Quispiam loquor

Bukit Batok's 'Mt Fuji'

2012-02-11T10:37:00.003+08:00

For a lot of people, Bukit Batok still remains a very confusing area to navigate. That's probably because Bukit Batok is divided into 2 separate 'zones' - Bukit Bukit and Bukit Gombak. The town is divided by a small hilly ridge which completely separates the precinct into two distinct zones.

Today , the 2 zones are connected by roads skirting both ends of the ridge as well as the MRT track that tunnels through the ridge itself.
When I am asked which part of Bukit Batok I live in, my reply would be 'across from the MRT station'. But in the past, I would say 'next to the Fuji Hill'.

Yes, there is a officially named "Fuji Hill' located at Bukit Batok.
Though today most residents do not call it by this name, it was a landmark in the early 1990s.
I guess it's a bit of an embarrassment to call it" Fuji'
Today, Fuji Hill is covered by trees and looks like any other park. It is my neighbourhood park.

Bukit Batok New Town is built on a hilly area and one of those hills left remaining where it stood was commonly referred to as Fuji Hill due to its conical shape.
Here is an old picture of the hill without its covering of trees found today. Its easy to see why people called it such in the earlier days.

Fuji Hill around 1980, before someone went berserk with tree planting

The road in front of this hill (in the picture above) is Bukit Batok St 21. The wayang stage on the right stands where the chinese temple complexes are located today.

Related blogs:
My neighbourhood park
Bukit Batok, my neigbourhood

Double Rainbow

2012-01-21T20:17:00.001+08:00

Auspicious sighting? A double rainbow!

The pot of gold must be at Guilin View Condominium !

A sign of the covenant between Me and the Earth.

Sunday Rantings. 15 Jan 2012.

2012-01-15T09:01:00.000+08:00

Frontpage: Headline today was the presidential election in Taiwan. Candidate Ma won. Boring.

Home Pg 13. DEAD BOY'S PARENTS WANT ROAD MADE SAFER.
Schoolboy Lee Yu Heng was tragically killed by a speeding vehicle while crossing the street near his school last Friday.
His grieving parents started a petition to get answers from the school and the MOE. "We are angry and we want answers," said his father Mr Lee. We understand the grief that the Lees are going through with their loss.

But in his confused state, I think he is barking up the wrong tree. It is not the school's fault. It is more likely the fault of the driver, than the school authorities in failing to prevent the situation from happening. Perhaps the petition should go to the Traffic Police or LTA instead.

We are all very familiar with the state of mind of local motorists. Many have that "king of the road' attitude and always believe they are the better driver than the others out there. The other drivers are always inconsiderate and reckless and lousy drivers but not themselves.

From my own observation, the school zone sign is routinely ignored. I live along a street with FOUR schools beside each other. The school zone sign is prominently display, but it makes NO difference. Buses, cars and motorcycles speed through the street with utter disregard to the sign. It's just another thoroughfare to them. No motorists make any attempt to slow down along this stretch.

I once posted a photo of that school zone sign in a tongue-in-cheek blog called 'Useless Signs". I received a comment from a reader calling it a "stupid and boring!" photo. That's the sad attitude some people have and so I don't wonder why such accidents happen.

Pg 29. SORRY IS MY HARDEST WORD.
Rachel Chang has a nice lighthearted take on the recent spew of apologies being meted out. Go read her bit about her sorry situations.

Seems true that we have been getting lots of sorry people lately.
From LHL's election apology to SMRT, DBS, PUB, from politicians Seng Harn Tong to Ministers Yacoob and Grace Fu. Seems a whole slew of high profiled people are apologizing.
In some cases though, the apologies come with a few 'buts', in other words, a non-apology apology.
Seems Singapore is in a very sorry state at the moment.

* Sunday Rantings are my thoughts on a lazy Sunday morning after reading the Sunday papers. This may or may not be a regular feature depends on whether I have the energy after breakfast. Also Sunday Mass has a calming effect, so the more I pay attention to the sermons, the less I rant. The long rants probably mean I fell asleep during Mass.

Sunday rantings - 8 Jan 2012

2012-01-08T14:48:00.002+08:00

DON'T RAIN ON MY PARADE, PLEASE!
Urghh! What a disappointment for me!
Today all 162 pachyderms from the Elephant Parade are gathered at one spot at the Botanic Garden for public showing and it has to rain on the parade. I am still hoping it will clear by afternoon though the sky doesn't look so inviting. There goes my video opportunity.

Anyway, for those of you who also can't make it today, it'll be at the Eco garden near Botanic Garden MRT entrance till 11 Jan 2012. (9 am till 8pm) Sadly I got lots of work these few days and so today was my only chance, sob sob.

Luckily, thanks to my sister Sue, I have this for my Christmas present.

POLICE CLARIFY RULES ON CLUSTER CYCLING
Finally, after years of complaints and virtual non-replies, the Traffic Police (TP) has clarified the rules for cyclists.

Rule 7(1) - prohibits a cyclist from riding on the right right of another vehicle (which is not another bicycle) unless the cyclist is attempting to overtake that vehicle.

Rule 7(2) - allows for only two cyclists to ride abreast in the same direction on a public road, except when overtaking. If three or more cyclists are riding in a group, they are required to ride in pairs or in single file.

Rule 8 - cyclists should keep to the left-hand edge of the roadway and not in a manner as to obstruct other vehicles moving at a faster speed.

Rule 10 - requires cyclists to cycle in an orderly manner and with due regard for the safety of others.

All well and good, and this is a step in the right direction.
However, I am not a cyclist. I am a pedestrian.
My own concern is with Rule 28. When is the TP going to enforce Rule 28 ???
Rule 28 needs to be clarified asap. My life is in danger otherwise.

Rule 28 is supposed to say cyclists are not allowed to ride on the pavement.
Supt Ho Yenn Dar, can you come again, please.

DEEJAY TO CHAMPION STROKE PREVENTION.
ROTFLOL ! DJ Rod Monteiro suffered an acute stroke last week while at work.
Technically, he's my colleague at work (different divisions) so I wish him a very speedy recovery.

But (not laughing at him, I must clarify), it is so funny that some party (no mention of whom) has made him the Ambassador for Stroke Prevention!
It's so laughable because it's getting someone who did not do anything to PREVENT his own condition to advise people about stroke prevention?
It's like asking OJ Simpson to talk about knife safety or Saw Phaik Hwa to do MRT crowd control during peak hours...
He is the antithesis of stroke PREVENTION.
Instead he should volunteer as a case study for POOR STROKE PREVENTION attitudes.
I await his learned wisdoms.

DBS BANK ADVISES CUSTOMERS TO CHANGE PASSWORDS
I am happy that DBS managed to handle the incidences of unauthorized withdrawals in an expeditious and transparent manner. Kudos to them.
What I didn't particularly like was the spokespersons' suggestions that we are responsible to regularly change our passwords. It seems he's throwing the onus of responsibility back to the customer.
It my fault if I don't change my password?
If a masked robber cames in and takes the money from your cashier, it's my fault also because I was standing in the queue?
DBS was robbed, not me! You lost the money from your bank by some virtual masked robber!
My money is secured with your bank and you owe me. It's your responsibility for the loss.

* Sunday Rantings are my thoughts on a lazy Sunday morning after reading the Sunday papers. This may or may not be a regular feature depends on whether I have the energy after breakfast. Also Sunday Mass has a calming effect, so the more I pay attention to the sermons, the less I rant. The long rants probably mean I fell asleep during Mass.

p.s. By the way, if you noticed I haven't been updating this blog, it's because I've been focusing on my heritage blog on my old homestead Princess Elizabeth Estate (here). But I'll be here regularly i assure you. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Us against them, again?

2011-12-30T10:07:00.000+08:00

I woke this morning to read some pretty disturbing development in the Home section of the dailies.
"First time curbs placed on 24-hour restaurants here" read the sub heading.

I am not a patron of the A&A Restaurant nor its neighbors Azya Restaurant and Beancurd City. Neither am I associated with the Euphony Gardens condo. In fact, I don't even know where these places are located in the Sembawang area.

The gist of the news report is NEA's imposition of restriction on the operating hours of these establishments from being opened 24 hours to mandatory closure from 10.30pm to 6 am each day.
This was due to complaints from nearby residents about the noise, littering and parking issues supposedly caused by patrons of these food establishment.

Being 'open air' eating establishments, I am sure the shop owners have little control over these issues and rightly do not have any jurisdiction over it. Yet these very reasons are cited by NEA for its ruling.
Even their MP Lee Bee Wah seems more pre-disposed towards the residents than to the plight of the shop owners. "Eateries can move elsewhere, but you cannot ask the residents to uproot".
Another feeble attempt to resolve issues by throwing out the baby with the bath water.

My concern here is the rising incidences of "us against them" problems that seem to be more prevalent nowadays. Just last week, a private estate at the west coast area complained about heavy vehicle traffic driving through 'their' estate and demanded that their MP and the authorities impose restrictions. Guess what happened?

Are we seeing more elitist attitudes being condoned? What happened to helping entrepreneurs and small start ups? Who's standing up for the minority? Or do residents prefer cookie cutter malls where everything is kitschy and ordered inside?

We already have 'over-policies' by so many governmental authorities. People complain about it yet when they don't like something they use this strong arm tactic to impose their will.
Is this right? Are we becoming a more generous society?

Sadly, I guess I gotta live with this. I am one of the 39.9%. Sigh.

Related links:
Straits Times

Hot and under fire (again)

2011-12-24T08:05:00.000+08:00

Please note the term fire here is used figuratively, as we are aware the subject is a bit sensitive to 'fire'. (For the uninitiated, the Free Online Dictionary defines Fire as 1. combustion, etc ...and.. 5. A severe test, trial, or torment.) And please note that this is not to flame anyone here, it's just my own opinion.

MP Mr Seng Harn Tong went on blogTV public and using his 15 mins of fame lambasted Malay and Indian MRT staff as not having the ability to speak proper English, or as he said it himself "because some staff are Malay, they are Indians, they cannot converse in English good, well enough".

Not surprising are the immediate 'feedback' from the public over his insensitive remarks. What was most surprising was that his fellow MIW quickly distanced themselves by coming out and firing him from all sides. Again today, in the papers he got grilled and roasted by other fellow MIWs.

Yes, he made an apology.
But an apology that to me sucks.
If you are going to apologize and say sorry, please don't say sorry, but...
Whether you are Chinese educated or Cambridge trained does not mitigate an apology.
Just say sorry and be sincere about it.
Mistake made, say sorry, no buts, no ifs.

If you do that sincerely, nobody will fire you.

Sunday Rantings. 18 Dec 2011.

2011-12-18T15:18:00.001+08:00

As expected, after the 3 times failure of the rail operator within this same week, I am joined not just by a chorus but a full choir of rants this weekend.

FRONT PAGE: PM ORDERS INQUIRY AS TRAINS BREAK DOWN AGAIN
First time, we would put it to bad luck. We accept things do breakdown. Just bad luck if it happens to you.
Second time, we are irritated and frustration goes up. You should have known better, ete, etc,
Third strike, you're out! No excuses can justify the lack of vigilance. Not when it happens 3 times in 4 days.

The rail disruptions affected me yesterday.
My trip from Bukit Batok to Novena took 2 hours instead of 40 minutes.
This included being 'de-trained' at Toa Payoh where the line for the bridging buses were snaking 200meters long! Frustrated commuters switching over to the normal bus services were not any better due to the sudden surge of commuters overloading the system.

I was one of those who had no choice but to join the line at Toa Payoh.

SMRT CEO Saw Phaik Hwa should shake off her complacency, get off her high horse and truly realise the frustration of commuters. "I can't see anything significant... People can board trains, its whether they choose to..." does not bode well for your so call empathies with commuters' frustration over the bad service.

Personally, I feel Saw is not the right person for the job. Her specialty is in Retail and she has proven this magnificently by making the retail component of the SMRT revenues a whopping 45% of the profits it generated. But SMRT is not a retailer! Its core business is transportation! You are a people mover system, first and last.

Here's a little trivia I'll confess to you.
Saw Phaik Hwa was my classmate. We were in the same Pre-U batch in school.
As an ex-classmate, I wish her all the best in getting the system to work, but as a commuter, I think maybe someone else who specializes in transit might be more suitable.

Here's another bit of interesting facts I picked up reading the reports and complaints.
When the commuters were complaining of packed trains, SMRT used the figure 1400 per train as the norm. When the trains got stuck the last few days, this figure mysteriously went down to 1000 per train..?
I check Wikipedia and the stated maximum capacity for the train was 1920.
Interesting? Different figures are used for different justifications?

PAGE 35 THINK: WHEN DOCTORS INVOKE GOD'S WILL
Dr Lee's amoral piece on why doctors cop out when they defer decisions to 'euthanize' patients.
However, I must thoroughly disagree with Dr Lee's morality.
She may not believe in a God but that does not give anyone including medical professionals the right as well to decide who lives or who dies. By saying you won't consign people to further suffering, you are already playing God.

It's a very slippery slope when one starts to be firm in deciding who is normal and who is not; who is suffering terminally and don't deserve to live; and that those suffering or who are not 'normal' should be put out of their misery?
Using our reasoning, our logic and our innate moral sense does not necessarily mean we should take 'God's will' out of the equation. I am a Catholic and I believe in God's will.

Page 34 YOUR LETTERS: IT'S LEGAL TO RIDE TWO ABREAST
Two letters on the same issue this week.
Never a week goes by without someone highlighting the bicycle/pedestrian, bicycle/motorist issue.
Someone in authority must take up the issue and clarify matters. LTA? SPF?
Nobody seems to want to touch this hot potato despite the endless calls in the weeklies.

* Sunday Rantings are my thoughts on a lazy Sunday morning after reading the Sunday papers. This may or may not be a regular feature depends on whether I have the energy after breakfast. Also Sunday Mass has a calming effect, so the more I pay attention to the sermons, the less I rant. The long rants probably mean I fell asleep during Mass.

My first job.

2011-12-18T01:13:00.002+08:00

I had my first full time paying job when I was 18 on completion of my GCE A levels.
While most of my other classmates were being drafted into the army for their National Service (NS) stint, I was starting on a new phase in my life.

I joined Lockheed Aircraft Company as a trainee aircraft mechanic.
In 1973, Singapore embarked on a new economic front and focused on building up its fledgling aviation industry. Lockheed Aircraft had won a contract to refurbish 40 used Douglas Skyhawk aircraft from the US Navy for the RSAF. They offered an apprenticeship scheme which included diploma study at the Singapore Polytechnic. I was one of the selected candidates. Joining this scheme deferred me from my NS liabilities.

At Lockheed, which was based at both Seletar and Changi Air Bases, I had to undergo training for 2 years with an intensive familiarisation course before being qualified to work on the Skyhawk project. This included getting through all the theoretical and practical tests conducted both by the company and the Dept of Civil Aviation (now called CAAS). It was grueling!

These are some of the old certificates which I have kept.

On completion, I qualified as a mechanic to work on the Douglas A4 Skyhawk powerplants (i.e. engines) and airframes. We were some of the first local aircraft mechanics. Most of the experienced guys came from the Philippines, Taiwan or India.

We converted these to
these!

From the US Navy's A4B to the RSAF A4S.

Unfortunately, in the late 1970s, an event called the Arab Oil Embargo occurred resulting in several casualties in the aviation industry. Lockheed Aircraft was one of those badly hit.... but that's another story, ...another blog in future.

Photography as my hobby - Part 3 Been there done that

2011-12-17T20:03:00.003+08:00

As my dads' interest waned, I 'inherited' his cameras. His favorites were the Polaroid Land camera and the twin lens Rolleiflex but what I wanted was only his SLR - the single lens reflex camera. It was an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II.

The Asahi Pentax was the camera that revolutionized two things.
It was the 1st SLR camera. It used a prism to reflect the image directly to your eyes and you saw exactly what the lens saw. Secondly, it had the 1st built-in TTL (through the lens) exposure metering. This meant you not only saw the picture you are going to shoot but could also adjust the exposure settings on-the-fly.
Today, all these are taken for granted but at that time it was at the leading edge of camera technology.

For years this was the only camera I used. I bought extra lenses like the 35mm wide angle and 135mm telephoto, which was all I could afford at that time.

