chillycraps and cabin crew

"Today I catch up with Joyce who told me all the shit about being an air stewardess", that's the line suggested by Joyce herself. Yup, it has been a long time since I last met her, and that was before she joined the airlines.

Listening to her rattling on and on about her job, is evidence of how much passion she puts into the job. And I was quite surprised by some of the job scope of a cabin crew. Other than serving passengers food and peanuts and headphones, cabin crews are also trained in fire fighting, unarmed combat, nursing, babysitting, and toilet cleaning! Ok, they don't repair engines.

Her path to becoming an air stewardess wasn't easy, maybe that's why she treasures it so much.

By the way, do you know that the Airbus A380 has a fridge specially for dead body? Dead body, not dead meat.

work in progress

I hate to say this, but this few weeks are hell weeks for me. Deadlines coming, reports and term papers on the list. I'm not a last minute worker, but neither am I a fast worker.

I guess blogging has to take a backseat now.

Time to switch from the blogging platform to word processor screen.

quote of the day

Malique says:
   hi babyyyyyyyyyyy
Malique says:
   hi sayang i miss u so much!
Malique says:
   OOPS WRONG WINDOW
chillycraps says:
   dot dot dot

shaping our world and making the globe

I came across this interesting video clip on how they manufacture globes at Replogle Globes, Chicago.


It is not metal forming process, but similar. Instead of cutting sheet metal, they cut cardboard. And I find it interesting how they make the terrain contour using the mould.

Now I know it's made of cardboard, I know I can set the world on fire!

Imagination – The Mac Show, A 4-Day Extravaganza at Ngee Ann City

ishop by Club 21 will celebrate its third anniversary with a thrilling 4-day extravaganza called Imagination – The Mac Show at Takashimaya Square (B2), Ngee Ann City, from 30 October to 2 November 2008.

ishop, Asia’s largest Apple Premium Reseller, will proudly present the latest über-cool Apple products for professionals and home users at the event. Apple guest speakers will give a preview of upcoming creative solutions that educate and entertain. And visitors stand to gain from fantastic deals as well as be entertained by a host of performances.

Imagination – The Mac Show also promises to be a sensory experience. Make Studios, in collaboration with composer/sound engineer Victor Low (The Observatory), will present Art of the T – Mosaic Voice. This multi-media, interactive installation blends digital music with T-shirt graphic imagery, coming alive via a touch-screen user interface. All featured T-shirts, from cult design collectives, are available for sale on-site.

Other programme highlights are the 6th Asia-Pacific Yoyo Championship Finals, DJ Battle, DJ Nado, DJ Graduation, BBoys (dance), Soul Divas (dance) and Electrico (band).

For those who want an inside track on the latest developments and hottest products from Apple — with unlimited fun and entertainment at the same time, Imagination – The Mac Show is an event not to be missed.

Imagination – The Mac Show
Takashimaya Square (B2), Ngee Ann City
30 October to 2 November 2008

ishop by Club 21 is located at Orchard Cineleisure #03-04/5/6. Tel: 6622 8988. Website: ishop.club21.bz

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kampong service centre

Yesterday I was at the back of my kitchen when I heard sound coming from the main door. It sounded like someone trying to push the door open, which I had locked from inside. I thought it was those visually handicapped people selling tissue paper, but it was my next door neighbour.

My neighbour is a man in his 70s. He wanted to ask me to take a look at his mobile phone cos it was in silent mode and he had a missed call. He didn't know how to switch back to the normal mode. He handed me his phone (and the user manual @@) and wow, why would an old man like him use such a complicated phone? So I pressed a few buttons and switched the profile back to General. This wasn't the first time he came over to seek help for his phone. I guess what seems technologically intuitive to us, may not be the same for people of older generations. I mean, I didn't look at the manual.

I had a little discussion with my friends on plurk, and some brought up that this may be that kampong spirit thing. I have never lived in a kampong before, but I guess it's something like people leaving their doors open, people walking into each other's house, people borrowing salt from you, people helping each other, people sharing food, kids playing with one another...

I remember the days when my neighbour asked me to help them set up their new computer, the days when they came into my house to borrow toilet (-_-"), I think they could have relocated the Resident's Committee.

Now, why didn't that cute pretty girl down the corridor come look for me?

who's behind the great firewall?

We know the Great Firewall of China. No, not that one that you can see in outer space, this one you can't see anything that the government doesn't want you to see, thanks to western technology such as C**co.

