Perhaps not as good a deal as Aladdin got, but I came aross this scheme at www.pl.sg
This allows us to get rid of books we've read (or not) and no longer want, and get books that other people no longer want. Sort of like going to the second-hand bookshop, but cutting out the middleman.
Just remember to bring your own bags to collect your books on Apr 25.
Here is their notice:
Recycle Your Reading - Used books become new reads at the Book Exchange!
Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2009
Time: 10.30am to 6pm
Venue: The Plaza, National Library Building,100 Victoria Street
3 easy steps to exchange your used books for new reads:
Bring your used books to any Public Library from 11 to 24 April, 11am to 8pm. On 25 April, used books are accepted only at the National Library Building.
Drop off your used books and get a book exchange coupon indicating one-for-one exchange for the books accepted.
Bring your coupon to The Plaza, National Library Building, on 25 April to redeem for used books dropped off by other book lovers.
Terms and Conditions:
Each person can exchange up to a maximum of 30 used books. There is no age limit for participation.
We accept children's and adults' fiction and non-fiction books (eg. cookbooks, travel guides and romance novels) in any of the four official languages. We also accept used library books bought from previous Library Book Sales. Textbooks, magazines and audio-visual materials will not be accepted.
Used books for exchange should be in relatively good physical condition.
Only coupons issued with a Book Exchange stamp are valid. Please check your coupons carefully after they are issued to you.
Coupons issued are transferable. You may pass them on to your family members or friends to help you redeem.
Lost coupons are not replaceable. You are advised to keep your coupons properly till the event on 25 April.
Plastic/carrier bags and delivery service will not be provided on Sat, 25 April. You are advised to bring your own carrier bags and/or arrange for transportation of books redeemed.
For enquiries, please call NLB Helpdesk at 6332 3255 or email: helpdesk@nlb.gov.sg
Friday, March 27, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Find an expired date? Eat it!
My cousin told me she was on the point of throwing away a bottle of cider vinegar which had expired 2 years ago, when it occurred to her that vinegar can't expire. So she drank it with honey in a home remedy for a cold, and was quite pleased with the results.
Yes, she was right not to throw it - because it's such an acidic substance, vinegar is unsuitable for bacteria to breed in.
If the date on her bottle of honey had expired, I would have told her to hang on to it too - liquid honey has so much sugar that it kills almost all bacteria, and the moisture content is too low to allow fungus to grow.
A moment of thought should bring to mind that the ancients used to put things in honey to preserve them. I recall a rather gruesome tale of how a human head was preserved in honey so that it could be delievered to some emperor who lived a way off. The stuff that crystalises out of honey that has been left alone for a bit is sugar crystals. If you don't like crystals in your honey, just apply very gentle heat.
And of course vinegar is used in pickling.
I appreciate the intentions of our health departments in wanting to protect us from unscrupulous people who would sell us old and harmful foods, but their scattershot method of requiring EVERYTHING be labelled with an expiry date can lead to lots of wastage.
I know of people whose knee-jerk reaction is to throw away anything that's past its expiry date, including that grandaddy of preservatives, salt.
When asked they want to throw out salt, they say, 'maybe it can still be used, but it's cheap, so who cares?' Well, it is cheap, thank goodness, but it has been processed and packed and transported. What a waste of resources, just because some idiot thinks that old salt might... what could they be thinking? It might grow fungus? Germs might get into it? Obviously they think that the salt might harm them in some way, and they're not thinking of their blood pressure.
What next? Are they going to scrutinise their bottled water to make sure it doesn't get too old?
The fact is that we can often tell when lots of different foods go bad. You can see the mould on bread, and you don't have to depend on a rocket scientist to calculate when it goes bad. As for worrying about buying a loaf near the end of its shelf life, relax - the same van that delivers the next day's supply will take away the old ones. That's what happens with unsold newspapers.
You don't need to consult the bottom of a tin to know if it can still be eaten - if it's swollen, throw it away. If it looks fine, and you open it and the food smells funny, throw it away.