In secondary school, I started the Photo Club and persuaded the Principal, Mr Rudy Mosbergen, to allow the Photo Club to take the annual class photos for the school. This was previously done by a professional and we explained that we could do the job not only cheaper but the profits from selling the class photos to students would go towards buying equipment for the Photo Club. All the class photos were shot using my Asahi Pentax camera.

After my school and college days, I continued to upgrade my equipment and by this time Japanese manufacturers had all but cornered the camera market. Going into adulthood and working meant more disposal cash for equipment purchases.
By then, I had become a Nikon die-hard.

The Nikkormat FTn was my 1st Nikon

My Nikon FM was a spare camera

Eventually my top end camera was the Nikon F2Sb with motor drive.

In November 1984, an event was to happen that would thereafter change my outlook towards my photography hobby. Something that was so momentous, so consequential, that I was not to take up photography again for almost 2 decades - I got married!

In Part IV, the final part, the digital re-introduction to my hobby in photography.

Related links:
Part 1 - The beginnings
Part 2 - Developing skills

Photography as my hobby - Part 2 Developing skills

2011-12-17T19:19:00.000+08:00

My dad was a photography enthusiast. In his days, he dabbled in cinematography and was an avid outdoor photographer. He picked up his skills working for a professional studio in Chinatown in his youth and it became his life long passion. I guess his enthusiasm rubbed off a little on me but I wasn't all that interested at that time, I remembered.

I became a little more interested only after he set up a little darkroom in our small flat at Princess Elizabeth Estate. He converted the tiny bathroom into his darkroom. That resulted in our toilet having to become the toilet cum bathroom.

As a young boy, I was fascinated with how the mixture of chemicals together brought out the images on paper. Voila, photographs! The standard 'recipe' at that time was a formula called Kodak D-76. To make the formula was like a chemistry lesson. You had to weigh chemicals in the correct proportion, mix it with filtered water and ensure correct temperatures using ice. In those days, there were no pre-mixed formulas. You had to mix your own developers, stop-baths and fixers. It was a skill that would become useful as I grew into my teens years.

My own darkroom was similar to this set up.

In my teens, the family moved out of the tiny flat into a house at Fuyong Estate.
Having more space now, I persuaded my dad to build me a new darkroom. It was purposed built with proper ventilation and running water and of course, completely light-tight.

I had a modern colour enlarger called the Durst F60.
You learned to 'read' a colour negative and correct color before printing.

In the meanwhile, as my interest grew, I picked up more skills along the way.
I attended colour photography and processing courses ran by the Lembaga Gerakan Pelajaran Dewasa. How many of you can remember that term Lembaga?
The LGPD was the Adult Education Board and they had a studio and darkroom facilities at the Fort Canning Cultural Centre. I was trained by Mr Wang Su Fah, a local photographer.

I also joined the Photographic Society of Singapore and mingled with young people like David Tay, Foo Tee Jun and Yip Cheong Fun. You may not recognize these names now but they were mini celebrities in the local photography scene those days. Joining special interest groups allowed you to pick up tips and pointers from the more experienced. However, I left after some time as I found that most tended to focus on the arty-farty stuff which was a genre which I disliked. Their work tended to look like chinese art in photos. My own preference was for more candid social events. My idol at that time was a German named Helmut Newton.

Apologies if this article sounds more like an autobiography.
My next blog will focus on the equipment I collected and then finally gave away.

Related links:
Part 1 - The beginnings
Part 3 - Been There Done That

Photography as my hobby - Part 1 The beginnings

2011-12-17T17:35:00.000+08:00

My interest in photography started when I was given my first camera, a Kodak Brownie 127 on my 10th birthday back in 1965. It was a simple little plastic box camera but to me it was the coolest gadget ever.

It literally used a roll of film in a protective light-proof wrapper which you had to carefully unroll to avoid accidental exposure and fit onto the rollers inside the camera. As you took each picture, you had to turn the rollers manually to advance the film.

It was the earliest WYSIWYG before the computer era termed it "What you see is what you get!" - there were no adjustments possible. You just pressed the shutter and hope for the best. Only 12 pictures could be taken with a roll.

Photography during my young days was an expensive hobby. That's probably the reason why so few amateur photos of those days are around now. Most people would balk at the cost of developing and printing photos. You were charged for both developing the negatives and printing the photographs.

A black and white 'postcard' size photo would cost about 40 cents and a colored print would be $2! Multiplied by 12 in each roll, it was a fortune in those days. So each and every picture was always considered carefully before being snapped! Most pictures would actually be printed in 'half' postcard size, approximately 2-1/2" X 3-1/2" which would be around 20 cents each.

Pictures taken with those pinhole cameras, which was what it really was, was quite acceptable. I still have some pictures taken with that camera with me today. Some of which I have posted in another blog about my old housing estate (see the b&w shots taken here). This is a picture taken with that camera.

A couple of years into using my Brownie 127, I was given an 'upgrade'.

My dad bought me a Kodak Instamatic camera!

The Kodak Instamatic was 'hi-tech' - it used a pre-loaded film cartridge instead of roll films. You could now get 20 exposures from each cartridge, and the neatest thing was that it had the latest photographic technology - Flash Cubes! The disposable flash cubes had 4 flashes and you could take pictures indoors now.

In my next blogs, I will tell you how I progressed to developing and printing my own photos, buying my first SLR camera and finally going digital in part III.

The house always wins.

2011-12-14T11:21:00.006+08:00

Here's an article in Yahoo today that you might be interested in reading, especially if you have that occasional itch to try your luck at the casinos.

Click here to read the whole article.

Doesn't actually say much more than what we already know. That the casinos always wins.

In the Yahoo writeup, they cite the report from Wynn Las Vegas Casino which stated that their average take from each gaming table was US$7117 per day, while the slot machines were US$273 per day. They win at every game everyday!

Mathematically, the odds are always in their favor.

The funny thing about this is that some casinos in the US actually brazenly advertise these odds in full glare. Gullible gamblers, mainly tourists like you and me, never stop to think of the implications.

In Las Vegas, to attract customers, some casinos outrightly announce 98% payouts at their joints. What gullible people don't realize is what they are really saying is that the casinos will always earn $2 out of every $100 you play. The longer you play the more they win!

Yet, we are still so gullible that that we always think we have an extremely HIGH chance (98% wow!) of getting back our money! The old adage of "There's one born everyday".

I have not been to the casinos at MBS nor RWS yet but I have been to Las Vegas six times. Gosh, how I miss Las Vegas. Was last there in 1997.
OMG! That's like so 20th century !
The Bellagio and Venetian were not even built then!

In fact when I was last there, they were filming Con-Air and I saw them filming the part where they wrecked the old Dunes Hotel by crashing the plane into the building! Who remembers Nicholas Cage in ConAir? The Dunes Hotel was imploded later to build the new Venetian Hotel.

Back in my dinosaur era, I made an annual trip to Las Vegas. Not to gamble but to attend the COMDEX IT convention. That was the largest gathering of IT people at that time.

I miss Las Vegas. I wanna go back there! sob, sob.

I was a 'Super Rider'.

2011-12-13T14:44:00.001+08:00

Sounds like a piece about motorcycles and the thrill of speed?
No, the term was used by the then transit operator, MRT Corporation and the Land Transport Authority (LTA), when they were looking for volunteers to test the new contact-less payment cards in 2000.
I volunteered and was given this.

Volunteers were known as "Super Riders' and we had to make a minimum of five trips on the train each week. To make it worth our while, we were given a 10% rebate for all our trips at the end of the test period from Sept 2000 to Feb 2001, We were also entitled to a special commemorative contact-less card when it the system was launched in 2002.

After the initial MRT tests, the scheme was extended to include the contact-less system on buses. There were more problems I remembered using it on the buses as some drivers at that time were still not familiar with the new cards.

The contact-less system was introduced in 2002 and was called EZ-Link. This was been replaced in 2009 with the current EZ-Link CEPAS card which can be used for more mercantile transactions.

The old magnetic store value card

The new EZLink CEPAS fare card.

Related links:
Shitty service replacing my MRT card.

Hillview Railway Bridge Revisited

2011-12-12T20:49:00.002+08:00

Today, on my way to Woodlands, I stopped by Hillview Road to re-visit the site of the old railway bridge which was dismantled on 26 Nov 2011.
I was just curious to know if any further removal of the remnants took place.

The Hillview Railway Bridge July 2011

The bridge was dismantled on 26 Nov 2011.

Bridge removed with only the collision barrier remaning (26 Nov 2011)

The collision barrier removed (12 Dec 2011)

Photo taken 12 Dec 2011

The height warning gantry still remains.

It's so typical of the way the various government bodies function.
One is responsible for dismantling the bridge, another to remove the collision barrier and finally some other has to remove the height warning gantry.
Wouldn't you expect that a coordinated tender to remove all three at one go?

I would expect the next development would be the widening of Hillview Road once the Hillview MRT station situated there is completed by the middle of 2012.

Related links:
Passing of an era.

Another MRT mystery?

2011-12-08T21:41:00.006+08:00

I was catching up online on the current hot issues about the impending Comfort Taxi fare hikes when I came across an article I had missed a few days ago.
This article left me a bit confused and bewildered and I actually had to read it a couple of times to make sure I understood it correctly.
To tell you the truth, I still don't quite get it.

Here it is, I ask you to read it and then explain to me, if anyone can.
It's from the Channelnewsasia.com online site published on 2 Dec 2011.

(Please click on article to enlarge)

The good news is that MRT will be adding more trips to alleviate the expected Christmas shopping crowds and New Year's day revelers.
My head is spinning with this good news because I can't rationalize how are they able to do this?

I distinctly remember all the hoopla over the over-crowding issues and the letters from frustrated commuters over the issue. The replies from the operators ranged from "the train ware at full capacity, the signaling equipment is unable to cope, new trains have been ordered but will progressively be installed, to expect delays for 3 to 5 years, etc etc..."

Now I am confused as to how they can increase the trips and cut train arrival interval only for Christmas and the New Year periods.
WHY CAN'T THEY DO THIS ON A DAILY BASIS?
Commuters don't need to be packed like sardines going home from work each day.

Christmas present for my friends

2011-12-08T09:21:00.004+08:00

Christmas is but once a year as they say.
It's about celebrations, it's about feasting, it's about exchanging, giving and receiving presents,
It's about Church and Midnight Mass, it's about caroling and that warm gushy feeling.
But most of all, Christmas is always about family and friends.

Each year around this time, I usually put out my Christmas greeting to all my friends.
The past 2 years via video. I tried to do one last week but the mood and the street lights seems so insipid this year that I decided against it. Maybe I should re-hash last year's video? That the message is perennial and never changing helps.

Some friends told me that my video last year was a touch cynical. I apologize.
I realize that not everyone is Christian and they can celebrate Christmas in any way they prefer.
After all, the true message of Christmas is that God sent his Savior for everyone, not just believers.

Last year was a turning point for me. I joined the ranks of the unemployed for a while. At my age, it was a period of anxiety, but it allowed me to deeply reflect and take stock of my present state.
I can't stop the world and get off, but I decided that I didn't need to keep chasing it either.

So my life is now on a slower pace. I stop to smell the flowers.
I go around photographing places, bridges and elephants; not arty-farty stuff but pictures I like.
My wife noticed a change as well. Our lives and our bond are much stronger for it.
I am a much happier person.

This year, I decided more than just send a Christmas greeting, I am giving all my friends a Christmas present. Not something wrapped in a tinseled box but hopefully just as colorful.
I am giving my time to anyone who want or need it. I am giving myself for you.

Here is your claim check for your present :

I am here for you. Call me. There are no conditions attached.

A Happy and Blessed Christmas to all.

p.s. if you drink this Christmas, don't drive, call for sleigh ride home. ok?

Sunday Rantings. 7 Dec 2011

2011-12-07T09:10:00.008+08:00

Woke up feeling less than a million dollars, more like 30 cents worth.
Still so tired after spending the whole of yesterday at my in-law catching up with the latest family gossips.
Hiya, what to do. It's wifey's choice and I just had to be there too.
At least, I managed to do a video shoot of the Thomson Novena area in between listening to "why she so like that?.. and why like that one??"

Boy I am grouchy this morning. Apologies.
All I heard of Fr John Paul's sermon was something about going fishing. Mea Culpa.
Here's my grouch on this morning's papers:

WORST MORNING COMMUTE: CLEMENTI
Confirmed what I predicted last Sunday about the Redhill SERS resettlement.
Clementi motorists now take 27 mins to do what is a 10 mins ride to town.
Building an expressway will reduce commute time (by 30% again? save 8 mins?)
Watch out Kim Tian residents. You are next in line on the target. Guaranteed!

STARHUB REPLIES TO 2ND COMPLAINT THIS WEEK:
"According to OUR terms and conditions, we MAY make adjustments..changes..charges.."
Might as well not have a contract if its only binding to us and not you.

BETTER TAXI SERVICE?
CASE asks for justification.
Commuters: Revised fares not the answer.
Commuter: Did Comfort consider reducing cab rentals instead?

Reduce rentals? you got to be kidding.
The 'cooperative company' survives not on the cabby's fare takings but on the rental!
When all the grumblings over the impending cab fare hike and when the pasengers settle down to the new norm, I will put my bets down confidently that cab rentals will be increase not reduced!
After all, the cabbies would be earning more from the increased fares, right?. Savvy?

SINGAPORE NOW 6th MOST EXPENSIVE CITY
2nd knock this week following the "Singapore now 5th least corrupt country , down from 1st position."
Expect more retrenchments as 1-2% GDP will be the norm, say PM.
As public bonuses are tied to GDP, they'll get reduced bonuses during this downturn.
Guess you can't have your cake and eat it all the time, no cream this round.

Okay, gotta run. Going off to work.
Nevertheless, Have a nice day.

* Sunday Rantings are my thoughts on a lazy Sunday morning after reading the Sunday papers. This may or may not be a regular feature depends on whether I have the energy after breakfast. Also Sunday Mass has a calming effect, so the more I pay attention to the sermons, the less I rant. The long rants probably mean I fell asleep during Mass.

Sunday Rantings. 4 Dec 2011

2011-12-04T13:09:00.012+08:00

Here I go again, nothing better to do on Sunday than to spout my nonsense.
I'll start with the best article this week found somewhere inside the back pages!

SINGAPORE HAS NO MORE VIRGINS!
Okay, honestly it didn't say that but LOL from the same logic propounded in the article, the headlines could read as that.
Saudi Arabian academics in submitting their report to their Legislative Council justified their ban on women from driving or leaning to drive in that country. Within 10 years of lifting the ban, there would be no more virgins left in the country, they claimed!
Well, Singapore never had a ban on women driving, so in theory, we don't have any virgin women drivers left. Go figure.

NAJIB SAYS THEY NEED THE SUPPORT OF ALL RACES.
Hmm? Didn't I just read only yesterday, his deputies were proclaiming they must be supreme and not let the others even have a chance? Oh well. I am not bothered with the politics up north. The domestic politics have me confused enough.

IT'S OKAY TO SPAY YOUR KIDS
WHAT?? Spay your kids!
Oops, sorry, eyesight playing tricks on this old man.
It's okay to spy on your kids.
Well Tracy, whatever you wish.
Call it monitoring, call it spying or call it concern.
I rather use the word Trust.
Maybe check the room once a while for needles?

BIG BARGAINS FROM PREMIUM OUTLETS? NOT SO
This was from Saturday but I include this as a passing thought 'cos many of these bargain-hunter newbies get caught in a trap that they later learn much to their regret.
Johor has opened up a new "Premium Outlet" just north of the border, an hours car ride away.
Brand Names at bargain prices will attract brand conscious Singaporean bargain hunters by the droves. Nothing wrong with that at all.

However, remember this little warning from Uncle James!
Bargain Prices does not mean Duty-Free nor GST-free. Think Singapore Customs!
It may be a great bargain only if you buy and consume within your own country.
Forgetting to factor in Customs Duty or GST may make your trip and bargains into an exercise in futility.

ALL new articles brought into Singapore, whether for personal or commercial use, are subjected to Duty and/or GST. All your lovely Coaches, Pradas and Ferragamos are subject to 7% GST on the bargain prices you paid. You are given only $50 GST allowance if you make a day trip and slightly more if you stay overnight. You MUST declare at the RED Channel any purchases over $50 that you made.

You wouldn't want the embarrassing experience of sitting in the Customs office feeling like a criminal I tell you! Happy shopping and a Merry Xmas.

