Advise for Human-Wildlife Coexistence: Smooth-coated otters in Singapore

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Smooth-coated otters which returned to mainland Singapore proved to be highly adaptable to urban environment and poeple in SIngapore, which was good news for A City in Nature. Since most people are not used to having an amphibious piscivore in their midst, members of the Otter Working Group from nature groups and NParks have been kept busy.

Our Wildlife Neighbours has quick introductory page for smooth-coated otters in Singapore at https://www.ourwildneighbours.sg/our-wild-neighbours/smooth-coated-otter as does NParks, at https://avs.nparks.gov.sg/wildlife/encountering-wildlife/otters.

Various advisories have been made available these past few years for people to learn how to achieve coexistence with otters in urban Singapore. Still I often find students, journalists and people who write to me are not familair with these, so here are links to four resources about managing our interactions with otters in Singapore:

OWN - otter advisoryOur Wild Neighbours advisory – Otters.pdf

NParks-otters_n'hoodOWG Otters in my Neighbourhood.pdf

otters-nparks_advisory

NParks Otter Exclusion Toolkit.pdf

otters-ACRES

ACRES Coexistence Handbook 2023 Smooth-coated otters.pdf

Happy Ottering!

What’s your default font? Yaay to Calibri and Gill Sans for me!

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When Times New Roman (serif; designed for print) was replaced by Calibri (sans-serif; designed for screens) as the default Microsoft Office font in 2007, it was a massive relief. I was hardly reading print by then and Calibri reduced reaing effort tremendously for me. Now I use Times New Roman to visually project a scholarly or ancient effect!

I saw Calibri before I used it, as I was mainly on GDocs, which emerged in 2006 as a boon for collaborations. However, at each macOS installation, I’d have to navigate through past some dubious typeface sites t find the amazing Calibri. When I purchased MS-Office for Mac 2008, mainly for MS Excel and sharing docs, Calibri was on board. And that ended use of Verdana for docs.

So I can actually date my docs from the font used!

When Keynote launched in 2003, it’s default was the 1920s font, Gill Sans, which I simply loved; I found it superior to the alternatives used in Powerpoint such as Arial or Helvetica. But by 2015, Apple’s default font in Keynote seemed to have switched to Helvetica Neue, which I find too thin. It takes a few clicks to import a slide theme with Gill Sans but you should actually create a Keyboard theme, with all your font and style preferences, and select as the preference for new presentations.

Gill Sans’ vulnerability was representing bold text, so I started using Calbri for that, and the combination is fine.

Three fonts.Samples of Gill Sans, Callibri and Aptos; images from Wikimedia.

When MS replaced its then 17-year old default Calibri font with Aptos, I immediatley found the effect in emails I received inferior. Maybe I am simply not used to it. So I revert the default font to Calibri in the peferences of Word, Excel and Outlook. Not sure if it stays through a restart but keyboard shortcuts or rtf text snippets would help with that.

Fonts make a significant difference, and with my increasingly tired eyes, it’s critical. Legible handwriting is a rarity these days, but at least we can control typeface on screen, with some effort. Given our extended screen time, that’s real comfort for our audiences and us.

Active montoring of MyENV allows some field trips to continue in largely stormy months

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With outdoor classes, tree-plantings, mangrove cleanups and the like, I do refer to this table of monthly weather highlights (NEA, 2007: http://tinyurl.com/ss-weather) and the MSS climate of Singapore page for an idea of what to expect in general. 

When the day of a field trip arrives, though, I turn to the MyENV app to figure out if a field trip is feasible. These steps below have helped in decision making, since cancellation notifications must be issued two hours before an event. It also provides  peace of mind as decisions are based on a protocol. 

  1. Monitor the weather forecast and weather patterns in the days before the field trip – this influences my optimism about opportunities. E.g. if an afternoon storm has been short-lived in preceeding days, I am more likely to take my chances in waiting out a storm on the event day.
  2. Monitor the two-hour forecasts in the hours leading up to the event. An “early morning” storm advice could change to “late afternoon” – big difference for a two-hour tree-planting event!
  3. Pay attention to Lightning Detection, provided within 6km of a location – just be sure this is for the field trip venue and not your observer location if different. 
  4. Determine the direction and speed of approach of an approaching storm, by moving the time slider to track these in the past 50 minutes. E.g. one early morning, an approaching storm was moving eastwards quickly, and would cover  Singapore’s width in less than an hour. It was leaving behind light rain so I could   continue with the Pulau Ubin field trip, after a wait of about 30 mins.
  5. Zoom out of the weather radar to determine the extent of the clouds, and identify gaps. This could allow shortened trips instead of abandoning a trip altogether. During a recent LSM2251 Ecology field trip at Pulau Ubin allowed a bird survey to be conducted within a gap – and as expected, the birds came out during that gap, after which it stormed again. 