I am not sure what's the extent of the GFW, I read about China blocking search engine result on melamine milk. But a friend was in China a few days ago and she managed to leave a comment in my blog. Hoho, maybe my blog is GFW-friendly.

I saw this firefox add-on that allows you to experience what the 1.3 billion people are behind. (as though everyone has internet, duh!)

Ok I've tried, chillycraps is safe, Free Tibet isn't.

quote of the day

women are like scorpions.
the most venomous ones are the ones that appear most pretty and colorful
-- an application engineer who requested anonymity

got fuel doesn't mean must set fire

In today's Straits Times, editor Joanne Lee talks about getting flamed online. Why this doesn't sound new to us?

A lot of bloggers get flamed. Whether you talk about people, talk about government, talk about engineering, talk about news, talk about yourself, you still can get flamed. I don't study psychology, so I have no idea why people like to flame others.

Most of the time, flammers are anonymous. There are like zillions of anonymous around the world, obviously they don't flame for fame. (they don't go like, yay I'm a famous anonymous now.) It must be that sadist in us that wants to see others getting emotionally affected by your words. Cheap thrills aren't only found in bargain stores.

Just a week or so ago, someone (again, anonymous) left a nasty comment. All I needed were 2 words and a punctuation to force him to use vulgarities in his second reply. This is the nth time I'm saying this, this is not a serious blog. You don't go into Toysrus looking for sex toy, do you? The moment you use vulgarities and personal attacks, it just shows you are not making a logical and sensible argument or comment. I could have continued on playing word games with you, and naturally you will keep coming back, either to check on my reaction, or to write more rubbish. Either way, I'm going to gain, cos of the traffic you bring to my site and the revenue.

Sometimes we have the tendency to write stuff in response to what others have written, mostly complaining about others complaining (yeah, double loop). For example, someone complained about rising living cost, then another person complains about the first person complaining. Isn't it like, parents using vulgarities to scold their kids for using vulgarities?

the machine that changed the world

It is time like this when I'm either too lazy or too busy, that I share video clips here. Good video clips.

The Machine That Changed The World by WGBH Television and BBC. Part 1 talks about Great Brains. 55+ minutes, enjoy.

left hand or right hand

The ratio between the number of left-handed people and right-handed people is about 1:9. So should product designer design things for righties, lefties, or both?

The turnstiles at train stations, they seem more friendly to right-handers. Have you seen people tapping the card on the card-reader for the lane on the left? Yeah, the gate opens up and you can get free ride while the card owner still tries to figure why his gate doesn't open. Then you worry about it when you exit from your destination.

However, the turnstiles at NUS Science Library seem to be the opposite. The card reader is on the left. So yesterday I was entering the library. The guy in front went to the left lane and tapped his card on the right turnstiles, while I stood in the right lane waiting for his hand to move off the reader so that I could tap my card and go through. Had I been evil, I could have gone through the turnstiles that the guy had unlocked for me. Had I been angelic, I could have told him he had tapped on the wrong side. So I was neutral.

I know it may be a habit, but I guess spending a second or two to observe will tell you which card reader belongs to which lane.

staring incident

I was on the way home on a bus. At the junction between Lornie Road and Thomson Road, the bus cut into the next lane and got horned by a Mercedes Benz behind.

I was at the window seat. At the traffic light, the Merz pulled up alongside my bus, and the driver looked out and stared at me. I returned him a you-stare-at-me-for-fxxk look. What the hell, I was just a commuter, and I wasn't even sitting near where the bus driver was. What do you want me to do?

10 second stop-go penalty.

aero contests

Recently there are quite a few aeronautical / aerospace related contests and competitions. Flying type, maybe you would want to take note:

Win $500 Cash with your Paper Aeroplane!
Organised by NUS Flight & Space Interest Group (FSIG. honestly I didn't know such a group exists), all you have to do is fold an A4 paper into an airplane and throw (no, not the A-4 Skyhawk that A4. A4 paper!!). $1 per throw. Throw 500 times and you are even.
29th - 31st October 2008
10 am to 5pm
Central Forum

Singapore Space Challenge 2009
Organized by Singapore Space and Technology Association.
All I know is application closes on 30th October 2008. The rest, read it yourself here. Something about launching a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite.

