OMY-Panasonic Beauty Workshop With Bryan Gan

Singapore
June 2015

Merlion Wayfarer recently attended Bryan Gan's beauty workshop organized by OMY and Panasonic.

Bryan Gan, a former engineer, pursued a career in beauty and alternative healing after leaving his job in the government sector. He is a regular on popular TV programmes like Lady First (女人我最大), and shares home beauty DIY tips, food cures and acu-pressure for anti-ageing in his blogs.

Fresh Air

Bryan shared on the 4-7-8 breathing exercise for better sleep. Pioneered by Arizona-based Dr Andrew Weil, this simple method "takes almost no time, requires no equipment and can be done anywhere".

1. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound.
     
2. Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of 4.
     
3. Hold your breath for a count of 7.
     
4. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of 8.

This is one breath. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle two more times for a total of three breaths. This simple exercise should be performed at least once every morning after waking up and once more every evening before bedtime.

"Practicing regular, mindful breathing can be calming and energizing and can even help with stress-related health problems ranging from panic attacks to digestive disorders."

- Dr Andrew Weil -

For a more detailed explanation, visit Dr Weil's page on "Breathing: Three Exercises".

According to Bryan, our lung capacity decreases as we age. Lung  health governs hair and skin. Hence the importance of good breathing techniques to be practiced daily.

Porcelain Skin

White fungus is good for skin. As this comes in many types, he recommends spending a bit more for the expensive range, costing around S$11 per box. For skin allergies, he demonstrates a clapping and "hammering" exercise to activate the acupoint just above the knee cap (when in a sitting position).

He also uses the Facial Roller to demonstrate several techniques to better skin, stress relief and greater relaxation.

Roll from mouth up to eye about 10-15 times to tighten skin...

To help clear the lympathic system, he shows where the tension can build up along the jawline and along the neck and shoulders...

This is where to massage for relaxation -
Draw an imaginary line from between the 4th-5th finger down to the wrist...

Demonstrating the massage at one go...

He proves his techniques by showing the difference between one side of the face (with the massage) and the other side of the face...

Added with the Compact Facial Steamer, he recommends usage at least once weekly, about 20 cm above the steamer to prevent burns. Splashing with cold water will seal the facial pores and improve circulation and absorption.

Detox The Natural Way

The body accumulates water through a high salt diet and alcohol consumption. Bryan recommends the use of corn silk to remove water retention. Boil the corn silk in water for ten minutes and drink once to twice a week to detox and reduce inflammation.

Some of the other remedies he recommends include:

• When lying down, place your thumb just above the naval. Press down 6 seconds and release. This removes excess water in the digestive system.
    
• Boil yellow chrysanthemum flowers for headaches and white for eyes. Baby bud chrysanthemums (胎菊花) are for detoxification while wild chrysanthemums (野菊花) serve the same purpose, but may be too cooling for some.
      
• Yellow Thai longans are the dessert variety. For insomnia, skin radiance and stagnant blood around the eyes, he recommends taking 3-4 dried black longans and boiling them with red dates.

Panasonic Promotion

For those interested to purchase Panasonic beauty products, here's how you can own one:

Big crowd of ladies waiting to try out the Panasonic beauty products...

The following beauty products are on promotion:

1. Cool Putter EH-SQ10
   Readers' Price: S$109 (including delivery and GST)
   [Usual RRP: S$129]
     
2. Facial roller EH-SP32
   Readers' Price: $159 (including delivery and GST)
   [Usual RRP: S$189]
     
3. Compact Facial Steamer EH-SA31
   Readers' Price: $174 (including delivery and GST)
   [Usual RRP: S$199]

To order the above, 

1. Email to hanwei.chew01@sg.panasonic.com with subject: "Blog readers' promo - Panasonic Beauty (omy.sg)"
2. In the email, indicate the product name, model, and quantity of items you wish to purchase.
3. Indicate:
   -  Your name
   -  Contact number
   -  My blog's URL (MerlionWayfarer.blogspot.sg)

Panasonic Singapore will reply to the emails directly with the payment and delivery details. 

