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New Year Resolution for 2008: Swim faster, Run longer, maybe return to cycling.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Thinking too much or too little

I read in today's newspapers that someone is querying on the potential health hazards of burying our beloved Singapore icon, Ah Meng the Orang Utan, near the edge of Seletar Reservoir. The author is concerned over the health hazards posed to our source of water supply.

I'm not sure what to make of the 'query'.

Is the author ignorant? Is he aware that most of our water bodies are in the open and are therefore susceptible to all kinds of contaminants anyway? Is he aware that there are live creatures that lurk within the waters as well? And yes, these live creatures will also die and decompose or are eaten up by other hungry ugly-looking creatures like snakeheads, monitor lizards, terrapins, and reticulated pythons. Does he know that our water supply will be treated by advanced state-of-the-art technology even before it becomes drinkable (potable)? Heck, even our wastes (shit, urine, puke, what-have-you) can be treated by Newater processes. What is a single Orang Utan compared to huge water bodies? By the way, contaminants are derived in parts per million (ppm), so the volume of Ah Meng is almost negligible to the volume of water.

Or maybe the author is thinking too much: Is Ah Meng buried in a coffin that might have lead content? Or perhaps Ah Meng the Orang Utan is a 'foreign body' because never before have dead Orang Utans been introduced into our water supply (hmmm... a little taste of Sumatra there?)?

I really cannot fathom why some people ask such questions anyway. Might as well say that while Ah Meng was alive, her fart might just have been a potential cause for the haze problem sometime back!

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