3/22/2006 07:28:00 pm|W|P| Allan Lim|W|P| Sustaining the Passion - Club Narc From birth, man carries the weight of gravity on his shoulders. He is bolted to earth. But man has only to sink beneath the surface and he is free.” Jacques Cousteau quotes (French Explorer, 1910-1997) How do I begin to explain this passion for diving? Why do I need to constantly breathe compressed air underwater? And the unrelenting desire to discover the beauty of the ocean? Perhaps if we delve a little into the history of ClubNarc, we may be able to find the answer. ClubNarc (Club Narcosis) was formed in 1998 by a bunch of young enterprising students from NTU (Nanyang University) who decided to do things our way. Back then, all the diving we know were done with dive operators which ran rigid schedules and dive programs to cater to big groups of divers of varying skill levels, experience and interests. We had decided after one of these trips that more could be done with our limited funds as students. Within days we got down and planned our very own dive trips to Tioman and Aur Island, Malaysia. The basis of ClubNarc’s existence is simple – A community of divers who share a common passion for the ocean. There are no memberships, no rules and no borders. We hope that through Scuba, we can present the ocean to our friends and family in a way to encourage the appreciation and the conservation of nature. In the beginning, we had endured many trying incidences doing our own DIY diving. Issues like missing transport, gear and even dive sites tested the gang’s patience and determination. To those of you who dived with us in Tioman, you would have had the uncomfortable feeling of hovering at 30m of cold water at night waiting for us DMs to find the famous Roger’s Wreck. These experiences soon became stories, which we would reminisce whenever we got together in Singapore. Through the years, ClubNarc has managed to stay true to its cause and we have moved on from diving Tioman and Aur to more exciting places like the underwater volcano of Mahengetang in Manado, Sipadan, Derawan and other many other exotic places. As we grow older, work and family commitments have restricted our time to go on frequent diving trips. Although we now run fewer trips, we have provided an avenue to keep our friends connected. Dive trips are organized mainly for the purpose of catching up with old friends and making new ones. Nothing beats spending a couple of days hanging out in the middle of the ocean with your close friends and loved ones, and doing the things we love the most – Diving. I guess at the end of the day, for the founders of ClubNarc, the joy in the venture has gone beyond that of satisfying the basic need to scuba dive. The need to breathe compressed air has been replaced by the reaffirmation of camaraderie and friendship, and the appreciation and interaction with marine life. I have always said - "The Ocean will present itself to those who wait patiently". In the meantime, while we wait, just dive! FATA ClubNarc ClubNarc brudders are : FATA, Kums, Ivan, Kim Han, Meng and Todd Joo.|W|P| 114302693597751947|W|P| Something about Clubnarc.....|W|P| allanlimyc@gmail.com 3/29/2006 02:05:00 pm|W|P|

JonnBryan|W|P| The downside is, Clubnarc has at times come aross as too being "cliqueish"... something to ponder over...
especially when this lil' community becomes more exclusive, rather than inclusive..... 3/18/2006 09:31:00 am|W|P| Toadjuice|W|P|

It was reported in The Straits Times on the 17th of March 2006 that a Singapore Police coast guard boat collided with an outrigger off Tanjong Beach, Sentosa late in the evening. The outrigger belonged to the Singpaore Paddle Club. One broke a couple of ribs several others were injured. Their members claim that 2 strobe lights with a 5km visibility were installed and that there was no way the patrol boat could have missed them. Y'know what? I really don't feel any sympathy for these people... They paddle indiscriminately around Sentosa, cutting into paths of Swimmers along the beach. Their outrigger missed me by a couple of centimeters when I was swimming there. Now you see why there's no sympathy? Their concern for safety to themselves and others is questionable. First of all, nobody even knew that they were supposed to be in the area. They did not have a valid permit, and this is after all, Singapore. Stobe lights with 5km visibility? Y'know what? I put strobe lights on my nets when I go fishing. They probably look like fishing nets. They should have their boats properly lighted up... y'know, those green and red ones that identify them as a sea vessel before they complain that they cannot be missed. Pretending to be fishing nets is hardly the way to go. They should count their blessings that it was not a tanker that went over them. Let this accident be a wake up call for these clowns. They should pay more attention to safety. Otherwise, stop paddling.

|W|P| 114264641937842849|W|P| Singapore Coast Guard boat collides with outrigger off Sentosa|W|P| toadjuice@yahoo.com 3/14/2006 04:37:00 pm|W|P| Toadjuice|W|P| A 42 year old man was sent to the slammer for serially squeezing kittens till their eyes pop out. He sure deserves jail. This, however is still less cruel compared to clowns who feed strays and have the cheek to claim that they are cat lovers. Lets see what happens when you feed strays.

All animals including cats have only one primary objective and that is to reproduce. Given the right conditions, ample food and a safe environment, they fornicate like mad and produce many many kittens. Now you will have many many kittens to feed, and when they grow up, there will be many many more cats screwing around, making more kittens. See where I'm getting at? Guess what happens when their population starts to interfere with our lives? Y'know, cat shit, cats' mating calls all these can really drive a person crazy. Well, some people choose to take matters into their own hands... (pun intended).