Airbus FYI Challenge
"Airbus is offering €30,000 for the team whose idea demonstrates the greatest short or long term potential to reduce the impact of our industry on the environment"
nuff said.
Read it here.

satellite trick

Because of a project, I have been looking at and playing with lotsa satellite images of Singapore. As some of you may know, Google Earth and Google Map are the most readily available sources.

I found something interesting while looking over Singapore River. Look at this image:

That's Elgin Bridge in the middle, connecting North Bridge Road with South Bridge Road. Do you see anything weird about the bridge? (click to get bigger view)

The left most lane leads to the tree on the South, while the right most lane leads from the grass patch of Parliament House. In real life, Elgin Bridge only has 3 arches. The satellite saw 4. Plus 2 extra lanes.

That's not some Halloween trick or what. I believe Google made some mistake when they were georeferencing the satellite images. Satellite snaps pictures one grid at a time within the spatial resolution, and then you need to piece them together like a mosaic. It's not how most people think that satellite snaps like video camera.

Anyway, the bug looks so perfectly done :P

what is nussu

Today, a final year student from NUS asked me,

what is NUSSU?

cough ahem cough.
National University of Singapore Shopping Union.

Of course not! It's the Student Union!

Does that go to show how effective the student union is in representing the student body?

Anyway, I picked up a copy of the October issue of the ridge, a publication of NUSSU, (erm, to clarify, I read from the one that my classmate picked up. I have no hard stats as to how many students actually pick it up) and saw this photo:
I think I should commend the graphic guy for the photoshop done. It does look like Bugis Village in the background, but to the best of my knowledge, bus service 151 does not pass by Bugis. However, bus 51 does. Anyway, I hardly see the double decker Volvo B9TL that NUSSU claimed they fought for. (come to think of it, maybe that's why they had to photoshop another bus)

Okay to be fair, the NUS diary is from NUSSU.

EDIT: ok I found the original image.

service lacks a mile

While the government is promoting the GEMS (Go The Extra Mile For Service) movement, I think some services are still off by a mile, or more.

Yesterday I was at this travel fair. Usually when you are at a travel fair, you would want to find out more about the travel packages, look at itineraries, right? So we were at this booth, big tour agency. They put all the itineraries and programme sheets on this rotary stand. So we were turning the rack in clockwise direction, searching for the package of our choice, then this staff came with a stack of new programme sheets, fought with us by turning the rack in anticlockwise, and we had to stand there wait for him to finish refilling the racks, which weren't empty at all. Hello, is it like so urgent that you need to disrupt your potential customer to replenish that one sheet or two of photocopy paper? Out.

So we went to the next booth. Another big company. But some staffs would rather stand and lean back do nothing, than to attend to you. Wasn't it obvious enough we were glancing around for an available staff? I'm not trying to say you must unroll red carpet and welcome me, but compared to other companies whose staff come out and attend to us, you are really lacking initiative. Out.

Next, another big company. This time round one staff was available, so we sat down and talked business. That guy has that gangster look. I'm not discriminating against gangsters-lookalike, but when he talked he wasn't looking at his potential customers, ie us. Somemore he had that can't-be-bothered look. Do I have to wear revealing clothes to catch his attention? Out.

I may be a sucker for service, but this is not like me unreasonably demanding service at hawker centre.

On a brighter note, the economy may not be that bad. Usually when times are bad, service quality goes up.

mask for sleeping on train

Have you ever felt like sleeping on the bus or on the train, yet worrying about missing your stop?

I came across this funny gadget here, it's an eye mask with a LED in front, displaying the name of the stop you are getting down at. So basically, you are praying that other passengers will be kind enough to wake you up when it's your stop.

(in the experiment, no one woke the person up :P)

Will it be better if you invent something that is hooked-up to the GPS, and will wake you up with a blast when you have reached your destination?

pee ass pee

I used to have a very negative view about people who play PSP everywhere they go. True, I used to bring my first generation Game Boy everywhere I go, but that was when I was 9 years old. The game sound (aka noise) and the extra arm space that those "kids" take up on public transport didn't help with the negative feeling. I thought there are more constructive uses to a person's right hand (+ left hand).

Then the other day at the cafe, my friend took out his PSP. I casually asked what game was he playing, and he told me he was reading e-book. And to further "disturb" me, he made the "JIU JIU" Space Invader sound from his mouth.