The above promo is valid till 05 July 2015 only, while stocks last.

Simple finger food to end the session...

Thank you, OMY and Panasonic...

Sources

• "A Life Hack For Sleep: The 4-7-8 Breathing Exercise Will Supposedly Put You To Sleep In Just 60 Seconds" by Lizette Borreli (05 May 2015). Vitality, Medical Daily. Retrieved from http://www.medicaldaily.com/life-hack-sleep-4-7-8-breathing-exercise-will-supposedly-put-you-sleep-just-60-332122.
       
• "Breathing: Three Exercises" by Dr Andrew Weil. Spirit & Inspiration, WEIL. Retreived from http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART00521/three-breathing-exercises.html (17 June 2015).
      
• "Can't sleep? Try the 4-7-8 breathing technique that claims to help you nod off in 60 SECONDS" by Ellie Zolfagharifard (04 May 2015). Science, Mail Online. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3067526/Can-t-sleep-4-7-8-breathing-technique-claims-help-nod-60-SECONDS.html.

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San Andreas - Movie With A Fault

Singapore

June 2015

    

San Andreas is a 2015 American 3D disaster film directed by Brad Peyton. Now showing at major cinemas in Singapore, it stars Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson and Paul Giamatti.

    

(Source:  Masti Movie)

   

California Institute of Technology (Caltech) seismologist Lawrence Hayes (Giamatti) discovers the accuracy of his earthquake prediction model when an unknown fault ruptures near the Hoover Dam, starting a series of earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault. Johnson plays Ray, a Los Angeles Fire Department helicopter rescue pilot whose family is caught in the series of earthquakes in downtown San Francisco.
 

(Source:  Free Press Journal)

San Andreas Fault

This is real.
 

Aerial photo of the San Andreas Fault in the Carrizo Plain, a large enclosed grassland plain,
San Luis Obispo County, 160 km northwest of Los Angeles...

(Source:  Wikipedia)

 
The San Andreas Fault, the major fault line running through California, is a continental transform fault that extends roughly 1300 km (810 miles) through California. It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. The fault divides into three segments, each with different characteristics and a different degree of earthquake risk, the most significant being the southern segment, which passes within about 56 km of Los Angeles.
 
The San Andreas Fault is expected to be the source for the "Big One". It has on average a major earthquake every 150 years, but the southernmost segment has not had one since 1680, over 300 years ago. This is why seismologists believe that a major earthquake is overdue.
 

(Source:  Water Replenishment District)

 
The central segment of the San Andreas fault runs in a northwestern direction from Parkfield to Hollister. While the southern section of the fault and the parts through Parkfield experience earthquakes, the rest of the central section of the fault exhibits a phenomenon called aseismic creep, where the fault slips continuously without causing earthquakes.
 
That is mainly because the creeping section slowly and continuously moves, while the locked Northern and Southern sections remain locked. These stuck sections of the fault store energy like springs, slowly building up strain. When they suddenly unzip and slide past one another, a massive earthquake occurs.
 

What Are Plates?

Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth's outer shell is divided into several plates that glide over the mantle, the rocky inner layer above the core. The plates act like a hard and rigid shell compared to Earth's mantle. This strong outer layer is called the lithosphere. From the deepest ocean trench to the tallest mountain, plate tectonics explains the features and movement of Earth's surface in the present and the past.
 

(Source:  Wikipedia)

  

Plates at our planet’s surface move because of the intense heat in the Earth’s core that causes molten rock in the mantle layer to move. It moves in a pattern called a convection cell that forms when warm material rises, cools, and eventually sink down. As the cooled material sinks down, it is warmed and rises again.
 
Most geologic activity stems from the interplay where the plates meet or divide. The movement of the plates creates three types of tectonic boundaries: convergent, where plates move into one another; divergent, where plates move apart; and transform, where plates move sideways in relation to each other.
 

