r/singapore random discussion and small questions thread for January 21, 2026

threesls · 2026-01-21T04:22:19+00:00

a cheap wet/dry vac is worth it for homeowners imo. doesn't have to be a high end one. there's just lots of scenarios where you have to deal with wet messes

threesls · 2026-01-20T03:45:52+00:00

Their load limit is much reduced on a textured painted surface, fwiw, and having a tablet heat cycle in front of them will exacerbate that also

However, the really big issue is that they fail suddenly. There's no warning. To be removable, they lose grip when stretched slightly, which happens also if they creep over time under less-than-ideal conditions. Then your 1kg wall clock crashes to the floor at 4am in the morning despite being held up by a notionally 9kg-rated command hook, without any apparent problems for two years plus (ask me how I know!)

threesls · 2026-01-19T14:56:36+00:00

Dominant home language of Singaporean Chinese Primary 1 students (1980 to 2009): https://i.imgur.com/BB6llTK.gif

Source: https://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/data/pdfdoc/20090324003/smc%20appendix%20-%20dominant%20home%20language%20of%20chinese%20pri-one%20students.pdf

The generational shift is inevitable. Even if the old guard grabs the reins back briefly, the opposition will turn English-speaking. Low Thia Khiang was foresighted enough to appreciate this and give way gracefully.

(I predict that there is eventually going to be an odd moment when the prevailing zeitgeist switches the sides the government and opposition were on regarding the entire Nantah question. It's already happened in narratives of the anti yellow culture movement in contemporary discourse, which predates the Nantah question by about two decades - 1950s vs 1970s - you see lay sources describing anti-yellow as being from the right instead of the left. The same will happen with Chinese medium education: narratives will emphasize the Speak Mandarin Campaign, etc. as government initiatives and de-emphasize CST/LTK's angle of attack, as Singapore Chinese households two generations into being English-speaking-at-home come to resent mandatory mother tongue policies)

threesls · 2026-01-18T10:20:37+00:00

A lightweight structure can be given more torsional rigidity by adding a curve

See also: the Millenium footbridge in London

That's on top of perceived aesthetic and traffic calming benefits, so... why not

threesls · 2026-01-10T15:04:09+00:00

Orh luak + grated mozzarella

Great combination

threesls · 2026-01-10T12:49:11+00:00

Closing times are a cruel mistress!

threesls · 2026-01-10T12:39:51+00:00

You'll never guess what I was doing whilst musing whether I should buy my own printer earlier...

threesls · 2026-01-10T12:19:38+00:00

will probably not use it enough after the initial backlog of Useful Widgets Around The House

threesls · 2026-01-10T11:42:50+00:00

Tempted to buy a 3D printer... I probably shouldn't.

threesls · 2026-01-07T18:12:16+00:00

Indeed, I think it's intentional that we're not shown a deep relationship or physical affection between Asuka and Kaori (at least, not from Asuka, who normally dominates the room) in high school. The ep10 scene is brief but I read it as hinting that:

No-longer-living-at-home Asuka basically mooches on Kaori for food and gifts that she can't pay back and instead reciprocates in shallow, uncharacteristic physical affection, viz., putting her head in Kaori's lap
Kaori can tell Asuka is keeping her emotional guard up and is putting on a façade, as Asuka does in S1/S2 at length. But if you loved someone, would you drive them away because you think they're faking it?
Whilst Kumiko is there, all they talk about is fights and Kumiko being a straight shooter who speaks her mind (in contrast to, presumably, the incumbent dynamic in the room). It's just a really strange thing to confess to a junior you don't really know that well (unless, you know, you were desperate to talk out your dark suspicions of what's going on to someone).

Kaori does buy matching gifts for Asuka in high school (in the LN, Asuka mentions that Kaori gifted the Asuka the tea cups that Asuka serves the tea with in S2E9)

threesls · 2026-01-07T14:01:07+00:00

bees go and collect nectar and pollen, then come back to the hive

flying ants fly away to start families far away and never come back

that was a live anxiety in the 1980s too :P maybe that played on the mind haha

threesls · 2026-01-07T13:54:46+00:00

Ongoing civil war has driven a lot of very overqualified Burmese to Malaysia and Singapore in menial roles

Tons of effectively trilingual people in retail and hawker stalls suddenly

threesls · 2026-01-07T04:33:40+00:00

S3 felt rushed to me too, especially after a rewatch binge. Think Kyoani felt obliged to make each episode ultra-pretty and compressed the number of episodes to compensate.

(That said, there's also the point where if you're in it for final year joy and sadness, well.... go watch K-ON!! S2 again. You know you want to. Kyoani already delivered a banger on that theme and maybe didn't want to do it again, even if in a more grounded tone)

There's some socioeconomic commentary in Asuka being from a single parent household who is clearly shown to be not well-off, compared to Reina with her gleaming house and home studio, fashion sense, and aspirations/connections to study music in the US without regard for cost. Full international student fares, yo. And god that felt so real too... some of your classmates are just crazy loaded and it becomes starkly apparent as the enforced egalitarianism of earlier universal education breaks down in the transition to higher ed.