No matter how evil a technology is, there are always constructive uses to it.

quote of the day

Engineers have kept engineering; their part of the world has kept turning, kept adding value, kept its nose clean
-- John Pullin, Editor,
Professional Engineering

solidworks innovation day 2008

I just came back from SolidWorks Innovation Day 2008 - Singapore and the official launch of SolidWorks 2009, held at Merchant Court Swissotel. The turnout was quite impressive, the whole ballroom was full, and saw some familiar faces and had a nice chat during the tea break.




So what's new in SolidWorks 2009? In SW2009, you can edit your part's dimension right from the feature itself instead of having to go back to edit the draft, and you can edit it by dragging the feature right from the screen. For those playing with plastics, there's a new feature creating lip and groove. SW2009 also can take some negativity, as you can now input negative dimension. It will just go the opposite side of the reference feature. COSMOS is now history, renamed SolidWorks Simulation. If you have no idea how to start your analysis, there's a Simulation Advisor (which is like a wizard) that helps you get on by asking you simple questions like "which is more flexible", that sort. A lot of new stuffs.

Impressive. But I have no idea how much memory it's gonna suck from the computer.

NUS, when can we have some SolidWorks 2009?

some knowledge transfer

Let me tell you a story about 2 mechanical engineering undergraduates.

Guy A is this laid back part time undergrad who paid full time tuition fee. He can't quite be bothered about grades.

Guy B, on the other hand, has that mugger look on first sight. Beneath those glasses and jeans with polo-t fully tucked in, is the first class honours material.

Guy B always asks Guy A when he has queries about the lecture notes. During lab session, Guy B always looks at Guy A's computer screen and asks him for help. And at the end, Guy B always borrows the lab report from Guy A "for reference".

Although it doesn't seem logical, but Guy A will remain as those barely-make-it-to-graduation type while Guy B will happily get first class honours.

If you are Guy A, how would you feel. If you are not Guy A, how do you think Guy A should feel?

macbook manufacturing

Introducing the new MacBook.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fanboy, and I prefer my apple red. In fact, they tried to make mechanical engineers jobless by removing the hard disk on the Air. Boo, you still need mechanical engineers to manufacture the parts.

So here is a video from Apple that describes the whole design and features, the "precision aluminum unibody enclosure" from one solid piece of aluminum. You can see processes like extrusion, milling, laser cutting... Sexy.

Apple, are you hiring?

engineer away poverty

Today is Blog Action Day 2008 and the topic for this year is Poverty.

Being fortunate enough to live in a developed world, to say that I understand poverty sounds a bit cowcrap. What is poverty?

The quality or state of being poor or indigent; want or scarcity of means of subsistence; indigence; need.
--Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Complaining about fare hike and price hike isn't poverty. Complaining about ERP gantry isn't poverty. Complaining about the hot weather isn't poverty. Not having the latest LV bag isn't poverty.
Shortage of food, lack of basic education, poor living condition, yes. (some people classify no aircon as poor living condition. Screw you.)

Seriously I can't imagine, cos I have never experienced that. The closest I have gotten is going to rural areas in some 3rd world countries. You see kids crowding around you, admiring everything you've got. I've seen kids going crazy over a piece of drawing paper, a box of crayon.

So what can we do? What is the role an engineer can play? I've read of engineers building pumps for water scarce areas, building wind turbines and solar panels, making LED torches for lighting, building schools, etc etc.

The possibilities are limitless.

cord length

During ME3261 Principles of CAD/CAM lecture today, the lecturer was talking about cord length...

... when a group of guys behind started to giggle.

*roll eyes*

In mechanical engineering, basically almost anything can be turned into dirty jokes.

"boeing boeing" and got stuck

I haven't seen such funny photo for some time already.

A Boeing 737-300 got stuck under an overhead pedestrian bridge along Tampines Expressway while being tranported by road from Seletar to Changi.

It kind of contrasts with how Airbus tranported the different sections of the A380 via rivers and roads (sometimes under bridges) from France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom for assembly at Toulouse in France. Somemore the A380 is a double-deck giant while the B737 is single deck.


Who did the calculations? (or did they do calculations in the first place?) Oh this is Boeing, not Airbus. They don't use metric system.

bad times may not be that bad

Recently everyone is talking about economy downturn and people from my batch are worrying that the job market may be worse next year when we graduate.

But I am optimistic.

'Cos lately I have been receiving calls from companies wanting to hire me NOW. The thing is, I'm still studying, and I didn't apply for any job. Freelance maybe alright, but full time, no. I still have no idea how they got to know me.

What I'm trying to say is, they are still hiring. I can't say for other sectors, but the mechanical engineering sector still seems healthy.