Surely we can apply our common sense, or are we so bereft of sense that we leave our brains in the freezer, and depend on the 'experts'? Watch out for 'experts' - the current credit crunch is the work of 'experts', as was Long Term Capital Management, which was cited in a talk I attended the other night (it was free, with a buffet dinner thrown in). The speaker was an entrepreneur, who said that passion was much more important than knowledge, and illustrated his point with LTCM. It was a hedge fund that recruited two Nobel prize winners (economics) and brilliant mathematical minds (the sort AIG just gave millions in moolah to, not for bringing the whole system down, but just because their brains are still so desirable). Bottom line: LTCM lost US$4.6 billion.
Speaking of 'experts', here is an interesting article I found on how expired medicines are perfectly usable:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/460159 (if you don't get the page, google medicine expire and look for the url) or you can check up the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide for something similar.
Now then, not all the experts say the same thing. We'll just have to use our own common sense, then.
Yes, she was right not to throw it - because it's such an acidic substance, vinegar is unsuitable for bacteria to breed in.
If the date on her bottle of honey had expired, I would have told her to hang on to it too - liquid honey has so much sugar that it kills almost all bacteria, and the moisture content is too low to allow fungus to grow.
A moment of thought should bring to mind that the ancients used to put things in honey to preserve them. I recall a rather gruesome tale of how a human head was preserved in honey so that it could be delievered to some emperor who lived a way off. The stuff that crystalises out of honey that has been left alone for a bit is sugar crystals. If you don't like crystals in your honey, just apply very gentle heat.
And of course vinegar is used in pickling.
I appreciate the intentions of our health departments in wanting to protect us from unscrupulous people who would sell us old and harmful foods, but their scattershot method of requiring EVERYTHING be labelled with an expiry date can lead to lots of wastage.
I know of people whose knee-jerk reaction is to throw away anything that's past its expiry date, including that grandaddy of preservatives, salt.
When asked they want to throw out salt, they say, 'maybe it can still be used, but it's cheap, so who cares?' Well, it is cheap, thank goodness, but it has been processed and packed and transported. What a waste of resources, just because some idiot thinks that old salt might... what could they be thinking? It might grow fungus? Germs might get into it? Obviously they think that the salt might harm them in some way, and they're not thinking of their blood pressure.
What next? Are they going to scrutinise their bottled water to make sure it doesn't get too old?
The fact is that we can often tell when lots of different foods go bad. You can see the mould on bread, and you don't have to depend on a rocket scientist to calculate when it goes bad. As for worrying about buying a loaf near the end of its shelf life, relax - the same van that delivers the next day's supply will take away the old ones. That's what happens with unsold newspapers.
You don't need to consult the bottom of a tin to know if it can still be eaten - if it's swollen, throw it away. If it looks fine, and you open it and the food smells funny, throw it away.
Surely we can apply our common sense, or are we so bereft of sense that we leave our brains in the freezer, and depend on the 'experts'? Watch out for 'experts' - the current credit crunch is the work of 'experts', as was Long Term Capital Management, which was cited in a talk I attended the other night (it was free, with a buffet dinner thrown in). The speaker was an entrepreneur, who said that passion was much more important than knowledge, and illustrated his point with LTCM. It was a hedge fund that recruited two Nobel prize winners (economics) and brilliant mathematical minds (the sort AIG just gave millions in moolah to, not for bringing the whole system down, but just because their brains are still so desirable). Bottom line: LTCM lost US$4.6 billion.
Speaking of 'experts', here is an interesting article I found on how expired medicines are perfectly usable:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/460159 (if you don't get the page, google medicine expire and look for the url) or you can check up the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide for something similar.
Now then, not all the experts say the same thing. We'll just have to use our own common sense, then.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
A program of action was concerted...
I wanted go to see the St Thomas Boys Choir, from Leipzig - the choir that JS Bach directed when he was working in at the St Thomas Church.
Thing is, I make it a point to only pay for one or two concerts or plays a year.
