are asking if Singapore will die for them.

This after they heard someone make a video on the Internet asking if Singaporeans will die for Singapore.

One Singaporean, Wen Wen Ti, said asking if Singapore will die for Singaporeans is the correct question instead: “Singaporeans did not exist so that the state exists.”

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