Oh well, maybe they are firing the old staffs and using cheap labour like me to fill the slot.

giant observations

Today I was at Giant Hypermarket.

1. They have renovated (big deal). I think they have knocked out the whole storage area to make space for more shelves.
2. They sell hairy crabs. One crab broke loose of the rope and did a Prison Break 5. It fell from 1 metre high and continued to run after landing.
   
3. They sell live eels, but did not provide any tools for customers to choose. It wasn't placed at the counter. Imagine trying to catch those long slimy snake-like creature with a plastic bag. I attracted a big crowd while catching. One (eel, not crowd) is inside my stomach now.
4. I didn't walk in with a shopping basket or a cart. Big mistake. I had to walk all the way back to the entrance just to get a basket. Should I feel stupid or should supermarket place baskets at strategic locations inside the store?
5. A boy behind me with a cart asked me to "excuse" him. His elder sister scolded him, "keep quiet lah! You don't own the road!" Wow.
6. I walked out with leg cramp.
   

whg

Actually there really are a lot of sites that do web host rating and reviews for web hosting services. Some time back I wrote about a couple of them.

Be it for your blog or your online shop, have you had a hard time looking for a good webhosting service? I had that before. I was thinking of hosting my blog and try out other blogging platforms, and man I couldn't quite decide. There are just so many hosting service providers out there. You look at their price plan, what servers they are running, extra features, bundles, etc etc. Being low on budget, I didn't want to make the wrong move and be stuck.

So there is this site called Web Hosting Geeks, which provides reviews and rankings for various web hosting services. They have different categories such as budget, email, e-commerce, and they state down the different features of the hosting services. Quite detailed in my opinion. If you aren't convinced, you can read the users reviews and ratings. It's always good to hear from various sides of the story. If it's going to boost your confidence, they list down the awards that the particular web hosting company has gotten before.

Still, the list is so complete, it's hard to make a choice :P

freelance superhero

Meet Mr Malique, freelance superhero and PKL (pau ka liao) designer. Grab his magazine while stocks last. (go find it yourself)

Other than drawing graphics, he can draw money too.

you don't need to be bill gates to pay bills

Somehow I don't feel much about the 21% rise in electricity bills. Most probably that's because I am not the one paying the bills.

But my household's electricity usage has always been way below the national average (if you bother to look at the bill). I don't use air-con. I don't leave my fridge door open and enjoy the cold air. I seldom watch TV. Maybe the most energy consuming stuff is the computer. My 21% increase could be 21% of your 21% increase.

Come to think of it, how many of us appreciate our ready supply of electricity? If you don't short circuit anything, you get power the moment you flip the switch. But this is one thing that not everyone on earth can enjoy. There was once I was in China. At that time they had something called electricity rationing. What it means is, this town, on a particular day, at a particular period, there will be no power supply. So you can be watching the final match of World Cup and halfway at 89th minute there's a blackout. And if your fridge's insulation sucks, when you take out the tray of ice cubes, you get water.

So what some people do, they buy their own generator.

If you think your personal generator running on petrol is more efficient and economical than those big bad turbines in the power station, then you should start your own power company (just careful the carbon monoxide buildup in your house). If not, I highly recommend reducing your electricity usage by 21%. 79% of 121% is still less than 100%.

talking with bus conductor

Just now I had a nice chat over dinner with a friend who claims to be a bus conductor, but actually works in an operation centre of a bus company.

So I took the chance to bombard him with questions regarding bus services. (you know, sometimes I can be the number 1 hater of a particular bus company) Firstly, the arrival time system. Why is it not accurate? Ans: it goes by schedule. Ok, let's just say that there is an interval when the bus updates its position. Second question, do you guys monitor how many people are on the bus (read: 151) and despatch reinforcement accordingly? Ans: (silence)

By the way, there's this console called the DDU in which the bus captain can communicate with the operation centre and seek assistance. Things like "a kid brought his slurpee up the bus", "there's an unattended backpack on the seat", "someone punched me", etc etc. I think the ops centre can "screw" the driver via the DDU for running late.

Hmm, sounds like fun job.

uniformed group

Recently I have noticed that a secondary school in my area has changed its uniform.

This is tropical Singapore. Unlike schools in temperate countries, we don't switch school uniform according to the season.

