They've been renovating some offices outside my building. I mean, the offices are part of the building, it's just they're built on this part that's outside the main doors, so they're sort of outside, on the bridges to the next building over. Anyway, the escalator for my building and the next -- a single shaft, and the slowest drive in the world outside the science library -- has been given a drywall layer on its interior and had notices posted outside (such as one certifying a spot as a factory) so it's suitable for construction work without dinging up the walls or breaking the mirrors so easily. This morning something had the interior lights and fans off. I rode the elevator up, with just the rings of light from the selected floors, in a wonderful darkness and quiet, although later I wondered if riding an elevator without any circulation or way to find the buttons other than stumbling around was a good idea.
The Big Boys Toys Expo 2006 -- to which I haven't been -- has brought the world of Female Mud Wrestling to Singapore. Naturally, there have been a few modifications of the concept to fit local tastes. In particular, that actual mud part is terribly messy. So instead of mud they're using 400 kilograms of silt mixed with fresh water to create something that's much cleaner than the normal sort of mud wrestling. There's also male mud wrestling, separate from the female version. You can see why I like Singapore so much, just as a concept.
Singapore's won its first gold medal (in women's bowling) at the 15th Asian Games in Doha. (When I last checked, women had one gold, two silver, and two bronze; men and mixed teams had nothing.) I was starting to wonder if the games were being held at all; back in March and April (but not since) I saw commercials on BBC World for them. That one featured a torch-carrying runner who morphs into a tiger to get through the crowded streets of a Middle Eastern city; then it switched to a torch-bearer on the Great Wall of China, who leaps up and turns into a white dragon, who breathes a flame that criss-crosses a globe and gets to Doha. The mascot for the Asian Games is Orry, the Qatari oryx. I don't know where tigers terrorizing villages or dragons enter into it.
Trivia: The shock wave from the Halifax harbour explosion reached a speed of 13,320 miles per hour, about 23 times the speed of sound. Source: Curse of the Narrows,
Currently Reading: The Impossible Dream: The Building of the Panama Canal, Ian Cameron.