Others will (in true Singpaorean fashion) complain lor... then the official cat collectors will come and roundup the cats and well, lets just say, put them to sleep. So you see, stray feeders are really the more cruel of the lot. This guy just kill kittens. Stray feeders encourage a kitty population boom and then let the animal control people send these cats to their little kitty holocaust. Besides being totally cruel, stray feeders are also an inconsiderate bunch of imbeciles. Most would not feed strays in their neighbourhood. I mean, cat shit, mating calls etc... nope, I'm sure they hate to be bothered by that. Stray feeders love cats. Preferably if the cats are in other people's estate... that way, there's no problem. Cat shit, mating calls, well, someone else on the receiving end will call the official cat killers, leaving the real perpertrator (read: stray cat feeders) totally guilt free.

Okay, now that the cat killer is in jail, lets punish the stray cat feeders!

If you love cats that much, adopt a stray. Otherwise, leave it alone!

In case you miss that article, here's the article...

"Neighbourhood patrol helped send cat killer to jail."

By Tanya Fong. The Straits Times, 11 Mar 2006.

Bedok residents started night patrol to nab man killing strays.

For five months, a group of Bedok residents took turns to patrol their neighbourhood over seven hours every evening. Their mission - to catch the man they suspected of torturing and killing the area's stray cats.

One of them, Miss Ngiam Mui Wah, 46, finally caught him in the middle of another attack and had enough evidence to make criminal charges stick. That ended David Hooi Yin Weng's reign of terror. The 42-year-old packer was this week jailed three months for animal abuse.

The first attack on the neighbourhood's strays began last June, when a retired school teacher, Madam Jeya, 58, saw a man pick up a kitten from a drain and throttle it.

Recalling her horror, she said: 'I saw him strangle it - he was pressing the cat's neck between his thumb and fingers. Its eyes were almost going to pop out, and it started to bleed from its nose and mouth.'

She rushed home and called the police, but he got away with that one. The episode gave her nightmares for weeks after that. She told her neighbour, fellow stray-cat feeder Miss Ngiam, about it. All at once, the bloodied bodies of kittens in the neighbourhood's void decks and drains started to make sense. A 'cat killer' was definitely on the loose.

They set up a neighbourhood patrol. Ten residents - backed up by young boys who often cycled in the area - came forward. Each team did a two-week shift from 6pm to about 1am.

Team member Sharifah Khamis, 40, also started taking a census of the neighbourhood's strays. If one cat or kitten went missing, patrol members were asked if they saw it.

The killings continued. Last October, a 58-year-old therapist who wanted to be known only as Mr Bakri stumbled upon an attack in progress in the void deck of Block 545. The man was strangling a kitten and kicking its mother away.

Mr Bakri said he shouted at the man, who challenged him in Hokkien to a fight and dared him to call the police. When he took out his mobile phone and began dialling, the man dropped the mangled kitten and fled. Mr Bakri chased after him, but lost him.

By this time, the patrol already knew the man's name and that he lived in Block 544 - but for months, the man continued with the attacks and managed to give the patrol the slip.

Then, Miss Ngiam got her break in November. Perhaps he was complacent that day - but he merely sauntered away still holding the animal, and challenged her to call the police.

She said: 'I was so angry. I knew if I let him walk away, another kitten would surely die.'

She called the police and led them to Hooi's 11th-floor flat. There, they saw all the evidence they needed - the six-week-old kitten, bleeding from the nose and its eyes bulging from their sockets. Hooi's neighbours then piped up to say that they had seen dead cats along the corridor outside his flat.

News of his three-month jail term gave a sense of relief to the residents, but they think the sentence is too light. The law provides for a maximum sentence of 12 months. Most who spoke declined to give their full names for fear that Hooi might seek revenge after serving time.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) attended to 708 complaints of animal abuse last year. Of these, fewer than five were cases that involved extreme cruelty resulting in police action.

SPCA executive officer Deirdre Moss said: 'Many times, people hear about abuse cases and it just stops there. We commend the women who blew the whistle on the abuser in Bedok. Thanks to their vigilance and persistence, he was caught in the act.

'The SPCA depends on the public to follow their example and be willing to stand up and testify.'

tanya@sph.com.sg

|W|P| 114232738207104673|W|P| Cat killer gets 3 months jail. Stray cat feeders deserve punishment too!|W|P| toadjuice@yahoo.com 3/02/2006 11:32:00 am|W|P| Toadjuice|W|P|

Cabs queueing up at the panel beaters. Damage all at the front of the cabs, so confirm they go and langar people one... Signs that taxi drivers are horrible drivers? I hope there were no passengers when these accidents occured. The next time you flag for a cab, remember this picture.

|W|P| 114127063487964242|W|P| Cabs in Singapore... How safe are we?|W|P| toadjuice@yahoo.com