TECHNICAL GLITCH AT NEW TRANSFORMERS RIDE.
Deja Vu.
Maybe they should consider linking it to the Battlestar Galactica ride so that there's always a backup?
Just hope the seats don't transform into flying platforms. Touch wood.

21 REDHILL BLOCKS PICKED FOR SERS.
Wow, 21 blocks would probably hold the record for the largest mass re-settlement.
It was only 12 blocks at Hillview when they said it was the largest SERS move.
And you know what? These 21 blocks just completed their Main Upgrading Programme (MUP) recently.
Only goes to confirm one truth: YOU DO NOT OWN YOUR HDB FLAT!
Home 'ownership' is just a facade for the 'lease' that you hold from the real owners: HDB.
Wonder if they'll build a bypass through it? Clementi residents can save 5 mins getting to town.

* Sunday Rantings are my thoughts on a lazy Sunday morning after reading the Sunday papers. This may or may not be a regular feature depends on whether I have the energy after breakfast. Also Sunday Mass has a calming effect, so the more I pay attention to the sermons, the less I rant. The long rants probably mean I fell asleep during Mass.

My life as an aeroplane.

2011-12-03T17:14:00.012+08:00

What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
- William Shakespeare.

Shakespeare was just being eloquent.
He was a romantic but he is wrong about the name part!

Names do matter. There is a lot to be had in your name.
It carries with it your identity and your entire psyche is shaped as a result of what others call you,
or worse, what they perceive of you without even knowing more of you.

Take a simple name like Juliet, for example.
You start to have a romantic notion of beauty. With a name like Juliet she must be so sweet. She may turn out to be the hunchback of Notredame.
Say Rambo and they picture you as a macho muscle rippling dude who may however turn out to be a paunchy baldy loser. Names are everything !

Lately, I connected up with some people on an online chat site.
(Yes Ma, I know the dangers of chatting with strangers on line, so stop bugging me!)
We did not know each other at all and the only common thread was that we all used to live in a small village estate in Bukit Timah call Princess Elizabeth.

As our online chatter progressed, we started realizing that we had more and more in common.
We knew that person, yes it's that family, he was my teacher!, I used to lived next to his house, she was my classmate! Remember this? Remember that?
Little revelations began to connect the dots and the web grew stronger and larger as the days went on.

One particular person called D. remembered that as a little boy I used to throw mud at her! Then it dawned on me that this D. person used to taunt me by calling me 'aeroplane'. The teasing was endless and it built a traumatic state in this little kids' mind.
D. was very pretty I remembered and had lots of admirers amongst the schoolboys swooning after her, but I was turned off because of her ceaseless teasing. I suppose D. is still as pretty now but I've not seen her in almost 35 years. She was a former model and I still have a picture of her taken during her modeling days somewhere. The last I thought of her was about 2 years ago when I watched the film St Jack in which she had a part.

Wrong names can be humorous or a lifelong disaster.
Some young parents today are so enamored by Korean wave, J-pops and or even gadgets that they call their children after these transient fads. Would you call your child iPad or iPod?? "Hey Nintendo Lim, how's the going?"
May sound cool now but he will be the one who has to carry this bane through his life.

I know this firsthand because I am precisely in this situation.
(No, not about D's teasing, I've long erased that from my consciousness. It's something else)

My dad was so into photography and cinematography in his young days.
In those days, the big names were KODAK, AGFA and ILFORD, much like today we say Apple, Sony or Xbox.

When I was born, besides my name James, I was given another Christian name as was the usual practice among Catholics. Guess what I was christened?
No, it was not Kodak, Agfa nor Ilford, but close.
It was Howell as in Bell & Howell, which was the biggest name in movie cameras and projectors at that time. OMG, you were was named after a projector???

Actually, the name is perfectly okay with me but the big problem is that locals can't pronounce it correctly. I've been called everything from 'Hoe-well, How Wee, to How Well" !
The correct sound is akin to the word 'howl', or if you say it slower, something like 'Har-wurl'.

Good thing my dad wasn't into cars or I could've ended up as Vauxhall James or Silverstone James!

By the way, if you strain hard enough, you might just notice some remnant of a birthmark that does look like a little bird in flight. But please don't say it's an aeroplane. Say "Hey, I like your Eagle tattoo, cool man!"...it'll make this paunchy balding man feel more macho.

A revelation from beyond the grave.

2011-12-02T23:43:00.013+08:00

The century old Bukit Brown cemetery will soon give way to the growing needs of an ever developing Singapore. Gazetted by the government, about five percent of the graves will have to be exhumed to make way for a motor highway bypass.

My paternal grandparents are buried at Bukit Brown.
With the impending exhumation, I realized that my deceased relatives may be affected.
But there is one big problem.
I never knew my paternal grandparents.
My grandfather was Tann Cheng Hoe who came to Singapore from Amoy, China and my grandmother was Khoo Kim Lian, a local betel nut chewing Peranakan bibik.

My father did take me to their graves when I was perhaps 4 or 5 years old. Even at that young age, I can recall visiting the cemetery on at least two occasions. I remembered my dad paying obeisance in the traditional manner with wine, fruits and burnt paper offering. I remember how exciting it was to place colored paper all over the graves that had its covering turf newly mowed.

Over the years, my dad didn't seem to follow up on this practice during Qingming for whatever reasons I had never asked. Perhaps it was the fact that he converted to Catholicism, or was it the squabble over the inheritance, or whatever. I will never know now because my dad passed about 10 years ago.

The only other relative that I knew my dad had was a sister who was given away for adoption. She is believed to be living in Malaysia but then we only met her once and there were no further contacts after that. The fact that she was given away for adoption would also mean that her relationship to my grandparents would probably be very superficial.

So with this in mind, I sought out my last possibility - my mother, who hopefully would recall her 'in-laws'.
Alas, my mother had very scant knowledge even of her own in-laws, but related a story that even up till now I was unaware.

She had met her parents-in-law only twice in her life; the first time on her engagement and the second, on the day of her marriage. Life was such at that time, she said.

She revealed that my grandfather had been a very rich merchant dealing in shipping and warehousing. They lived at Choon Guan Street in Chinatown and he had businesses at Boat Quay.
My grandfather had four wives!

My dad was born to the 3rd wife and so his position in the family was only secondary if he had any at all. His sister was given away for adoption as they didn't need daughters.
She could not recall much more than this as her relationship with her in-laws was very distant.

But she could recall the approximate locality of their graves.
"Just a short distance in from the entrance.
Look for the huge grave of Aw Boon Haw (of Tiger Balm fame) on the right side of the road.
Their graves are just directly further up the hill from Aw Boon Haw and next to a pavilion."

However, my quandary now with my dad being the '3rd family', there would be the other 3 families who might make claim to the graves as well. Should any of the other sons, i.e my dad's half brothers, be around then it would be their responsibility to attend to the exhumation.

How do I proceed?

Bukit Brown MRT Station

2011-11-27T23:41:00.004+08:00

Following a private email response to my Sunday Rantings (previous blog), I just want to show some evidence of Bukit Brown MRT Station, which is not usually indicated on most official transit maps.
It is situated between Caldecott and Botanic Garden on the Circle Line.

The Bukit Brown MRT station is located at an empty plot (at the moment) at Jalan Mashhor, near Andrew Road where I work.
It is only a 'shell' station, i.e. the station concrete form has been built but not fitted out to function as an operational platform.
When it will be operational is subject to the development of the area around the station.

Mediacorp is moving out in 2016 and that will also free up a huge plot of land nearby.
The Bukit Brown station is adjacent to and sandwiched between the 2 huge cemeteries there;
the Bukit Brown Cemetery and the Chinese Cemetery at Mt Pleasant.

This is the Bukit Brown MRT Station as it stands today 2011.

Like Marina Bay MRT Station, where the station was built years before the surrounding Financial Centre or MBS was conceptualized, the Bukit Brown area will eventually be developed, cemeteries not withstanding.

Here is another official LTA map showing future MRT stations.
You might want to consider buying some real estate nearby?

Click on map for detailed view.

Update on Bukit Brown blog. 16 Dec 2011.

I was on the Circle Line yesterday from Serangoon to Holland Village and had the chance to 'pass through Bt Brown underground.

About 1 min after leaving Caldecott station, you start to hear a change in the sound of the rushing train due to the air space at Bukit Brown.

If you sit facing the starboard (right) side windows, you can see part of the space that will be Bukit Brown Station. It's just an empty space and you can see right across to other other tracks going in the opposite direction.

Sunday Rantings. 27 Nov 2011

2011-11-27T15:59:00.009+08:00

At my age, my circadian clock automatically gets me up at 7 in the mornings.
The daily routine would be morning ablutions followed by light brekkie and morning papers.
On Sundays, the routine changes slightly as I have to factor in morning Mass at St Mary of the Angels.

The thing I like about Sundays is to grab the Sunday Times and read the commentaries at a slow pace and read what the commentators write.
My favorite writers being Sumiko Tan, Sandra Leong and Ignatius Low.
I also look out for "Letters from Kyoto" by Janice Tay and Colin Goh's ramblings about his life in New York.
What I like about Sunday papers is the easy reading feature columns rather than the newsy articles.

Today, some articles I just want to add my 2 cents to.

Front Page: FEELING'S HIGH: GOTTA PARTY!
Sh*t! that was why I had to incur extra costs for my taxi ride to the University Town yesterday!
The PAP was having their convention at the University Cultural Center but how was I know that?
My cab had to make a detour when we came head to head with a CLOSED road entrance to the University. Had to do a U-turn and double back to Dover Road to enter the Uni Town. Cost me an additional $2.50 in fares.

Hey, I thot PAP was a party organisation and not government body? So how come seems like half the police force and lots of military ambulances on standby at the convention? Using public funds for party functions? Ok ok, I guess party head honchos are also top public figures so they're entitled to some public protection and security services.

HOME Pg15: 30-YEAR LIMIT FOR CATHOLIC NICHES.
Archbishop Nicholas Chia standardizes the rules and conditions for the 17 Catholic columbaria. All niches are on lease for 30 years, subject to renewal!

Is nothing is sacred anymore? Whatever happened to 'Rest in Peace' ?

Phew, thank God (Amen!) that I have already booked my niche years back and the rules won't apply in my case. My niche #6022 at the Franciscan Columbarium is set for life, or should I say, afterlife. Forever and ever, Amen.
At least till the govt thinks fit to acquire the 'land' ?

#6022 is reserved for ever and ever. Amen

DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KHAN AND THE CHAMBERMAID.
Yaawwnnn. Next please.

P40 THINK: QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Lina Chiam, NC Member of Parliament
"Even if one ant dropped into my water, I would not want to drink it"
Please, Lina, your tap water doesn't come straight from the Bedok Reservoir. It's purified first. (I hope)
You should re-assure your voters about water safety rather than harp on floating dead bodies.

YOUR LETTERS - NOTHING CONCRETE IN EARLIER PLANS FOR BUKIT BROWN
Another salvo in the on-going Bukit Brown War.
This time from the Executive Committee of the Singapore Heritage Society in response to the URA's "...no one raised a ruckus when plans highlighting the area's intended future use were displayed for feedback in 1991 and 2001, when the Concept Plans were released "

Humma Kavula !! Reminds me exactly of what happened in Douglas Adams' book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. (My all time favorite novel, by the way).
When asked why the officious Vogons destroyed Earth to make way for an intergalactic bypass, the reply was "the plans have been published for the past 2 million years. You should have read it by now"

Has anyone ever wondered why Bukit Brown MRT station was built right in the MIDDLE of the Bukit Brown Cemetery? Doesn't that give you a clue as to what is going to happen in that area?
The MRT station is completed (or at least the shell), just that it's not open for business as ghosts don't need to ride the trains, so the trains just bypass the station.

Think back Potong Pasir MRT Station that was built and mothballed till developments around it reached a sufficient level to justify it's operations. Duh?

In line with this, I just want to add to the LTA's justification to tear down 500+ housing units at Rochor Centre just to built a bypass so that motorists from Ang Mo Kio can save 5 mins driving to the city.
NICE. Thank you.
Appreciated that more unaffordable CO2 emitting cars can be put on the roads. Just go easy with the ERP gantries ok? Nevermind the residents, they'll get new houses at 'subsidized' prices.

CK TANG CHRISTMAS SUPPLEMENT
Sunday Times Bonus for me! Elephant Parade pictures.
I am so into this at the moment.
Personally I've been around to snap 130 of the 162 elephants on display all over the city.
The only places I have not been (or rather will not go, since i have to pay to enter to see the elephants) are:
Mandai Zoo, Asian Civilisation Museum & Philatelic Museum.

I will shoot the balance when all 162 are gathered together at the Botanic Garden at the end of the exhibition.
They are really nice to look at. Go see my Youtube video and blog about the Elephant Parade!

Seeing Pink Elephants!

2011-11-20T12:20:00.007+08:00

It's the time of the year when we tend to over-indulge and imbibe just a little too much for our own good.
It's all in the spirit of Christmas I suppose, religious or commercial, whichever you prefer.
If you are out at your favorite watering holes in Orchard Road or Marina Bay, you may be forgiven if you start seeing pink elephants after your night out.

The Elephant Parade is in town!
The Elephant Parade is a phenomenally successful charity event in support of the endangered Asian elephant.
The open air art exhibition is in Singapore now. The very first Asian country to host the event.
Previous hosts were mostly European cities like Amsterdam, London, Copenhagen, Milan, etc.

The elephants are all designed and painted by famous artists and celebrities and will be auctioned off by Sotheby's to raise funds.

If you have not seen the elephants yet, I suggest that you make a beeline to catch them before they are all auctioned off after the exhibition. You may not get the chance again in Singapore as there is a long line of cities waiting to showcase this event.

The painted elephants are really nice. Go get your picture took with them.

I really enjoyed myself wandering around the city looking for each of the 162 elephants on display.

(some of them are further out at the zoo and at NUS, which I don't think I will be there tho').

If you don't have the energy, then your last chance will be when all 162 pachyderms will be gathered at the Botanic Gardens on 9 January 2012 for a mass display.

My advice: DON'T MISS THIS CHANCE !

Shame the sin, forgive the sinner.

2011-11-12T12:50:00.005+08:00

Shame, shame, shame on you.

Which do you feel is the greater shame?
Gawking at girls in skimpy bikinis.
Exhibiting your body in public.
Calling people names, or
passing derogatory remarks about others?

Not since the June general elections has a single topic garnered so much response from netizens.
There must be well over a thousand entries in blogs like Stomp, InSing and Hardwarezone over this issue of foreign workers having a day out at Sentosa!

Stomper Cheryl had posted a complaint about the hordes of foreign workers descending on Sentosa Island each weekend. Her main grievance was that these foreigners were photographing and recording videos of women in skimpy bikinis suntanning on the public beaches.

The deluge of responses came from both sides of the fence but most were xenophobic anti-foreigners sentiments.
These range from name callings like perverts, aliens, black heads to downright crude remarks like ban them from Sentosa, fence off the place and or charge them $100 for entry. Derogatory terms included polluting the air, racist piece of shit, retards and mental rapists. A good number laid the blame with the government over its immigrant policies.

I have not been to Sentosa Island for quite some time and I don't know the real situation, but judging from the pictures on the blogs, I presume that Sentosa has become another of those places where the foreign workers congregate during their day off.

There are now more than 2 million foreign workers of all nationalities working in Singapore. All these people need some outlet away from their work routine. Unfortunately, their tendency to flock with their own kind has led to some very uncomfortable situations for others as in the Sentosa situation.

However, it still doesn't bode well for locals to resort to name calling and making derogatory remarks.
It easy to blame others for the predicament we find ourselves in; the overcrowded trains and buses, the long queues at the supermarkets, being served by foreign sounding staff in the shops and food courts, etc.
Unfortunately, there is a social trade off if we don't want to do the menial or 'low grade' work ourselves.

Of course, others would argue that the point is not the people or race but rather the behavior of these people when they congregate.

I feel sad that all that simmering pent up feelings might one day just boil over.
I can understand the local sentiments. I too am guilty at times especially with my pet peeve about PRC cyclists on the pavements disregarding pedestrians.
Let's just all hope we don't sink to a lower level of shameful behavior on all our part.
I pray our society is not beginning to unravel itself with this foreigners issue.