During a field trip

  • Have a dedicated Safety Officer monitoring the weather radar –– this person can be off-site. This shodul be outlined in the risk assessment report.
  • Keep in active contact with group leaders:
    • Their mobile plan must be able to transmit messages throughout the field trip; if unable, co-opt a student with a better plan and add them to the chat.  
    • They must report in group movements as outlined in the trip briefing. Use “speech to text” to compose and edit coherent and complete messages before posting to the group chat.
    • When urgent, use group call function to call all the group leaders. Follow up with a text message in case some hear the call but have a poor reception.

Don’t forget about heat stress 

Storms with heavy rainfall and strong winds will reduce visibility and increase danger of falling branches or trees. The reverse of heat stress also needs monitoring –––    MyENv has a Heat Stress Indicator which I monitor. I have had to delay an afternoon beach seining and bus students past an unshaded concrete afternoon route of a Kent Ridge field trip.

Be ready to pull the plug

Safety is the priority, so there is no hestitation when a field trip needs to be suspended. Despite the granular data from the MyNEA app, I have had to cancel, abandon or delay some tree-planting sessions at NUS, Rail Corridor and Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve. I’ve had to withdraw 300 RVRC students from the Tanah Merah 9 coastal cleanup site mid-session. But it all pales in comparison to 2015, when the transboundary haze forced me to cancel the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore (3,500 volunteers). 

Enjoy the NE monsoon

With the weather there are never gurantess. But this approach has allowed many events to continue or just require an adjustmnt of timing. This does take effort and I leave December and January to the north-east monsoon as its too difficult! Instead, I leave the plants to be watered and enjoy the snooze. 

A fundamental task for teaching faculty – pin down next academic year’s teaching schedule if you can

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This note is meant for some colleagues in the hope of less pain before the start of the  semester.

My department (Biological Sciences) issues time table templates for each course with the dates and venues inserted – these were determined much earlier each academic year in coordination with the Faculty of Science’s Dean’s Office. That painstaking work by our veteran admin staff was critical when I first came over from the museum to teach four modules in one semester – they carefully ensured I wasn’t in back to back classes so I’d be able to catch my breath!

These department time tables clearly display the standard 13 lectures (26 hours) + 6 practicals (24 hours) which each course is composed of, well, more or less. Immensely helpful to students, it predates Canvas, LumiNUS and IVLE!

In June, I finalise my teaching schedule for the following academic year (i.e. August to next May).

I do this to enable planning of other events, manly the NUS Toddycats calendar which includes 25 Saturdays dedicated to tree planting. Our NParks and NUS UCI partners appreciate our practise of finalising planting and maintenance dates for a year by the preceding July or August, so that they can plan their work flow for the following year. And so my teaching schedule has to be ready early!

My current crop of courses are:

  • *LSM2251 Ecology and the Environment in Semester 1
  • *LSM2252 Biodversity in Semester 1
  • HSI1000 How/Why Science Works in Semester 1 and 2
  • *LSM1303 Animal Behaviour in Semester 2
  • HS2902 Do Play Play in Semester 2

 *the three courses I coordinate and so setup the course pages for.

Preparing the course time table

Since nusmods isn’t ready for Sem 1 in June, I prepare the course time tables in this way:

  1. Duplicate the Department’s Word time table from the previous semester.
  2. Using the NUS calendar, adjust the dates – my department admin tries to keep the days, times and venues the same so minor edits are all that are usually needed.
  3. Prepare for lost dates – the NUS Calendar also lists the Public Holidays and Wellness Days. There will always be one long weekend per semester so I have 12 and 13 week versions of my courses, just in case a single teaching session is lost – yes, no work arounds; I reduce the work load in keeping with the intent of these days of relief.
  4. Tide Tables are consulted and the dates of coastal field trips have to be adjusted.
  5. Special teaching sessions are calendared in next: I conduct multiple tutorials in one week of Semester 2 for HS2902 and must keep that week as free as possible to accommodate as many tutorials as possible..
  6. Optional field trips  – we offer this in Recess and Reading Weeks and the odd weekend for littoral trips.
  7. Final check – when the department issues their time table template, compare my prepared time tables with theirs – this is usually six weeks before semester begins. I will do this together with the teaching team to fine tune the time table in case we make changes in light of our after action reports of the previous semester.
  8. Publish the Canvas course page – with a welcome note and a Calendar image in the home page. That’s all prospective students need to see. The other sections (Modules, Files, Assignments) can remain unpublished until populated and finalised with verification a month before semester.