So this school, they have changed the uniform design such that now the students don't have to tuck in their shirt. In fact, maybe students will be punished for tucking in their shirt! I wonder, do they redesign the uniform cos they give up on having to constantly remind the students to tuck in their shirt?

I remember I was in junior college when I saw the PE teacher screaming at a student for not tucking in his shirt. "You are in j1 and you still dunno how to tuck in your shirt!!" I also remember members of the public complaining to my secondary school about students not tucking in their shirt outside school.

Now, have you wondered why must students wear school uniform? Why must they tuck in the shirt? It is a question that usually the rebellious few or the thinking few would ask.

the new power market

In response to the hike in electricity bill, fellow blogger dk has talked about opening up the energy market. Since power is one of my area of interest, I just want to chip in my bit.
There is this new model of power distribution network which I came across early this year. In this model, power generation, power transmission, and power distribution all come under different companies. Consumers have the freedom to choose which brand of electricity he wants, which company of transmission wire, which company of substation, etc. He can mix and match. It's electricity ala carte.

Coming back to reality, you may want to know that the power stations in Singapore are all privately owned (some by oversea companies even), just that distribution and marketing is still under Singapore Power (SP), and that's why we receive the bill from SP. To really reach the stage like in the diagram, a lot has to be done on the infrastructure. Of course if it can be done on telecom and postal services, it can happen on power.

And somehow the example of Hong Kong was brought in. With my knowledge of that place, I would say it's a bit unique and competition is almost non-existent although there are 2 power companies there. Reason being, the 2 companies supply power to different areas. Hongkong Electric supplies to Hong Kong Island while CLP serves Kowloon and New Territories. The bill on Hong Kong is so much more expensive than Kowloon that the Hongkongers wish the government could reclaim the Victoria Harbour so that they can switch provider.

With deregulation and opening of power market, the biggest gainer could be the property agents (since people would move to areas where the electricity is cheaper, that is if the market is divided into zonal basis)

sensor-triggered lecturer

This semester I am taking this postgraduate module, which has night class from 6pm to 9pm.

So yesterday it was 1.5 hour into the lecture when this coursemate entered the class. As if the lecturer was triggered by some pressure sensor on the seat, the moment the coursemate's butt touched the seat, the lecturer said "that's all I have for you this week."

Sad right!? (fine, some of us undergrads do love it when lecturer ends lecture early)

That's the thing about night class. Most of the lecturemates are working adults. So they have to rush down to class after work, yadah yadah... While I was with my previous employer, there was this engineer who was taking Master's degree. There would be a few days in the week when he had to leave early and take a cab down to campus. But sometimes there are things popping up at work and you can't leave as you want. (of cos, telling your boss that you have night class is a good way to leave on the dot everyday)

Night class is a tiring business. Even for me who is not working, I find it tiring. You have lesson until late at night, then project meeting until even later at night, and next morning you have somemore lectures from other modules. I can't imagine those who have to rush down from work, rush dinner, rush home...

How do you guys manage night class?

nimby the foreign worker

If we look at construction sites, road works, cable laying, most of the time we see foreign workers. I think the locals would rather starve to death at home than to take up these jobs (also, thanks to our increase in education level), thus these positions have to be filled by foreigners. In a way, foreign workers contribute to Singapore's growth and development.

Recently there's this case of residents protesting against the siting of foreign worker dormitory near their private housings. I think it is a case of Not in my backyard (NIMBY) syndrome.

Not trying to say it's good or bad, cos it's natural. I would have felt the same concern too. In fact, my next door is infested with foreign students and I always feel like calling up the police on illegal immigrants/tenants. That's because they always blast music. As long as they don't disturb me, they can have a whorehouse there for all they want.

I did a little search online and came across this article on a case study in Jalan Kayu. It is heartening to know that the foreign workers are becoming part of the community. (of cos, this report could be something to appease the residents at Serangoon Gardens)

Should we be worried before something happens, or should we be worried about something that may not happen? In any case, it is easier for me to say since I don't live there.

voodoo doll of bus

I have been busy CADding a voodoo doll of a bus so that I can poke some needle whenever the service is not to satisfaction.

Bus companies, watch out.

(nah, that's for project. I'm designing a next generation bus that can speed on the Formula 1 race track in Singapore)

i don't friend all kinds of aunties

If you have the slightest impression that I can get along well with aunties, that is not totally true. There are some aunties whom I can't stand at all.

My mother wanted to take me along to a yum char session with some family friends. I always see it as formality if not diplomacy to show face and meet the elders, but on hearing a particular auntie was going, I straight away told my mother I won't go.