(Source:  Ocean Explorer)

Divergent Boundaries

A divergent boundary occurs when two tectonic plates move away from each other. Along these boundaries, lava spews from long fissures and geysers spurt super-heated water. Frequent earthquakes strike along the rift. Beneath the rift, magma - molten rock - rises from the mantle. It oozes up into the gap and hardens into solid rock, forming new crust on the torn edges of the plates. Magma from the mantle solidifies into basalt, a dark, dense rock that underlies the ocean floor. With this, oceanic crust, made of basalt, is created at divergent boundaries.
 
On land, giant troughs such as the Great Rift Valley in Africa form where plates are tugged apart. If the plates there continue to diverge, millions of years from now eastern Africa will split from the continent to form a new landmass. A mid-ocean ridge would then mark the boundary between the plates.
 

(Source:  msafiri)

Convergent Boundaries

At a convergent boundary, the impact of the two colliding plates buckles the edge of one or both plates up into a rugged mountain range, and sometimes bends the other down into a deep seafloor trench. A chain of volcanoes often forms parallel to the boundary, to the mountain range, and to the trench. Powerful earthquakes shake a wide area on both sides of the boundary.
 
If one of the colliding plates is topped with oceanic crust, it is forced down into the mantle where it begins to melt. Magma rises into and through the other plate, solidifying into new crust. Magma formed from melting plates solidifies into granite, a light colored, low-density rock that makes up the continents, forming continental crust made of granite, while at the same time, destroying oceanic crust.
 
An example of a convergent boundary is when India and Asia crashed about 55 million years ago, slowly giving rise to the Himalayas, the highest mountain system on Earth. At ocean-ocean convergences, where one plate usually dives beneath the other, deep trenches like the Mariana Trench in the North Pacific Ocean, the deepest point on Earth, are formed. These types of collisions can also lead to underwater volcanoes that eventually build up into island arcs like Japan.
 

(Source:  Wikipedia)

Transform Boundaries

A transform plate boundary when two plates slide past each other. Rocks that line the boundary are pulverized as the plates grind along, creating a linear fault valley or undersea canyon. As the plates alternately jam and jump against each other, earthquakes rattle through a wide boundary zone. In contrast to convergent and divergent boundaries, no magma is formed. Thus, crust is cracked and broken at transform margins, but is not created or destroyed.
 
The San Andreas Fault in California is an example of a transform boundary, where two plates grind past each other along what are called strike-slip faults. These boundaries do not produce spectacular features like mountains or oceans, but the halting motion often triggers large earthquakes, such as the 1906 one that devastated San Francisco.
 

(Source:  Wikipedia)

 
   

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Science Centre - Explore New Horizons At The Revamped Omni-Theatre

Science Centre Singapore

Jurong East

West, Singapore

May 2015

The Science Centre Singapore Omni-Theatre reopens on 30 May 2015. Digitally enhanced with the world's latest 8K digital fulldome system, it allows you, the theatre goer, to have a digitally immersive experience by traveling beyond physical boundaries to remote locations on Earth and the solar system in the comfort of your seat.

On Southeast Asia's largest seamless some screen, you can enjoy a selection of digital fulldome movies and "live" shows with topical real-time presentations conducted by knowledgeable science educators. Each show is introduced with high-resolution graphics, along with real-time images from the American Museum of Natural History and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

With this new technology, science educators can now have full control over where they want to bring their audiences, what they want to show, and through this learning journey, introduce them to space science and exploration.

The host welcoming all guests to the revamped experience...

A chaotic cluster of green words - all the man-made satellites |
that are roaming round the earth at this very moment...

Watch the Earth's rotation on its axis with the orbiting satellites...

Move on to the Moon, Earth's very own satellite, including the "dark side" that faces space...

Singapore at night, one bright blob with smaller dots where HDB estates are located
and yellow light streamers for roads...

Seconds later, be zapped to the tallest peaks on Earth
and see Mount Everest in person at the Himalayas...

Mars

The hue from the "Red Planet" comes from "rusty" surface rich in iron oxide formed from surface iron reacting with oxygen in the air and liquid water from long ago to create a film of iron oxide.

 

Located along the equator of Mars, on the east side of the Tharsis Bulge, the Valles Marineris (Latin for Mariner Valleys) stretches for nearly a fifth of the planet’s circumference. At more than 4,000 km, 200 km wide and up to 10 km deep, the rift system is one of the largest canyons of the Solar System, even larger than Earth's Grand Canyon in the United States.

Jupiter

Jupiter is a gas giant planet. Its atmosphere is made up of mostly hydrogen gas and helium gas, just like the sun. The planet's surface is covered in thick red, brown, yellow and white clouds.

The Great Red Spot is a giant, spinning storm in Jupiter's atmosphere. It is like a hurricane on Earth, but it is much larger. Jupiter's Great Red Spot is more than twice the size of Earth! Winds inside this storm reach speeds of about 270 miles per hour. Unlike hurricanes and cyclones on Earth, which come and go in a matter of days, this iconic oval has endured for centuries.

Saturn

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. its rings are the most extensive planetary ring system of any planet in the Solar System. They consist of countless small particles, ranging in size from micrometres to metres, that orbit about Saturn. The ring particles are made almost entirely of water ice, with a trace component of rocky material.

From a different angle, the rings are hardly visible...

Neptune

Neptune, another gas giant, is the eighth planet from the Sun and is the most distant planet from the Sun in our Solar System. The atmosphere of Neptune is made of hydrogen and helium, with some methane. The methane absorbs red light, which makes the planet appear a lovely blue. High, thin clouds drift in the upper atmosphere.

Seen along its orbital path around the Sun...

Beyond Our Solar System

There are other galaxies and globular clusters,
a spherical collection of stars that orbits a galactic core as a satellite...

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System. Its name "milky" is derived from its appearance as a dim glowing band arching across the night sky...

The Butterfly Cluster (also known as Messier 6 or NGC 6405) is a bright open star cluster of some 12 light-years across, located around 1,600 light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation of Scorpius (the Scorpion). Its name derives from the vague resemblance of its shape to a butterfly...

Digital Fulldome Movie

In Back To The Moon, a 40-minute Digital Fulldome Movie, teams around the world are competing for a chance to win the Google Lunar X Prize of $20 million, the largest incentivized prize in history In a renewed race to the moon. To qualify, teams must land a robotic spacecraft on the moon, navigate 300 metres over the lunar surface, and send videos, images and data back to Earth.

Tickets are priced at $14 for Digital Movies / Live Shows and $12 for IMAX movies. For more details, including the full list of movies and shows, check out the website for Science Centre Singapore's Omni-Theatre.

"This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

- Neil Armstrong -

 

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Lai Wah Restaurant - Tucked Away Traditional Cantonese Cuisine

Bendemeer
North-East, Singapore
May 2015

In the corner of the quiet enclave called Bendemeer, just minutes away from the scenic Kallang River and the nearby new flats and spanking multi-storey carpark, lies a quiet restaurant tucked away in the throes of time.

External facade of restaurant with its white fluorescent tube lights...

The waitresses here are mostly in their 50s, if not 60s or even older. To them, all the temp staff are usually "Ah Boy", " Xiao Di", "Ah Girl" or "Xiao Mei". Service here is basic, unless you're a regular, that is when they will talk to you mostly non-stop in Cantonese.

Old-style interior with cushioned chairs and curtains with drapes...

The dishes here are traditional Cantonese. Quite a few dishes have since been replicated by other restaurants all over Singapore.

Lai Wah's traditional Roast Chicken recipe since 1963. 
For best taste, dip it in a little of the sea salt provided...

Who says these golden brown mantou can only be eaten with thick crab gravy? 
By themselves, they are freshly fragrant and crispy to the bite. One is definitely not enough...

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