If you prepare just a month early, the course details are available on nusmods. This means you can select your courses, download the .ics file and populate your e-calendar to cross-check your department’s Word calendar which you need to manually customise.

Preparing the course Canvas page

For the Canvas page, these steps help been helpful:

  1. Select the relevant pre-existing course in Canvas > Dashboard > Unpublished Courses.
  2. Copy the content: in the right sidebar > Import Existing Content > Select Content Type “Copy a Canvas course”.
  3. Select the correct course – pay attention to the year/sem code in square brackets e.g. [2510] as the  the most recent and relevant semesters are at the bottom of the list! not to worry, if you make a mistake, just import the correct one to your course which will write over the incorrect content.
  4. Carefully select what you need to copy over. Do this at Content > “Select specific content”. E.g. Don’t copy over all the Announcements.
  5. Synchronise calendar dates by selecting “Adjust events and due dates” and providing the beginning and ending dates of the target semester – this is very useful for Assignments in particular! But do verify  everything during your pre-semester verification .
  6. Use the “Substitution” option if your days in the new calendar were changed.
  7. Select specific elements to import – you do this when you click  “+Add to Import Queue”. You will be able to “Select content” to pick the specific elements to import in the Content import queue.
  8. If you imported “All content”, and want to mass remove the Announcements, go to that page and mass select the announcements on a page this way: Use Chrome or in Safari > Developer > User Agent > macOS Chrome > Show JavaScript console > and key in the following: “document.querySelectorAll(“input”).forEach(e => e.click())”  (thanks to NicoDurand on community.canvaslms.com)
  9. Insert an image of the newly updated time table into the Home page, along with the very important welcome and course overview. Undergads read this when they are still aspirational about keeping up to date and are unencumbered by deadlines, so make good use of it.
  10. Update each section (Module, Files, Assignments) which can take a few hours. You need to be alert as it is especially useful to set up all the reminder announcements, dates of assignment issuances and deadlines for automatic delivery. But be careful to verify all the dates –– this is especially challenging with brain fog, so pick a clear headed time to do this!
    1. Modules – I just have seven pages which students are required to read.
    2. Files – upload time tables, the CA schedule, practical schedules and slide decks from the previous iteration for those who want an overview. The lecture slides folder indicates those are updated just before lecture as I make last minute improvements.
    3. Assignments – I list all assignments. If it does not includes submissions, I include the difference: e.g. an external link to GForms or an in-class paper submission.
      With the start, due and until dates keyed in (or with a synchronised import), students can see the entire semester’s workload in one page chronologically listed. This ensures clarity, and this is  supplemented with a downloadable excel sheet for students to plan their semestral schedule (one can hope).
  11. Verification: conduct a page by page verification with the teaching team.
  12. Submit the Webcast request with CTLT. I use this for revision and students who missed specific lectures with valid reasons.

Then brace for impact as our undergrads return to campus! The preparations will hold up against that tsunami and allow flexibility to adapt to unscripted needs which may surface. Oh yes, this is also the time to check if I am up to date with my seasonal flu shot!

Teaching nature youth how to blog 🤪

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Blogging was popular amongst Singaporeans in the early 2000s but was killed off by Facebook, Instagram and other social apps.

But blogs are a useful tool for folks in biodiversity conservation to learn to use, we will introduce them to WordPress at the Opening Workshop to ready them for their field logs.

So the Facils are trying out the instructions and we will refine this before the 25th!

It’s sounds like a recipe for disaster with 100 participants but we will setup up a test blog and let them loose on it💪🏽

Update: And here it is: https://bff2025opening.wordpress.com/

‘Those before us’ – women in books I recommend

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This is a book list with a feminine perspective/experience which I’ve read since 2020. I’d recommend it anyone really, but often suggest it to undergrads whom I try to get read anything! I was quite struck by the dramatic changes in gender roles especially in cities after World War 2 and the tenacity of the many who are involved which formed the firmament on which we all tread.

