A Beautiful Mind

Mindfulness Singapore, a program which integrates Tai Chi, Qigong and
Mindfulness Meditation to help individuals in their career growth and
development, collected S$1,320 for Thien Nhan during one of its events.


Thank you, members of Mindfulness Singapore, and its trainer and coach,
Mr Colin Koh.

Now you (and I) know!



After the above strip was published, I received this email:

"Thank you for featuring the RENEW (REcycling Nation’s Electronic
Waste) bin, or a facsimile of one, in your comic on e-waste recycling
on 11 October 2015 in The Sunday Times.

Like all other types of waste, electronic waste is a growing problem
and the partners of RENEW -- DHL, StarHub and TES-AMM -- would
certainly like more members of the public to be aware of the need
to recycle their e-waste and to use the RENEW bins for that purpose.

I would like to raise a concern, however. Your comic depicted the father
retrieving a used mobile phone out of the RENEW bin. You would not have
been aware of this, but many site owners have asked us about the dangers
of such theft from RENEW bins, as personal data may still be on those
electronic devices. I suspect there are many others out there who have
the same concerns and I am worried that your comic may now have dissuaded
some from recycling their e-waste with RENEW because of this.

Again, you probably did not know this but each RENEW bin has
an inclined ledge installed just inside the deposit slot.
This makes reaching in and stealing far more difficult as the ledge
makes simply reaching in and down an impossibility.

Is there any way in which this can be communicated,
or any negative effects of your comic be mitigated, in case the public
assume that theft from RENEW bins is easy?

Have a nice GREEN day,
Adam REUTENS-TAN
Corporate Communications & Investor Relations"


So, environmentally-friendly folks: rest assured that your binned
gadgets cannot be easily retrieved from the bins by unscrupulous people.

However, it's still advisable to wipe out all data before getting rid
of your unwanted devices.

Speaking of recycling...

Get rewarded for catching a litterbug?

On 13 October 2015, the newspapers reported that
one Member of the Parliament made a suggestion to the
National Environment Agency to implement a reward system
like that in Taiwan, where people are given a portion of the
summons payment after they submit evidence of litterbugs
caught in the act.

And this was what I drew on 15 February 2015:

Teaching the teachers

The Ministry of Education (MOE) has launched a new centre to boost
the development and training of teachers.

























The cartoon above is inspired by a video that has been making its round
on the Internet. It shows a boy hitting two of his classmates repeatedly,
in the presence of a teacher who was "unaware of the bullying".

Apparently, this bullying had been going on for a while and it is
only brought to light recently by the video clip.

To the person who recorded and posted it online: Thank You.

MOE's reply after this incident: "We do not tolerate bullying in any form,
and schools have in place a system and measures to support a safe,
conducive learning environment. Teachers have the responsibility
to maintain discipline in the classrooms and deal with bullying."

Perhaps one particular teacher didn't get the memo.


Tech toons

More than just a television set
New generation TVs can do just about everything, from streaming online videos
to showing glorious 3-D content



Camera tricks and treats
Camera manufacturers are piling new features onto camera models and
turning them into multi-talented treats for photo buffs





















































Smart game consoles
Sophisticated software can take care of gesture, facial and voice recognition.
Some even do this:
























What do you really want?
With so many different brands, sizes and features, picking out the ideal PC
from a sea of choices can be a nightmare

Gone viral (and not in a good way)

So Singapore had a General Election in September 2015.

It was quite eventful for me because some zealous individual/s pilfered my drawings
from this blog, changed the speech bubbles to give the dialogues a slanted
political tone and reposted them on a site called The Singapore Bubble Blog
(which has since been taken down):



The next thing I knew, social media was buzzing with nasty comments targetting at yours truly.

Apparently, many netizens assumed that I came up with those wretched wordings.

If you are one of those trigger-friendly folks, please read this:
The drawings were illegally doctored.

This is a serious case of copyright infringement and character assassination.
Legal help has been sought.

By the way, here's a special shout-out to those helpful members at
Hardwarezone.com's Eat-Drink-Man-Woman forum for their support
and helpful advice on how to deal with the perpetrator/s:


Terrible trio

Three things that happen during our annual haze season:

1. The burning of plantation to clear land in Indonesia [Photo: REUTERS]



2. The burning of offerings (hell money, paper mansions, paper iPhones, etc)
in Singapore during the Hungry Ghost Festival [Photo: THE STRAITS TIMES]


3. And this!

GE2015




The 2015 Singapore General Election and the Hungry Ghost Festival both happened
in the same month. So the cartoon above had to be done.

Home-school distance

In Singapore, priority admission to a primary school is given to kids who live
within 1km to 2km from the school. Or those who reside within the radius for
at least 30 months from the commencement of the P1 registration.

Labour crunch

Stringent rules on hiring foreigners and the rising cost of cleaning services
have created a shortage of cleaners at some condominiums.

How to attract buyers

Developers of executive condominiums (ECs) are adding upmarket features
and tantalising extras as they battle for buyers spoilt for choice by the flood
of new home launches.

Not in my backyard! (Part 2)

When the Ministry of Health announced the building of a nursing home
at a housing estate, many residents voiced their objections.

They were worried that the home will block views and hamper ventilation,
among other things.

The high life

In Singapore, the Meet-the-People Sessions is a feedback/redress system
for citizens to meet their member of parliament in hope to resolve problems.

One of those problems includes Singaporeans who seek help to clear debts
after frivolous spending...

Dangerous fluid


Unfortunately, accidents due to the excessive consumption of alcohol
will continue to happen. It's an infuriating problem.
http://chewonitcomics.blogspot.sg/2013/07/this-made-me-so-angry.html 

How often do you talk to your neighbour?

Sex Ed

I love doing cartoons that string different news items together.
This is one of them:

This could make a fun poster to discourage smoking...


...or as a visual on a cigarette pack!

Well-connected

A typical question at job interviews...

That's hot!

Though the cartoon below was done for the month of June,
it is also applicable to the rest of the year in Singapore:

Age is nothing but a number

You are never too old to volunteer!

Number One!


Note: The speeds were from a finding made in the year 2012,
when this cartoon was published.

Looking for a job?

When STJobs was launched in June 2012...

Tell me what you really really want

Before NTUC Foodfare built its hawker centre in Bukit Panjang,
it did a survey among those living in the area so as to ensure
that the centre will sell what residents want...

Something rare

This cartoon is unusual in two aspects.

Firstly, I deviated from my usual drawing style.
Secondly, I used Singlish (or Colloquial Singaporean English).

Using Singlish in a national paper is a big no-no.
Somehow, this one slipped through the cracks and got published.

For readers who are unfamiliar with the slang,
the word "Geng" means "Pretends to be ill".

And "MC" is short for "Medical Certificate".


 Oh, and army barracks are often riddled with paranormal tales/sightings.

Wonderful apps

With apps, your smartphone can become a translator, a DSLR,
a calorie counter, a route planner, a blood-pressure monitor...

Chinese New Year 2015

I created this simple animation with my colleague, Bryandt Lyn: