Wet Markets vs Supermarkets by 4 Joy 2012

Photo taken by Amanda Lau 4 Joy: The uncle selling fish at Blk 89 MacPherson Market specially picked up a big fish from his storage for Amanda to take this awesome picture.

Should wet markets go or stay? Wet markets have been around before many of us were born. Just Tekka Market alone was built in 1915! The first concrete wet market was built in 1894 and it is Telok Ayer Market. However, this was not the first wet market. Surprise! Surprise! The truly first wet market in Singapore was ordered to be built by Sir Stamford Raffles himself in 1825 but torn down shortly as it was inadequate.

We, as kids, find the wet markets stinky and filthy. Some of us have even witnessed live fishes taking a leap from the tray on to the wet floor. One of us has even slipped and fallen on the slippery floor. Nonetheless, our parents still go to the wet markets week after week. Why?

We found out that wet markets sell fresher produce than supermarkets. Also, we get to buy live animals like fish and prawns from wet markets and get to see them killed and cleaned. That helps us ensure that the food is really fresh and safe to eat. Wet markets also have fresher and more unique fruits and vegetables like figs.

On top of that, if we are familiar with the stall vendors, we get freebies and discounts. At wet markets, the stall vendors will not count to the last decimal point the weight of our purchase. We often enjoy a bit more of what we want. Also, we get special advices from the vendors if the food is fresh for a certain way of cooking. You never get such treatments at supermarkets!

So do you think wet markets should stay or go?

Photo taken by Amanda Lau 4 Joy: Uncle selling vegetables at Macpherson Market Blk 89.

Photo taken by Amanda Lau 4 Joy: A happy fishmonger at the market. Amanda interviewed her and found out about her work.

Photo taken by Amanda Lau 4 Joy: Uncle selling eggs happy that Amanda is patronising the stall.

To Singapore, With Love (LRD Issue on 2 August 2011 - page 15) - done by 4 Joy

National Day is just round the corner and the spirit of celebration can be felt all around. Let's share our birthday wishes for our beloved country, Singapore!

Little Red Dot (Issue: 28 July 2009) - Do you see a hit song? (page 4)

There are differing views as to how appealing the National Day (ND) theme song, What Do You See, is to the general public. While some lament that the good old sing-able tunes like Count On Me, Singapore and We Are Singapore are a thing of the past, others are applauding the move to go rock and see the change as "refreshing". What about you? Do you like the rock element in the recent ND theme songs or do you prefer a more sing-able tune that you can hum to? Post your thoughts as a comment to this blog entry.

Budget 2009

You might have heard your parents talking about the 2009 Budget over the last few weeks. However, what is this budget that they are all talking about?

A budget is the amount of money that you plan to spend on something. For instance, if you have a budget of $2 for lunch, that means you only intend to spend a maximum of $2 for lunch.

Each year, the Singapore government announces what it intends to spend for the year in its budget. People want to know how much the government is planning to spend and what it is spending on in the coming year as it might help them plan their businesses and make better choices in the year ahead.

What the government spends on can help businesses and families in need.

For example, in the 2009 Budget, the focus was on jobs. Because of the current economic recession, many people have lost their jobs. To try and persuade less companies to retrench their employees, the Government has introduced a Jobs Credit scheme. Under this scheme, the Government willl give companies some money if they keep their workers.

What is very special about Budget 2009 is that it is the very first time that the Government is taking money out of its Reserves, which is like our national piggy bank. For many people, this shows how bad the current recession is.

As primary school children, you may not be earning money yet, but how has this knowledge about the 2009 Budget changed your view of spending?

More details about the Singapore Budget 2009 can be found at http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/key_initiatives/index.html

The Breakdown of the Singapore Flyer

Where is the Singapore Flyer?
The Singapore Flyer is located at 30 Raffles Avenue. From City Hall MRT station, it would take you about 10-15 minutes to walk to it. It is the largest observation wheel in the wheel at 165 m tall and is capable of seating up to 784 passengers.

What happened?
On the 23rd of December 2008, the Singapore Flyer broke down because of a small electrical fire. In all, 173 people were left stranded in the Flyer, most of them for over six hours.

Who was affected?
Apart from the people who were stuck in the Flyer, the breakdown of the Flyer on the 23rd of December also affected other groups of people.

Firstly, it affected Singapore's tourism industry. The Singapore Flyer is a major tourist attraction so when it was shut down for a month after 23rd December, tour operators had to find other places that they could take tourists to, which would probably have cost these operators more money. Singapore's reputation for efficiency has suffered too as a result of this breakdown.

Secondly, it affected the business of the shops that are located at the Singapore flyer. Less people went to the Flyer's shops while the Flyer was closed so many tenants complained that they suffered losses. They were so angry that many of them asked the people in charge of the Flyer (called the management) to compensate them. This means that they wanted the management to give them some money to make up for the sales that they have lost.

It is hard to imagine that a 6-hour breakdown can affect so many people, but this shows that we are all interdependant on each other.

Why is this important?
Singapore attracts millions of tourists each year, and if more incidents like these happen, fewer tourists might want to come to our country. If this happens, many people who depend on tourism for their jobs, such as travel agents, hotel staff and store operators at tourist attractions, will suffer.

When did the Flyer resume operations?
The Flyer resumed, or started operating again on 27th January 2009, just in time for the Chinese New Year celebrations.

How does the management of the Flyer intend to prevent such an incident from happening again?
During the closure, the management installed a new back-up system in the Flyer and had international experts certify that it was safe to ride on. They hope that an incident like what happened on December 23rd will never happen again as a result of this new system in place.

What are your thoughts about the December 23rd breakdown? Leave a comment!

If you want to find out more about the Flyer and its breakdown, one website which contains videos of people being rescued manually from the Flyer is http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//RTV/2008/12/24/RTV3608108/

For other information about the Flyer, you might also want to visit its official website at http://www.singaporeflyer.com/

This is a video of part of the construction of the Singapore Flyer. As you can tell, it took a lot of effort and skill to construct it!



Construction Of The Singapore Flyer (Stop Motion Video V1.0) - Funny bloopers R us

Why is Singapore called the Little Red Dot?

This week, when we read the first issue of the Little Red Dot in class, we wondered about the name of the newspaper and asked our teacher what it meant.

"It refers to Singapore," she told us.

We were so curious that we decided to do some research and find out how Singapore got this name.

We found out that a president in another country called Singapore a little red dot in 1998 because that's how small we look like on the world map.

However, we think that though we are a small country, we have done many things and we must keep continue working hard to ensure our future progress as a nation!

My friends and I feel proud of this country we live in, and we really look forward to reading the articles inside the Little Red Dot newspaper because it helps us to find out about ourselves as well as the world around us!