It's a habit I developed to save money that goes towards wells in Afghanistan: someone came to church once, and asked for money to dig wells there. I felt it was a good cause, but where to get the money? Answer: cut down on the entertainment. Movies are relatively cheap, but concerts and plays, especially concerts, can set you back a bit. I figured that a year or two of just going to my absolutely must-go show, and cutting back on buying tickets for the "would like to go" or the "wow, sounds good, let's go" show, there'd be enough for a well.
Last year, I coughed up $70-something, and saw Murray Perahia from the giddy heights of the third circle. The rest of the time, I just mentioned that I would be interested, and waited for a stroke of luck. Occasionally, someone who got tickets would be unable to go, or someone might get two tickets and only need one, so I, as someone who was interested, would get a magic call.
That's my little trick to get free entertainment. Not much of a trick, really. That's because people generally don't like to waste things - better that you fill the seat than it stays empty, right?
To move further up the calling list, I generally try not to be too fussy about tickets offered to me. Nothing is more annoying than phoning someone and them saying "oh no, I don't feel like it" or "I'm only interested if it's The Rolling Stones or the Berlin Phil" - let's face it, if they have such desirable tickets, they'd call other people first.
Good concert.
What I found interesting was meeting a friend the next day, and she saying her sister-in-law had gone for the same concert, having won tickets on a radio show. "She wins something almost every week," said my friend, noting that she thinks you only need to be a bit anal in order to win. I'm sure it didn't reflect her opinion of her sis-in-law.
This was something - I'm always alert to new ways to score free tickets if no one calls. We don't all have lobangs who can source complimentary tickets, and I don't like to bother my friends much anyway (it's a bit like sponging off the stocks of goodwill they have with other people). But I can be anal.
I think I'll start listening to the radio, with the telephone handy...
Thing is, I make it a point to only pay for one or two concerts or plays a year.
It's a habit I developed to save money that goes towards wells in Afghanistan: someone came to church once, and asked for money to dig wells there. I felt it was a good cause, but where to get the money? Answer: cut down on the entertainment. Movies are relatively cheap, but concerts and plays, especially concerts, can set you back a bit. I figured that a year or two of just going to my absolutely must-go show, and cutting back on buying tickets for the "would like to go" or the "wow, sounds good, let's go" show, there'd be enough for a well.
Last year, I coughed up $70-something, and saw Murray Perahia from the giddy heights of the third circle. The rest of the time, I just mentioned that I would be interested, and waited for a stroke of luck. Occasionally, someone who got tickets would be unable to go, or someone might get two tickets and only need one, so I, as someone who was interested, would get a magic call.
That's my little trick to get free entertainment. Not much of a trick, really. That's because people generally don't like to waste things - better that you fill the seat than it stays empty, right?
To move further up the calling list, I generally try not to be too fussy about tickets offered to me. Nothing is more annoying than phoning someone and them saying "oh no, I don't feel like it" or "I'm only interested if it's The Rolling Stones or the Berlin Phil" - let's face it, if they have such desirable tickets, they'd call other people first.
This attitude got me into concerts by Bryn Terfel (world-famous baritone), Santana, oh yes, and The Rolling Stones. I've been to dance performances, drama and stand-up comedy, in concert halls, pubs and theatres small and large.
Some of the shows I never even thought I wanted to see when I read about them. Often, I enjoyed myself immensely. And if I didn't, well, at least I didn't have to pay for it.
Back to the St Thomas Boys Choir. Nobody called, and I really wanted to go. With tickets from $41 to $121, I could avoid the nose-bleed altitude of the third circle, but I'd probably not make it to ground level.
So I called a friend who works in the papers and mentioned how I wanted to see the concert. I was in luck - she took the hint, and found us tickets.Good concert.
What I found interesting was meeting a friend the next day, and she saying her sister-in-law had gone for the same concert, having won tickets on a radio show. "She wins something almost every week," said my friend, noting that she thinks you only need to be a bit anal in order to win. I'm sure it didn't reflect her opinion of her sis-in-law.
This was something - I'm always alert to new ways to score free tickets if no one calls. We don't all have lobangs who can source complimentary tickets, and I don't like to bother my friends much anyway (it's a bit like sponging off the stocks of goodwill they have with other people). But I can be anal.
I think I'll start listening to the radio, with the telephone handy...
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