Related links:
InSing news
Stomp post
Hardwarezone forum

Wait, the meaning will be clear...

2011-11-04T12:15:00.008+08:00

In 2009, we had Phua Chu Kang with his crass rap on the trains.
Last year we had the Dim Sum Dollies annoying us with "train is coming ..train is coming..."
But this year's jingle takes the cake!

From the brickbats of the past 2 years, I guess SMRT did learn a little about public irritation with their song and dance jingles.
So this year it was a more 'reality' message of courtesy but the most idiotic thing they did was to get a schoolboy shouting in Singlish.

Wei ! Wei ! Wei !

That was about the only English vocal in the revised commercial and they fluffed it with poor English diction!
What does it mean?
Here listen to it yourself. Be warned: it's grossly irritating.

The clip loops every minute and if you are waiting at the station you'll go nuts listening to this irritating jingle.

Find out what happened when Hitler learned that SMRT made a new courtesy video.

Related links:
Phua Chu Kang jingle
Dim Sum Dollies
Train is coming...train is coming

Keeping Singapore litter free.

2011-11-01T21:30:00.008+08:00

What better way to wake up on a lazy Sunday morning then with a good laugh.
The Sunday Times had a serious article with unintentional hilarious snippets.

More enforcement officers deployed, littering increased by 101%.
Put up banners on the penalties of littering, littering increased by 105%
Put up environmental messages: littering increased by 61.5%.
They observed how often the bins spilled over - 22 times ;
they added more bins - the spillage stopped. Duh?
After a year of study, the results? "Inconclusive"

Click on the picture for detailed view.

Singapore has been oft praised as the cleanest greenest place anywhere, but the recent study found that 4 in 10 respondents admitted to littering, with 1% being hard core litterbugs!

The truth is that Singapore is kept tidy and clean not because most citizens do not litter but that the streets are swept and tidied by a huge battalion of foreign workers.
They are the unsung heroes of keeping Singapore clean and spotless.

Photo by Euyah from cajunsis.blogspot.com

I shall not venture to add any further observation of my own.
You can read the 179 page study here.

Click the pix for the study results.

Humans Fail monkey bins

2011-10-31T19:45:00.011+08:00

A while back I wondered when the monkeys at MacRitchie Nature Reserve would overcome the new monkey-proof trash bins introduced by NEA*. (see this blog)

I have yet to see this happen but something else funnier has occurred.

*National Environment Agency

The trash bins seem to be human proof as well.

I have tried these trash bins and it is so easy to understand why it fails.

1. The lock is tight and needs strong finger pressure to unlock it.

2. The lock appears dirty and you'll feel uncomfortable touching it.

3. The lid is made of thick steel and is heavy to lift it open.

(The lid doesn't pop open - you gotta lift it manually - I supposed they presume monkeys don't have the strength to lift it)

Already reasons 2 & 3 makes you queasy touching the filthy surfaces, but lastly,

4. you need all three of your hands to use the trash bin.

One to press and hold the lock,

another to lift the heavy cover, and,

your third hand to hold the trash you intend to dispose.

So now you know why the garbage is outside the trash bins. It's a no brainer!
Well done, NEA. Kudos to you.

Mister, can you spare a dime?

2011-10-30T15:13:00.008+08:00

Poor sad rich man!

Sheldon Adelson, chairman of Las Vegas Sands and one of the richest man in the world, is disappointed, apologetic and suffering from the loss of dignity.

And why is that so?
Well apparently, he made a substantial error in his profits forecast for his Marina Bay Sands Casino in Singapore.

His casino made MORE money than he imagine it would!
In the last 3 months, his casino made only US$413.9 million in PROFIT!
He didn't get his math right, he expected his casino to make less!
My heart bleeds for him.

Click on pix for detailed view of the ST report.

"But trust me, I will suffer through the indignity of being wrong by such a substantial amount."
Such arrogance! He is laughing all the way to his private banker at the expense of all the losers.

In Singapore, the number of those getting caught up in this vice trap can be seen through the increasing court cases of frauds and bankruptcies, the increasing numbers turning to gambling counsellors and the increase in self-exclusion orders.

This not withstanding the case of Madam Choo who supposedly won S$416,742 at the slots in his casino but was denied her winnings due to 'machine malfunction' ?

Her winnings of $416,742 is just 0.08% of the profits he made in the last 3 months.
That's less than a dime to the dollar!

Related links:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1161890/1/.html

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_725726.html

http://www.singaporelawwatch.sg/remweb/legal/ln2/rss/legalnews/73716.html
http://www.todayonline.com/Business/EDC111029-0000172/Singapore-helps-Sands-hit-jackpot
http://www.asiaone.com/News/The%2BNew%2BPaper/Story/A1Story20100920-238049.html

For God sake

2011-10-30T14:24:00.004+08:00

You may have seen him at your neighborhood. Most likely near the bus terminal or MRT station.
Melvyn Cedillio is a professional busker.
With his acoustic guitar and a tinny powered speaker, he goes around belting out songs for a living.

His repertoire comprise mainly cowboys tunes, oldies and the occasional latest hit.

However, his specialty, especially on Saturdays near Velocity at Thomson Road, are Catholic hymns.

He does this to 'spread love' he claims. Proselyting via christian songs?
No harm in that, but getting money for spreading the faith, I dunno.
Or simply preying on the devotees who attend the nearby novena?
Whatever his altruism, I personally feel that a line must be drawn for using religion for 'commercial' purposes.

I am not against people busking for a living. In fact, my whole attitude towards buskers dramatically changed about 15 years ago. Till that time, I had always wondered why these seemingly able bodied people would slog it out on the street and had, in a way, equated it with begging.

Then one evening about 15 years ago, I was in San Francisco waiting for the tram.
There was a black performer doing his skit near Fisherman's Wharf.
What he said struck me to the core till this very day.

"We are Street Performers. We are not beggars.
We perform to the best of our talent for you to enjoy.
We do not charge you anything for watching us perform.
But if you like our performance, you can show your appreciation with a little token to enable us to continue performing for everyone in public.
If you do not wish to donate, you are still welcome to listen to our music."

So, Melvyn, I say to you, keep up the spirit and enjoy doing what you do best.
Just try not to mangle the hymns too much with your own personal off-beat renditions.

And perhaps, for God sake, you should seriously consider some professional voice training?

Venice of Punggol? Oh Please lah!

2011-10-24T11:42:00.010+08:00

The waterfront park at Punggol was officially opened to the public yesterday.
But I just couldn't help laughing at the newspaper report this morning describing the new waterway as the "Venice of Punggol" !

Venice !

Please lah! It's just one big longkang and they put it on the same level as Venice?

I have been to Venice and just last week I visited the My Waterway@ Punggol .
It will tire out all my brain cells just trying to think of any similarities.

Maybe they can start a gondolier service to see the old dump, now converted to a wetland, at Lorong Halus?

I must say that the wording in the news report is so clever that you can't really tell who came up with the moniker! So nobody can be faulted if there's any backlash! (see report here).
Maybe it's a pre-emptive way to avoid future embarrassment in case of floods like previously in Bukit Timah and Orchard Road? Or perhaps it's a new directive to rename flood prone areas to "Venice of..."

Venice of Bukit Timah?

I am not disparaging the residents (Venetians?) of Punggol and congratulate them on their new facilities.

There is a long long way to go before Punggol 21+ achieves its aim of being a truly waterfront eco town, but please, be a bit more original with the names.

(Click here for my photo blog on My Waterway@Punggol)

Related links:
Visiting Punggol after 30 years.

Non-stop elevator ride

2011-10-21T14:34:00.003+08:00

I was just told of a neat trick which is supposedly used by the emergency services staff.
How to make an elevator proceed non stop to the floor that you want.

I cannot confirm this as I have not tried it out myself. (and I live on the 2nd floor!)
Can someone try this out and confirm or debunk this story?
It may just be an urban legend for all I know.

1. Enter the elevator and HOLD the Close Door >|< button.
2. Press the floor you wish to go to while still holding the Close Door >|< button.
3. Hold BOTH buttons till the door closes and the elevator starts moving.
4. The elevator should ride non-stop to your floor.

I was just thinking, it doesn't make sense if you are going home and alone in the elevator.
Your neighbors would be unlikely to be going up from other floors!

Maybe, it's only useful in a commercial building?
Or does it work as well going DOWN to the ground floor?

Will someone try it out and respond to this?

The Bridge at Gillman Barracks

2011-10-20T23:00:00.001+08:00

If you drive along Alexandra Road, you might be able to spot an old disused bridge near the Alexandra Arch, just opposite the Hort Park.

This bridge crosses over a very deep gully and was formerly within the compounds of the old British Army Gillman Barracks. In 1969, Gillman Barracks was handed over to the then newly established Singapore Armed Forces and was used by the SAF Combat Engineers as their headquarters.

Back then, Alexandra Road did not exist as it is today.
Gillman Barracks was just a part of the entire British military area that encompassed places like Portsdown, Normanton, Alexandra Hospital, and the entire area we call Ayer Rajah and Buona Vista today.

My very first encounter with this bridge was around 1970, when as part of a group of school army cadets, we were brought to Gillman Barracks as there was a proper parade ground for us to practice for the National Day Parade.

We were transported to the camp entrance and had to cross this bridge to get to the parade square.
At that time, there was hardly any vegetation in the gully and that made the bridge appear very high above the valley floor.

One thing I also remembered was that the bridge was different from the one existing now, although it is in the same location. The one I remembered was a black wooden trestle bridge like the one in the picture below. The existing bridge is a modern design steel truss bridge, which must have been a replacement.

I remembered we were all really afraid to cross that bridge because of the height.
And what made it worse was a sign that said "BREAK STEP WHEN CROSSING BRIDGE"

We didn't understand what "Break Step" was. We were told not to march as a group across but to walk individually and out of step with each other. They said otherwise the bridge might collapse! That made us even more afraid.

At that time, as schoolboys, we were not aware of the effects of resonance.
Resonance happens when regular vibration, such as soldiers marching, matches the vibrating resonance of the bridge causing it to sway in unison and can lead to collapse.

Gillman Barracks was converted to a Food & Beverage hub in early 2000 and was renamed Gillman Village. However, the response was lukewarm leading to its final demise last year.
There are new plans by the government to convert the area into a new Arts and creative production hub utilizing the old army complexes. Just like the ones at Dempsey Road today.

Any old SAF combat engineers reading this?
Perhaps you can post a picture of the orignal bridge?

NParks' new surveillance system

2011-10-19T22:55:00.002+08:00

Saw these at Toa Payoh Central Park.

There's also another set at Adam Park on Lornie Road. Cute.

The Sony Timer strikes again?

2011-10-14T22:07:00.010+08:00

This morning, I awoke to read with a bit of concern, an article in the Straits Times.

Straits Times, 14 Oct 2011. Click for larger view.

Later, reading more news online, I came across the same Bloomberg news release which said SONY had started a recall of 1.6m sets of 40" Bravia TV( Link here. ). Other news agencies confirmed the SONY recall.

I own a SONY 40" Bravia LCD TV which was why I was concerned.

Globally, SONY had announced the RECALL, but according to the ST report, Sony Singapore "insisted this was not a product recall but a 'service inspection' " Is Sony Singapore being truthful here?

SONY has been having a run of extremely bad luck with product quality of late, especially batteries. Remember the recall of millions of Dell computers due to exploding SONY batteries?
Just last month, 2 million mobiles phones were recalled due to overheating batteries.
How many of you can remember when SONY admitted a 'software bug' caused their E-Series TV to automatically shutdown after 1200 hours of use?

All these brings back again the urban legend and rumors about the so called SONY TIMER.
Have you heard of the Sony Timer ?

Many people, especially tech geeks, believe that Sony products contain a hidden 'timer' that when activated causes the product to start failing. Some believe this can be remotely activated and is done before a new replacement product is announced or when the warranty expires! Though never proven, speculations run from a hidden hardware chip to cleverly programmed software contained in the products.

It is not difficult to imagine some built-in software controlling your TV and making it 'shutdown' after 3 years. What do you do? Go buy a new TV!
Did your VAIO, walkman or TV breakdown after their warranty period ended?

You may not know this, but in Japan, a lot of Japanese actually believe this despite not having any evidence to the contrary. Sony products are not as well received in Japan as abroad for this reason.

Can a product actually have a programmed shelf life?
Yes, products can be designed with a predictable obsolescence period !

I used to work in aviation a long time ago. One thing I learned from my time as an aircraft mechanic was that all aircraft parts have a 'safe life'. Parts are designed for a certain tolerance in usage and beyond that it must be changed due to the risk of failure. What the layman might term simply as 'wear and tear'.

So, technically, products can and are engineered for a certain shelf life.
Is that how the Sony Timer works?

I have taken to feeling my TV each time before I turn it off for the day.
I hope it won't explode. Gee, the warranty had just run out!

Surviving the train crush

2011-10-12T15:40:00.012+08:00

Complaints of overcrowding on the trains have escalated over the past few years and reached a crescendo just before the recent general elections. Denials, spins and excuses from the operators and 'authorities' have led to widespread frustration by commuters. The local Net is full of blogs over this issue ad nauseam.

Apparently, the train operators, being public companies, have to ensure that its bottom line is priority. Even the gahmen gives all out support to ensure that the operations are not running at a loss.

The train operators claimed that the lines are maximized to capacity and it would be difficult to add more trains or increase frequency. With a burgeoning workforce, the situation can only get worse. Passenger comfort and quality of service don'y seem to be a priority for them to resolve. The proof is simply to go to any station during rush hour. Enuff said.

Yesterday, my sister Stephenie was so stressed out, especially after reading the Oct 11th Stomp article about how commuters were forced to wait till the 4th train passing before being able to board. She was one of those who experienced this twice at Bukit Batok and Jurong East Stations.

Click here to read the Stomp article

I am luckier in that I don't take the train so often nowadays, but I do empathize with my fellow commuters.
Just last week, I had a 5-day assignment at the Ministry of Education at Buona Vista starting at 8 am each morning. That meant I had to join the crowd to get there from Bukit Batok Station, with a transfer at Jurong East Station.

It is extremely difficult to board the trains at Bukit Batok, being the last stop before the terminal at Jurong East. The train is already filled to the brim and you just hope some students, heading for school in the vicinity, will get off so that you can squeeze into that vacated space.

Next, the train discharges the full load at Jurong East, adding to the crowd already there who have yet to make the connection to the city-bound trains. It's really CHAOTIC!

Transfer at Jurong East Station (pic from TNP)

SMRT recently opened an additional platform at Jurong East, which helps to distribute the in-coming passengers from the Bukit Batok line, but its a zero sum game as the same number of city-bound trains still take the transfer paxes from Jurong East! It's just less crowding on the platform but not on the trains.

As I am powerless to do anything about the overcrowding, I'll just share what goes through my mind in these situations.

These are my pet peeves on the MRT trains:-

1. No hand holds near the door area.
It's a funny paradox.
They don't provide hand holds near the door area in order to force you further inside the car. But the car is already full and you can only stand near the door area a lot of the time!
You have to be as acrobatic as a gymnast throughout the ride - balancing with the sway, doing knee flexs, toe curls and bum shiftings. All because you have nothing to hold on to.
Passenger safety was never in the minds of the operators.

There's always a crush near the doors as commuters tend not to squeeze once they move 'further in'. So while the door area is packed, it appears that there are actually more space 'inside'.
Commuters also fear that they can't get out easily once they move too far in!

2. Pole leaners and dual hand holders
Inconsiderate passengers who lean on the grab pole for their own support. I normally won't tell them off but instead let them feel my knuckles against their back or arms. Then there are some will will hold on to 2 hanging hand holds.

3. Backpackers.
Idiotic commuters who don't have the sense to remove their backpacks. What's worst is that they are unaware that it's knocking into others. The backpacks only take up more space.

4. Fear of pickpocket or accidental contact.
As I have a habit of carrying my wallet in my back pocket, I have this nagging fear of pickpockets in the crowd. Men also face the awkward problem of where to put their hands for fear of accidental contact and for some lady to scream accusations of trying to be funny with roaming hands. It doesn't really happen but there's always this fear.

5. B O !
Not too bad in the mornings but woe be you in the evening rush hour!

I fear that unless something tragic happens not much will change in the near future.

In my next blog, I'll tell you of my own experiences on the Tokyo rush hour morning trains.

Here is the link to that blog:

Crowded Tokyo trains worse than Singapore MRT?

Amateur photographer

2011-10-11T14:25:00.012+08:00

I really appreciate that friends and even strangers and well wishers visit my photo blog. Comments and compliments from you all really make my day.

At this stage in life, when I can quite contentedly say "been there, done that" to most things, photography is still one of my little joys that I have never really given up.

Today, someone again paid me a compliment after viewing my photo blog.
But inevitably, and I am very sure without any malice, the oft asked question arose.

What camera did you take these picture with?
You must be a Canon or Nikon user.

I still take that as a compliment in that assumption that good pictures come from better equipment. Well, perhaps, or perhaps not?

Here's a quotation from the world famous South African photographer, Sam Haskins.
He nails it with his anecdote on the comment faced by most photographers.

“A photographer went to a socialite party in New York. As he entered the front door, the host said ‘I love your pictures – they’re wonderful; you must have a fantastic camera.’ He said nothing until dinner was finished, then: ‘That was a wonderful dinner; you must have a terrific stove.”
- Sam Haskins

My hobby is definitely still at an amateur level.
And what cameras do I use?

My equipment is very basic.
I carry the point & shoot Olympus u1030 all the time in my satchel, and occasionally bring along my other Olympus E-PL1.
The E-PL1 is a micro four-thirds camera, if you know what that is. (haha).
It's supposed to give comparable DSLR quality pictures but is less bulky as it does not have a reflex mirror system like an SLR. Just to my liking.

E-PL1 on the left, u1030 on the right. Taken with my iphone.

Thai commercial at it's best

2011-10-09T20:50:00.001+08:00

I like to watch Thai TV commercials because they're funny and humorous most of the time.
You don't need to understand the language as most of them depend on visual language to get the message across. Do a search for 'funny Thai commercials' on Youtube and you'll see what I mean.

Recently, I came across this Thai commercial for Samsung Galaxy Tab 10 Tablet.
It's unusual in that it has a story line and is done over 5 episodes, just like a mini-series.
Although the commercial is about the Samsung Galaxy Tablet, the commercial does not come across as hard sell.

You must watch this!

I've put in only the 1st episode but you can subsequently follow through to episode 5 via the Youtube link. Enjoy the show, who knows, you might even end up buying a Samsung Tablet!

Here's my 2 cents.

2011-10-08T23:19:00.001+08:00

The public bus duopoly, SBS Transit and SMRT, today increased their fares by 1% as allowed by the Public Transport Council. For most commuters, this translates to an increase of 2 cents per trip.

Thus my trip from Bukit Batok Interchange to my office at Andrew Road will now cost me $1.35 instead of the previous $1.33. My math may be wrong but the 2 cents increase for me seem to be a 1.5% increase rather than the 1% permitted? Anyway....

Click to view larger picture of the fare increase chart.

I seemed to have become a watchdog over my fares ever since the bus companies introduced the Distance Related Fare System back in July.

After their initial claim that the glitches were fixed and that the overcharging incidents have been rectified, I still had a few incidences where I was still overcharged.

Just a month ago, I made my 10th or 11th claim (I forget how many now!) for overcharging.
So personally, I know that the glitches have not been fully fixed as claimed by the bus companies.

Get a better life ?

2011-10-02T23:40:00.002+08:00

Today I did a typically Singaporean thing.
I went to the SMRT Circle Line Open House!

Free unlimited rides between Caldecott and Harbourfront stations.
Free mineral water, free brochures AND free balloons, wow!
And best of all - Irene Ang and Yam Ah Mee, live in person!
The good things in life are really free !

LOL ! Is this all there is to life in Singapore?

Here's a video I shot today....

I was really a bit devious.

As some of you know, I am photographing overhead bridges wherever I can find them.

So what better way to get around than to use the free rides on the Open Day trains!

Here's a picture of the overhead bridge at Telok Blangah MRT Station.

Not too bad composition for a boring subject like a pedestrian bridge, right?

Some people had ask what camera I use.

But hey, it's not just the camera, dude. Give some credit to the photographer.

I don't like lugging a bulky and heavy DSLR camera, so my pictures are taken with my small Olympus point & shoot camera. I've got 2 models, the waterproof u1030 and the slightly larger EPL1.

I am happy with them.

I've passed the 100th bridge mark. If you want to see my bridge project, the link to that blog is on the right side panel. You can probably scroll through them all in about 6 seconds. The Jesuits have it on record that you can hold a person's interest only for the first 7 seconds, beyond which thier minds starts to drift.

Looking at the bridges, concrete seems so dull.

I gotta write to the LTA to suggest they put some color unto the structures.

Concrete grey is so passe.

Wouldn't you like to see red, yellow or blue bridges instead of battleship grey all the time?

Sigh, there's got to be more to life than concrete bridges!

Anyway, to break my routine, I am now planning for my annual trip to Japan. Yeaaa.

This time to see the autumn colors in November.

I had thought perhaps this year I might have to forgo Japan due to the radiation danger, but I guess it safer now. So at least my life is beginning to look better ?

The lady doth protests too much, methinks.

2011-10-01T20:29:00.003+08:00

Are you depressed over your size?

Do you feel the world is unfair because you are fat?

Want to loose 20kgs and find happiness?

Now there's London Weight Management.. but wait! there's more...
they remind you that they are "neither discriminating nor nauseating the obese women in this territory"(sic) ???!! LOL

London Weight Management Capsule from Stan Chee on Vimeo.

When I first saw their advert, I thought it was stupid and paid no mind to it, although I knew that it was asking for trouble. Sure enough, the brickbats came fast and furious.

What made me take up my keyboard again was the defense (protests?) that London Weight Management's Marcomm Manager, Ms Hazel Tang, raised to counter all the objections over their insensitive advert.

"we have not breached any regulation in accordance to the local regulation".

followed by the classic line,

"We wish to remind you that we are neither discriminating nor nauseating the obese women in this territory," said Tang.

I would just like to tell Miss Tang that being within 'regulations' does not justify putting obese people down, or even that we men are just that superficial.
Don't stereotype everyone just because one of your client experienced a regrettable incident.

You can read the full stories at these links:
Controversial slimming ad sparks debate
Slimming company defends its controversial ad

The Shoeman of Bukit Batok

2011-09-23T17:50:00.002+08:00

Quirky things happen all around us but at times we just don't open our eyes wide enough to notice it.
But lately I did notice a peculiar activity going on just below my apartment.

Each morning, an old man carts a large box containing numerous pairs of footwear.
Meticulously, he lays it all out on the lawn and suns the shoes till evening when he returns to collect them back.

The footwear seem to be of all types from sneakers, to cleats, to boots, sandals and pumps, to dress shoes.
And it appears to be different each day.

What is he doing? Where does he get these from? and why sun them every day and for the whole day long? Won't they dry out and crack under the burning heat?
I have yet to reach that stage of curiosity to approach him.

Till then, here's a short clip of him whom I shall call The Shoeman of Bukit Batok.

Dealing with mid life crisis.

2011-09-18T18:37:00.002+08:00

I guess I am at that age when we "senior citizens" start showing symptoms of a mid life crisis!
No, I haven't considered buying a flashy red Mercedes yet, but lately I was thinking hard about buying a top end Nikon. Whatever for I don't know, but it's been nagging me. I am really doing all right with my point & shoot Olympus.

Another symptom is nostalgia.
I keep thinking about my younger days and start reminiscing. sigh, sigh.
I guess it must be a crisis after all.

Today I dug out some of my old, ancient, vintage kodachromes.
It's sad to see these fading fast and so I decided to digitized as much as I can.
For posterity.
My grandchildren will get a blast from it, if my son ever decides to make the jump.

I saved all these into a folder called "OMG! hahahaha."
That's because I know that will be the reaction from anyone who sees it.

Here's a sample.

That's me on the right with my M16.
We were having field training somewhere in Tampines long before the area became a public housing estate. Hey! during my time we were still under the Israeli instructors and army life was a real torture.

If I come across any more gems, I'll see if it is fit to be published, who knows.
OMG! ha ha ha ha ha.

Teaching an old dog to speak american

2011-09-14T20:11:00.003+08:00

For the past 192 years, Singapore has been using the British manner of English, or what we would say, "the Queen's English" or "BBC English". This has served us well, being the only nation in SE Asia, to have English as the main medium for official communication and work.

Last week, our elder statesman LKY, again stirred the hornet's nest by proposing that "it is inevitable.. to teach and recognize American English". The jury is still out on his call.

Inevitable or not, the American pervasiveness in all things today cannot be dismissed easily. On the Internet, English is really americanized. And my own belief is that sooner rather than later, American English will supersede all forms of communication, be it via the Internet, the airwaves or the media.

Thus, I tend to agree on this point with the ex-minster, who has been known at least to have some foresight now and then. Therefore, from today on, I will also try and convert to using the American form in my blogs.

Switching from british english to american english is not just simply a change in the form of the words.
It is not as easy as you think!
Saying gas instead of petrol, elevators instead of lifts, apartments instead of flats does not make your thoughts american. It involves not only spelling but also the nuances of syntax and grammer. Phrases in british english are different from american english.

Though the lines dividing these are getting blurred as worldwide communication become much easier, there are subtle differences that can tell that I was not raised speaking or writing american english.
This is the dead giveaway, for which, I hope you will forgive as I progressively take this journey of learning new tricks.

There are grammatical differences in the way the british and the americans structure their sentences, although you may not have noticed. For example, collective nouns are used differently, we say "Manchester are the winners of the match", the American will phrase it as "Manchester is the winner of the game".

Thus, it will take a long time before all the subtleties are ironed out and my blog will be 'americanized'
From young I have been schooled in british english and it will take a great conscious effort to cross the Atlantic. My sister Jen had already made the transition decades ago, and hopefully can help point out whenever I unconsciously lapsed back into the Queen's English.

The other reason why I decided to make the switch is simply because all the tools on my Mac are in American English. The spell check, the keyboard, the nomenclature of working with the system are all easier, rather than having to correct the american spelling back to british spelling. Make sense doesn't it?

So from now on, you'll see me type learned instead of learnt, center instead of centre and dropping the u from honor, etc, etc. (is et cetra typically british?) The change will only apply in my written blogs. I'll start with spelling and eventually get around to the phrases.

If you think it's just a change of spelling, I'd suggest you read this primer from wikipedia regarding the differences in American and British English.

God help us all!

Reminder of my old army days

2011-09-13T20:31:00.003+08:00

I was on my way to Kampong Glam for a photo shoot when I stopped by Alexandra Village for a bite.
Across the street, I noticed a building that immediately brought back memories of my old army days.
Are you old enough to remember this building?

This building, now abandoned and defunct, was the old SAF Reservist Association clubhouse, or commonly called SAFRA.

In my time (1975-1977), all soldiers were automatically members of SAFRA. You had no option and monthly dues were automatically deducted from your allowance. Servicemen were not paid a 'salary' but were given an allowance. In my days, it was $90!

After your full-time service, all matters pertaining to the Reserves were dealt through SAFRA.
You applied for deferment or exit permits and any other matters with regards to your reserve status.
It was all manual as computerization had not arrived yet.
And of course, most important over all other matters, was your monthly entitlement of duty-free beer!

This clubhouse at Redhill was the pioneer servicemen's club with enrichment classes, games (tombolo, if you know what that is), sports and the very first rock climbing wall, which can still be seen in the photo above.

There is a signboard hanging outside the fence stating " New Hotel Development Soon"
Wonder if they will refurbish or tear down this old building?

Penitenziagite !

2011-09-09T21:33:00.015+08:00

I just finished my 3rd reading of Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose.
This time it took me all of 20 days to get through this tome.
Just 1 day short of the loan period from the National Library.
It was one of the most difficult book I have ever read, but I loved every passage of it.

I was introduced to this novel by a franciscan friar, Fr Alban, back in early 1990s, but in truth, I gave up half way through the book because it was too difficult to comprehend. My first attempt ended up in utter failure.

It was not till almost 8 years later that I managed to read through the entire book. By this time, a movie starring Sean Connery had been made, based loosely on this book. I watched the movie and was totally enamored by it and that made me resolve to re-read the book.

I remembered that it was still difficult to digest but at least now I understood the gist of the novel which helped to move the pages along.

The book is vastly different but superior to the movie.

While the movie is an excellent whodunit, it really does not do justice to the book. I'll elaborate on this a little further down after I tell you of the novel.

The 2nd time I re-read the book I skimmed over a lot of difficult passages. Perhaps I had actually wanted to make a comparison between the movie and the actual novel. But I did remember that the novel was so enthralling that from then on I kept it listed as my all time favorite.

Now, after 20 years from my initial attempt, I again decided to re-read this great book but at a slower pace to get a deeper insight and to grasp the finer nuances of Eco's writing.

While the movie portrays a medieval murder mystery, the focus of the book is not on the murders but more of the discourses of philosophy, logic, church practices during the middle ages, politics of the Holy Roman Empire, the dreaded working of the Holy Inquisition and the great debate about the poverty of Christ.

There are beautiful discussions of literature and books, and how the medieval monks so lovingly sought to keep alive knowledge through books. These discourses between the protagonist of the novel, Bro William, and the other characters are intertwined with the investigation of the murders at the abbey.
At the end, when the monastery burned, Eco's writing keeps you spellbound with pages and pages just about the great fire. That's how good a book it is!

The novel is sprinkled generously throughout with extremely difficult words that needs explanation.

Words like enthymeme, palimsests, semiotics, syllogism, aedificium.
Also many phrases are in Latin, the language of the church in the middle ages. Whew!

My 3rd reading of this book now comes with hindsight, having over the years since read more and knowing better the history of the church, the middle ages, of popes and anti-popes, and a bit of the history of the franciscans. (I worked in a franciscan parish church as a full time administrator years back)

I would recommend this book to you if you are somewhat interested in the history of the middle ages, literature or debates about religious practices. If not, it's better to watch the movie.

The movie itself is excellent, but it departs a lot from the book and take a very liberal re-telling of the novel.
In fact, the producers at the beginning disclaim this disconnect by calling the movie "A Palimpsest of Umberto Eco's Novel"

The main thrust of the movie is about the murders that occur at a monastery, where a debate between the Pope's representatives and the Franciscan friars over the poverty of the church was about to take place.
The protagonist, Bro William of Baskerville, attempts to solve the mysterious murders.
Being erudite but striving to keep his humility as a friar, Bro William gets entangled with the superstitious Inquisitor Bernardo Gui (a real person in history).

I shall not spoil your interest by telling you the story but it may suffice to know that the book ends completely different from the movie.

If you wish to watch the movie, it's actually available on Youtube, but I can't guarantee when it will be pulled for copyright reasons. There are 2 copies of the book at the Clementi branch of the National Library.

You can follow the movie via the Youtube link above.

Why it's called Novena

2011-09-04T23:21:00.018+08:00

To many people in Singapore, Novena means either the MRT station at Thomson Road, the shopping malls that grew around it or simply that upper class district of Newton and its surrounding area.

The name Novena actually derives from a religious practice centered at the Church of St Alphonsus at Thomson Road. The Redemptorist friars have been conducting Catholic devotional prayer sessions every Saturday for the past 7 decades without fail. The prayer sessions are directed through Saint Mary, the mother of Jesus, under the title Mary, Mother of Perpetual Help.

This devotional prayer session is called a novena.

The novena consists of a series of repetitive prayers conducted over 9 days or 9 weeks culminating in a special 'feast' in honor of the saint to whom the devotion is made. Novena is Latin meaning nine.

This is in line with the Catholic theology of "the communion of saints". The belief that the Catholic church comprises members both present and past. Living members seek the intercession of past members (esp saints) whom they believe are now in heaven to pray, petition and intercede on their behalf.

These novenas have attracted so much devotees over the past decades, to the extent that most people do not recall the name of the church but know it simply as the Novena Church.

From this devotional practice, the term novena spread from the church to its surrounding, and thus, we now have Novena MRT Station, Novena Square, Novena Medical Center, and with many roads and condominiums there named after Novena.

Coming back to the origin, the Novena to Mary, Mother of Perpetual Help, runs over 9 weeks and culminates in a big procession in September each year.

This year the novena procession was held on Sunday 4th September.
It was so crowded that I could only take pictures of the event from where I stood.

My own poor estimate of the crowd today
would be about 20,000 people this year

Procession of the icon of Mary, Mother of Perpetual Help

This was taken about 2 hours before the start.
Already packed to the brim. (kneeling room only! ha ha)

Devotees even spilled over across Thomson Road
despite being divided by 2 lanes of busy road traffic !

Click on the above pictures for detailed view

NEA builds a better mouse trap

2011-08-16T21:47:00.004+08:00

More monkey business...

The macaques have always been a nuisance in the areas around the nature reserves.
They forage for food not only in the reserves but from houses and places adjacent to their habitats.

The trash bins are always a favorite as they know that it contains thrown away delicacies.
There have been many previous attempts by the NEA (or NParks?) to contain this problem by building money-proof trash bins. But the monkeys have always learned to open the lids of all the different bins.

(picture taken off stomp.com.sg)

Recently another new design appeared. This time again said to be monkey-proof.

I'll wait and see how long it takes the monkeys to learn to open the new bins.
Just hope that the monkeys have not yet learn to read the instructions.

If you can't open the bin, then the NEA has done a great job creating an idiot-proof bin.
(NEA=National Environment Agency)

Monkey business at MacRitchie

2011-08-07T10:59:00.011+08:00

I have to cross an overhead pedestrian bridge along Lornie Road each time I go to work.
This bridge is actually pwned by a troop of macaques from the adjacent MacRitchie Nature Reserve.

This bridge is the territory of the macaques.
Cross and get mugged at your own risk!

These monkeys are wild and will harass pedestrians encroaching into their territory.
They are specially conscious if you are carrying plastic bags. Be warned.

They are probably in tuned to visitors to the Nature Reserve who bring food to them in plastic bags.
They equate plastic bags with food and will try to snatch it from you when they see you with one.

This bridge is also a favourite location for another troop doing some other monkey business.
However, pedestrians are safe but motorists are not.
Here are some photos of the other troop doing their voyueristic monkey business on the bridge.

Just remember

or the macaques.

Missed by a whisker !

2011-07-29T08:40:00.013+08:00

After finishing my previous blog on the tip from my wife about the old steel bridge at Bukit Panjang, I showed the missus the pictures I took yesterday and said that the bridge was not the original design.

The current bridge at Bukit Panjang

Another surprise from her, "That's not the bridge I saw."
Me: ??? "but that's the only bridge that's there now, exactly where your old house was."
So I tried googling for a streetview and guess what, she was right again!

There was a 1st generation steel truss bridge at that proximity but it was taken down recently and replaced by a newer temporary bridge at the exact location where she used to live. It was this newer bridge that I photographed yesterday.

Here is a screen capture from Google earth showing the original steel truss bridge.

Click on picture for a closer view.

Sadly, I just missed the opportunity to photograph the bridge myself.
The MRT contractors had taken down the bridge as it was right above the spot where the tunnelling works were being carried out.

Here is a shot of the same location taken from the new bridge yesterday.

The new bridge is located about 50m further down the road.
My only consolation is that at least I now have a photograph of the 1st generation steel truss bridge, albeit taken off Google Earth.

One more bridge to add to my database. Click to see them here.

A bridge too far gone?

2011-07-28T22:51:00.003+08:00

Some of you may know that I have embarked on a quixotic adventure to photograph all the overhead pedestrian bridges in Singapore. My wife thinks I have gone bonkers going after these windmills.

Anyway, I have already started the project and doing a temporary website to collect this database.
If you wish to follow my progress, I have another blog to do the drafts while I prepare the website.
You can see them here. This project will probably take years to complete as I will snap photos as and when I come across the bridges.

The reason why I am doing this is simply for posterity.
To capture the images before it becomes history and only in people's memories.
This resulted from the interest that people had shown in seeking pictures of old bus stops in Singapore.

I mentioned to my wife that it was a shame that the first generation steel truss bridges, the very first overhead pedestrian bridges, can no longer be seen today. And guess what she said?

"I think I remember seeing one still at Bukit Panjang where my old house was"
"No way!", I said, "they demolished your old house and the bridge a long time ago!"
She insisted she saw one just recently there.

So this morning, before going to office, I made a detour to Bukit Panjang.
When I was approaching near where my wife's old house used to be... OMG! she was right!!!

From afar, in front of me, I could see the old type steel truss bridge !
...except....
it was not the first generation type that was built in Singapore.
But it was almost an identical replica.

It is a temporary overhead bridge built for access across the road due to the MRT tunneling works going on at Bukit Panjang. Here it is....

The difference is apparent when you get near.
The steel trusses form a box 2.5 metres high, whereas the original bridge only had side trusses about a meter high and didn't have supports over head.
The original bridges also had wooden steps and floorboards.
But I must say that from a distance, it really looks like the original 1st generation bridge.

The old steel truss bridges were replaced by concrete types from the 1980s onwards.
This was due to the difficulties in maintaining the steel bridges which corroded easily and needed very high maintenance compared to pre-stressed concrete.

I really wish I can find one in service still so that I can complete my database.
Does anyone know where one may still exist? In some forgotten corner of Singapore?
That will be my one bridge too far!

Before its all gone

2011-07-23T21:03:00.008+08:00

I checked the traffic on my blogs today and, for some reason which I am unaware of, the most read article is "Old bus stops in Singapore" which I wrote 2 years ago.

When I looked deeper into the statistics, I found that most readers arrived at that article as a result of Google search. People were searching keywords like 'old bus stops' & 'Singapore heritage'.
I guess that for these people old scenes and heritage of Singapore are an interest.

Perhaps the interest is due to the fact that these things are fast fading from the scene.
I had thought that bus stops were pretty much mundane.

I was thinking perhaps I should start taking and keeping photographs of another mundane object which we take for granted - overhead pedestrian bridges. Should I?

When you look at the new Helix Bridge, Henderson Waves bridge and the Alexandra Arch which are all pedestrian bridges, perhaps one day, the typical bridges we use daily will just be a long forgotten memory.
Already the 1st generation steel truss pedestrian overhead bridges are no longer seen, having been replaced by the concrete types.

I looked up the LTA website and it stated that there are 480 pedestrian bridges in Singapore under their care.
So I'll try and capture as many as I can. It will be a long ongoing project.
Perhaps one day in future, someone will do a search for 'old pedestrian overhead bridges' and laugh at the current designs.

Here's a bit of trivia.
Which was the 1st overhead pedestrian bridge built in Singapore?

Here's an archive photo of it.

The Collyer Quay pedestrian bridge opened on 8 April 1964.
The same bridge eventually evolved into the Change Alley Aerial Plaza.

I can't get it up !!

2011-07-21T11:09:00.005+08:00

No, it's not what you think. You've got a filthy mind!

It's my middle finger.
I started suffering a medical condition termed as tenosynovitis about 2 months back.
What we layman call a Trigger Finger.

My left middle finger occasionally locks into a bent position and it hurts like hell.
It takes a lot of muscular effort to try and straighten it back up.
Alternatively, I can pry it open with my other hand but this hurts a lot more, especially when it 'clicks' back into position. Oowwww!

I went to the doctor this morning for a blood test review.
The diagnosis was that the trigger finger wasn't caused by any infection or rheumatism, nor a reaction to the statins I am taking.

So the next best course is to get a jab of cortiscosteroid into the joint.
But this can only be done at NUH hospital Hand Surgery Unit and not at the Polyclinic where I went this morning. Appointment for that procedure is pending.

Strangely, the cause of trigger fingers is still unknown medically.
They can only treat the symptoms and relieve the pain or do minor surgery to release the pressure on the tendons. If the injection of steroids doesn't help, then the final course is surgery.

Here is a clip on how they do the trigger finger surgery. DO NOT WATCH if you are squeamish!
My stomach churched just from watching it. You have been warned.

Bring or take, what's the difference?

2011-07-20T10:00:00.004+08:00

My sister and her husband recently bought a fish farm at Lim Chu Kang.
Already it has generated so much excitement from friends all asking to bring them there for a visit.
Bring them there?

Take me there! I wanna go! (pic stolen off my niece laura-lynn)

This piqued me to start writing this piece about the wrong use of words again.
Many are confused over the difference between BRING and TAKE.
More so in our multi-cultural environment as bring and take can be used interchangeably in Chinese or Malay, from which many of us adapt its grammer resulting in Singlish!

When to use bring or take should be seen from the speaker's perspective.
Bring usually involves another person and an object to be moved TOWARDS you (the speaker).
Take involves an object moving AWAY from you.

Here are some simple examples.
Please bring me the file. (movement towards you)
Please take this file to the manager. (movement away from you)

Will you take the children to their tuition classes?
Will you bring the children to their tuition classes? is wrong. Here you don't say bring as the movement is away from you. This is usually where most people get it wrong.

As I said, bring or take depends on the speaker's point of view.
The same scenario can be either bring or take depending on who says it.

You say, Please bring me the accounts records.
She replies, Ok, I take it to you in a while.
(note she doesn't say bring it to you because she's speaking from her perspective).

Use this simple rule of thumb and you usually won't go wrong.
Just remember when you order MacDonald's, it's take-away not bring away,
though it's the same in Chinese!

But...there are exceptions!
That's just to add to your confusion, however, that's another story.

Useless Signs

2011-07-19T17:46:00.014+08:00

I've started a new page for collating USELESS signs that can be found in Singapore.
What I want to show are signages that are redundant, ridiculous, ignored or just simply useless.

I don't mean signs that have wrong translations like hand chicken for sale (hand phones), or singlish or bad grammer, which are commonly found at most heartland places, but genuine signs that might as well not be there. These are signs that actually have a meaningful purpose, except a lot of the time, it's simply ignored.

I am doing this just for laughs and not as a social commentator.
I'll lead off by showing some examples.
I would love to get more contribution from others as well.

25 July 2011

Another commonly ignored sign.

Life would be that little bit better if only everyone do their part.

21 Jul 2011

At the MRT bicycle park.

In other countries, you are REQUIRED to slow down.
Here it seems to mean there's probably a school somewhere around here?
Ignoring this sign can be so fatal!

19 Jul 2011

No swimming on the grass at the HortPark.

At the MRT stations train platforms.

I have yet to see a single parent not taking the baby-stroller onto the escalators.

The most ignored signboard on the road.
Imagine the amount of money spent to put up thousands of these signage everywhere in Singapore !

You can't 'pay' when you exit, whether it's the correct or incorrect fare!
Technically, the bus deducts the maximum amount when you board
and returns you the unused balance when you exit!
The bus gets extra money from you if you don't tap out.

I am more gracious than you are !

2011-07-17T13:04:00.005+08:00

It such a telling statement of the level of graciousness we seemed to have arrived at.
I feel really sad indeed.

A recent survey by the Singapore Kindness Movement, as reported by the Straits Times on 4th July 2011, showed that 43% of Singaporeans perceived that they are more gracious to others, while they feel that only 15% are gracious in return!

Click on picture to enlarge

We Singaporeans seem to have lost our souls in the quest to move ahead technologically.
Perhaps, sub-conscious social engineering over the years have made us into selfish uncaring digits in the great machinery of enterprise.

Today we are measured by our status, by our country GDP, profits, KPIs, scholarship awards, etc.
People feel that they have 'made it' once they are on their way towards their 5 Cs (Cash, Car, Credit Card, Country Club Condo). Ideals about family, others and country seemed to be placed on the back burners.

Recent disturbing signs of this 'graciousness' include the infamous "get out of my elitist uncaring face" diatribe by the daughter of a senior civil servant, and the recent call by "Samantha" for heartlanders (esp those from Bukit Batok, hey that's me!) to stay of out Holland Village.

Acts of self-centeredness can be seen daily at the MRT train stations, bus terminals, supermarket checkouts and even on the roads. My pet peeve is the tissue paper packets 'chope-ing' seats at the food courts.

I also notice a trend nowadays to put the all blame on the 'foreign talent' workers and expatriates working here. It's so easy to blame others for not getting your own way.

I just feel so sad over all these hypocrisy.
I feel so helpless with the whole downward spiraling situation.

Sigh sigh sigh.

You never know what you're gonna get.

2011-07-12T09:50:00.009+08:00

".... like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get". (Forest Gump)

I went on a vanity exercise last Sunday and did a bit of egosurfing.
Egosurfing is what you do when you send your own name through the web search engines, what some folks say "Have you Googled yourself?"

What I got back were pretty much expected.
Most of my entries on my blogs and Facebook and my reviews of hotels in Tripadvisor.

Even then, it was still a pretty amazing feat.
I can still remember those days when we used Netscape and did basic searches with Gopher and Archie... ok,ok, I'll stop talking of those days! Sigh, it comes with age...

Then for amusement I thought, let me try searching the National Archives.
Maybe I can trawl something there?

What returned truly surprised me.
The results brought back snippets I assumed would just be forever locked within my own personal memories.

In the National Archives, I could find only once when my name turned up.
This was in The Straits Times of 24 Oct 1977 when the results of a photography contest was published.
I was placed 4th in the Adult Section (sounds pornographic today haha!)

BUT the most amazing thing was that it was able to link my name to my father and father-in-law and brought out articles that I would never have thought survived to this day.

There were actually quite numerous articles about my father since he was linked to the dramatic and arts scene circle back in his days. Mostly about the plays he performed in those days, but here's one that was about his career.

Straits Times, 12 July 1967

The most mind blowing find was about my father-in-law.
How did it ever make the connection I will never know. You'll get a blast over this one!
It was from the Singapore Free Press (now defunct) of 17 May 1960.

The article was an interview with my father-in-law, Mr Francis Teo, who after 12 attempts managed to get his 1st born son!
What were they thinking in those days? Guess he really was a staunch Catholic.
My wife Juliana is ninth from the right of the row of girls in the picture.

Search engines like Google and Bing today use such powerful mathematical algorithms that nothing appears to be hidden from it and it can tie in the minutest details and link it to your query.

I dread the day when privacy is a long forgotten word.

Try egosurfing the National Archives yourself, you never know what will turn up.

Who is Chia Eng Say?

2011-07-09T13:33:00.014+08:00

Strange, but lately small coincidences seem to keep popping up in sequence for me.
Somehow they all seem to be adding up to....... I don't know !
Maybe I am dreaming Inception or I gotta stop reading Sophie's World...

It all started with the KTM railway closure. (click on link to go there)
Visiting the Rail Mall led me to Fuyong Estate and to Jalan Asas.
This then led me onwards to the old shortcut to the Singapore Quarry Park.
At the quarry park there is a plaque that reads "....Chia Eng Say..."?

The plaque at the Singapore Quarry Park.

Click to read the Ode mentioning Chia Eng Say.

Then just last night, I chanced upon a blog by a Kevin Lee mentioning a disused 'nameless' road running by Rail Mall train tracks. He wondered why it was there.

Wow, just what are all these significances ???
It has finally come full circle for me and the common link to them all is Chia Eng Say!

The mysterious 'nameless' road Kevin Lee mentioned in his own blog is the now disused, disconnected and abandoned Chia Eng Say Road that joins to Upper Bukit Timah Road.
This road led directly to, and was exclusively used by, the old Singapore Quarry !

There! See how it all ties up?

The original Chia Eng Say Road ran beside the railway truss bridge.
Now abandoned and covered with detritus.

Chia Eng Say Road was a private road built by the quarry company for access to their quarrying operations. I recalled trucks with their load of huge granite rocks rumbling along the road, off to some construction site somewhere in developing Singapore.

The road ran through a Chinese kampong known to us 'locals' as Kampong Chia Eng Say.
The kampong has been demolished and the homesteaders have been resettled in HDB housing, I presume. How sad.

Two of my old schoolmates used to live in that kampong, Quek Chee Ling and Wong Bee Leng. Alas, I've completely lost contact with them after our school days ended.
I can recall visiting them often at the kampong, especially during the times when the Chinese wayangs played during some religious celebrations.

A footbridge ran from Chia Eng Say Road over the KTM railway line.
This gave the kampong folks and quarry workers an access to Upper Bukit Timah Road.

The cul de sac at Jalan Asas. The playground stands where the old kampong was.

The secret shortcut to the quarry at the end of the cul de sac.

The man, Mr Chia Eng Say, must surely be connected to the Singapore Quarry somehow.
In what manner I do not know. I only know that after the government closed the quarry, the entire place was abandoned and the road became derelict.

The only references I managed to dig out on Chia Eng Say was that he was what we would call an entrepreneur today. A multi millionaire contractor from Penang who established businesses in Penang and Singapore in the early 1900s. He apparently lived in Katong with his large progeny, believed to be 7 sons and 15 daughters in all!

However, Chia Eng Say's legacy still lives on.
Besides being mentioned in the ode on the plaque, his name is now firmly entrenched nearby.
When Rail Mall was re-developed, the little access path in front of the shops was widened to a 2-lane road and the name Chia Eng Say Road was transferred to this upgraded stretch.

The road in front of Rail Mall is now renamed after Chia Eng Say.

So with this little bit of local history explained, I can now close my circle and return to the real world!

Can Tom Cruise kick me back from his dreams now?
or would that be Jostein Gaarder who has to write me out of his novel?
...help?

In those days.....

2011-07-05T12:12:00.006+08:00

Yesterday I took a last look at the old railway bridge at Upper Bukit Timah Road.
This bridge is due to dismantled soon, with the return of the railway land to the Singapore government.

The visit also brought me back to the old housing estate where I used to live back in the 1970s.
Called Fuyong Estate and located just bedside the KTM truss bridge. I lived there during my teen years.

This is a small freehold estate of around a hundred units, sandwiched between the old Diary Farm and the now defunct Singapore Granite Quarry. It lies on the eastern ridge of Bukit Timah Hill. So while I was heading to the bridge, I dropped by the estate just to see the old home and reminisce.

I could watch trains passing everyday from my house.

What was a once a simple estate of single storied bungalows, semi-detached and terraced houses has now morphed into a sad jumble of independently re-designed and re-built buildings. While there are still some single storey units, most have been redeveloped into 2, 3 or even 4 storied hulks. Some look so monstrous beside its puny neighbours. I guess the owners are maximizing their land use. The old village atmosphere is completely lost now.

I used to live at no. 71

No 71 is at the top of the slope on the left.

Rail Mall which fronts the main Upper Bukit Timah Road was redeveloped from a row of old shop houses. I still remember vividly the old neighbourhood provision shop and the laundry (dhoby) shop now taken over by modern MNCs like Cold Storage and Coffee Bean. Looks much better now actually.

One of the things few people ever realise is that the row of shops that now makes up Rail Mall was one of the last few places in Singapore that had the old 'bucket system' of sanitation. 'Night soil' buckets were carted off manually everyday by the sanitation dept in their '36 doors' lorry as we called it.
(look up Night Soil in Wiki, you'd be surprised Singapore is mentioned prominently, full of shit, haha)

I recalled that the old shortcut from the estate to the main road ran past the back lane of the shophouses and woe be you if you encounter the night soil carrier at that time! The dilemma was that you either held your breathe and continue quickly through the backlane or make a 500m detour.

The backlane. The sewers are all modern now.

The old shortcut which was just a dirt track in those days.

This was how it was done even up to the late 80s.
Salute and respect to those workers!
(Picture from National Archive database)

A letter to my MP

2011-06-26T01:10:00.011+08:00

This is a letter I wrote to Mr David Ong, the Member of Parliament for Jurong GRC which I sent today.

Mr David Ong (davidong@bukitbatok.sg)

Member of Parliament

Jurong GRC

Dear Mr Ong,

Re: Pavement cyclists and Pedestrian safety.

I am one of your constituents living at Blk 203 Bukit Batok.

I noticed that the Park Connector project from Bukit Batok to Jurong East is nearing its completion. The track is completed and signage has been mounted.

This will make travelling between the towns much more pleasant and perhaps safer for cyclists and pedestrians.

After mulling over the issue for some time, I would like to offer some of my personal feedback, not just specifically on the Park Connector (PCN) but on pedestrian safety and cyclists in general in Bukit Batok.

I do not own a car and neither do I cycle, so I am basically a pedestrian. Unless I take the bus or the train, I usually move about Bukit Batok on foot. The most difficult thing about walking in Bukit Batok is the danger posed by pavement cyclists. I must clarify that I am not against cyclists per se.

Unlike Tampines New Town where cycling on pavement is legal, cyclists in Bukit Batok technically still come under Rule 28 of the Road Traffic Rules (1981) where it is prohibited to ride on the pavement. 1^st time offenders can be fined $20 for the traffic offense.

Officially under the Road Traffic Act (Chap 276, Sec140), bicycles are considered as vehicles and are required to be ridden on the road abiding to all the relevant traffic rules and regulations.

But in reality, the majority of cyclists in Bukit Batok ride on the pavements. Many of them do this due to their fear of being on the road with other bigger vehicles, for their own personal safety, or simply due to the fact that they are ignorant of the cycling prohibition rule.

I have seen cyclists showing utter disregard for traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, riding along shop corridors and even taking their bicycles onto escalators. Then there are those who constantly ring their bell to impose their ‘right of way’ along pavements, never mind the safety of pedestrians.

With all disregards to etiquette and rules by cyclists, pedestrians like me are most vulnerable on the pavements.

Even waiting at a bus stop poses a great danger to commuters.

The way our road pavements are designed, the path leads right through the bus stop shelter. Many years ago, a raised floor or bollards prevented bicycles from accidentally going through a bus stop but these were removed to make it more user-friendly for the physically challenged.

The downside to this is that it became a boon for cyclists who now have an unhindered ride straight through without consideration for commuters’ safety.

The new PCN along Bukit Batok Ave 1 is a prime example.

Even though the PCN cycling section detours behind the bus stop shelter, cyclists routinely disregard this safety path and continue to cycle through the bus stop. Some even without slowing down at all despite signs that say “Dismount and Push” which are completely ignored.

Bukit Batok Ave 1 Park Connector

The other thing that I await in trepidation is that under the Jurong GRC 5-year plan, there is a proposal to build a new Bicycle Park at the Bukit Batok MRT station south end.

From the preliminary sketch plan, you can see that the exit from the Bicycle Park leads out onto, and connects directly to, the pedestrian pavement and not to the road. This is an implicit open invitation to cyclists to ride on the pavement itself.

It seems it was designed to benefit cyclists without considering pedestrian safety. Something is not right here.

(Copyright Jurong GRC Town Council) - Scanned picture used for example.

Can I suggest that before you launch the PCN officially, and before you build the Bicycle Park, a bit more thought be given to the safety of pedestrians?

We need a more holistic approach to the whole matter.

Besides just building the infrastructure for better connectivity, we need to educate the public, the pedestrians, the cyclists, the motorists and other road users.

Once a suitable PR or education programme is completed, we should then enforce basic rules and regulations for its proper usage.

In the area of educating the public, we can start with some sort of awareness programme in schools, in commercial places and factories within Bukit Batok.

Many of the offenders are foreign workers who may not be aware of the pavement restriction.

For motorists driving through Bukit Batok town, consider signage to warn them about giving space to cyclists (who should be educated to ride on the road instead). It’s all about courtesy to each and every road user.

I am not suggesting that enforcement of Rule 28 be heightened immediately. This will only result in more accidents for cyclists if enforcement takes place without education and thus will serve no beneficial purpose.

Unlike the way Tampines estate is trying to resolve their problem, my opinion is that we should tackle the problem at its root, i.e. teach cyclists the correct manner of safe cycling on the roads. Make Bukit Batok town a bicycle friendly estate but we should tackle the problem head-on rather than spend money on creating parallel bicycle tracks. Bicycles belong on the road, thus cyclists and motorists should be made aware of this. In the absence of a national awareness programme, let our constituency take the lead.

We can educate motorists to give space to cyclists by putting up signage like “Look out for cyclists”, “Give 1.5m space” “Cyclists ahead”, etc.

There are some motorists who actually believe that cyclists should be off the roads. They should be educated to share the roads in a safe manner within Bukit Batok.

We should educate cyclists to ride safely on the roads, keep left, observe traffic rules, use safety gear, etc. I know of many cyclists who are completely ignorant of the fact that pavements are off limits. This is partially due to the very lax enforcement by the authorities, which seem to have a live and let live attitude instead. But we are sending the wrong message with this attitude.

We should educate pedestrians too. Even to give way to recalcitrant cyclists, as there will always be those who will ride on pavement for their own selfish safety as against riding on the road. Though it’s wrong, they prefer to accept the risks without considering the danger to others.

I remember when I took my driving tests decades ago; the emphasis was always “Pedestrian First”. Their safety is of utmost priority, even when they may be in the wrong like jaywalking or crossing against their favour. Flesh against metal is a no win situation.

I appreciate your time in reading my rather long feedback. For everyone’s safety, I believe that sustained and persistent education, coupled with the proper facilities you have built, will result in a safer environment for all in Bukit Batok.

I remain,

Yours faithfully,

James Tann

I attached a sample video of a safe cycling programme.

Nyan Cat is meaningless?

2011-06-24T00:57:00.004+08:00

You say you can't understand the Nyan Cat video in the last blog?
Just a waste of 3-1/2 minutes of your life? No purpose at all?

OK, maybe the best explanation comes from Molly from Rocketboom.
After she explains the Nyan Cat meme (and Vocaloid) to you perhaps you would care to listen to the latest vocaloid clip as well below. Enjoy.

I really like this vocaloid version of Honey with an all star cast of anime characters.
(Much better than the original Mandarin version by Cyndi Wang!)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vocaloid (ボーカロイド Bōkaroido) is a singing synthesizer application, developed through a joint research project between the Pompeu Fabra University in Spain and Yamaha Corporation, who developed the software into the commercial product "Vocaloid".
The software enables users to synthesize singing by typing in lyrics and melody.

Vocaloid is becoming the de facto voice in robots being developed in Japan.

Chain email and parlor tricks

2011-06-19T15:55:00.003+08:00

You've all probably received it once or many times before - Chain letters.
Except now, it's via email.

Make x copies, forward it to xx people, put your name at the bottom... sent it within 3 days, 7 days, 2 hours...or else... accident, bad luck, doom doom doom..... Do it and get God's blessing, fortune etc etc etc.
It's amazing how people fall for these things so easily.

I received an email in response to one of my earlier blogs.
This was on how the mind perceives things.
Can you read this?

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a ttoal mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istief but the wrod as a wlohe.

The above passage was an internet meme that went viral many years ago which was later debunked as nothing more than a parlor trick, much less as research from Cambridge.

If it was true then you should be able to read this easily...
Bblaaesl pryleas pnmrrioefg sllaimy aeoulltsby dvrseee clbrpmaaoe tteenmrat.
See? Not so true right? If you still want to try, the first two words are 'baseball players"

The problem with the internet is that people tend to believe what they read, especially if it's from someone they know or with a big name attached as the 'source'.

By the way, here's the latest meme making it way around the www. Enjoy.

Have your bloody steak and eat it

2011-06-14T20:28:00.131+08:00

There's one local website which I visit only if I am totally bored or really scraping the bottom of the barrel.
This is the so called 'citizen journalist' site called Stomp by The Straits Times.
I make cursory visits to this site as it's nothing more than another tabloid just like The New Paper, which I place in the same category.
Stomp seems to attract ridiculous and stupid postings more than anything else; and mostly by gripers and whiners with replies from readers tending to be downright rude or vindictive.

Anyway, recently there was a complaint by someone who apparently went to a neighborhood food court and ordered a medium-rare steak.
What he got, in his opinion, was a raw steak which the chef had refused to re-cook it for him.
Hence, complain to the world via Stomp. Details here if you want to know the whole boring story.

This was his serving as photographed by him (taken off the Stomp site)

How do you tell if your steak is cooked the way you want it?

I was taught a neat trick by a friend who worked as a cook in a restaurant some time ago.

Use this simple method which he said was used by the cooks themselves.

1. Press the steak with your finger to gauge the firmness.
2. Compare the firmness by pressing the fleshy
part of your palm just below the thumb.

Rare

3. Make an 'O' ring with your finger

Medium Rare

Medium

Medium-Well

Well done.

This is not a foolproof method, so take it with a pinch of salt.

The cooks' experience counts for a lot.

And please, don't go fingering your dinner in front of your guests.

BLOODY STEAKS?

Some people get queasy when they slice into their beef and see blood oozing from the meat.

Well, surprise, surprise!

The red juice that's oozing from the meat is NOT blood.

The liquid is actually mostly water containing a purplish colored protein that's found in meat tissue called myoglobin. When exposed to air, it turns bright red.

That's why meat has a reddish colour.

It's not from the blood which is only in the veins or arteries and is usually darker in colour.

But as it looks like blood, most people assume it to be.

Bon Appetit

Led down the garden path

2011-06-02T13:58:00.016+08:00

Led down the garden path is an idiom, meaning deceived someone by giving him or her the wrong information.

In the English Language, there are some phrases or sentences that are also known as garden path sentences. It’s not actually used to deceive anyone but that the way it is written makes the person THINK in a certain way which will lead up to a dead end initially.

The horse raced past the barn fell, which I wrote in my previous blog, is one such garden path sentence.

The reason for the confusion is that our minds think logically when we read and we put together words as they form.

In other words, we are conditioned to think in a structured manner.

When we come across a garden path sentence, we get stumped because it does not make sense as we build the image in our heads.

Try this for example,

The cotton clothing is made of grows in the USA.

Doesn’t make sense the first time, right?

Read it again……
still doesn’t make sense?

That’s because your mind is reading it as ‘cotton clothing’.

Now try reading it again as ‘The cotton’ instead. Get it?

As in...The cotton (clothing is made of) grows in the USA.

You were just led down the garden path!

I first learned about this language quirk when I was reading a Charlie Brown Snoopy cartoon. The cartoonist Charles Schultz quoted a Bible verse from the Book of Jobs: “Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards”. I couldn’t understand it at all for a long time and when I finally did, it appeared so simple that I kicked myself for my own lacking.

So don't feel bad if you can’t figure out The horse raced past the barn fell.

Here’s something else you can try to see if your mind fools you every time, or if you believe you are as smart as you think.

Read this….

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDIES AND THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

How many letter ‘F’ can you find in the above sentence. Count them and compare the results below… No peeking till after you count. Ok? It’s not a trick.

How many Fs did you find?

If you found 2 - you need your eyes checked. Use the above chart.

If you found 3 – you are just average and normal.

If you found 4 – you are above average.

If you found 5 – you are good.

If you found 6 – you are a genius.

The answer is 6.
If you didn't get 6, go back and re-count.
There are really 6 Fs in plain sight and this time you'll laugh at yourself.

The horse raced past the barn fell.

2011-06-01T13:30:00.007+08:00

Youth is one of those awkward words in the English language, especially the plural form.
Is it youth or youths?

I was raised in the old school where we were taught that collective nouns are always without the s in the plural, e.g. children, but I accept that language evolves.

The word youth has morphed from my time to todays' internet era.
Youths is readily used nowadays, especially in newspaper reports.
I guess because of a new generation of reporters and journalists.

Though it sounds awful, youths is a correct form of the plural. It really depends on how it's used.

However, 1 group or a person is still youth and you don't say a group of youths.
If there are 2 or more groups, then you can refer to them as youths. e.g. the youth of Singapore and the youth of Malaysia but the youths of Singapore and Malaysia.

Awkward, right? ha ha.
Never mind, just use whatever you think is right.
The easiest way to differentiate is to see whether the persons/group can be counted (youths) or not (youth).

Still don't get it? The sadistic me is enjoying this!
Wait till you get to garden path phrases like The horse raced past the barn fell or The army push bottles up the enemy.
Then you'll really be scratching your head.

.

Catholic Tradition or Epic Fail ?

2011-05-27T13:13:00.005+08:00

Following my previous blog about St Theresa's Convent, my sister text'd me to say that another venerable Catholic school, St Joseph's Institution, also has the same anomaly.

That got me wondering and so I looked up the Catholic Directory for Singapore.
Guess what I found?

Catholic schools and churches with the following names:
St Theresa's Convent
St Joseph's Convent
St Anthony's Convent
St Magdalene's Convent
St Patrick's School
St Anne's Church
St Joseph's Church
St Gabriel's School
Holy Innocent Girls' School
St Stephen's....et cetra..

Wow, what happened?
Most of the above names are schools where English is the language of instruction.

Maybe, it is a Catholic tradition to give possession of the school to its patron saint? I don't know.
Though I was born and raised a catholic, I didn't go to a catholic school so I wouldn't know if that's a school tradition, or an error perpetuated since the 1st Catholic school, St Joseph's, opened in 1852.

Anyway, not to dwell on this anomaly as I really don't know the background to it, I'd rather comment on the proper use of the 's in English grammer.