First, from the list which I share copies of with friends are:

My top recommendations
Historical Fiction/Myths

  1. How We Disappeared by Lee Jing-Jing (2019) – about comfort women in Singapore [link | review]
  2. Circe by Madeline Miller (2018) [link]
  3. The Woman Who Breathed Two Worlds (Malayan #1) by Selina Siak Chin Yoke (2016) [link]

Non-fiction

  1. Where I Was: A Memoir About Forgetting and Remembering by Constance Singam (2022) [link]
  2. Journey Across the Four Seas: A Chinese Woman’s Search for Home by Veronica Li (2006) [link]
  3. Beyond Storms and Stars – A Memoir by Noeleen Heyzer (2021) – this gets technical mid-point [link]

Below is the list in my GoodReads “women” book shelf. I have commented (not reviewed) about most of the books there. They are listed here, by categories and in reverse chronological order:

Contemporary Non-Fiction

  1. Where I Was: A Memoir About Forgetting and Remembering by Constance Singam (2022).
  2. Beyond Storms and Stars – A Memoir by Noeleen Heyzer (2021).
  3. Beyond The Blue Gate: Recollections of a Political Prisoner by Teo Soh Lung (2011).

WW2 (and beyond) Non-Fiction

  1. Journey Across the Four Seas: A Chinese Woman’s Search for Home by Veronica Li (2006).
  2. Pai Naa: The true story of Englishwoman Nona Baker’s survival in the Malayan jungle during WWII by Dorothy Thatcher (1974).

WW2 (and beyond) Historical Fiction

  1. The Frangipani Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu (2017). Crown Colony #1 – #8 (2017 – 2024; ongoing); it builds to a story of survival during WW2.
  2. The House of Little Sisters by Eva Wong Nava (2020).
  3. How We Disappeared by Lee Jing-Jing (2019).
  4. When the Future Comes Too Soon (Malayan #2) by Selina Siak Chin Yoke (2017).
  5. The Woman Who Breathed Two Worlds (Malayan #1) by Selina Siak Chin Yoke (2016).
  6. A Different Sky by Meira Chand (2010).

Contemporary Fiction
Singapore/Malaysia mostly

  1. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (2023).
  2. Nine Yard Sarees: A Short Story Cycle by Prasanthi Ram (2023).
  3. The Accidental Malay by Karina Robles Bahrin (2022).
  4. Marriage and Mutton Curry by M. Shanmughalingam (2019).
  5. Nimita’s Place by Akshita Nanda (2018).
  6. The River’s Song by Suchen Christine Lim (2014).
  7. If I Could Tell You by Lee Jing-Jing (2013).

Reimagining Greek Myths

  1. Circe by Miller, Madeline (2018).
  2. The Silence of the Girls: A Novel (Women of Troy #1) by Pat Barker (2018).
  3. The Women of Troy (Women of Troy #2) by Pat Barker (2021).
  4. The Voyage Home (Women of Troy #3) by Pat Barker (2024).

-end-

Swimming the Seine

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This was originally posted to my class chat group on 1st Aug 2024, after someone brought up pollutionin the Seine.

So the Olympics Games women’s triathlon went ahead, and was won by a French woman💪🏽

What allowed it? The heat wave, or more accurately, the lack of rain. Storm water results in sewage leakage which amplifies Enterococcus bacteria counts. It can also come from animal waste and dumping.

France spent US$1.5 billion to clean the Seine between 2016 – 2024.
Three major acts included:

  • an overhauled sewage system including wastewater treatment,
  • ⁠the building of a buffer basin (29 swimming pools volume) to hold and return storm overflow to sewage during rain ($0.3 b), 
  • incentivisation of 10,000 households to redirect toilet waste to the sewage system. 

It’s the Olympics bid which empowered the cleanup of the Seine, an idea first mooted at least way back in 1988. Now, iconically, it’s become the first urban river ever used for swimming events at the Olympic Games since 1900, just after their revival in 1896.

The public is scheduled to follow suit next year, in the summer. 

France demonstrated that the Olympics can benefit a host city long-term. And it complements Paris’ effort since 2007 to reclaim the terrestrial river side for recreational use. So next, the riverside sunbathers will soon be able to take a dip.

“Paris is so far the only place to have tried it on a relatively narrow river (rather than a harbor or a lake) flowing through a heavily-populated metropolis.”

When their mayor swam in the Seine, it triggered memories of the 10-year Singapore River cleanup. I seem to recall that on the day of the politicians swim to demonstrate a cleaned river, a dead dog was fished out of the water further upstream!

It’s always going to be a gamble with Mother Nature. Excessively high rainwater in the urban catchment will lead to a spike in contaminant bacteria levels. And global warming has led to more of these episodes. 

In early July, a historic ceremonial swim was cancelled due to “high rainfall, high flow, little sunshine, temperatures below seasonal norms and pollution from upstream”” – months of wet weather had river levels up to five times higher than usual.