Which auntie so powerful? The one who came to my house and made me a HDB staff. I don't know what's wrong with her, seriously. Today, that woman asked another auntie's child to help her husband to find something on the internet. Then when her husband was out of earshot, she said actually she knows how to find the stuff, just that she's too lazy to help her husband. What's this?? So do you also ask other woman to help your husband make baby?? Not trying to be evil-mouthed, but how can her husband tolerate her all these while? Then she is so old already still behaving like a kid, the other family wanted to go some place, she also wanted to follow. Reached the place already immediately said want to go back. Tsk.

But, there are some super duper cool aunties too. Today I had a cool lunch gathering with fellow blogger friends eastcoastlife, xizor, endoh and xinyun. (don't get me wrong, not all the attendees are aunties) It was a very relaxed lunch of chicken rice at Boon Tong Kee. Seriously, I think outsider could have thought we were one family. Laugh laugh, joke joke, I like this kind of small gathering.

term paper on combined cycle power generation

Let me share with you a term paper I did last semester, which looked into combined cycle power generation. This method of producing electricity accounts for close to 50% of Singapore's power requirement.

Energy and power (and electricity) is not my specialization, but surprisingly it is one of my better subjects in engineering.

See if you can spot any crap inside a supposedly formal term paper. Oh, and please don't plagiarize, beside violating the license, it will hurt me.

wheelchair unfriendly wheelchair accessible bus

Yesterday my coursemate Huawei shared with me this report from Channel NewsAsia, "Wheelchair friendly, but you can’t board"

The message of the little blue sticker seems obvious: We’re a wheelchair—friendly bus. But, as disabled commuters have found out the hard way, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re welcome aboard.

Mr Lee Jun Hui, flagged down SBS Service No 57 outside One Raffles Quay three weeks ago. Though the decal declaring it a wheelchair accessible bus (WAB) was displayed on the windscreen, the driver refused to let him on.

What is this?

The bus company made so much noise when they first introduced wheelchair accessible bus (WAB), and now they say they are not allowed to carry wheelchairs? It kind of reminds me that time when I took a taxi with the "we welcome NETS" sticker on the window, and the taxi uncle could tell me he doesn't know how to use the machine when I wanted to pay my fare by NETS.

Why don't they make the story more dramatic, tell the press that they have imported x number of new wheelchair accessible buses, but none of the drivers know how to drive it?

We always hear people saying "hardware limitations", but it seems like the hardware is the scapegoat for incompetent humans.

Who should we blame, the driver, the bus company, or the authority?

(related plurk)

big minister is watching

Can you imagine seeing our minister appearing in the cloud above the Central Business District (CBD), smiling down on us?

I can't.

Anyway, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, will be speaking at the Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum on 17 Oct.

(this post has no political motive. I'm just making fun of the poster. You can see it pasted around campus. And I haven't reached the stage of doing photoshop on local politicians.)

from bus stop to bookstore

Yesterday I was at a bookstore in Bishan, walking between shelves, looking at books, then I felt someone was looking at me. I looked up and saw this girl... Our eyes met, wadeva.

Ok what's so special about this girl? She is also a NUS student, and I believe she's from Arts. She boards the bus to school from the same bus stop as me, and this is the 4th year I am seeing her. Tall, long hair, usually taking the bus alone...

The thing is, we both don't live in Bishan. It always feel funny to bump into strangely familiar people at some remote places. There was once when I was in Hong Kong and I saw this secondary schoolmate crossing the street.

eid mubarak 08

I was very honoured to be invited to the "Eid Mubarak 08" @ the Chaudhrys'.

I went together with Ameet (from Civil Engineering) who requested anonymity on my blog. (oopz but I feel like posting photo of him eating) Guests were treated to an afternoon of authentic Pakistani gourmet from our host's mother. And the desserts were simply sinfully sweet, with my favourite gulab jamun.


Rizwan had been a fantastic host, running around entertaining guests, and the usual jokers such as yours truly here (actually it was Ameet, but since he requested anonymity, I will take his place). It was nice lazing at the backyard, chatting with other guests, enjoying the cool weather, relaxing from our hectic routines.

Thanks for the invite, Rizwan! And Selamat Hari Raya!

motd

To all my Muslim friends,Selamat Hari Raya!
To all children like me,
Happy Children's Day!too bad your school holiday got eaten up.