The best example for the proper placement of the apostrophe comes from the great poet Kingsley Amis when he was asked to demonstrate with a single sentence. He gave this....

Those things over there are my husband's. (Those things over there belong to my husband.)
Those things over there are my husbands'. (Those things over there belong to several husbands of mine.)
Those things over there are my husbands. (I'm married to those men over there.)

Is it mine or yours? St Theresa's or St Mary's

2011-05-25T14:41:00.016+08:00

I have this thing that's actually been bugging me for years and years.
I am sure it is wrong and yet I have not been able to get out of my malaise long enough to find out more, much less correct it or manage to do anything about it.
So I have been living with this irritation in the back of my mind all my life.

And what is this? It is St Theresa's Convent.

No, nothing personal against the school or the staff or her alumnae.
It is just the use of the name. Or should I say mis-use?

Even when I was a schoolboy passing the institution at Telok Blangah I have had this nagging thought that the name is wrong. After all these years, whenever I pass it now I still have that same feeling. Of all places, a school should not be called St Theresa's Convent!

And why not, you ask? Well, it's simply incorrect, plain and simple.
Don't they have English language teachers who should have known that it is incorrect all these years?

Shouldn't it be rightly called St Theresa Convent?

Putting the 's behind St Theresa makes it the possessive of the proper noun, i.e. the convent belongs to St Theresa. But this cannot be as St Theresa died long before the convent was built and I am sure she didn't have possession of it at any time.

I searched their website but could not find any reason why the convent belongs to St Theresa. Often in the past, I had the thought of dropping them an inquiry to this effect but again never got around to that. haiz

So presumably, the convent was named after that humble nun, St Theresa. Therefore, it should be called St Theresa Convent and not St Theresa's Convent.

We honour famous people by naming buildings, streets, places or even convents after them but it surely would be as a proper noun and not in the possessive syntax. It's like calling the Fullerton Building Fullerton's Building, or even horrors, as one Straits Times reader recently suggested renaming Singapore Changi Airport to Lee Kuan Yew Airport, it might then become Lee Kuan Yew's Airport instead!
*(Lee Kuan Yew, the former prime minister of Singapore)

I hope to find some closure after all these years by speaking it out.
Any Theresians or English teachers reading this?

Closer at heart, I attend a catholic church called St Mary of the Angels. There, the welcoming ministers a.k.a the wardens, wear a sash proudly emblazoned with the words St Mary's.
I always wonder if that is also incorrect but I'll let that pass as they may associate their group as belonging to the Church, rather than being the name of the church, which then would be more or less correct. Guess it depends on how you see it.

Disclaimer: No Theresians were harmed in the writing of this piece. Any similarity to saints, persons or alumnae dead or alive is purely coincidental.

Don't say CUM !

2011-05-18T11:23:00.005+08:00

I presume many will read this blog as a curious response to the word Cum in the header.

Wikipedia defines cum as:
A sexual term, meaning to orgasm

Semen or vaginal fluid, produced in ejaculation
A Latin word, which can be either the preposition with or a conjunction meaning when, because, or although.

I am actually going to blog about the 2nd definition (bummer, u say. haha)

Following my previous writeup on the difference between day off & off day, I just wanted to add to the growing list of mis-used words and phrases that are so often taken for granted here.

The latin word cum means with, but so often people here take it to mean And or Includes, which is wrong. Locally, you often see the word cum in the classified advertisements.

e.g. Looking for Secretary cum typist, or people saying "I am having my breakfast cum lunch"

When you graduate cum laude, it says that you graduated with great praises (an honour) such as magna cum laude or summa cum laude. These are about the only latin references that uses cum nowadays.

So if you are placing an advert for a Secretary, you would phrase it as "secretarial duties cum typing".

On a funnier note, if you did graduate cum laude and if you don't seem to be getting responses to your online resumes for jobs, the reason is that most filtering computer servers will take the 1st definition of cum and mark your resume as pornography. ha ha.

Here's a clip from 'The Noose'. Listen to Babarella using the correct meaning of cum.

Rule of 78s - the pitfall of credit rebates.

2011-05-11T13:00:00.007+08:00

I get the monthly Lifestyle magazine courtesy of the NTUC, which I hardly ever take out of its plastic wrapping. It's supposed to be Singapore's Largest Circulating Magazine, whatever that means. I always know it as a booklet full of adverts instead of being a serious 'lifestyle' periodical.

But once in a while I do rip the packaging and flip through the pages. Something caught my eye in this month's issue. An article called "Small weekly payments" in their MoneySENSE feature.

In the article, the author was relating his experience of buying a HD TV on credit installments. The TV cost $6,500 but was being offered at $5,200, (saving $1,300!). To avoid the heavy upfront outlay, the writer opted for the installment plan of paying only $44.90 a week. With a tinge of regret and in hindsight, the writer later calculated that in the end he would be paying $8,620 which was 33% more than the usual price or 66% more than the offer price.

I took an interest in the article because I previously worked for a major retailer who did precisely this kind of transaction, offering credit installments on purchases.

One thing that most customers don't realise, or are not informed of, is that the repayment scheme is based on what is called the Rule of 78s. This is what most car loan companies, banks and finance companies use in calculating interest rebates.
I will not even try to explain it to you!

You'll probably be lost within the 1st sentence of the complicated formula. Look up Rule of 78s in Wikipedia if you really want a background on calculating your loan payments.

In a very simplistic nutshell explanation, it means that you pay the interest on your loan before your payments start reducing the principal amount. That's why you always lose out when you decide to foreclose the loan earlier than the term allows. There is hardly any interest rebate left to take back. What's left of your outstanding loan is most of the principal sum because you have only been repaying the interest portion of your loan first.

A simple example is your credit card bills. If you just pay the minimum monthly sum each month, you will realise that you are just paying interest for that month and there is hardly a reduction of the credit amount used.

Caveat emptor.

Father of modern Singapore

2011-05-02T17:29:00.015+08:00

As I write this, my country is in the midst of a General Election. The populace will elect or re-elect a government in a few days time according to their vote.

In the press, on the Net and in the coffee shops, arguments and counter-arguments, points and counterpoints, insinuations, mudslingings and the usual campaign gimmicks are all the talk of the day.

One particular piece of writing on the Net caught my eye. This person described the venerable Mr Lee Kuan Yew as the founder of modern Singapore. Hmmm, I was wondering. Is this what is being taught in schools now? I don't know.

From my own pathetic knowledge of local history, I thought that modern Singapore was founded by Sir Stamford Raffles back in 1819? Was I wrong?
Then again, when I took History of S.E.Asia as an A Level subject, it was way back in 1972, but I still can recall certain facts vividly because of my interest in local history at that time. Or has history been re-written since then?

From my aging memory, I recalled something like this....

The region around us then (i.e. S E Asia) was divided and controlled by both the Dutch and British, who were bitter enemies at that time.
Stamford Raffles, the British lieutenant-governor of Bencoolen in Western Sumatra, wanted to impress his bosses, the East India Company. He sought permission from his superior, Lord Hastings in India, to try and establish a greater presence right in the middle of the Dutch territories. (very garang! especially because the EIC Court of Directors were against this idea, but he went ahead anyway)

Raffles considered places like Bangka, Karimon, Bintan and Lingga before finally settling on an island called Singapura. All these places were within the domain of the Rhio Sultanate, now know as Riau, Indonesia. (Trivia- his initial preferences were actually Bangka or Bintan.)

The Sultan of the Rhio Sultanate, Sultan Mahmud, had recently died and his throne, based at Lingga under the Dutch, was usurped by the younger son Abdul Rahman instead of going to the rightful elder son Hussein Long.

Through political intrigues, Raffles brought the elder Hussein Long to Tumesek and installed him as the Sultan to be recognised by the British, in exchange for trading and administrative rights over the newly founded trading port (Singapura). The date was 6 February 1819.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew was not the founder of modern Singapore. He happened to be the incumbent prime minister of the island when Singapore was kicked out of the Federation of Malaysia on 9 August 1965. By default, he became the head of the government of a newly independent country.

Full credit must go to him and his team of people in the immediate period following Singapore's independence as a soveriegn country and the most difficult task of continuing to govern without much resources.

In 8 years time in 2019, Singapore will celebrate its bicentennial of its modern founding and its 54th year as an independent country. We should celebrate our modern founding with as big a bang as we can.
200 years of Singapore!

I hope I will still be around then.

Photo by hjtann

A day off without having an off day.

2011-04-29T09:11:00.012+08:00

Without wanting to sound too presumptuous, I just need to get it ‘off’ me.
Every time I hear that phrase 'off day', it makes me cringe a bit.
It has become so much a part of our norm here that I am not sure if they really mean what they say or maybe it's just bad grammer?

I was just reading a friend's post on Facebook and she said, "off to work for Ipad 2 launch....even on off day :)"

Presumably she is going to work as she's 'off to work', but she's also having an "off day".

If you live in Singapore you would have no difficulty understanding what she just wrote, if we think singlish, i.e. she's going to work on her day off.

But having a day off is completely different from having an off day.

A Day Off is when you get a break from work.

You don’t need to work, you don’t need to go to work.

Having an Off Day means you are not feeling well, feeling a bit under the weather, or just not at ease with yourself.

You are a bit ‘off”, like in saying ‘the food is a bit off’, meaning it’s stale or getting bad, or at least not in the best of states.

So, if you have an Off Day, you are not doing too good, but having an Day Off may do wonders for you!

Having an off day? take a day off.

Fined for walking in SG

2011-04-17T20:44:00.004+08:00

My sister Jen emigrated to USA more than 2 decades ago and I usually chat with her via MSN.

Last Saturday, with tongue in cheek, I told her I was fined coming back from the NTUC store located across the road from my house. Fined? for what? she asked. For walking, I said.
Jaywalking? No, I had to pay a tax just for walking along the road.

I said that the government had authorized a number of organisations to collect tax from people who walk specially near the bus terminals, train stations or shopping malls every Saturday.

Last Saturday, the Ren Ci Hospital were out collecting money from pedestrians. hee hee hee.

Hmmm, I wonder if the registered charities do have to pay tax to the government for the donations that they collect? If that really is the case, then we are taxed for walking along the streets on Saturdays!

Peek Poke Meme Fail ?

2011-04-17T18:48:00.007+08:00

I got my very first Personal Computer around 1980s.
That's way back in the the 20th century, so long ago that I can't even remember when it was.

It was a Commodore VIC20, a watered down version of the then mouthwatering Commodore 64.
It had 4Kb of RAM memory (wow) and a cassette tape drive!
You plug it to your TV and get glorious 8bit colors, and it could run Space Invaders and Donkey Kong (double wow!)

You had to LOAD each and every program that you wanted to use and then RUN the program. Only 1 program at a time. Multitasking was still something for the future. But it was a real computer and not a game console like the Atari.

Top of the line personal computers like the IBM PC (& later the XT) were then only being used by corporations as these were way too expensive for home use.

I was feeling nostalgic while I was browsing the internet and realised I was now reading new words like meme and fail, being used so commonly today.
I recalled that even back then, when the PC was just starting to become more than just a household gadget, we were already learning new words coming into a new new world.

How many of you can remember using commands like peek, poke, RUN, LOAD, if..then, else go ?

Of course that was a long, long time ago and all these words are now hidden under the user interface and so intuitive now that we don't need to know these anymore when using our mouse, iphones and ipads.

If you still don't know what meme and fail means today, you got a lot more catching up to do than me!

Stand up for your rights!

2011-04-02T10:54:00.007+08:00

Today somebody said to me, Go to all that trouble?, it's only 4 cents!
(referring to my earlier blog)

Sigh.

The sad part about making these claims appear to make me look like a cheapskate.
But I am claiming it on grounds of principles and not because of the money.

Of the 6 vouchers, I have actually not used, or did not intend to use, the last 3 pieces.
These are now expired and cannot be used.
I am keeping them as souvenirs of my stand against the injustice.

My expired vouchers.

You are entitled to your opinion, but to me, it's just another sad indication of our mollycoddly attitude which was socially engineered over the past few decades and now so pervasive in our society.
We don't stand up and question wrongs, even when we feel outraged.

If you don't bother to stand up for your own rights. who will stand up for you?

The bus companies are still taking your money!

2011-04-01T23:11:00.005+08:00

Despite the bus companies' claims that the overcharging problem had been fixed, I've had 2 further instances where I was still overcharged for my trips.

If you had read my earlier blog on the overcharging issue, you'll know that the trip from Bukit Batok Interchange to my office at Andrew Road is supposedly $1.33. I have been regularly charged $1.37 for the trip.

Today I collected my 6th refund for overcharging, so I know it's still happening. This is confirmed by the fact that my requests for the 4cents refund have always been approved.

I get back at them by requesting for a 'complimentary' voucher for a free ride instead of a cash refund. In this way, I actually end up ahead of them. Serves them right for their unintentional (?) mistakes.

So commuters beware, be aware of the actual cost of your trip and check that you are not overcharged by them.

I hate my iphone!

2011-03-20T17:29:00.009+08:00

Or rather, I can't stand the auto-correction feature in its messaging, email or Notes apps!

It not only corrects your spelling but changes entire words for you.
It has a mind all of its own, and it's evil and a pervert to boot !

So, just turn it off, right?
Yeah, I did that, and you know what?

It's worst than before.

The keyboard is so small and sensitive that you make more mistakes!

So, I guess until Mr. Jobs comes up with something better, I am stuck with all the perverted and sick messages IT wants to send to all my friends.

For those of you using auto correct on the iphone, you know what I am talking about.

For those of you who don't use the iphone for messaging, here's a bit of what we have to go through....

To have a great laugh at the expense of iphone users, go to this great website... it'll leave you in stitches the whole day.

http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com

Stupid is as stupid does

2011-03-20T16:32:00.005+08:00

Today, I was waiting for the lift at my apartment block when this youngish lady in her twenties also came to wait. I know her to be one of my neighbours somewhere up on the higher floors.

She was on the phone yakking away with her friend while tossing & juggling her house keys with the other hand. I don't like to stereotype people but this slovenly dressed ah lian gave you the feeling she was a walking disaster.

True enough, when the lift doors opened, she fumbled her keys and it dropped right into the crack between the landing and the lift floor.

"Dammit, shit!" she screamed into her phone to her friend, "this is the 3rd time my keys got into the gap!"
"Damned idiots, why did they have to make the gap so big?!!"

Duh?

Error! Error! That does not compute!

2011-02-13T20:24:00.008+08:00

I get peeved when those fast food servers behind the counter rattle off their scripts like robots instead of using their heads.

For example, if you say "I'd like to takeaway a cheeseburger...", they'll go through the whole rigamarole again... "burger? fries? upsize?" etc, and finally ask you "will that be dine in or takeaway?"

Today, I bullied the girl crew at Subway Westmall.
After getting my greens, she asked, "... and your dressing?"
Me: "Mustard"
Crew: "Yellow Mustard?"
Me: "what other colors do you have???"

She didn't get it.

(Link) View more Robot Sound Clips and Lost In Space Sound Clips

Hot under the collar

2011-02-13T02:57:00.003+08:00

I took a bus to work yesterday in the sweltering heat. SBStransit #182 from Boon Lay bus interchange towards Customs Checkpoint at Tuas 2nd Link.

The bus was exceedingly warm inside as it left the terminal. I tolerated it, assuming it had been out in the sun, and it would take a while to cool the ambient air inside.

However, after a kilometer or so, the air was still not cooled, and what's worse, it got very stifling.
Other pax'es on board were starting to get vocal amongst themselves, but as usual with most Singaporeans, they grumbled about the situation but did not have the courage to stand up and do something about it. (Guess it's one consequence of living in a closeted environment?)

When the sweat broke out on my brow, I couldn't bear it much more and went forward to the lady driver/bus captain to enquire if she could at least turn up the blower fan speed. She replied that the air con was already turned on and that the blower speed was fixed.

At this point, another Malay passenger came forward and started berating the bus captain over the faulty aircon system. A little to my embarrassment as it felt I was the one who started the incident.

She radioed her control station and they suggested all passengers disembark and board the next bus. A refund and a complimentary ride would be given for the journey onwards, as compensation for the inconvenience. There were about 20 of us on board, mainly foreign workers heading for the factories at Tuas.

This goes to show that if we want something rectified, we gotta stand up and be counted.