It’s the same in Singapore. Even at our unconfined beaches facing the straits, there are fluctuations – with Pasir Ris being the most periodically closed.

The pollution-monitored triathlon swim was always a gamble. Just one severe storm could trigger postponement, a venue shift or even, horrors, a cancellation!

And rains stormed the opening ceremony. But Paris was determined  to demonstrate a transformed summer waterway, and were reviewing water quality results with stakeholders at 3.30am to make a decision – and the early morning women’s race was on! 

And poetically, a native-Parisian, Cassandre Beaugrand won the gold.

Vive la France!

The news sources:

  • “Paris Spent €1.4 Billion to Clean Up the Seine. Has It Worked?” By Feargus O’Sullivan. Bloomberg, 23 July 2024 [Link]
  • ⁠”Olympic triathletes swim in Seine River after days of water quality concerns.” by The Associated Press, 31 Jul 2024 [Link]
  • “The Seine hosts Olympic triathlon: How much did Paris spend on cleaning up the polluted river?” By Ruth Wright with AP, EuroNews, 31 Jul 2024 [Link]
  • “Otters make a comeback in France – how you can help them thrive,” by Samantha David. The Connexion, 08 Feb 2024 [Link]
  • “The cleaning up of Singapore River and Kallang Basin (1977-1987),” by N. Sivasothi Otterman speaks, 23 Sep 2012 [Link]

OpenCore Legacy Patcher enables my 9-year old iMac to run Sonoma and be restored to iCloud

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My nine-year old iMac (17,1; late-2015) at Ridge View Residential College was stuck on macOS Monterey. It was not upgradeable to macOS Sonoma, and in that unsupported state, was rejected from my iCloud network for not being secure enough. I used it via GDrive and Dropbox, but my lecture slides and photos are all on iCloud. Not being able to use using Keynote with that that lovely 27” screen was a crime! Then in May, OneDrive started complaining, and there were also more system complaints.

Thankfully OpenCore Legacy Patch provides a second life for such zero-value assets, and this 2023 post by Joshua Long and Jay Vrijenhoek at The Mac Security Blog explains the steps clearly: https://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/how-to-keep-older-macs-secure-a-geeky-approach/.

I saw that my iMac was supported, and didn’t have to worry about backups because all my files are on cloud storage. Also, the iMac’s RAM had been maxed out to 32GB from the start. Amusingly, I was held up when they said to “Grab a USB flash drive … that can be erased and is at least 20 GB in size…”. So I had to cool my heels until  a 64GB SanDisk Ultra Eco USB 3.2 Gen 1 Flash Drive from Amazon.sg was delivered.

On 11th June 2024, after the first 15 steps had been completed, an Open Core installer had been created on the flashdrive. A further 10 steps after, my Apple-unsupported iMac was running macOS Sonoma, how wonderful! Some initial sluggishness gave way until it was all sync-ed up, and it’s been relatively smooth this July 2024. There are occasions when the iMac struggles (MS Authenticator) but otherwise, emails, image edits, cloud access, slide prep (Keynote) have been fine.

How lovely to be able to use the 27” screen and its 32GB RAM for awhile more!

iMac 17,1 at RVRC

The ACRES Report on Online Illegal Wildlife Trade on Telegram [in Singapore] (Nov 2023)

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The illegal trade in wlidlife wot its modern tools significantly impacts the natural functioning of ecosystems and is responsible for silent forests. The issue is one of ethics, the environment, animal welfare, public health, indigneous rights, governance and organised crime. 

It’s a massive subject and is connected to us right at our doorstep.

One aspect is the occurence of the illegal sale of animals online. ACRES’ 2023 report on the iliegal wildlife trade on Telegram is troubling:

“NParks has nabbed some sellers on Telegram, however our investigation surveys in 2021 and 2023 have reveal a disturbing 196% increase in prohibited wild animals offered and a 586% rise in individual sellers. In just 122 days, 993 prohibited wild animals were being advertised for sale on three Telegram chats – that’s 8 prohibited wild animals a day, just on three chats!”

From the report, a comparison of activity between 2021 and 2023:

2023_ACRES_onlinetrade

The report is helpful in providing an idea of local activity, the limits of self-regulation by online portals, local laws which could help address this and examples of international policy and legilslation – all useful basic information for educators. Read the full report and its reccomendations hereACRES-onlinetrade2023

See also “Illegal wildlife trade detected on Telegram doubled from 2021 to 2023: ACRES” by Ang Qing at The Straits Times (31 Dec 2023).