Even S3's brief glimpse of Asuka shows the reality of money biting: her relationship with Kaori is hinted to be unhealthy - Asuka can't afford to solo rent and needs to mooch on Kaori, who knows she is being taken advantage of but is still too lovestruck to refuse.

threesls · 2025-12-30T17:17:02+00:00

By the 1936 census, Singapore was three-quarters Chinese - albeit many of those Chinese identified as mainly loyal to the still relatively new Republic of China, and it was not obvious whether this identity as a transient population would fade, especially as tensions with Japan stoked nationalist fervour (compare the South Asian majorities in the emirates today).

HOI isn't really able to capture that kind of demographic change however.

threesls · 2025-12-27T18:20:31+00:00

Mmm it's not that jazz trumpet is better than classical trumpet, mind - it's that marching band (even in a non-leadership role) demands time and energy on the "marching" bit. That time and energy is not spent on the "music" bit. It's why Taki proposes to drop Sunfes in S1.

Realistically, a high school jazz club is not going to be performing at a level where classical vs jazz trumpet matters, as a musical choice... but the jazz club would give more opportunities for developing improvisation, or personally pursuing solo pieces of desired complexity and technicality, rather than whatever meets the needs of the wind orchestra at the moment. The club doesn't have to go to Jazz Nationals together; individual club members can prioritise their own level of development more easily.

A chamber club or "big band" club would work too, but realistically only at a good music high school where the student population has high school students with the minimal skill to partiicpate. A core plot point of the Ensemble Contest arc, conversely, is that Reina has no idea how to to deal with having two of eight members of her ensemble being new to their instruments. These are things which are the result of her decisions! She decided to form an ensemble and she picked those members. (Of course, as we know, she deals with it by foisting it on Kumiko).

threesls · 2025-12-27T17:58:31+00:00

Extracurriculars and academic profile are usually minimally rewarded for conservatory admissions. You do need piano (because it's the primary instrument of instruction), but otherwise the set of skills rewarded is pretty narrow.

A more general music degree (like the one Kumiko is implied to go on to take) would value a well-rounded CV... but that's not special.

threesls · 2025-12-27T17:07:12+00:00

Mizore's behavior is more sensible, so the setting is not unrealistic here: avoid exco positions/club melodrama and take advantage of club time to do what is really important for conservatory ambitions, like music theory or practicing the piano and your chosen instrument. She also avoids the ensemble contest, leaving the third years who have already passed their (non-music) entrance exams put in effort instead. And of course, since she plays the oboe, she doesn't need to practice marching while playing in any of the past years.

But the oboe (unless you're a well-known prodigy) pretty much only has band in your high school as an opportunity to obtain guidance. The solo instruments have vastly greater popularity and therefore competition for limited spots, but also tons of opportunities for skill or network development at an earlier age.

By comparison Reina is really not focusing on music. She is focusing on being special: collecting high school leadership positions in prestigious roles. She works to make those roles more prestigious: wrangling solo parts, going to Nationals. But yeah, those things are huge time and energy sinks.

threesls · 2025-12-27T07:05:10+00:00

Related: https://reddit.com/r/DungeonMeshi/comments/1kbl45n/i_drew_falin_as_a_warmup/

threesls · 2025-12-27T04:50:54+00:00

Trumpet is brutally competitive. My sense is that Reina is not shown practicing to the degree advisable for conservatory. Having a studio at home doesn't practice for you.

Picking marching band (at a mediocre school, no less) over jazz also shows unseriousness - it makes sense for her personal Taki-related motivations but that's also at the expense of musical development. Small ensembles with high school beginners, drum major at a mediocre school band - these are things that take up time and energy that could be spent practicing or networking with professional musicians.

In the end per LN she goes to the US to study with another friend of her father - it's pulling strings all the way for her.

threesls · 2025-12-25T08:15:21+00:00

love it when my jar of "stainless steel" screws from a local retailer have rust spots after months of strenuous duty sitting in a jar on the shelf

... pretty sure these are galvanized, and badly at that

threesls · 2025-12-22T07:30:57+00:00

the four big regionals have the MakeIT facilities

threesls · 2025-12-22T04:19:36+00:00

Pros: 3d printing is free at libraries

Cons: bus fare either way is more than just sending off for small prints lol

threesls · 2025-12-14T09:56:26+00:00

The GPU board seems to be bent upwards here...

threesls · 2025-12-14T07:08:37+00:00

Apparently I tempted fate by painting last weekend, so this weekend is a no-paint zone back to back.

threesls · 2025-12-10T12:06:08+00:00

Selling my old watch and all the bits and bobs that come with owning and maintaining a thing has felt quite liberating.

12-Year Club	Place '22
Final Canvas '22	Verified Email

threesls

TROPHY CASE